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Yzabel / June 28, 2015

Review: Thirteen Days of Midnight

Thirteen Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

When Luke Manchett’s estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father’s ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they’re more than happy to take his son. It isn’t fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead.

Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching. With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

Review:

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

3.5 stars. Entertaining and somewhat funny at times, while still conveying a sense of danger—alright, maybe not terribly frightening per se for me, as I don’t frighten easily when reading books, but I think it has the right potential nonetheless. Half the Host at least was creepy in more ways than one, from the Shepherd with his glasses to the Prisoner with his shears… and even the Innocent, for the questions he raised (who would leash a *baby* as their pet ghost, really?!). The Host wasn’t a bunch of good guys, apart from a couple, and even those remained on the fence and never said the whole truth, only intervening at a “right” moment that could’ve been just a tad bit sooner for good measure.

As I’m a sucker for necromancy in general, of course I couldn’t help but look for the questions it raised. And there were several. The baby I mentioned, for starters. Why Luke’s father turned to such a type of magic, and why he bound such a large Host, when nothing at first indicated he even needed one (this is explained later in the book). Whether Luke would accept this part of his inheritance and be lured towards a desire for power, or try to remain who he was and have a normal life. Choices to make, and forgiveness. This wasn’t just about getting rid of a bunch of ghosts, but also choosing to protect or to condemn other people.

I liked the dynamics between Luke and Elza—there’s a smidge of a budding romance in there, one that doesn’t detract from the plot, and develops slowly: good! Luke realised he couldn’t clutch forever to his little life as one of the “popular” crowd, in the face of something much biger and dangerous. Elza was resourceful, and overall a nice person, trying to help people who had been treating her like an outcast just because she didn’t want to fit their mould. Holiday, too, was a bit of an ambiguous person: picking her friends among the popular ones and discarding the others, but not to the extent of becoming a mean girl. She was barely more than a crush, yet at least she was a believable one. As for the lawyer, well… Even though you don’t get to see him much, he was perfectly cast in his role.

Oh, and Ham. Ham the deerhound. A very short part of the novel is actually from his point of view, and that was quite funny. It would’ve been annoying if it had been longer; kept to a few paragraphs, it wasn’t, and definitely made me smile.

Other characters were less defined, unfortunately: Mark, Kirk, even Luke’s mother, who remains ill/asleep for most of the novel. That last one was a bit of a letdown, as in turn, it was difficult to properly get to know her and to share Luke’s worries for her for any other reason than “she’s his mom”.

Sometimes Luke’s reactions made me cringe, as he seemed to switch from one to the other real quick. It didn’t happen that often, and it could be explained by panic and worry; only it made me wonder why he’d get such reactions. (For instance, when it’s been made clear that you’re haunted by ghosts and that those have put a certain person in a coma, dragging that person to a hospital won’t be very useful, especially not considering all the people who die in a hospital.) A couple of times, too, I picked some absolutely obvious clues that totally eluded the characters (re: the familiar); on the other hand, all things considered, maybe that’s a case of being too genre-savvy on my part, so I can’t very well hold it against characters who were either totally new to the supernatural, or barely fledglings (Elza admitted herself she was self-taught).

There was a slight lull in the middle while the characters were powerless and trying to figure out what to do—not that Luke’s father had been very helpful to begin with. They came up with an interesting idea in the end, so I forgave them.

The writing was OK, nothing exceptional, nothing blatantly annoying either. It should flow nicely enough for the intended audience. (Also, my Kindle copy was a bit oddly formatted; however, this is an ARC, so likely to change.)

Conclusion: 3.5 stars rounded to 4, because in spite of the points I mentioned, I pretty much enjoyed it. The story is also self-contained, yet open-ended enough to leave room for a sequel (someone’s bound to come back and collect their dues here, not to mention what may or may not happen between Luke and Elza, and how their fellow pupils would react to it).

Yzabel / June 27, 2015

Review: The Truth According To Us

The Truth According to Us: A Novel by Annie Barrows

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Evoking the same small town charm with the same great eye for character, the co-author of GUERNSEY LITERARY & POTATO PEEL SOCIETY finds her own voice in this debut novel about a young debutante working for the Federal Writer’s Project whose arrival in Macedonia, West Virginia changes the course of history for a prominent family who has been sitting on a secret for decades. The Romeyn family is a fixture in the town, their identity tied to its knotty history. Layla enters their lives and lights a match to the family veneer and a truth comes to light that will change each of their lives forever.

