I'll say upfront that I'm not a Rincewind fan. Still, I could enjoy even a Rincewind story that had the same humor and insight as other Discworld instI'll say upfront that I'm not a Rincewind fan. Still, I could enjoy even a Rincewind story that had the same humor and insight as other Discworld installments I've read. This one, unfortunately, doesn't measure up. It's basically three humor vignettes spackled together as a Faustian tale. One segment's point seems to be "Har har, savages," which didn't sit well with me.
It had its chuckles here and there, especially in the parts featuring Hell under ISO 9000/Lean Six Sigma*. But overall I was not impressed and it was a chore to read from beginning to end. At least, at 150 pages of large print, the chore was short.
*or whatever of this type of program that's in vogue these days....more
Kate Elliott is a veteran SF and fantasy author who's written over twenty books. Court of Fives is her first foray into YA.
The story starts out innocKate Elliott is a veteran SF and fantasy author who's written over twenty books. Court of Fives is her first foray into YA.
The story starts out innocuously enough, with what feels like a pleasant family tale set in an analogue of Macedonia-occupied ancient Egypt. But point of view character Jessamy's domestic bliss with her mother and sisters can't last for long. A plot by wicked and powerful lord Gargaron kills their family's Patron and tears their family apart, all so that Jes's father may be under Gargaron's patronage as a general in the army, increasing Gargaron's influence and status.
Jes herself, an able athlete, is taken into Gargaron's athletic stable as a runner in a popular spectator sport, an obstacle race called the Fives. There Jes meets Kalliarkos, a young prince. Kal's passion for the Fives, and then for Jes, creates a new partnership that will enable Jes to save her mother and sisters from a grisly fate.
Jessamy is mixed-race, her father being a Saroan (Macedonian) and her mother an Efean (Egyptian). Jes, having been raised in a Saroan household, has been insulated from the pervasive racism in the capitol city of Saryenia, but once her home is broken she sees a lot of it, from sneers to invisibility to outright abuse. There's even one scene that feels chillingly like recent news, with a militarized constabulary rounding up and jailing brown-skinned citizens in their own neighborhood.
There's magic in this world, directly tied to a religious conception of a human soul with five aspects. "Spark" is most akin to what we today would call a soul, and priests in Saryenia have the ability to transfer spark from a living body to a dead one, creating something like a zombie. In the escape that forms the middle of the story, we find that the magic of this land is older and deeper than anyone--or rather, anyone Saroan--suspects.
Jes and Kal's romance was done well, I think. Yeah, there is a whiff of "insta-love" to it, but there's also an undercurrent of selfishness. Throughout the book, Jes is presented as someone who has good instincts, who's always playing a game and ensuring her own victory, both inside and outside the Fives. If her budding love relationship just happens to further her goals and save her family--well--I wouldn't say she's aware that she's using Kal, but she also doesn't hesitate to incorporate this prince who has the hots for her into her plans.
The parts of the story involving Jes with her family were charming when things were going well, moving when they weren't. As things get grim, and the women's masks fall during a time of terrible stress, I could see how strong their bond was underneath the bickering. Jes's affection and conflicts with her father, whose favorite she is despite not being a son, were also completely convincing. And the scenes featuring the Fives training and competitions were exciting and fast-paced.
But there are some rough patches. The secondary characters in Gargaron's Fives stables were forgettable. For example, Jes has three women training companions whose names I couldn't recall an hour after I'd finished the book. Several pages are devoted to imperial lineage, and the only thing I picked up from all that verbiage was that I couldn't care less whose grandma or cousin or uncle anybody was. Jes's father's history, and how he met her mother, was gone over in depth at least twice. In what was usually a quick-paced book, these sections were a slog.
Much as with Cold Magic, the only other novel of Elliott's I've read, I wasn't convinced that the narrative knew what it was getting at until well past the halfway mark. It was very cool to see what previously felt like a scattered, broken mess come together nicely in the end. But in the meantime, Court of Fives had some slow-going parts and frustration on my part with being unable to see its purpose.
Great ending, though.
