Blood and Feathers, Lou Morgan

Blood and Feathers reminded me very much of Supernatural, from the morality of the angels/demons through the issues of falling to the general reliance on human firepower — Mallory, one of the main characters, uses guns regularly, rather than any kind of angelic power. As in Supernatural, sometimes it seems as though the angels may not be the best allies, and may not want the best for humanity; some of the demons seem redeemable.

Overall, it’s a fast read, and I found it quite enjoyable. If it had dragged, I might’ve questioned things more or wanted more depth in the world-building, but as it was, Alice didn’t really know what was going on and things continued to reveal themselves to her and the reader at a pretty good clip. Mallory is the kind of character obviously calculated to be interesting to the reader: racked with pain, competent, more sympathetic than some of the others, capable of empathising with Alice. I found myself imagining him as the love child of Dean Winchester and Castiel, somehow — there were bits of both character types in him. Alice herself is more of a blank slate, with vague bits of her past slowly being filled in; nothing to object to, but nothing to attach to either.

I don’t know if I’m going to pick up the next book; while this was a fun enough quick read, I’m not terribly invested in it, and some of the plot ‘twists’ were terribly obvious to me. (The entire character of Gwyn, for example. The ‘mystery’ of what happened to Alice’s mother, for another example.) We’ll see; I’d probably get it from the library, but not buy it.

Rating: 3/5

Library of Souls, Ransom Riggs

The main problem I had with this book — the whole series, really — is that it isn’t an arc of three stories which contribute to one another but are relatively complete in themselves. The story literally continues as if there was no more than a chapter break, which after a couple of months is a bit of a barrier to getting back into it. It does make for a pretty good conclusion though, developing people’s motives and powers, bringing things to a turning point climax. The photographs were integrated the least into the story of all the books — some of them felt like they were there purely as set dressing, which is always a problem for me in worldbuilding. I want more from it.

Still, that sounds like damning with faint praise and for the most part, I definitely enjoyed this, and I enjoyed the fact that Emma and Jacob’s strange situation is explored: the fact that in many ways, she’s much older than him, though she doesn’t look it. The fact that he is caught between two worlds.

The first ending (in my head), where Jacob went back with his parents and had to go to therapy, etc, felt… realistic. He says he’s had crazy adventures, he went missing, and now his parents are glad to have him back but not quite trusting, not quite sure. The ending-after-that seemed like a bit of a cop-out, though; it just made things too easy, with no sting of parting, no difficult period of adjustment, but something like the best of both worlds.

Rating: 3/5

A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar

Sofia Samatar’s first novel has been on my radar for a long time, though I can’t remember quite how I first came across it. Possibly just on Weightless Books! It is very beautifully written, sometimes verging on too much, rather like Catherynne Valente’s work at times. There’s the same sense of poetry-within-prose, and dense layers of imagery and meaning. The writing almost carries its own scent: spices, incense, the acrid desert wind…

The plot is rather a lot slower, and feels a little disjointed to me — the first part is fairly rational and focused on the love of books, without supernatural elements. Then suddenly there are ghosts and angels and religious politics. The transition actually works reasonably well, now I think about it, but thinking about the two different parts of the book, I don’t feel like I was quite prepared for the world Jevick found himself in. From a rational world to a world where he’s, well, hag-ridden.

It sort of lacks resolution, to me: it seems to trail off into something bittersweet, thoughtful, but unsatisfying. That’s probably my own preference as a reader, though; others might find that ending works perfectly.

Rating: 4/5