Tag Archives: 3-stars

Review: Samantha Shannon – The Priory of the Orange Tree

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The Priory of the Orange Tree
Samantha Shannon

The Nameless One has been trapped for nearly 1000 years, but slowly its minions are being freed of their bonds and North/South/East/West are all threatened once again. What is it that is keeping the Nameless One at bay? Is it the unbroken line of Queens in Virtuedom or some magery performed in the past?

I was excited for this novel because I hadn’t read a good adult fantasy in quite a while and anything with dragons is bound to take my fancy. Sadly, the dragons (wyverns) were on the evil side of things most of the time, and the good dragon riders hardly figured in the picture with their dragons. It was inevitable that the Nameless One would be freed – everything was just a quibble about how long it would take and who would be responsible for its death.

I initially struggled to keep track of the characters because the perspectives swapped each chapter before I could really get settled into them. As I warmed up to the novel, I loved Ead for her plucky determination, and her patience. However, I felt no fear for the characters’ lives. Either I didn’t like them (Roos) or I knew they’d come out the end ok because they were too important to lose (Ead and Tane).

For me this is a prime airport / long travel read. There’s no frustration for not having the next book and it’s long enough to really get settled into. I’m only giving it 3 stars because the action was too slow, and in my opinion, very predictable. I’m not going to link to my embarrassing old review for Kushiel’s Dart, but that was an epic fantasy worthy of the title.

Bloomsbury | 26th February 2019 | AU$32.99 | paperback

Review: Hayley Barker – Show Stopper

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Show Stopper
Hayley Barker

Ben lives a Pure life guarded by security and filled with food and comfort. He never wants for anything – except to be allowed to see the Circus. Hoshiko is the tightrope walker of the circus – a Dreg not worthy of food and just waiting to be killed. When Ben saves Hoshiko from death they find themselves walking the tightrope together – can they both make it out from the deadly circus alive?

The blurb on this one is actually inaccurate. The Dregs living in poverty do not get the opportunity to sell their children – their children are just ripped away from them if they are ‘selected’. What I would have liked to see more of was the slums and how bad they actually are. Or, just Pure life and what it looks like normally. To me, this is just another dystopian future society with problems, there isn’t anything particularly neat about it. I found it hard to believe in the insta-love between Ben and Hoshiko. I also find it difficult to believe in the things that the 6 year old Greta can accomplish by herself. I get that she is really grownup from her terrible circumstances, but realistically she wouldn’t be able to grasp all of those concepts.

This is the age old theme of us vs them. We get the perspectives of both the Cat and Ben, the Dreg and the Pure. This will remind some readers of Red Queen or Tarnished City and similar novels. What this novel brings to the table is just simple horribleness without magic as an excuse. The author says that she was inspired by the opinions of the English against immigrants, and I have to say it’s one of the few issues that makes me really upset. Asylum seekers didn’t risk their lives on a rickety boat because life back home was good!

I warmed up to the characters and settled in, and I was mainly satisfied by the ending. I am not going to avidly hunt down the next novel in this duology though because I just didn’t feel strongly enough about anything. I’d rather reread Disruption. I put off reading Show Stopper for more than a !year! because it looked ok, but not fascinating. The blurb didn’t grab me. I’m giving this novel 3 stars.

Scholastic | 1st October 2017 | AU$16.99 | paperback

Review: Philippa Gregory – The Kingmaker’s Daughter

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The Kingmaker’s Daughter
Philippa Gregory

Anne Neville is the younger of two daughters of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick who was the most powerful magnate in 15th century England. While her older sister Isabel gets the first pick of the future Kings of England, Anne is left with the dregs. When will it be her turn to sit on the throne?

Anne’s an interesting alternative heroine mainly because her story has already been determined by history. It takes any anticipation out of the story and leaves us with Anne and her strong personality. For the time, the way she is written is as a superstitious but practical woman who is determined to live her life her way. Of course we can’t know what she was like in real life, but we’d like to hope that she wasn’t a completely passive observer of her life – and that she was lucky enough to get a bit of romance apart from her arranged marriages.

I picked this up as a light read while in the USA on vacation, but didn’t get around to reading it until I got home. I was bored one day and needed something to read that didn’t require too much concentration, and this fit the bill. Halfway through reading I admit that I Wiki-ed Anne Neville because I was too impatient to find out who she ended up marrying and whether her offspring survived. Children so often died in those times – especial Royal children thanks to their inbreeding. I love teaching the pedigree of Queen Victoria’s haemophilia for example (many men in the family died young thanks to her).

