Review – Ancestors in Our Genome

Posted March 9, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Ancestors in Our GenomeAncestors in Our Genome, Eugene E. Harris
Received to review via Netgalley

I got this as an ARC a while ago, but never got round to reviewing it, which probably isn’t going to do me any good with the OUP approving future requests. Ah, well. This one is, if you know anything about me, obviously right up my street: so much so that most of it wasn’t new to me, whether because I read about it in New Scientist, heard about it in one of the MOOCs I’ve taken part in, or read about it in another book somewhere. So for me this was more of a review than anything: a clearly written overview of what we currently know about human evolution.

So it was almost inevitably interesting for me, but I think I would recommend it for other people too. Harris’ explanations are clear, without going into so much depth that it doesn’t fit in, say, the popular science section. It’s pretty up to date, as one would hope from such a recent publication, and it’s more or less uncontroversial (to my mind, anyway; you may disagree if the very fact that chimpanzees are our close cousins is a subject of doubt for you). So: not revelatory, but solid and easy to read, a good way to update your knowledge and brush up on where the field is now.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Strange Library

Posted March 8, 2015 by in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Strange Library by Haruki MurakamiThe Strange Library, Haruki Murakami

This book seems more design than story, really. It’s presented beautifully, intriguingly. But I don’t get the story at all (which is not a new thing when it comes to me and Murakami, it’s true). The idea of the library with the weird hidden basement, the starling-girl… the creepiness is interesting, the uncanniness.

But in the end, it’s not much of a story, and that’s what I really read for. I’m not averse to weirdness (hello, Jeff VanderMeer), but Murakami’s weirdness never seems to work for me in the same way. I’m glad I borrowed this and didn’t pay full price.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – Acceptance

Posted March 7, 2015 by in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeerAcceptance, Jeff VanderMeer

Let me just say up front: if you’re looking for a resolution, a concrete simple answer, this isn’t the book for you. I think that’s the point: VanderMeer gives us the uncanny, the unknowable, the impossible, and posits that maybe when we come across alien life we’re not gonna know what the heck to make of it. That we might not see any rhyme or reason in what they do — that to us, there may not be any rhyme or reason.

If you’re looking for solutions to some of the smaller mysteries, like what the creation of Area X was like, or why Saul Evans is involved, or anything like that, there’s some of that here. You can find out what happens to some of the characters, like Control and the biologist (though Grace and Ghost Bird are less certain). You get a lot more mystery, atmosphere, weirdness — basically, more of everything you’d expect if you’ve read the previous books.

And I don’t know about anyone else, but I found that I’d got quite attached to the characters. I cared about Saul Evans and Charlie (and excuse me while I’m incredibly pleased about the casual gay couple); I cared about what happened to the biologist and to Grace; I cared about Gloria/Cynthia.

Overall, this is a brilliant trilogy for the pure atmospherics of it. The weirdness. The sense of place. The actual real alienness of Area X, and the paltry efforts of humans to understand, define, dissect it.

Rating: 5/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted March 7, 2015 by in General / 36 Comments

Hmmm, I’ve had a bit of a busy week for acquisitions, compared to what I’ve read. Time to buckle down and get on with it, I think! I’m still within the bounds of my resolutions though, whew. How’s everyone doing?

Bought/received

Cover of A Darkling Sea by James Cambias Cover of Touch by Claire North Cover of The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

I do love Claire North’s work, even if I found her last book disappointing. A Darkling Sea I’ve picked up based on a recommendation, and The Buried Giant is a) by Ishiguro and b) contains Arthurian stuff. Of course I got it on release day!

Received to review

Cover of The Infinite by Lori Lee

Maybe I should’ve finished the first book before requesting this, but hush.

Comics

Operation S.I.N. Spider-woman

Is that a different artist on Spider-woman? Or just the cover? I should go and look. Anyway, yay!

Also, how about that Avengers trailer? Omg, Bruce/Natasha. <3

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Review – Broken Homes

Posted March 6, 2015 by in Reviews / 4 Comments

Cover of Broken Homes by Ben AaronovitchBroken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch
Review from July 30th, 2013

I think I need a support group to talk about this book. Or at least, the end of this book. If you like your books to kick you in the teeth real hard, go ahead and read this one.

At this point, I’ve stopped comparing these books to the Dresden Files because apparently I care a lot more about them and the characters involved than I ever did about Harry Dresden and crew. I’m still a bit disappointed there aren’t more major female characters, but I’m very definitely emotionally invested.

This would’ve been really amazing if it had all connected up. I mean, all the events are connected with one or the other overarching plot or subplot, but it feels a little bit episodic at times. The last half is pretty much unputdownable: I worry I’m already forgetting the first half in the wake of the gut punch that is the second.

One thing I really appreciate about these books is that it’s very much rooted in actual policing. Yes, it’s policing with the involvement of magic and supernatural creatures, but you still have the support network of a policeman — including superior officers to a) answer to and b) drag you out of trouble. On which note, Nightingale’s big scene was amazing. But you don’t have a freelance detective or a guy who can be a loose cannon (e.g. Ian Rankin’s Rebus). You’ve got your average police officer, with much to learn.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Errant Prince

Posted March 5, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Errant Prince by Sasha L. MillerThe Errant Prince, Sasha L. Miller
Received to review via Netgalley

The Errant Prince is a fantasy novella, with an LGBT romance at the heart. It’s set in the kind of world that I love in fantasy, where we haven’t automatically copied over the things we’re bigoted about. Even the fact that Myron is trans doesn’t get as much attention as it might in our world, and as we would assume it would’ve done in medieval-esque societies. It’s also awesome that the issues in this story are not to do with the sexuality or gender of the characters.

