Category: Reviews

Review – Vicious

Posted March 10, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of Vicious by V.E. SchwabVicious, V.E. Schwab

I don’t know why it took me so long to get round to reading Vicious; I think it’s my favourite of Schwab’s books so far. I started with A Darker Shade of Magic, I think, which was very much hyped. With Vicious, I had heard some hype about it, but it’s been out a while, so I didn’t really feel a pressure to like it, and maybe that helped. Also, it’s a superhero novel — sort of. Maybe supervillains. But maybe it’s best to say it’s morally dubious superpeople, each of whom may have a point but none of whom are really doing the right thing, in a world where it’s difficult in the extreme to figure out the right thing.

Normally the multiple timelines in this story would annoy me, but it worked in Vicious, giving us glimpses of the past to fill in the story, while giving us bits of the ‘present’ to tantalise. Schwab handled it with assurance, and I was content to trust her that the things she was showing me were necessary for the story — it didn’t feel like an overfond author giving us unnecessary background. In fact, the narration feels very clean: every word necessary, every chapter honed to a sharp point.

The characters… well, you can’t quite like them, but I was intrigued by them. By their sharp edges and their inconsistencies, their beliefs. Both Vincent and Eli had reasons for their actions, and you can see exactly the point where they diverge — with the background story slowly being filled in, you actually get to see the difference it turns on, and catch it sneaking up on them. I found Sydney’s changes toward the end fascinating, and I think there’s a seed there for a potentially very interesting story about her and Victor, too. I wonder if that’s what the sequel will be about… either way, I’m very much looking forward to that.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Murder in the Dark

Posted March 9, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Murder in the Dark by Kerry GreenwoodMurder in the Dark, Kerry Greenwood

Wait, what? The thing that really threw me with this book is that this is Phryne’s first Christmas in Australia?! This is the sixteenth book or so, and eventful as Phryne’s life is, it seems a little bizarre that everything that’s happened so far has taken less than twelve months. Especially given the time passing during Lin Chung’s trips and such in Death Before Wicket. And this would mean Dot’s courtship with Hugh Collins isn’t that long after all — which seems odd, having got the feeling they were going at a glacial pace!

Still. This was pretty fun, although the setting was bizarre. Not because it was Christmas-in-July-weather, though that is a weird thought, but the whole house party and the sex parties and the general sea of implied queerness; at times, I wondered if it was just going to degenerate into a story all about sex, though it never quite went there. (No more than the other books, anyway.) This time, Phryne has to deal with a serial killer, but weirdly that didn’t change the tone much.

Overall, I’d have to say I found this instalment a little uneven — it’s fun to read, but I know some of the other books are better.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Paper Menagerie

Posted March 8, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Paper Menagerie by Ken LiuThe Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu

Received to review via Netgalley

The Paper Menagerie is a collection of stories by Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Ken Liu. Some of the stories deal with issues of Chinese-American heritage, and one in particular goes into a lot of detail, in a very interesting documentary format, about events in China during Japanese occupation, issues of experimentation, and then through the lens of spec-fic, history and who owns it, who controls it, how we can interact with it. Some of the stories are quite long, and come with footnotes about how they originated or further sources if you’re interested in the story.

There was nothing I specifically didn’t like about the stories, in general; one or two were weaker, others stronger. I was surprised that I felt ‘The Paper Menagerie’ to be a little… trite, given the awards and praise it has received, but it does evoke the feelings well. There are some moments where that comes out very strongly in Liu’s stories: there’s one story which uses a lot of descriptions of Chinese food and culture, and I could almost taste the dumplings, the rice, the vegetables, when reading that one. For the most part, though, I felt like Liu’s voice was very even in tone; I didn’t feel passionately one way or the other about quite a few of these stories. I felt like there were a few obviously great stories, and others that were entertaining enough but definitely not as strong.

