adventure Archives - Page 2 of 4

Yzabel / August 29, 2016

Review: The Glittering Court

The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, “The Glittering Court” tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court.

When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor.

But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…

Review:

(I got a copy through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.)

This one… Well. Part of the plot was interesting, in that it offered an opening on the stories of three young women who may or may not be able to create a life for themselves… yet other plot points were a bit dumb, to say the least. Or worse.

First, the good: in spite of the whole Glittering Court premise (taking common-born girls and educating them to make them noble-looking wife material), the three main girl characters had motivations of their own to join that “school”. For Mira the refugee, without many prospects in Osfrid, joining the ‘Court is a way to try and make another kind of life for herself: she’s getting an education, she’s leaving for the “New World”, and even though it’s basically to snatch a husband, she hopes she’ll find another opportunity during that time she’s bought for herself. For Tamsin, it’s also an opportunity, one to rise in a world that otherwise will keep her poor at beast, and possibly forced to do darker deeds at worst (it’s never clearly said—I suppose it will be revealed in book 3—but I’m positive she’d under some kind of threat, and being the best student, getting the best husband in the lot, is the only solution for her to, paradoxically, free herself). For “Adelaide”, it’s about reaching for the unknown, because the known is going to be a prison of its own, and she’s so trapped she’s ready to do anything to escape, including something dumb (more about this below).

There’s also a whole Frontier/New World dynamic that goes past the initial, slightly insipid “let’s learn fashion and manners and wear nice dresses” idea. I probably wouldn’t have lasted through 400 pages of seeing the girls learn to act like proper ladies—or if it had been about that, I would’ve needed much more intrigue thrown in the middle to keep myself busy—so the parts where the girls are in the New World

On the downside… Adelaide’s motives were incredibly dumb and made no sense: facing the prospect of an arranged marriage with an insufferable man and his over-controlling grandmother, she uses the Court as an opportunity to run away… yet the whole thing is dumb because the Court is precisely what she tries to avoid, with perhaps a few more potential choices for a future husband, but that’s all. Basically, it’s still about getting married (sold), and going through the motions to attract a man’s (buyer’s) eye, and without much choice in the end, because if she doesn’t fetch enough of a price, or if she refuses to marry, she has to work (in bad conditions) to buy back her contract. I think I would’ve enjoyed her “deciding to create her own fate” idea much, much better if she had joined a band of highwaymen, or whatever else. Like marrying the first guy, taking his money, then arranging for the controlling grandma to fall down the stairs. For instance.

Unsurprisingly, I was also much unfazed when it came to the romance. The love interest is a nice guy all around, and a decent person, and definitely not the worst choice of partner, for sure. However, he remained bland, without much personality—and that’s really too bad, since it enforces the stereotype that “nice guys aren’t interesting”, which may become in turn “the only good romance must be with a bad guy”. (Not necessarily what happens in this novel, it’s just the way I perceived it: if the good guys aren’t made interesting enough, people are going to look to the less savory ones… won’t they?)

I feel that overall, this “dull” side to the main male character also expanded to the story as a whole. There are quite a few things happening, sea storms, rumours of pirates, a scheming noble, adventure/being pioneers in a faraway colony, some revenge plot (that everybody save for the MCs would’ve seen coming through the thickest fog on the darkest night ever), and yet I was never excited by what the girls went through. I still don’t understand how it came that events sometimes piled upon each other too quickly, to the point of being wrapped up a little too neatly at the end through a series of coincidences, making it look like so much was happening… and at the same time remained dull and without much of an actual plot. And hinting all the way at the two other girls’ secrets, and never revealing what they are. Argh.

The setting didn’t help: basically a Regency/Victorian Europe (=Osfrid) vs. a New World (=Adoria) with budding colonies, including “Alanzan heretics” looking for a place to worship in peace (=Protestants/Puritans), only the “natives” aren’t Native Americans but some sort of Celt-looking people. Anyway, it was much too close to our world’s history to be really original, and not very developed, resting on this “closeness”, therefore adding to the feeling of a cardboard backdrop. Moreover, it was problematic when it comes to the whole colonisation/”civilised men vs. savages” aspect, because it doesn’t stray from any colonial vision, first by sort of trying to make the whole Glittering Court look glamorous when it’s not (it’s not slavery, granted, but still a form of indenture with selling oneself to a man the only outcome), then by demeaning the “natives”. I kept hoping that there’d be some different undertones here, something to undermine the racist outlook on this, yet if there was, I couldn’t feel it.

So. Meh. 1.5 stars.

