Stacking the Shelves

Posted May 21, 2016 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

This week hasn’t been great for reading, but my assignment is finally done, and it was the last one for this module! So maybe I can relax a bit now? I started off the relaxation in style with some new books, of course…

New books:

A mixed bag, which probably surprises no one. I’ve already finished reading The Book of Phoenix; it might be the Nnedi Okorafor book I appreciate the most so far! The other stuff is mostly from my wishlist, except The Horns of Ruin, which was an impulse buy. Oh, and The Tempering of Men, because I finished the first book earlier this week.

Books to review:

I’ve read some of Foz Meadows’ blog posts and such, I think? Anyway, I enjoy how rainbow-y the cover is and the fact that it’s openly queertastic. Tremontaine and The Fireman I’ve been hearing a lot about…

Books finished:

Reviews posted:
–Captain America: Civil War Prelude, by Corona Pilgrim et al. I was not impressed by the lack of new content in this tie-in release. If you’ve seen the other Marvel films, or even just a good selection of them, you’re good to go. 2/5 stars
–The Bread We Eat in Dreams, by Catherynne M. Valente. A varied and typically gorgeous collection. If you’re a fan of Valente, you’ve probably read some of these before — but probably not all… 3/5 stars
–Dead Man’s Chest, by Kerry Greenwood. Another strong outing for Phryne, and it introduces a secondary character who I rather hope will stick around. 3/5 stars
–The Door into Fire, by Diane Duane. A book well-deserving of the nostalgic love people have for it. I love the way it deals with polyamorous relationships, without them being idyllic, but without demonising any of the participants either. 4/5 stars
–The Movement: Class Warfare, by Gail Simone and Freddie Williams III. This is basically like Gotham, if it was policed not by Batman, but by the 99%. I didn’t like the reread as much as the initial read way back in 20…14? But still fun, and really cool and diverse characters. 4/5 stars
–The Sin-Eater’s Daughter, by Melinda Salisbury. I think it’d be hard for a book to match up to that gorgeous cover, and so it proved. But I enjoyed the story well enough, and it caught me by surprise… 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: Kalpa Imperial, by Angélica Gorodischer, trans. Ursula Le Guin. An interesting what-if, and I think it’d appeal to fans of Le Guin’s writing and world building. There’s something of the same flavour. 4/5 stars

How’s everyone else been? Good weather where you are? Any reading achievements to share?

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – Kalpa Imperial

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

Kalpa Imperial, Angélica Gorodischer, trans. Ursula Le Guin

Originally reviewed September 30th, 2012

If you like Ursula Le Guin’s work, it’s worth trying Kalpa Imperial, even though Le Guin isn’t the author, only the translator. She was obviously the ideal choice of translator for Gorodischer’s style; there’s no sense of distance from the story, or rather stories, that you often get with translations.

It’s a bit of a strange book, a collection of connected stories that don’t follow on from each other — often the only link is in the common setting of the Empire That Never Was. Consequently, there is little character development (though the narrative voices are to some extent characters in themselves), and each story is just a window on a world that doesn’t exist, with very little context and very little pausing to explain. If you want to know everything about everything, this will prove more frustrating than anything, I think.

But I think it was well done, anyway, with the mythic tone and the air of half-remembered history. Some of the stories are more fascinating than others, but I enjoyed all of them.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Flashback Friday

Review – The Sin Eater’s Daughter

Posted May 19, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 9 Comments

The Sin Eater’s Daughter, Melinda Salisbury

The cover for this book is just gorgeous, and between that and the first chapter, it really drew me in. There are some interesting concepts and politics, actually: I was worried from some of the reviews that it really wouldn’t hit that mark, but the way the queen uses the people around her, even her son, does actually manage to hit some interesting notes. There are a couple of twists I wasn’t really expecting, but in that way where they made sense when they happened, so kudos on that.

Overall, though, thinking about it now, it feels rather thin. I liked the concept of Twylla’s power and was quite prepared for it to be real; the way the plot plays out is actually a little disappointing, since the original idea is so tantalising. It’s also pretty heavy on the romance, and though there are one or two good scenes, mostly I wasn’t that taken with it. The title is disappointing, too; Twylla might be the sin-eater’s daughter, but that’s not really important to the plot, doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. A lot of what I found interesting — like the sin eating — was background, or not real, while the elements I was least interested in were focused on.

