NetGalley Archives - Page 21 of 48

Yzabel / September 23, 2016

Review: Gaslight & Grimm – Steampunk Faerie Tales

Gaslight & Grimm: Steampunk Faerie Tales by Danielle Ackley-McPhail

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Once Upon a Time, ageless tales were told from one generation to the next, filled with both wonders and warnings. Tales of handsome princes and wicked queens, of good-hearted folk and evil stepmothers. Tales of danger and caution and magic…classics that still echo in our hearts and memories even to this day, told from old, cherished books or from memory at Grandma’s knee.

Oh yes, tales have been told…but never quite like these. Journey with us through the pages of Gaslight and Grimm to discover timeless truths through lenses polished in the age of steam.

With tales by James Chambers, Christine Norris, Bernie Mojzes, Danny Birt, Jean Marie Ward, Jeff Young, Gail Z. and Larry N. Martin, Elaine Corvidae, David Lee Summers, Kelly A. Harmon, Jonah Knight, Diana Bastine, and Jody Lynn Nye.

Review:

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

I found this anthology quite inspiring in general, and it left me with a better impression than anthologies generally do. I appreciated that most stories, while building upon the foundations of original tales, didn’t hesitate to stray from them at some point, instead of being “mere” retellings almost identical to their inspirations. For instance, the one inspired by “Rapunzel”.

The ones I liked best:
– “When Pigs Fly” (original story: The Three Little Pigs): airship and their badass captains, on a backdrop of Alliance vs. Rogues conflict. I was bound to like this one.
– “From the Horse’s Mouth” (The Goose Girl): a gritty retelling, that doesn’t shy away from the grim realities of a country at war.
– “The Giant Killer” (Jack the Giant Killer): with Jack being more of a Jane, with interesting devices and a tendency to get into trouble… but always with a certain style.

Remarks on a couple of other stories:
– “The (Steamy) Tale of Cinderella (Cinderella, obviously): set in a fleet gathered around the princely ship, where the fated ball is to be held. But the Prince isn’t just some charming vapid man, Cinderella is more interested in machines than in snagging a man, and there’s a nice LGBT dimension. I do regret, though, that the latter was presented a little abruptly, out of nowhere—there could have been so much more, instead of the (at first) traditional approach of shaming same-sex relationships. Fortunately Cinderella’s and the Prince’s decision is an interesting one.

– “The Hair Ladder”: I liked the different relationship dynamis between “Rapunzel” and “the witch”. I wasn’t convinced by the mother, however, as she was much too selfish and vain, and felt like a cardboard villain.

But overall, these stories were more 3 to 4 stars each than anything really bad. “The Walking House” (Baba Yaga) is probably my least favourite.

Yzabel / September 21, 2016

Review: A City Dreaming

A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

M is an ageless drifter with a sharp tongue, few scruples, and the ability to bend reality to his will, ever so slightly. He’s come back to New York City after a long absence, and though he’d much rather spend his days drinking artisanal beer in his favorite local bar, his old friends—and his enemies—have other plans for him. One night M might find himself squaring off against the pirates who cruise the Gowanus Canal; another night sees him at a fashionable uptown charity auction where the waitstaff are all zombies. A subway ride through the inner circles of hell? In M’s world, that’s practically a pleasant diversion.

Before too long, M realizes he’s landed in the middle of a power struggle between Celise, the elegant White Queen of Manhattan, and Abilene, Brooklyn’s hip, free-spirited Red Queen, a rivalry that threatens to make New York go the way of Atlantis. To stop it, M will have to call in every favor, waste every charm, and blow every spell he’s ever acquired—he might even have to get out of bed before noon.

Enter a world of Wall Street wolves, slumming scenesters, desperate artists, drug-induced divinities, pocket steampunk universes, and demonic coffee shops. M’s New York, the infinite nexus of the universe, really is a city that never sleeps—but is always dreaming.

Review:

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

Quite a strange book, in that it didn’t exactly have a plot, more of a collection of “slice of life” moments. Well, moment in the life of a being able to bend reality to his will, or almost, surrounding himself, whether he wants it or not, with other exceptional beings.

After years, decades of wandering around, M is back in New York, where he gets reacquainted with old friends and enemies (not mutually exclusive), gets entangled in the local magic politics, finds himself facing strange worlds and creatures at times, all the while trying to remain “in good terms with the Management”—in other words, balancing feats of magic just right enough to live nicely, without getting much of backlash. And let’s be honest, M’s friends are often worse than his foes, considering the dire straits they take him into.

