I find it quite difficult to rate a book that is a collection of short stories. Each story deserves its own rating, after all. In the case of โThe Sourdough Compendiumโ the task gets more complicated because it is actually a book comprising three collections of short stories. Itโs a collection of collections and all of them, more than twenty in total, are linked. Every story is just the beginning of every other story in this book. Characters that come and go, that have past stories, side stories, relatives with their own storiesโฆ itโs like having a bunch of seeds in the hand, planting them and then, thereโs a magical but disturbing forest full of trees whose branches touch the next tree. The beginning is not the beginning and the end is never the end, Slatter manages to draw the infinitum symbol with her writing. Thatโs how I understand this collection as a whole.
There are stories about shapeshifters, curses, witches, vampires, dark towers, secret passages, candy cane houses, prophecies, gigants, monsters, fairies, gods, queens, evil stepsisters, orphansโฆ but the common ground in each and every tale is women in all their glory. Not necessarily heroines, no. There are good and bad women, tricky and innocent, saints and devilsโฆ but they all are survivors and they will do everything in their power (or in other peopleโs powers) to survive. There is so much darkness as there is light and, sometimes, there are even happy endings, but not too many.
I cannot say that Iโve loved all the stories, that would be ilogical, but I can say that I have not disliked any of them. There are some that Iโve enjoyed more than others but I also donโt think that says anything, it would be more useful to say that some stories made me sad, some made me angry, some left me shocked, some are more disturbing and some are more lighthearted. Many have consequences that I could not foresee and I enjoy that so much when reading, ramifications that you never know where they will end or if they will have an ending at allโฆ that would be more accurate and more fair to the book and the writers than saying โI loved this or thatโ. Also, be sure that all of the stories are quite disturbing one way or another.
As for the writing, AG Slatter falls in the category of writers that I love and enjoy the most. Those that with their words, their worlbuilding, their honesty and their general understanding of the human psyche create an environment so absolutely atpmospheric that they manage to make the reader participate and live in the book. No matter how late it gets, thereโs always just another page to read.
This book was like a door. Sometimes it was open and invited me in and sometimes it was closed so I could only see the inside through a window. Thatโs in a few words how I felt while I was reading โThe Unicorn Huntersโ the latest standalone novel by Katherine Arden.
I had expected her writing to be a return to her whimsical fairytail-esque style I fell in love with when I read โThe Winternight Trilogyโ years ago. However, that style wasnโt quite there for it was never immersive enough for me to become part of that world. The writing is really good, the worldbuilding is incredibleโฆ but there was no magic in the words even though the plot is all about magic and wonder. Also, although I liked the main character, she felt a bit unrealistic in some aspects and she never got anywhere near to becoming a favorite for me.
Anne, duchess of Britanny, thinks that the king of France will force her to marry him in order to add her lands to his French realm. The Bretons always were independent and mistrusted the intentions of the French kings so, to protect her people, Anne decides to get the help of Maximilien of Austria through a marriage by proxy. Thus, the French king will have no power over her. While they wait for Maximilien to get to Brittany, the French army, led by princess Marguerite, threaten Anne and her villagers and she makes them believe that itโs unicorn hunting season in the forest nearby and they should all have a nice hunting day. The forest belongs to the Lost Lands, an ancient realm that inspires supersticion amongst the Britons. They say that anything that happens there will be hidden from the world, There Anne finds herself in the sole company of a unicorn who blesses her. Then Anne marries Maximilien by proxy there and on their way home they meet a very clever orphan girl that gets adopted into Anneโs castle and a vagabond who claims to be a diviner from the French king of 200 years ago and who also claims to have lost his memory.
Elesbed, the orphan girl, was my favorite character. She is clever in the way that people who have had to fend for themselves since birth are clever. While Anne is smart and beautifulโฆ her traits fell flat, for I thought that Arden wanted to write the perfect heroine. One that takes all the burdens on her shoulders, who thinks of all the plans and is resolutive always. The rest of the characters by comparison are justโฆ not stupid, because theyโre not stupid, but lack of depthโฆ Anne was too good to be true, perhaps she was given a physical flaw to break that perfection, but it was never an impediment for anything nor it influenced the plot. And one other thing that felt unrealistic was the fact that all of the men in the book save for two feel attracted to her: one is her brother and the other one was too deep in grief for a lost wife that he couldnโt fall under Anneโs charms. I wish Arden would have worked a bit more on her character building.
So what is there to like about this book? The lore. The worldbuilding of medieval France and most especially Brittany and the Lost Lands. The other realm is full of dark layers and mythical creatures, especially the always elusive unicorn. The book also has hidden references to fairytales, so very well camouflaged in its pages that I could only detect a reference to โBlue Beardโ. But the true value of this book is the last part, the quest for a kingdom for Anne and the people she loves. Those few chapters make everything else worth the while.
