arc Archives - Page 21 of 30

Yzabel / May 27, 2015

Review: The Shadow Revolution

The Shadow Revolution by Clay Griffith

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

They are the realm’s last, best defense against supernatural evil. But they’re going to need a lot more silver...

As fog descends, obscuring the gas lamps of Victorian London, werewolves prowl the shadows of back alleys. But they have infiltrated the inner circles of upper-crust society as well. Only a handful of specially gifted practitioners are equipped to battle the beasts. Among them are the roguish Simon Archer, who conceals his powers as a spell-casting scribe behind the smooth veneer of a dashing playboy; his layabout mentor, Nick Barker, who prefers a good pub to thrilling heroics; and the self-possessed alchemist Kate Anstruther, who is equally at home in a ballroom as she is on a battlefield.

After a lycanthrope targets Kate’s vulnerable younger sister, the three join forces with fierce Scottish monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane—but quickly discover they’re dealing with a threat far greater than anything they ever imagined.

Review:

(I was given a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Magic, werewolves, Victorian London, crazy inventions, and alchemy: what could go wrong, right?

Well, I did like this novel, but not as much as I had hoped and wished. Perhaps because I remembered liking these authors’ Greyfriar book a lot, and was expecting something similar? I’m not sure. It has a nice mix of adventure, banter, fights and magic, but somehow I found it a bit lacking. Not bad per se, just lacking.

I really liked the descriptions and the London depicted in this first installment. I could easily imagine its streets, its rookeries, the characters as they were introduced, Penny’s inventions, and the various supernaturals (I’ll add the homunculi to this category, not only the werewolves). The Bedlam part was creepy and terrific. The atmosphere reflected what I’d imagine as an early gaslight/steampunk urban fantasy backdrop, and while some of the contraptions were maybe a tad bit too modern, I didn’t really care, because they integrated well enough within the overall picture.

The characters had a nice dynamics going, too. They were somewhat cliché (the dashing gentleman magician, his friend who seems to spend his time in less commendable places, the Scottish werewolves hunter, the inventor, the feisty alchemist), but again, for some reason, I thought they worked well together. I will easily forgive tropes if I manage to find them exciting, and in this case, they fit the theme and what I expected of it.

I found the writing style a bit too rough in general, though, in that the action scenes especially seemed like they could’ve benefitted from more editing, in order to be less confusing. Same with the first chapters: the reader’s quickly thrown into it, which is usually good, yet something felt abrupt and slightly jarring. It got better in some parts, and not in others. There were a lot of such scenes, perhaps too many, and they got repetitive after a while. The werewolves were also a bit too squishy depending on the moments: the first one looked so impressive and hard to kill, while others could be shredded like paper. At some point, the weres got described as not being all the same, with a lot of them being ‘runts’ of sorts, that couldn’t very well control their powers; in this case, it would make sense… only the way it was explained wasn’t too clear.

Second, I wondered why the authors hadn’t made up more concepts and words. Sure, too much techno- (or mystico-) babble can get old pretty fast; however, whenever I read something like “he muttered strange words (to create a spell)”, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “What words are those, andwhy would they be strange to him, since he’s a magician?” In such instances, I’d definitely have appreciated some made-up “babble”.

Third, a lot of threads were left dangling. This is both a good and a bad thing. The book is clearly presented as volume 1 in a trilogy, no secrets here, so everything can’t be solved at once, and these threads are obviously openings into books 2 and 3. On the other hand, they’d better not be forgotten then, otherwise they’ll look like sloppy work.

I’d rate this book 2.5 stars: lots of fun, with the clear aim of being entertaining, and definitely good potential in terms of character dynamics and family stories, but only if it gets realised and not bogged down in confusing scenes. Reading the next volume, which I also have, will likely tell if what I’m hoping for will become true.

Yzabel / May 23, 2015

Review: The Devil’s Detective

The Devil’s Detective: A Novel by Simon Kurt Unsworth

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Welcome to hell…

…where skinless demons patrol the lakes and the waves of Limbo wash against the outer walls, while the souls of the Damned float on their surface, waiting to be collected.

When an unidentified, brutalised body is discovered, the case is assigned to Thomas Fool, one of Hell’s detectives, known as ‘Information Men’. But how do you investigate a murder where death is commonplace and everyone is guilty of something?