I'm probably underrating Court of Fives with a 3-star rating, but thinking back to other things I've given four stars to, I don't feel like it would provide an honest picture of my experience to give it that extra nudge. I'm looking forward to reading both Cold Fire and the second book of this series, to see how Elliott's trilogies go after what I perceive as rough starts. In both cases I've only seen the first third of the story, after all....more
Sorcerer to the Crown's two leads come into the picture promisingly:
Zacharias Wythe, a black man, has attained the titular role by the mysterious deatSorcerer to the Crown's two leads come into the picture promisingly:
Zacharias Wythe, a black man, has attained the titular role by the mysterious death of its previous holder, who was his adoptive father. He's a reserved young man who takes his task incredibly seriously. Perhaps, as the first black man to hold the title, he feels he must be a paragon, show no flaw. But he knows, as well as the reader does, that being a paragon isn't enough.
Prunella Gentleman is a young woman of half-Indian descent who, until recently, was the ward of the headmistress of a magical academy for girls. This "academy" mainly concerns itself with training them to suppress their magical powers. After Zacharias visits the academy to give a guest lecture to the girls, Prunella runs away to accompany him to London, with a magical legacy in a valise under her arm.
Once they're in London, all kinds of things happen, and these two young people are thrown into chaos both worldly and magical.
The setup of this magical Regency-era world is really interesting. One of the most interesting things about it, I thought, was the fae realm (known as "Fairy" in this novel) and its alien, rather brutal culture. Familiars from Fairy make agreements with humans, and their terms are both strict and relentless. Fairy creatures eat other creatures, or even their young.
Prunella herself, who ends up being (view spoiler)[a hugely powerful sorceress thanks to her father's legacy, which was actually her mother's (hide spoiler)], is more than a little relentless herself, or at least unscrupulous. She decides to do a thing, whether on impulse or planned, and then she does it, thinking nothing of consequences or side effects. Mak Genggang, a Malaysian witch whose country England is trying to colonize, displays some of the same qualities as she works with Fairy to attempt to get their would-be conquerors off their backs.
Both of the main characters being people of color was a take on Regency England that I hadn't seen before, and its strong anti-colonialist vibe was cool, too. The almost entirely white and male Alchemical Society shows its true stripes as a murderous (view spoiler)[race-hate mob out to kill Zacharias (hide spoiler)] before too much time passes, although there are a few neutral parties, or allies, to even things out, such as Zacharias' loyal friends Dammerell and Rollo, or Lady Wythe, who takes Prunella under her wing because Zacharias asks her to.
All of this had huge potential.
But yet.
This novel has a great setup, both in its characters and its world. But once all the scaffolding is set up, it doesn't seem to do anything interesting. The characters don't really go anywhere; Zacharias, and especially Prunella, are exactly the same at the end as they were when the story started, although their circumstances are completely changed. Characters state their intentions in long conversations, then do exactly as they intend, dissipating any sense of suspense. There's a "marriage plot" sequence toward the middle of the book that is completely useless. Scenes that could have, or even should have, been exciting or momentous fizzle out without any climactic or emotional drive. Action sequences feel kind of docile and indolently chatty. And more, but I'll leave it there.
All this together made this book very easy to put down, and I'm sorry to say that without a buddy reader along to weather the storm with (and exchange frustrated PMs), this would have been a DNF for the second time. I finished it, appreciated a lot of it, but with sincere regret confess that I didn't enjoy it all that much. There are bunches of four- and five-star reviews among my friends and follows, so I'd say give it a shot if it sounds interesting to you.
This light novel's strongest feature is its imaginative premise, which takes the idea that perception creates reality to the extreme through the heroiThis light novel's strongest feature is its imaginative premise, which takes the idea that perception creates reality to the extreme through the heroine Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi desperately wants to see the weird, magical, and science-fictional in her life, and the world could literally end if she doesn't get it.
Everyman "Kyon" (a nickname that we never learn the full name for) reluctantly gets caught up in the eye of the storm that is Haruhi, conceding to her silly schemes, grumbling the whole way.
As for the rest of the book, beyond its premise and the weird scenarios Kyon is put through? It's pretty weak. There's no real style to the prose--light novels are supposed to be easy reading, but this one takes that idea too far, in my opinion. And there are way too many similes. Eyes shine like stars, buildings rise like bamboo shoots, someone smiles like cherry blossoms in full bloom (er?), and so on.
