NetGalley Archives - Page 45 of 47

Yzabel / March 13, 2014

Review: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain

Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain by Richard Roberts

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She’s got superhero parents. She’s got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn’t understand. She has two super-powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear.

In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero’s sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She’s good at it.

Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shapeshifters and ghosts, no matter what the super powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out.

Review:

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

I found this book to be a very entertaining and refreshing read, focused on the characters’ adventures, and likely something I’d have thoroughly enjoyed in middle school—well, I did enjoy it now, after all. In my opinion, it definitely reaches its aim of providing younger readers with likeable characters, all with their specific traits. Penny, the mad scientist, whose power works in spurts of genius, and whose voice throughout the story I quickly grew fond of. Claire, cute but also resourceful, especially when it comes to using connections to the team’s advantage. Ray, who simply was, well, classy, and whose take on circumstances was definitely contagious. At the same time, I could tell they were kids, reacting like kids getting powers, and wanting to have fun with those before it was time to get all serious and act like grown-ups.

Paradoxically, the fact they were kids made the community’s reaction to their presence somewhat more believable: with heroes and villains alike used to fighting each other with magic and “adult” powers, throwing in kid-like actions in the middle can be unsettling, and difficult to predict. The Inscrutable Machine did exactly that. As for the heroes/villain community itself, your mileage may vary on the “believability scale”. Personally, I found it mostly made sense in its own way: with both sides having super powers, at some point you have to reach some kind of agreement to avoid really wreaking havoc with no one the winner at the end. (That, and the alien invasion in the past, which seemed to have forced them to cooperate.)

Another likeable side of the story was how it really focused on its premise, a.k.a. teenagers accidentally labelled as supervillains, then deciding to play the part until they could “see the errors of their ways and become heroes”. I’ve read too many books that start off with something interesting like that, then veer off toward teenage drama/love stories, with those not being the reason why I picked them in the first place. There is a touch of romantic interest here, but it’s subtle, and played in a somewhat comical way, so it agreed with me in the end.

The few qualms I had about this novel were mostly related to the adults’ reactions. While some of them were understandable (Brian being too focused on his own science, too much of an air-head when it comes to relationships; the Minx as a playful, secret-loving woman who found fun in what her kid was going through; Lucyfar, who openly plays on her ambiguity as a villain who occasionally does good, so she’s left alone…), I thought the Audit, on the other hand, was too oblivious to what was happening. It would’ve worked if she had had a different personality, but I wondered why she, among all the others, didn’t catch that something was going the wrong way? Perhaps this could have been played a little differently. I also wondered about Ray’s family: he seemed frightened of their reaction, and so I wish we had had more of a glimpse into that, more explanations. (Unless this book’s meant to have a sequel, in which case this question might get an answer later, but I don’t know about that yet.)

I’d give this story a 3.5 stars, because of those problems that kept nagging at me. However, I’m still rounding it to a 4. I had fun, plain and simple; I think younger readers would have fun, too; and so I think this has to factor in.

Yzabel / March 8, 2014

Review: Alpha Goddess

Alpha Goddess by Amalie Howard

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

In Serjana Caelum’s world, gods exist. So do goddesses. Sera knows this because she is one of them.

A secret long concealed by her parents, Sera is Lakshmi reborn, the human avatar of an immortal Indian goddess rumored to control all the planes of existence. Marked by the sigils of both heaven and hell, Sera’s avatar is meant to bring balance to the mortal world, but all she creates is chaos.

A chaos that Azrath, the Asura Lord of Death, hopes to use to unleash hell on earth.

Torn between reconciling her past and present, Sera must figure out how to stop Azrath before the Mortal Realm is destroyed. But trust doesn’t come easy in a world fissured by lies and betrayal. Her best friend Kyle is hiding his own dark secrets, and her mysterious new neighbor, Devendra, seems to know a lot more than he’s telling.

Struggling between her opposing halves and her attraction to the boys tied to each of them, Sera must become the goddess she was meant to be, or risk failing … sacrificing the world she was born to protect.

Review:

(I got an ebook copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. This being an Advanced Reader Copy, some things in this novel are still liable to change before its publishing.)