Review:

(I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

First thing first: if you’re looking for nice things, Happy Ever Afters and something else than bleak prospects, this is not the book for you. But the fact it’s set in Hell, only in Hell and nowhere else, makes this fact kind of obvious anyway.

Thomas Fool is one of Hell’s few “Information Men”, meant to investigate crimes yet knowing that whatever the outcome, it won’t matter. Whether murderers get punished or not doesn’t matter, whether people die or not doesn’t matter—it’s Hell, and it’s nonsense, and the whole nonsense of it bears down upon every inhabitant, even the demons themselves. There are rules to follow, and all of Hell’s prisoners do, in the flimsy hope of being Elevated someday, freed and sent to Heaven, following a process of selection whose rules themselves are all but logical. Joy and hope? Of course there is: so that they can be better quashed.

It was sometimes a little difficult to make up my mind about this novel, as some of its defects also contribute to making its strengths. The characters in general are sort of bleak, unremarkable, lost within an investigation that doesn’t really seem important, like puppets stringed around while being totally aware of what they are. It was somewhat tedious at times, yet it fit pretty well into the Hell setting, into its “why bother” atmosphere. I would not necessarily care for what happened to whom, yet at the same time, I did, because it reinforced the feeling of a twisted structure here. (I was peeved however at the women’s roles: they were either absent/in the background or clearly too stupid to live anyway.)

Hell’s descriptions were vivid and made it easy to picture what Fool and his partners had to go through, as gruesome and malevolent as both places and inhabitants were. In the beginning, I expected more; later, it didn’t feel so important, as what was described became enough for me to form my own vision of Hell, and adding more would’ve actually been too much.

Dialogues were definitely of the weak sort, especially because of the various repetitions and name-dropping. For instance, one character kept calling Fool “Thomas” several times in the span of a few sentences only, and this happened more than just once of twice. Fool’s and some others’ lines were also often reduced to “Yes” or “No”, and those became quickly annoying.

Another issue: guessing who the perp was. Way, way too easy. It made sense fairly early in the novel, and it was equally annoying to see Fool & Co not doing the math. Granted, their investigations often fell into the “Did Not Investigate” category (Hell made it so that it was pointless for them to investigate most crimes in general), and I guess one could say they weren’t “used” to doing it, but… It was still annoying when Fool openly admitted to himself not understanding something that should’ve been obvious.

2.5 stars for the depiction of Hell, and how the story made clear that pointlessness, twisted logices and bleak surroundings can be turned into something as terrible as fiery pits and physical pain. The reader doesn’t get hammered with God and Satan, and has to make their own idea of whether this would truly be a kind of Hell for them. As an investigation/mystery type of story, though, or in terms of interesting characters, it didn’t work well.

Yzabel / May 6, 2015

Review: Forsaken

Forsaken by J.D. Barker

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

When horror author Thad McAlister began his latest novel, a tale rooted in the witch trials of centuries past, the words flowed effortlessly. The story poured forth, filling page after page with the most frightening character ever to crawl from his imagination. It was his greatest work, one that would guarantee him a position among the legends of the craft.

But was it really fiction?

He inadvertently opened a door, one that would soon jeopardize the lives of his family.

She wants to come back.

At home, his wife struggles to keep their family alive. Secretly wondering if she caused it all…a deal she made long ago. A deal with the Forsaken.

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I’m not too sure how to rate this novel.

Its plot managed to be “simple” enough without being boring, able to bring enough elements to keep readers entertained, as well as interesting twists, especially at the end. This isn’t something easy to achieve. The wink to Needful Things made me go “wait, what?” for a second, but it all made sense, and was in fact a nice addition, all things considered. (I am ashamed to say I haven’t even read Needful Things, not yet. I just now enough about it to get the cameo.)

There’s a lot of meta-ing in here, too: the writer whose inspiration gives life to horrors, yet you quickly realise that his inspiration itself didn’t come just out of nowhere. The literary agent whose greed translates into another kind of greed. The Journal of Clayton Stone, made of excerpts from Thad’s novel, also acting as a way to pepper the plot with more information. Said novel as a medium of carrying just about anything: a story, a curse, a legend… and with so many people about to read it, who’s to know how the paradigm will shift?