I’m not sure quite why I’ve bothered to review this novel because there are literally thousands of other reviews of this novel! Perhaps it is just for my own records and sanity. I’ve also read The Constant Princess and was similarly nonplussed. A quick read, don’t expect to be surprised if you know your history. 3 stars.

Review: Fiona Lowe – Home Fires

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Home Fires
Fiona Lowe

Sophie’s wish to stay home with the kids in a beautiful custom built home is grounded when she finds herself living in a metal shed after a set of devastating fires sweep through the town of Myrtle. Meanwhile Claire is facing the realities of losing her parents from the same disaster, while Bec lost a dream. Craft group gives them a chance to get to know one another better, but can they face up to their losses and be honest? Or will the dirty little secrets of their town get the better of them.

At the very beginning of this novel I was bewildered by the number of characters that I was going to have to keep track of. I thought of drawing a mind-map in fact! Slowly though I kept track of the three main women and their important connections – Sophie, Claire and Bec. I generally enjoyed the past interspersed with the present, and found that although the past parts could have been excluded, they added a depth to the current day fears of the women (and men).

I’m not certain this novel gives men enough credit. It seems that the women are the ones moving on with their lives, while the men are hanging in the past. I found myself slightly unsatisfied with the jump forward in time and thus abrupt ending to the novel. I found it hard to believe that Josh went from coping and enjoying a full time job to barely holding down a part-time position. However, my knowledge of PTSD  limited at best. I can only imagine that this highly experienced author did her own research and brought the novel to its logical (in her mind) conclusion).

Those familiar with Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday will recognize the sober commentary on the unpreparedness of the Myrtle township for the impending doom of the fires. The town and its people are not warned in advance, in in fact their firefighting capacity is dealing with other fires. I’d recommend this novel for anyone interested in the fires of Marysville, or fires in general. It’s a touching novel that has an important place in Australian fiction. 4 stars from me.

HQ Fiction | 18th February 2019 | AU$32.99 | paperback

Review: Jennifer A Nielsen – The Traitor’s Game

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The Traitor’s Game
Jennifer A Nielsen

Kestra has been ordered home by her father, but instead is kidnapped by an old friend on the way there. She receives a second set of orders from the Coracks – find the Olden Blade and betray her family and monarchy. Once at home, not all is as it seems – everything Kestra remembers is wrong.

Do I actually see this ‘cruel and bloody fist’ of Lord Endrick? Nope, I do not. All I see is simple Kestra getting simple revenge on her captors, and them having revenge on her. While there was potential for intrigue, instead I felt like Kestra was holding all the cards and the reader didn’t know enough to actually imagine what was happening behind the scenes. In fact, I felt that Kestra was particularly slow in working out what was going on (even with really clear clues).

I was horrified to get slightly further into the novel and find that the perspectives suddenly changed between Kestra and Simon. I felt this was unnecessary. I didn’t see much benefit from reading Simon’s perspective – apart from the fact that across three days he went from being vaguely in love with her / hating her, to being completely in love with her.

Kestra is claustrophobic, but the majority of the time it seems well controlled. And when she’s in those situations, most of it seems to be from Simon’s perspective, so the effect of it is only what he sees. I didn’t feel the claustrophobia with Kestra at all so it wasn’t a useful character flaw that made me like her.

The events in this novel take place over the course of 3 days, but it honestly felt like the action was still slow enough to occur across a week. Every time Kestra gets caught doing something she shouldn’t be there are hardly any consequences, or I didn’t actually care about the consequences. The person I did vaguely care about apparently died. I’m not even sure whether this person did die or not, it’s so uncertain whether I should be sad/angry/upset or not.

Stating that you can see someone else’s barriers going up is just pathetic. And to have it stated multiple times in the course of two pages? I should just be able to tell that from the characters’ expressions, not have them do it for me. 3 stars from me.

Scholastic | 1st July 2018 | AU$19.99 | paperback

Review: A.C. Gaughen – Reign the Earth

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Reign the Earth
A.C. Gaughen

Shalia will marry to stop her desert family from warring with the Trifectate. Calix the God-King will stop at nothing to destroy the Elementae – little does he know that his soon-to-be wife may have the power of Earth. Can these two strong willed people fall for each other? Or will they be ripped apart by their different beliefs.

