Dina
This sounded like something I had to read myself, and boy, do I wish I hadn't.
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review. I don't have the wish or energy to post it here (and do all the reformatting and stuff).
Here's the really short version:
THE GOOD: The chapters in italics, told by the Girls.
THE BAD: Everything else. Misogyny, sexism, homophobes, a boring plot, douchebag characters, no romance, no mystery (!), and writing that ranges from okay to absolutely terrible!
THE VERDICT: A waste of time and money. An incredibly boring, pretentious story that spews hate for women on almost every page and does NOT examine it or make its protagonist grow. Fail.
RATING: 3/10 – Really bad.
My full review was posted on SFF Book Review.
Here's the (very much) shorter version:
This is marketed as one of Pratchett's books for young people and while it definitely can be read by children and young adults, I believe it is even more suited to an adult readership. I remember, as a child, I read books for the pure pleasure of story. I didn't care about messages, or the exploration of themes, or even world-building. I watched characters I liked do things that were interesting, and on that level, Nation succeeds. But it is the message that forms the heart of this novel, it is the encouragement to think for yourself, and to go through the world with open eyes and an open mind.
THE GOOD: Wonderful characters who live through a sad but beautiful story. Brilliant exploration of serious themes with just a pinch of Pratchett's trademark humor.
THE BAD: Takes a while to get into, some story elements (the Navy plotline) could have been left out.
BONUS: The filthy-mouthed parrot.
THE VERDICT: Highly recommended to Pratchett lovers or newcomers, to scientists and religious people, to those who have suffered through loss and pain, and those who are simply interested in a good story.
RATING: 9/10 – Beautiful. Close to perfection.
Reviewsmith....
Don't make me decide which one is my favorite Tiffany Aching novel. I can't help but love them all but Wintersmith clearly takes a more melancholy tone than its predecessor, with Tiffany thinking about life, love, death, and everything in between.
There is wonderful humor in this story but there are also hard decisions and young girls who have to clean up the mess they made. Tiffany tackles her problems head-on and takes responsibility for her mistake. Which, in this case, was dancing with the Wintersmith...
A link full of review.
I didn't completely love The Wee Free Men but I adored every book in the Tiffany Aching series that came after it. For a full review click the link above. The short of it is that Pratchett is not only a master storyteller and a crafter of brilliant, human characters (witches and Nac Mac Feegles included), but he also manages to combine hilarious moments with serious thoughts.
I wish more young girls would read Tiffany Aching.
My full review was posted at SFF Book Review.
What a fun Discworld adventure. For all of those who have had enough of crazy Ankh-Morpork for a while and want to enjoy the country air, so to speak, Tiffany Aching's first adventure is just the thing.
Living on the Chalk, herding sheep and making excellent cheese, Tiffany has decided whe wants to be a witch. When strange creatures start appearing and Tiffany has to stare a headless rider into the eyes it doesn't have, she knows trouble is brewing. Then her brother Wentworth disappears and Tiffany has only her trusted frying pan and an army of little, blue men in kilts and with a preference for strong licqor to aide her in rescuing him.
This was fun on many levels and I can't wait to read more about Tiffany, a heroine so wonderful all other YA novels should learn from her.
7,5/10 - almost 8/10
Full review at SFF Book Review.This is considered a classic for good reason.Long as it may have taken me to finally pick up this book, it has lived up to every bit of hype I had heard before. I have been very fed up with what is sold as “dystopias” lately, especially in the YA genre, and I needed something with the same power as George Orwell's [b:1984 5470 1984 George Orwell http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg 153313]. Now this is a very different book in subject, but the tone is just as horrifying, the world as full of terror - and that's how it should be.It is strange to say that I enjoyed cuddling up with this book, under a nice blanket and with a cup of tea by my side. Because this is not exactly a comfort read. It shocks and terrifies and, above all, makes you think. As my first Atwood, I am duly impressed and will read many more of her books.Highly recommended.8,5/10
Wow! Brandon Sanderson really is as good as everybody says.
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
Brandon Sanderson is a star, there is no doubt about that. He knows how to write a story that is so gripping it will make you go “just one more chapter” until you're done. There are a few moments to catch your breath but when Vin's story isn't full of action and intrigue, the characters' growth and development makes it impossible to put the book down.
I devoured this chunky novel in a couple of days and started immediately with book 2. The world is fresh and original, if not exactly happy, the magic system - and you know there is a great one when Sanderson is involved - completely blew me away. It took a while to hit me but when you read that scene where Kelsier, the cocky master thief who stole my heart right away, uses Allomancy for the first time, you'll know why everybody raves about it.