The short chapters also made for an easy read—I like short it when you can stop often, since I also often read in public transportation or during breaks. Although I didn’t often want to stop, because to regular shift between Thad, Rachael and Clayton kept me wanting to go on to see what would happen next.

And yet, I can’t explain why I wasn’t more thrilled. It’s the kind of book I should’ve devoured in two sleepless nights; I didn’t. I thought it’d scare me more, with its depiction of the house becoming a trap; it didn’t. I’d read ten or fifteen chapters, and then suddenly feel like stopping. I’m not sure why this happened. It may be because some elements weren’t shown enough to my liking (like Zeke’s role: I thought he deserved more screen time). The “followers” sort of popped out of nowhere, and the way they were led and organised was a little jumbly. And the characters felt somewhat one-dimensional: while Rachael’s and Ashley’s plea was almost tangible, with creepy descriptions of the minions and the dust invading everything, the people themselves seemed more like victims cast in their role than like “real” people with likes, dislikes, a before and an after… This may be why the horror part didn’t touch me so much.

Forsaken‘s still definitely worth a read for its pacing, its descriptions, and its twists.

Yzabel / April 28, 2015

Review: The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath

The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath by Ishbelle Bee

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.

John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr Fingers, the demon lord of the underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree.
Now Mr Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart has been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down…

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Hmmm. A hard one to rate. I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. Maybe 3.5 stars / between “I liked it” and “I really liked it”?

The setting, characters and writing had a twisted fairy tale-like quality, rather close to what I’d expect from authors I love (like Neil Gaiman). Victorian England, for starters, with a dash of the Egyptian craze. An Egyptian princess whose soul may have travelled to another human vessel via a clock. A clockmaker who makes very specific implements using inhuman means. A group of young boys raised by the Lord of the Underworld, all ending up twisted in various ways. People fighting against death and aging, going against time, ready to whatever it takes to prolong their own lives. All this against the backdrop of the Ripper murders, which are given a different take her.

I liked that the story went in a roundabout way. As I usually say in such cases, it’s both a good and a bad thing. Good for readers like me who enjoy it when a novel doesn’t necessarily follow its characters chronologically, because it’s like a puzzle and it’s amusing (at first, it’s not so obvious why this or that character becomes the focus, but then those subplots gradually tie together). Bad, because if you don’t have a lot of time to focus on the story, it’s easy to feel lost after a while. After all, we aren’t always able to read a book in one or two sittings only… So, I enjoyed trying to piece things together, but I’ll also admit that it wasn’t very easy at times, as I’d somewhat lose my train of thoughts about the novel as soon as something else popped up.

Mr Lovehart was one strange, mad fellow. And the kind of persona that tends to grow on me: crazy, clearly evil in many ways, yet with a heroic bastard streak that went well with his killing antics. And eccentric clothes. Somehow, it just worked.

I also really liked the relationship between Mirror and Goliath, fierce protector as he was. Just like White and to a certain extent Walnut, he provided a strong, honest counterpoint against the depravity of other characters. I’m not so fond of the ending and of what it implied when it came to Mirror and Goliath, though, considering that she “grew up” pretty fast, but that nothing is said about her mental growth. Especially as she wrote her letter, it felt like she was still quite a child in her mind, and so it made things rather… weird, to say the least.

The same goes for Pomegranate’s story, that didn’t tie as well with the other characters’. Or maybe that was just me. Maybe I happened to read her chapters at a moment when I wasn’t focused enough. (See above.) And there were moments when I felt that the characters in general ween’t so well-defined, that they would’ve deserved more fleshing out.

I’d still recommend this novel to readers in search of whimsical settings and characters, with magical realism and enchanting prose.

Yzabel / April 24, 2015

Review: The Girl Who Never Was

The Girl Who Never Was by Skylar Dorset

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS is the story of Selkie Stewart, who thinks she’s a totally normal teenager growing up in Boston. Sure, her father is in an insane asylum, her mother left her on his doorstep—literally—when she was a baby, and she’s being raised by two ancient aunts who spend their time hunting gnomes in their Beacon Hill townhouse. But other than that her life is totally normal! She’s got an adventurous best friend who’s always got her back and an unrequited crush on an older boy named Ben. Just like any other teenager, right?