I was mostly interested in this book because of Hindu mythology, something that I haven’t seen used in many stories so far. I only know the basics, so I can’t really tell if everything in Alpha Goddess is exact, or if the author changed a lot of things. I’m not sure I agree with the changes in spelling—why Asuras and Devas couldn’t stay the same, and why there’s a nekomata thrown in the lot, well, I don’t know. (Also, Xibalba is from Maya mythology; no idea either why it was included here.) However, the novel raised interesting questions about choice and redemption, about whether having Asura blood made you “evil” per se, or if you could still walk your own path, and I liked the kind of conundrums some of the characters (well, one of them, actually) had to go through, and what kind of answer he would find.

Another aspect that was a good change, in my opinion, was the love triangle. I’ll be open about that and admit I don’t like love triangles; most are badly written, unbelievable, and look more like the hype cliché to put in your book rather than something really relevant. There is a triangle here, but the nature of the people involved made it so that its outcome could be different: different avatars, different kinds of love, the ability to love one person with one part of one’s soul, yet also love another one with another part… This isn’t something I’ve seen so often—and it didn’t seem like an easy cop-out of “boy/girl gets both love interests”, because, well, it fits with the mythology (at least if I’ve grasped it properly).

The downside for me is that, in the end, the story didn’t click with me. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad, it just felt like too many YA stories I’ve read in the past. (Perhaps I’m becoming fed up, and this book had the misfortune of happening at the wrong moment for me, so don’t discard it just because I’m the jaded type.) It uses a lot of the usual YA tropes/clichés. Good boy/bad boy. Girl who finds herself ugly, but is actually a beautiful goddess. Whiny character (Sera). A big secret nobody will tell her about (at first), even though not knowing probably endangers her more. High school drama and rejection (unneeded here, I think, as it didn’t bring anything to the story). Sera gets better in the second half, maybe a little too fast: I’d have liked to see a smoother transition from “clueless girl who doesn’t know who she is” to “badass, demon-ass-kicking warrior”, because that part seemed to come out of the blue. But at least she stopped whining, and did something, even encouraging other characters to less discussion and more action, so bonus point here.

I noted a few inconsistencies, too. Sera’s mother being called Sophia was weird. Some physical descriptions seemed to have been changed at some point, with a few instances of the former descriptions remaining (ARC, though, so this might have been corrected in the meantime).

As I said, I might be just too jaded. If you’re not used to YA with paranormal/supernatural aspects as a genre, you might like it better than I did; it wouldn’t be such a bad introduction to it. If you feel you’ve already read too many similar stories, though, maybe this one isn’t for you either. It’s not “bad”. It just didn’t click for me.

(Grade: “It’s OK”, a.k.a. 2* on Goodreads, 3* on Amazon.)

Yzabel / March 1, 2014

Review: The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe

My rating: [rating=1]

Summary:

So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.

Review:

(I received an ebook copy from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Such a weird, weird book. I have no idea if I found it just average, or if I didn’t like it. Probably both.

It’s one of those “good ideas, but…” novels for me. Intriguing blurb, a theme (revealed later) that normally fascinates me… I could’ve liked it, but.

