Susana Imaginário
Brilliant entertainment!
Orconomics was one of my favourite reads of last year and one of my favourite self-published books of all time. I finally got around to the sequel and wow! Son of a Liche is even better!
I was chuckling to myself almost all the way through.
If you enjoy clever satire, this series is for you.
Don't be intimidated by the page count. This is a well written and easy-to-read story with so much going on, you'll reach the end before you know it.
The story picks up right after the events of the first book and it's not for the easily offended. There's foul (sometimes brilliant!) language, violence, injustice and despair.
The title says it all. This is a dark and grim tale of deceit: political, personal, psychological, professional, divine, magical — you name it. Like in the first book, my favourite thing was the dialogue and the banter between the characters. It's rare to see both animosity and camaraderie depicted in such an entertaining way.
Another high point is the characterisation itself and how well mental illness, addiction and trauma are portrayed. Not only they actually fit the characters' personalities and background, they affect their choices, relationships and development in a way that makes sense.
This is a long book and it might drag a bit too much at times, with descriptions, reiterations and seemingly unnecessary meanderings, but pay attention, there lies the deceit.
Looking forward to the next book in the series!
I was looking for a quick sci-fi read as a palate cleanser between fantasy tomes when Ringer made a timely appearance on my Twitter feed.
Ringer is a short, entertaining and slightly predictable read (which is not always a bad thing, especially when all you want is to enjoy a character's journey through an existential dilemma), carefully written to induce wonder, suspicion and even paranoia. I particularly liked how thought provoking it was at times and, if anything, I wish it had delved a bit deeper into the psychological and social implications of the plot.
Paternus features one of the largest ensembles of deities and mythological figures I've ever come across. I even had to stop reading a few times to research names I was not familiar with! For a mythology fan, this is awesome.
It has a bit of a rough start and I almost gave up after a chapter of YA drama, but good stories take time to develop and this one is no exception. Sadly, I never quite related or cared for Fiona and Zeke, and I think this story would have benefited from a more mature cast.
I still loved how Ashton managed to include so many different deities and lore in this story. The cinematic scenes and dialogue were a treat, and the present tense narrative made this book even more enjoyable.
6 stars!
Seriously, I need to reevaluate my rating system in order to do justice to this book.
I've been looking forward to the conclusion of The Age of Madness all year and by the dead, Joe Abercrombie did not disappoint. The characterization and dialogue are off the charts. It's been quite the emotional and intellectual ride. I miss it already.
This is a beautiful book. The cover matches the content perfectly and everything in its design shows care and attention to detail.
The writing is clear and accessible and the editing professional. Nothing felt forced, far-fetched, foreign, exaggerated, or out of place.
The piscatorial setting is perfect for the story, filled with elements that probably will only be fully appreciated by those who grew up in small villages along the Portuguese coast, but they certainly add to the atmosphere of the narrative.
The summoner's cry greatest weakness is its length. The characters are three dimensional and the story complex, but both could use more page time. Sometimes I felt like I was just skimming the surface and some things felt rushed towards the end. There was little opportunity to wonder about the character's past, to delve into their motives, to dread and guess their future before it was revealed. By the end, I had all the answers, but I also felt like there was a lot more to discover. I can only hope for a sequel.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Orconomics has been on my TBR for years, but I confess the title, cover and its overwhelming popularity put me off reading it. You see, I take satire very seriously and every other book recommended to me as satire turned out to be a poorly written parody. Not this one, though. Orconomics is the real deal, and it turned out to be the surprise of the year, right when I was about to give up on self-published books altogether. This is a well-written story, with great characterisation, engaging dialogue, a proper plot and oh so clever throughout! Seriously, it deserves all the hype and I can't wait to read the next one.
I got this book for my husband, who's always looking for anything related to the Cthulhu Mythos. Because he's far less forgiving than I am regarding the quality of the writing, grammar and presentation of self-published books, I decided to read a few pages to make sure it was up to his standards. One hour later, I was still reading.
Marie Curie was an exceptional woman, but if anyone had suggested making her into a superhero, I'd probably reacted with ‘that's absurd!'. It's almost hard not to find the idea insulting, and yet (once you put all you know about the real Curie tucked away in a corner of your mind) it actually works. The whole thing is so bizarre. Honestly, I'm not even sure how to describe it (I guess this is part of the point). I can only say it is unlike anything I've read before. And when you think things cannot get any weirder, well, they do.