The New York M evolves in is definitely strange and enchanting in its own ways, mixing daily mundane places and events with happenings out of this world. Immortal mages trying to kill each others, the two Queens of New York trying to get the upper hand each int their own sly ways, revenge and curses, magical underground trains, apprentices coming out of nowhere, traders playing at human sacrifice… There are so, so many odd things in that city, in M’s world in general.

The major problem I see with this novel is the fact it’s a collection of mini-adventures, connected by a loose red thread much more than by any kind of solid plot. M meets some old friend who drags him on a crappy errand, or has to go and trick pirates to free another friend who got kidnapped, or finds himself in an alternate world whose rules may very well trample his own perception of reality… and so on. The blurb was misleading, in that its wording led me to believe there would be more of a plot (there’s no real war between the Queens, for instance, and some of the stories felt repetitive). Instead, the connectors are people and places rather than events leading to other events, and not in the way of a more traditional narrative. Which is an interesting thing or not, depending on how you perceive it.

While I wasn’t too convinced at first, in the end, this technique nevertheless offered glimpses into a magical world, and I found myself wanting to see which new adventure would unfold in every new chapter—not to mention that whenever connectors met, they still gave a sense of things tying together, but just a little, just enough, not as a series of convenient coincidences. (Because -that- can also be a problem, when a plot is too well packed and loose ends are too nicely tied.)

These stories also provide an interesting view on modern life: night scenes, drug addiction, poverty (so many people around you, who won’t see you as you’re being dragged down…), making and losing friends, art and pleasure, unpleasant acquaintances, wealthy lifestyle vs. a more subdued kind of existence, choices to make in the face of adversity, responsibilities, humanity… There’s a strong current of life to this New Work, carrying its people just as much as its people carry it, and the author pictures it funny, dark and loving tones all at once.

Conclusion: I can’t say I absolutely loved this book, however it contains a lot of imaginative elements, and the New York, the City with a capital C described in it, was such a vivid backdrop that it may just as well be called a character as well. 3.5 stars, going on 4.

Yzabel / September 12, 2016

Review: Smoke

Smoke by Dan Vyleta

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

England. A century ago, give or take a few years.

An England where people who are wicked in thought or deed are marked by the Smoke that pours forth from their bodies, a sign of their fallen state. The aristocracy do not smoke, proof of their virtue and right to rule, while the lower classes are drenched in sin and soot. An England utterly strange and utterly real.

An elite boarding school where the sons of the wealthy are groomed to take power as their birthright. Teachers with mysterious ties to warring political factions at the highest levels of government. Three young people who learn everything they’ve been taught is a lie – knowledge that could cost them their lives. A grand estate where secrets lurk in attic rooms and hidden laboratories. A love triangle. A desperate chase. Revolutionaries and secret police. Religious fanatics and coldhearted scientists. Murder. A London filled with danger and wonder. A tortured relationship between a mother and a daughter, and a mother and a son. Unexpected villains and unexpected heroes. Cool reason versus passion. Rich versus poor. Right versus wrong, though which is which isn’t clear.

Review:

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

I really liked the premise: sin and violent emotions taking on shape and scent, through a strange smoke people let escape in spite of themselves, in an alternate Victorian setting where, much like in real Victorian England, the “lower classes” are considered as sinful, while the “upper classes” are supposed to be their betters—and what’s best here than -not- displaying the dreadful Smoke, right? However, ultimately I couldn’t care about the story at all, nor about the characters. I partly blame this on the rhythm, and partly on the choice of narrative tense and voices.

The first chapters, albeit a little slow, had the kind of atmosphere I hoped the whole novel would carry throughout, involving a private boarding school, creepy students, and masters entrenched within their stinky moral rectitude. Lovely, isn’t it? There is so much one can do with such a setting (can you tell I like boarding school settings?). There was so much promise to the strained relationship between Julius, the apparently perfect, almost angelic student who submits others to his own rule on top of the teachers’, a monster in elegant disguise, and Thomas, a murderer’s son, openly convinced that he’s a monster and will end up like his father.

Alas, after that, or more specifically about the part where the boys go visit London, things went downhill.

