I read through to the end of Cold Fire because I wanted to know how things turned out, but at times Elliott has a tendency to confuse gratuitous plot I read through to the end of Cold Fire because I wanted to know how things turned out, but at times Elliott has a tendency to confuse gratuitous plot twists for ones that add convincing complexity. Elliott's got a gift for scene-setting, but the more I actually think about the world-building the less sense it all makes. While I like Cat and Bee and love that their friendship is one of the hearts of the story, it frustrated the hell out of me that both women spent much of the book being passive, often bafflingly so. (It's one thing not to know which direction to go in when you're lacking all of the background information, for instance, but if you know that something bad has happened/will happen to your loved ones, why would you just sit around waiting for stuff to happen?) So this was very much a novel of, well I liked these things, I disliked these other things, balancing out to a solid 'meh.' I'll likely finish out the trilogy but I don't know that I could be persuaded into picking up anything else by Elliott. ...more
This is a quick, entertaining paranormal romance read, the plot of which is largely summed up by the title—in Handcuffed to the Bear, Casey wakes up nThis is a quick, entertaining paranormal romance read, the plot of which is largely summed up by the title—in Handcuffed to the Bear, Casey wakes up naked in the woods and finds that she's been cuffed to a similarly naked stranger, Jack. They have to work together to make it out alive. Esker does a good job on the action-adventure side of the plot, and in having the romance build slowly and believably (there's no stopping for sex while they're running for their lives, for instance), and the cast of characters is refreshingly diverse along a number of axes. There were a couple of points where I found myself squinting at the dialogue, though—for instance, when was the last time you heard a person in real life address a group of people as "you fools"? Still, a light, escapist read. ...more
A quick and compulsive read, Uprooted is a fantasy novel set in an alternate sixteenth-century Poland, where a young girl called Agnieszka is spiritedA quick and compulsive read, Uprooted is a fantasy novel set in an alternate sixteenth-century Poland, where a young girl called Agnieszka is spirited away from her home by a wizard and finds herself plunged into a world of magics and politics. The plot was engrossing and while it was difficult at times for me to follow the descriptions of the battle/fighting scenes (I don't have that kind of visual imagination), I found myself pulled along regardless. I really liked Agnieszka and her best friend, Kasia; I loved that a female friendship was one of the core elements of this story, and that it was complicated and solid all at once.
The romance between Agnieszka and the Dragon, however, left me lukewarm at best; Novik does tropes well, but this isn't the kind of relationship trope I'm very fond of, and there wasn't enough subversion in how the relationship was presented to allow me to overcome those misgivings.
Still, a good read, and I'd happily read more stories set in this world.
(Minor but uncontrollable historian's nitpick: that's not what a prince(ss) consort is.)...more
This felt like a lot of set-up for a second and much more interesting book. I was intrigued by Cold Magic's world-building—an alternate, magic-wieldinThis felt like a lot of set-up for a second and much more interesting book. I was intrigued by Cold Magic's world-building—an alternate, magic-wielding England during the Industrial Revolution, on the edge of a Europe where the Romans never defeated the Carthaginians and where Mandé peoples from West Africa have long intermarried with Celtic peoples of northern England to create a hybrid culture, one which is just recovering from the effects of its own Napoleonic Wars—just enough to want to continue on with the trilogy. There are an awful lot of possibilities opened up by the historical changes which Elliott has set up here—though I have to admit that I'm uneasy about her decision to have North America be inhabited by trolls rather than humans before the arrival of a Welsh explorer called ap Meuric.
However, the pacing and the characterisation don't seem to have received the same care as did the world-building, and I'm very rarely a fan of the "You've tried to kill me but gosh your jawline is pretty so I guess we must be in love" school of romance. (Yes, I love Pride and Prejudice, but much of the action of that book revolves around the interaction between Lizzy and Darcy and a mutual reassessment of their interactions with one another and of themselves—the development of Catherine and Andevai's relationship is given much shorter shrift and would have needed a lot more breathing space for me to buy it, let alone root for it.) It wasn't Jane Eyre bad, but I'm not at all invested in their relationship right now. We'll see what Volume 2 brings, I suppose. ...more
(I read an ARC; details of the text may change prior to publication)
This tie-in novel to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast centres its narrative on tw(I read an ARC; details of the text may change prior to publication)
This tie-in novel to the Welcome to Night Vale podcast centres its narrative on two minor characters from the show: Diane Crayton and Jackie Fierro. Many other characters make appearances, and there are frequent excerpts from the radio show (which I had no problem in reading in Cecil's voice), but the bulk of the book is about Jackie and Diane and how they have to work together to figure out what's going on with King City and a certain mysterious man in a tan jacket.