All right, let’s start with the facepalming, to get it out of the way:
* Nothing remarkable about the writing style. I’ve seen worse, but I’ve also seen much better.
* Several “what the hell” and “head, meet desk” moments. The almost-constant lechery undermining the narrative. It’s set in a school, the characters are all pupils, yet some have it with teachers, and Anne’s Guardian is just one seriously disturbed creep. (His role is to determine Anne’s “quality” in life, and grade her on whether she lives up to it or not for the next two years. He determines her quality is “seduction”, and then proceeds—twice—to unzip his pants and suggest they have sex in exchange for good grades.
* Some plot holes. For instance, the aforementioned Guardians: every pupil is supposed to have one, but we only see Teddy? Where are the others? Also, what classes? The only class Anne ever goes to is Art; we never see her study anything else.
* Slut shaming. The cliché beautiful-yet-mean-girls quartet, immediately hostile to Anne, immediately judged and described by the latter as sluts and skanks. Most girls in the story seem to be that; the ones who aren’t vanish before the middle of the book. Not only does this particular cliché annoy me, slut shaming in general makes me want to slap someone.
* The dance off. No. Just… no.
* Anne is of the Too Stupid To Live breed (yes, considering what the novel’s really about, this is quite the irony). She’s supposed to be smart, but doesn’t piece obvious things together before it’s too late. She gives up on looking for something that, if found by anyone else, will cause serious trouble to herself and another person (a shoe with that other person’s name inside). A couple of characters wave huge “hint here!” signs at her by totally changing behaviours, or giving her items, yet she doesn’t bother to check said items. I was surprised she actually guessed what the Big V meant all by herself.
* I didn’t really get the romance part. I understand the connection, but it doesn’t justify romance to me. It felt like some unwanted cherry plopped on sauerkraut.
* Languages and nationality: the description of a French accent didn’t sit with me (trust me, I know what French sounds like, I’ve spoken it all my life, and we don’t “drawl”). Also, it was weird how Anne could immediately exactly pick who was Thai, Indian, Canadian, etc.

However, I did find a couple of redeeming qualities to this novel. It gave off a Silent Hill-esque vibe, and I’m totally partial to anything SH-related. (It’s not a SH rip-off; it simply left me with similar impressions—whether that was intended, or a complete coincidence.) When Anne realises everybody’s dead, and she must be as well, Cania Christy, the island, the village, suddenly take on a whole other meaning, with that claustrophobic feeling of being locked inside a nightmare world from which you can’t get out just by wishing it. I wasn’t too keen on the Big Reveal about the villain behind it all, nor about the sudden heel-face-turn coming from a character who had been creepy from beginning to end, but its deeper aspects, the power play, the way parents were so to speak forced to bow and kneel down for one fickle piece of fleeting hope… Now that was, in a way, cruelly enjoyable, as well as frightening—because who can honestly say “I’d never do it, I’d never sell my soul for a few more years with my deceased child”?

The last 30% of the book sort of made up for some of its previous facepalm-inducing moments. Not enough for me to give it 2 stars, but at least 1.5. I can’t say I totally disliked this novel.

Yzabel / February 27, 2014

Review: Soul Meaning

Soul Meaning by A.D. Starrling

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

‘My name is Lucas Soul.
Today, I died again.
This is my fifteenth death in the last four hundred and fifty years.’

The Crovirs and the Bastians. Two races of immortals who have lived side by side with humans for millennia and been engaged in a bloody war since the very dawn of their existence. With the capacity to survive up to sixteen deaths, it was not until the late fourteenth century that they reached an uneasy truce, following a deadly plague that wiped out more than half of their numbers and made the majority of survivors infertile.

Soul is an outcast of both immortal societies. Born of a Bastian mother and a Crovir father, a half breed whose very existence is abhorred by the two races, he spends the first three hundred and fifty years of his life being chased and killed by the Hunters.

One fall night in Boston, the Hunt starts again, resulting in Soul’s fifteenth death and triggering a chain of events that sends him on the run with Reid Hasley, a former US Marine and his human business partner of ten years. When a lead takes them to Washington DC and a biotechnology company with affiliations to the Crovirs, they cross the Atlantic to Europe, on the trail of a French scientist whose research seems intrinsically linked to the reason why the Hunters are after Soul again.

From Paris to Prague, their search for answers will lead them deep into the immortal societies and bring them face to face with someone from Soul’s past. Shocking secrets are uncovered and fresh allies come to the fore as they attempt to put a stop to a new and terrifying threat to both immortals and humans.

Time is running out for Soul. Can he get to the truth before his seventeenth death, protect the ones he loves and prevent another immortal war?

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Since this was an ARC, please note that it might still undergo a few changes before publication.)

One thing I should say from the start is that Soul Meaning would probably make a terrific movie: packed with action, flying bullets, underground treads in secret passageways, a conspiracy that could have a horrible impact on the whole world… A real page-turner.