Shalia is a decent enough character who is determined to stand on her own two feet. However, sometimes this just doesn’t work for her. I felt confused that sometimes she stood up for herself against Calix, but the rest of the time she didn’t. Do you have the power or not Shalia? She seems to have faith in the power of marriage even as she subverts it. I didn’t understand her well enough to get what she really meant.

Now, about those almost- sex scenes. I appreciated that the author wanted Shalia’s first time to be acceptable enough, and I was grateful that the rape was not depicted. But what I was disappointed in was Shalia’s expectation that loving someone would mean that everything was ok.

Good, but not good enough you know? I finished reading it, and instead of being excited to read the next novel I felt myself wanting to just go find the ending, rather than investing the time and effort to search it out. Or perhaps not. It could have been that this was a reread and it just wasn’t worthy of rereading. It’s been a full year since I received this novel for reviewing, and perhaps it’s time for the next to appear. The author was suffering from a range of health issues which I can only hope have resolved for her.

Now that I look at the synopsis on Goodreads for the second novel, it doesn’t appear to be about Shalia at all. I expected that it would be about the next part of the prophesy that Calix is so worried about. That synopsis feels like another cliched story waiting to begin.

Think Warbreaker or any other range of novels where the princess falls for the wrong guy after marrying for an alliance. There’s a lot of them! This is one of the better ones with a strong fantasy element in it though. I’m giving it 3 stars here, but I rank it far higher than Ash Princess.

Bloomsbury | 1st February 2018 | AU$16.99 | paperback

Review: Shea Ernshaw – The Wicked Deep

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The Wicked Deep
Shea Ernshaw

Penny lives on an island outside a small town called Sparrow. 200 years ago, three sisters were drowned as witches. Since then, they have returned every year on June 1st, and stay for a few weeks to possess the bodies of girls and take their revenge by drowning boys in the village that betrayed them.

This was a nice, light book that was a pleasant time-filler. I appreciated that it was short and sweet, and a book that I could read once, and move on from (instead of a larger book, or a series, where I remain invested long after I’ve finished reading). The book felt, at least to me, as if it was split into three distinct sections that each had a different feel and that I enjoyed differently.

The first section of the book was confusing for me to read. Although the blurb stated that the three sisters did exist, the book itself didn’t make that clear until around 1/3 of the way in. This meant that I spent the first part of the book unsure if it was meant to be a mystery or a fantasy novel, and as I read the two types of books differently, it was hard to immerse myself in the story.

The middle third of the book was much better than the first, as I was able to commit to the story now that I had some idea of what was happening. I don’t have a whole lot to say on this section, apart from thinking it was well-written and reasonable, although not outstanding.

The final part of the book was by far the best. The progression of events forces Penny to make difficult decisions, and I really enjoyed reading through her reasonings. That said, it felt like Penny spent a lot of time pitying herself – which wasn’t fun or interesting to read through – and the ending was predictable. The enjoyment of this third section of the book was very dependent on already having formed a bond with the characters and being invested (at least somewhat) in their romance.

The romance in this book was pretty average. It begins in such a predictable manner that I already lost some interest before it had hit full steam. The trope of ‘a mysterious person saves the main character, and they instantly have a connection’ is so overused in books that it doesn’t interest me much anymore. It wasn’t terrible, but it was predictable and not very engaging. Their relationship also felt like it moved much too quickly, going from first meeting each other to falling in love in a few weeks, with not a lot of time spent on their interactions. That said, this was a very short book, and I feel that fleshing out the relationship too much could have made the book feel bloated.

Review:Mercedes Lackey – A Scandal in Battersea

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A Scandal in Battersea
Mercedes Lackey

Christmas is an important season for people wanting to revisit their childhoods or live vicariously through the children of others. Nan and Sarah enjoy the season with Suki, John & Mary Watson and the indomitable Sherlock Holmes. But evil also likes to cross at this time of year, and as more husks of women show up everyone will be needed to combat the problem.

Ugh, take me back to the older style Elemental Master’s series! I don’t care that they were ‘just’ re-imagined fairy-tales. Yes yes, it’s important that the psychics and the clairvoyants (and Celtic Warriors) get airtime (readtime?) but give me some air elementals any day. None of the other Elemental Masters get more than one novel devoted to them, so why should Nan and Sarah (3 books and counting)?

I set myself up expecting to be disappointed by this novel, so I was a little surprised when it was readable and the plot was not completely transparent. That being said, Sarah and Nan are one-dimensional characters and I actually liked the ‘evil sorcerer’ and his brilliant ‘sidekick’. I was happy with the ending for these guys! Nan on the other hand – what were you thinking? Maybe some exercise would do you some good so that you can actually adequately channel your Celtic Warrior.