To say that this is simply a โPride and Prejudiceโ retelling would be, in my opinion, a disservice to June Hur's "Behind Five Willows". While it is clear that Hur has written an homage to Jane Austen's most known and celebrated work, and an impressive homage at that, the story of this book is purely June Hur's. It is true that many aspects of this novel are clear references to Jane Austen, however, the setting, the worldbuilding, the characters and their dynamics. the inner works of the society that's depicted in these pages are a combination of June Hur's background as a Korean descent and June Hur herself.
In fact, Iโd say this book has as much of โPride and Prejudiceโ as it has of โYouโve Got Mailโ, the movie that we all know was indeed inspired by the Austen novel. The plot follows the relationship between a writer and his transcriber. We know of their identities from the beginning but in this era, writing and reading novels was forbidden for it was considered improper, dangerous and lewd. โThe Five Willowsโ is a bookshop in Joseon, they are allowed to sell certain books approved by the government, but in the back they also sell novels in secret. Shin Haewon is a young lady who loves novels, sheโs got a very neat handwriting and thus she is hired as a transcriber by the owner of the shop (the press didnโt exist yet), to hide her identity she chooses the pen name of Magpie and under that name she keeps correspondence in secret with one of the authors whose books she copies for the general public, a man or a woman under the pen name of Black Lotus. Behind the name hides a young man called Yu Seojun. He loves writing and reading and is a very successful novelist, however his father wants him to take the civil service exam to become a respected man.
Haewon and Seojun actually know each other in real life but they more often than not clash. Unfortunately for them, Haewonโs older sister is in love with Seojunโs best friend, so they are forced to chaperone for them and sharing their love for books, the understanding between them grows into something more than friends.
There is a second storyline that unfolds alongside the love story and could also be considered a love story: it is the one that connects readers with booksโespecially works of fictionโand with writers. Hur has, in a way, written our love story with literature, and she has done so in a beautiful and honest way. Perhaps this part is the most special for readers, because in it, we are the protagonists.
I have truly enjoyed this book. There was a bit of miscommunication moment when one wanted to talk and the other refused to listen that frustrated me. But apart from that, the banter between Hanson and Seojun was delightful. One needs to show himself as proud and arrogant and the other one is stubborn and rebellious towards them which truly reminded me of both Pride and Prejudice and Youโve Got Mail, it was the โyou donโt know who I am, I know who you are and weโre made for each otherโ kind of love story that kept me reading until the end. The yearning, the angstโฆ all kinds of wishful thinking, especially on Seojunโs part are so beautiful and, in a way, heartbreaking, that the reader will likely root for him. And speaking of yearning and being so in love that you cannot eat, this book is a YA romance as it should be, beautiful, elegantly written and focusing on feelings and character development. This is not a romantasy at all.
This is book 4 in the "Seduced in Scotland" series
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
This was a very beautiful story with some of the most thought provoking characters Iโve encountered in the genre. In the newest release by Matilda Madison we are told the love story between a self made entepreneur and his motherโs secretary. But it is not simply that, our hero is an genuinely good and egualitarian man, and our heroine is, due to her circumstances, a lot more cynical.
Samuel is an incredibly selfless man. He was born poor having to work since he was a mere child and seeing his parents struggle for money. Being also bright and hardworking, he took every oportunity and then created some to build his fortune, but he never forgot where he came from and that is motivation enough for him to do whatever he can for his people, his workers and his neighbours in the city of Glasgow. But sometimes, in order to get what your heart truly desires you need to learn to be a little bit selfish too.
Jane and Cora are two sisters whose mother just passed away. Being turned away by their half brother they are sent to Scotland to live with some distant relatives. On the train journey, looking for a bit of fresh air, Jane takes a walk on their carriageโs corridor and there is where she first meets Samuel who, on reaching Glasgow, offers his carriage for the two ladies to reach their final destination. When they first step on their new residence, Jane and Cora find out that these relatives might not be as distant as they thought. Thatโs why when offered a position as the assistant of none other than Samuelโs mother, she accepts, despite the inconvenient growing attraction between herself and her employerโs son. And then things get more complicated.
Sometimes I found Samuel a bit too perfect. Especially towards the end, when heโs already shown himself to be a good man. He didnโt need to be everybodyโs savior to prove his worth because that worth was already proved. It felt odd, that. Other than that, I enjoyed the book inmensely, mostly because it was what I was needing to read in the particular moment I decided to pick it up. After finishing this book I cannot but think what our mischievous Lady Belle is up to. Let me warn you, this series wouldnโt exist without her and she is still my most favorite character book after book.
Disguised as a murder mystery in the sci-fi, cyberpunk genre, โThe Last Contract of Isakoโ delivers a powerful message against todayโs status quo hidden in plain sight. To put it the simplest way; itโs a cyberpunk story of a woman trying to solve the murder of one of her former apprentices and leave it there. Since I started reading this book I began to see what went between the lines, or what was actually being said, and this book is far from being simple.