I can definitely say the narrative style didn’t convince me: a blend of a first and third person, but also of present and past tense. Unfortunately, first POV present is difficult to properly achieve, and third POV present is even more difficult… and it just didn’t work here, bringing a constant jarring note to the story. I spent more time being bothered about the tense shifts and sometimes confusing points of view, than really paying attention to what I was reading. Not to mention that some of those narrators weren’t so useful, being brought in for one scene, then never again—in other words, I never got to get a feeling for these characters, not enough to care about what happened to them. This extended to the actual main characters, who could have had an interesting dynamics as a twisted love triangle, united in sin and darkness as they were uncovering a plot that may or may not destroy England as they knew it.

Another really bothering thing was how the Smoke was everywhere, permeating every stratum of society, at the heart of the mystery… yet in the end, there was no clue as to -why- exactly it existed, what brought it out of humans. Something supernatural? Something physiological? Nada. And since there’s no indication whatsoever that there’ll be a second volume, for now it looks like we’ll never know. (Also, because the origins of Smoke, its nature, are involved in the plot our three “heroes” unveil, the absence of revelation and information is all the more annoying.)

It took me weeks to finish this novel, and to be honest, had I not felt like I owned a review for NetGalley, I’d have DNFed it.

Yzabel / September 7, 2016

Review: Unf*ck Your Habitat

Unf*ck Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Mess by Rachel Hoffman

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Finally, a housekeeping and organizational system developed for those of us who’d describe our current living situation as a “f*cking mess” that we’re desperate to fix. Unf*ck Your Habitat is for anyone who has been left behind by traditional aspirational systems. The ones that ignore single people with full-time jobs; people without kids but living with roommates; and people with mental illnesses or physical limitations. Most organizational books are aimed at traditional homemakers, DIYers, and people who seem to have unimaginable amounts of free time. They assume we all iron our sheets, have linen napkins to match our table runners, and can keep plants alive for longer than a week. Basically, they ignore most of us living here in the real world.

Interspersed with lists and challenges, this practical, no-nonsense advice relies on a 20/10 system (20 minutes of cleaning followed by a 10-minute break; no marathon cleaning allowed) to help you develop lifelong habits. It motivates you to embrace a new lifestyle in manageable sections so you can actually start applying the tactics as you progress. For everyone stuck between The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Adulting, this philosophy is decidedly more realistic than aspirational, but the goal is the same: not everyone will have a showcase of a home, but whatever your habitat, you deserve for it to bring you happiness, not stress.

Review:

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

Not exactly what I expected, but a definitely interesting book full of advice about how to keep your place clean (or how to take it from a “very messy” level to a “manageable” one).

I definitely appreciated the author’s light tone, and the fact that she acknowledges how different we all are, and therefore how different our circumstances as well. Looking at some “household” blogs and magazines, it’s so true that we’re shown perfect homes, without any clutter… yet when you have a full-time job, and children to boot… or when you’re disabled and cannot move like you’d like to… all these “perfect places” are more guilt-inducing than anything else. And there are so many other reasons why house chores aren’t or can’t be a priority for so many people. It’s difficult to care about your place all day long when you have to study for your exams, or are suffering from chronic pain—but this doesn’t make you less of a person.

This book helps by listing various tips and tricks, along with advice for basically everybody involved, whether that person is the one in need of decluttering their place, or the one who’s been asked for help. It tells you how it’s totally OK not to go on cleaning marathons, which are exhausting and can even leave you kind of disgusted (and not feeling like doing anything for some time, leading to more mess and to another marathon later). Besides, it also provides examples of what you can use to clean, ideas to start organising short cleaning sessions (start from the top, wash the floor last…)… Basically, if you don’t know where to start, it takes you by the hand.

As far as I’m concerned, though, I feel that the book may be more helpful to someone who really has to deal with a lot of mess, and not so helpful to someone who’s on the fence, a bit like me: I dislike housework, I’m lazy as hell, but my laziness also makes me instinctively clean after myself in order to avoid generating a lot of mess… so basically I was already applying a lot of the principles here, which fall into the realm of “common sense” for me. Well, I guess it’s still good to feel validated, so it’s not such a downside! Possibly I was just expecting something else, something that’d be more directly useful to me specifically?

Conclusion: Depending on how badly you’re struggling with keeping your place OK, this book can provide a pretty good starting point. Perfect homes are overrated anyway. 3.5 stars.

