Category: Reviews

Review – Slow River

Posted May 15, 2015 by in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of Slow River by Nicola GriffithSlow River, Nicola Griffith
Review from July 2nd, 2013

I don’t think I read the summary of Slow River when I bought it. It wasn’t familiar at all when I started reading it, anyway. And I… kind of liked that. Everything was a surprise. I loved the careful unfolding of the threefold narrative, the careful bringing to light of secrets you begin to feel you should’ve known all along. And I loved that LGBT relationships were normal, just taken for granted. I loved that the main character learns all sorts of things about privilege and the lack of it.

I even loved the slow plot. I never thought I’d find a book focused on a water remediation plant and the family that own the technology surrounding it so fascinating, but it really was. I love it when someone takes something so necessary but unseen to our modern lives and just expands it a little, showing how vital it is and could be.

Very much looking forward to the other Nicola Griffith books I have, now.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: , , , , ,

Divider

Review – Touch Not The Cat

Posted May 14, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Touch Not The Cat by Mary StewartTouch Not the Cat, Mary Stewart

A reread for me, since I felt the need for something familiar during the readathon. It was one of the first Mary Stewart books I read, and it’s one of the more openly fantastical ones. It’s got the usual set up of the plucky young heroine, a landscape that’s important to her or exotic or otherwise worth describing lovingly, and the man she eventually marries. The fantastical part is the telepathy between them, the bond; Stewart uses it well, creating interesting dilemmas and confrontations.

The story of the twins is a little disappointing, because so obvious; we don’t see enough of James’ struggle against his twin to see him as any kind of victim in the situation, and his reaction to Rob and Bryony’s marriage seals that. It gets a little cartoon villain-ish.

Rob and Bryony’s relationship is sweet; I suppose that’s a spoiler, but it’d be hard to review this without mentioning that James is not Bryony’s ‘secret friend’. I really didn’t need all the stuff about how Rob is really an Ashley; it makes the plot that much more convoluted, but ends up reinforcing that whole snobbery about the lady of the family not marrying the kitchen boy.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – Batgirl: Death of the Family

Posted May 13, 2015 by in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Batgirl: Death in the Family by Gail SimoneBatgirl: Death of the Family, Gail Simone, Daniel Sampere

There’s a lot of individual elements I like in this book — Barbara’s bravery, her struggles with her anger at the people who put her in a wheelchair, her sheer ferocious intelligence (and yet she spends so much time punching her way through problems, sigh), some of the family issues that are brought up… But where it ties in with the other Batfamily books, it feels clumsy. I don’t know what’s going on with Damien, with Nightwing, etc. Nor do I really get chance to care, since it’s all a whirlwind of action.

The art is good, expressive, etc, but ye gods, I forgot how dark DC comics can be. Grit, grit, and more grit.

I do like Alysia’s coming out; I like the casual way Barbara takes it, and yet how important the moment still feels.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – The Secret Museum

Posted May 12, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Secret Museum by Molly OldfieldThe Secret Museum, Molly Oldfield

This book looks like it’d make a great coffee table book, and in a way it is part of that genre of bite-size, digestible bits of culture. But it’s lacking in the lavish pictures I’d expect from such a thing: many of the items are represented by photographs the size of a postage stamp, or just sketches. The book itself looks nice, but it’s not the most visually orientated; I assume that’s because many of these objects are too precious to photograph. With some of them, I wasn’t sure she should even be describing their locations so clearly!

It’s an eclectic collection of objects, in no real order. I can imagine that being very frustrating to anyone a little more serious about this than I am; I did enjoy browsing through the selection, though, dipping in and out as each object interested me more or less. I liked that these precious objects aren’t all of monetary value, often being more valuable as a link to the past or a symbol of an era.

It’s interesting in its randomness, rather like watching an episode of QI, which Molly Oldfield writes for. Probably frustrating, too, if that’s not your thing.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: , ,

Divider

Review – Report from Planet Midnight

Posted May 11, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Report from Planet Midnight by Nalo HopkinsonReport from Planet Midnight, Nalo Hopkinson

I’ve meant to read something by Hopkinson for a while — in fact, at one point I was a chunk of the way through Midnight Robber. I’m not sure what happened then; had to give it back to the library, maybe? But I’ve been meaning to have another crack at it sometime soon, and this is definitely encouraging. The two short stories are well-crafted, and I especially love the voices she gives to Ariel and Caliban and Sycorax. I didn’t read it as the ‘house nigger’ and the ‘field nigger’, as some of the notes on it mention; afterwards, I immediately felt it was obvious.

