Category Archives: Fantasy

Review: Richelle Mead – Soundless

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Soundless
Richelle Mead

Fei and her village are deaf, and now are becoming blind. With the levels of food dropping, all the artists are allowed only to continue to paint the scenes of life. Fei longs to draw other things, but with her own work and her sister’s to do, she must

24751478What I liked about this novel was that magic didn’t seem to be a big part of the world, until it suddenly was. It was more about what real people could do when faced with difficult conditions, and what would cause a tipping point between fear and retaliation.

I loved that the storyline required me to pay attention. Not only were the world details beautifully realised, I could see each of the characters in their worn clothing. And around that, I still had to concentrate on the storyline – which kept me reaching for the novel after lights-out. Despite there being a beinga ‘love story’ running through this, it isn’t annoying or cloying and it doesn’t get in the way of the storyline.

Although Fei is always professing love for her sister, I’m not sure that I got a real sense of that. Yes, her sister gave her reasons to change things, but I think that inside Fei felt like she had to do something too. I’m not complaining exactly, but I just wanted more ‘feelings’ and to empathise with Fei more.

This novel reflects on modern society if you look for it. Although we might think of mining as ‘only’ being a dirty job now, the reality is that in poorer developing countries, people are still being treated like Fei’s village.

 

Considering that the author wrote two vampire series that I’m not interested in, I was a little afraid about the quality of this work. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, I might even consider reading other things – just anything but vampires!

4star

Thanks to Penguin Random House for my free review copy!

Review: E.K. Johnston – A Thousand Nights

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E.K. Johnston
A Thousand Nights

A desert girl gives up her life to save her sister, promising herself in marriage to Lo-Melkhiin, who had killed 300 girls on their marriage night. Instead, she tells stories every night, and continues to survive despite the odds. When she discovers she can see magic, and that Lo-Melkhiin might not be who he seems, she is even more determined to save the man she thinks she might love.24820300

This novel felt quite shallow, but at the same time it was a really enjoyable retelling of a fable. If you were looking for something new and exciting, I’m afraid this wasn’t it. But in its style, it was good. Far better than Book of a Thousand Nights, which I was disgusted with.

Magic. It makes fantasy worlds work, and in this one the author has effortlessly used it to change the story and make it more interesting. It is not just her storytelling ability that saves her, it is her strength of will. In fact, I don’t even remember her name, but I can remember the way it felt to be inside her head.

The idea that magic can push talents forward, yet also warp them is an interesting one. I’d love to see more of this discussed, perhaps in a separate story. The world-building in this one made me want to read more. The detail to the costumes, all of it came through as a properly interesting and realistic Arabian novel.

How many stars do I want to give this? Maybe 3. It’s hard to decide. It wasn’t as gripping as I might have desired, but I did keep reading it.

3star

Thanks to the lovely folks at Macmillan Children’s Books who gave me a proof copy to read.

Review: Garth Nix – Newt’s Emerald

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Newt’s Emerald
Garth Nix

The family emerald has been stolen, and Lady Truthful’s best friends have been implicated. Lady Truthful sets out on a quest to find it, and in the mean time, perhaps find someone to steal her heart.

24737347I expected more from Garth Nix. This is too light a novel, with a protagonist who seemed weak and unlikeable. Lady Truthful is a sucker. She’s naive, and doesn’t even make an attempt to hide that. Her aunt isn’t much better. The whole thing left me wanting. Just for substance, for anything.

Ugh. This is a romance, an unconvincing girl-to-boy in disguise novel. Masquerade ball? Overdone and typical for the enemy to appear at that time. Enemy disguised as someone you trust? Tick. Being exposed as a woman in front of a shipload of men? Tick. Believe me, I’m not giving anything away here. You’ll see it coming from a mile away.

I know I should make some more comments on the structure of the novel, the world-building, the character development. Honestly though, I just can’t find enough to like about it to make those informed comments. I shouldn’t need to talk about them, the book should be speaking for itself.

I give this 3 begrudging stars. If I didn’t already know the work of Garth Nix, then it would be 3. I am tempted to give it less, but that’s just because I know his work can be so so much better.3star

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a complimentary review copy.

Review: Juliet Marillier – Tower of Thorns

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Tower of Thorns
Juliet Marillier

Blackthorn and Grim live together in peace and quiet, waiting out the 7 years of Blackthorn’s contract with the Fey folk. While things seem to be travelling as smoothly as they can, there are always bumps. When Blackthorn is faced with a new challenge, the two will need to keep the lines of communication open – but fail in interesting ways.

