Category: Reviews

Review – Solstice Wood

Posted March 22, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Solstice Wood by Patricia McKillipSolstice Wood, Patricia A. McKillip

Solstice Wood is a loose sequel to Winter Rose, set a few generations later in the same place. That gives it a really weird feel, because it’s very much rooted in place and time, while Winter Rose could be almost anywhere, anywhen. I don’t really remember the same concrete sense of place about Winter Rose at all; perhaps because half of it was spent in the other world, but still. That felt untethered in time, and this really isn’t — planes, phones, worrying about reception. It feels realistic, and that’s odd compared to the narrator of Winter Rose and her unconcern for the barriers between what’s real and what isn’t.

Oddly enough, although I understood it better, I think I liked it less than Winter Rose. Some of the beauty and mystery was missing — which in a way was part of the point, but still. And the main character’s grandmother is just stunningly unable to see what’s going on under her nose for someone who is meant to be stubborn and shrewd. Love blinds us all, I guess, but it still felt odd.

The fae stuff in this book is perhaps more attractive than in Winter Rose, though; we get to see the gentler side, the enticing side, and more nuance. Still, I’m not greatly enamoured.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The Winner’s Crime

Posted March 21, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of The Winner's Crime by Marie RutkoskiThe Winner’s Crime, Marie Rutkoski

I started this eagerly and then stalled about two hundred pages into it, because the lack of communication between Kestrel and Arin was just killing me. Which on the one hand speaks for Rutkoski’s skill — I was worried about the characters and their relationship, not purely frustrated with the kind of plot I hate — and on the other meant I put it aside for a while, because wanting to scream just communicate damn it! at other people’s characters is not my favourite feeling. Fortunately, I did pick it back up, and then raced through the rest; I think it just took taking a step back and letting some of the arghiness dissipate!

As for that relationship — well, it remains rocky, of course. One reaches out and the other pulls back; miscommunications and missteps make everything difficult; love and loyalty come between them. And, of course, the brief periods where one owned the other (either outright or de facto in the way Arin owned Kestrel after the rebellion — she certainly wasn’t free!). And I find myself hoping for them as an outcome more than I did in the first book, and seeing it as a relationship that could work. (Provided they start communicating and stop making dumb assumptions — Arin, I’m looking at you.)

What really broke me in this book, though, was Kestrel’s relationship with her father. GAAAH. No spoilers, but love and loyalty is again an issue, and the emperor is a cold, manipulative, clever ruler. Actually, the person he reminds me of most in literature would be President Snow. There’s a similarity with the theatrical manoeuvring, the spectacle, and the lies.

I’m glad I have The Winner’s Kiss to go onto already, even though I am stupidly late getting to the ARC. The story remains engaging, the world intriguing: I have to know how things resolve.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Junk DNA

Posted March 20, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Junk DNA by Nessa CareyJunk DNA, Nessa Carey

I’ve read Nessa Carey’s work before, in The Epigenetics Revolution, so I had high hopes for this — especially because it involves a lot more discussion of epigenetic modification of gene expression, and because genetics in general is something that fascinates me. If this is an interest of yours, then this will definitely work for you; I didn’t feel like it repeated the basics too much, but at the same time, it was perfectly readable for anyone at a lower level. I think so, anyway; it’s hard for me to judge now, after so much reading and now study of genetics! I can definitely say that if you know the basics about genetic inheritance and the central dogma of biology, this should work for you.

It’s also very readable and enjoyable; I’ve read some books which unfortunately manage to make genetics boring, even for me, but Carey’s isn’t one of them. This is one of the books I have no doubt I’ll keep entertaining friends and families with random information from — did you know? Did you know?

Rating: 4/5

 

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Review – Clean Sweep

Posted March 19, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Clean Sweep, by Ilona AndrewsClean Sweep, Ilona Andrews

Okay, the concept reminds me of Tanya Huff’s Summon the Keeper, which I haven’t read yet but which is held in high esteem by some of my friends. But Ilona Andrews’ writing is just darn fun. Dina is funny and takes no crap, the whole concept of the inns and the responsibilities of the inn keepers is good, and while Sean Evans is kind of an ass, he’s the kind of ass that can grow on you — like Curran, from the Kate Daniels books. I actually read this in one sitting, despite rather wanting to go to bed before I started, and when done, I handed it straight to my sister.

And come on, if nothing else grabs you, the unique “vampires” from actual outer space are a really cool concept. Between this and the magic/technology mixture in the Kate Daniels books, you’d better believe that the Andrews team can come up with some great settings and interesting worlds.

Guess I’m going to have to get my hands on Sweep in Peace, though I sort of hope that neither potential love interest turns out to be the one. Shoo, Sean. Go pee on someone else’s trees.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Postman

Posted March 18, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Postman by David BrinThe Postman, David Brin

I enjoyed the first two parts of this very much. The first part covers serendipitous discovery of an old uniform by the main character, Gordon Krantz, just when he needs it after his camp has been raided and all the gear he needs for survival taken. The second part involves the way he becomes a symbol, at first without meaning to, and then the way he builds up a movement around himself, making his lies a reality.

The third part is where it falls down a bit for me, where he comes seriously involved in a basically military operation, and themes of scientific manipulation and so on come in. The climax of the novel is a fight between two characters which barely involves the protagonist, though fortunately it returns to being about Gordon for the last part.

