Review – Camelot’s Shadow

Posted January 16, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Camelot's Shadow by Sarah ZettelCamelot’s Shadow, Sarah Zettel

I’ve read this several times now, and I always go back and forth on it a little. Initially, I think I was a teeeeeny bit ashamed to be caught reading something that is a romance in both the modern and the medieval senses of the word. Then I included it in my dissertation and had to think about it critically. And now… now I get to read it just for pure fun. Which is great: it makes me realise how much this version of Gawain is exactly what made me love the character in the first place, and that this retelling of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle’s story was what guided me toward reading and loving the Gawain ballads.

It’s fun, with and without the romance; I love this version of Camelot, which is practical at the same time as romantic. There’s the knights, but there are also Saxon boys staying at the court as hostages. Guinevere is a queen and a figure of romance, but she’s also Arthur’s other half, managing Camelot alongside Kay, maintaining a whole set of duties belonging to queenship. There’s no polite ignorance of the need for an heir: Gawain is openly Arthur’s heir. (And definitely worthy of it; this version of Gawain doesn’t kill women or go on mad rampages yelling for blood. He’s courtly, though human — somewhere between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte Darthur‘s least flattering sections.)

And Rhian is a great character too: determined, but not foolhardy; clever, but not infallible; cautious, but not immune to Gawain’s pretty face. Brave, but not insensible.

The two make a great pairing, and it’s a joy to read — as it’s also a joy to read of Arthur and Guinevere’s genuine love.

There are some frustrating aspects to this, like a certain judgemental quality around women who have sex (but not men), and an unfortunate editing slip-up where even when “father” is being used as a name, it isn’t capitalised… but it’s still fun, and I’m glad I got the chance to read it in a relaxed way like this.

Sidenote: I don’t understand why the US version has changed Rhian’s name to Risa. Well, probably to avoid people thinking it’s pronounced “Ryan”, but that doesn’t mean I like the decision — Rhian is a pretty and Welsh name, and it fits much better in the context than “Risa”.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Fair Chance

Posted January 15, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Fair Chance by Josh Lanyon

Fair Chance, Josh Lanyon

Received to review via Netgalley; publication date 1st March 2017

Fair Chance is a follow-up to other books featuring Elliot and Tucker, Fair Game and Fair Play. As such, no wonder I wanted to get my hands on it! I enjoy the relationship between Elliot and Tucker. The lack of stereotyping in their relationship is refreshing. It doesn’t hurt that I also like the background characters around them. Elliot’s dad Roland is a key figure, for example. Elliot and Roland still have a fascinating bond, despite the events of the previous book.

The emotional connections feel real, and the mystery feels urgent. Particularly in this book, where Tucker is the one in real danger. I enjoy that though he’s stereotypically masculine, he expresses his feelings more than Elliot. He’s the one more prepared to discuss and compromise and figure things out. And better, Elliot is beginning to really trust this. The doubts are still there, but he’s getting used to the idea he can rely on Tucker. The deepening emotional closeness adds to the urgency.

Like I said, development.

It also feels good that at the end of the book, Elliot gets a shot at going back to the life he wanted originally. I did enjoy that he was ex-FBI, that he was a professor and had adjustments to make. All the same, it’s satisfying to see him ‘come home’ and find a new place for himself, doing what he wanted all along.

The resolution of the mystery isn’t too obvious or anything like that. I feel it relies too heavily on coincidence, and Elliot’s ability to connect the dots. It’s still a satisfying conclusion to that thread of the story. Or at least, one hopes it’s the end of that story, and Elliot’s now finally done with Corian.

On a final note, the sex scenes are okay: not too awkward, anyway. They make sense as part of depicting Elliot and Tucker’s relationship. They’re also skippable if you’re just here for the emotional content.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Invisible Library

Posted January 14, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of The Invisible Library by Genevieve CogmanThe Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman

I don’t know why I was rather hard on this book the first time I read it. It’s a romp, and there’s a lot of seemingly disparate elements — mechanical centipedes alongside the fae — but it comes together really well. The main characters are Irene, Kai and Vale, and they’re all pretty fun. Irene is capable, but not infallible. Kai is a bit of a mystery, but also a decent person who genuinely forms bonds with those around him. And Vale is the archetype of a great detective, which is rather fun — especially if you know your great detectives. Brandamant is also interesting: very different to Irene in some ways, and yet I think they do have commonalities, and perhaps that’s why they don’t like each other.

I still wish there was more time spent in the Library itself, but now that I reflect on it, that’s more the book lover in me than the plotter. The Library would severely cramp the action: I’m sure there is a story that would work with that setting, but this isn’t it — these characters aren’t the ones. Not in this book, anyway.

It’s a fast-paced romp, and on this reading, I completely devoured it and loved it. I’m almost tempted to give it the full five stars.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 14, 2017 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

Hey everyone! It’s been a pretty good week, and now I’m back in Belgium with my wife, which is nice. Also a 13.5kg box of books I sent via courier is already here, so hurrah!