Sanderson did pretty much everything right. He gives us epic fantasy with almost none of the tropes, he puts a spin on recognisable things but surprises us with new ideas every other chapter. The only negative point I could bring up is that - for my personal enjoyment - I could have used more descriptions of surroundings. And maybe less use of the word “maladroitly”. Seriously, Brandon, you seem to like that word. :)
As you can tell, excitement and general awe completely outweigh these minor qualms. Which is why I will put this book into the hands of anybody who calls himself a fantasy reader. Must read!
Full review at SFF Book Review.
I feel like I'm repeating myself when it comes to Jim Butcher's books. But I have to say it, again: This is my favorite book of the series - so far.
I wasn't a huge fan of the first book but continued anyway. With every volume in the Codex Alera series, Jim Butcher has stolen my heart a little bit more. Book three, Cursor's Fury, decided it for me with its brilliant military aspect. It's as if the author knows which parts I like best and writes each book with only the best ideas from the preceeding novel.
Captain's Fury has everything a great fantasy novel needs. Wonderful characters who we have come to know and love over the course of several thousand pages, a great world that seems to be in constant conflict with someone or something. There are some of the most engaging and thrilling action scenes in these books that I have ever read and I honestly can't imagine going to bed every night without at least a little bit of Tavi.
8,5/10
A full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
China Miéville's brain must be an awesome and terrifying place.
Un Lun Dun is a young adult adventure that takes place in a city that is so original it could be a character of its own. I cannot put into words how original and fun and clever this book is.
Over 500 pages long, it reads like it's half that size. I was surprised how much I cared about all the characters (especially the milk carton Curdle) and delighted at how the author turns fantasy tropes on their head.
One of the coolest and most fun YA books I have ever read.
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
The short version is:
I liked the book, although it didn't live up to its hype for me. I loved the characters and would have liked more focus on the “original” three - Adoulla, Raseed, an Zamia. It really bothered me that mid-book, two more view point characters were introduced. They slowed down the plot and took away “screen time” from Zamia whose character development suffered in turn.
Qualms aside, this was a fun adventure with a cool setting that I recommend for a quick read in between chunky epic fantasies.
7/10
This review can also be found on SFF Book Review.
Why did I read this? I had mostly lukewarm feelings about Shades of Milk and Honey, the first part in this series. But Mary Robinette Kowal is so likable and seems so clever in her interviews and podcasts that I wanted to give her a second chance. If the first novel was – and such a thing is possible, I've learned – too much like Jane Austen and read like all the characters were ripped off, this one has its own voice and mood to it. Unfortunately, it was a mood that bored me almost to death.
GLAMOUR IN GLASS
by Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by: Tor, 2012
ISBN: 1429987286
ebook: 213 pages
Series: Glamourist Histories #2
My rating: 6/10
First sentence: There are few things in this world that can simultaneously delight and dismay in the same manner as a formal dinner party.
Mary Robinette Kowal stunned readers with her charming first novel Shades of Milk and Honey, a loving tribute to the works of Jane Austen in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence. This magic comes in the form of glamour, which allows talented users to form practically any illusion they can imagine. Shades debuted to great acclaim and left readers eagerly awaiting its sequel. Glamour in Glass continues following the lives of beloved main characters Jane and Vincent, with a much deeper vein of drama and intrigue.
In the tumultuous months after Napoleon abdicates his throne, Jane and Vincent go to Belgium for their honeymoon. While there, the deposed emperor escapes his exile in Elba, throwing the continent into turmoil. With no easy way back to England, Jane and Vincent's concerns turn from enjoying their honeymoon...to escaping it. Left with no outward salvation, Jane must persevere over her trying personal circumstances and use her glamour to rescue her husband from prison . . . and hopefully prevent her newly built marriage from getting stranded on the shoals of another country's war.
dividerAfter Shades of Milk and Honey, I was hoping for many things to happen in the second novel. I wished Mary Robinette Kowal would be a little less like Jane Austen (who but Jane Austen can really pull it off, after all?) and more like herself. Check. I was hoping that the characters weren't such obvious copies or amalgamations of Austen's own Elizabeth Bennet or the Dashwood sisters. Check. I was hoping that her magic system, Glamour, would be further developed. Check.