Yzabel / June 15, 2016

Review: Riverkeep

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

The Danék is a wild, treacherous river, and the Fobisher family has tended it for generations—clearing it of ice and weed, making sure boats can get through, and fishing corpses from its bleak depths. Wulliam’s father, the current Riverkeep, is proud of this work. Wull dreads it. And in one week, when he comes of age, he will have to take over.

Then the unthinkable happens. While recovering a drowned man, Wull’s father is pulled under—and when he emerges, he is no longer himself. A dark spirit possesses him, devouring him from the inside. In an instant, Wull is Riverkeep. And he must care for his father, too.

When he hears that a cure for his father lurks in the belly of a great sea-dwelling beast known as the mormorach, he embarks on an epic journey down the river that his family has so long protected—but never explored. Along the way, he faces death in any number of ways, meets people and creatures touched by magic and madness and alchemy, and finds courage he never knew he possessed.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A coming-of-age adventure in a world that is both threatening and full of wonders, following a boy who embarks on a journey to save his father: after Wulliam witnessed his dad being possessed by a river spirit, he decides to take his only parent to the sea, hunting down a legendary beast whose fluids are rumoured to have many healing properties. And even if it means abandoning his duties as the keeper of the river, Wull feels he doesn’t have a choice: either that, or let his father wither and die.

There were quite a few magical, poetic descriptions and moments in this book, and I never found it hard to picture the characters’ surroundings, or to imagine the mormorach, diving in the dark waters, preying on ships and crews bent on taking it down. Nor was it hard to imagine little Bonn, or Tillinghast’s strange body (bodies?).

However, I was a bit disappointed in the “adventure” itself, for it was rather sluggish in more than one place, and some events and character arcs felt put on a bus after a while. Most of the people Wulliam meets have their quirks and an aura of mystery: from the undertaker to Tillinghast the man who’s not alive, from Mix and her strange tattoos to Remedie cradling her strange baby, from the solitary scientist in the Deadmoor to the silent Mr Bent. The problem is that some of those people were given their own adventure… yet said adventures were never really concluded: only Wull and Tillinghast seem to have an ending of their own (as well as a few other characters, but let’s just say that their ending is a little more, uhm, permanent). As a result, it felt less like an open ending, and more like the author wanted to get to Wulliam’s ending mostly, with his quest being a little… on the side? I may be mistaken, but that’s how I keep on feeling about it now. I still don’t know why Mix doesn’t eat, or what happened to Remedie and Bonn.

Wulliam was also pretty annoying as a character. On the one hand, I could understand his desire to save his Pappa, along with his underlying somewhat selfish reasons (he wants to save him because he loves him, of course, but also because he doesn’t know how to be the Riverkeep in his stead, and wishes for his guidance some more); I could also understand how he’d come to be angry, considering everybody seemed to hitch a ride and not lift a finger to help. On the other hand, well… those characters helped in different ways (Till does pay for the trip, after all, and Mix does have a knack to gather resources unseen), and Wull after a while became more the annoying, tantrum-throwing type than the rightly-annoyed, unfairly-treated one.

Conclusion: ~ 2.5 stars out of 5. I liked the atmosphere, the depiction of the river and of the places travelled in this novel. Nevertheless, the pace was rather uneven, and unless it’s the first book in a series and we’re bound to learn more in a second one, not bringing closure to other characters’ stories made me feel unsatisfied.

Yzabel / May 29, 2016

Review: White Sand (Volume 1)

White Sand, Volume 1 by Brandon Sanderson

My rating:[rating=2]

Blurb:

A brand new saga of magic and adventure by #1 New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. On the planet of Taldain, the legendary Sand Masters harness arcane powers to manipulate sand in spectacular ways. But when they are slaughtered in a sinister conspiracy, the weakest of their number, Kenton, believes himself to be the only survivor. With enemies closing in on all sides, Kenton forges an unlikely partnership with Khriss — a mysterious Darksider who hides secrets of her own. White Sand brings to life a crucial, unpublished part of Brandon Sanderson’s sprawling Cosmere universe. The story has been adapted by Rik Hoskin (Mercy Thompson), with art by Julius Gopez and colors by Ross Campbell. Employing powerful imagery and Sanderson’s celebrated approach to magical systems, White Sand is a spectacular new saga for lovers of fantasy and adventure.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

First things first, I’ve never read anything by Brandon Sanderson (not yet, at least), so I have no idea if this compares to his novels.

As a comics, it was OK, but I wasn’t awed. Possibly because the PDF version I got was kind of blurry, more certainly because the style was a bit too rough to my liking and because of some things that didn’t make a lot of sense (or were missing) in hindsight when it came to world-building. On one hand, some panels contain a lot of text and explanations, which doesn’t always work too well in a graphic novel; on the other, in spite of those walls of text, little was actually *explained* when it came to all the questions raised.