This is an entertaining book—Fink and Cranor answer some long-held questions about Night Vale and raise some others, there are some fun/atmospheric set pieces—but not one that needed to be 400 pages long. It could likely have been edited down by 100 pages and not lost anything, especially since some of the lines that could be just about carried off in podcast form sound even more like a first year philosophy student striving for profundity when written down. Definitely readable, but I don't know that it's going to have much appeal to people who aren't already fans of the show. ...more
Really more like 2.5 stars—this was less frustrating than The Countess Conspiracy but still not wholly enjoyable. The novel never really coalesced forReally more like 2.5 stars—this was less frustrating than The Countess Conspiracy but still not wholly enjoyable. The novel never really coalesced for me. Partly this was because a lot of the relationship between Free and Edward required a lot of miscommunication, or no communication at all, which is always an irritant for me. (Oh, and there's some angsty wallowing on the part of the male lead, which I'm no more a fan of.) Partly this was because, while I totally get the desire to write a wish fulfilment fantasy about female empowerment in 1870s England, the attitudes and speech of the characters frequently struck me as anachronistic.
Do I believe that there were women in the late Victorian period who shared Free's beliefs about gender and economic equality? Sure. Do I believe that they would have expressed them in the terms and modes in which Free does? No. I get that in the afterword, Milan describes her books as an "alternate history", but for me, if something is an alternate history, it's got to branch off from "our" history somewhere. I can only see arbitrary changes here, but I can't see the causation, and that's what niggles at me—petty, perhaps, but that's just how my mind works.
(Also, the cover baffles me: even if that ballgown weren't anachronistic, it doesn't at all seem like the kind of thing the main female character would ever wear. Far too impractical.)...more
The weakest of the series so far. While I appreciate that since elevating Violet and Sebastian from minor characters in the previous books to the leadThe weakest of the series so far. While I appreciate that since elevating Violet and Sebastian from minor characters in the previous books to the leads here inevitably means that we learn new things about them, Violet in particular didn't seem of a piece with the woman we'd met before. And while I appreciate the fact that Milan is careful to incorporate female friendships, and women's own intellectual lives and pursuits, into her writing, The Countess Conspiracy just got far too melodramatic for me. By the end of the novel I actually found myself, not rooting for Sebastian and Violet to get together, but thinking that it might be healthier for them just to remain friends.
I'm also not sure how (view spoiler)[re-writing the history of science and women's formal involvement in higher education, attributing discoveries which were actually made by men to women and having universities in the UK, the US, and France clamouring to award doctorates and faculty positions to a woman in the 1860s (!) is actually reclaiming anything. (hide spoiler)] It just made the book seem even more soap-ish and made it more difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. ...more
Another solidly entertaining outing, with romantic leads whose flaws are mostly realistic and which help to drive large parts of the plot. I also realAnother solidly entertaining outing, with romantic leads whose flaws are mostly realistic and which help to drive large parts of the plot. I also really liked that Milan is careful to show that Victorian England wasn't entirely populated by the white upper-classes; that female friendships aren't shunted to one side; and that she writes women who are confident and unabashed about the fact that they would like to have sex.
The pacing does get wonky towards the end, though, and there was one scene (on the horse, in the rain) that I think was supposed to be romantic and sexy but just had me squinting in logistical confusion. The fact that Milan does spend time thinking about how race and class and gender worked in Victorian England also makes it stand out all the more when there are things that she doesn't consider. Still, I'll likely read more in this series. ...more
A solid and mostly enjoyable romance novel. Milan does a good job at creating distinct and likeable characters who have a believable attraction to oneA solid and mostly enjoyable romance novel. Milan does a good job at creating distinct and likeable characters who have a believable attraction to one another, and who mostly talk to one another about things rather than letting misapprehensions fester. Sadly, however, Robert and Minnie did always feel more like 21st century Americans playing dress-up than they did 19th century English people.
One thing which I noticed here and in other historical romance novels that I've read: what is it about saddling aristocratic characters with terribly long names of dubious authenticity and then having them trot them out, along with their full title, at every introduction or when they sign a letter? "I'm Alastair Brayden Christopher Darlington, Fifth Earl of FigurativeTitle, pleased to meet you", etc. I've met members of the nobility and that is not a thing that happens. ...more
Reading things backwards probably doesn't help, but I liked this a lot less than I did the third volume. It felt disjointed and was confusing at pointReading things backwards probably doesn't help, but I liked this a lot less than I did the third volume. It felt disjointed and was confusing at points; there were some nice characterisation moments for Clint and Kate but I wanted more for them. The last instalment, told through pictographs from the dog's perspective, is no doubt a great idea but doesn't really work for someone like me, who's more text-oriented than anything else, and I have no idea what the hell's going on with the clown or if I'm even supposed to know what's going on with the clown. ...more
This volume was my introduction to the series (and to Kate Bishop). I really enjoyed it! The plot in and of itself may have lost something from my notThis volume was my introduction to the series (and to Kate Bishop). I really enjoyed it! The plot in and of itself may have lost something from my not knowing the background to some of the events which happened here, but I thought this run of issues formed a solid coming-of-age story arc regardless. Kate's a great character and I'll definitely check out the rest of the series. ...more
This is a nice, slow-build, second-chance-at-love novel. Oliver and Seth were childhood sweethearts who broke up when they were undergrads. Now it's sThis is a nice, slow-build, second-chance-at-love novel. Oliver and Seth were childhood sweethearts who broke up when they were undergrads. Now it's six years later, Oliver is a grad student in England and Seth is an up-and-coming star on Broadway and they've got to figure out if they should try to make things work between them again. Stone does a good job at making the relationship development feel organically two steps forward, one step back, and surrounding the leads with a cast of nicely sketched supporting characters.