Fonda Lee isnโt the kind of writer that will take your hand and say in the softest voice possible โlook sweetie, what I am trying to say is that, basically, the way things are in the world at the moment really suck and if we donโt do something about it right now, this is how we are likely to endโฆ and I tried to be the most optimistic I could be, because it can be worseโ. Leaving aside Isako for a moment, and I need to talk about her because she was my favorite aspect of the book, Fonda Lee has left behind the worl of Yanlun (The Greenbone Saga) and the Earth itself, to set her story in another planet once the human being has destroyed our blue planet. And she explains why, pointing fingers at those who are driving us to Armaggedon, so to speak. The greedy, the power-hungry, the powerful, the magnatesโฆ we all know who we are. And the brainless people who abide by whatever they say (does it ring the bell?). And Lee is not shy about it, sheโs blunt and honest like Isako is. โThe Last Contract of Isakoโ is a a scathing critique of corporate capitalism.
The world that Fonda Lee describes is ruthless. Anything and everything can make you an outcast whose only hope is to die with some dignity. Every single thing we take for granted, works with money but only the good sort, the one thatโs honorable (but not really) that buys you even the water to get a shower, food that no one can really afford, and so on. There is a second currency, the dirty one that is only accepted in certain places of the underworld, because no one really wants to accept it or acknowledge its existance. This is only an example of what can be found in the grim and dark world Isako and the rest of the cast have to navigate. Isako is only one step away of being a ronin, a samurai without a contract, an outcast and that only if she doesnโt opt to resign, an euphemism for self sacrifice.
All my life Iโve been reading speculative fiction, especially those in which I could find leading women. Most of them were rather young, healthy, strong headed, determined and pushed by the circumstances they were in. And I didnโt mind because I was growing up. Nowadays more and more I am feeling the lack of mature women representation and the few examples that I can think of are not too strong, meaning that the depiction of those characters wasnโt the best drawn, the lines around them were rather blurry. Isako however, demands your attention. Sheโs mature, she has health issues, she takes medication that she sometimes leaves somewhere and canโt remember where, she has menopausia, sheโs tired, sheโs got little patience for stupidity and other peopleโs shenanigans and sheโs rather hard and badmouthed. On the inside when she looks back on her life and she finds regrets, she misses people that she herself put aside and she thinks that by reaching the end of her life she will get a pension to make up for all those years of absence. Sheโs incredibly human and very protective of her โclanโ, the people sheโs taught in her life, the people sheโs worked with and the people she has loved. From all those regrets and that love and sense of justice and compensation comes her strong determination to see this murder solved even if she has to solve it herself with the strength that she has left. Isako is probably one of the best characters whose story I have read and I cannot thank Fonda Lee enough for creating her.
I need to point out one aspect of the book that led me to downgrade my rating half a star. There is a change of point of view in the second half of the book that also implies a change of pace. It feels so abrupt that I thought it felt like going fast on a highway and then put the brakes too suddenly. It was a very much needed point of view but the placement felt unnatural. I cannot go into detail without revealing the plot but I think should Fonda Lee have taken those chapters and had she integrated it in the novel, like a flashback-flashforward narrative choice, it would have been much better, because she was building up momentum only to put a wall with a little door to cross to the other side. We readers crash against the wall. Thankfully the second half of that POV was so good, so shocking and above all, so unexpected, that it made up for its dramatically slow pace. That is why I only lowered the rating by half a star. I wish I didnโt have to, because โThe Last Contract of Isakoโ is a 5 star book in plot development, subplots, social commentary, character development and worldbuilding.
It is sometimes unavoidable to compare this book with โThe Greenbone Sagaโ but also it wouldnโt be fair. The saga was a masterpiece with an impact on the readers that is incredibly hard to match. It is unfair to expect Fonda Lee to be absolutely genious all the time. So no, Isako doesnโt play in the same league as the saga, but it is so good that, actually, it doesnโt need to. This is an incredibly brave book for what can be read between the lines. In a few words, the image it provides is horrible and grim, but for a reader it is truly fascinating.
โStay For a Spellโ is a modern fairy tale in which a princess who hates everything about being a princess is enchanted to remain trapped inside a bookstore in a remote village she was passing through. Princess Tanadelle hates all the formal duties and travels she is forced to endure as the kingdomโs second princess. Her only solace is books, especially tragic and passionate romances. During one of her stops to attend an opening ceremony in a village within the kingdom, she discovers a bookstore overflowing with books, and since she doesnโt have time to browse properly at that moment, she decides to return the next day. This bookstore is run by a very, very old and frail-looking lady, which moves the young princess to assist her. Taking advantage of that empathy, the old woman hands her the key to the building, a moment from which Tanadelle (or Tandy) will never be able to leave, since it the bookshop is enchanted, and to break the spell, she will have to find what her heart desires most.
Obviously, the kingsโTandyโs parentsโget very angry and decide to take matters into their own hands by sending, one after another, all the eligible princes and princesses of the realm: as everyone knows, the kiss of a Prince Charming will break the spell. Or rather, the princes, because there are seven of them, and all seven will visit the bookstore to kiss the princess. Little by little, prince by prince (or princess), a sort of found family begins to form, thanks also to Bash, the pirate whoโs cursed to be afraid of water, Sasha, the young emo girl whom Tandy takes on as her assistant, and a whole host of characters and creatures as quirky as they are endearing.