Review:

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

This was a strange read, one that I both liked, but less than I had hoped and expected. To be honest, I found the book a wee bit too long. Somehow, it felt like it could’ve been tightened, and although the last chapters, after the “reveal”, were needed, they still seemed to drag a little.

The style here mixes present tense first person narrative, past tense third person narrative, and excerpts from letters. I liked the tone of those, especially Layla’s, as they were witty, and at the same time revealed her lack of experience in other circumstances than those she had grown up in. I’m not sure what to make of the past/present/POV choice—as usual. I’ve seen this technique used more and more in the past few years, and I can never tell if it’s a good idea or if it irks me. Both, I suppose. Here, I was more bothered when the third person narrative jumped from one character to another within the span of a couple of paragraphs.

Macedonia had the charms of a little town in summer, with its quirky people, its own unspoken rules, its skeletons in the closet, whether in the past (the soldiers who spend the night in the house of a lady… of the evening, or the general who was actually crazy enough to shoot his own son) or in the present (what happened to Vause, Felix’s actual occupation). I found myself wanting to discover more about its history as seen through the eyes of its inhabitants.

Layla didn’t strike me as particularly interesting, yet turned out better than I thought, at least, proving to others (and to herself) that she could be more than a future trophy wife, and that she wasn’t so stupid—only sheltered. While she didn’t approach her task as a historian in the most objective manner, which is impossible anyway as history is never objective, she still did it with the intent of writing about Macedonia’s past in an interesting way. What I didn’t like was the emotional part of her involvement when it came to a specific character, as it was so painfully obvious that she was being played… and after that, unfortunately, she kind of fell flat.

Other characters I found annoying on a regular basis, and it seemed that mostly nobody knew what they really wanted. Not unexpected (*I* don’t know what I want in life, after all!), but annoying after a while. I still don’t know if everybody was completely selfish reflections of how bleak human nature is, stupid, full of love, lying to themselves, hiding their inner pain, wanting only what others had… All of that, I guess? On the one hand, it was interesting, showing that the “idyllic little southern town” was all but. On the other hand, characters like Jottie constantly made me think “can’t you be happy with one choice in your life, for a change?” (Basically, she denied herself for 18 years, then when she finally chose for herself, it was “too easy”, thus worthless. I wouldn’t call 18 years “too easy”, but maybe that’s just me.)

I would have liked to see more events unfold from Willa’s point of view. She had both a ruthless and childish take on things, which fitted her 12-year-old self, balancing between carefree childhood and wanting the grown-ups to see her as an equal, someone they’d confide into. As they obviously wouldn’t, she tried to discover things by herself—and got more than her money’s worth in that regard. I didn’t really like how she reacted in the end, as it made her part of the narrative less involved.

Conclusion: Interesting background (Macedonia, the WPA, the strike), but not so interesting for me when it came to the characters, who were a little too predictable and also annoying. 2.5 stars.

Yzabel / June 20, 2015

Review: Crashing Heaven

Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

A diamond-hard, visionary new SF thriller. Nailed-down cyberpunk ala William Gibson for the 21st century meets the vivid dark futures of Al Reynolds in this extraordinary debut novel.

With Earth abandoned, humanity resides on Station, an industrialised asteroid run by the sentient corporations of the Pantheon. Under their leadership a war has been raging against the Totality – ex-Pantheon AIs gone rogue.

With the war over, Jack Forster and his sidekick Hugo Fist, a virtual ventriloquist’s dummy tied to Jack’s mind and created to destroy the Totality, have returned home.

Labelled a traitor for surrendering to the Totality, all Jack wants is to clear his name but when he discovers two old friends have died under suspicious circumstances he also wants answers. Soon he and Fist are embroiled in a conspiracy that threatens not only their future but all of humanity’s. But with Fist’s software licence about to expire, taking Jack’s life with it, can they bring down the real traitors before their time runs out?