Since this is my review, objectification of women will not be overlooked. Mikuru's breasts get way too much attention from the narrative--I don't need a reminder of her chest size every twenty pages. And then there's Haruhi herself. She's presented as a character who has no notion of social niceties. Now of course, this doesn't mean she picks her nose or trims her toenails in class. Instead she changes into her gym clothes in the classroom regardless of who might be there, and strips down Mikuru in their club room and forces her to dress in maid costumes and bunny girl outfits.
I didn't particularly like Kyon, either. He's so disaffected and cynical that I had trouble caring about him, and I saw nothing in him that would attract Haruhi to him as a romantic partner.
I'm interested in seeing where Mr. Tanigawa takes Haruhi and co. next, and hope he dials back on some of the more irritating aspects of his characters next time....more
From her birth, Vivenna was raised in court etiquette and politics because of an agreement her family made to provide a daughter to marry the God KingFrom her birth, Vivenna was raised in court etiquette and politics because of an agreement her family made to provide a daughter to marry the God King in Hallendren. To her surprise and bewilderment, her younger sister Siri is sent in her place. Vivenna, worried about her naive sibling's fate, decides to travel to the capital and rescue her from her marriage, taking Siri's place if she must.
The other two main characters of this novel are Vasher and Lightsong. Vasher, through most of the story, is a mysterious warrior who tends to show up with his sarcastic sword and kill a bunch of people. Lightsong is one of the 25 members of the Court of Gods under the God King, Susebron. All these characters are caught up in a larger plot that could mean war between Hallendren, and the sisters' homeland in the Highlands.
Brandon Sanderson is well-known for the carefully considered magical systems in his novels, and this, my first one of his, measures up to that standard nicely. Over the course of this fairly long novel, dribs and drabs of information (and the occasional ten-page lecture) are given out about Breath, something akin to a human soul that fuels the magic in this world. I especially appreciated learning its limitations, where it could and couldn't be used. Vasher is exceptional in his abilities, but he must act under the same rules as anyone else does, for example.
Another thing I enjoyed about Warbreaker was the limited scope. In general I'm not a fan of the huge casts and breadth of landscape typical to epic fantasy, so the action taking place almost entirely within the city of Hallendren, and there being relatively few characters besides the four leads, worked well for me. At times there was a claustrophobic quality, though, especially in Siri's sections, since she spent all but the first 20 pages or so cooped up in the Court of Gods.
There's also relatively little violence for a fantasy novel, or maybe it's more accurate to say that the violence didn't have a lot of emotional weight to it. Swathes of people fall to Vasher's sword, several secondary characters (and one primary character) fall, and there's a big battle at the end (of course there is!) where soldiers die by the truckload, but none of it affected me much.
Characters felt a little lacking to me, too. Of any of them, Lightsong's arc was the most interesting, but on the whole, it felt like the characters were acting in service of the plot rather than the other way around. Their arcs were pretty predictable--there's the one who starts off religiously dogmatic but becomes more open-minded through their experiences, there's the one who sacrifices themselves to save someone else, all telegraphed well in advance. There were a couple of surprises, sure, but nothing that really wow-ed me. There was a thread about a colonized people that ran throughout the book but didn't get tied up, unusual for what was otherwise a tightly woven story. The weaving sagged a bit in the middle, perhaps, but that's pretty normal for a fantasy this long.
Since we're in one of my reviews, we have to see how the women are treated. Well, we've got a patriarchy here, no doubt of that, and our female characters thankfully are spared the worst of it, but they aren't given a lot of agency, either. Vivenna trails along behind not one, but two men in her arc, gathering infodump-style information from them and playing support as they do the exciting stuff like attend meetings and kill people. Siri's locked up in a room almost all the time. Women have always found ways to move, act, and manipulate power in settings where their role in the "big picture" is limited--see Austen's novels, for an example from two centuries ago--so seeing Siri and Vivenna as helpmeet and satellite, respectively, was a disappointment.
In a recent "Ask Me Anything" Sanderson says the following: "On a micro sense, I’m playing with ideas to create suspense that doesn’t lean too heavily on action set pieces. I like those action set pieces, but don’t want them to be a crutch." This is something I've been thinking about myself, in my recent fantasy reading. Do you need a big battle in every book? Surely there are other conflicts that can be used effectively, as they are in other novels? Warbreaker doesn't break the mold in this respect, so I'm interested in seeing where he might take this idea in future books.
