Category Archives: Fiction

Review: Brandon Sanderson – The Emperor’s Soul

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The Emperor’s Soul
Brandon Sanderson
Shai is a forger. She is able to make copies of things that are almost as good as the originals. In fact, she is able to make two copies of the original in a fraction of the time it would take a normal person to do it. But everyone sees her as a fraud, and a danger to society because she can only copy. Soon though, they find themselves depending on her.
Shai is a kick-ass heroine. Guts, glory, planning… in the most subtle way possible. Everything Shai does is subtle. She is determined not to be used, and at the same time, she is happy that she gets to do something so unique. Her master forgery is making a soul that will then rule the kingdom. And in fact, she is doing something that no-one else has ever done.
It’s interesting to learn that there are fragments of a life, and then there are specific fragments actually make up the person’s soul. It is the least noticiable things that make a person who he is. That’s what this novella is trying to suggest.
This novella is worth reading more than once, so I would strongly suggest purchasing a copy you can take with you. I think that many of Sanderson’s novels are filled with subtleties that only become apparent after reading more than once.
I have seen other reviewers complaining that Sanderson has an ulterior motive, and writes too much of himself into his novels. For me, that’s the drawcard that makes me want to keep reading. I don’t care where the material came from, just that it is there, and awesome.
I read this novella directly after ‘Legion’, because I have them in the same physical copy. I found that this one overwhelmed my memory of the first, because it was just soooooo good. I only wish it was longer.

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Review: Karelia Stetz-Waters – Something True

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Something True
Karelia Stetz-Waters

Tate is working a dead-end coffee shop job that is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Little does she know that a stranger will come to change everything, and revamp her whole life.

imagesThe relationship between Tate and the beautiful woman develops easily, in a believable pattern that allowed me to appreciate the novel even as I devoured it. For some, it might seem like the sex came too early, but for me, it’s really a reasonable portrayal of how things can happen sometimes.

The sex scenes are treated respectfully and realistically, which can’t be said of many lesbian fictions, which seem to be written for love-struck idiots. Maybe that’s a little unfair, but sex doesn’t have to be earth-shattering and filled with bodily fluids every time!

I didn’t have trouble following all the characters (like I have lately with my wandering concentration), and I felt like all of them actively contributed something to the narrative. The only part I felt a bit off about was Krystal and her dad’s relationship. The rest of the subplots worked seamlessly into the whole though.

This novel is a more adult version of all those novels I love by Julie Anne Peters. It’s a logical step up. It provides guidance for a new generation of lesbians who might come into their powers later. Unfortunately, I felt like the femme/butch dynamic might have been a bit pronounced, but I do admit that people that fit those stereotypes exist.

This novel is set in Portland, which perhaps is disorientating for some people with preconceived notions of how the city should be. For me though, it added to the setting in a powerful way that made the book come alive.

I cannot praise this novel highly enough. I read it all in one guilty work afternoon. I simply couldn’t put it down. The two characters worked so well together, and the finish extremely satisfying. Love, love, love. If I can get my hands on a paperback copy, I will be one very happy reviewer.

5star

Review: Maggie Stiefvater – Sinner

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Sinner
Maggie Stiefvater
Cole is an appropriately tortured musician with the usual past of drug use and overdoses. The difference is that he has the ability to turn into a werewolf – but only if he uses drugs or gets cold physically. His love from the past doesn’t believe anything of what he says about being clean. Torturing each other and themselves seems to be the way to go when you’re on reality television.
Isabel is all I would hope for in a heroine. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, and she has a firm position in life. Yet at the same time, she has underlying insecurities to make her real. She isn’t as powerful a character as Cole though, despite getting equal air time.
I enjoyed that the novel was written from both perspectives. It kept the book moving, and didn’t feel repetitive. I’m not sure I noticed a difference in tone between the two, but the feelings emanating out of them were distinct, even as they ripped the characters themselves apart.
The characters have flaws, they’re the sort of people you’d expect to find in Hollywood. As far as I could tell though, none of them try to change. I had hoped from more from Sofia, and I just didn’t get it. She doesn’t show any character development, and I think that while that is reasonable, I just didn’t feel comfortable with the way things were left – surely Cole and Isabel could make more of a project of her!
The action progresses almost effortlessly. The writing style is clean and to the point. Stiefvater has nailed the right mix between dialogue and scenery. Once one scene is filled out, you do need to remember what it is – she expects the reader to become engaged with the novel.
I put off reading this book until far after its publication date because I thought it was the 4th book in a series. Instead when I sat down to get through my backlog of novels, I discovered that it was a stand alone. There were hints to the past, that if you hadn’t read the other novels, allowed you to pick up what came before – tantalisingly so you wanted to keep reading to see whether your suspicions were confirmed.
Is this romance? Sort of. but it’s a gritty romance that makes you think you don’t know how it ends, and that, for me, is the best part. 4 stars from me, simply because it’s not a reread. But as a piece of standalone fiction, it’s excellent.