22567177I saw this book being opened by its author on Facebook, and thought it was too late to request a review copy! Never fear though, I sent an email to my trusty representative, who sent me a proof copy within 2 days. It may not have looked fabulous, but the story was a strong one.

I had forgotten about how the perspectives change between the characters – and how effortless Marillier makes it seem. The character voices are so distinct that you can’t possibly get confused. This holds true both when the character is the point-of-view, or when they are just appearing in the text. Additionally there is a storytelling section running through this novel that was just as distinct.

The world is as lush and vivid as in other works. I could literally see the tower rising from the tower, and see the storytelling playing out (it’ll make more sense once you read it). Drool. I could see the monastery being built, and also the one in Grim’s memories.

There are some twists in this that I truly didn’t expect. I mean, I read the blurb, noted that things might not be as they seem, and then got on with reading it! In fact, I found myself half-way through and just wondering what was going on. Why aren’t they communicating? How can they been so selfish?

There’s nothing like a little creeping hint of malice to string through a novel when the main points are developing. Just like in the first novel of this series, Blackthorn’s past is constantly chasing her. And in this one, Grim’s catches up to him.

Something that I really appreciate about this novel is the unflinching reality of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how that might manifest in a fantasy world. I’m not certain I have ever read another novel that deals with it in the same way. It’s certainly compassionate, but also realistic.

5 stars from me (did you really expect anything else??). Get out there and buy it. I’m hoping that an audio copy will eventually come my way, and I can share this novel with my non-paperback reading partner.

5star

Thanks to the lovely folks at Pan Macmillan for sending me this copy for review.

Review: Seth Dickinson – The Traitor

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The Traitor
Seth Dickinson

The Empire of Masks has come to conquer Baru’s home. Baru is collected into the Empire’s new school while her old life crumbles – same sex relationships are now cause for torture and death. Baru wants to save her homeland and is driven to do anything to save it – even when it looks like it will be too late.

26055193Baru, Baru, Baru. I don’t understand you. I found it really difficult to connect to any of the characters, and at one point I asked my partner why on earth I kept reading! But there must have been something there, because I lost the two afternoons to reading it after it arrived in my inbox as an ebook (and I don’t even like reading ebooks, because they dry out my eyes!).

Baru’s bird counting was supposed to tip me off that she was a savant, but I didn’t get it. Only after reading the novel and the last couple of notes did I really understand what that really meant for her. Perhaps they should have said autistic savant. According to my good friend the online dictionary a savant is: ‘a person who knows a lot about a particular subject’ or ‘a person who does not have normal intelligence but who has very unusual mental abilities that other people do not have’.

 

The beginning caught me. I didn’t understand why the first couple of ‘chapters’ were written differently from the others, and in fact, I don’t think they were necessary. I guessed that they were supposed to tell me how important Baru’s family was to her, but this isn’t repeated throughout the novel. Instead, it turns to the drama and suspense of winning over a war-torn country using the financial system.

What I missed was the subtext that should have warned me about the ending. How will she save her own people? How does she know who is still alive? How do I know that she cares about them? I had left the novel with 9 pages remaining overnight, and I wanted to know how it ended. Yet I don’t know how I really feel about the ending.

My question is whether there is going to be as second novel. Or perhaps Dickinson feels like he has done enough to expose how empires can be made to crumble or how a single person can mean the difference between a ‘democracy’ or a ‘sovereignty’. Or whether he has sufficiently taught us how monsters are created.

I simply can’t give this 5 stars like some other reviewers. Yes, it’s good, yes, you’ll feel things, but I’m not sure I can accept it as a reread for me. In the end, my emotions had been so wrung out that I couldn’t care about any of them. I remain confused about it, which is perhaps a good sign. Go and read it for yourself, but be prepared for the unexpected.

4star

 

Review: Kathryn Barker – In the Skin of a Monster

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In The Skin of a Monster
Kathryn Barker

Alice’s twin sister killed people in their local school. Since she was identical to Alice, people can’t see Alice for who she is, they can only see her deadly sister. When Alice is swept up into a dream world, things get even more complicated, and it’s no longer clear what is going on.

25380845DON’T READ THE BLURB. It will trick you into thinking that this novel is straightforward. Instead, you need to go into it with a mind blasted wide open, with the ability to let it stretch further. This is one very strange novel.

