Review – Impulse

Posted January 18, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Impulse by Dave BaraImpulse, Dave Bara

I picked up Impulse because I have a weakness for space opera — probably because I was raised on a steady diet of Star Trek and Star Wars, Blake’s 7 and Babylon 5. Impulse is fun enough, with chases and traitors and first contact with (sort of) aliens, and dealing with romance on board ship, and conflicts between differing kinds of orders.

It’s fun, but kind of bland; others have done it better, and there wasn’t much contact with aliens. Both romances were straight out of Kirk’s playbook, really, and the main character is a mixture of mature and immature; inexperienced and cocksure; getting rank through privilege but also coincidentally being good enough for it, somehow… His fuck-ups don’t have major consequences for him (only for other people), and generally life goes along pretty easily for him — other people get hurt and die, but he makes it through and will be fine.

I found the ending extremely annoying — the nominal goal of the book isn’t reached, and it’s just… very unsatisfying. There’s more in the background that interested me that wasn’t brought out.

Still, fun enough to occupy a train journey. Not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series, though I think the second book is now out.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – A Portrait of the Brain

Posted January 17, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of A Portrait of the Brain by Adam ZemanA Portrait of the Brain, Adam Zeman

I picked this one up after hearing Adam Zeman do a section in the New Scientist Live consciousness workshop. Like that event, I found it surprisingly simple. The information was mostly stuff I’d read elsewhere; even on neurology and the biology of the brain, it didn’t really touch on anything I wasn’t already aware of. Definitely a good introduction to some neurological issues and the interrelated nature of body and brain; less so if you’ve already read stuff like Sam Kean’s The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons, or even taken a basic course on neurobiology (e.g. Peggy Mason’s ‘The Neurobiology of Everyday Life’ on Coursera).

I was especially puzzled, though, by the choice Zeman made to refer to psychosomatic/conversion disorders as ‘hysteria’. I checked with a psychiatrist of my acquaintance (hi Mum)… As I suspected, it’s not a word that is really used anymore by anyone credible. I think that’s pretty much because it just has all the wrong connotations, and such a bad history of dismissing mental illness — particularly, dismissing female (mental) illness. We have modern terms for it, Zeman seems tolerably aware that even when a disease has no detectable physical cause, it can be serious and in need of treatment… So this just seems like a really weird choice.

I’m well aware of the brain’s power to create symptoms out of harmless bodily sensations. There’s no doubt that that happens, to greater and lesser extents. But to call it hysteria leaves a bad taste in my mouth, because it has such a history of being linked with dismissing women, seeing women as weak and disturbed, etc, etc.

Overall, way too simplistic a book for me, alas, even though I’m still a layperson. Perhaps a good primer for people new to neurology.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Unnatural Creatures

Posted January 16, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Cover of Unnatural Creatures ed. Neil GaimanUnnatural Creatures, Neil Gaiman

Unnatural Creatures is a fun collection with a rather diverse set of authors, including Gaiman himself, Peter S. Beagle, Nnedi Okorafor, Nalo Hopkinson, Diana Wynne Jones… it includes some stories published before which fit with the theme, and a couple which seem to be published for the first time here. Most of them weren’t stories I knew already, and I thought overall it was a good selection; there were none which really didn’t work for me, though I wasn’t so interested in ‘The Compleat Werewolf’, particularly given how long it was.

Some of the creatures are more traditional than others: werewolves and ancient animal gods and the spirits of trees juxtaposed against a predatory bicycle, the story by Gahan Wilson, etc. Which is always good, to my mind, because werewolves and unicorns and such have been done, and a bit of new blood is always interesting.

My favourites of the collection? Hmm. ‘The Griffin and the Minor Canon’, by Frank R. Stockton; ‘The Sage of Theare’, by Diana Wynne Jones; ‘The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees’, by E. Lily Yu; ‘Prismatica’, by Samuel R. Delaney… Stockton’s story, for example, is fairly traditional in the sort of structure and moral, but then there’s that odd sad note of pity for the Griffin, despite — well, you should probably read it for yourself. ‘The Cartographer Wasps’ is a fable, too, with a different sort of feel. And then ‘The Sage of Theare’ has a figure familiar from Jones’ other books — Chrestomanci!

Yes, it’s definitely an interesting combination, and a collection worth spending some time with, I think.

Rating: 4/5

 

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted January 16, 2016 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

Not quite an Unstacking the Shelves week, but that’s okay because I don’t have many books finished, either! I’ve been trucking along with reading City of Stairs, but haven’t finished it. As you might expect, given my goal is to finish 365 books this year, I’m now behind! I’ve made my partner promise that tomorrow is all for reading (except for the bit where we go for a walk — I’ve just got a Fitbit, and I’m determined to get my 10,000 steps!).