This โcozy fantasyโ is very entertaining, and I really enjoyed it, though I think it could have done without a few less pages in the middle. Perhaps if Amy Coombe had reduced the number of princes, it would have been less monotonous, because in fact, hardly anything happens between one prince and the nextโitโs just everyday life. The solution to the spell is also quite predictable for the reader; therefore those who, like me, keep reading do so not to know the ending but for whatever quirkiness they will encounter along the way. What stands out most to me is the evolution of Tandy and young Sasha; I love the sisterly bond that develops between them, as if one needed someone to give advice to and the other someone who understands and advised her. The stories of each character, especially the three who are always at the bookstore, are the best part of the book. Itโs a book with romance, but I think itโs so slow-paced that when it finally comes into play, it loses a bit of sparkle, though itโs still very lovely.
Ultimately, itโs a book that, with a little less, could have offered so much more.
Manchester Bees FC series, Book 1
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
If I'm not mistaken, this is Matilda Madison's 19th book in her career and yet sheโs "unlocked" three new levels with it, or better said three firsts. This is her first contemporary romance, her first sports romance, and her first rom-com. According to Madison herself this book is a mix between Nora Ephron's "You've got Mail" and the TV phenomenon "Tel Lasso" which is about an American coach trying to navigate the world of soccer/football in England.
Never having watched the series myself, I cannot compare the book with it. I can say however that the rendition to Nora Ephron's movie is so well done and respectful, without making me see Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in the bookโฆ it made me happy. But, for me, there was a bit bigger homage yet in the book. Madison manages to create a romantic comedy that could very well be a Richard Curtis movie. Richard Curtis is a director that made British rom-coms acclaimed as the best of the world. So to summarize all of this paragraph, Matilda Madison is an American writer doing British rom-com.
I confess I ve never been much of a "footie fan" myself. Nevertheless I was born and wised in Europe and in one of the most โfootball-ish" countries at it, Spain. In my country/continent football/ soccer is like religion; it is ingrained in you since you are born and it's part of you whether you like it or not, and regardless of your gender. Given these circumstances, I've always. tried to read soccer novels by American. writers with my mind open and understanding, overlooking the mistakes and especially the many "stereotypes" that usually abound these novels. Imagine my surprise when I found none of that in this novel. I never, not once, raised an eyebrow reading "Text me Maybe". Everything is correct, the terms, the inner works of a teamโฆ If there was any mistake I didn't see it.
I had a lot of fun reading and also trying to figure out the couples for the next books. "Text me Maybeโ is about Scarlett, a former football player who moves to Manchester in England to work as a PR Manager for the Manchester Bees F.C. now that they've got a female team as well as male. On landing she is supposed to call a car company but she gets the number wrong and the text is answered by a mysterious man who lives in the city. That is the first of many messages between them which will soon develop into a virtual romantic relationship while at the same time Scarlett isn't immune to the grumpy charms of the male teamโs coach. Theo Ross. The reader obviously suspects the identity of the Wrong Number Man but its so much fun going with the flow in this slow burn comedy until the masks fall.
โWolf Wormโ was an incredibly unpleasant book for me to read. And that's why I gave it 5 stars. Since this first line of my review might seem incongruous, I'm going to try my best to explain the plot and the most noteworthy aspects of T. Kingfisher's new work, without spoiling any major plot points, especially its twists, which are all dizzying and unexpected.
โWolf Wormโ is a gothic novel set in a big house in a small town in North Carolina around 1885, with the aftermath of the Civil War still fresh in the minds of Americans. In a style reminiscent of โJane Eyre,โ โThe Turn of the Screw,โ and โThe Woman in Blackโโthree renowned classics of the gothic genreโthe story is narrated by Sonia Wilson, who has just left her position as an art teacher at a girls' school to assist a renowned entomologist with the illustrations for a book he is writing. Dr. Halder keeps many secrets on his property, secrets that seem to point to the woods bordering the estate. These secrets, combined with local superstitions and an atmosphere of unease, soon take hold of the young illustrator.
Put this way, the novelโs plot doesnโt seem to have anything particularly special or distinctive compared to other works in the Gothic genre. However, Kingfisher is no ordinary writer; she works tirelessly and with great skill to craft the settings and environments she brings to life in her books, incorporating an exhaustive study of the subject matter she chooses to tell her storyโin this case, entomology, the study of insects. Her narrative power is so strong and immersive that, in my experience reading it, I felt trapped and suffocated by the oppressive, damp air of the mansion, its garden, and its woods. But also, since much of the conversation revolved, as is logical, around bugs, and because of my own imagination and the authorโs constant stimulation, I felt the bugs scurrying across my body and even burrowing into my skin, just as Sonia describes time and again.