When Selkie goes in search of the mother she’s never known, she gets more than she bargained for. It turns out that her mother is faerie royalty, which would make Selkie a faerie princess—except for the part where her father is an ogre, which makes her only half of anything. Even more confusing, there’s a prophecy that Selkie is going to destroy the tyrannical Seelie Court, which is why her mother actually wants to kill her. Selkie has been kept hidden all her life by her adoring aunts, with the help of a Salem wizard named Will. And Ben. Because the boy she thinks she’s in love with turns out to be a faerie whose enchantment has kept her alive, but also kept her in the dark about her own life.

Now, with enchantments dissolved and prophecies swinging into action, Selkie finds herself on a series of mad quests to save the people she’s always loved and a life she’s learning to love. But in a supernatural world of increasingly complex alliances and distressingly complicated deceptions, it’s so hard to know who to trust. Does her mother really wish to kill her? Would Will sacrifice her for the sake of the prophecy? And does Ben really love her or is it all an elaborate ruse? In order to survive, Selkie realizes that the key is learning—and accepting—who she really is.

Review:

(I received an ARC copy through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review. Since it was an ARC, though, some things may be different in the published version of this book.)

I am sorely late in reading and reviewing this book. My mistake for not keeping track of when which review was due. Apologies to the publisher for this. Unfortunately, I have to admit I didn’t like this book, balancing between “it’s OK” and “this is getting long… are we there yet?”

It had plenty of ideas and themes that I normally would like. Fae, for starters, as well as wizards and ogres. A blue-and-orange-morality take on said fae, as well as a Seelie Court that is all but full of “nice fairies” (they’ll kill someone because they can, and when asked “why”, they’ll answer “why not?”). Boston as a stronghold for the supernaturals, built over the centuries through magic and enchantments. One of the characters has the power to travel between the human world and the fae lands. And so on.

On the other hand, I just couldn’t connect with the characters. Selkie reacted too often like a kid rather than as a 17-year-old girl, acting impetuously and making rash decisions, sometimes to the point of reaching Too Stupid To Live status. Her friend wasn’t so much better. Putting yourself in danger to save someone is a noble thing, even if it means willingly jumping into a trap, but Selkie did it with too little preparation; as a result, her attempt at rescue was pretty much… useless.

Conversely, her tantrums weren’t totally unjustified either, because of all the other characters’ tendency to never tell her anything, never explain, arguing that “it’s not yet time”… and we all know that the “let’s keep you in the dark in order to protect you” trope has a severe tendency to backfire about 99% of the time, all the more in YA novels, because the teenager will just jump into dangerous situations anyway—the only difference being they’ll lack important information that would help them. Moreover, keeping the character sheltered from knowledge for 50% of the story (at least) also means keeping the reader confused. While I managed to make sense of who was doing what at some point, let’s just say it was thanks to my ability to piece things together, not to the novel doling out information in a useful way.

The characters in general felt too flat. Her aunts weren’t indistinguishable from each other, and the Seelie queen could have been so much scarier, be so much more cruel… Instead, she didn’t look like much of a threat, despite her powers and her ability to use Names to weaken or even kill other fae. All in all, it should’ve been a desperate predicament for Selkie, considering what the wizard and her aunts told her, yet I never get a sense of a real threat coming from the Seelie fae. They did harmful things… just not to the extent I expected them to.

Not relating to the characters also meant I couldn’t connect with the romance. It was just there—too one-sided for a long time, before taking a sudden U-turn. I’m not a good audience for romance as a whole, and I know it’s difficult to find a love story that will touch me, but here, it was definitely a miss. I couldn’t bring myself to care about it, and the “stay with me because you love me” part made me roll my eyes.

I still liked the setting, though, both Tir na nOg and Boston/Parsymeon. It just wasn’t enough to keep me interested.

Yzabel / April 24, 2015

Review: Liesmith

Liesmith: Book 1 of The Wyrd by Alis Franklin

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Working in low-level IT support for a company that’s the toast of the tech world, Sigmund Sussman finds himself content, if not particularly inspired. As compensation for telling people to restart their computer a few times a day, Sigmund earns enough disposable income to gorge on comics and has plenty of free time to devote to his gaming group.