Review:

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

3.5/4 stars. This book is definitely of the bleak cyberpunk varity. People escaping their lives through augmented reality. Being able to bring the dead ones to life by using the memories they left imprinted into servers, which in turns makes them puppets, as the living can do a roll-back to specific moments of their former lives whenever they want. “Gods” that may or may not be AIs, revealing the inner despair of those who worship them, as they don’t seem to be anything else left to clutch to—and ironically contrasting (or not?) with the Totality, openly proclaimed AIs. The world the story’s set in is mainly a decadent solar system. Earth isn’t such a nice place anymore. Humans live on Station, and formerly on Mars and the moon, before the Soft War destroyed this, and the peace is fragile at best.

Jack Forster, the protagonist, an accountant unwillingly turned soldier, has spent years in prison after having surrendered to the Totality and being branded a traitor. When he’s finally set free, it’s only to face dire prospects: almost completely cut from the weave (augmented reality internet), thus unable to see the world as everybody else does; closely monitored by Internal Security as a parolee; haunted by the very case that prompted caused him to be sent to the front; and, last but not least, soon to be wiped off, personality-wise, by Hugo Fist, a combat-AI shaped as a puppet and installed within him.

Jack could just take it easy, live his last weeks quietly before his mind is obliterated by Fist’s, make peace with his loved ones (what’s left of them: his friends all turned their backs on him after his surrender). And yet, he keeps wanting to do something, to make things right, to reopen that old case and discover who had him and the other people involved disappear in various ways—even though this means being pitched against those who have so much more power than him. It’s somewhat useless, futile, but still heroic in its own way.

The writing was a bit rough on the edges at times, with bursts of short sentences that, even though they fit the pace, felt somewhat awkward. As we’re thrust into the world of Station, we have to piece things together, which wasn’t always easy (but to be honest, I prefer to have to do such “work” rather than be fed pages of info-dumping). There were some predictable turns of events, too, especially at the end. However, the action made them interesting, and mostly I managed to ignore what bothered me in terms of style, and to remain focused on the story.

I couldn’t help but see Hugo Fist as the puppet in that Buffy episode, “The Puppet Show”: creepy, aggressive, and foul-mouthed. He and his fellow combat-AIs were shaped as puppets in order to be more appealing to children, as their birth directly followed a terrorist attack on the moon, one that killed hundreds of kids… And this was just frightening and wrong, because Fist and the other puppets would likely have been terrifying for most children. There’s such a dicrepancy here, which is part of those twisted themes I enjoyed in the book: toys turned killing machines (the Totality’s minds *are* minds, not mere rotes unable to evolve or have ideas of their own), the lines getting blurred between what’s right and wrong, people lost in their worship to the point of ignoring their own dreams (Corazon) or clutching at the past (Lestak and Issie)…

I liked the relationship between Jack and Hugo, in any case. Fist kept nagging him about what he’d do once he’d inherit his body, urging him not to do anything dangerous in order not to damage it, and Jack managed to face this in quite a stoic way. It’s not even like Fist was threatening him: none of them had a say in it, in fact, as it was all a matter of lease and contract in a world ruled by corporate entities and automated such contracts.

The puppet also evolved throughout the story, as any properly-devised AI should, and was definitely more of the jerk with a heart of cold kind, rather than remaining a murderer of artificial minds (or worse). I couldn’t help but to smile at his gleeful antics, the “fun” he took in getting into the action after Jack decided to see things through, the way he went about manipulating data and breaking into servers, reflecting a change he wasn’t even aware of.

Conclusion: A bit rough in parts due to the style, and not always too easy to follow, but I thoroughly enjoyed the themes developed here, as well as the main characters.

Yzabel / June 7, 2015

Review: The Witch Hunter

The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

The magic and suspense of Graceling meet the political intrigue and unrest of Game of Thrones in this riveting fantasy debut.

Elizabeth Grey is one of the king’s best witch hunters, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and doling out justice. When she’s accused of being a witch herself, Elizabeth is arrested and sentenced to die at the stake. Salvation comes from a man she thought was her enemy. Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful wizard in the kingdom, offers her a deal: he will save her from execution if she can track down the person who laid a deadly curse on him.