For instance:
– All the Sandmasters we see are men. I don’t recall any women. Why? Kenton’s mother is mentioned as having come from Darkside, and there’s a point where he wonders about whether he has any brothers “or sisters” left, but where are these sisters? I don’t recall any women anywhere, either among the Sand Masters themselves or back at their enclave, and this just seems… weird. It’s never explained, there isn’t any line, not even one, about women living somewhere else, or not developing powers over sand and thus not studying with the men, etc.
– Re: Darkside and Dayside, the whole dichotomy doesn’t make a lot of sense. The people living under the blazing sun all year long are light-skinned, and the ones living on the presumably “dark side” (no sunlight there, ever? Or are they living in caves?) are dark-skinned. So, sure, I like it when we don’t go with the usual clichés, yet biologically-speaking, and in a science fiction story, it’s not really believable. I could buy, for instance, “drows have dark skin and white hair” in the Forgotten Realms ‘verse Because It’s Magic or their dark goddess making them like that or anything; here, I’d need an actual scientific explanation to be satisfied.

All this to say that, as is often the case when such a problem arises in a world where a scientific basis is expected, things that don’t make sense tend to keep me unfocused on the actual story: as soon as anything new pops up, I always find myself wondering why it is like that, and how it’s supposed to be justified.

The Darksiders have a sort of “19th century British empire” flavour, with their way of seeing the Daysiders as uncouth and not very civilised, and this is a bit problematic (that theme always is): had they been light-skinned people, it would’ve been too close to events that happened in history, but turning the tables here didn’t work too well for me. What I mean by this is that it felt like the author wanted such a civilisation in his story but didn’t want them to be “the civilised white people vs. the dark-skinned savages”, yet at the same time making them dark-skinned clashes with what you’d expect from people living on that “dark side of the planet” all the time. This was weird, and, I don’t know, I guess another option would’ve been more believable?

(This said, I liked them graphically-speaking. The Duchess was stylish and quite amiable, and the items they carry hint at mechanical inventions I wouldn’t mind seeing more.)

Mostly this story was an easy read, with some good fight-and-magic scenes. However, I’m likely to forget about it quickly, to be honest. 2.5 stars.

Yzabel / March 27, 2016

Review: Steal the Sky

Steal the Sky by Megan E. O’Keefe

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Detan Honding, a wanted conman of noble birth and ignoble tongue, has found himself in the oasis city of Aransa. He and his trusted companion Tibs may have pulled off one too many cons against the city’s elite and need to make a quick escape. They set their sights on their biggest heist yet – the gorgeous airship of the exiled commodore Thratia.

But in the middle of his scheme, a face changer known as a doppel starts murdering key members of Aransa’s government. The sudden paranoia makes Detan’s plans of stealing Thratia’s ship that much harder. And with this sudden power vacuum, Thratia can solidify her power and wreak havoc against the Empire. But the doppel isn’t working for Thratia and has her own intentions. Did Detan accidentally walk into a revolution and a crusade? He has to be careful – there’s a reason most people think he’s dead. And if his dangerous secret gets revealed, he has a lot more to worry about than a stolen airship.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

An interesting world with a lot of background remaining to be discovered, and characters that all hide more depth than one would think at first. However, I found the story itself somewhat confusing.

It starts with an offer that our main thief/conman character, Detan Honding, is in no position to refuse, coming from the very captain of the Watch. A strange request: steal the newfangled airship of ex-Commodore Thratia, an exile from the the Valathean empire, infamous for her ruthless methods. Soon enough, though, Detan and Tibal, his friend and associate, realise they may be out of their depth here, and that the players involved aren’t so easy to thwart.

A lot of things revolve around selium, a strange gas found on the Scorched Continent, that can only be manipulated by sel-sensitive people. Privileged in a way, but slaves in many others: they have no other choice than to work in the selium mines (regular people won’t be their friends if their shirk their “duty”…), those who lose their skill are forced into retirement, and those with “deviant” talents are sooner or later captured and experimented upon by the Valathean “whitecoats”. Not such very enthralling prospects. As for criminals in Aransa, the mining city where the story is set, they can choose to die by the axe, or to “walk the Black”, aka letting the scorching sun of the obsidian desert kill them in a matter of minutes (if they’re lucky).