The non-fiction commentary is great, too. I felt like despite this being the ‘Outspoken Authors’ series, Hopkinson still felt the need to hold back on/qualify her opinions and feelings a bit; there’s a diffidence, almost defensiveness, that upset me a little. Like, do we really need to make a world where an author of colour feels she has to repeatedly state that books by white men are fine and she reads them and she just wants more diversity? I did the same in my post about my Female Authors Only Month project, it’s true, but… it annoys me. Let’s quit acting like wanting more stories from some people means we want to silence other people, okay?

Still, Hopkinson said a lot of incisive and true things about fandom, race, literature, people. And I’m sure there are white folks reading it who feel like she’s making a stab at them (at a guess, if Vox Day or the Sad and Rabid Puppies read this, they might have apoplexy). And I love that she isn’t a bit ashamed about having fibromyalgia and the effects it has on her: so many people are dismissive about it, and given that Nalo Hopkinson is a woman of colour, I bet there’s plenty of people adding that to their list of reasons why they don’t have to listen to her. Which is rubbish, but definitely what I’ve observed.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – Voyage of the Basilisk

Posted May 10, 2015 by in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie BrennanVoyage of the BasiliskMarie Brennan

I originally received this as an ARC, but then bought it anyway because I wanted a print copy so I could look at the illustrations better. I ate this up in a couple of hours. If you’ve enjoyed the previous books, this will give you more of the same: adventures, a female main character with a bright and scientific mind, interesting problems of taxonomy when it comes to dragons, politics, encounters with other cultures…

It very much mimics the style of memoirs written in the analogous time period in Britain, so I think you have to excuse what other people have read as a colonial tone. Scirland (Britain) is still an empire, here, and Isabella works under those assumptions as much as she assumes she can breathe air. She does meet other cultures, and treat them with respect, but sometimes with an air of private condescension that (to me) just works as part of her character, her driven nature, and the world she lives in. Your mileage may vary, but I don’t think it’s invisible to Brennan; I think it’s part of the character and world she’s building.

I’m enjoying the matter of fact inclusion of queerness in the story, too. As is Isabella’s wont, she doesn’t pry into people’s personal lives much, and the idea of queer people is essentially shrugged off as one of those things that happens, and not really her business. Even where it’s story-relevant, there’s only one moment where she does anything that one might call prying — and it’s understandable in the situation.

I’m afraid that despite Isabella’s best efforts, I do wish she’d up and marry Tom Wilker. I love the evolution of his character, too: the belligerent way he started out, the way he’s come to respect her and drop some of his barriers around her, the way they rely on each other, and of course society’s slow acceptance of the working class lad who has worked his way up. I was less taken with Suhail, because I just like the adversarial, sparring relationship between Tom and Isabella.

Oh, and you’ve got to enjoy the evolution of her relationship with her son. I love that he’s become “Jake” instead of Jacob, love that she’s found a way to relate to him, spend time with him, and be a mother to him, despite her initial rejection of the traditional mother-son relationship.

One thing that is getting hard to swallow: Isabella’s way of getting entangled in politics wherever she goes. Not just local politics, but politics with deep relevance to the crown. But it wouldn’t be such an interesting read without those complications.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: , , ,

Divider

Review – The Witch's Daughter

Posted May 9, 2015 by in Reviews / 3 Comments

Cover of The Witch's Daughter by Paula BrackstonThe Witch’s Daughter, Paula Brackston

This reminded me quite a bit of Chocolat in the opening, but with a less personable main character. I didn’t mind that so much, as I’ve been told this is a witch story where there really are dark powers, shades of grey, etc, etc. Once I got to the storytelling part, too, that was tolerable historical fiction, though not anything really surprising. (For a similar story about plague, for example, there’s Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks.)

In the end, it just fizzled out for me. Which is unfortunate, since I also had The Winter Witch to read, and was hoping for things from the Welsh setting (although a little put off that the characters were called Cai and Morgana, but no, they weren’t that Cai and Morgana and nor did they seem to have any connection — why would you do that?). The writing is okay, but not brilliant; the plot is okay, but not brilliant. The characters were… not really doing anything for me, particularly not Gideon. When a character is pretty much introduced via a rape scene, you can pretty much guarantee I’m not going to get on with him.