As she’s thrust into the world of witches, ghosts, pirates, and all-too-handsome healers, Elizabeth is forced to redefine her ideas of right and wrong, of friends and enemies, and of love and hate.

Review:

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

Somewhat OK, but too full of holes (in terms of world-building) and too flat when it came to the characters. I had a hard time reconciling the setting to a parallel Tudor England (minus the Tudors), as some elements were similar, but others were too confusing to make much sense—including language, too modern at times. For instance, no witch hunter seemed to ever question the origin of their stigmas, how they came to be, when it was actually a pretty obvious question to ask (especially in a world that wasn’t heavy on religion, so “it comes from God” wouldn’t have made a satisfying answer).

Elizabeth in general was of the too stupid to live variety. Supposedly strong, supposedly a well-trained prodigy witch hunter, but piling up mistake upon mistake, for a reason that felt a little too weak to be believable (the way she mentioned it, it didn’t seem like she was going through hell, more that it was an inconvenience to her). The reason why she was caught was stupid, a mix of bad decisions (getting drunk because her friend who may or may not be her love interest was seeing someone else) and other bad decisions (what on Earth was she doing with those herbs in her pocket.

The romance I’ll put in the “inserted here for marketing reasons” category. Bland, not useful—becoming friends would have been enough—, a vague triangle that wasn’t really one because it was fairly predictable, and

Also, probably a minor quibble on my part, but this just happened to irk me: “Then I get an idea.” I counted at least four occurrences of it, all as one sentence that was a paragraph of its own, and it just struck me as repetitive and annoying.

There were interesting ideas and themes in the novel, and hooks that could’ve been so much more, when it came to politics and hypocrisy—laws defied by the ones making them, plotting in the shadows… However, I wouldn’t put this on a Game of Thrones level as the blurb claims it is, and it was too muddled overall to make for a terrific plot. Some fantasy books take too long and are too slow-paced to carry their plots properly; here, it would’ve been a good thing, as it would’ve given more meat to the story, and more room for the world-building to unfold.

1.5 stars, close to “it’s OK”, only I realise that I’m already not caring about it anymore barely half an hour after having finished it. I admit I just got to the end so that I could write my review and switch to another book.

Yzabel / June 5, 2015

Review: The Euthanist

The Euthanist by Alex Dolan

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:
They know her as Kali. She is there to see them off into the afterlife with kindness, with efficiency, and with two needles. She’s been a part of the right-to-die movement for years, an integral member, complicit in the deaths of twenty-seven men and women, all suffering from terminal illnesses. And she just helped the wrong patient.

Leland Moon has been with the Bureau for his entire career, but even as a respected agent, he was unable to keep his own son from being kidnapped on his way to school. When his boy finally came home, he told terrifying stories of his captors, and his nightmares haven’t stopped since.

Moon draws Kali into his mission, a mesmerizing cat-and-mouse game with two ruthless predators—one behind bars, one free—who hold the secrets that could bring comfort to the families of their victims. This powerful journey towards grace and towards peace will force both Leland and Kali to question everything they believe to be true and just.

Review:

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

One thing I’d like to say: blurbs, please stop spoiling the plot. Because, you see, when the main character learns of something only 50% in the book, and it’s presented as a reveal, the reader having known for so long somewhat deflates it. Which is too bad.

Overall, this was an interesting story, one that made me keep reading, but to be honest, I found the blurb was more exciting than what it turned out to be. I didn’t feel the urgency that much, and the two predators didn’t come off as so ruthless in the end: we know how dangerous they used to be because of what other characters and newspapers said about them, but since they’re not seen directly in action, their deeds appeared once removed, and the impact on me wasn’t the same. I didn’t feel the immediacy.

Mostly what I had a hard time with was Kali herself. While she’s strong in a physical way, the mistakes she made were those of an amateur, not expected from someone who’s been disguising herself and evading the law for years in order to give the good death to her clients. It’s as if she had never really contemplated the possibility of getting caught (contrary to her mentor, whom she knew had made preparations), and once caught, every decision was illogical: running to other people and thus endangering them, using her real name when pretending to be someone she wasn’t… In general: not being paranoid enough. Even I know that the first thing you do when on the run is to ditch your mobile phone, especially when you know you’ve remained unconscious for several hours with a manipulative bastard who could have made just any plans in order to follow you later.