I’m interested to read The Grace of Kings, Liu’s novel, and his translation of Cixin Liu’s The Three Body Problem; I’d like to see how Liu’s voice comes across there and how it flavours a work in translation. I’m not put off Liu’s work, just not quite enthused about it.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Last Enchantment

Posted March 7, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Last Enchantment by Mary StewartThe Last Enchantment, Mary Stewart

The Last Enchantment really suffers the most from the fact that it’s written from the point of view of a supporting character. Merlin’s an epic, iconic figure, but he’s not Arthur — and this version emphasises this even more, with Arthur’s seemingly endless heroism, patience, temperance and sensitivity. I love the Arthurian story too, but it feels like Stewart shielded almost all the characters from harm — even, in this case, some of the female characters, despite the misogynistic to ambiguous treatment in the rest of the series. She has surprising sympathy for Guinevere, particularly, considering she had no mercy for Morgause.

Stewart weaves in an astonishing number of the disparate stories — the two Guineveres, Nimue/Niniane/Vivien, Melwas, etc — but, almost because of that, it lacks richness to me. It feels like everything-and-the-kitchen-sink, especially with the way she shields her characters from the consequences; we’ve got Nimue and Merlin in a love story, and Nimue does indeed bury Merlin alive, and yet she didn’t mean to. And Merlin is buried alive and ‘dies’ there, but… he doesn’t die.

The writing is still good, and it was entertaining enough, but… this series falls short of excellence.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – An Earthly Knight

Posted March 6, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of An Earthly Knight by Janet McNoughtonAn Earthly Knight, Janet McNoughton

This was another reread, basically to match The Perilous Gard, since they’re both Tam Lin themed. This one is a mite more traditional, and sticks pretty close to the ballad, rather than being based on the situation the ballad lays out and then growing in other directions. The interesting thing is that it brings in another ballad, one I’m less familiar with: ‘Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight‘. That and the medieval, historical setting ground the fairytale elements very well and make the whole thing feel more solid.

Unlike with The Perilous Gard, I didn’t love it much more this time than last, but all the same I did appreciate the cleverness more, I think. Because I knew it was there, I was watching and waiting for it, picking up on every hint.

Altogether, it’s a very satisfying story, though it doesn’t take many liberties with the story of Tam Lin — it only embroiders it, bringing in historical figures and contemporary politics. If you know the ballad, you know more or less how the story goes; unlike with The Perilous Gard, there’s no real wondering about how exactly things will come out. Still, the historical details make it more emotional, and the payoff more satisfying, I think.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Tolkien: An Illustrated Atlas

Posted March 5, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of An Atlas of Tolkien by David DayTolkien: An Illustrated Atlas, David Day

This isn’t quite an atlas in the sense of containing maps, unless you take it a bit more metaphorically to be a sort of field guide to Middle-Earth. If you’re a big fan of Tolkien, you probably don’t need to read this for itself, as it just summarises and teases info from the books, but if The Silmarillion is too heavy for you, it might help you through. It’s also just a gorgeous book: lots of illustrations, lovely binding, etc, etc.

Less of a book to read and more for reference — and a good taster of various artists who’ve done work in Tolkien’s universe. I’m going to have to look some of these up, and maybe even try and get a couple of prints.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Railsea

Posted March 4, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Railsea by China MiévilleRailsea, China Miéville

Originally reviewed 30th November, 2012

This has to get five stars because it kept me up at night, tantalised me when I didn’t get chance to read, and enchanted me totally. While it’s marketed (and shelved by me) as YA, it’s China Miéville: there’s plenty to keep you guessing no matter how old you are.

I love the ideas, the bits of other stories (Moby Dick being a prominent one), the worldbuilding, the pace of it… The use of an & sign for “and” took some getting used to, but all in all I loved it, and I think the prose was pretty awesome. The whole bit about the & being like a trainline…

The end, what they discover, sort of made me laugh, and then the sailing off at the end — perfect. The characters are all interesting, sympathetic in their own weird ways — I have huge affection for Daybe, and Captain Narphi fascinated me.

Really, even if you haven’t got on with China Miéville’s work before, I do recommend this one.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – The Perilous Gard

Posted March 3, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 3 Comments

Cover of The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie PopeThe Perilous Gard, Elizabeth Marie Pope

The Perilous Gard was a reread for me — somewhat at random, in fact. It’s just by my elbow in my new desk/shelf set-up, and I was procrastinating on my assignment, and I found myself reading it… And I have no idea why I rated it so poorly before. The writing is great; you can envision every scene, whether it be the sumptuous bedroom Kate awakes in or a grassy hollow in the wood, the overhanging threat of stone and stone and more stone or the brightness of a Faerie gathering. It makes every scene come alive, and the characters too — slightly silly, trusting Alicia; sensible, awkward Kate; torn and guilty Christopher.