Then in walks the new guy with the unpronounceable last name who immediately becomes IT’s most popular team member. Lain Laufeyjarson is charming and good-looking, with a story for any occasion; shy, awkward Sigmund is none of those things, which is why he finds it odd when Lain flirts with him. But Lain seems cool, even if he’s a little different—though Sigmund never suspects just how different he could be. After all, who would expect a Norse god to be doing server reboots?

As Sigmund gets to know his mysterious new boyfriend, fate—in the form of an ancient force known as the Wyrd—begins to reveal the threads that weave their lives together. Sigmund doesn’t have the first clue where this adventure will take him, but as Lain says, only fools mess with the Wyrd. Why? Because the Wyrd messes back.

Review:

(I received a free copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. However, at the time, it was an ARC, so some things may have changed.)

This is an extremely frustrating book to rate, because I cannot decide whether I actually liked it, or only liked parts of it, with the rest being OK, and nothing more. I’ve mulled over this for some time (since the previous evening, in fact, which is when I finished reading the book), and I haven’t come closer to a conclusion.

What I liked:

– The use of lesser known figures from Norse mythology (or, should I say, of figures that are less often mentioned and would deserve more spotlight). Everybody’s heard of Loki and Odin, and probably Baldr as well, but what about the others? This is both a strong and a weak point of this novel: if you know enough, it’s going to be alright, yet if you don’t, you’ll probably have to look up quite a few things (including places).

– The relationship: it was much closer to “two people falling in love” than to “two gay guys falling in love”. Sigmund displays both “male” and “female” traits—he comes across as “human” first and foremost. Lain isn’t even human to start with. And it doesn’t matter, and the fact that it doesn’t matter is what makes this great. I’m not a gender-driven person. I consider people as, well, “people”, not as “men” and “women”. Although the story comes close to brushing on sexuality issues at some point, with Sigmund’s father mentioning how he tried to react to his son “being gay”, it doesn’t go too far down this road. At the end of the journey, it’s about two individuals having feelings for each other, period. (The part about the reincarnated soul didn’t feel like it warped the character towards being female.)

– The Bleed concept. Not exactly original, but hey, I’m a sucker for plot devices that make the protagonist(s) fall into some nightmarish version of their world. Yes, I played Silent Hill. There’s a reason I like that type of horror-driven story.

What I disliked:

– The subverted tropes that weren’t so subverted in the end, such as the geeky characters. They felt like they were supposed to look like the stereotypical nerds, but wait, not exactly, because they meta it by cracking jokes at themselves, but by doing this they’re becoming the stereotype again, and… At some point, it was a bit too much. It may have worked for me if dealt with in a different way; unfortunately, it didn’t.

– The novel felt too long in parts, too meandering through useless happenings: gaming, the camping trip, etc. They made it read more like fanfiction, and I think they could’ve been shortened without their role in the story being lost along the way. Those parts were probably the reason why it took me so long to read Liesmith—normally, I should’ve been done in 3-4 days.

– Among such scenes were several of the romance ones. Granted, I find getting those right always tricky and difficult. Here, some were good, but others veered towards the mushy side, and contributed to that “fanfiction” aspect I mentioned above.

– Sometimes, the writing style was rather weird, with a connection made between two clauses using an italicised “([insert word])” device. However, sometimes it highlighted something that wasn’t so relevant, and it made me wonder what was the point.

– Sigmund’s friends. Their role didn’t seem so important, and made me wonder why they were here. Either they could’ve been downplayed, or should’ve been fleshed out some more. In my opinion, they kind of hung in between. (This is worth for many characters in general in this story. Sigmund was the only one that felt “real”.)

And after writing this review, I still can’t decide if I liked it, if I’d recommend it… Let’s say that on a scale from 1 to 10, I’d give it a wee 5, an “it’s OK” as far as opinion goes, and a “maybe” as to whether I’d recommend it or not.

Yzabel / April 21, 2015

Review: Twisted

Twisted by Andrew E. Kaufman

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

The psychologist with a troubled past…

Dr. Christopher Kellan spends his days at Loveland Psychiatric Hospital, overseeing a unit known as Alpha Twelve, home to the most deranged and psychotic killers imaginable. His newest patient, Donny Ray Smith, is accused of murdering ten young girls and making their bodies disappear. But during his first encounter with Donny, Christopher finds something else unsettling: the man looks familiar.