Despite all of these good things that were delivered as per my personal order (or so it seems), there was one element this book was missing. Badly. It was drive, it was that thing that makes you go “wow” and get really immersed in a story. Frequently, the five-year-old that I secretly still am on the inside, wanted to shout out “This is BOOOORING” while I was reading. I shushed her and everything, pointed out the nice writing and the depth of research that must have gone into the novel. But five-year-old me didn't care. She wanted a good story. And that's where Glamour in Glass was truly lacking.
It opens on a dinner scene where Jane, who, with Vincent, has just finished a magnificent glamural commissioned by the Prince Regent, describes the dinner conversations, all the rules of propriety that go with such and the separation of the sexes once the whisky and cigars are brought and the discussions start going in a political direction. This may be very interesting from a historical point of view but it lacks any wit that Jane Austen always provided in her work. And the plot (if you can call it that) meanders along in the same manner until the last quarter of the book, when finally something happens that requires action. I am by no means averse to slow-moving books that focus on characters. But let's take a look at the characters we meet here.
Jane, for the most part, is incredibly sulky and passive throughout the novel. Until said event in the last bit makes her come out of her shell and become pretty awesome. I liked her a great deal in Shades of Milk and Honey, but here I found myself not caring very much about her and actually being annoyed with her a lot of the time. Vincent has lost his brooding mystery and what little we see of him didn't excite me either. This may be entirely my fault or it may be due to the inconsequential conversations the newlyweds have. I don't know. It just didn't grab my attention at all.
What Mary Robinette Kowal does brilliantly is paint a picture of the era. I'm no expert, not even an amateur, in the field, but everything just feels right. The way people behave, the differences between England and France and Belgium, the clothing, the carriages and horse-drawn carts... simply guessing from what I've read in her two Glamourist Histories, I would say, Mary has a firm grip on her research. The afterword gives us a clue of how thorough she has been, creating a list of words with all the words Jane Austen used in her works, and eliminating or rephrasing any words Mary used to fit the vocubulary of 1815.
I was also very happy to learn more about Glamour and see Jane come up with new ways to use it. It is like reading steampunk – you read about inventions that could have been made in the past. Only this is glamourpunk. The scenes where Jane and Vincent work on their theory and try to put it into practice were the first ones that got me really hooked and that offer a myriad possibilities for future novels in the series.
What did I think? In the end, the story left me rather cold. The fact that I didn't particularly like Jane or Vincent for most of the book is surely a large factor in this. The lack of a driving force behind the plot made this, to say it in my five-year-old self's words, simply boring. I need something to want to read on, be it characters, action, magic or world-building. None of these things were interesting enough to hold my interest. I am somewhat surprised to see this on the Nebula shortlist and I have the strong suspicion that, like with the Hugos, sometimes authors just make it onto that list because they are very present. Or because “it's kind of their time to get an award”. Mary is a great writer, no doubt, and has a firm grip on her research and craft. But for this second Glamourist History the elevator pitch “Jane Austen with magic” does not work anymore. There may be magic in the shape of Glamour, but there is none of Austen's wit or clever critique, there are none of her ridiculously funny characters. And so, for me, there wasn't really much magic at all.
The Good: Well-researched, with perfect French (that made me squee a lot) and an ending that redeems some of the earlier problems I had.
The Bad: Three quarters of the story were painfully boring, except for one scene involving Glamour. Lacks the Austenesque humor and fun characters.
The Verdict: Slow burning historical piece with threads of magic woven into it.
My Rating: 6/10 – Okay
The Glamourist Histories:
Shades of Milk and Honey
Glamour in Glass
Without a Summer
Full review posted at SFF Book Review.
This was a gem of a novel! It was scary and disturbing, filled with magic and myth and magnificent prose that rivals any of the classical Gothic ghost stories. Caitlín R. Kiernan takes well-known tropes of speculative fiction, blending horror, fantasy and psychological thriller elements, and creates something entirely new. I have not read any of the other Nebula nominees for 2012 yet, but it's going to be damn hard to keep up with this one.
The Good: Fantastic prose, the best use of an unreliable narrator I have yet seen, an atmosphere as creepy as it is intriguing.
The Bad: If you need to know where you're at in a story, if you like to follow a red thread or a clear story arc, then this may not be for you. I urge you to give it a try anyway.
The Verdict: Like a siren song, this book sings you into a trance and won't let go until you've turned that last page.
Rating: 9/10 Close to perfection
I wrote a full review over at SFF Book Review.