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Review: Casey Peeler – Southern Perfection

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Southern Perfection
Casey Peeler

Sometimes I am a right royal idiot in choosing novels to review. This was one of them. While the synopsis sounded super good, in reality, the novel was not what I expected. Perhaps I should have looked at the genre first. Even with that in mind, I didn’t enjoy this novel. As I’m partaking in a reviewing release promo, I can’t leave a negative review. Instead, I’ll leave you to read the synopsis and give you the warning that’s it’s romance, and 3pm is just the time she goes home from school.

Life is full of choices: good, bad, and ones you can’t control.

Raegan strives to be perfect in every way. Varsity cheerleader, honor student, and proud granddaughter of Dover Lowery. By day, Raegan is an over-achieving high school student, but at three o’clock, her real work begins.

What happens when appearances are not what they seem? Will Raegan be able to hold on to her life as she knows it, or will she be left all alone?
All of these questions are answered with one night, one song, one story, and one boy.

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Review: Kristin Cashore – Fire

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Fire
Kristin Cashore
Fire has an irresistible power against men. And some women. Her beauty attracts them, even as she controls their minds. Despite this power having been used negatively in the past, Fire is determined not to use it for evil – except that she needs to, to protect a royal family she is gradually getting attached to.
I felt like there could have been more ‘meat’ in this novel. Yes, it’s only a teenage fiction read, but still, it felt like there were superfluous things that could have been better filled with more of an epilogue and detailing other things (such as what Fire actually did in regards to pregnancy).
The end for Archer was too simple. I thought Fire’s reaction was completely overstated, and also inappropriate. She didn’t finish the job she had started! Not to mention she continued to act stupidly after escaping.
Fire’s philosophy of not wanting to hurt people is admirable. In fact, for me, I find it hard that she made the turning point so quickly and was able to use it to indirectly harm others. It’s strange thinking of her power as a muscle. It gets stronger as she practices with it, and she becomes more adept at carefully holding things.
There are some things that don’t become clear until later in the novel, although the truth of them are hinted during the novel. For me, this could have had more in it. Each thing wasn’t totally hinted at, and I felt some frustration that it took the characters so long to get to the point. I’m not sure whether I enjoyed the flash-back type text or not. It was important for Fire’s progression as a character, but its inclusion was not entirely seamless.
I didn’t make the connection between the ‘Leck’ in this book to the ‘Leck’ in Graceling. It makes sense, but I only got it because I had a quick look at other reviews to remind myself of character names.
I have read Graceling, and I believe I considered it a light read, and although I was enthused about it, obviously I wasn’t that entraced. I picked up Fire at the same time, but just never got around to reading it. At the time that I bought them, Bitterblue had just come out, and it was all the rage with other YA bloggers.

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Review: Brandon Sanderson – Legion

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Legion
Brandon Sanderson
My name is Stephen Leeds, and I’m perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad. Steven ‘suffers’ from having multiple, well-informed hallucinations. Using those hallucinations, he is a quite sort after man for scientists and engineers alike.
If I had to put this book in a genre, I’d say Mystery! And I’ve just enjoyed a mystery novel… It’s a fantasy that could logically take place in the real world, and that to me, could even not be a fantasy in the future. I guess that makes it Urban Fiction, with a hint of Mystery…
It’s really fascinating how initially, I accept the hallucinations as normal, and unspectacular, until suddenly, you realize  the advantages of having specialists in each area. Not only can they advise him, they are able to take over his body to protect him.
What I find interesting is the way that the hallucinations interact. That they are all aware of each other, and that they are able to grow and change. I only wish I knew more about all of them. I am sure that each has a backstory that Sanderson has come up with.
As this is a novella, I struggle to say too much about it, just that it was awesome, and amazing, and please go and pick yourself up a copy today. This novella feels like it’s worth reading more than once, just to pick out all the nuances in it. I wish it was full-length book.
My awesome partner bought me this novel for Christmas. She entirely got this choice right! I could not put this novella down, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second in the series.

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Review: Leisa Rayven – Bad Romeo