But this novel isnโt just about bugs; it also features animals with strange behavior, supernatural creatures (which I wonโt reveal, for obvious reasons), and characters who are as curious as they are endearing. Kingfisher doesnโt shy away, however, from addressing issues of the time, such as the extreme fanaticism typical of rural America, racism, and misogyny. In short, an impressive book that constantly left me speechless and, at the same time, made me feel very uncomfortable. I hate bugs!
The book begins with a crime. Kimiko has been arrested for killing a girl and Hana, our narrator, feels second hand guilt. To understand this, Hana takes us to 10 years earlier when she dropped out of high school and met this friend of his mumโs named Kimiko. Hana and her mum live in a run down apartment of sorts (for lack of a better word) barely making it month to month. Mum is a host at some club but her jobs never last too long and Hanaโs only hope is to make enough money to leave the place for good. In comes Kimiko, a life saver in the eyes of Hana, together the start a bar named Lemon following their beliefs in Zen philosophy and the good omens that colour yellow is supposed to bring.
Other girls join the weird duo in a very complex relationship of coworkers, roommates and life companions in this coming-of-age that is Mieko Kawakamiโs new book in the English-speaking market. We follow Hana become a young woman dealing with the society outside society in late 1990s early 2000s Tokyo. In a way this is a portrait of one of the biggest cities in the worldโs underworld or it would be if something about Hana made me classify her as an unreliable narrator. Something about all of the miseries she has to overcome being caused by someone else while she keeps being a pure innocent soul. Someone less cynical than I am might think Hana is way too naive to be living amongst yakuza, scammers, ladies of the night and people just trying not to end up homeless and not understand the basics of the world sheโs living in. I, for one, think that she is faking her naivetรฉ as a form of self-preservation or to build up a life sized shield to keep her from all evils. But in reality Hana is no saint. She does things in the book that are morally questionable out of necessity, and she chooses to not think about it even though itโs clear that she knows that sheโs wrong. But itโs somebody else who made her do it, isnโt it?
I understood the choices Hana had to make, she is just trying to survive a very cruel world in which life has dealt the worst possible hand and, as it happens, when a very miserable person finds hope and thinks theyโre going to finally be rid of all the bad stuff in life, destiny decides to deal an even worse hand. What I didnโt fully understand is that some characters are privileged enough to choose that life knowing that they have the safety net that Hana couldnโt even dream about. In some ways that character reminded me of Pulpโs song โCommon Peopleโโฆ people who are actually born on the right side of the road and still choose the dark side just to feel something inside, just to feel danger or edgy or different from the rest of their people.
This is not a happy book by all means, itโs about people who fall deeper and deeper, very much like the Japanese version of โTrainspottingโ, breaking with the romanticization of Japan. After all, itโs just a country like any other in the World, it has light, but it wonโt cover its darkness. In conclusion I still donโt know if I liked this book or not and I donโt think the question here is whether you like it or not, the point is, in my honest opinion, have you learned anything from this? I did, and I think I needed to learn this lesson. As I finish this book I know I will be thinking about it for a long, long, time.
I canโt read Japanese so I cannot judge Kawakamiโs writing in its original form. However through Laurel Taylorโs and Hitomi Yukioโs translation I can perceive her style, much dryer and to the point than most of her contemporaries and fellow Japanese writers. And she has the courage to go against all trends by writing such a honest and brutally realistic book. Iโm in awe.
I didnโt know of this book until its publisher contacted me and offered it to me via Netgalley. At first I intended to refuse because I had a lot of ARCs for the month of March but after reading that it was about an apothecary in a magical quarter in Prague in the 18th century I was sold, I had to read it.
And I donโt regret it, it was so much fun, especially towards the end, when characters that I thought were flat and were created to move the plot forward were revealed to be so much more, especially the villains. It was the villains that I struggled with for most of the book, because the main characters Thea, Jasper and their friends, were all well portrayed and unique each of them, it was easy to fall in love with the found family of this quarter that is hidden in plain sight. Jasper is a darker character but he was intriguing and, why not say it, sexy. But it was Thea who won my heart over and over again.
Thea is the apprentice apothecary. Seven years ago she made a deal with Jasper, the fate weaver and owner of the shop. According to their contract, Thea had sold her heart and thus her memories of her previous life went with it. Thea doesnโt even know her own real name, so for those seven years she had to start over, with the help of witches and pixies, and a very introverted vampireโฆ sheโs spent all those years making potions and herbs to help people who needed something extra and magical. One day a wealthy young man shows up telling a story about his sister being in danger, he needs a special key that will let him enter wherever the girl is and save her. At the same time, agents of the government are set on destroying the quarter and its people.
I loved that Thea is a 35-ish woman full of insecurities. She is loveable and lives a cosy life in the apothecary. She loves reading romance novels that, of course, for her are contemporary but for us readers are historicals, my favourite romance subgenre. I found myself drawn to her, connected to her in a way and I wanted her to choose Jasper because he is dark, tall, broody and moody. He has secrets and is overbearing and a bit arrogant, and I fell in love with him from the very beginning. Thereโs a lot of yearning on his part and I loved that.