I suspect this won't be my favorite of Sanderson's novels, but it was a good introduction to his work.
This book was a Christmas gift a year or two ago. Thanks, Sabe!...more
Magic, also known as conjuring, is a risky talent to have in the American colonies in 1765. Not too far in this novel's past, people were hanged for iMagic, also known as conjuring, is a risky talent to have in the American colonies in 1765. Not too far in this novel's past, people were hanged for it, and even in the "now," it's seen as the Devil's work, something to be feared.
Our protagonist, Ethan Kaille, is a conjuror and "thieftaker" living in Boston shortly after the end of the Six Years' War (a.k.a. the French and Indian War). His current job of retrieving a family heirloom also involves a murder, and he accepts it with reluctance since he'd much prefer to just deal with thefts. His instincts prove spot-on as he spends much of the novel being tortured by a unseen fellow conjuror, or beaten up by rival thieftaker Sephira Pryce's toughs. There's more going on here than a simple robbery!
Aside from the efforts he puts into his investigation, Ethan's a fairly passive character and the mystery, such as it is, solves itself around him. And some of the plot is clichéd and silly, like (view spoiler)[the murderer tying Ethan to a tree and chortling about his evil plans rather than, you know, killing him promptly so those plans are more likely to succeed. (hide spoiler)].
The writing style is nice and smooth, but it's more like well-prepared comfort food that sends you to bed happy than a gourmet meal you'll talk about for years afterwards. The characters perform their roles in the story well enough--lover, ex-fiancée, suspicious sheriff, friend, landlord, sexy rival, etc. Beyond those roles they don't have a lot of personality, though, and as a result the occasional emotional moments fell flat. I had trouble telling some of the mystery plot characters apart--one merchant's much the same as another, I guess!--and had to reread a couple sections, but that's pretty normal for me with stories of this kind.
I did enjoy the historical-Boston setting, and meeting one or two real-life historical people over the course of the story. I'll keep Ethan and co. in mind when I'm in the mood for an urban fantasy that isn't set in the over-familiar here and now....more
Tohko and Konoha are the only two members of their school's literary club. Tohko is president, and Konoha her beleaguered subordinate, forced to writeTohko and Konoha are the only two members of their school's literary club. Tohko is president, and Konoha her beleaguered subordinate, forced to write short stories for her to snack on. Literally snack on, because Tohko, while looking like an ordinary high school girl, is actually a goblin who eats writing for nourishment.
After an opening that feels a lot like a mishmash of a school-days anime and the first act of a Cyrano de Bergerac-style romance, this story gets grim fast, with suicide and PTSD among its topics. It ended up having a surprising amount of insight and depth despite its slight initial impression.
The major plot is resolved in a way that's less than convincing, and there were one or two too many surprise reversals in the meantime. But I was moved by the climax and denouement despite my skepticism.
There was some pointless male gaze here and there. Oh well, nothing's perfect.
I wasn't familiar with the Japanese novel this story's plot is connected directly to, but I've spoiled myself on the second Book Girl novel's parallel work and am debating reading it beforehand.
At less than 200 pages with lots of dialogue, this was a nice quick read, and a good start to what promises to be an interesting series....more
This book would make little sense to someone who hadn't read the first in this series, Fortress in the Eye of Time. While it starts a new storyline, tThis book would make little sense to someone who hadn't read the first in this series, Fortress in the Eye of Time. While it starts a new storyline, there are so many callbacks, small and large, that I can't imagine someone coming in cold could enjoy it.
The big baddie in the first book was dealt with fairly definitively by its end. The impression I got with this volume, more strongly than with some other series, is that Fortress had had its contract renewed and a new conflict, a war with a greater scope that would take much longer to resolve, was needed in order to keep things "epic."
I had issues with the first volume's pacing, and those issues came back in force in this book, and in near-identical ways. To put it kindly, sometimes things are interesting, and at others... well... they aren't. I understood in the first book that you need lots of labor and effort to move soldiers and support even a short distance--did we need to go over that again in this book, and at great length, and more than once? Do we really need the names of every sergeant and banner-bearer and horse?