There’s a lot seemingly going on behind the scenes. Valathea, for instance, with its blend of refinement and cruelty (I couldn’t help but envision a mix between Roman and Chinese civilisations, in terms of conquest and clothing, with airships and an elite corps of scientists bent on dissecting people with sel-related abilities). The Scorched had a “Far West/unconquered land” vibe in some ways—perhaps because of the whole desert thing and of how it tried to remain out of Valathea’s influence, but could feel it pressing down closer and closer. Additionally, many characters appear simple at first (Detan is a conman, Ripka the loyal Watch captain, Thratia a ruthless manipulator who won’t hesitate to kill people, the doppel a mysterious killer with a single goal…) yet soon show signs of being more than meet the eye, with agendas and knowledge of their own,

However, while the world felt rich, and provides enough ground to cover more than one book in that regard, the plot was a bit all over the place, as if it couldn’t decide what to focus on. The expected heist (stealing an airship) wasn’t so exciting nor given that much attention, with our conmen being more outclassed than actually able to properly work on it, and with the story veering into murder investigation, and revenge, and intrigue, and a few more things. This felt more confusing than anything else. I guess this is partly a case of “it’s not the book, it’s me”: I like heist stories, but I like them with my burglars/conmen being able to have a marginal success at least. Here, both Detan and Tibs went from failure to failure, with Detan losing his “rogue” charm, and after a while I didn’t really care anymore.

2.5 stars. The setting remains interesting, so I may check the next book if NetGalley or the library has it, because the group at the end has potential for good adventures, complete with an already existing dangerous enemy, and with another potential antagonist looming in the background. We’ll see.

Yzabel / March 17, 2016

Review: The Grace of Kings

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.

Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.

Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Mixed bag of feelings and opinions regarding this novel: it has the making of a great epic, with battles and politics and court intrigue and betrayals… but more than once, it read more like a history book, which didn’t make the characters really three-dimensional.

This is the story of Mata Zyndu, “the Chrysanthemum”, scion of a noble though destroyed family, a powerful warrior destined to do great things and convinced everything and everyone has their rightful place in the world; and Kuni Garu, “the Dandelion”, a good-to-nothing son turned gangster for want of fidning a goal in life first, but who’s gradually proving himself very resourceful. As Emperor Mapidéré’s reign of terror plunges more and more people into poverty and forced building works, these two men, each for their own reasons, find themselves taking arms in the hopes of making the isles of Dara a peaceful set of kingdoms again… But can thisbe achieved, or will the empowered kings go back to petty squabbling of old?

As a lot of stories go, it is ripe with strife, brothers turning against each other, allies found where nobody ever expected them, faithful families and love interests turned traitors, and… ell, you name it, it probably has it. The pacing was usually fast, covering several weeks or months at times, the novel spanning a few years of fights and rebellion and of trying to build a new world. It never wants for events, for the tide turning suddenly for this or that character, for another character managing to come up with a new deal, and so on.

The setting is reminiscent of feudal Chinese society, with a dash of steampunk (there are rudimentary airships, and later steam technology gets developed). The Emperor is law, everybody’s below him, those who voice out their criticism tend to be silenced forever very quickly. Sons and daughters are expected to uphold the family’s honour, and if they don’t, they often get cast away or at least partly shunned. While I confess not knowing much to Chinese history, customs and mores, the story managed to make me feel its influences, in a good way. I had no trouble imagining the complex sitting and greeting etiquette, or to picture schools with ancient men dispensing the teachings of sages of old (obviously modelled on Confucius or Sun Tzu, but whether this is plagiarism or homage didn’t matter much to me, since I liked the world depicted here).

And even though the world of Dara isn’t perfect, even though the Emperor is a tyrant and his son a naïve, sheltered teenager, there aren’t only bad sides to the “tyranny”: as Mapidéré displaces noble families to prevent them from rallying supporters in their original lands, trade develops (because, simply enough, people sent to other islands long for their home’s cooking and clothing, and so on). There’s a vision gone wrong in all this… but a vision nonetheless.

On the downside, the writing style, while beautiful in some places, often felt dry and too descriptive—too much telling, not enough showing, making the action read as if it was being told by a remote observer. This in turn impeded the characters’ development, as often, too, we’re told of their merits and flaws, of how they evolve… instead of being shown. I still found myself rooting alternatively for Kuni, for Mata, for Gin and a few others; nevertheless, I would’ve liked them even more had their potential complexity really shone through, rather than being recounted. And they really had such potential, considering the nest of opportunities and treasons they went through. So many scenes that could have been between Jia and Risana, for instance, but were told in too few, too short paragraphs.

Also, I must admit I didn’t really care for the part played by the gods. So they shouldn’t interfere directly… but some did it indirectly… but was it really so indirect… but wait, in the end it’s still the mere mortals making history anyway… I sort of get this message, however the way it was handed felt like a series of devices meant to advance the plot, and nothing more.