The killer with a secret…

Donny Ray knows things about Christopher—things he couldn’t have possibly learned at Loveland. As the psychologist delves deeper into the mysterious patient’s case, Christopher’s life whirls out of control. The contours of his mind are rapidly losing shape, and his grasp on reality is slipping even faster. Is he going mad, or is that what Donny Ray wants him to think?

The terror that binds them…

In this taut psychological thriller from Andrew E. Kaufman, bestselling author of The Lion, the Lamb, the Hunted, a tormented man must face his fear and enter the mind of a killer to find the truth…even if it costs him his sanity.

Review:

(I received a free copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Easily a 3.5 stars, and even a 4 for the first two thirds. There are so many twists and turns that you don’t know anymore what’s true and what isn’t; who’s playing with whose mind (the author with the reader’s, for sure); whether the killer is a psychopath or a victim in need of medical help; whether the doctor himself is being manipulated by both past and patient, or by one of those only…

And I loved this. I really did. It was almost headache-inducing, but in a good way, making me form one hypothesis after the other, only to find out I had to discard it. Christopher does have reasons to worry, considering his own history with psychological disorders (his mother must definitely have been everything but a helping hand even before the tragedy), and it’s actually a wonder he could keep functioning and clutching at wanting to discover the truth, as well as protect his present family. At the same time, I liked how he approached the case with an open mind, considering Smith may be faking, yet trying nonetheless to see if there was something else behind this. His empathy, as well as the love he showed for his family, contrasted deeply with the lack thereof and the coldness of Loveland (what an ironic name). Because all things considered, all we see from this hospital is Alpha Twelve, not the rest. The rest might as well not exist.

On the other hand, I wasn’t so thrilled about the last part and the ending, hence my actual rating, lower than the one I had intended to give at first. The story had an emotional side I did like, but it also seemed like some kind of easy way out. While my earlier hypotheses were wrong, I think I may have started suspecting the final twist (or something very close to it) just a little too soon, and once it was confirmed, part of me couldn’t help but think “that’s it?” Everything before was twisted and freaky and indeed freaked me out in places, yet in the end, I didn’t feel as strongly for the story and the protagonist as I did previously. Perhaps also because the few chapters it took to get there felt like one too many?

I’d definitely recommend this novel—depending on the rating scale (since I’m posting this review on other websites as well), it’d be either a 3 or a 4, but it’d remain in the “I liked it” category. However, I felt a little let down by the last third and the ending, even though it wasn’t the predictable it could’ve been.

Yzabel / April 12, 2015

Review: Crash and Burn

Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

My name is Nicky Frank. Except, most likely, it isn’t.

Nicole Frank shouldn’t have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero.

I’m looking for a little girl. I have to save her. Except, most likely, she doesn’t exist.

Sergeant Wyatt Foster is frustrated when even the search dogs can’t find any trace of the mysterious missing child. Until Nicky’s husband, Thomas, arrives with a host of shattering revelations: Nicole Frank suffers from a rare brain injury and the police shouldn’t trust anything she says.

My husband claims he’ll do anything to save me. Except, most likely, he can’t.

Who is Nicky Frank, and what happened the night her car sailed off the road? Was it a random accident or something more sinister given the woman’s lack of family and no close friends? The deeper Wyatt digs, the more concerned he becomes. Because it turns out, in the past few months, Nicky has suffered from more than one close accident. . . . In fact, it would appear someone very much wants her dead.

This is my life. Except, most likely, it’s not. Now watch me crash and burn…

Review:

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

I didn’t know this author nor this series before reading Crash and Burn, so this was a discovery on all sides from me.

I’m not sure exactly how the novel ties into the “Tessa Leoni” books, though, as it seems Tessa plays a minor role, compared to the plot as a whole, so this is one thing I found a little unsettling (usually I’d expect the character to be central investigator?)—all the more because of the hints now and then to what she had done in the past and how it may come back to haunt her. On the other hand, having read the previous stories doesn’t seem to be a requirement here, as you can easily follow the main plot without that. In other words: not a problem for someone who doesn’t know the series, but it may be frustrating for someone expecting a “Tessa Leoni” book.