I especially liked the setting. From what I could see, and as far as I know, real-world locations were well-documented, and I could feel the author researched those, and didn’t only made up stuff on the spot. Bonus points for proper use of French language, which isn’t such a given considering how many novels come up with mangled sentences in that regard. I also liked the way the immortals’ society worked, with two factions technically at peace, yet always seeming like they were on the brink of reigniting the conflict. Last but not least, the stakes were exactly of the kind I like to read about, and here, too, it was obvious things were researched beforehand.

Make it a (solid) 3.5 stars and not a 5, though, because of two things that didn’t really work out for me (unfortunately):

1) The action itself: I liked a fast-paced read, but this one was so fast-paced it made me feel tired. As in, physically tired, just like the characters could only be after so many days living on the edge. On the one hand, it is a positive point: any author can be proud when his/her books elicit responses from the readers. On the other hand, well… there were moments when I wanted to keep on reading, yet had to take a break nonetheless. In the end, it detracted from my enjoyment, even though it wasn’t a breaker either.
(Minor sidenote about suppressors, too: if I’m not mistaken, you’d still hear the gun shot, and it might still attract attention in enclosed spaces, if only the way a strange muffled sound where there isn’t supposed to be any would. Granted, this is nitpicking on my part.)

2) Because the story unfolds so quickly, and the protagonists are so often on the run, I felt there wasn’t enough room for character development. We get to see them react, made plans, devise means of escape, fight, piece hints together… but I didn’t get a complete feeling for them as people. I think they are deeper than that; their depth just couldn’t shine through as much as it would have in different circumstances.

Still, I liked this book (as said, I would easily envision it as a movie or an episode in a TV series), and will keep an eye out for more from this authir. It’s mostly those two specific aspects that didn’t agree with me—and may not be such a problem for another reader.

Yzabel / February 25, 2014

Review: Hollow World

Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

The future is coming…for some, sooner than others.

Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man who is about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe and done the right thing, but when faced with a terminal illness, he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage, and if it works, he’ll face a world that challenges his understanding of what it means to be human, what it takes to love, and the cost of paradise. He could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began…but only if he can survive Hollow World.

Review:

(I got a copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I couldn’t help but think “Crapsaccharine World” as I was reading this book. Hollow World and its inhabitants seem to be the pinnacle of perfection for the human race (no diseases, instant transportation through portals, you can get whatever you want manufactured on the spot, no need to work…)—a sweet, sweet world, right? And yet, as soon as you scratch at the surface, you start wondering where’s the catch. It gets you questioning a lot of values, a lot of things we’d deem as “perfect”, and in turn, it also sheds another light on the villain’s beliefs (yes, there is a villain, but I’m not about to spoil it further).

I really liked “Hollow World”. I admit had a hard time wrapping my mind about the “suspension of disbelief is needed” part, but this might be, paradoxically, because of the foreword put in by the author. (I’m contrary like that, I suppose; I didn’t have any problems when it came to do it with H.G. Wells, but tell me to do it and I start noticing it too much.) But mostly, this story left me with a satisfied feeling. I appreciated how it was about time travel, yet in terms of changes inner and external, not in terms of theories, going back and forth, etc. (Those are hard feats to master, and a lot of TT-related books fail in that regard, in my opinion.) From the beginning, it was made clear that it was a one-way trip for Ellis, our “hero”, and that he’d have to make the best out of what he’d get once in the future.

Ellis: this character was a challenge, in a way, because he was everything I’m not (male, older, married, lived through the death of his child, very likely American conservative middle-class, and various other elements that make it a little harder to identify with). However, the author managed to make him a likeable person. He was flawed, he didn’t always see what was in front of him as clearly as he could have, but he evolved throughout the story; challenged with a completely different world, he had to come to terms with the fact that his former beliefs, his life, were more comfort-choices than something he really believed in. In that, I can only commend this character and his evolution.

Pax: he (let’s say “he”, because “it” would be demeaning to me, if closer) was such a beautiful person. Adorable and human to the core, in that everything about “him” seemed to be based on sheer human features, devoid of anything “polluted” by gender. Of course, everyone in Hollow World was supposed to be like that, but for me, Pax really epitomised those values. “He” seemed to be one of these people who manage to make beauty bloom in everyone, no matter how flawed.