Conclusion: mostly I liked this story, and may check the second volume later. It had potential for something bigger, though, something grander, especially when the characters were concerned—and in the end, it wasn’t so much.

Yzabel / December 19, 2015

Review: The Pyramids of London

The Pyramids of London by Andrea K. Höst

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

In a world where lightning sustained the Roman Empire, and Egypt’s vampiric god-kings spread their influence through medicine and good weather, tiny Prytennia’s fortunes are rising with the ships that have made her undisputed ruler of the air.

But the peace of recent decades is under threat. Rome’s automaton-driven wealth is waning along with the New Republic’s supply of power crystals, while Sweden uses fear of Rome to add to her Protectorates. And Prytennia is under attack from the wind itself. Relentless daily blasts destroy crops, buildings, and lives, and neither the weather vampires nor Prytennia’s Trifold Goddess have been able to find a way to stop them.

With events so grand scouring the horizon, the deaths of Eiliff and Aedric Tenning raise little interest. The official verdict is accident: two careless automaton makers, killed by their own construct.

The Tenning children and Aedric’s sister, Arianne, know this cannot be true. Nothing will stop their search for what really happened.

Not even if, to follow the first clue, Aunt Arianne must sell herself to a vampire.

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Good ideas in terms of world building, although in general, I found the novel a little confusing.

Lots of concepts introduced here, with references to our world: Prytennia is obviously Britain, the Roman Empire and Egypt speak for themselves, and so it was very easy to picture the setting, geographically speaking. There’s still royalty in “Britain”: check. Lutèce is Paris: check (shall I admit to knowing quite a few cities’ old Roman names thanks to “Asterix”?). Various deities associated to various cults, like Cernunnos or Lakshmi: check. At first, it may look like a mish-mash, but it makes a lot of sense in a context where, many centuries ago, the Gods “Answered” people’s prayers and actually descended on the world, or made themselves incarnate in other ways. The Egyptian “gods”, for instance, who gave birth to several strains of vampirism, each with its own powers (the Shu control winds, the Thoth-den use their blood to heal people, the Ma’at can tell who’s lying…). Or Sulis (who in our world used to be worshipped at Bath), who manifests herself through three women, the Suleviae. For someone who knows a little about mythology, or even knows the very basics and wants to learn more, this book gives a few tracks to follow.

However, I didn’t get the same feeling here I got from the blurb. Prytennia’s climate seems to be warm (I immediately imagined cities close to the desert, with people wearing “skirts” instead of trousers), but I didn’t feel the urgency of being “under attack from the wind itself”. The political intrigues from the Swedes, through their representative Gustav, seemed to be more of an afterthought than something that would really affect Prytennia. The “selling oneself to a vampire” part didn’t seem that bad: more a contract for a decade or so, without aging, and I guess there are so many worse ways to indenture oneself. I don’t know if this came from the plot itself (Arianne and her nieces and nephew investigating to know what happened to the dead parents) or from the narrative, the way it was woven. Maybe I was expecting something else.

I also couldn’t push myself to really care for the characters. Arianne’s calm take on basically everything dampened the predicament she was in (potentially turning into a vampire against her will—that’s not a spoiler, you know about it in the very first chapters). The romantic interests came a little out of nowhere, and I’m not sure if they were exactly important when pitched against the backdrop of “who dunnit” and “there’s a secret behind what our parents were working on”. When some characters disappeared, I wasn’t so invested, because I hadn’t gotten to know them more beforehand, and they were more sidenotes for me than people. Mostly I felt that the characters were removed from themselves, dispassionately looking at their own lives from afar, and so in turn I looked at them from afar, too.

Still, I liked the world developed here. Perhaps a bit too much was shoved in the reader’s face from the beginning (any book that needs a glossary tends to be of that kind), but some more careful reading on my part allowed me to quickly grab what it was all about. And it’s definitely a good thing that a lot of the characters are women, and they do Important Things, and it’s completely normal because women in this world get to do Important Things all the time anyway, and it’s not only the men’s turf. (The Queen is part of a goddess incarnate and gets to mingle with dragons, one of the princesses commands a very special kind of guard/spies, girls get to study engineering and can land apprenticeships in workshops, or even have workshops of their own, without society making them feel “improper”… Etc.)