I took a break halfway through Fortress of Eagles because the narrative had slowed down, lessening my interest, and that held true until page 300 or so. Then there was a big battle, and a mystery of sorts that needed clearing up.
Unfortunately, ten pages from the end I wasn't enjoying a rousing denouement, but reading a passage three and four times over, trying to sort out who was who among half a dozen tertiary characters all at cross-purposes with each other, failing, and, in the end, not caring all that much how they fell on the scale of loyalty or betrayal. At least the last three pages gave me individual scenes from both Tristen's and Cefwyn's points of view that gave me a good closure with the book.
I do care about Tristen, and Cefwyn, and to a lesser degree, Ninévrisë (who I'd like to know better, but she's all but a side character thus far). The griping above undermines how much I like them.
And I'm sorry for that, because I do like them, so much! Tristen especially is fascinating to me. His beautifully delineated quiet moments; the unflinching loyalty between him and Cefwyn; his innate talents and the larger issues of his connection to the wizardly world and/or his being (view spoiler)[a reincarnation of a Sihhё lord (hide spoiler)].
And then there's Cefwyn, with his own conflicts with his past and heritage, and how his all-but-fated connection to Tristen helps and harms him as a king...
...All of these may take me to the third volume and beyond. (1/4/19: they didn't.)
The leads are the only real appeal of this series. I'd like to give this book a better rating merely on my affection for them, but I can't....more
If you liked Mr. Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, you're bound to enjoy this, too, since it's a prequel to that series, with a twelve-year-olIf you liked Mr. Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, you're bound to enjoy this, too, since it's a prequel to that series, with a twelve-year-old Snicket himself as the main character and first-person narrator. It's told in the same style, too.
Other than that connection, I didn't notice any references to the other series. That doesn't mean there aren't any, since all I remember are very general things about it at this point. It can definitely be read on its own.
It's intricate for a kids' book, and I ended up skimming through the book a second time with an eye to seeing the villain's deceptions as they built up.
Most of the time, I don't care one way or the other if I'm reading a physical book or an e-book, but having experienced this in paper form, the e-book couldn't possibly measure up. A great deal of care went into its design, down to the endpapers. A very nice package.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, and I look forward to reading more about the mysteries of Stain'd-by-the-Sea, the bombinating beast, and Snicket himself....more
I'm not comfortable giving this book a rating, so I won't. I haven't read a YA book since I was of its target demographic, mumble years ago. I have toI'm not comfortable giving this book a rating, so I won't. I haven't read a YA book since I was of its target demographic, mumble years ago. I have to take it at face value, without any context to let me know if it's a decent thing of its kind or not.
I was first drawn to it because of this guest post on Malinda Lo's blog, written by Rose Yndigoyen, that talks about Emily, one of the main characters, who is LGBT. And the series looked like trashy fun during a time where that's been the only type of entertainment I can muddle through.
Reading this was almost like reading fantasy or SF, giving me a peep into an alien world. Never a fashionable person, and certainly not up on the latest trends, all the details of designer clothes and bags etc. flew right over my head. "Remember when Juicy sweats were popular?" Um, no... Maybe it's a good thing, since this story didn't feel dated to me. Its being from 2006, I'm sure there are plenty of references that would make a teen today look nostalgically back on the old days.
As an adult reading a YA novel, there are things that come across as peculiar. Teens smoke cigarettes and weed, throw f-bombs, drink and drive, get naked with men. But the author goes out of her way to not have them actually have sex. They'll use their decision-making power to do utterly stupid things, but won't cross that line.
The four main girls aren't characters per se, more like collections of tricky situations and hair colors. Once or twice, I was picturing the wrong girl in a scene and had to backtrack to remember which one was (view spoiler)[the shoplifter (hide spoiler)], for example. The boys (and man, in one case) fare even worse: an indistinguishable mass of lanky bodies, abs, butts and names ending with "n" (Sean, Ben, Wren).
The writing style is simple, very suitable for popcorn reading. But just like popcorn, too much of it and you realize you're choking down something that has no flavor and wonder why you're bothering. There's an awful lot of squeaking in the latter chapters of the novel (the only stylistic bobble that really stuck out to me.)