Yzabel / August 22, 2016

Review: The Vengeful Half

The Vengeful Half by Jaclyn Dolamore

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

Olivia might look human, but she’s grown up with a heavy secret: her mother is a potion-maker from a parallel world, the Hidden Lands.

Alfred is the blind, charismatic young heir to the illegal potions trade. When Mom is kidnapped by the magic dealers with whom she once made a bad bargain, Olivia has no choice but to trust Alfred’s offer of help. They travel to a strange new world of bootlegged American pop culture, lifelike doll people, and reincarnation. Alfred finds himself putting his position on the line to defend Olivia against his family’s conniving plans. Maybe he has morals…or maybe he’s just falling in love.

When Olivia escapes from an attack by a curiously familiar sorceress, she learns that potion dealers weren’t the only thing Mom was hiding from. Dark secrets lurk in Olivia’s past, and now Olivia must kill or be killed by the girl with whom she once shared everything…

Review:

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

This is one of those overdue reviews, since I’ve had this book on my tablet for quite a while. I remember requesting it partly because of its cover (the paperback one — by comparison, the Kindle cover on Amazon is pretty bland), which seemed quite ominous to me. What can I say, I’m weak when faced with a certain type of cover.

The plot was intriguing, for sure. A hidden world full of family secrets, alliances to be had, strange magic (the doll people and the potions), ancient feuds, revelations aplenty, and a hidden enemy who’s been bidding her time and is now bent on getting what she wants: possibly revenge… or something else? There’s almost too much going on at times. At first I thought it would be more a quest-like story, with Olivia going after her mother and braving danger to save her. It didn’t turn out like that, but that was alright, the kind of plot and intrigue it led to was pretty fine with me as well.

The characters: we have that girl, Olivia, who knows she’s from another world/civilisation, without having been brought up in it, which leaves room for showing this land to the reader, without necessarily having to explain *all* of it, since Olivia already knows part of it and we can dispense with. We have Alfred, rich heir and future boss to a crime family, who’s blind almost since birth and goes his way without whining about this—he’s used to it, he has trouble with some things but has found ways to cope. Alfred also has to constantly remind other people that he can do, not everything but a lot of things: a conundrum close, I think, to quite a few double standards going around disabled people (pitied and treated like children almost, or blamed for “not making enough efforts” by many, instead of being considered as human beings first and foremost…). There’s also Thessia, Alfred’s fiancée, who could have been a nasty bitch and/or a jealous whiner, especially since she fits the too-beautiful-to-be-true girl, and turns out to be an idealist, an activist, and, well, a fairly decent person to be around, even though she has her downside (Atlantean rich society seems to be hell-bent on having its girls marry rich heirs, and gods forbid they want to have a career of their own…).

So, all in all, a lot of interesting things here. Unfortunately, a lot more annoyed me, causing me not to enjoy this story in the end.

From the start, something kept nagging at me, and it took me a while to put my finger on it. At some point, the author mentioned when the story originated (more about that later), back when she was still a child or teenager; I think this was what I “felt” about it, for having gone myself through the same conundrum of taking a story I first created when I was 12 or so, and trying to trim it and make it something worth reading. This was something I found extremely hard to do, because what we perceive as wonderful plot twists and concepts when we’re younger aren’t necessarily good things to leave as is… yet “upgrading” them is easier said than done. And so, I had that strange feeling that I was reading something I might have written when I was younger, and my reaction to it was a little similar. It’s hard to explain. I could sum it up with “this feels like a very early work, and it needs more editing.”

Another thing that bothered me, when it comes to this theme of parallel/hidden worlds, is how close to ours the latter was, when a parallel world could pave the way to so many other things. Let me develop a bit more by giving a personal example: I grew up in France, with a lot of dubbed TV shows originating from the USA, and at the time I had that fascination for the USA. If I wrote a story, I set it in some imaginary US town. Not my home country, no, it wasn’t “good enough”: it had to be like the USA, feel like the USA, whatever. Obviously it didn’t occur to me at the time that Stephen King, for instance, set his stories in his country because that’s what he knew, and that I was under the impression everything was better there only because I hadn’t been exposed to shows from other countries. (Bear with me, I was 12-something.) And somehow, the way Atlantis people lived reminded me of this: their world felt like it hadn’t been so much evolving as trying to mimic Earth’s, and more specifically, well, you guess it. “Everything’s better if it looks like our world.” Kind of like being promised a walk in quaint little streets with exotic market stalls, and finding yourself in a mall instead—Atlanteans driving Ferraris didn’t exactly impress me. I’d stand with Olivia on that one, who was expecting a high fantasy world at first and found a place with chocolate and soda cans instead.