I may decide to grab the second volume at some point. I don’t know yet. I’m hovering around the 2.5 stars mark here, in between some parts I found “OK” and others that made me think “this is a good idea, I like it”. (Vampires especially: they aren’t emo creatures, they become like that due to a symbiotic relationship with specific strains living in their blood, they have souls, they believe in an Egyptian-like Otherworld where they have to strengthen their ba before being able to carry on.) If the next book can get past the somewhat-confusing approach to this world, and focuses more on the characters in a way that would make me feel involved, then I’ll be interested.

Yzabel / November 30, 2015

Review: Deep Time

Doctor Who: Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale
My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

‘I do hope you’re all ready to be terrified!’
The Phaeron disappeared from the universe over a million years ago. They travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind. But what actually happened to the Phaeron? Some believe they were they eradicated by a superior force… Others claim they destroyed themselves.
Or were they in fact the victims of an even more hideous fate?
In the far future, humans discover the location of the last Phaeron road – and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where the road leads. Each member of the research team knows exactly what they’re looking for – but only the Doctor knows exactly what they’ll find.
Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a monstrous secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable…

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

3 to 3.5 stars

This is the last book in the “Glamour Chronicles” series. I’m glad I seemingly read them in the “right” order, because while they were supposed to be readable in just any order, I don’t think they really are. At least, “Deep Time” should come last, as it brings a conclusion to this whole Glamour thing. A good or a bad thing, depending on how you see it: I felt that this story may have fared better on its own, because the way it tied in with the elusive Glamour was a bit vague. It still worked in the end, though, so that wasn’t too much of an issue, at least.

In any case, it was way, way better than “Big Bang Generation”. Not over the place, and one of those darker Doctor Who stories, where danger feels more real, where people die in gruesome ways.

This time, Twelve and Clara embark on board the Alexandria, a brand new spaceship, in an expedition financed by a rich guy. Pretty much every member of the expedition has their reasons to try and find the mysterious Phaeron Roads, an ancient network of now-collapsed wormholes. At the end of the journey, they hope to find what their heart most desires: a long-lost parent, the money to at last find a place where they can live in peace, the kind of adventure money can’t buy… And within the Glamour Chronicles, doesn’t that ring a bell? After all, from the beginning of this trilogy, it’s been about “wanting”…

The plot was classical, should I say: not very original (expedition gets stranded, time and space go wonky, some people die, the answer comes through what remains of a mysterious ancient race…), but it was enjoyable, with well-timed dark moments. It would’ve deserved more development, more fleshing out. Like the other novels in the trilogy, it was short, and didn’t leave much room for additional details.

I found the Doctor more active than in previous books, more “Doctor-like”, with more important screen time, too, and as a result, “Deep Time” felt like an actual TV episode, in spite of the large cast of characters (the large cast had kind of killed Twelve’s presence in “Big Bang Generation”, in my opinion). And speaking of these secondary characters, they were interesting enough; their backgrounds were kept to minimum information, yet it still allowed me to draw a fairly good picture of them (well, alright, Flexx and Cranmer less than the others). I wasn’t too convinced about Clara, though, as she was a bit too… passive to my liking. There were several instances of characters fainting after a time shift, for instance, and she was just a little too often part of the “weak” ones who didn’t wake up fast. I’m not really fond of such devices.

Conclusion: Not an exceptional novel, but one that does well enough as an enjoyable Doctor Who story.

Yzabel / November 9, 2015

Review: Big Bang Generation

Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

“I’m an archaeologist, but probably not the one you were expecting.”

Christmas 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Imagine everyone’s surprise when a time portal opens up in Sydney Cove. Imagine their shock as a massive pyramid now sits beside the Harbour Bridge, inconveniently blocking Port Jackson and glowing with energy. Imagine their fear as Cyrrus “the mobster” Globb, Professor Horace Jaanson and an alien assassin called Kik arrive to claim the glowing pyramid. Finally imagine everyone’s dismay when they are followed by a bunch of con artists out to spring their greatest grift yet.

This gang consists of Legs (the sexy comedian), Dog Boy (providing protection and firepower), Shortie (handling logistics), Da Trowel (in charge of excavation and history) and their leader, Doc (busy making sure the universe isn’t destroyed in an explosion that makes the Big Bang look like a damp squib).

And when someone accidentally reawakens The Ancients of the Universe – which, Doc reckons, wasn’t the wisest or best-judged of actions – things get a whole lot more complicated…

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

1.5 stars

I don’t know where to start, because this one was all over the place. Ambitious, with a plotline that could be awesome and tie a lot of things together, yet… didn’t in the end, not really. I mean, the plot got its ending, but I still have no idea where it all fits within the Glamour series, except for the name being thrown in, and the Ancients bit just made me wonder what/who exactly they were, and what was their purpose? (Not much, considering how they were presented.)