Kitty has been a werewolf since she was attacked by one two or three years ago. She's had her own local radio show for a while, playing eclectic musicKitty has been a werewolf since she was attacked by one two or three years ago. She's had her own local radio show for a while, playing eclectic music in the wee hours, and been making do as the lowest-ranking, and therefore most submissive, member of her werewolf pack.
But things are changing. Her show morphed into a talk show about supernaturals and her career has skyrocketed. There have been some brutal murders in the area that could have been caused by her kind. And she's starting to assert herself against her pack leader, Carl, his mate Meg, and her friend T.J. who is Carl's lieutenant in the pack.
Ms Vaughn has given good attention to pacing and plot. She comes across as more of an outliner than a stream-of-consciousness type, and Midnight Hour flows well for its relatively short length (~250 pages). The radio show and action sequences are well-balanced with each other and keep the pages turning. The Deep Throat thread didn't go much of anywhere, but that's the only thing plot-wise that stuck out for me. (That and the spoilered part below.)
Kitty's an all right character, though her actions and responses are too tightly focused on where she is on a submissive-or-assertive scale and lacking in other areas. Her persona for the radio show seems almost like another identity, a job that doesn't affect her at all aside from drawing attention to her for various attacks. I did like the interaction between Kitty's two selves, the human and the wolf, and how they become more like each other--or Kitty's true self--as the novel goes along.
Secondary characters don't fare too well, their personalities (if that) defined entirely by their role in the plot. Carl didn't bug me that much, perhaps because his behavior is not a trigger issue for me, and it was easy for me to distance myself from him. What did bug me was (view spoiler)[gay pal (and sole gay character) T.J.'s dying in Kitty's defense (hide spoiler)] at the end of the story. It wasn't as cheesy as it could have been, but still. Tropin' it up a bit there.
Overall: decent in places, lacking in others. More attention to the characters as people rather than plot points, and I'd have rated it up a notch; as is, I'm in no hurry for the next one.
(Quite the lazy cover. Leather pants, butt shot, back tattoo, sure let's throw a wolf and a mic on there so it doesn't look 100% generic. But that isn't Vaughn's fault!)...more
There's always a risk to an author that their darling won't elicit the same feelings of awe and adoration in a reader that sh"I am Holo the Wisewolf!"
There's always a risk to an author that their darling won't elicit the same feelings of awe and adoration in a reader that she (or he, in this case it's a she) does in those around her, including the point-of-view character.
"I am Holo the Wisewolf!"
"I am Holo the Petulantwolf!" or "I am Holo the High-handedwolf!" wouldn't have quite the same ring, I suppose.
This is a re-read. The financial aspects of the story weren't as confusing to me as they were the first time around, and I'm interested in seeing more of this kind of suspense in further volumes of the series.
The crypto-European setting isn't all that well realized, and, as you might suspect, the dialogue between our doubtless will-be romantic couple is cringe-worthy. That Laurence should be laid low by Holo's transparent manipulations every few pages doesn't say much for his wit and cleverness, and perhaps doesn't bode well for his future as a traveling merchant/negotiator....more
Change is in the air in... uhh... whatever the larger setting of this book is called. A debauched, dishonorable ruler, and the expansion of slavery, tChange is in the air in... uhh... whatever the larger setting of this book is called. A debauched, dishonorable ruler, and the expansion of slavery, threaten the livelihoods of the Old Traders of Bingtown and their generations-long agreements with their mysterious kin in the Rain Wilds. And sea serpents with an agenda of their own are becoming more visible and aggressive.
The characters of this book are mainly from the Vestrit family of Bingtown, and those not directly related by blood will cross their path over the course of this first novel (of a trilogy). I liked it a lot that the women and children of the Vestrit family get the lion's share of the page count, each of them dealing with life and power and each other and coming to know themselves (or not) in their own way.
Settings are generally well-done, though the port towns full of drugs, gambling, taverns and prostitutes came to seem all alike after a while. Bingtown, despite its dumb name, was the best realized, in my opinion.