The love story works perfectly for me, as well: not surprising, perhaps, considering the way they needle each other. The way Kate refuses to put up with Christopher’s dramatic manpain while still sympathising and understanding and trying to help him. The way that they fall in love, talking about practicalities of draining fenland and building a farm. The way that they keep each other sane and whole, and find each other in the end.

And there’s subtlety in most of the characterisation, too: the Faerie Folk are strange, and think differently, but there’s moments where their emotions seem close to human, where Kate comes close to understanding them, and they her. The only really unambiguously bad one is Master John, who organises things so he can profit from the Faerie people and their Holy Well. They act according to their nature, while he is cowardly and motivated by greed.

It’s also lovely the way it’s woven in with real history: I don’t know if Alicia and Kate were real people (however far from reality this book goes with the fantasy elements), but the story is close enough that it might be, with them waiting on Princess Elizabeth during Queen Mary’s reign, and exiled for interfering. The clash between pagan and Christian is one that many books have touched on, and this one does so with a fairly light hand (and is isolated from the difficulties of Catholicism and Protestantism that went on at the time, though I think Kate is clearly a Protestant), but it works.

The accompanying illustrations are also, for the most part, charming, with just the right amount of life and movement.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – The Wicked + The Divine: Commercial Suicide

Posted March 2, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Wicked + The Divine Vol 3 by Jamie McKelvie and Kieron GillenThe Wicked + The Divine: Commercial Suicide, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie & guest artists

Commercial Suicide is right, sadly. I wanted to love this book. I adored the heck out of the first two volumes, and especially with that twist at the end of volume two. And then… McKelvie goes on holiday, we get a load of backstory and alternate points of view, and the story almost entirely lacks the characters we’ve come to love. Partly because there’s a high body count in these comics, but also because Odin can’t be anyone’s idea of a hero, and it’s becoming apparent that Ananke is more than she’s letting on.

I don’t actually hate the art in the way some other readers do. It has broken the consistency of the series, but it was interesting looking at other takes on the characters — and I actually liked the art in the comic about Sekhmet, which I know other people really hated. It just seems to suit her, somehow.

But… this just feels so thin compared to the other volumes. I wanted so much more, especially after Fandemonium.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – The Story of Kullervo

Posted March 1, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 3 Comments

Cover of The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. TolkienThe Story of Kullervo, J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Verlyn Flieger

The Story of Kullervo is definitely a disappointing book, even for someone as interested in Tolkien’s legendarium and influences as I am. The actual content written by Tolkien is fairly slight and incomplete; the same talk is included twice with only minor changes, and the story isn’t that long. If his tale of the children of Hurin is something that really interests you, his interpretation of the Kalavala might be worth a look, but it feels honestly lacklustre. I’ve often felt that the Tolkien estate has been releasing stuff that J.R.R. himself would never have let into the light of day, and I felt that especially here — he loved the material, and he would’ve wanted to do better by it. The Silmarillion is one thing; his commentary on Beowulf was significant enough to be worth publishing, considering how important his ‘The Monsters and the Critics’ essay was. But this?

Still, there are glimmers of interest here; the way Tolkien tried to flesh out the story and fix some of the inconsistencies, like Kullervo’s family. I don’t know enough about the source material to really understand what he was doing with the names, but there are often glimpses of the kind of names and places that appeared in The Silmarillion et al. Musti is a forerunner of Huan, perhaps; Kullervo is a rather graceless model for Túrin…

But overall, I feel like I rather wasted my time here, which is saddening. J.R.R. Tolkien did amazing work, and I think his legacy is being rather diluted by the popular reissue of things like this — it should, of course, be accessible to scholars, biographers, etc. But please stop selling this stuff as a complete work ready for public scrutiny!

Rating: 2/5

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