Leland was infuriating, but in a way that still made me want to get to know him better, at least. He meant business, even though this involved lying and behaving harshly.

I did like the themes of trauma (due to kidnapping, more specifically) that the novel wove, the way different people reacted to it (one became sort of a recluse, another let her story out to exorcise her fears), and the person with a strong desire for revenge realised that this hadn’t to be the main goal. Leland’s second trade, while manipulative, of course, also allowed him to get an insight he probably hadn’t expected within a world that he seemed to see previously as black and white only.

I guess that makes it a 2.5 stars: there were definitely twists and turns that made me want to know what would come next–it is a page-turner–but the main character was just too annoying, and her mistakes kept distracting me.

Yzabel / June 2, 2015

Review: Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Review:

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

This book had the edges of dark fairy tales, the ones in which the Happy Ever After only comes with sacrifices, tears and deaths. Agnieszka and her family have been living for as far as they can remember in the shadow of the Wood, a malevolent forest-entity with a will of its own, and in that of the Dragon, a powerful Wizard (not a real dragon) who comes to the village of Dvernik every ten years to take a young woman. While he always releases them in good health, covered in riches, and seemingly with no harm done, those girls are forever changed, to the point of never staying the village again. Of course, it’s not mystery here that the one who ends up being chosen isn’t the brave and beautiful Kasia, but the other girl, the one that nobody would have considered. (This was to be expected anyway, but having it given away in the blurb was still a bit annoying.)

There’s some romance in there, a kiss and a sex scene, and I admit I still don’t know what to make of those. Granted, the romance didn’t permeate everything, but there seems to be a consensus in too many stories that the guy has to be rude and challenging, and that if something happens, it’s because the girl was there in the first place. Sometimes it’s discreet enough not to leave a mark, and/or explained by the context; here, it was a tad bit too much on the “if you almost got raped, it’s because you stayed in your room instead of leaving” side. (Another book I read recently had a similar scene; however, at least there it was somewhat “justified” in that the characters would be under the influence of magic, and knew beforehand that they would be liable to lose control hence the warning. Though not so much better, it made at least sense.)

Another instance had a character say he’d announce his betrothal to Agnieszka, to which she was all “wait, what?”. Fortunately, it didn’t devolve in what I thought it would: good thing.

The world itself and the magic made up for those problems as far as I’m concerned. The plot was slow-building, and while I wished it’d go a little faster at times, it also allowed me to really discover the country where the girls lived, and to “feel” the Wood at my doorstep, so to speak. I also liked the spells: repetitive for some, I’m sure; interesting for me, because it was nice to try and pronounce them. (The world has a definite fairytale Poland/Russia feeling, reminiscent of some of the lesser known tales I used to read when I was a child.) Imagining their effects, imagining the clothes people wore, was easy. The inclusion of court politics later added a layer of complexity, with Agnieszka not being sure of who to trust, and with other, dark examples of what the enemy could do.

Kasia ended up playing more of a part than I expected, and I loved her for that. I would have liked to see more of her, get to know her more. She probably would’ve been as interesting as Agnieszka (I’m positive that she wouldn’t have spent so much time whining about her place in the Dragon’s tower). The friendship between those two young women was beautiful, too: they were both exposed to each other’s inner truth, to feelings each of them had secretly harbored, yet their bond and love for each other managed to survive and grow stronger, in spite of (or because?) that.

Agnieszka was somewhat annoying in the beginning, and a bit of the tomboy/as far as feminine as possible cliché. However, she “grew up” once she discovered what she could do, and decided to play her part while remaining herself, not giving in to peer pressure. She developed an inner strength and a courage of her own, instead of always admiring Kasia’s the way she did before the time came for the Dragon to choose, and she never relented in her decisions, even when the latter would involve getting in dangerous (but necessary) situations.

3.5 stars. I wasn’t awed by the romance, the “trigger” at some point made me really cringe, and the beginning and ending dragged a little. On the other hand, the world was really nice to read about, with an eastern fairytale approach that brought back a lot of memories; I liked how the main character progressed; and the Wood as an entity was fascinating, in all its twisted ways and convoluted schemes.

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.