This book is full of surprises. It has some plot twists that I saw coming and some other plot twist that were completely surprising for me. If I have to say something negative about it Iโd say itโs the spicy scene. It was set in a moment where it was weird, anticlimatic and uncalled for. I canโt develop for fear of spoilers, but if that scene was deleted, the book would have worked all the same, or perhaps even better. Nevertheless I would love to read more books by M.A. Kuzniar
Books are different than movies. While it is undeniable that both mediums can tell the same story an have impact the same way, the language to achieve that is completely different. A movie doesnโt need much support from narration and descriptions, we can see the characters, we can see the development, it is completely visual. Books however need extra support. A reader needs to be told everything in order to fully visualize the story and enjoy it as much as possible. But sometimes books are written like they were movie scripts translated into novels, and that was the case, in my opinion, of โThe Book of Fallen Leavesโ.
The worldbuilding is good, it didnโt need much work because it was inspired by a country, Japan, a moment in its history, the feudal lords and samurais of Edo, and a literary classic the โHeike Monogatariโ (this was acknowledged by AS Tamaki himself), therefore it is fairly easy to imagine the settings even though there are not too many descriptions of them. The problem is that the characters arenโt described either in a way that many of them are even interchangeable, for example in my head Sora and Jobo were the same personโฆ they even had similar personalities because, again, the personalities arenโt very deep, they are not described at all so they fall flat. For a character driven reader such as myself that is a mistake, the consequence is that after the battle I couldnโt care less who lived and who died. I couldnโt care for the good guys and the bad guys enough to root for any of them and I wasnโt emotionally involved in the story and its development.
That being said, the book is action packed but also deep in teachings, the dialogues are fantastic and the dichotomies between good and evil are the best feature of the story. As I saw it, the main point of the story was that the younger generations were carrying the burden of their eldersโ sins. There was revenge and treason, and the good and the bad guys are clearly that, judging by their actions if not by their motivations and reasonings because I believe I only understood one or two charactersโ psyche, the rest were grey areas.
My theory is that AS Tamaki wanted to write an epic fantasy story with samurais in order to explore their teachings and philosophy. That was what attracted me to read the book in the first place. However, by choosing to have more points of view than he could handle, something had to get less attention and ironically, it was the characters, the same characters whose points of views heโs writing.
I want to end on a good note and say that I had fun reading the book despite everything. It was like a movie indeed, very visual, with lots of plot twists and turns. It felt like watching Star Wars with Katanas instead of light sabers. And I believe that should Tamaki focus in developing his characters better, heโd get to be a phenomenal writer someday. Perhaps at the same level as GRR Martin or Brandon Sanderson. He has potential for that, but potential means work.
Tuatha Dรฉ Danann Chronicles Book One
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
"You know others here care for you, and no one person can make you whole. People enhance our lives, and, in their absence, we must move forward while cherishing their memories. It's painful, but if you let grief control you, it will consume you."
Reading โDawn of the Ravenโ felt like reading two books in one. In the first half, we have the story of two childhood friends whose connection is so strong that one can feel when the other is in danger. It is a story in which a future queen needs to be saved, and eventually even though her best friend is there to save her, se saves herself. But itโs more than that.
The other half is about druids, same characters at first but we get to meet many more in a world where rebels are divided in two sides. One is controlled by a human prince seeking revenge and the other is the druids themselves, seeking freedom.
This is a YA folklore fantasy set in Ireland. Itโs inspired by and full of ancient Celtic lore, but despite that, the events that are depicted in throughout the book are very relevant today. Itโs a queer book, yes, but that fact isnโt a singularity in the book, itโs normalized and not frowned upon, and thatโs how it should be in real life. So we are never told that these characters are queen, we just know, from the very beginning. What I didnโt like, however, is the hint at a love triangle, no matter what. Iโm not one for love triangles, as one of the characters is always third wheel or gets hurt.
This is a debut and Iโve found some inconsistencies, especially with the bondingโฆ it was super strong one day and incredibly weak the next. It felt weird but you need to read this book to get the full meaning of what Iโm trying to say. I wish the author would have made it clear which it was, bonding or no bonding. You canโt have both and sayโฆ well, magic. And if thereโs something this book is full of is magic. The kind of soft magic based in the natural elements as is usual with the Celtic folklore, but magic shouldnโt be the excuse for unexplainable or unbalanced aspects of the story.
Nevertheless, this book is the perfect door to the folklore fantasy subgenre. Itโs appropriate for kids, itโs exciting, compelling, instructive in some ways, and fun. And itโs only the first book of a trilogy! I wonder what else TL Tyner has to offer.
After her duology โSecrets of the Nileโ, that combined historical fiction and fantasy set in Egypt, Isabel Ibรกรฑez comes back to the publishing world with a standalone novel called โGraceless Heartโ. I have my doubts about the classification of this book for it is again historical fiction, fantasy and it has hints of romantasy to it. In any case, Iโve enjoyed this book so much that I cannot but recommend it.