What Mordechai did with the personalities of Marie Curie, Charles Darwin and Konrad Lorenz (not to mention Schrödinger and his cat!) is similar to what I like to do with the gods of old mythologies.
Suffice to say, my husband didn't get the book until after I finished reading it.
It wasn't a smooth tale, though. There were ups and downs. Trilling moments, dull moments, confusing moments. But overrall, once you are attuned to the right mindset, it was quite entertaining. The writing is very clear, easy to read and carefully edited.
I'm pretty sure I missed many good Lovecraftian references, but I'm glad I read it. It was a breath of fresh air and if someone who's not a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos liked it, I'm sure real fans would love it.
They say every villain is a hero of his own story and after listening to Echoes of a Storm I was curious about Solomon Pace, the clever villainous villain who despite being able to crush bones and rip people's hearts out with a thought still spent so much time and energy behind the curtain, manipulating entire kingdoms to suit his machiavellian and mysterious agenda.
I was not disappointed. With each story we learn a little bit more about Solomon and how he became the way he did. Some tales are dark and humorous, others are brutal and thought provoking, all working together to bring this character to life and let us glimpse into the grand scheme of things at work in this grim world of monsters.
The narration improved considerably since Echoes and worked well with the characters and tone of the stories.
I recommend this to any fan of dark fantasy who is not easily offended and appreciates unapologetically flawed characters.
(I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.)
I'm always looking for unusual books and this one definitely fits the bill.
I first came across Necessarily Evil in a very positive and enthusiastic review from a blogger who had also liked my work, so I figured there was a good chance I'd like it too, especially considering the author's clever name. My expectations were thus pretty high, and I ended up not disappointed, but certainly overwhelmed.
Necessarily Evil features quite the whirlwind of characters, locations, mythologies and plots, crammed with references ranging from the religious, historical, fantastical, legendary, mythological, satanic, cultural, popular and obscure, all with a dash of D&D added into the mix. Reading it was like listening to all my favourite tunes at once. It was too much at times and it just became noise. It often reminded me of Monty Python. I loved the cleverness of it, but the presentation and delivery always put me off. I couldn't watch it for more than 5min before getting a headache... It's too loud, too hectic, the sound effects too jarring. I was invested in the story and wanted to know what would happen next but the narrative is so dense, I actually had to take several breaks and read something else before returning to the book. The formatting of the ebook doesn't help things either. Even just a few more paragraphs here and there and an adjustment in line spacing would have worked wonders at making the experience easier. (Just to make it clear, this is more a criticism of me as a reader than the narrative itself. And I still enjoy Monty Python... only in small doses ;) )
For the first time, I understand what my readers might feel when they say there's too much to take in. Compared with this, my humble mishmash of mythologies, fantastical creatures and androids is pretty straight forward!
I appreciate the potential of this story and all the work put into it, and I think I'd probably have enjoyed it more in audiobook format. The author has several other books published already and, thanks to his recent promo, I downloaded them all. I intend to read them, likely at leisure, one chapter at the time with many breaks in between.
Legacy of the Brightwash kept being recommended to me by different people, so I eventually gave it a go and within a few pages, I was hooked.
This is a well-written book with too much detail perhaps, but the devil is in the details, as they say, so I kept paying attention, hoping to find some hidden demons. No such luck, though... Then around the halfway point, the mystery that drove me to devour the first half of the book became pretty obvious and was pushed to the background while the narrative shifted to focus more and more on politics, intrigue, Tashué's personal and professional doubts as well as his past and present love interests with little relevance to the plot. (There is a relation, of course, but it could have been addressed in a fraction of the pages.)
I really enjoyed the premise, the potential of the story, the worldbuilding and most of the characters and I can definitely appreciate the amount of work put into this novel. That's why I kept hoping for a twist or something else, something more, and finished the book with a sense of saturation and disappointment.
Despite being too detailed and melodramatic for my tastes, Legacy of the Brightwash is a worthy read, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys characters going through a midlife crisis, lots of political intrigue and romance.
I advise you to set your sensitivities and prejudices aside before starting this book. The story is dark; the characters are flawed, and the end is brutal, just as advertised.
My favourite thing about it was the different take on werewolves. Usually portrayed as mindless brutes, self-pitying outcasts or sexy beasts, in Echoes of a Storm, the werewolf is a man who owns his monstrosity. He's competent and unapologetic. In any other story he would probably be the villain, but in this one he barely stands a chance against the real villain, a creature so cunning and despicable you'll just love to hate.