Still, I haven’t bought any books this week, just received one ARC:

Cover of Different Classes by Joanne Harris

I’m excited to have got this, as I usually enjoy Joanne Harris’ work and this has the same setting as Gentlemen & Players and blueeyedboy, if I recall correctly. Looking forward to reading it.

And now for the weekly roundup:

Reviews this week:

The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. An old favourite, and set in Wales, so no wonder it gets… 5/5 stars
The Parthenon, by Mary Beard. Interesting, even if it didn’t focus on what I was expecting it to focus on. 4/5 stars
Ruin and Rising, by Leigh Bardugo. Last book of the trilogy, and definitely worth it in my view. Loved the moral ambiguity at some points. 4/5 stars
Murder in Montparnasse, by Kerry Greenwood. Another solid instalment of Miss Fisher solving mysteries, though not my favourite. 3/5 stars
Lagoon, by Nnedi Okorafor. I found this interesting, but ultimately the pacing didn’t work for me, nor the treatment of LGBT characters. 3/5 stars
The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales, by Kate Mosse. Some interesting stories, but overall it felt kind of overwritten. 2/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Young Avengers: Family Matters, by Allan Heinburg and Jim Cheung. A reminder to reread this whole series soon, I think! 4/5 stars

Other posts: 

Top Ten Tuesday: 2015 Releases. Just shows you how behind I am, really…

Hope everyone’s well and reading more than me! Totally feel free to explore the week’s posts and comment, or go further back if you like — I always try to return comments!

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Review – Young Avengers: Family Matters

Posted January 15, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Young Avengers: Family MattersYoung Avengers: Family Matters, Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
Originally reviewed 25th August, 2013

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first TPB somehow, but it is a lot of fun. I want more of Billy and Teddy, as a couple, at the same time as I want more of the team as a whole. I think I came out of this with half a dozen new ships. These novels make me fannish more than pretty much anything else I read, just as the Marvel movies make me ridiculously excited. I love the female characters, and I want more of them — heck, I want more of all of it. I’m enjoying the various revelations of how each Young Avenger came to have powers (or not, in Kate’s case).

In fact, now I’m envisioning a Young Avengers movie. It’d be too obvious to have Jennifer Lawrence for Kate, right?

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Mistletoe Bride

Posted January 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The Mistletoe Bride by Kate MosseThe Mistletoe Bride, Kate Mosse

The Mistletoe Bride is a good collection of stories for those who already like Kate Mosse’s work, I think. It’s fairly standard fare for her: timeslips, connections across time, history in the landscape, etc. If you’re big on the folklore of Brittany and that sort of area, it might also interest you: there are a few tales in this collection drawn from that. The writing is usually good, though occasionally somewhat stilted or just… too familiar. As if the same phrases are being used in different stories, the same images recurring.

The stories aren’t creepy-creepy, but they are in that mysterious gothic-ish style which reminds me a little of Daphne du Maurier’s short stories. It’s not an immensely special collection, and the tone is mostly the same, but for fans of the genre and of Kate Mosse in particular, it should be reasonably satisfying. One or two of the stories just made me cringe with their triteness, though — ‘In the Theatre at Night’ is something I would’ve written as a child, and I couldn’t take it seriously.

I think my favourite aspect was actually reading about the origin of each story, getting at the folklore behind it. ‘The Drowned Village’ and ‘The Ship of the Dead’ were probably my favourites, and the title story is better than the other version of the same story, ‘The Yellow Scarf’, which again struck me as just… too convenient. Overall, the collection lacks a spark, I think.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Lagoon

Posted January 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Lagoon by Nnedi OkoraforLagoon, Nnedi Okorafor

Received to review via Bookbridgr

I’ve been meaning to pick Lagoon up ‘next’ for far too long, so hurrah, finally I have done so! I picked it up partway through New Year’s Eve, in fact, and finished it in one go: it’s a very lively, dynamic book, with various different points of view — including a swordfish who turns herself into a monster, the better to sabotage oil pipes on the sea bed. (It makes sense in context, I promise.) There’s a whole bunch of different people, people speaking Pidgin, LGBT people, a woman who is a marine biologist, people of all kinds of beliefs and none… and aliens, making first contact, for the first time, in Nigeria.

It’s an almost unique setting for a fairly common SF trope, in my experience: normally, like the big blockbuster movies, the aliens go to the President of the US, and don’t stop to wonder about the leader of Nigeria. And it brings in all kinds of elements that would be out of place in a USian setting: folklore and legends, witchy powers, superstitions about those (which aren’t gone in the “Western world”, but are different). All of this make it something fresh and different.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for me — a bit too jumpy, a bit too chaotic, and perhaps I missed some key transitions or something, because I wasn’t always sure why one thing led to another — I described the narrative as ‘hopping’ when trying to talk about it to a friend. A slightly different storytelling style than I’m used to, perhaps. And I felt that some threads were just dropped: Ijele, for example, and the LGBT+ group who had a couple of chapters but then fizzled into nothing. (Which is especially bothersome to me when they’re used to ratchet up tension, and they’re actually in danger, and then the narration just… loses interest? Not cool.)