This time we are in Renaissance Italy. Itโs, of course, a fantasy version of the real place, for it has several kinds of humanoid creatures as well as humans (faes, vampires, witchesโฆ and others). For context, in the quattrocento half of the Renaissance, Florence and Rome (the Pope) were at odds. Both hungry for power and riches, and also differing in ethics and morals. Of course both cities were corrupted and this is the environment in which Ibรกรฑez sets her story. We start, however, in the small town of Volterra, where the protagonist was born and raised. Ravenna is a young woman with no other ambitions than helping her family at the inn they run and becoming a sculptress. Once, she was with her aunt looking for a special stone to work on when her magic powers were revealed to her. Witches and wizards are being persecuted by the Pope and she needs to keep her identity secret. Later on, intending to save her brother from a sure death, she participates in a sculpting competition and she wins thanks to some magic stone, thus revealing to the world who she is. But now, the Medici and his allies, the Luni family, have taken her to Florence to use her as a weapon of sorts against the pope. Since then, sheโs being watched over by the coldest, cruelest and most unfeeling of men: Saturnino Luni.
This is only a few details on the plot. It has so much more. Once again, Isabel Ibรกรฑez demonstrates her powerful writing by creating a new world from one that already existed in the past, making it much more dangerous, intriguing and exciting. Thereโs tension and a degree of fear around every corner of the Luni mansion and Florence by extension. The Lunis are very scary themselves, reminding me a lot of the Vulturi family from Twilight, if not in character at least in aura. Saturnino stands out from the very beginning and, of course heโs the hero of the story. But donโt make him a goody-two shoes. Theโs not just morally grey, he literally has no morals, no ethics and if I told you why I would be revealing the biggest plot twist of the novel. I, for one, didnโt see that one coming. Ravenna and Saturning are fascinated with each other almost from the moment they meet, but of course, in a world where all the sides are bad, thereโs no right or wrong, only greed and ambition, they canโt trust each other, making the story a slow burn through the power of the forced proximity.
The only downside to the story, if I have to choose one, is that I found the magic system a bit weakly exposed. The basis are not explained at all, although I never had the feeling of a โDeus ex machinaโ, it was just one very important element to the story but not by far the most important one. Iโd say the most powerful message to it isโฆ accept yourself and the magic will bend to you.
As for the spiceโฆ I rarely speak about spicy stuff in books. To me they are just bed scenes when they are appropriate, well timed and make sense in the story. A spicy book would be one that has all the sex but no plot. In this case, it comes naturally and when it has toโฆ it has its time an place, giving all the weight to the plot, the motivations, the feelings and the desires. I donโt know if that classifies this book as a romantasy, but in my opinion this is historical urban fantasy and an amazing one at that. Iโm impressed.
Mary Balogh focuses her stories on families. She writes family dynamics and especially love and acceptance within the families like very few people do. And perhaps because of that, especially in recent times, her romance books are kind of unbalanced because the romance isnโt the focus of the story until it is very well advanced.
That is great for people who have already read her books, however, if I were a new reader I would probably misunderstand her work and get bored. Mary Balogh writes slow romance from the nothing to the everything. And you canโt feel chemistry between the main couple until later in the story. Youโre more often than not reading about past romances in the families, childrenโs shenanigans, girl friendships, families having holidays with other families for the first half of her book.
In this case we also have a crossover of two of her latest series which would be confusing enough if Balogh herself hadnโt thought of that, fortunately she did and in the foreword she gives a brief explanation of the characters from past books and their relationships with other characters that might appear or be referenced in the book. I havenโt read anything like that before and I think it is a great idea that will help readers feel the ground on their feet and firmly.
Over the years, Mary Balogh reminds me more and more of Jane Austen if not in style, because Austen was unique, at least in subjects, although Balogh is less bitter than Jane and less prone to criticism. Her books are slice of life depicting rural scenes, village life, friendship and family bonding in a way that makes the reader want to be included in the story. And she manages to include them, and thatโs what I like the most about her books. Love in all of its varieties, acceptance, kindness and honesty.
โThe Marriage Methodโ contains the hottest kissing scene I have ever read. I promise you, it was beautiful, yes, but also demanding yet generous, urgent, yet patient, so full of angst and feelingโฆ this is the kind of kiss that conveys all your loving and yearning feelings when you cannot really confess out loud.
In the second book of โThe Crinoline Academyโ series by Mimi Matthews our protagonist is Penelope โNellโ Trewlove. She was a side character in the first book that intrigued me so much that I really wanted her to have a story. An affair for Miss Corvusโ (headmistress of the school) leads her to meet with Miles Quincey, a self-made man who runs a newspaper when an accidental moment with a cat results in a scandal that can only be prevented by the couple getting married. And thatโs what they do, and they not only they get married but also they become partners in investigating the disappearance of an orphan girl and the murder of one of the newspapersโ journalists. In the weeks following their wedding, theyโre slowly but surely falling in love.
