Review – Song for a Dark Queen

Posted July 3, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Cover of Song for a Dark Queen by Rosemary SutcliffSong for a Dark Queen, Rosemary Sutcliff
Review from 10th November, 2011

I found, in a corner of my university library I’d never seen before, a couple of Rosemary Sutcliff’s books I hadn’t read. This was one of them — the story of Boudicca, as told by her harper, interspersed with extracts from the letters of a Roman soldier to his mother. I think this is maybe the most female-centric of Sutcliff’s books that I can think of, and yet it’s told in the voice of a man, so there’s that. As with all Sutcliff’s books, it was readable and well-paced, and well-researched: there’s a poetry to it, too. The end made me choke up a little, even.

I don’t know why I didn’t like it more. I think there was just something eroticised about Boudicca’s war-making, something discomforting — which is appropriate, in a way, for a dark queen… But why does her power come most when she’s eroticised and her children violated?

In that sense, too, I found it more violent than most of Sutcliff’s work — more adult, I guess. There’s references to rape, seemingly on both sides, and there’s a lot of blood and guts.

I rarely give advice to parents in my reviews, but this time I feel it’s warranted. I wouldn’t go so far as to say prevent your children from reading it, but I do think you should read this one first and assess whether your child would be alright with reading it. It discomforts me, as an adult woman; as a child, I don’t know whether the references would have gone over my head or not, but I think I would have caught the horror of it anyway.

Rating: 3/5

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July TBR

Posted July 2, 2015 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

So June’s TBR didn’t really go down as well as I’d hoped. I’m gonna blame the holiday, though: so much to do, so little time. I’m not going to have everything in the catch-up section, just the ones I think I actually will get round to. Here goes…

ARCs

  1. The Raven’s Head, Karen Maitland.
  2. The Dead in their Vaulted Arches, Alan Bradley. (I know, I know. Way late.)
  3. The Philosopher Kings, Jo Walton.
  4. Adaptation, Malinda Lo.
  5. A Suitable Replacement, Megan Derr.

Library

  1. A Dance in Blood Velvet, Freda Warrington.
  2. The Goddess Chronicle, Natsuo Kirino.
  3. Half the World, Joe Abercrombie.
  4. Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling.
  5. Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling.

Owned

  1. Assassin’s Blade, Sarah J. Maas.
  2. Heir of Fire, Sarah J. Maas.
  3. Fair Game, Josh Lanyon.
  4. An Ember in the Ashes, Sabaa Tahir.
  5. Clariel, Garth Nix.

Rereads (including books counting as owned-unread because of ebook duplicates)

  1. The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch.
  2. Red Seas Under Red Skies, Scott Lynch.
  3. Powers, Ursula Le Guin.
  4. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling.
  5. Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling.

Catching up (from last month’s TBR)

  1. Heartless, Gail Carriger.
  2. Timeless, Gail Carriger.
  3. Abhorsen, Garth Nix.
  4. Named of the Dragon, Susanna Kearsley.
  5. The Winter Sea, Susanna Kearsley.

Wildcards

  1. The Killing Kind, Chris Holm. (ARC.)
  2. One Night in Sixes, Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson. (Bought, book club read.)
  3. Poison, Sarah Pinborough. (Library.)
  4. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling. (Challenge read.)
  5. Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. (ARC.)

ETA: tweaked this a bit because I forgot about a book challenge I was doing. Some of the original list, alas, will have to wait!

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Review – After the Golden Age

Posted July 2, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of After the Golden Age by Carrie VaughnAfter the Golden Age, Carrie Vaughn

It’s been a while since I read this the first time, so I felt I should revisit it before I read the second book, even though I gather that follows the next generation. I was right that I needed to do that: a lot goes on that I’d forgotten the details of. I think this was the first superhero novel I read, possibly before I got into comics; it’s made me eager to read as many other superhero novels as I could, though so far I’ve just got to the point of collecting them all up, not actually reading them yet…

Anyway, this is a fun story; actually, it’s not exactly a superhero story in the traditional sense, because while the main character is the daughter of superheroes, she doesn’t have any powers of her own, unless you count being a kickass accountant. I guess on a second read you can see that it’s a little bit predictable, that the characters are not all developed… it’s a little bit tropey: I can see that same parental relationship problem as there is in Perry Moore’s Hero, for example. It’s a fairly predictable problem to have if your parents are really famous, let alone if they have superpowers. Worse if you don’t have superpowers.

I did like, though, that there was a certain ambivalence about Warren. He’s a hero, sure, and he’s learned to control things. And his daughter is important to him. But then he’s also thinking mad things like dropping his daughter off a roof to see if her power is flight, and nearly attacking her because she doesn’t go his way… And then again, on the flip side of that, he’s doing his best to rein himself in and reconcile. And they don’t quite reconcile, it’s not quite that easy, but they make some moves in that direction. Celia herself is a little ambivalent: she feels like she could flip and go with the supervillains, she has spent time with her father’s main adversary primarily to split from her parents and rile him up.