I gave this novel three stars, not because it was mediocre, but because of my frustrations reading it. As I mentioned in a comment (since deleted), many of the scenes are way too long. I'd gotten the gist of what Ms. Hobb had to say in a given scene to find that it kept going on for a dozen more pages. As interesting as any given character's arc might be, there were times that I felt a scene was added simply to remind me that the character was still around rather than that it furthered their arc very much. And there were two or three scenes that made me squeamish--and, unfortunately, I can't bring myself to skim parts of a novel no matter how much they might set off the "yuck" buttons. So there's a warning to other readers who have similar responses to body horror.
Even though each of the eight or nine point-of-view characters is unique and interesting, there being so many of them creates a risk that the novel will start feeling diffuse and flabby. "Okay, I get it. Malta is strong-willed and reckless"; "Wintrow's sections are starting to feel like torture porn"; "For aliens, these serpents are boring"; "I'm not done yet? This is taking forever"; are things I specifically remember thinking while reading.
In my opinion this book could have been at least 200 pages shorter and still accomplished what it set out to do. And there's something else, something harder to pin down about it, that contributed to my paring off a star or two. Ship of Magic feels rigid, lacking in warmth. As affecting as some of the scenes were, I never 100% felt like I was being fully invited into the story.
I do think this is a good book, and intend to continue on reading the series to its conclusion. There are lots of fascinating things going on, I am at the very least worried about some of the characters--though for one reason or another it's difficult for me to be fond of them--and I want to see how it all shakes out in the end. 1600 pages from now......more
This book has all kinds of things that I ought to like, as it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors, integrates some of the darker aspects of theThis book has all kinds of things that I ought to like, as it passes the Bechdel test with flying colors, integrates some of the darker aspects of the leads' fairytales into the story, and gives nods to fertility (not just sexuality) in its heroines. But it took me forever to read. My brain kept skittering off it after twenty pages or so on any given day. At heart it's an action movie in book form, and I've enjoyed novels like that even recently, so I'm not sure why The Stepsister Scheme completely failed to resonate with me.
The prose is on the flat and bland side, aside from some pretty good scene-setting--nothing especially good or bad about it. At times it feels like Mr. Hines is ticking off boxes on an inclusivity checklist. It didn't set off the problem-o-meter that the two most recent novels I read did, so it gets an extra star for that....more
This novel, the first of three, takes the form of an adventure story with a young male protagonist named Orphan. It breaks out a bunch of the things yThis novel, the first of three, takes the form of an adventure story with a young male protagonist named Orphan. It breaks out a bunch of the things you’d expect from an adventure story. Aliens, explosions, doppelgangers, globe-trotting, a giant spider, pirates, airships and automatons, and weird locales all have their part to play.
Each chapter starts with an epigram from a Victorian-era writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, and the story is peopled with lots of recognizable characters, themselves pulled from the worlds of fiction and non-fiction from the era. Even if you’re not terribly well-read in it, you’re bound to recognize a number of them, like Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne, and Barnum’s circus. Some of the references were more resonant to me than others. It was nice to be able to nod sagely at them, but at times when the callbacks and adventure-story tropes (and even a modern-day conspiracy theory or two) were running especially thick, I wished Mr. Tidhar had gone further in doing his own thing with his story.
Our protagonist, Orphan, when it comes to being an adventure-story hero, is no Indiana Jones. Quite the opposite, in fact. He’s an amazingly passive character. He's shuffled about from place to place, meeting new strangers constantly, with no idea what his role in the story is aside from being explicitly told he's a pawn. And, as a pawn, he doesn't have an easy time of it. He's coshed and captured and tied up and beaten up and thrown in jail and punched and slapped and bits of him cut up, or even cut off, every chapter or two. Poor guy.
But another thing that separates him from the average adventure-story hero is his poetic nature and his sweetness. His love for his girlfriend, Lucy, might make him selfish in his motivations regarding the big plot, but since his love is expressed purely in how happy it makes him, it made me hope that things would work out for them. Since your typical type-A character is what you often get from this type of story, he was a nice change. Even if he does end up being a (view spoiler)[secret prince (hide spoiler)].