There are a lots of twists and turns in this novel, some a tad bit predictable, some others much less so. The inclusion of Nicky as very unreliable narrator, due to her brain injuries and the way she perceives reality, makes it difficult to know exactly where the story is going, and while this was frustrating at times, it also proved enjoyable, as I kept thinking “well, what do you know, I bet you’re up for a surprise”. Most of the time, I was, even though in retrospect the “holes” actually made sense, and made me feel like I should’ve seen them coming.

This book also deals with several dark themes, among which the “dollhouse”, what lengths someone is able to go to for the person they love—as twisted as these lengths may be—or, on the contrary, what acts a person is ready to commit for money. Those themes were somewhat uncomfortable, but still fascinating in their own morbid ways.

However, I did find it a little difficult to get into the story, because of some narrative lengths when it came to the “Vero” parts. I’m not sure all the “Vero wants to fly” and other similar sentences did a lot to deepen the mystery, and at the same time, they became redundant and annoying at times.

I’d give this book 3.5 stars. I wouldn’t mind reading more by this author later.

Yzabel / April 4, 2015

Review: Mary Hades

Mary Hades by Sarah Dalton

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Not many seventeen year old girls have a best friend who’s a ghost, but then Mary Hades isn’t your average teenager.

Scarred physically and mentally from a fire, her parents decide a holiday to an idyllic village in North Yorkshire will help her recover. Nestled in the middle of five moors, Mary expects to have a boring week stuck in a caravan with her parents. Little does she know, evil lurks in the campsite…

Seth Lockwood—a local fairground worker with a dark secret—might be the key to uncovering the murky history that has blighted Nettleby. But Mary is drawn to him in a way that has her questioning her judgement.

Helped by her dead best friend and a quirky gay Goth couple, Mary must stop the unusual deaths occurring in Nettleby. But can she prevent her heart from being broken?

The first in a series of dark YA novels, Mary Hades follows on from the bestselling Kindle Single ‘My Daylight Monsters’. A spine-tingling tale with romance, readers will be shocked and entertained in equal measure.

With some scenes of horror and some strong language, this book is best suited for readers aged fifteen and up.

Review:

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

Mary Hades mostly delivers on vivid descriptions when it comes to the murderous ghost, the time spent running away at night on the moors, and other scenes that are of the traditional and expected kind in such a story. I liked reading those parts, and the writing style in general, while not being exceptional, was pleasant. The novel introduced interesting ideas, too, especially the ones revolving around lacey and what she may or may not become as a ghost: she’s been dead for a short time, yet the question remains whether the gruesome circumstances of said death could cause her to turn bad, just as the enemy turned bad. This is definitely something deserving to be explored.

However, the rest of the story seemed to plod along, despite being short enough. The romance, for one, felt forced and not really useful, leaving me thinking “Yes, and?…” in the end, and nothing more. Was there really need for a romance here? I don’t think so. They could’ve been friends, and it would just have been the same. Call me a picky reader, and unfair to the author, but I’ve read way too many YA books by now to still be awed by romance the doesn’t have an actual role to play.

I also couldn’t help but question the presence of other characters. Mary, Lacey, Seth, Igor: OK. The other ones, though, felt superfluous, didn’t really help, didn’t bring much to the plot either. I guess their main interest was to be “the gay couple next door”, but then, might as well give them something relevant to do, not just hand around as wannabe ghost hunters. It smelt suspiciously of “let’s add gay people to show that we like them”, almost in a trendish way. (Maybe I’m totally mistaken as to the intent: it’s just the way I perceived it.)

I remain torn when it comes to the part about Dr Gethen. I know the novel stemmed from a novella, and it’s clear the author wanted her readers to be able to enjoy Mary Hades without necessarily having had to read the previous story. This is commendable, and the few reminders peppered here and there helped me piece those events together, enough that I was able to easily get what happened to Mary and Lacey and drove them where they are now. On the other hand, it wasn’t enough—or, rather, it was a shortcut to something Mary had to come to terms with, only I got the coming-to-terms part without the emotional and literary investment in it. I guess one had better read the novella before, all in all, if only to feel more invested.