Antagonists: Let’s call them “villain and followers”. Their plot wasn’t so complex in itself, yet it stemmed from thought patterns that, all in all, were logical, considering what had prompted them. Ellis and this antagonist were like inverted mirrors of each other, walking on similar paths that revealed who they truly were on the inside.

More than time travel, “Hollow World” is about differences, acceptance, humanity, and discovering one’s true self. And this made it beautiful.

Yzabel / February 20, 2014

Review: His Lordship Possessed

Disenchanted & Co., Part 2: His Lordship Possessed by Lynn Viehl

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

The second half of Disenchanted & Co.—the thrilling conclusion. In a steampunk version of America that lost the Revolutionary War, Charmian (Kit) Kittredge makes her living investigating magic crimes and exposing the frauds behind them. While Kit tries to avoid the nobs of high society, as the proprietor of Disenchanted & Co. she follows mysteries wherever they lead.

Lady Diana Walsh calls on Kit to investigate and dispel the curse she believes responsible for carving hateful words into her own flesh as she sleeps. While Kit doesn’t believe in magic herself, she can’t refuse to help a woman subjected nightly to such vicious assaults. As Kit investigates the Walsh family, she becomes convinced that the attacks on Diana are part of a larger, more ominous plot—one that may involve the lady’s obnoxious husband.

Sleuthing in the city of Rumsen is difficult enough, but soon Kit must also skirt the unwanted attentions of nefarious deathmage Lucien Dredmore and the unwelcome scrutiny of police Chief Inspector Thomas Doyle. Unwilling to surrender to either man’s passion for her, Kit struggles to remain independent as she draws closer to the heart of the mystery. Yet as she learns the truth behind her ladyship’s curse, Kit also uncovers a massive conspiracy that promises to ruin her life—and turn Rumsen into a supernatural battleground from which no one will escape alive.

Review:

(I got a copy of thie book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Click here for my review of Part 1.)

I still liked the world developed in this story. It fels solid and sturdy, with lots of building behind the scene, even though we’re not to see everything yet (which is normal); anyway, the important part for me is that I could feel it).

The characters remain likeable and interesting. There’s more to Lucien than what he allows himself to show: far from perfect, but not the dark villain kind either. Kit is still her savvy self, doing her best to get herself out of predicaments (and her best does work), learning from past “mistakes” (ah, good old drugged cups of tea), as well as refusing to give up in spite of the odds clearly being against her. Thomas, although a little too bland to my taste, tries to help, and genuinely cares for Kit. And I like Rina and her girls.

I couldn’t enjoy this book more, though, because of the way the story moved. At some point, I felt it started to unwind too fast, with too many new elements introduced all at once, especially in terms of the world’s mythology. As I mentioned, this world’s interesting, but some of its most secret parts would’ve been easier to stomach if they had been unveiled more gradually. Some links seemed to be missing: for instance, I didn’t really saw how Kit came to the conclusion that “the real culprit behind all this is X”.

And I’m really not satisfied with the ending. It paves the way for Disenchanted & Co. (as a business), but the way it unfolded was a device I don’t like, too close to a deus ex machina, that negated many of the hardships the characters went through. Sure, it saved the day, but at a heavy cost plot-wise, at least in my opinion. I’d have preferred things to take a darker direction, as painful as it would have been for the characters.

Yzabel / February 13, 2014

Review: By Blood

By Blood by Tracy E. Banghart

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

For 17-year-old Emma Wong, spending a summer in England should be a dream come true. Gorgeous scenery? Check. Lots of hot guys with accents? Yes, please.

Throw in an estranged mom, annoying new stepdad, and drooling baby half-brother, and it’s a disaster even her favorite cherry red leather jacket can’t fix. Even worse, there’s (hot) live-in research assistant Josh to contend with. The only thing more embarrassing than drunk-kissing him hours after they meet? Knowing he’ll be witness to her family’s dysfunction all. summer. long.