Received to review

Cover of The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

I still need to catch up on the Copper Cat books, but looks like this stands alone? And I love the cover.

Books bought

Note to Mum: before you lecture me, I got these with the Amazon card I got from Laura, okay?

Cover of Mesopotamia by Gwendolyn Leick Cover of Dusk or Dark or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuire Cover of Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire

By which you see, yep, yet more Seanan McGuire, since I finished An Artificial Night this week and loved it.

Books finished:

Cover of Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly Cover of I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong Cover of Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood Cover of Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Cover of An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Prince of the Moon by Megan Derr Cover of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris Cover of Dusk or Dark or Dawn Or Day by Seanan McGuire

And a little preview of my opinions…

4 stars to… Hidden Figures, I Contain Multitudes, The Green Mill Murder, Blood and Circuses, An Artificial Night and Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day.
3 stars to… The Prince of the Moon
1 star to… Dead Until Dark

Reviews posted this week:

–The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. Slow, but satisfying, with some very good female characters and a fascinating central concept. 4/5 stars
–How to Clone a Mammoth, by Beth Shapiro. Okay, the answer is mostly ‘you can’t’, but the book is still informative about cloning and rewilding. 4/5 stars
–Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell. A reread for the comfort factor, so no surprises I loved it again. 5/5 stars
–Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson. Entertaining, and also poignant about the road Wilson has taken to get where she is. 4/5 stars
–The Assassin’s Blade, by Sarah J. Maas. Probably not so entertaining/relevant if you’re not a fan already. 3/5 stars
–Ayiti, by Roxane Gay. A collection of stories set in and about Haiti. Fascinating and vivid. 4/5 stars
–The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis. A little too preachy, and definitely not my favourite Narnia book. Nor my least favourite, though. 3/5 stars

Other posts:

–Top Ten Tuesday: 2016 Releases I Didn’t Get Round To. Aka, The Guilt Trip.

How’s everyone’s week been? Reading plenty? Let me know in the comments!

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Review – The Magician’s Nephew

Posted January 13, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Magician's Nephew by C.S. LewisThe Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis

When I planned a reread of the Narnia books, this isn’t one of the ones I was especially looking forward to. It’s so blatantly allegorical: it’s basically Genesis, Adam and Eve, etc. It’s preachy too, more so than my preferred Narnia books. As a myth on its own merit, I think it was Tolkien who complained about the mishmash of influences in Narnia, and he wasn’t wrong. It’s not so noticeable in The Magician’s Nephew, but it’s still a little weird. I think ultimately, I come down on the side of liking it; it’s a mess, but it’s a joyful one.

Diggory and Polly aren’t the most likeable characters, but Jadis makes an excellent villainess — and even Uncle Andrew’s weakness and vanity is well-drawn. The Pevensies are more engaging as heroes, but the villains here might just be the highlight.

Despite the allegory, there’s still something warm and engaging about Lewis’ writing. That’s the only reason this isn’t slipping down to two stars, I think.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Ayiti

Posted January 12, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ayiti by Roxane GayAyiti, Roxane Gay

I find myself not sure what to write about Ayiti. It’s a collection of short stories set in Haiti, or with Haitian characters. It evokes Haiti as a place of both beauty and struggle, the sun and the salt of the sea and the stench of blood. The inevitability of kidnap, of beggars, of hunger, of a need to leave. The stories are sensual, some sexual; packed with feeling and meaning.

It’s such a small collection that I feel like all I can remember of it is a cluster of sense-memories: sweat, sugar, blood. For me, it just seemed purely evocative, calling up a Haiti both beloved and hated, with a surprising vividness. If this is the quality of Roxane Gay’s writing, I’m definitely down to read some more.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Assassin’s Blade

Posted January 11, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. MaasThe Assassin’s Blade, Sarah J. Maas

The stories contained in this volume are much more meaningful if you’ve already read at least the first book of the series, Throne of Glass. They fill in details referenced in Throne of Glass about Celaena’s background, and how exactly she came to be in the position she’s in at the start of that book, but they have more impact if you already know Celaena. If this was your first outing with her, you probably wouldn’t get to know her well. Each story is connected and leads fairly logically from the previous one, though it doesn’t quite have the cohesive feel of being a novel — it’s definitely episodic.

If you enjoy Celaena, it’s worth picking up; it fleshes out details about her past and gives more weight and meaning to some of the things she says and does in Throne of Glass. It’s an easy read, too; for all that it’s 450 pages worth of storytelling, it seems to fly by.

The books themselves… I’ve never been quite as in love with them as a lot of YA bloggers are, or were, so the collection remains exactly what I expect of Maas: an entertaining story (or in this case, set of linked stories), with an engaging but not perfect female character. (Come on, though; Celaena’s a highly trained assassin, yet she trusts the wrong people, she can be spoilt and petulant, etc. Sam Cortland, I think you deserved better.)