Finally, while the murderous ghost was frightening enough in the beginning, I thought her demise went too quickly, too easily. She should’ve been more of a challenge, deserved more screen time, perhaps a death or two that the characters would have felt more deeply? (The little boy, and the guy working at the fair, are killed too early, without the reader having had a chance to get interested in them, so they’re more MacGuffins than characters… if this makes sense).

Conclusion: easy to read, with potential, but not living up to it, and not very memorable. This made it barely “OK” for me.

Yzabel / April 2, 2015

Review: The Well

The Well by Catherine Chanter

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

‘One summer was all it took before our dream started to curl at the edges and stain like picked primroses. One night is enough to swallow a lifetime of lives.’

When Ruth Ardingly and her family first drive up from London in their grime-encrusted car and view The Well, they are enchanted by a jewel of a place, a farm that appears to offer everything the family are searching for. An opportunity for Ruth. An escape for Mark. A home for their grandson Lucien.

But The Well’s unique glory comes at a terrible price. The locals suspect foul play in its verdant fields and drooping fruit trees, and Ruth becomes increasingly isolated as she struggles to explain why her land flourishes whilst her neighbours’ produce withers and dies. Fearful of envious locals and suspicious of those who seem to be offering help, Ruth is less and less sure who she can trust.

As The Well envelops them, Ruth’s paradise becomes a prison, Mark’s dream a recurring nightmare, and Lucien’s playground a grave.

Review:

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

Another one for which I can’t decide on a rating. Because I did like it, but I wasn’t awed, and I was torn between moments of beautiful writing, and moments when said writing seemed to be here just to delay the outcome. The feeling was definitely weird.

I liked the tense, oppressive atmosphere of The Well: a place that looked like some kind of Promised Land in the middle of the Waste Land, yet also a tainted paradise, one that could only bring the sterility of death. I liked the contrast between the emphasis placed on a “land for women”, which could hint at more promises of life, but in the end, it was all a lie, and only ended with said life being stifled and denied the right to exist. As a container for such themes, this novel was good. Maybe not the most subtle piece of work in that regard, but good nonetheless.

I was less thrilled by the way it kept hesitating between what it wanted to be: a murder mystery, or a supernatural story? I wished for more information about the drought and about the mysterious quality of The Well. Was why that place so “blessed”? What made it exceptional? The blurb led me to expect some preternatural explanation, something that would have justified the way the Ardinglys were rejected almost like witches of old—by this, I mean an explanation more complex than jealousy and people wanting what they couldn’t have. It begged for a revelation that I never got, focusing instead on the mystery/murder aspect. I would have had less trouble with that if it had taken a definite stance regarding Ruth’s story of an isolated woman who doubts herself and seeks for a frightening truth: that story didn’t need the backdrop of a drought and miraculous land to be told. The Rose of Jericho, Ruth’s love life coming apart at the seams, Lucien’s story… Those could stand on their own.

The mystery highlighted all the doubts and shortcomings of human psyche. The charges against Mark in the beginning, how they contributed to add a “what if…” side to his character, poisoning other people’s minds against him, including that of his own wife. The Sisters, led by Amelia, the cult that got hold of Ruth’s mind. Angie, not the perfect mother, yet the loving one all the same, who had her faults but still tried to get better, only to have to face a “what if” of her own when it came to her son.

However, I found it too easy to guess who had committed the crime, and the way Ruth descended into her delusions seemed just a tad bit far-fetched. Maybe her isolation, getting estranged from her husband, could be a valid explanation; or maybe not. She didn’t strike me at first as someone who would fall so easily into the clutches of a cult. Still, this is part of the novel’s ambiguity: who can tell what kind of person is a “ready-made victim”? Nobody can. Sometimes you just can’t suspect at all, you never see it coming.

What was somewhat annoying, as said above, was how the novel beat around the bush. On the one hand, there were really beautiful, poetic moments, vivid descriptions that made The Well come alive, with its good sides and with its faults. On the other hand, I clearly had the feeling at times that the author was delaying, only to lead to revelations that weren’t so striking all in all. In my opinion, the book could have benefitted from more editing and shortening here.

I’d rate this a 3 to 3.5 stars (depending on the scale used). Overall, I liked it, though I’m not sure I’d read it again.