Tag: book reviews

Review – Heartstoppe: Volume 4

Posted March 6, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Heartstopper: Volume 4, Alice Oseman

I should be clear that my star rating here is less about whether the book is good and more about my enjoyment of it… which, after three pretty light-hearted volumes, sank a bit when this book went rather darker and upsetting than the others. Volume 3 introduces Charlie’s eating disorder, but volume 4 shows that he has an eating disorder and OCD — both of which are painful topics for different personal reasons.

There’s still a lot of sweetness in it, as Nick and Charlie grow into their relationship a bit and grow up a bit. There’s also the support of their friends, and particularly of Victoria, Charlie’s older sister (who is completely awesome).

There’s also a very cute bonus comic about the two teachers who get together in volume three, which made me smile a lot. Actually, all the side characters and their relationships are lovely — not always perfect, but lovely all the same.

It’s definitely not bad, and if you’re prepared for it, I can see it being a very satisfying volume of the series. I just wasn’t expecting to feel so sad.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: Alice Oseman, book, book reviews, comics, romance

Review – The Annual Migration of Clouds

Posted March 6, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Annual Migration of Clouds, Premee Mohamed

Premee Mohamed’s writing is beautiful, as I found when reading The Apple-Tree Throne, and I think this novella punches above its weight in terms of the page count. She builds up a whole post-apocalyptic world — a world ruined by climate change, epidemics, and one particular pandemic, a nerve-invading, mind-controlling fungus which can affect its host in a bunch of different ways (from screaming in pain as it invades every organ, to preventing them from taking risks by causing all their muscles to lock, and all sorts of things in between).

It’s very much a book of the last year or two, one that takes a lot of our current worries and preoccupations and reactions and makes a world that reflects them back and elaborates them. The anger at the people who lived so decadently, so freely; the fear of a disease that is not fully understood, cannot be fought; but also the way that some people do manage to live together, work together, make the New Normal work.

It’s both a sad and a hopeful story, and Reid is a pretty ordinary messed up human who loves her mother and says awful things to her, loves her best friend and also gets really mad about his flaws and then immediately turns to him when she’s in trouble. She’s also in the grips of a disease that limits her, which she rages against, and sometimes (sometimes) manages to overcome.

I loved the relationships between Henryk and Reid, and between Reid and her mother, and the delicate web of relationships you see around them — everyone relying on everyone else, because the world’s against them now. And I really liked the ending, which felt hard-won.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Premee Mohamed, SF/F

Review – The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith

Posted March 4, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith, Patricia Wentworth

The Astonishing Adventure of Jane Smith is a fun little one-shot mystery with some of the staples: two girls who are so nearly identical in appearance that one can impersonate the other and briefly fool even her own father, a plucky girl getting into deadly danger for the sake of the realm (even though she has no training and very little knowledge of the situation), a love story (or two) featuring jilted lovers reunited through circumstance, secret underground passages, etc.

Jane is pretty much what you’d expect here: practical, plucky, determined, and a bit pig-headed about being asked to be careful (even though it all turns out okay in the end, and of course that’s because she disobeys and goes off-script). Most of the other characters are bit-parts, even the love interest, though Lady Heritage is surprisingly vibrant — if anything she has more life than Jane through her depth of feeling, which is fairly apparent on several occasions. (By contrast Jane rather suddenly decides Henry is her darling, after previously having turned him down for what we presume are good reasons, given her usual practicality.)

It’s a bit of fun, and being written by a woman, it isn’t quite so bad as a lot of classic mysteries in the way it handles female characters. Jane’s a bit scathing about other girls for not having the same interests or bravery, but she and Lady Heritage aren’t a bit like the rather silly, inconstant girls of some of the mystery fiction written by men. (Hello, John Dickson Carr is calling!)

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, mystery, Patricia Wentworth

Review – The Gilded Wolves

Posted March 2, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi

When I finished this, I felt kind of positive about it, but then I read some other reviews and thought about it more and kind of lost it? Like, it was fun as long as I didn’t think too much about it and let the quippy quirky banter carry me along, but a lot of the details are fading from my mind and I find I don’t really know what to say — which is not really a good sign. If it only works when I’m speeding through it, then that’s not great, and I’d already thought that I wasn’t planning to get the next book unless it’s at the library.

There are definitely fun characters here, particularly Hypnos, and I got rather a soft spot for poor, damaged Tristan. Other readers mentioned not following the world-building, which I found okay actually: nothing astonishing, but okay.

What is disappointing is the amateur nature of the heists, for me. That moment in a fictional heist where it looks like it’s all going wrong… but the mark has actually played into the gang’s hands. I kept waiting for it, because when that works out and feels clever (doesn’t have to be super believable, in my opinion; we can buy that a fantasy heist is super ridiculously clever) then it’s super, super satisfying. But instead, Séverin and his expert gang seem to bungle every single thing they touch. We know they have done successful heists, because we’re told so, but… we don’t get to see it. Why should I believe Séverin is a mastermind when we literally never see him succeed?