The relationship with Arthur Mentis could be problematic, but they kind of deal with the fact that he knew her as a child, and the story definitely deals with the way his mindreading affects the relationship.

All in all, it’s still really enjoyable, at least to my mind, and I’m looking forward to fiiiinally reading the sequel.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The City

Posted July 1, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of The City by Stella GemmellThe City, Stella Gemmell

I hoped to love this, because I have enjoyed the late David Gemmell’s work (some of it more, some less), but this just went too slow for me. I don’t necessarily mind a slow build, but this was a trope salad: it felt like typical epic fantasy, and the prose didn’t elevate it above that. Sure, the prose and setting were decent, and some aspects of the setting were really well described — the darkness, claustrophobia and caution endemic among the sewer people, for example. But it was lacking… something. A spark, some originality, characters to love; any one of those things would have rescued it, for me.

So, at around 20% of the way, I confess I stopped reading. If you’re looking for epic fantasy, this might still be your thing; maybe if I was in the mood for something comfortingly traditional, it would’ve gone down okay. But I’ve got Raymond E. Feist and David Eddings and, indeed, David Gemmell, for traditional fantasy. I wanted something fresh, and The City wasn’t it. I didn’t expect Stella Gemmell to burst any major boundaries, but this story felt like it could be set in part of Feist or Eddings’ worlds, rather than a new fantasy world dreamed up entire.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – The Girl at Midnight

Posted June 30, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Girl at Midnight by Melissa GreyThe Girl at Midnight, Melissa Grey

Hm. I got 150 pages into this and stopped to take stock, and found too many correlations between this and Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone to keep reading without looking up some other reviews to see if I was the only one. And… I’m not. And the reviews indicated more points of similarity, and not just with Taylor’s work, but also with Cassandra Clare’s. So I took a deep breath and started reading again, but sceptically, which was probably enough to harm the book right there without the surfacing of other similarities.

Let’s look at them, shall we? The doorways. The Ala and her likeness to Brimstone. The two races locked in battle, without a clear cause or end. The warlord (Thiago/Altair). Animal aspects (though this time for both races). Love surviving reincarnation. A Romeo and Juliet set-up. The two main characters wanting peace. Even the tone of it, the desire to conjure magic in mundane human spaces, it all seemed so familiar.

I wanted to like this, I really did. I had it on a list of anticipated books, and I even bought a copy, despite having originally got a review copy. It’s like, jeez. You start a story in a library, you wax poetic about books, and then you betray me like this? I like to believe that the author didn’t intend for all these similarities to be here, but they were, particularly as I’m just about to read the final book of Laini Taylor’s trilogy, and the story so far is fresh in my mind. I feel played by this book.

It’s not badly written, and for that, two stars. It’s just… not the breath of fresh air it was hyped to be.

Rating: 2/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 30, 2015 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

This week’s theme is the top ten books read so far in 2015. Which is at least easier than all-time favourites or something like that!

  1. Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan. Or Tropic of Serpents, in fact. I gave them both five stars!
  2. Acceptance, Jeff VanderMeer. Though it’s the whole series, really; they’re so weird, and I think you do need to read all three to get a good picture.
  3. Grave Mercy, Robin LaFevers. Or the second book… I might even prefer the second book. But yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked these.
  4. The Just City, Jo Walton. Nobody’s surprised. Are you?
  5. Season of Storms, Susanna Kearsley. Go on, break my heart, you meanie.
  6. Lock In, John Scalzi. Really fascinated me.
  7. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Okay, okay, I know it’s a reread, but I discovered a whole new appreciation for it.
  8. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. I might not have given it five stars myself, but it is pretty awesome.
  9. A Court of Thorns & Roses, Sarah J. Maas. I wasn’t a huge fan of Throne of Glass, though it’s fun, but ACOTAR… yeah.
  10. The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge. I don’t love it like I loved A Face Like Glass, but. Yeah. <3

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s, but bear in mind I’m in Canada on holiday right now and might not get much chance to comment!

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Review – Ring of Bright Water

Posted June 29, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Ring of Bright Water by Gavin MaxwellRing of Bright Water, Gavin Maxwell

I wanted to read this after having a go at Miriam Darlington’s Otter Country, which in many ways revolved around this book and the landscape described by Gavin Maxwell. He got much closer to the animals than Darlington, so perhaps it’s not surprising that his account is more interesting and vital. Otters were, not quite pets, but definitely companions for him, in a way that Darlington had no opportunity to understand.

Maxwell takes such a delight in the landscape and the antics of the creatures within it, both the wild ones and those he tamed or half-tamed, that it’s impossible not to enjoy this, for me. He wasn’t ashamed of his love for the animals, and sometimes that just shines through so clearly.