Consider this novel another addition to the latest so-so offerings from Mercedes Lackey and join me in hoping that she gets some of her mojo back soon. Perhaps a Five Hundred Kingdoms novel? 3 stars from me for this one. Don’t rush out and buy it, just let it come your way and don’t feel like you are missing out if you don’t get it.

Review: Cecily Gayford (Ed) – A Very Murderous Christmas

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Christmas should be a time of joy and family. In these 10 crime short stories written by the best classic crime writers Christmas becomes a time of murder and mayhem instead. Well… as long as you are in the Northern Hemisphere and have a snowy Christmas.

So I’m not usually one for crime novels, and you wouldn’t expect me to enjoy a set of crime short stories. However, I’m in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, and I figured what would it hurt if I read it? As I have always said, short stories are a good way of working out whether you want to read more by a specific author.

The Man with the Sack by Margery Allingham – Nifty! I actually rather liked this one. I’m not sure it was the right short story to start the volume though, not enough oomph.

The Adventure of the Red Widow by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr – I was underwhelmed by this one. I know that Sherlock Holmes is the namesake of crime (along with Agatha Christie), but I didn’t really enjoy the writing style and I would have preferred more clues so I could solve it myself.

Camberwell Crackers by Anthony Horowitz – This was a good one! I find it interesting how so often the ‘bad guy’ briefly exposes themselves with a look, but the detective isn’t sure what to make of it. 

The Flying Stars by GK Chesterton – Eh, average.

A Problem in White by Nicholas Blake – I could have liked this one because it offered me the clues to solve the ‘whodunnit’ by myself. However, I was irritated by the way the different characters were referred to by their types and therefore that I couldn’t always follow who was who.

Loopy by Ruth Rendell – This was an interesting premise, but so loopy 😉 that it didn’t work for me.

Morse’s Greatest Mystery by Colin Dexter – Average. I hardly remember what it was about, and I only just read it!

The Jar of Ginger by Gladys Mitchell – I was keen to read this one from the name. However, it didn’t actually play out the way I expected it to. What kind of ginger was it exactly? Crystalised ginger? I expected powdered ginger.

Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces by John Mortimer – This actually had a lot in common with one of the other stories (The Man with the Sack) and so didn’t offer much new.

The Problem of Santa’s Lighthouse by Edward Hoch – This one was ok, but I would have liked some more clues so I could solve it for myself.

Overall this set of short stories was rather underwhelming. I’ll still give it 3 stars, but I feel that your reading time could be spent better elsewhere.

Allen & Unwin | 28th November 2018 | AU$19.99 | paperback

Review: Raymond E. Feist – King of Ashes

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King of Ashes
Raymond E. Feist

The Fire kingdom has been betrayed an decimated. But a Prince may have survived… Hatu, Hava and Donte are being raised in the way of the Hidden assassins, and Hatu has to constantly hide both his affection for Hava and his fire red hair. In the mean time, a blacksmith’s apprentice is getting ready to perform his Masterwork and go out into the world.

The thing for me about this novel was the pacing. It was just so incredibly slow! I figured that the three perspective would end up together eventually, but that ‘eventually’ wasn’t until the end of the novel (trust me, I haven’t spoiled it for you). The multiple perspectives worked against the suspense in this novel. Despite the blurb being very keen to state that there is a price on Hatu’s head, and the Hidden ones ulterior motives, I didn’t feel a sense of danger.

I actually liked the blacksmith the most. He was portrayed as a simpleton for the most part (not worldly etc) but he wasn’t as gullible as he might have seemed. His character didn’t ring true for me – why didn’t he go back to the town if he was so concerned? And in the end, I didn’t see his place in the bigger picture at all.

I was surprisingly disappointed in this novel. Raymond Feist is a huge name in fantasy and so I was really excited to be lucky enough to receive a review copy. Maybe this set up my expectations to be too high. It was easy to be bogged down in the details of life and not see what the novel was trying to set up. The whole novel feels like a set up for the last chapter – maybe the action will occur in book 2?

I’d read the second novel in this series, but I wouldn’t reread this one. There wasn’t enough depth or foreshadowing for me. I found myself constantly comparing it to The Way of Kings by Sanderson and finding it lacking.

HarperVoyager | 5th April 2018 | AU$39.99 | hardback