I also felt that we lacked a feeling of how the group functions together, why there’s such affection there. It’s not like the cracks started to show under pressure — they were always there. So what makes them an effective team in the first place? Séverin is not, in fact, a genius… so what keeps the group together?

So yeah, fun enough, but felt surprisingly shallow once I thought about it.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Roshani Chokshi, SF/F

Review – Hench

Posted February 16, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Hench, Natalie Zina Walschots

Hench is set in a world where heroes and villains exist; where groups of heroes team up, while younger heroes are sidekicks, and where villains hire help from temp agencies. Anna does data entry, strictly not fieldwork, but as she begins to take a few risks and agree to do a little more, she has the misfortune to cross paths with Supercollider, a hero who leaves more than a little collateral damage in his wake. As she recovers, her leg shattered, she begins to run the numbers: how many people do the heroes kill or seriously wound? How much property damage do they do? What, exactly, do they cost the world?

And of course, her work draws more than a few eyes. Including those of Leviathan, a supervillain with a pretty epic set of resources. Under his tutelage, she becomes the Auditor, and begins to find ways to pick the heroes apart…

It’s strange spending a book rooting for the villains when they are still villainous. Not that Supercollider’s great, either — the things Anna finds out about his cost to the world are true, and he’s a ball of rage in the shape of a man, no hero but a man who hungers for the conflict, the violence, and the adulation he received in response. A man who eats up those around him. If this were an AITA post on Reddit, the answer would be firmly ESH.

Nonetheless, I found myself rooting for Anna, while hating it and criticising her. I think part of the problem is the fairly simplistic world that’s set up here — nuance struggles to find a place in the black and white, and we end up with a book where the heroine does absolutely awful things (the last 50 pages are full of extreme body horror), while we’re still kinda meant to be rooting for her.

I did enjoy the bond that grows between Anna and Leviathan, without ever resorting to being simplistically about romantic love. There’s a very queerplatonic vibe about it at times. There are some great relationships between other characters here too, and lots of snappy dialogue and quippy banter.

I’m torn on how to rate this, in the end: I liked it a lot, for the most part, but on reflection, I felt the last 50 pages went too far.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Natalie Zina Walschots, SF/F

Review – The Hellion’s Waltz

Posted February 14, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Hellion’s Waltz, Olivia Waite

The Hellion’s Waltz is fun, with a con story arguably at the heart of it, rather than the romance. Sophie and Maddie’s relationship is sweet, but it happens so fast, with more attention given to working out the con than their relationship.

It actually feels better balanced at first, but then Sophie’s so swiftly persuaded to help with the con that there’s no real work that needs to be done with the relationship — and without scenes of negotiation and getting closer, I feel like I don’t know Maddie very well as a character (I know Sophie a little better because it feels like we get a lot more of her inner thoughts and decision-making, and definitely see more of her family), and I definitely don’t know the relationship well.

It’s very sweet, don’t get me wrong — it just doesn’t quite feel substantial, and I don’t feel that Sophie and Maddie know each other well enough (on the evidence) to know for sure they have a stable foundation on which to build the triumphant happy ending. So that knocked this book down a star at least in my rating.

The con story is entertaining, though, and getting to see Mr Giles have his comeuppance is deeply satisfying. As someone determined to help other workers, and determined to carry on a parent’s legacy and take care of others, Maddie’s a great character. The other stuff just didn’t quite gel for me.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Olivia Waite, romance

Review – The Apple-Tree Throne

Posted February 13, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The Apple-Tree Throne, Premee Mohamed

This is a strange little ghost story: Braddock returns from war after his commanding officer got most of his unit killed, and was himself killed. Braddock isn’t sure why he survived, what purpose he has now, or where to go: being drafted saved him, gave him purpose, and without that he’s drifting. He speaks at his commanding officer’s funeral and is almost adopted by his parents, slowly being sucked into his place — attending church with them, courting his fiancée…

And all this while, his commanding officer is haunting him. Sometimes angry, sometimes kind, sometimes incoherent, but always there. The ghost of his commanding officer, and the awful pain in his leg (which seems to have already healed).

All of this is set in an alternate history which we only get little glimpses of, and which I’d be curious to explore more of.

It was difficult to see where this is going, and I almost expected it to become way creepier, and to think way less of Braddock than I eventually did. The last page or so sounds a very wistful, bittersweet note. I found it a really interesting setup, beautifully written, and I’m definitely curious to read more of Premee Mohamed’s work.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Premee Mohamed, SF/F

Review – Crossed Skis

Posted February 12, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Crossed Skis, Carol Carnac

Carol Carnac is perhaps better known (at least since the British Library Crime Classics started coming out) as E.C.R. Lorac — one of my preferred writers from that series of reissues. It’s not that her plots are particularly original or different, and in fact they’re usually easy to work out, but it’s the way she writes about people and places, bringing out the atmosphere of place and writing well about ordinary, decent people (for the most part — aside from the criminal).