(To be fair, though, all this might still hold more appeal to a teenage audience than it did to me: I also remember thinking “those are plot devices/themes I would’ve used myself, since I loved them, when I was in my teens.” I had that thing going for telepathy and psychic powers in general, and parallel worlds, and “aliens/people with powers coming from those worlds to live hidden on Earth”. I seriously doubt I was the only one.)

Third annoying bit: the somewhat sexist, somewhat dismissive way a few characters tended to act. Alfred disappointed me towards the end when it came to Thessia (pretty assholish move to make if you ask me, and then she’s left to go away with the equivalent of “kthxbye see ya later, ah women, they always need some time to calm down huh”). Or what I mentioned above regarding heiresses only good enough to marry—any female character with a position/job of her own seemed to be either a villain or a reject/castaway/fugitive, as if no “proper woman” could hold her own. Although was pointed as backwards thinking, I felt a dichotomy, a certain hypocrisy in how it was mentioned, yet the people mentioning it still kept buying into the patriarchal model nonetheless.

Fourth: so many tropes. So, so many. You’ve got it all: pretty boy with a beautiful fiancée against which the main character feels so plain (but still becomes a love interest fairly quickly); people who were supposed to be dead but aren’t; telepathy/psychic powers being used and thrown in in vague descriptions, solving things a little too easily at times; mandatory love triangle; elite school in which talking to The Wrong Person will turn you into a black sheep, instantly, just add water. It felt like a soap opera at times, and since I’m not particularly keen on those, it didn’t help.

On the fence: the drawings, comic strips and short inserts. I didn’t care about the style, but I can certainly understand the appeal, and who would fault an author for including those and being enthusiastic about it? Not me! However, I think they disrupted the flow of the story in some cases, either by revealing too much about the characters at that specific point or by just being there in the middle (did we really need pictures of the various soda brands?). More annoying though were the written inserts: in between two chapters, we get a bit (twice!) about how the story was born. Not uninteresting, yet… this could and should be put at the end, otherwise it’s either disruptive or meant to be skipped, which would defeat the whole point.

Conclusion: could’ve been for me, but… nope, sorry.

Yzabel / August 14, 2016

Review: Malus Domestica

Malus Domestica by S.A. Hunt

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Kids are going missing in the tiny hamlet of Blackfield, Georgia, and nobody knows why except for Robin, the homeless young woman that just rolled into town last night.

When she claims she knows who’s responsible, only 4th-grader Wayne Parkin and his schoolmates Pete, Amanda, and Juan believe her…but it takes a terrifying encounter with an interdimensional creature to spur them into action.

Robin proves to be a formidable monster-hunter with strange supernatural powers, but a tragic setback reveals a secret organization and a centuries-old conspiracy.

Can new friends and old enemies band together to save Blackfield from an unspeakable darkness?

Review:

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

1.5-2 stars. I liked the ideas at this novel’s core, but ultimately I had a hard time getting into it, and had to force myself to go on reading. I guess this was a matter of rhythm, and of some clichés that didn’t sit too well with me.

The premise: young witch hunter Robin Martine has been travelling through the USA, filming her tracking and fighting witches (women who sacrificed their heart to goddess Ereshkigal in exchange for powers and a longer existence). She puts her videos on her YouTube channel, followed by thousands of people who don’t realise this is no special effects, but reality. After years spent training and hunting, Robin comes back to her home town, to get rid of the witches who killed her mother; along the way, she gathers quite a little posse of various characters who’ll help in that quest.

As said, the ideas themselves were fine. The YouTube channel? Why not: surely being anonymous would be a better choice, but there’s a certain appeal to the “hide in plain sight” theory. The various secondary characters formed a pretty diverse cast— a veteran turned artist, a kid and his father, a gay childhood friend and his brother owner of a comics shop… There’s a creepy house, existing on two different levels (I love that kind of atmosphere, those “parallel nightmarish worlds” layered over the normal world). A ruthless killer. Cats who’re more than cats. The stifling surroundings of a small town where just about anyone can be a spy of the witches. And so on.