I liked the sense of a con, or several cons going on, at the same time, or at different times. I liked the postcards bit, because in general I’m fond of such devices (cliché as they are) to “gather the posse together and prepare for the big heist”. Only it stayed at that level, and I didn’t get later the feeling I got from the book’s blurb, which hinted at something more exciting.

A lot of things made no sense, to be honest, in how the characters behaved, in their plans, in how they interacted with each other. There was banter (good Capaldi-like lines, for sure) but they felt disjointed from the plot. The characters weren’t as far as witty as they were meant to be. Incoherences thrown in now and then didn’t help (I think they have some time of veiling/cloaking technology, yet Peter has to hide his face under a hoodie?).

The random interest Kik showed for Peter was a big WTF series of moments for me. It just came out of nowhere, and made as little sense as the rest. Their interactions were somewhat fun at first (dog fart in her face to make her throw him away—it’s 100% dumb, but hey, whatever works, also I’m positive it’s the kind of stunt I’d pull in a pen & paper RPG session)… but they didn’t tie at all into “prospective love interest territory”. The badass assassin never projected that aura of badassery I expected from her, Jaansen was just a bumbling idiot, Globb never lived up to his reputation as a conman, Ruth… I don’t even know what she was supposed to do here, apart from being that other guy’s fiancée. I probably missed a few things here. I’m fine with lots of characters… only please develop them more, make them look and smell and feel “real”, otherwise I won’t care much.

And that’s another of the issues I have with this novel. I didn’t get a lot of the references (although I enjoyed the ones I got), my knowledge of the series being mostly the 2005+ seasons and a handful of novels. However, I kept wondering if there wasn’t too much information about Bernice and what she shared with the Doctor, in that now I feel I know a lot without never reading anything about her (or listening to anything—if I’m not mistaken, that was all about audio episodes?). It’s as if the novel hints at too many things for someone who doesn’t know much to the Whoverse, while at the same time recapping too many things as well for those who know a lot and don’t care about, well, many recaps. As a result, there was paradoxically a lot of padding in a novel still too short for its (potentially) complex plot.

Definitely a weird and soon-to-be-forgotten read, unfortunately.

Yzabel / October 30, 2015

Review: The Prophecy Con

The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes

My rating: [rating=5]

Blurb:

Book Two in the Rogues of the Republic series.

Who would have thought a book of naughty poems by elves could mean the difference between war and peace? But if stealing the precious volume will keep the Republic and the Empire from tearing out each other’s throats, rogue soldier Isafesira de Lochenville—“Loch” to friends and foes alike—is willing to do the dishonest honors. With her motley crew of magic-makers, law-breakers, and a talking warhammer, she’ll match wits and weapons with dutiful dwarves, mercenary knights, golems, daemons, an arrogant elf, and a sorcerous princess.

But getting their hands on the prize—while keeping their heads attached to their necks—means Loch and company must battle their way from a booby-trapped museum to a monster-infested library, and from a temple full of furious monks to a speeding train besieged by assassins. And for what? Are a few pages of bawdy verse worth waging war over? Or does something far more sinister lurk between the lines?

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

I read the first book not long ago, and a lot of what I posted in my review at the time is valid again in here. The heist(s), with several levels of deception, double-crossing the opponent, thwarted plans, having to do with a situation turned for the worst… And with twists that aren’t always planned by all members of the team, ending in somewhat hilarious moments that nicely counterbalance the overall “they’re a bit too ready for absolutely everything” feeling one may get. Because something’s bound to give, to turn sour in a heist, otherwise there wouldn’t be as much interest in reading such adventures—at least not for me.

The characters are mostly the same, with some changes reflecting darker turns of events from the first book. Kail is still his old I-give-a-name-to-everything lockpick and pickpocket, and his skill in wielding “mom jokes” remains the same (also he’s contaminated Icy); however, his brush with mind-bending magic left him a bit more somber, but more decided than ever to fight this. Desidora has returned to her duties, yet is now questioning her role within the team, as she feels she is less useful. (I quite liked the conversations between these two, as their predicaments were somewhat related.) Ululenia and Dairy… well, let’s just say things didn’t exactly go as planned (not to mention that the unicorn had to make a choice whose consequences wouldn’t be so light). Loch is trying to work on the side of a law that doesn’t exactly make things easy for her in that regard. Hessler has broadened his magic, with somewhat dangerous results that however leave room to humorous dialogues: a welcome thing, considering that the tone of the novel is a bit darker and that this time, wounds aren’t only superficial.