I would have liked a more concrete approach to dealing with things. Swapping between the different perspectives was more confusing that I would have liked. I just couldn’t grasp anything that was going on. Nevertheless, the dream-scape set up is amazing and well described. The author appeared to think of everything that could possibly exist in it – bubbles of people, monsters, everything else!

It was quite compulsive reading, despite its faults. Did I actually like Alice? No, most of the time I thought she was an idiot. Did I really understand what happened? Goodness no. Did I keep reading anyway? Yes. I ended the novel feeling completely disorientated and annoyed. Even after running over the plot with my partner, I couldn’t work out what the point of the whole novel was.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this novel is going to expose great secrets of a person who looks like a murderer. Yes, killing people causes a great lasting impact, but people do recover. I don’t think this shows enough recovery. Mainly it shows people being stupid.

I can only think negatives about how Alice punishes herself for being like her sister. She’s committed to a mental institution for 3 years. I can understand the guilt she feels, but at the same time it should have been obvious to her that it’s not her fault and that she isn’t the same person. This got even more confusing for me as time went on, because it wasn’t clear whether Alice had demented thinking caused by the incident, or it was from the beginning. Just because you are identical to someone doesn’t mean you have to live like them.

I don’t know whether to suspend my disbelief for the story or not. In fact, unlike other novels I have read in this genre, this novel is not fiction that would fit into the everyday run of things. The attempts at making this fit into the Australian landscape fail miserably.

I mainly just came away from this very confused. There are other novels that are more awesome than this one. If you want to give this one a go, go right ahead. But if you’re looking for something with a convincing dreamscape, I’d be going for something like Dreamfire – I gave it 5 stars, go and try it out.

2star

Review: Rachel Caine – Ink and Bone

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Ink and Bone
Rachel Caine

Jess has been brought up as a book smuggler. In a world where the Great Library of Alexandria still exists, books are powerful things. With the library dictating all knowledge, librarians have absolute power – unless they are trainees, in which case death is a threat against changing the status quo. Jess isn’t very good at being passive, which tends to get him into a little bit of strife.

25090918Love, love, love this novel! What reader couldn’t like a novel about a library? Sorry, but libraries make me excited normally, and learning about librarian training? Yep, call me a convert. I’ve always dreamed of being a librarian.

My one sadness is that the next novel in this series won’t come out for ages. And I NEED the sequel. If I do not get my hands on the sequel, I will be very very sad. This is a novel I would gladly pay my own hard-earned money to buy. And naturally, I think you should too. The last novel I read that compares to this one would be The Iron Trial – not quite as awesome, but also good.

The characterisation in this novel was flawless. Jess was consistent and grew as the novel progressed. The secondary characters also won my love, even the ‘antagonist’, and I actually cared when they died. This is what Crystal Kingdom just didn’t capture for me. I kept thinking about those characters and their plights after I’d finished reading.

The world building was also powerful, and I could literally see each of the events as they happened. I buried myself in the novel and refused to come out, even for promises of dinner.One thing though, I left the novel having a really clear idea of the world, but having no idea what the characters looked like. I guess that’s because in my head, Jess has mousy brown hair, Morgan has flowing tresses of dark brown, and Wolfe sports a salt-and-pepper short cut.

A final touch that put the sugar flowers on the imaginary cake? There’s gay characters in the book, and they aren’t treated any differently from anyone else. I know it sounds like I’m biased towards novels that have gay characters (and I admit, I am a little biased), but really I just want a more realistic selection of characters to like.

An unequivocal 5 stars from me. I can see myself adopting this novel as an old familiar read when I want something I know is good to pull me out of a reading slump. Get out there, buy this novel, you won’t regret it.

5star

Review: Cassandra Clare & Holly Black – The Copper Gauntlet

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The Copper Gauntlet
Cassandra Clare & Holly Black

Call never seems to find any rest – unless he’s at school. When he has to return home for the holidays, he finds his father more set against school than ever, and a set of chains in the basement. Trust is something that seems to be fluid and bought and sold to the highest bidder. Call thinks he knows what he’s doing – everyone else thinks he is mad!

25613630Call and the other characters still didn’t seem to progress much. Aaron does grow a little, in that he wants to protect others not just have them protect him. But he doesn’t seem as smart as he does in the first novel. Not to mention poor Tamara gets sidelined.

There’s some underhand backbiting, and some potential treachery, but for me, these didn’t ring true. Surely they are old enough not to fight like 5-year-olds over a broken toy?

