Posted July 17, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Spectr Volume 2, Jordan L. Hawk
Summoner of Storms concludes volume 2 of these books, so it’s a good point to step back and think about the story so far as a whole. A lot has changed in the last three books, and the status quo is well and truly shattered: things and people aren’t as we thought they were, and Caleb, Gray and John’s relationship has grown.
There’s a lot of good development in these three books, looked at from the end — each individual book might feel pretty short, but together it really builds up. A certain betrayal, and the aftermath of that for several key relationships; the wider plot with SPECTR and what they’re up to; what Gray is and what he can do. I enjoyed that the betrayal wasn’t all someone being an asshole: it makes sense for the characters and their motivations, and all the things they’ve experienced.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy much was the jealousy subplot in the first book of this volume (so book four of the series). I feel like Hawk has leaned on this a bit too much in a bunch of books; it’s very human, but it’s not of interest to me personally.
I’m pretty happy with where the series gets to by this point: each book within this volume advanced things and changed things, and now Caleb, Gray and John are in a whole new world. I’ll be fascinated to see where it goes.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, romance, SF/F
Posted July 16, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Capital Crimes, ed. Martin Edwards
This is an interesting bunch of stories, loosely connected by location, but somehow mostly hitting the same notes — I guess people felt a certain kind of way about London, and that comes through in this collection with a serious sense of unease about the way you can meet just about anyone in London.
The inclusion of Berkeley’s original short story on which he based The Poisoned Chocolates Case was an interesting one; the details seemed very much the same, and I can’t really remember how the novel turns out differently and which characters exactly get suspected there. It makes me a little tempted to reread it!
The truncation of the story set on the Underground feels a little odd — I guess it was long/rambling, but still, it feels like a key bit gets missed out here, the whole solution of the thing.
Overall, an interesting collection as usual.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, British Library Crime Classics, crime, mystery
Posted July 11, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Spectr: Volume 1, Jordan L. Hawk
Reaper of Souls closes the first volume of the Spectr series, so now that I’ve finished it, it seems like an appropriate moment to take a look around and try to review the series so far. Volume one is on a strict timeline: Caleb has been possessed by a drakul, Gray. If Gray can be exorcised before 40 days are up, Caleb can go back to his life. If he can’t, well… there’s normally no hope for a human host/victim after that point. John is an agent with Spectr, and he’s meant to be pretty darn good, but he can’t get Gray out.
As a result, and due to Gray’s unique circumstances (he hunts other paranormal entities, not humans; his possession of Caleb is an accident), John ends up babysitting Caleb while he tries to figure out how to exorcise him — and then Caleb ends up helping him with cases using Gray’s strength and supernatural senses, and then Caleb and John start falling in love.
I enjoyed the ambivalence surrounding Gray — the fact that he seems to care about not harming Caleb, not causing too much trouble, and especially his curiosity about John. John’s confused feelings about both of them add another dimension as well, one that becomes increasingly important toward the end of the volume.
I’m looking forward to reading the second volume and learning how everything shakes out.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Jordan L. Hawk, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted July 9, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, KJ Charles
I’m pretty much committed to reading whatever KJ Charles writes, and she can pretty much always (with one notable exception) win me over. (The exception is Jackdaw. I wonder if that’ll change when I reread it, but I really didn’t love where the relationship started there, and especially not the tricky middle.) So I started this expecting a good time, and wasn’t too surprised to get it, because it’s KJ Charles.
Admittedly, for a bit I wasn’t sure because Gareth was being a bit of a dick — though as ever with KJ Charles’ characters, you can also see why and where it came from (even if you think it’s a bit overblown; human emotions do that). I wasn’t sure how the two of them were going to figure things out, and honestly the first bit was more fraught than I was looking for in a weird mood.
Still, I gave it time, and quickly found myself sucked in. Gareth has his insecurities, but he also has the strength of them: he knows why he’s insecure, and he doesn’t want to see anyone else feel the same way. Joss has a lot of responsibility and steps up to it with ease, and it’s a delight to see him also learn to share his burdens and to take a little for himself. There are some delightful side characters, too (and some vivid, well-drawn but less delightful ones as well).
The mystery is equal billing with the romance — I didn’t find anything too surprising in how it worked out, but I enjoyed the ride.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, K.J. Charles, mystery, romance
Posted July 7, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain’s Lost Love of the Orient, Fatima Manji
Hidden Heritage attempts to bring some hidden gems to life, along with their history and context. It’s not just a game of spotting bits of ‘Oriental’ architecture and influence in Britain, but digging into what they meant at the time and what they might mean now. Much of it was new to me — not necessarily surprising, because I knew these influences existed, but new to me in the specifics, in someone actually bothering to point them out.
Fatima Manji’s writing is clear and easy to read in and of itself, but I especially enjoyed getting to read some bits of history that we’re usually less aware of.