Enjoyable enough, but not something I’m desperate to read more of. I’m glad I haven’t already picked up The Sleeping Prince; I might in the end, but not immediately.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, romance, SF/F

Review – The Movement: Class Warfare

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

The Movement: Class Warfare, Gail Simone, Freddie Williams II

It took me so long to get around to reading the second volume of The Movement, I thought I’d better reread the first. Perhaps it was very much of its moment, both in terms of the content and in terms of the effect on me: I wasn’t as taken with it this time round, though there’s still lots to love. The diversity of the characters, in terms of sexuality and gender and even political views. It’s great for the way the characters struggle against each other: they don’t automatically have the same opinions, and some of them clash on fairly fundamental levels (and yet friendship can win out — note to US politicians: try not seeing your opponent as total scum).

The art is still awesome; I love Virtue and Rainmaker in particular. And Tremor. Okay, I just love the art, okay. I do wish at times there was a bit of a brighter colour palette — I can tell I’m reading a DC comic just from the gloomy colouring! Though it is also appropriate to the world that these characters are living in, so it does make sense. (Marvel’s Young Avengers are a much more privileged group, after all.)

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, DC, Gail Simone

Review – The Door into Fire

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

The Door into Fire, Diane Duane

This was a reread for me, since it’s been so long since I read it, and I want to get on and read the second and third book. (Although alas, I don’t know that the fourth book has progressed at all since I bought them.) It’s a refreshing world where, though people have a duty to provide an heir, sexuality isn’t tightly regulated and once you have provided a child, you can love whom you will — and polyamory is also an option. Despite that, it’s not idyllic: the characters don’t always accept their lovers’ choices, don’t always agree with their actions, do things to hurt one another, etc, etc. It’s not falsely optimistic: in fact, the way Herewiss and Lorn hurt each other is very real, and recognisable.

The fantasy elements are fun enough, if somewhat typical (though that might be partially familiarity with later fantasy). Herewiss has access to a power men can’t normally wield, and yet he can’t truly call it forth. Lorn is a king without a kingdom, exiled after usurpation. Segnbora is wandering with Bad Stuff in her past and an inability to use her abilities for other reasons. There’s a fire creature that might call to mind Calcifer at times for those of us who love Howl’s Moving Castle.

There’s all kinds of humanness amongst the fantasy elements, which is what makes good fantasy. I really enjoyed rereading this, because despite feeling typical in terms of the plot, it feels like a world with so much more potential than some other fantasy worlds I could name, because it allows for so much more — it isn’t bound by Christian morality or constrained by our history. It genuinely feels like a separate world with its own reality, and despite the fantasy elements, that’s partly because Herewiss and Lorn never have to worry about being hurt because they’re in love.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, fantasy, queer fic

Review – Dead Man’s Chest

Posted May 16, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Dead Man’s Chest, Kerry Greenwood

Dead Man’s Chest takes Phryne from the comforts of her own home to an attempted holiday, much in the vein of Peter and Harriet’s honeymoon in Sayers’ Lord Peter books, that is to say: a busman’s holiday. For all that, it’s a reasonably relaxed mystery, without too many dead bodies or late night attacks. There’s one or two nastier elements, but for the most part it focuses on Ruth getting to play house. In fact, the nastier element is almost entirely glossed over…

In this book, a new character joins the cast, and I rather hope he’ll be a recurring one. Enter Tinker: a young boy who spends most of his time gadding about and isn’t any too clean or conscientious, until Phryne gets her hands on him. He quickly finds a place in the household, and it doesn’t feel forced; I quickly found myself interested in what Tinker was up to and what was going to happen to him. (And poor Gaston, the dog.)

Some of the usual elements are missing here — I don’t think there’s a single sex scene? — but for the most part, it’s what you’d expect from a holiday with Phryne. It captures the feel of a long warm day pretty well, too — and I’d say you can almost taste the gin and tonic, but I have no idea what that tastes like (and not much inclination to find out).

I think these books have essentially stopped surprising me at all, and instead become something comforting that comes out more or less as I’d expect, and deals with characters you can mostly sympathise with and like. There’s a place for that kind of reading, and I’m not disparaging it at all: it’s just that the Miss Fisher mysteries do somewhat lose their spice as they go along, because you get used to it.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, Kerry Greenwood, mystery

Review – The Bread We Eat in Dreams

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

The Bread We Eat in Dreams, Catherynne M. Valente

If you’re a fan of Catherynne M. Valente’s work, then you probably know what to expect: prose that touches poetry at times, often an influence of Japanese folklore, strange dream-like logic… This is a wide-ranging collection which includes some stories I read elsewhere, or could’ve read elsewhere, like the Fairyland novella about Mallow. The writing is generally beautiful; that’s never really something I doubt with Valente. The choice of stories is also generally good, even though I have encountered some of them in multiple other collections.