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Bad Romeo
Leisa Rayven
Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt met in acting school. Hit by blinding chemistry from the moment go, their romance is set to spark up!
I think I rooted for Ethan more than I did for Cassie. Cassie seemed like a total idiot. Ok, so I understand chemistry ok, but being a doormat? Just letting him up and away when he felt like it? And then at the end, letting him in?
The perspective flicks back and forth from the present to the past, which gives you a bit more insight into the characters. For me, I would have been happier with either the colledge part or the real life part in two chunks. It didn’t seem like every memory was relevant at the specific moment it was presented.
I think this is sort of piggybacking off the fame of Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey still. Dark menacing, mysterious guy ready to get a mess happening in the romantic, beautiful naive girl. Nothing new to see here folks, just move right along.
There were some sex scenes in this, and while some of them were laugh out loud stupid, others were more smokin’. For this, I’ll put it in the adult category, although the rest of the drama could happen anywhere. Oh! With that in mind, Cassie writes the weirdest diary entries. Going on and on about Ethan’s ‘manhood’, the orgasms she has with him? Come on man! Give me some proper action!
Finally, I felt so frustrated at the ending. I didn’t learn anything new, all I did was put up with the characters’ angst, which got old a long time back in reading it. At the end of the novel, there is an advertisement for ‘Broken Juliet’, which even the completionist in me doesn’t want to read.
Apparently this novel is fan fiction. I’m not sure what of? Of Shakespeare’s original works? It’s pretty hard not to plagiarise a romance like that in any novel! I received this novel as a surprise from a publisher in the mail! I sat down to read it almost immediately, but didn’t review it, as I was still recovering from the shock of disappointment. Unless you’re really really desperate to read something in this area, I’d tell you to keep looking until you find something more satisfying.

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Review: T. S. Chaudhry – The Queen of Sparta

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The Queen of Sparta
T.S. Chaudhry
This semi-historical novel attempts to capture the last times of the Spartans, and their Queen, Gorgo. The title is active in suggesting that Queen Gorgo is the guiding force and whispering spirit that causes all events to play out.
Was I enthralled and enraptured by this novel? No, I couldn’t say so. Did I enjoy it? To an extent yes. Anyone interested in history and the politics of ancient time would benefit from reading this novel. I think this novel failed in a way for me because I am only familiar in a roundabout manner of the roles of Romans, Spartans, Persians and Greeks in that time period.
Something that constantly bugged me about this novel was that I couldn’t keep the names straight. As my memory is pretty faulty when it comes to names in the first case, giving two characters a long name beginning with ‘P’ isn’t great. That being said, I happily read along, not really knowing which character was which, and just absorbing what was happening,
I would have liked some of the characters to be more fully realised. If I don’t have a clear image of someone in my head, I have difficulty emoting with them. That being said, I’m not sure that this novel was asking for a highly emotive response. Mostly it felt like a recantation of facts, partially obscured by the inclusion of a narrative guide.
What I enjoyed the most was the descriptions of how wars took place. The different approaches of each side, the particular weapons and the active trading of times were great.
3 stars from me. I don’t think I was enough of a target audience, as I feel that more preexisting knowledge would have helped in understanding the implications of each battle and interaction.

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Review: Shamim Sarif – I Can’t Think Straight

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I Can’t Think Straight
Shamim Sarif
Layla and Tala have nothing in common, except that neither woman knows what to do with her sexuality. In exploring each other, they find themselves alienating everyone else, especially their families.
This is a culture that I am not familiar with. There are certain communities and religions that do not accept homosexual behaviour, and an insight into it like this novel is valuable under any circumstances.
I can’t say that this was my most favourite book to read. I felt even like I was rereading a story I had seen before, and that I wasn’t getting much new out of it. I didn’t empathise with the protagonists, so that was where I was let down.
As it’s a queer novel, I can’t completely discount that it might be useful to someone else. I would suggest that people in a similar situation would benefit from the hindsight and limited retrospection of this novel to be able to take a step back.
Did I enjoy the novel? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. The text itself wasn’t bad, it was all me – I couldn’t ‘get’ the characters in an intimate enough way to connect with this novel.
One final note, I find it hard to believe that they are soul mates. How do people know that? If you’re able to move on, talk to other lesbians, then maybe you weren’t meant to be in such a volatile environment when friends have to set you up!
This is a movie – which I haven’t seen, and I’m not sure I will aim to, unless it accidentally crosses my path.

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Review: Robin Murarka – Akin

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Akin
Robin Murarka
Aydan has dreams that are proscribed by his tribe. He is sentenced to torture for this, but is set to witnessing his ‘brother’ suffer instead, and so he is filled with conviction that he must escape. What follows is a long distance trip that witnesses the fall of an empire.
This novel is aimed at exploring the extremities of the human condition. While Ayden is living these things, the reader struggles to understand what is going on, and that is part of the appeal for some.
This is totally literary fiction. I think perhaps I had forgotten exactly what that meant. It means high flaunting ideas in a not that logical order, for this novel at least. The text is not accessible in my opinion, and I had difficulty getting through it.
However, this novel did awaken questions in me. Those kind of deep questions that only bother you at night after you’ve finished reading. And that haunt you for days afterwards. In that respect it could potentially be very valuable.
Can I recommend this novel? I don’t think I can, to people who like similar things to me. But if you want a piece of fiction that is going to take you WAY out of your comfort zone, then this could be a novel for you.If you’ve enjoyed the reviews of novels I have studied during my university career, I have no hesitation in recommending it for you.
I received this novel free in time for a review before the Book Expo Australia event, but didn’t get around to reviewing it until very recently. Although I am somewhat excited that this event is happening (happened), their website is really poorly laid out and appears devoid of content.

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