The world of The Postman is bleak, post-apocalyptic, both recognising the elements among us who are violent and opportunistic, and the basic decency a lot of people have. There’s hope here as well.

The way the novel deals with female characters… troubled me. The fact that there are few to no women in positions of power — at least among the decent folks, though of course not among the antagonists due to their philosophy — and the one who is ends up proving herself dangerously naive. Many women are strong, and would be capable of a lot better in a post-apocalyptic dystopian situation than the showing they make here.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay

Posted March 17, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay by Simon Napier-BellTa-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay: The Dodgy Business of Popular Music, Simon Napier-Bell

The style of this history of the music industry is casual and gossipy, and it’d be really easy to read… if I didn’t keep running into phrases like “Red Indians” and “sang the verse like a virgin and the chorus like a whore”. You what? Red Indians, really? In this day and age? And really, a bit of straight-up Madonna/whore bullshit?

I took a couple of deep breaths and read on, but that was just the first chapter and there was plenty more where that came from. If you’re looking for something casual and gossipy, and you don’t mind the occasional stunningly offensive line, then you might well enjoy it; for a non-fiction book, it is actually quite well paced, and there’s plenty of scandal in the music industry to entertain you. Just… apparently very much not for me. So full disclosure: I didn’t finish it.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Alex + Ada Volume One

Posted March 16, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Alex + Ada Vol 1 by Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan LunaAlex + Ada: Volume One, Jonathan Luna, Sarah Vaughn

I picked up Alex + Ada because I read some pretty positive reviews, and I’ve always been interested in AI/android stories, ever since my first fateful encounter with Asimov’s robots in The Positronic Man. I’m a little irritated now that the library only had volume one, because that barely gets things off the ground: Alex meets his new android companion, names her, and realises that she’s lacking that something that makes her a person. For whatever reason — and this isn’t really covered in depth, which actually kind of makes sense to me — Alex decides that he wants to free her intelligence and make her truly sentience. He hasn’t really thought about it before, even though he’s all wired up to his house, but it just feels right, so he goes through with it.

And that’s… pretty much it. It’s an intriguing enough set-up, but it’s barely the start of a story. I wish the library had the next book; I’d rather just go straight onto that, and hope that it picks up straight away. As it is, I’m not sure when I’ll get to read the second volume.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Sorcerer of the Wildeeps

Posted March 15, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante WilsonSorcerer of the Wildeeps, Kai Ashante Wilson

I was all braced to love this, based on the reviews that I’d read. I wanted to, especially because the world is interesting, the relationships and the fact that it features a gay love story, and because it’s written half in vernacular, half in something more formal, which keeps it very much alive.

However, I had two problems. One was with the structure of the story. The last fifty pages were frenetic and packed full, exploding with stuff. The first hundred-fifty, however… barely went anywhere, and the story itself seemed to hide all the things that would have hooked me — the aforementioned relationship, more details about Demane and where he comes from… And the other problem is just that: there seems to be fascinating background to how the world was colonised? terraformed? is it Earth? It’s so hard to tell, and I wanted to know. I get that this is a novella and thus limited, but still, I wanted more than just that tantalising sense of what was going on — I wanted it to apply to the story more, I guess.

Something about the narration just bounced off me — it reminded me of Nnedi Okorafor’s writing in Lagoon, actually. I might try rereading it and see if it makes more of an impression, but I’m not in a hurry. Still, I’d be willing to try something else by Wilson.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Winter Rose

Posted March 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Winter Rose by Patricia McKillipWinter Rose, Patricia A. McKillip

I’ve actually reviewed this here before, and in fact read it twice before. I wanted to give it another go, because I’ve been reading a couple of other Tam Lin based stories (The Perilous GardAn Earthly Knight; just starting Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin) and because I want to read the sequel to this, Solstice Wood. And because I’m stubborn as heck and I didn’t ‘get it’, and I don’t like that feeling.

Well, I still didn’t really ‘get’ it, though I was more content to go with the dreamlike logic and just enjoy the lyrical writing and the scent-touch-taste of the way McKillip writes. It still reminds me of ‘Goblin Market’ as much as ‘Tam Lin’, given the inclusion of the character of Laurel, who wastes away waiting for Tam Lin. There’s so much to love in this book — the way Perrin is portrayed, solid and real and true; Laurel and Rois’ love for each other and their father, and his for them; the beautiful, beautiful writing.

But I still don’t get it. I feel like I should be rating it more highly, liking it better, and obviously there’s something that keeps me trying to come back to it. But nope. Still not the right time, perhaps?

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days

Posted March 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Ex-Machina: The First Hundred DaysEx Machina: The First Hundred Days, Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, Tom Feister, JD Mettler

This is an interesting take on the superhero genre, with a man randomly granted powers and first attempting to use them as a superhero, ‘The Great Machine’, before giving up on that and turning to politics in order to make a real difference. I’m not a huge fan of the art, but it’s not bad or distracting; there’s just something about it I don’t quite get on with, especially when it comes to faces.

There’s really a lot more to this story than can be packed into one volume, and in a way I wanted to skip the preliminaries and learn more. The last section was more engaging, because it really brought feelings into it — the Three Musketeers, split apart by not believing in the same things anymore — whereas the rest I didn’t feel that engaged with.

I’m intrigued by the story, but not enough to rush to get the next volume. Maybe if the library has it.

Rating: 3/5

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