I enjoyed Mr. Tidhar’s depiction of London. I ended up printing out an online map of Victorian London and following Orphan’s footsteps along with the early parts of the story. A green-blue Thames with whales singing in it was a compelling image, one that made his imagined London feel colorful and strange. Bookshops and books have a large part to play, too--a setting in the latter chapter or two of the story will set a bibliophile a-drool. The automatons were all interesting, and my hope for future volumes of the series is to be able to meet more of them and learn more about their motivations. Things do seem poised for them to take a more central role.......more
Vin was lowest in the pecking order in the thieving crew she was part of in the capitol city of Luthadel, despite her uncanny powers of luck. A mysterVin was lowest in the pecking order in the thieving crew she was part of in the capitol city of Luthadel, despite her uncanny powers of luck. A mysterious stranger named Kelsier rescues her from her abusive boss, and offers her a full partnership in his own crew, who she very soon finds out are actually the leaders of a dissident faction acting against The Final Empire. With Kelsier teaching her, Vin discovers that she is an Allomancer, a magician who uses metals to strengthen their body's abilities. Kelsier's crew will need her help in their wide-spanning plan to destabilize the empire and depose the Lord Ruler, the Empire's millennium-old god-king.
Mistborn: The Final Empire has some real strengths. As, I gather, is common in Sanderson's work, the magic system is well-considered, and explained at a rate that is neither overwhelming nor too tedious. And the battles are really good: quick-moving, dynamic, full of panache, almost like watching an action scene in a high-budget movie.
The novel emphasizes Allomancy's hard sci-fi-like qualities by providing a systematic, categorized spreadsheet and glossary in the back of the book, and plenty of detailed explanation of it in the body of the book itself. While this is interesting on the level that digging into a video game's mechanics is, say, it's near-impossible for me to have a sense of wonder or mysticism about it.
And those fabulous action scenes are just pretty decoration without an accompanying pathos or emotional resonance, in my opinion. Now, plenty of people love this book and would disagree with me as to whether Mistborn's story has those things or not. The end of the book certainly had the feel of closing a kind of operatic arc, and I almost would envy someone who was on board with it from beginning to end and could feel a grand story come to its conclusion as our heroine Vin, no longer under the tutelage of her master, confronts the evil emperor in a climactic Allomantic battle. I appreciated it, could see the skill involved in its execution, but didn't feel much beyond the relief that comes of having finally finished a very long book.
The book also made sure that I understood its themes, and the conclusions I was supposed to come to, by outright explaining them. This undercut some scenes that might have better been left to speak for themselves. "I've always been betrayed, but this person was loyal to me. Trust is important, after all!" (paraphrased)
Much of the book between Vin's time in the abusive thieves' guild and the final battle was taken up with the crew's plans to build an army, or cause war between the noble houses in Luthadel, or suppress the capitol's garrison, etc., but when those things actually happened, most of it was off stage. Stiff, plot-focused dialogue, both in the crew's organizational meetings, and in the sections where Vin infiltrates high society in Luthadel, didn't help these portions of the story.
Vin is an appealing character, and of any of the characters in the book, feels most convincingly like a real person. She's unfortunately saddled with a number of feminism 101 failures, such as being the only super-cool gal surrounded by men, never having a female friend, and--worst of all--not being the main character in her own story.
The actual "main character" title goes to her mentor and crew boss Kelsier, who from the moment he and Vin meet, is the guy with all the plans and who is also the main guide of Vin's destiny. (Another 101 failure is Kelsier's wife being "fridged" well before the novel starts.) The other crew members, with the exception of steward--and walking religious database--Sazed, are non-entities with one quirk apiece, whose only purposes in the story are to convince us that the rebellion isn't a one-man operation in the person of Kelsier, and to have scenes, evenly dispersed through the novel, where one or the other of them helps Vin level up her magic.
And the less said about Vin's wooden, rote romance, the better. Her partner doesn't seem like a bad guy... he just isn't all that interesting. The transition from strangers to couple is way too quick; the lovers have about two scenes together before we see Vin repining for him from her point of view. I also seriously question that Elend reading more than most people, and holding salons with other college-aged boys, would prepare him very well for (view spoiler)[ruling the world (hide spoiler)].
This is the second of Sanderson's books I've read, and they've both had the same overall effect: skillfully-made products that I feel completely indifferent to. It's a little depressing to respect Mistborn, but not be able to bring myself to love it.
This was a gift from my brother Sabe, who liked it a lot more than I did. Thanks! It was worth a try, even if it didn't quite work out....more
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