Lagoon is an interesting one, anyway, even though it’s not quite my thing.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Murder in Montparnasse

Posted January 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Murder in Montparnasse by Kerry GreenwoodMurder in Montparnasse, Kerry Greenwood

I might need to take a break from Phryne for a while — just to make sure I don’t run out of her brilliance too soon, of course. Murder in Montparnasse shows us a younger Phryne, as well as the capable detective we’re used to: a Phryne who hasn’t yet learned to read men and situations and take care of herself. It is good to see her unsure of herself, and it’s also good to follow along with the mature Phryne as she negotiates Lin getting married, and becomes friends with his wife-to-be.

It’s also nice to get both Bert and Cec and Phryne’s adopted daughters playing a part in the mystery. Pretty much the whole team is involved here, including Hugh Collins, which is fun.

I think the only drawback is that maybe I’ve been eating up these books too fast, and they’re losing some of their freshness. I think if I spaced them out more, it’d be okay; as it is, I found it a little too routine. Which isn’t bad, since this is the twelfth book and I’ve read all the eleven previous ones in quite a hurry.

In case it bothered anyone else, spoiler: the Butlers don’t leave in the end. I was very worried they wouldn’t and that the lovely found-family feel was going to be lost a little — but nope, Mrs Butler sorted things out.

Rating: 3/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted January 12, 2016 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

I was a little worried I was going to get to this Top Ten Tuesday post and have some major books on here — like Ancillary Mercy — and have to ‘fess up failing to get to a load of ARCs and… Fortunately, I did keep up better than I feared. But there are still some books I should get round to! This week’s theme is…

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t

Cover of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Cover of Carry On by Rainbow Rowell Cover of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Cover of The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh Cover of Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

  1. Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo. I only read the Grisha trilogy this year, and in the last two months of the year at that, so I’m not kicking myself too hard. But I would’ve liked to get round to this.
  2. Carry On, Rainbow Rowell. I wanted to read it as soon as it came out. Then I… I don’t know… got distracted?
  3. An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir. Someone even bought this for me. Why, self? Why?
  4. The Wrath and the Dawn, Renee Ahdieh. I got a copy of this within a month of release. And yet.
  5. Queen of Shadows, Sarah J. Maas. To be fair, I didn’t read the book before it, either.
  6. The Darkest Part of the Forest, Holly Black. I even had/have it out of the library!
  7. Illuminae, Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. At least I didn’t have a copy of this one?
  8. Tower of Thorns, Juliet Marillier. Not helped by the fact that I didn’t get round to Dreamer’s Pool either.
  9. Armada, Ernest Cline. I’m, uh, partway through it? Maybe I’ll even have finished it by the time this post goes up!
  10. A Crown for Cold Silver, Alex Marshall. Haven’t got my hands on this one, yet! Though maybe now there’s a paperback…

Cover of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black Cover of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Cover of Tower of Thorns by Juliet Marillier Cover of Armada by Ernest Cline Cover of A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall

Quite a mix, really. Maybe I’ll get to them this year — one can hope, right?

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Review – Ruin and Rising

Posted January 11, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Ruin and Rising by Leigh BardugoRuin and Rising, Leigh Bardugo

As I’d hoped, Ruin and Rising is better paced than Siege and Storm, to my mind. Although some notable folks thought the opposite, so I suppose it really does depend on what you’re most interested in. I did enjoy the twist with the third amplifier, and the fact that finally they really got on track to deal with that plotline — so much of book two was spent wanting to deal with it and going back and forth on whether it was a good idea, etc, etc.

I did like the continued development of Alina’s character, and the way things worked out with that — the way she had to learn to deal with the things she had to do, and how ruthless she tried to be. How power had a hold on her as surely as it did on the Darkling, and on the pity she felt for the Darkling even despite his behaviour. I think you can judge a person (or character) by how they treat vanquished enemies, and Alina was generous about it: she remembered the Darkling’s name, made sure his wishes were honoured, etc. And I enjoyed Nikolai’s development, too, though I think a lot of the drama and interest with what happened to him was elided for the sake of Alina and Mal’s story. Which makes sense, since Alina is the narrator, but… I’d still like to have seen more of Nikolai. He is the sassiest, and also the most capable character.

All in all, I think it was a good conclusion to the trilogy, and I’m looking forward to seeing this world from a different angle in Six of Crows. Here’s hoping it’s as good as everyone says!

Rating: 4/5

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