As a long-time fan of the original Peter Pan, I love reading alternate versions, retellings, sequels, prequels, spin-off and what have you. This book promised a dark tale where Wendy wants to grow up and ends up with Hook - it's not a spoiler, it's the book's title!
It's the getting there that comprises the bulk of this story. Wendy, wanting to grow up and live her own romance, feels herself drawn more and more to the dark and well-mannered pirate captain, and away from the eternal boy who has always owned her heart. Hook's plotting manipulates almost all of the characters and pushes them in the direction he wants them to. Following them was fascinating, not only because they grow up but because they each grow up in a different way.
In Wendy's case, it has a lot to do with sexuality and I should warn those of you who want their books “clean”. There is a fair bit of sex in this story, although usually very subtly hinted at or described in a way that makes it obvious only to those who know what to look for (maybe I'm just filthy-minded...).
I loved the idea and the incredible atmosphere but there was one thing that put me off. Andrea Jones' writing style was a severe case of trying too hard. It could have been poetic, except every paragraph tries to be so poetic that it oversaturates and ends up clunky. For a book with not too many pages, it took me a while to finish and I usually struggled with the dialogue and the clunky descriptions, had to re-read entire pages because of logical mistakes - all things that could be remedied by a nice edit.
Which is why I'll read the second in the series - and also because I'm curious to see where the author leads our heroine, now that there are literally all the oceans of the world open to her.
6,5/10 - Quite good read.
Gail Carriger is back!
The Finishing School series is set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, only 20 years earlier. We follow 14-year-old Sophronia Temminnick (don't you love that name?) through her first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School, where she learns to finish... everything.
I adored the writing, Gail's quick wit and humor are fantastic, the characters are lovable and get themselves into exceedingly ridiculous situations. There are new gimmicks and old friends, there are mechanimals and eyelash fluttering classes. Whether you know Gail Carriger's writing or not, pick this up. It's a lot of fun.
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
This was a pleasant surprise. The cover and blurb are misleading - because this is neither a steampunk novel, nor is it epic fantasy about raging wars and bloodshed. It is a beautiful fantasy of manners, it contains a wonderful romance between two men, and - yes - it features mechanical dragons that are fuelled by magic. However, the dragons stay very much in the background.
It is the characters that really drive this book and it was because of the characters - with all their intricacies and relationships - that I wanted to follow. At a certain point this became one of those books you simply can't put down. There isn't a lot of plot but simply watching Thom struggle to understand and put some manners into the impulsive Rook, was an immense pleasure. Or Royston, the exiled magician, who is fascinated by this countryboy Hal who hands on his every word... I cannot say how much I grew to care for them and how much more thrilling this was than epic battles.
A highly recommended fantasy novel that is well-crafted and features some of the most intriguing characters I have read in a long time.
8/10
My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.
I had a lot of trouble finding into this book. My suspicion is that it is much more accessible for people with any knowledge of ancient Chinese mythology. Since my knowledge was limited to a movie adaptation of “Journey to the West” I am sure I missed at least half the tongue-in-cheek references to other tales and legends.
But even without knowing anything about Chinese mythology, this can be enjoyed purely for the fun. Master Li, a wise man with a slight flaw in his character, and Number Ten Ox, travel around China, meet a delightful group of people, solve mysteries, break curses, and get almost killed more than once. Despite the slimness of this novel, there were edge-of-your-seat momentso f action, little moments of depth and many, many quotable bits.
Once I knew what kind of story I had stumbled into, I could thorougly enjoy it. I laughed, I was shocked, and I tried guessing along with Master Li. A highly recommended, wonderfully fresh fantasy novel (despite its publication in 1985) that should be enjoyed by any fantasy fan who likes fun.
8/10 - Excellent
Full review at SFF Book Review.
Another one of those over-hyped YA books that have no substance.
There are a lot of things wrong with this and since I just wrote a long review on my blog, I don't feel like going into detail again here. It was just a bad book. It's insta-love, the characters are flat and incredibly stupid, there was not much plot to begin with and what little there was turned out to be badle written. The narrative doesn't work.
After finishing this, the book goes on my stack of books that have been churned out because there was a hype going on and the marked wanted more of the same. Lazy writing, no real story to tell, and the blandest characters on and off Earth do not make a good book.
The two star rating is based solely on the first chapter - which was good - and some sparks of ideas that could have been good, had the author (or her editor) put a little more work into it. Instead, I suppose all the money went into marketing to make all the young girls run out and buy yet another piece of bad YA literature.