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Where Am I Now?

Posted January 10, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Where Am I Now? by Mara WilsonWhere Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, Mara Wilson

Of course I loved Matilda — both the book and the film. I was that kind of child. I probably strained my eyes squinting and trying to do Matilda’s ‘Whammy’ on various objects. (Mostly books I wanted to come closer…) So as an adult, perhaps it’s not surprising that I looked up Mara Wilson and ended up following her twitter, despite her complex relationship with Matilda (covered, for example, in one of the chapters in this book, which is a letter to Matilda).

I did feel that while it was easy to read, it felt a bit scattered: it’s not chronological, so she discusses the death of her mother, then recounts events which happened before that, leaving me briefly confused. I feel like it lacked an overall structure somehow; without chronology, it needed something else unifying. But it was still compelling, especially reading about her fears and anxieties, the development of her OCD. (Our disorders’ acronyms might only share one letter, but GAD has a fair amount in common with OCD, and I definitely have tendencies of the latter too.) Her relationships with the people around her during filming and after were sweet too — her attachment to Danny DeVito, her reaction to Robin Williams’ death, and her mother’s close involvement with the early years of her career.

I read it all in one go, appreciating the frank and honest person I met here. Mara Wilson is fairly clear about portions of her life where she was pretentious, unpleasant, unwontedly angsty, etc. Her tone both accepts it as normal and gently scolds her younger self for that behaviour. I feel like I would quite like to sit down and have a quiet drink and a bun in a bookshop coffee area with her.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 10, 2017 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

This week’s theme is “2016 releases I meant to read and didn’t get round to”. I didn’t think I’d manage this, but then I had a look at my list, and… ah. Right.

Cover of Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Cover of Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Necessity by Jo Walton Cover of Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay Cover of Lois Lane: Double Down by Gwenda Bond

  1. Revenger, by Alastair Reynolds. I need to apologise to my sister. All the excitement, and I never got round to this one…
  2. Ghost Talkers, by Mary Robinette Kowal. I’d been anticipating this since it was announced, and yet. Still love that cover so much, too.
  3. Necessity, by Jo Walton. I’m just hiding my face in shame here, guys.
  4. Children of Earth and Sky, by Guy Gavriel Kay. I even had an ARC. But nope.
  5. Double Down, by Gwenda Bond. I loved the first book. Why haven’t I picked this up yet? Whyyy?
  6. A Gathering of Shadows, by V.E. Schwab. I think I need to reread the first book, first. Oh no, etc.
  7. Magic Binds, by Ilona Andrews. Again, I even had the ARC. Whyyy, self.
  8. Red Right Hand, by Chris Holm. I feel bad about this, because I promised a review, but it got caught up in being busy with my wedding.
  9. Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee. The author is my mother’s penpal and even sent a signed review copy. I’m a bad person.
  10. Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer. I’m sorry, okay?

Cover of A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab Cover of Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews Cover of Red Right Hand by Chris Holm Cover of Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee Cover of Too Like The Lightning

Gah. Now I feel bad.

On the other hand, that means I still have some awesome books in my future.

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Review – Carry On

Posted January 9, 2017 by Nicky in Reviews / 9 Comments

Cover of Carry On by Rainbow RowellCarry On, Rainbow Rowell

Didn’t I just read Carry On? It’s true, I read it not that long ago, but after the US elections and various personal stresses (I have how many assignments due?), I needed some comfort reading. Harry Potter doesn’t work for me — for one thing, I’ve never been that big a fan, and for another, I had to read the second and third books five times each in a week on a school trip, since my mother only let me take two books. Since then, and especially considering how miserable the other kids made me, I’ve rather gone off Harry Potter.

My love for Carry On is totally separate to anything I feel about Harry Potter, though. I’m aware I’m in the minority there, but I only read four of the Harry Potter books, and never experienced the end of the series or got into the fandom. So I felt in the position to just love this: love the way the magic works, the way it permeates their thinking; the way Simon and Baz have always been drawn to each other; the way even their love scenes read a little bit like fighting in place.

There are things I don’t love — the constant POV switching, for example. It’s particularly jarring when it happens several times in what should just be a paragraph. And I don’t love feeling like Penny, Ebb and Agatha had their own stories that needed telling, and that they came so close to being able to tell them… before being cut off by the inevitability of Simon and Baz, and Simon’s victory. Particularly in Agatha’s case. I thought the descriptions of her feelings toward Simon were great, and I’d have liked to see some closure between them. In fandom, it’s always been the female characters that suffer from people’s attempts to pair up the boys, and it’d have been nice to get a fuller picture of Agatha. Simon’s still very much the Chosen One, narratively.

But these are things that could probably only be addressed by whole books that deal with these tropes, and deal with the lives of the women around Simon and the Mage. I don’t think there really was space here. Penelope Bunce still rocks the heck out of the book.

And it’s still a book I enjoy very much.

Rating: 5/5

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