We are given a bit more of a view of other parts of the world here: the Empire, the dwarves, the elves, as well as the Ancients themselves. A welcome addition, too. At first sight, it doesn’t stray too far from clichés (Elves had tree-ships and prefer to live far from humans, dwarves are often miners…); however, read just a little longer and the differences become obvious. I especially liked how the dwarves were so polite and orderly, while the elf dignitary was at the same time badass and insufferable (in a funny way). While the rules of magic in this world remain fuzzy, the relationship between magic and elves (through the crustals embedded in the latter) was interesting nonetheless.

This novel may have been slightly less humorous than the first one, because its stakes were higher from the beginning—not just a heist to steal a book and earn tons of money, but preventing a war, and trying not to become the sacrificial lamb in the middle of all this. Oddly or not, I liked it even better for this reason, and for another one: this time, knowing the characters, I could also better anticipate on what their moves might or might not be, and this made it more “logical”, so to speak, when something happened that I would’ve otherwise deemed a deus ex machina. Predictable? In a way. Yet the kind of predictable I like, that I *want* to see happen, and then, when it happens, I strike the air with my fist and I’m all “Yesss!”

4.5 stars. I’ll keep recommending this series, and hope book 3 is on the same level.

Yzabel / October 28, 2015

Review: Alice Takes Back Wonderland

Alice Takes Back Wonderland by David D. Hammons

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

After ten years of being told she can’t tell the difference between real life and a fairy tale, Alice finally stops believing in Wonderland. So when the White Rabbit shows up at her house, Alice thinks she’s going crazy. Only when the White Rabbit kicks her down the rabbit hole does Alice realize that the magical land she visited as a child is real. But all is not well in Wonderland.

The Ace of Spades has taken over Wonderland and is systematically dismantling all that makes it wonderful. Plain is replacing wondrous, logical is replacing magical, and reason is destroying madness. Alice decides she must help the Mad Hatter and all those fighting to keep Wonderland wonderful. But how can she face such danger when she is just a girl?

Alice must journey across the stars to unite an army. She discovers that fairy tales are real in the magical world beyond the rabbit hole. But they are not the fairy tales she knows. Fairy tales have dangers and adventures of their own, and Alice must overcome the trials of these old stories if she wants to unite the lands against Ace.

With the help of Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Snow White and heroes old and new, Alice may have the strength to take back Wonderland.

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.]

Both funny and leading one to think about darker themes, though a bit confusing at times.

I pretty much enjoyed this this novel. Its cover, for starters. Its grim version of a Wonderland not turned into gothic-like darkness or anything, but into an even more dreadful thing: grey, boring normalcy. Its mash-up of fairy tales, different from the ones known in our world, their echoes reaching us and being turned into stories, while our world has in turn their own echoes in those places—transcending time and space, too: Alice is actually from our contemporary United States, but Peter Pan knows her through her story as a girl from 19th century Britain, a story he himself was told before going to Neverland. Good ideas aplenty, in how the “true” characters were different: Pinocchio as a boy who doesn’t know whether he’s real or not (and with a darker backstory to his being a “puppet”), what’s truly going on with Captain Hook, Robin Hood’s real identity, Queen Charming who lost everything and has turned into a tyrant of her own kind because she couldn’t cope with all the sadness… There’s even a bit of a wink to Lovecraft, one that seemed odd at first yet ended up being not so odd, all things considered, with everything going on around it.

It may have been a bit too much at some point, making it difficult sometimes to remain focused on the story—possibly because of the large cast of characters and their nonsensical dialogue and ways of thinking: totally fitting the Wonderland setting (and thus good, too), but depending on your frame of mind and/or degree of tiredness, not necessarily the easiest to go through. I would advise not treating this novel as a “light read for when you don’t need to focus”, because you do, and you should, else some of its (interesting) elements may get lost along the way. (I’d dare say it’s the same with Carroll’s Wonderland, after all: to fully enjoy it, you definitely need to pay attention.)

I admit I would have liked to see just a bit more of Alice’s “madness” in the normal world, to better grasp how exactly she gave up on Wonderland at first: to me, it seemed she never gave up, picked up fairly quickly, and seeing her struggle more (or differently?) would have been nice. Not that I didn’t want her to accept Wonderland again—just differently, since Ace’s dominion there, his desire to turn it into a normal (boring) place, prompts her to take action and “retake” Wonderland. In the beginning, she didn’t *want* to believe, then the switch happened a bit too fast. Same with Alice’s parents: will they force her back into normalcy, or not? Can she stand up to them in that regard? Such answers aren’t given.

Otherwise it was a funny adventure, with good twists and turns and renewed takes on well-known fairy tales characters (the mysterious Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the dwarves dealing in moonshine…). 3.5 stars.