There were, however, a couple of relatively minor things which prevented me from enjoying the novel fully. The first is that Oliver is trying to decide between the British and American doctoral systems, neither of which was described quite accurately (a PhD in the British system, for instance, doesn't take six years to complete). The second was Moira, Oliver's Sassy Irish Friend. It wasn't that Moira's dialogue was made up of words and phrases that Irish people wouldn't say—it's that it was made up of several different Irish dialects (and some Scottish words—Irish people don't say that we "ken" something, unless maybe in Ulster Scots? But she was pretty clearly supposed to be a Catholic from the Republic) and Moira at once sounded like a 20-something and like my grandmother. It'd be like having an American character show up and say, "Howdy, I'm fixing to go get me a hoagie and pop before I get on line to go lindyhopping with this groovy dame here in my home town of Los Angeles", or an English character say, "What ho, chaps, I'm a Scouser from down t'mill innit?" It jarred me out of the novel every time she spoke and it's all the more frustrating because it's the kind of thing that's relatively easy to fix....more
A fast-paced, light read. DJ Lanning lives in a tiny, quiet town in rural Illinois, where the only job he can scrounge up is part-time in the local gaA fast-paced, light read. DJ Lanning lives in a tiny, quiet town in rural Illinois, where the only job he can scrounge up is part-time in the local gas station and where his romantic prospects as a gay man are slim. Then, while helping to set up for the town's annual winter carnival, he runs into a mysterious stranger called Ransom, who may just be the kind of guy DJ's been looking for. Wier's scene-setting was great—I really bought Osmar as a fading Midwestern small town, populated with some quirky characters (including Amber, one of the POV characters, whom I adored). I would have liked a couple more scenes between DJ and Ransom where we got a little more chemistry between them, got to see a little more of them getting to know one another, but I get how plot reasons made that difficult to do. Still, very enjoyable, and I look forward to further books in the series. ...more
This third volume keeps expanding the universe outwards: Alana, Marko and their baby, together with their ghost babysitter and mother(-in-law) Klara sThis third volume keeps expanding the universe outwards: Alana, Marko and their baby, together with their ghost babysitter and mother(-in-law) Klara seek out D. Oswald Heist, the author of the trashy romance novel that's also a subversive manifesto and the inspiration for Alana and Marko's star-crossed relationship. There are also two newly-introduced journalists and a figure from The Will's past, plus all the other characters we've met previously. It's to the writer's credit that somehow the cast doesn't feel overly crowded. I'm greatly enjoying how many female characters there are in the cast, by the way, and characters of colour. ...more
Another fun installment, though I'm hoping that future issues will provide further flashbacks that fill in, say, the early development of Alana and MaAnother fun installment, though I'm hoping that future issues will provide further flashbacks that fill in, say, the early development of Alana and Marko's relationship. I'm not sure that what we're given here truly works to bolster the idea of a relationship strong enough to overcome a lifetime of socialisation to despise the other. The world-building continues to be wildly inventive, and somehow charmingly vulgar; Staples' artwork does a good job of grounding it so that it doesn't feel too over-the-top.
(I'm pretty amused at the fact that one of the languages spoken in this series—Blue—is actually Esperanto and that I actually can parse most of the dialogue thanks to knowing some French and Latin.)...more
The Magicians and Mrs Quent is a fun but ultimately frustrating book, set in an alternate Regency England (called "Altania"—I presume a portmanteau ofThe Magicians and Mrs Quent is a fun but ultimately frustrating book, set in an alternate Regency England (called "Altania"—I presume a portmanteau of "Alternate Britannia") where days and nights vary so wildly in length that you can only know how long tomorrow will be by consulting an almanac, the most ancient forests are dangerous and quasi-sentient, and where gentlemen study magic at university. These interesting ideas, however, exist within a pastiche of classic literature—mostly Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Jane Eyre—so clumsily welded together that at times the book seems more shoddily derivative than an homage.