Note: the book uses the term “Oriental”, even though it conflates a whole bunch of different cultures, because that’s how it was perceived at the time, and those cultures were conflated and viewed as one (or at least, as very, very closely related), and thus must be understood in that context.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Fatima Manji, history, non-fiction
Posted July 4, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Suddenly At His Residence, Christianna Brand
There’s something a little same-y about Brand’s writing, particularly between this book and Green for Danger. There are similarities in setup (the small group of suspects), the ingenious plotting to hide the crime, the interactions of the characters as they each blame and suspect the others, and of course the method of detection. Although you couldn’t map the characters one-to-one as being similar, I feel like I’d know this was one of Brand’s books. That makes sense to some degree — after all, it’s the same detective — but it produced such a similar tone and story arc that it felt a little strange to me.
One thing Brand was undeniably good at is ratcheting up the tension for the reader. So many accusations, so many jagged little edges of wounds and half-healed jealousies… and someone in the group is a killer; someone in the group is allowing the others to be suspected.
Like Green for Danger, this isn’t the most comfortable cosy read as a result. I think I liked it more, though — I got a little more interested in the characters and which of them did the crime. The ending of this is pretty harrowing, in a whole different way to Green for Danger. As there, justice is ultimately served, but not through a trial and due process; that is one of the major tropes of Golden Age crime that gives me very iffy feelings.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, British Library Crime Classics, Christianna Brand, crime, mystery
Posted July 2, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment
Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher
I really, really loved Nettle & Bone, and found myself repeatedly picking it up and reading more than I intended. It’s a fairytale of a sort, but one that admits its own darkness, and one which comments on itself and the genre as it goes along. Marra is a fun character: not always very aware of how others are feeling and thinking, not always even particularly quick to understand it herself — but kind, and committed to the course of action she’s chosen.
The supporting characters are great, too — the dust-wife and her chicken in particular, of course, and all the humour that her dialogue brings out — and the world around them. The little details like the saints, and the curse child, and the details of the goblin market.
I wasn’t kidding though about the bits of darkness: check for content warnings, if you think there’s something you might be sensitive about. I’ll keep it to the most obvious one, there’s spousal abuse, miscarriage and the death of a child.
Rating: 5/5
Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, T. Kingfisher
Posted June 30, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment
Scarlet, Genevieve Cogman
Genevieve Cogman’s books have all so far been great reads that quickly got me hooked, and Scarlet wasn’t really an exception! The start is a little bit slower, or perhaps just less inherently compelling to me than a book thief, but the world setup is interesting. I might’ve got off the ground faster if I’d read The Scarlet Pimpernel, but the Wikipedia summary seemed to serve me well enough — especially since the vampires are entirely original to the Pimpernel’s story.
The main character, Eleanor, is a servant who happens to greatly resemble a French aristocrat — someone the Scarlet Pimpernel intends to rescue from the Revolution, along with her children. Eleanor is asked if she’s willing to go and do this, for the sake of a woman and her children, in exchange for getting set up in London as a modiste when she gets back. The group kind of undersell the dangers, but she quickly realises them for herself — and enters whole-heartedly upon the quest, learning how to pass herself off as a French aristocrat, and both enjoying and dreading her exposure to the wider world beyond the estate she originally served.
Is it historically accurate? Of course not. Is Eleanor a little too surprisingly capable, a little too eager to leap into a situation beyond her original/expected station? Perhaps, but it’s fun. I’m intrigued to see where certain aspects of it are going, too — there’s clearly plenty more to come.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Genevieve Cogman, SF/F
Posted June 27, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
The Book of Gems, Fran Wilde
Received to review via Netgalley
I don’t recall loving The Jewel and Her Lapidary, but what I did remember was intriguing, and this said it’s a stand-alone in the same world so I thought I’d give it another shot. I don’t know whether to blame the world-building and coming in on the third installment barely remembering the first, but this just never felt coherent to me. Why was anything happening, what was happening, who are these people even, and why should I care?
It seems like this might be a me thing, from other reviews, but for me it just didn’t come together. Some stuff felt rushed, other stuff I was ready to stop hearing about yesterday or sooner.
Not a good fit for me, I think.
Rating: 2/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Fran Wilde, SF/F
Posted June 25, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Starter Villain, John Scalzi
Received to review via Netgalley
I found Starter Villain a fun, fast read — exactly what I expect from Scalzi’s work. It’s light, it’s a bit quirky, it has his usual sort of narrative voice. The sentient cats are entertaining, and so are some of the other surprises; the dialogue is punchy; the main character is the kind of practical well-I’ll-work-with-what-I’ve-got guy with some wisecracks that you’d expect from Scalzi. And the formula continues to work, for the most part: it kind of sounds like I’m damning with faint praise, but I’m not. I really enjoyed reading Starter Villain.
For me, the thing that let it down was actually at the end. I can’t really say too much about it without spoilers, but I found it very unsatisfying. Maybe appropriate for the character, maybe I should’ve seen it coming, but it felt like a cop-out after all the events of the book. I finished it and I was a little mad about that, because I wanted more of the quirky stuff and not… what I got.
It’s still enjoyable, but probably one I won’t reread or add to my collection.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, John Scalzi, SF/F