The problem with the characters, though, were that in spite of their diversity, they were also a bunch of clichés, and not very developed as individuals. Kenway had his own background story and issues, but Leon’s bereavement for instance was just touched upon, and he wasn’t more than “Wayne’s father” in the end. Same with Joel, who felt like a potential sidekick but also like a gay butt-monkey of sorts. These side-stories both took too much room, in a way, while at the same time just being here, instead of being fully exploited (“while we’re here, we might as well…”).

I was hoping to see more of the witches and the killer working for them. While they did create a predicament for the “heroes”, I kept thinking they could and should have done more, been more frightening, brought even more weirdness into the story.

The writing itself was alright (although I found it weird when onomatopoeias were inserted—don’t ask me why I’m sensitive to that). Even though I mentioned having trouble getting back to the book every time I stopped, it wasn’t because of the style.

Really, it’s too bad I didn’t like it more. This book could’ve been right up my alley, but didn’t work for me in the end.

Enregistrer

Yzabel / August 8, 2016

Review: One Thousand Words for War

One Thousand Words for War by Hope Erica Schultz

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Imaginative and original, One Thousand Words for War explores in various fantastic settings the different types of conflict—from powerful internal and external conflicts with the potential to destroy the main character’s world to the peace that comes from accepting change. Whether it’s a transgendered girl standing up to bullies or a child soldier trying to save his fellows from war, this collection shows the powerful ways teens can overcome and embrace extraordinary circumstances.

Review:

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

2.5 to 3 stars. This was a nice and fast read. Unfortunately, like a lot of short stories collections, the downfall of this collection of short stories is that, like a lot of anthologies, it is neither exceptional nor really bad, which makes it a little unremarkable; on the good side, it also means it provides the reader with totally acceptable pieces—hence my rating. A bit annoying is also the fact that some of those works were too short and felt like introductions to other, longer tales begging to be told; in this, I do prefer standalones.

Apart from what I mentioned above, what confused me was the very wide definition given to “war”. Not merely “conflict”, “war”. It immediately evokes a specific kind of theme, which I agree can be slightly simplistic, in a way; nevertheless, when one does want to read about war in its “battles” or “military” meaning, some of the stories gathered here kind of miss the mark. Again, they’re not bad—just not really to the point, in a way? (I admit I did want, and expected, to read war stories more than anything else. When it was about a definite conflict, like the story with Cal/Callie standing up to the bullies, it worked too; other stories, like the one with the maze of mirrors, felt like it fell too far off.)

The focus is in general on children and teens. While this made some stories a little too simple to my liking, it also dealt with universal themes that do not grow old (no pun intended): having to leave childhood behind to become an adult, embracing responsibilities while also discovering who we truly are, children confronted to a world of war and having to survive… I quite appreciate such themes.

I realise this sounds more like critique than praise, but, once again, this anthology wasn’t bad—I guess I just have a harder time putting words on how exactly I still enjoyed it. Sometimes, some things just do not ask or need to be explained, I suppose?

Yzabel / August 6, 2016

Review: Who Wants to be The Prince of Darkness?

Who Wants to be The Prince of Darkness? by Michael Boatman

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Lucifer is enjoying his retirement in an obscure corner of Limbo when he learns of a plot by Gabriel, the current ruler of Hell, to use humanity’s greatest weapon against it – Television!

Cue the hottest reality game-show ever conceived: Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Darkness? Gabriel orchestrates an “Infernal takeover” of Earth by stealing unwitting mortal souls and sending them to a mostly empty Hell, hoping to reinvigorate the Infernal Realm.

Now Lucifer must find a living champion to seize control of Hell and free millions of stolen mortal souls before the theft becomes permanent. But who would ever want to be Hell’s champion?

Review:

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

Unfortunately, the blurb on this one is rather misleading, and I admit I was disappointed, as I ended up reading a story I hadn’t particularly wanted to read. To be more specific: I thought there’d be much more of a focus on the “Who Wants To Be The Prince Of Darkness” (PoD) TV show, as a major plot device and as a “battleground” of sorts—maybe the heroes would have to infiltrate the TV set, impersonate some existing participants to get in, do things from within… I don’t know, but something clearly linked to the show, especially with the latter’s host being who he was, and with the whole commentary about how reality shows can subdue people

Instead, the TV game was more of a backdrop, mentioned now and then, but not being THE set the blurb hinted at. The actual story is much more… straightforward? Not uninteresting per se, just not what I wanted to read about in the first place. I suppose I wouldn’t have minded if it had turned out to be really surprising, and not playing on traditional themes, on a more traditional form of conflict. (Powerful artefact gone from Hell, Lucifer’s former generals need it to come back, unwitting protagonist is thrown in there as a potential key to finding it, fighting some demons along the way, etc.)