It also didn't seem as if Beckett had done much reading about late eighteenth/early nineteenth century history outside of those novels, because at times there were such anachronisms of thought, speech and behaviour that I winced. Now, I know the obvious response to that is that this is a fantasy novel set in a fictional world, that it's not truly Regency England and perhaps here it's entirely usual for governesses to be sent out to purchase butter for a stately home, for women of the gentry to dress themselves (stays and all, I presume), and for an unmarried man to sit in an unmarried woman's bedroom, amongst other things. Yet in an alternate history novel like this, "our" world always serves as the foundational element, what helps us to make sense of what's going on in the alt-history work and appreciate the differences, and since Beckett's writing betrays no understanding of historical sensibilities, large chunks of the world-building fell flat for me.
Combine this with some terrible pacing and jarring tonal shifts, and The Magicians and Mrs Quent is a mediocre-to-okay book that could have been really good if Beckett had had an editor wiling to be stern with him. I don't think that I'll be hunting out the sequel....more
I had mixed feelings about this one. Lahiri's prose didn't thrill me here as it has previously done; so many sentences seemed at once laboured over anI had mixed feelings about this one. Lahiri's prose didn't thrill me here as it has previously done; so many sentences seemed at once laboured over and dull, and at times Lahiri confused repetition with elaboration or evocation. The characters weren't unconvincing as people, necessarily—all of the main characters, at various points, act in selfish ways, fail to communicate with others, are unhappy and take it out on others. But I never felt like I got to know them as people. Lahiri inexplicably chose to spend large chunks of the book narrating from the perspective of Subhash, whom I found the least interesting of all—I'm sure he'd make a fine co-worker but he's not someone I want to read a novel about.
Gauri, Bela, and Udayan, were kept remote from the reader; we were told some of what they felt, but rarely shown it, and they all seemed pretty static characters, little inclined to change over time. They are at 20 as they are at 40, 60, and so they never felt more than two-dimensional to me. We did spend a good deal of time in Gauri's head but she felt almost as much an enigma to me at the end of the book as at the beginning.
I also felt like Lahiri did a pretty poor job of writing a female character who doesn't want to be a mother. Yes, some of Gauri's actions were not calculated to make the reader sympathetic to her, but I felt as if Lahiri framed the narrative to implicitly criticise Gauri not simply for what she did to Bela, but for feeling trapped by a gendered role (and, it's hinted at, a heterosexuality) she'd never wanted to inhabit in the first place.
Disappointing; Lahiri can do better than this. ...more
I had no idea what to expect of this before I started to read it—it was given to me as a birthday gift—but was pleasantly surprised by this first voluI had no idea what to expect of this before I started to read it—it was given to me as a birthday gift—but was pleasantly surprised by this first volume of Saga. Alana and Marko have fallen in love, eloped, and had a kid. The only problem is that they're from two different species, species which happen to be at war with one another, and now they've got a newborn and a bounty on their head. The world-building is delightfully weird, I liked the style of the art, and I really enjoyed the fact that the dialogue sounded natural. I'm definitely going to look out for the other volumes in the series. ...more
A Natural History of Dragons is set in an alternate quasi-nineteenth-century-Europe, in which an aristocratic young woman is fascinated by dragons andA Natural History of Dragons is set in an alternate quasi-nineteenth-century-Europe, in which an aristocratic young woman is fascinated by dragons and longs for the chance to travel abroad and study them. I really liked the main character, Isabella, who was strong-minded and curious and motivated by her passions without ever becoming obnoxious. (That said, she does at times express opinions, particularly class-based ones, which are reflective of her class and the mores of her times.) The pacing is rather slow, however, and the book feels oddly uneventful, so while I enjoyed it while I was reading it I'm not sure the book will linger with me, and I don't feel a burning desire to hunt out the sequel.
I'm also not sure why Brennan made the choice to put Victorian English social dynamics and conventions (and inventions, and terminology) plop into a completely different world (Scirland not England, and the map at the front makes it clear that this world's topography is quite different from Europe). The seams showed at times, and I was uneasy about some of the religious analogues used here. I wished Brennan had either taken a leaf out of Naomi Novik's book and hewed closer to established fact, or pushed things further. ...more
Is there a post-reading-Code-Name-Verity support group? If not, I feel like there should be one. There is little I can say about this novel without spIs there a post-reading-Code-Name-Verity support group? If not, I feel like there should be one. There is little I can say about this novel without spoiling it, but it's a fantastic, wry, harrowing look at an intense friendship which develops between two female badasses during the Second World War. Absolutely recommended, particularly if you're a fan of the Awesome Ladies Being Awesome genre. I'm off to send an email to my little sister about how she needs to read this, and then to drink a restorative mug of tea. Oof....more
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