All in all, her books epitomise the sense of things being set to rights that’s common to a lot of Golden Age crime fiction, and that can be rather comforting if that’s your thing. They’re a reasonable puzzle, and the detectives are generally likeable (unlike, say, John Dickson Carr’s); more Agatha Christie than Dorothy Sayers on the scale of literary pretension. This book is exactly what you’d expect, as a consequence: a decent sense of place, a series of thumbnail portraits about decent, pretty ordinary people in a pretty ordinary situation, and a couple of red herrings.

I found this one a tad obvious, because I very quickly narrowed the field down to two possibles, from all the descriptions and actions of the characters. The setting, though, is lovely — you get the sense of the crowded trains, the cold air, the bubbly enthusiasm of the group of Brits getting away on a skiing holiday together, slightly lacking in inhibitions because it’s not Britain and they don’t all know each other well. The characters are mostly sketched in because the group is so large (16 characters in the traveling party), so I didn’t find it quite as good at bringing characters to life, here.

It all sounds a bit like I’m damning Lorac’s books with faint praise, but I genuinely pounce upon each one that gets reissued, and enjoyed this one too — but it’s like enjoying food from the fish and chip shop rather than a fancy restaurant. Solid and satisfying, but usually not surprising.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, British Library Crime Classics, crime, E.C.R. Lorac, mystery

Review – Wylding Hall

Posted February 7, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Wylding Hall, Elizabeth Hand

Wylding Hall uses Fairport Convention’s real history as a starting point: the tragedy (a suicide in this book, two deaths in a car crash in real life), the music and style, and the time spent at an old house in the countryside (Wylding Hall in the book; Farley Chamberlayne for Fairport Convention)… and then Hand takes it off into imagination. It’s not really about Fairport Convention, just using them as a jumping-off point, but if you’re into their music you can’t help but think of them while you read. (Though this time I was thinking about Siobhan Owen’s version of “Scarborough Fair”, as well. There’s something wistful and otherworldly about her voice that makes a good accompaniment to this book.)

The format is of interviews with the remaining members of the band and some other people who got involved in the story — as if it’s a documentary, long after the fact. Slowly, each character contributes what they saw, heard and felt, building up a picture of something eerie and chilling, but indeterminate. Hand is very careful not to reveal the horror until near the end.

I think the Neolithic barrow with Julian’s watch in it and the final photo of the girl are probably actually a bridge too far — it takes the book from being haunting and eerie, lightly touched by something ancient and unknowable, and gives it a moment of horror that doesn’t quite sit with it. It doesn’t spoil the book, but it’s a slightly discordant note. Then again, without that finality, it’d feel like the story just tails off. So maybe that’s the best ending, after all.

The book was a reread for me; not something I’d have predicted myself rereading, but the book does have something special, that restless strangeness at its heart that doesn’t have a satisfying answer. It came back to me all of a sudden when someone was talking about a different book written in interview format, and I suddenly had to read it again!

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Elizabeth Hand, horror, SF/F

Review – The Councillor

Posted January 31, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

The Councillor, E.J. Beaton

I really enjoyed this book. Reviews that mention it being slow aren’t wrong, but that was part of the appeal: it took a while for me to get into the world, to understand Lysande’s place in it and how to interpret everything that was happening, and once I did understand that, I was immersed. I’d regularly pick it up to read a couple of pages and emerge again half an hour later unaware that time had passed.

The characters are all flawed in their own ways, despicable in their own ways, like real humans. Lysande has her addiction and her ambition; Luca Fontaine is a cold-blooded snake; everyone in Axium is wedded to an “everything has a place” motto that means “the poor stay in their place”… and Sarelin Brey, the queen who is murdered (this isn’t a spoiler, it’s in the blurb), is the most flawed of all: a good warrior, a victorious leader with the gift of making people love her, and a poor queen for those who won’t stay in their place, or who happen to have been born with magic. I think the book does a great job of exploring that, of how you can be both flawed and great.

The relationships between Lysande and Derset, and Lysande and Luca, are pretty amazing — the power plays between them, done subtly, without explicit detail, but leaving it very clear what everyone wants.

I have one frustration, and that’s the fact there were two plot points that I grasped a long time before Lysande, despite her supposed intelligence. Partly that’s because she got blinkered by looking in the wrong place, which is very human, but it’s still a bit frustrating. They felt very obvious to me, and it felt a touch clumsy that she didn’t get it.

I wish there was more right now.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, queer fic, SF/F