I think I'd enjoyed this book a lot more had I been reading it, though. I found the narration quite difficult to follow at the beginning. The long pauses and lapses in editing kept pulling me out of the narrative. That being said, the narration improved considerably towards the end and Echoes of a Storm is far from tedious. The constant PoV changes and references to past events worked pretty well and forced me to keep paying attention in order to put the pieces together. Still, to say the end was unexpected is an understatement, but I can't say much more than that without spoilers, you'll just have to read it to find out why.
(I received an audible copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.)
When I asked around for indie book recommendations to review for SPFM, I specified I was looking for an unusual, underrated book aimed at an adult audience. It had to be well written, well edited and preferably a debut by an author who chose to self-publish. RADIO was the first and the only recommendation I received that fit my pre-requisites and was not based on the author's popularity.
I had come across this book last year during SPFBO 6, but didn't add it to my TBR, probably having lost interest when I read it was set in 1928 Paris, a location and time period I had no interest in, but I took the author's lack of popularity as a good sign and decided to give RADIO another chance.
I could not believe my eyes when I saw the story opens with a conversation between Apollo, Artemis and Marduk. Not only that, their characterisation was great!
Marduk's character is everything one can expect of a ‘god' trapped inside a mortal's body. His conversations with Del and especially with Bernard are excellent. Nothing in the narrative felt contrived or unpolished.
RADIO not only ticked every criteria on my list, its quality surpassed my expectations and remained high throughout.
This is a well thought out book with well-rounded characters, engaging dialogue and a clever plot. The setting fits the narrative perfectly and, despite my preferences, it did not affect my enjoyment of the story. My only complaint (if it can even be called a complaint) is that it dragged on a bit too much at times, especially when dealing with Del's addiction. This was pertinent to the plot and character development but I felt that the constant meanderings into the effects of withdrawal, although respectfully and accurately portrayed, detracted from the main narrative. The ending makes up for it though. I figured a twist of some sort was coming, but failed to predict it all and was pleasantly surprised.
Genre bending and unique, RADIO is a work of heart and mind, not ego, and it deserves more attention.
I read Senlin Ascends back in June and meant to leave a review then, but of course, life kept happening. There were more books to read and what was postponed ended up forgotten.
As I'm now finally starting book 2, I decided to take a few minutes to write down my thoughts about this brilliant book.
It's not often a book grabs me from the beginning and when they do, I usually have a fairly good idea of the type of story I'm reading and what to expect.
I was completely lost with this one.
Almost every theory and expectation I came up with was wrong. I must have spent the first half of Senlin Ascends alternating between moments of ‘oh, dear' and ‘what the f#ck?' talking to myself like a crazy person. I loved the weirdness and mystery of it all, the vivid descriptions and the beautiful prose.
Senlin Ascends is unlike anything I've read before and Senlin is such an endearing character, perfect for this story.
It's not easy to review this book without spoilers. In sum, Senlin Ascends is quite the intellectual and emotional adventure, filled with witty humour, bizarre characters and situations. I was almost sad when things finally started to make sense.
I'm looking forward to continue this series.
I stumbled upon Dan Davis YouTube channel a few months ago while researching some of the oldest myths in the world. I've watched several of his videos since then and finally got around to read Godborn last month. I figured even if it was half as good as the videos it would be a good read and I was not disappointed.
Godborn is a well written and well researched book, faithful to the settings and cultures of the time while still leaving plenty of room for fantasy and mythology. It reminds me of Bernard Cornwell's Stonehenge, although I have to admit that sadly I haven't read many stories set in the Neolithic/ early bronze age (something that needs to change).
I admired the careful use of language to tell the story within the limitations set by the time period and the characters' personalities reflect this perfectly as well. Herkuhlos and his spear-brothers are far from the usual teenage ‘heroes' in modern fantasy and I appreciate that.
Unsurprisingly, my favourite thing about Godborn was the mythological elements woven into the story and I can't wait to continue the series.
I wish I could say this story is short and sweet but although Nobody Tricks the Trickster is indeed short, it's far from sweet. This is one of the most intense nail biting 30min reads I've come across.
It felt like reading the epilogue of a horror novel. It has everything: enigmatic characters with mysterious backgrounds, atmospheric setting, magic, and of course, monsters! I wanted to know more about the characters, their background and relationships, but sadly, the story was over before I knew it.