Not a story that worked out for me, in any case. Ben Babcock’s review on Goodreads sums up the promise and the disappointment of this book really well.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: , ,

Divider

Review – Redemption in Indigo

Posted May 8, 2015 by in Reviews / 9 Comments

Cover of Redemption in Indigo by Karen LordRedemption in Indigo, Karen Lord
Review from September 27th, 2013

I’ve been meaning to read something by Karen Lord for a while. For some reason, the fact that a group I participate in a lot on GR is reading one of her other books (which I also own) next month made me read this one. I won’t question it too much, because I enjoyed this a lot. It’s a short/quick read, and it’s different: it isn’t at all your run of the mill fantasy. I read it without knowing any of the background stuff about it being based on a Senegalese story, and I don’t regret that — instead of looking for the joining places between Lord’s story and the original story, I enjoyed the whole thing.

It’s told fairly simply, in the style of a more or less oral narrative — there’s a conversational narrator, and the basic ideas are easy to lay hold of. I really enjoyed that it was in many ways a domestic story, with cooking and family at its heart. I also enjoyed that I didn’t guess every twist exactly right.

Because of the fable/fairytale-like tone, I wasn’t looking for too much from the characters: the execution matches the form, while still providing likeable/pitiable who you can, to some extent, get to know. Still, if characters, setting, etc, really matter to you, then this might not be for you. I’m normally all about the characters, but this so perfectly hit my soft spots for a) something new and different and b) something that emulates another form well that I couldn’t resist it.

Rating: 5/5

Tags: , , , ,

Divider

Review – The Spark of Life

Posted May 7, 2015 by in Reviews / 1 Comment

Cover of The Spark of Life by Frances AshcroftThe Spark of Life, Frances Ashcroft

Since I’m in the middle of my female authors only month, I thought now would be a good time to get round to some of the non-fiction books I have by women, especially in the STEM field. I’d forgotten I had this one, which is a shame: it fits into my general theme of reading about neurology, and builds on a lot of the stuff about ion channels that I learnt in an introductory biology class on Coursera. I understood pretty much all the science without wanting or needing to look anything up, or letting anything wash over my head: in part, that’s because Ashcroft writes very accessibly, but I think it is also because this is stuff I know and love.

Some of it is a little too much towards the neurology end of things for me. I wanted more about electricity in the human body — more of the sparks — and less of the chemical messages (the soups, in that old scientific debate); this veered towards talking much more about the chemical parts of the process, especially toward the end. On the other hand, it’s the chemical processes that create the electrical potentials and make all of the electricity in the human body (and other animals too) possible, so it’s quite inextricable. It just felt like it wandered.

Calling the book The Spark of Life is a little misleading, perhaps. It talks about electricity in the body, yeah, but that’s too small a part of the process to be considered alone, and a lot of other factors have to be discussed at quite some length. Ashcroft uses good examples, and explains things clearly; there’s a section of notes in the back for those who want to get a little deeper into it.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: , ,

Divider

Review – Throne of Glass

Posted May 6, 2015 by in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Throne of Glass, by Sarah J. MaasThrone of Glass, Sarah J. Maas

I’m a little bit disappointed about this one, I’m afraid. I’ve been hearing so much hype about Sarah J. Maas’ work. And it was fun, but it felt thin. There is clearly a world built up behind this, but we see so little of it, and so much of it is introduced according to convenience. Suddenly a Wyrdmark! Suddenly magic powers! Suddenly that’s why that character did X! Lots of jumping! to! conclusions!

Given the hype, I guess I was expecting more of this. It is great that there’s a female main character who is very capable, who is a good assassin, and yet who has morals and a softer side. It’s nice that she’s both kickass and in love with gorgeous dresses: it’s counter to something that always rubs me wrong, for example like Katsa in Graceling, where she totally rejects femininity (if I remember rightly; must reread that soon and get onto the other books). And I liked the tension between her and Chaol, her and Dorian, up to the point where things started happening and then I just… didn’t get it. If you have feelings for either or both, treat them with a little more care! It’s like she expected them not to mind that they both had feelings for her, were both close to her?

I mean, if it’s going to end up as a polyamorous relationship then that’s fine, but it’d surprise me greatly from a YA book.

I’m intrigued enough that I’ve reserved Crown of Midnight from the library; ambivalent enough that I’m not going to buy it.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: , ,

Divider