The ending was a little bit of a surprise, I really didn’t expect what happened! The Magisterium seemed a bit like a dumb hulking beast though, with more secrets than anyone could ever have. Hoping for a happy ending seems impossible.

This sort of feels like a ‘questing’ novel. All Call ever seems to do is head to the Magisterium, then immediately go back out again! There wasn’t any of the learning/teaching that went on in the first book to make me super interested and happy.

I’m not saying give this novel a miss by any means. In fact, I think you should get out there and read it for yourself. Once again though, I found myself waiting desperately for the next novel – I don’t want to wait a whole year!

Did this novel take me as strongly as the first one, The Iron Trial? No, sadly it didn’t. It simply didn’t have the same personality when I read it myself, rather than being read to by a talented voice-over. But I kept reading it. I don’t know why, but I did. That’s what makes it 4 stars not 3.

UPDATE: August 2020. I listened to The Iron Trial again, and then The Copper Gauntlet. I had pretty much completely forgotten everything about this second book, but the reader/voice actor kept me far more entertained with his narration. I’m now onto reading The Bronze Key, and I’m feeling pretty excited about it.

4star

Review: Amanda Hocking – Crystal Kingdom

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Crystal Kingdom
Amanda Hocking

Bryn is exiled from the life she knew before. With her lover and friends left behind, she’s faced with her oldest enemy and needs to come to terms with the wider world. That world involves all of the other troll tribes – some of whom will be friendly, and others who are against the side of ‘right’.

25574705While the conspiracy is deeper than it seems, it wasn’t obvious why I should should care about it. Having a terrifying overlord is bad, but without actual threats to people I cared about, meh, I didn’t care. That being said, the depth of plot turns and the like was very nice, and kept me guessing.

The fighting scenes in this were perhaps the worst part of the novel. It felt very dry, and I didn’t feel even a shred of emotional angst over Bryn potentially being harmed. The dialogue between Bryn and various troll leaders was far more convincing, and I liked the way that Bryn and Ridley interacted.

I would say that the style on this is similar to the last book – sometimes I was too busy reading the words and terminology to really get into the story. It didn’t push me along, rather I found myself dragging myself further. I did eventually get into the plot, but I probably could have put it down at any point.

Although this would like to bill itself as a romance, I certainly didn’t get any sort of ‘triangle’ happening. Sure, there were some wayward kisses, but those are bound to happen when people are under stress. The sex scene in it is textbook simple, and if not for that inclusion, I’d be firmly placing this in the teenage fiction category.

The ending just wraps things up too neatly. Yes, some people die, but honestly, I wasn’t very attached to them. Or if I was, it was obvious why they couldn’t be allowed to live. All things peachy. Hint – don’t read the blurb, or you’ll find yourself reading half of the plot and being mislead as to the contents of the novel.

I found this novel disappointing, but I think that it could resonate well with those enjoying urban fantasy that has a mystery element to it. For me, the style wasn’t to taste, and so I don’t think I’ll be purchasing any more novels by this author – although I remain able to be won over.

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Review: Amanda Hocking – Frostfire

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Frostfire
Amanda Hocking

24059777Bryn’s job is to rescue her people that have been placed in human homes to generate revenue for their real parents. But her dream is to be part of the elite guard protecting the royals – made difficult by the fact she’s just a little bit odd compared to everyone else.

At first it isn’t obvious what is special about Bryn. But Hocking gently guides the reader, until bam! You know what she is, who she likes, and everything else in between. Except the writing was poor. This felt dry, and not too well written. I simply couldn’t get into the story. There wasn’t enough feeling attached to the Bryn for me. She felt like a placeholder just put there to be different, and let the story revolve around her.

The romance element in this novel that I was promised in the blurb, and the chance of her to ‘lose her heart’, are slim as far as I can see. I wasn’t buying the touching romance, in fact it just felt like a set up. Can’t she keep a hold of herself? She’s going to live a while longer right?

This novel felt incomplete at the end. It felt like it was waiting for a sequel – and it fact, it has a sequel so that’s not so bad. But! It just didn’t feel complete, and had I needed to wait to read the sequel, it’s possible I never would have picked it up.

I received this novel free in preparation for reading and reviewing (plus interviewing!!!!) the newest novel in this trilogy, Crystal Kingdom. The boss has said I can’t read it until I’ve done these reviews, so here I am.

Nothing special to see here folks, a 3 stars from me. But when you combine it with the second novel in the series, things do improve. Stay tuned for that review.

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