There are funny moments in the novel, as it plays on tropes like the Self-Help Guru who thinks he’s the Chosen One, but turns out to be completely clueless. Maybe there weren’t enough of such moments, though, or rather, they tended to look like each other after awhile, if this makes sense in such a context. The mythos around the main plot is also a little confusing in its chronology and in how it all unfolds. Lucifer retiring as a mortal? Why not. However, it was difficult to reconcile Hell time and Earth time, as the former made it sound like all this happened centuries ago, and the latter revealing only a couple of decades went by. I got it, sure; only it was pretty confusing, and the inclusion of different narratives, one in first person, the others in third, didn’t make it easy at times.

As for the characters, they were OK, but nothing particularly interesting in the long run, although they had nice little quirks and background stories to build on. I think the one I preferred was Abby D; I just liked her presence, sort of, and what happened around her.

Yzabel / August 2, 2016

Review: The Body Reader

The Body Reader by Anne Frasier

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept from the outside world. Held in an underground cell, her only contact was with her sadistic captor, and reading his face was her entire existence. Learning his every line, every movement, and every flicker of thought is what kept her alive.

After her experience with isolation and torture, she is left with a fierce desire for justice—and a heightened ability to interpret the body language of both the living and the dead. Despite colleagues’ doubts about her mental state, she resumes her role at Homicide. Her new partner, Detective Uriah Ashby, doesn’t trust her sanity, and he has a story of his own he’d rather keep hidden. But a killer is on the loose, murdering young women, so the detectives have no choice: they must work together to catch the madman before he strikes again. And no one knows madmen like Jude Fontaine.

Review:

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

For three years, Detective Jude Fontaine was kept under lock, in the dark, abused and malnourished, at the hands of her unknown abductor. With no contact with any other human being than that man, her survival reflexes made her learn to “read” him, in order to stay alive. After she seizes an opportunity to escape, she realises she has retained this ability to “read” other people, booth the living and the dead: even a frozen corpse will still “talk” to her, in its expression, the way its fists are closed, and so on. As she’s trying to go back to her former career as a cop, Jude understands she can use this newfound skill to make things right.

Excellent idea, but one that I thought wasn’t exploited enough throughout the story: we are made to see June “read” her new partner first, then “read” a corpse, yet nothing much happens in that regard after that, and it’s like the body-reading concept got lost along the way, along a more “traditional” thriller story. This was rather too bad, as I would have enjoyed seeing more of Jude’s ability, things that would truly set her apart from “just yet another very talented cop”.

Another problem I had with the story was the moments when Jude tried to figure out how to go back to a normal life, or even if she could: a new flat, maybe getting back with her boyfriend, her tense relationship with her family… All interesting things, but presented in too descriptive a way, rendered too flat: I didn’t “feel” her predicament, I simply read about it, and it just wasn’t the same. I felt more connected to Uriah, who had his own emotional struggles to contend with, but here too the whole thing was more descriptive, not vibrant enough.

Finally, the ending was too neatly wrapped, too quickly, without the kind of intensity I’d expect from the last chapters of a thriller. I could also sense the places where the story was trying to mislead me, yet at the same time the lack of involvement (or, should I rather say, the sideline involvement) of some characters gave a few things away.

I did like, though, how Jude, even though toughened and emotionally withdrawn, went about getting back control of her life by doing something useful, like picking up cold cases, and how the author didn’t fall into the typical trappings of adding some romantic twist in there. Sure, there’s the boyfriend, but this side plot is never presented as an end in itself, never touted as “Jude’s salvation in the arms of a man”, or whatever similar tripe. In the same vein, Jude and Uriah give off a definite “work partners and perhaps friends someday” vibe, not a “and perhaps lovers someday” one.

2 stars: I quite liked some of the themes here, but this remains an “OK” book and nothing more, because it fell flat for me, and because its ideas weren’t developed enough compared to what the blurb had made me expect.