It’s also nice that this is a romance story in which there aren’t Terrible Misunderstandings. There’s one, but it doesn’t really count, because they actually communicate about it and sort themselves out before it escalates.

The fantasy aspect isn’t just backdrop, either. There’s some worldbuilding, though I’d welcome more; there’s a lot of information on magic and how it works; there’s a fair idea of the politics and society surrounding the story. It’s not as immersive as I like my secondary worlds to be, but it isn’t two dimensional. Overall, it’s a sweet and enjoyable story — and wonder of wonders, there’s no sex shoehorned in, despite the delicate balance of tension between the two main characters.

Rating: 4/5

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Pull List

Posted March 4, 2015 by in General / 12 Comments

I keep saying that you just have to look at my current pull list to know that there are plenty of awesome female (super)heroes in comics. So hey, here’s my pull list!

  • Captain Marvel.
  • Ms Marvel.
  • Operation S.I.N. (featuring Peggy Carter).
  • Silk.
  • Spider-woman.
  • Spider-Gwen.
  • Thor.

And TPBs I regularly get…:

  • Batwoman.
  • Batgirl.
  • She-Hulk.
  • Red She-Hulk.
  • Black Widow.
  • Saga.
  • The Wicked + The Divine.
  • Anything with Kate Bishop in it.

Aaaand ones I’m looking forward to? Now that Spider-Gwen’s out, I guess that has to be Chuck Wendig and Adam Christopher’s rewrite of The Shield.

So, dudes: you were sayin’?

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Review – The Gabriel Hounds

Posted March 4, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Gabriel Hounds by Mary StewartThe Gabriel Hounds, Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart’s romance/suspense/mystery type novels have been my go-to comfort reading for a while. Unfortunately, now I’ve finished them all and I’m back to the beginning. I mostly grabbed this from my community library to demonstrate that we should totally keep Mary Stewart on the shelves because people want to read ’em, but I’m pretty sure this was the first of her books I read (other than The Crystal Cave), so it makes sense to start over with it!

I think I appreciated it more, this time. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it before, and I was still in a fairly snobby stage about anything with romance in it, but now I’m happy to sink into Stewart’s romances and enjoy the atmosphere, the way she establishes a sense of place. The landscape is as much a part of this as anything else: dusty, hot, romanticised.

I still stick by the judgement that it’s basically Famous Five for adults, in terms of the mystery. Replace drugs with treasure and you’ve got Five on Treasure Island, basically, apart from the fact that then George marries one of her cousins at the end. There are a couple of reasons why the cousin relationship is creepier than normal here: they were brought up practically as siblings, called “the Twins” by their family; their fathers are identical twins. So in terms of DNA, they’re half-siblings, pretty much, bar any epigenetic modifications. I know that maybe it wouldn’t have been viewed that way then, but it still skeeves me out a little.

Still, for drama and adventure and a glorious atmosphere, plus the fact that at least Charles and Christy don’t have a weird power imbalance to their relationship, I have to give this a higher rating than I did before. The other bad point is, of course, the treatment of one of the only other “on-screen” female characters, Halide: a bigger stereotype of the scheming simple Arab servant, I’m not sure you could have. So not 5/5, even if I do really appreciate some aspects.

Rating: 4/5

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted March 3, 2015 by in General / 10 Comments

This week’s prompt for Top Ten Tuesday is “Top Ten Books You Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS from the past 3 years”. Which is a cruel one, I think, because argh, there are so many, and how can I remember when I read them all? But here’s a rough guess. These are, of course, books I’ve read in the last three years, not books published in the last three years, because I say so.

  1. The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison. C’mon, you called it.
  2. Among Others, Jo Walton. This might be a bit out of the range now, but I’ve reread it in the last three years!
  3. Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge. I might shut up about this, someday.
  4. Behind the Shock Machine, Gina Perry. So much research went into this, and it’s a fascinating view on a very famous experiment.
  5. The Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin Extence. Lots of issues that fascinate me, wrapped up in an emotional book.
  6. The Dragon Waiting, John M. Ford. Man, this took so much digging through layers of stuff. I loved it.
  7. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, Allie Brosh. Because <3.
  8. The Grand Sophy, Georgette Heyer. Heyer is awesome, okay.
  9. The Carpet Makers, Andreas Eschbach. I remember this blowing my mind!
  10. The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern. Gorgeous. <3

Tahdah! Now I daren’t look at other people’s lists, you’ll make me want stuff…

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Review – The House on Parchment Street

Posted March 2, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The House on Parchment Street by Patricia McKillipThe House on Parchment Street, Patricia McKillip

This book isn’t really quite what you’d expect if you know McKillip’s other work; it’s for a younger audience, and it feels like a different sort of story altogether. It’s more like… Famous Five, with ghosts; it’s not the total magic of The Forgotten Beasts of Eld or Winter Rose. It’s fairly specifically placed in time and space, and it has a lot of concrete, real-world detail.

The writing is still absorbing, the characters well portrayed, but the magic is really what I read McKillip’s work for, and this wasn’t at all like that. It’s also, as I said, rather younger; the kids are very frustratingly kids. Realistically, but yeesh. Puberty is not so interesting when you’re out on the other side of it.

I’m fairly lukewarm about it, in the end; it was fun enough to read, but it’s not by any measure a favourite and I wouldn’t have minded having to skip it.

Rating: 3/5

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