It’s not some adventure story, not such a battle of wills as, for instance, H is for Hawk chronicles. Mostly, it’s worth reading for that delight in nature, described with love and attention to detail. If you’re not interested in autobiography and nature writing, it’s probably not for you.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Posted June 28, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna ClarkeJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke

This was a reread for me, so I knew exactly what I was in for — a long book, with digressions and ramblings. A book that echoes, pastiches, draws on the tradition of an older sort of novel, establishing a narrative of literature and scholarship around itself with its footnotes and references. A book of magic, and fallible people, and old enchantment. It’s a novel other people have found badly paced, slow, boring, full of unlikeable characters, unbearable, etc.

Obviously, because this was a reread, I didn’t find the pacing terrible or the characters so unlikeable as to ruin it; in fact, now I’ve finished it, I could almost be tempted to begin again right now. I love this book even more than I did the first time I read it. Clarke creates a wonderfully rich world, full of people who act like people — self-interested; lazy; careless; fearful; brave; heroic; clever… It strikes me that it’s easier to list dozens of ways you can be less than ideal than it is to come up with dozens of ways to be ideal, so perhaps there’s some truth in saying that this book is heavy on the less-than-ideal characters. Which is fine, by my lights, because so is life. If you spend time in the world, you see all the major characters doing things both good and bad, making sins of commission and omission, quarrelling and loving.

I find it an incredibly rich world, and I was sorry to be finished. I want to know what Strange and Norrell study, what Childermass does, whether Arabella ever sees Strange again, what the new King is like… I love the way it uses some of our legends and stories about magic and fairies, but adds to them and draws them together. I loved that it was a really solid read, something I could lose myself in. I love reading all the time, but I especially love it when a book opens a new world to me instead of just letting me observe that world, and that’s how I feel about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I could feel while reading as though if I turned and looked at a mirror, it might be a door leading to who-knows-where — and while under Clarke’s spell, I’d take that door in a heartbeat.

Rating: 5/5

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Review – Ladies of the Grand Tour

Posted June 27, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ladies of the Grand Tour by Brian DolanLadies of the Grand Tour, Brian Dolan

This is an interesting and worthy subject for study: the enlightenment and freedom women found (or didn’t find) while on the ‘Grand Tour’, a round of Continental travel that naturally only the rich could pull off. This is a time where women were just beginning to consider that they might have rights, when the French Revolution was still rumbling on. It’s well researched and while sometimes dry, usually interesting enough to read, if a bit offputting when it focuses on ‘extra-marital affairs and bastard children’, as another reviewer put it. I didn’t find it quite as single-minded as they did, but yes, it does discuss the way women began to pull free of social restrictions on their behaviour.

Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of Glamour in Glass or A Natural History of Dragons and the female characters there who push against the boundaries of society and make discoveries, become equal partners with men, etc. Some of that spirit is here, too, in the real women Dolan studies.

Rating: 3/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted June 27, 2015 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Greetings from Canada! Though my WordPress scheduling still has stuff going up at my standard UK posting times, I am indeed far from home.

So the haul this week… I got The Long and Faraway Gone due to a giveaway Chris Holm did. <3 I hadn’t heard of it before, but I’m intrigued. And then, well… Canadian bookshops. Calgary is amazing.

Cover of The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney Cover of Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold Cover of Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences by Ursula Le Guin

Cover of Mission Child by Maureen F. McHugh Cover of A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Cover of Reading in the Brain by Stanislaw Dehaene

Cover of Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link Cover of Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Cover of Armor by John Steakley

Cover of The Thousand Names by Django Wexler Cover of Dinosaurs Without Bones by Anthony Martin Cover of Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

And me and my partner jointly got Nimona. And she got Sex Criminals and Loki: Agent of Asgard. We share comics anyway; reminds me I need to lend her The Wicked + The Divine if I haven’t yet. And is the next TPB of that out?

Cover of Nimona by Noelle Stephenson Cover of Sex Criminals: One Weird Trick by Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky Loki: Agent of Asgard #2

Seriously; Shelf Life on 4th Street SW was okay, Indigo in the Core was great, but Fair’s Fair on 9th Avenue/8th Street was a paradise.

And here’s our weird Canadian encounter for the week: while stood at a bus stop with our bags of purchases, my partner and I noticed a guy walking towards us with a book in hand. Naturally we wondered what it was, but I didn’t let her ask (I’m too British). As he came up to us, he asked if we liked books. Partner said yes and showed him the bags as proof. He dropped his book into the bag and walked on before we even had chance to say thank you.

Cover of Margin for Murder by Bronte Adams

I’m not sure if I’m gonna read it, but I will keep it for the story of how I got it…

What’s everyone else been getting? Are you anywhere exciting this week?

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