Yzabel / July 31, 2016

Review: Monstress (volume 1): Awakening

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie M. Liu

My rating: [rating=5]

Blurb:

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900’s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both. Entertainment Weekly praised MONSTRESS as “one of Image Comics’ most imaginative and daring new series” and dubbed it the “Best New Original Series” in their year-end “Best Comics of 2015” list.

Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

Review:

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

Actually, I received the first 6 parts, now gathered in this volume, so I thought I might as well review everything at once.

The 6 books are a blend between “traditional” comics and manga, especially in the themes and graphic style.

I found the art gorgeous—the cover got me interested even before I read what the book was about—with its seinen-style style softened in parts with rougher lines, and the way it pictures a civilisation both refined and savage, through the auction and the Cumaea, on a backdrop of war with “monsters” (the arcanics). The Cumaea reminded me of a kind of medieval-flavoured order of “nuns” who hunt and capture monsters to perform cruel scientific experiments on them. Also, characters reminiscent of eastern folklore, like the kitsune-type child, coexist with more “western” characters (the little cyclops or angel-winged kid). Said art remains impressive throughout the whole volume, able to convey both harshness and a certain softness: gorgeous landscapes, expressive characters, and creepy features when it comes to the more monstrous parts. (It seemed slightly darker in issue 5, and I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or a matter of different inks, but I find it’s quite fitting, reflecting the way the story is evolving (towards darker revelations and purposes).)

The first part follows Maika, a fierce young woman who looks but isn’t human, as she’s “bought” by a Cumaea nun and brought into their compound. Gifted with a strange power she cannot fully control, Maika is looking for answers, and isn’t shy about dirtying her hands to get them. The reader is also introduced here to a few other characters, some who will likely appear in other issues, and others who probably won’t… but I suspect their shadow won’t vanish as easily, and we’ll still hear about them.

In the second part, we get to discover the world outside, and not through a couple of flashbacks only. While Maika and the little kitsune manage to find a friendly woman to help them travel, the Cumaea’s badass and ruthless leadership is unveiled some more… and the world itself is not the least ruthless of all, what’s with the war still looming over its inhabitants. Not to mention the various uses of lilium.

Part 3 highlights the gruesome truths of the world (that “mountain” on the last two pages…), among which what’s hiding within Maika. Literally, may I add. The monster is revealing itself, and it is scary. Yet at the same time, beauty remains in that world, too: in its landscapes, in the costumes (Maika in her simple dress tends to make one forget the Cumaea’s clothes), in the wonders it may also contain. Kippa the cute fox-kid also plays more of a role, discarding an opportunity for running away to behave bravely instead. It may not seem much, but… but that kid is cute, and a little cuteness is not unwelcome in that world.

Part 4 and 5 also introduce more players, like the Warlord and the Queen, and the plot thickens (hints about what happened in Constantine). And in part 5 and 6, we get to see more of the mysterious Dusk Court, who have their own sources of information and their own plans for Maika, and even sent a bodyguard sent to escort her to their lands. Meanwhile, the Cumaea make their moves as well, and some of them are also in a long game, more than meet the eye for sure. Also, what is being done to these poor kids downstairs, and are the cats their guardians, or here to suppress their powers, or?…

As for part 6, this collection of first issues ends with a cliffhanger that doesn’t bode so well for Maika. Cosmic irony much? I am sad that I won’t get to find all the answers now, yet I’m also glad that the plot isn’t too simplistic noro “drowned” in pretty panels.

Notes:

– I find it particularly interesting that most important characters are females (men are mostly seen in passing), but in a way that doesn’t get pointed at: they aren’t strong or important “in spite of” being female (the way you unfortunately see in too many works of fiction), they just ARE, which is great. And speaking of the Warlord… haven’t we seen that face?

– I’m not sure if the “Awakening” volume also containes the “cat lessons” that were at the end of each individual issue. I found them interesting, and I didn’t mind the infoo-dump since it wasn’t imposed within the story itself, so all’s good for me in that regard.

Conclusion: Definitely a graphic novel I want to keep reading, for its wonderful art (both soft and harsh, a little weird, creepy in places, and with beautiful landscapes and buildings) as well as for the direction the story seems to be taking: Maika’s stay at the compound is only the beginning. So many questions, and hopefully many answers to come… in the next collection of issues.