It’s probably most worthwhile for the pretty cover and for people who either haven’t read much Valente and want a sampler, or people who read everything she writes and don’t want to miss anything.

Confession: I mostly skipped the actual poetry. I prefer the lyricism of Valente’s prose to anything about her poetry.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Catherynne M. Valente, poetry, SF/F, short stories

Review – Captain America: Civil War Prelude

Posted May 14, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Captain America: Civil War Prelude, Corona Pilgrim et al

So if you were wondering if this is worth getting, the answer is — unless you’re a fanatic collector of the MCU tie-in comics — no. It really doesn’t present much new material: I counted eight pages of new stuff, if we’re being generous. The rest was either recaps of the movies (which, if you’re enough of a fan to be grabbing the tie-in comics, you’ve probably seen) or excerpts from the original Civil War comics. And sure, that might prepare you for the film, I guess, but so would rewatching the movies so far. The movie adaptation (which I have now seen) is different enough from the original comic that it’s not at all necessary to read the comic as a companion.

So there you go. Save your money.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Marvel

Stacking the Shelves

Posted May 14, 2016 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

Yay, it’s the weekend! How’s everyone been this week? I have not got enough reading done, because assignment hell. It’s nearly done, but… gaah, a few more days.

Books acquired:

Because I read Rosemary & Rue and haaad to get the next lined up.

Books finished this week:

Reviewed this week:
–Bryony and Roses, by T. Kingfisher. An interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, with an angle I didn’t quite expect. Much more clear about the curse and the hows and whys of it than is often the case. 4/5 stars
–Lady of Mallow, by Dorothy Eden. A potentially good source of new comfort reads for me, Dorothy Eden’s basic plot/writing style reminds me of Mary Stewart’s suspense/romances, except with less of a sense of place. 3/5 stars
–All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders. Not quite sure what to make of this one; it’s an interesting fantasy vs technology scenario, but I didn’t connect much with the characters. 3/5 stars
–The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin. A reread of a less-liked book in this series. I can see the beauty in it, but I’m just… not a fan in the same way. 3/5 stars
–Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper. Maybe I liked this one a little less than I usually do, because this time I so much wanted more. I do love the books, but… 4/5 stars
–Ink and Bone, by Rachel Caine. Interesting alternate universe: what if the Library of Alexandria was not destroyed, and preserving books and the Library became ever more important? 3/5 stars
–Flashback Friday: The City and the City, by China Miéville. I think I like the idea of some of Miéville’s ideas almost more than the execution sometimes. It’s always worth (for me) hanging on and seeing how it all plays out, but the main draw is the idea. 4/5 stars

Other posts:
–Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Feels. I went off with my own theme this week, rather at random.

Here’s to a good reading week ahead!

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – The City & The City

Posted May 13, 2016 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The City & The City, China Miéville

Originally posted 30th November 2010

I read this one in bits. The last half or so was all in one go, on a long train journey, but for the most part, I just read it in bits, a few pages at a time, and didn’t really get involved with it. I didn’t really care how it ended, for most of the time. I did get tense during the last parts, and I was sad for the main character about the ending, but I didn’t really care, for the most part. I wanted to care more about Corwi and Dhatt, but I didn’t really see enough of them, or enough positive about Dhatt…

I suppose it was pretty realistic, in that, but what actually kept me reading was the core idea — and, to some extent, the mystery. I’ve always said that cities were the most interesting thing about Miéville’s work: he’s really good at making them feel alive, I think. Less the individual parts, more the whole life of the city. This is a particularly interesting one, especially the way he navigates it: nothing here is overtly fantastical or sci-fi ish, really. I mean, it sounds completely far-fetched, but we know how deeply cultural conditioning can affect people, and if you just take it as a thought experiment…

Still, I like the idea — and Miéville evokes his worlds well — but it really didn’t have me on the edge of my seat, or caring about the characters, or needing to read more.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, China Miéville, Flashback Friday, mystery