To say that I was intrigued by Nell is not really accurate. I had fallen in love with her in the first book. She didnโt have much โscreen timeโ so to speak, but she made an impact. But Miles did that too, but he also was introduced in that book and honestly, I wanted Mimi to pair them. Aside from the murder mystery, the depictions of Victorian Londonโs underworld, the slums, the dark alleys, the madames, the bullies and the working class addicted to gin in the worst parts of the city, this was probably, or at least it was for me, the most romantic book Iโve read in years. I donโt know how Mimi manages to always find the perfect word combinations to recreate feelings, gestures, the slow passing of time while love grows, the yearning on both partsโฆ and the heat!
Nell is remarkable , sheโs so brave and strong, she has such a strong sense of fairness and justice. Sheโs intrepid, intelligent, inquisitive but she has no prejudices. She has dreams of her own that sheโs willing to change into other dreams only for love. Sheโs an amazing listener and confidant which is precisely what Miles first notices about her (and her beauty, needless to say). Theyโre a match made in heaven even though it starts as a marriage of convenience, because Miles is a man of honor, inquisitive, broody, understanding and supportive of his wife. When he tells her theyโre not just man and wife but also partners, he means it. In crime and in life. And I adored him, because not only he is a protective and capable man, but he also knows he has a protective and capable woman for a life companion.
And thereโs also the stray cats that he rescues. I adored this book. It made me dream, it made me cry, it made me blush, it made my toes curl with delight. Thank you so much Mimi Matthews, you did it again and even better than ever.
Set in the same world as โLegends and Lattesโ and โBookshops and Bonedustโ this third installment by Travis Baldree was abit of a let down for me. Itโs still cosy, itโs still heartwarming and well written. But it didnโt meet my expectations.
Most of us read and loved the first book. It was different to everything that was being published at the time, in the fantasy genre. So different that it opened a new trend, even if it was technically already invented. However, while nothing really happened in that book and still we enjoyed it, this time a lot of things happen and it felt too long for me sometimes. Perhaps it was because I felt the pacing was a bit off sometimes, maybe it was because it is actually more a middle grade book than YA or fully adultโฆ If I had known that this was the case beforehand I thing I would have read it with different eyes. As an adult book this is a 3 stars for me, as a middle grade it would easily be a 5 stars. The perfect first fantasy book for any child between 11 and 16โฆ
Since the worldbuilding was already explained in previous books (and you donโt really need to read them to understand it anyway) Baldree focuses in other aspects of life. I think this book does a remarkable job at character development for all characters except for one or two baddies (where would be the fun then?), the found family and camaraderie are excellent, the sense of responsibility and regret, the leveling up to oneโs own standards, the โknow yourselfโ aspect of lifeโฆ in this book, Fern, who was a character in โBookshops and Bonedustโ, arrives in Thune, where Viv has her โLegends and Lattesโ cafรฉ and opens a bookshop right next door. Unfortunately the next night sheโs a bit intoxicated with alcohol and has the brilliant idea of hiding herself on a traveling wagon belonging to an elf she thinks she knows from somewhere. Fern wakes up the next day only to find out that sheโs joined the elf and some troublesome goblin on an adventure. From here all kinds of colorful encounters, little fights here and there, new friends and old foes come to meet them along the way. In the meantime, Fern writes Viv apology-filled letters that will never get sent.
A book filled with adventure and strange companions, in a world where everyone and everything is included.
Thanks to Tachyon Publications through the ARC platform Netgalley I had the opportunity to read and experience Theodora Gossโ writing for the first time. It is absolutely necessary that before you read this book (and I guess the rest of her bibliography) you understand that Theodora Goss is Hungarian. She moved and established in the United States after having lived not only in her native Hungary but also in several other European countries. This explains why folklore, especially eastern European and Hungarian in particular, as well as modern Hungarian History are deeply rooted in her stories. โLetters from an Imaginary Countryโ is a collection of short stories of speculative fiction with lots of folklore, literary references, political thinking and magic realism in them.
It takes a couple of the stories included in this book to realize that Gossโ apparent detachment in her style of narration is not so. At the beginning I admit that I took her attitude towards her stories as coldness, not quite unfeeling but borderline so. Even though each and every one of said stories are written in the first person. Some times this voice is more unreliable than others and the detection of this feeling of reliability or lack of thereof is purely instinctual for the readerโs part. However, as the reading advances, the reader will find more and more engaged in the writing despite its cold yet elegant style.
This book is pure metaliterature. Many characters from the classics, especially from the 19th century are brought back as main characters, side characters or ancient relatives. These are not retellings, quite the opposite, the stories are completely new, as if they were given a chance to change their destinies. What can be taken for granted is that a literate reader will be familiar with them.
If there is a theme that unites the stories in Gossโ book is women. Also self discovery, studies in human nature, the influences of modern times. But the main theme is without a shadow of a doubt, women.
As I progressed through the pages I found myself more and more mesmerized with what Goss was telling me and how. Of course I liked some of the stories more than others as is natural. But in conclusion, she intrigued me enough to make me want to read her other works and follow her future endeavors.