But when Emma meets a mysterious girl who happens to be a Druid, her vacation suddenly promises to be far more intriguing than she anticipated. Powerful rituals, new friends, an intoxicating sense of freedom…and Simon, the sexy foreign stranger she was hoping for. It’s all a perfect distraction from dirty diapers and awkward family dinners.

Trouble is, intriguing doesn’t often mean simple. And Emma is about to discover just how not simple her life really is.

By Blood is a novel about the ways that blood can bind us to others – or tear us apart.

Review:

(I received this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5 stars. I enjoyed parts of this novel, while others seriously grated on my nerves. It wasn’t a bad story; it contains its share of good elements, only I may have read it at a moment when the ones I didn’t like bothered me more than in other circumstances.

I liked the idea of Druids-related beliefs, and how they were introduced into the story. On the one hand, Emma seemed to join in a little too easily; on the other, she was confused, had to leave her country, learnt some troubling things about her family, and it made sense that she’d want a place, a group of people to belong to. In that, the author did a fairly believable job. 17 is still an age at which you can be impressed by many things (hah, you can be that even later in life, after all), and some of her mistakes are somewhat understandable. Not to mention that the girl who introduced her to the whole thing was bubbly and likeable.

Another thing I found nice enough, although it took too much time to my liking to happen, was how Emma grew up somehow throughout the story. She started as an insufferable, self-centered person, and I must admit her tantrums sometimes made me roll her eyes and think “can we stop now?” However, in the end, she opens up and becomes more accepting, more mature. She drops the bratty attitude, and this is good.

What I really didn’t like:
* For someone who grew up with a cop father, who took and even taught self-defence classes, I found her too gullible and too prone to putting herself in tricky situations. I’ve never attended such classes, but I suppose one of the things they teach you there is how to avoid putting youself in dangerous situations for starters. At least, this seems logical to me. Emma, on the other hand, seemed to seek those, which totally clashed with how she was portrayed at the very beginning of the novel. Being confused should only take you so far.
* It was too heavy on the drama. I may have enjoyed this if I had been younger (I imagine it would ‘speak’ to a lot of teenagers, since those are the years when a lot of us feel rejected—sometimes justifiably so, sometimes not). But it leant a little too much towards woe-is-me moments. For instance, she gets the only small, closet-sized room in the house while her baby brother and basically everyone else get a gorgeous one. It may not seem like much, but considering her overall circumstances, the latter were enough for me to understand her unease; no need for more.
* Love triangle, good boy/bad boy. Predictable.

Yzabel / February 6, 2014

Review: Stiltskin

Stiltskin by Andrew Buckley

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

What would you do if you found an evil dwarf in your bathtub?

In Robert Darkly’s case you scream like a girl… and then you get taken on a journey to an entirely different world living just on the other side of our own reality; a world where fairy tales are real but not in the way we’ve come to expect them.

The aforementioned dwarf, Rumpelstiltskin, has escaped the Tower prison of Thiside determined to finish the sinister plot he started so many years ago.

Robert Darkly, oblivious that he is the son of the Mad Hatter, must partner with the mysterious ‘Agency’ to pursue Rumpelstiltskin across our world and the world of Thiside and uncover the treacherous secret that threatens to throw both realities into eternal chaos.

Review:

(I received an ebook copy from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5 stars.

While the idea of retelling fairy tales and/or making them bastardised versions of darker truths is nothing new in itself, I think Andrew Buckley did a good job in building his world. In this world, nothing is as bright and pure as we were led to believe as children, and Robert Darkly is going to discover it fast. Some were thiefs; some were murderers; some were imprisoned in the Tower, or died, while others managed to remain at large; but all characters from those “tales” lived much different lives in Thiside than human people remember them in Othaside.

I had no problems when it came to imagining Thiside and its twisted landscapes, nor to appreciating the various twists made on stories: the author made the latter seem almost logical, in a convoluted way. And darker. Much darker. If it’s happy-ever-afters you’re looking for, it’s not in those versions of the tales you’ll find them. I tend to like this; other readers may not. In any case, this novel is fraught both with darkness and with humour, making the spins strangely amusing; I found myself chuckling more than once, even though some of the events weren’t perceived as such by the characters.

However, at times, said characters seemed a little too bland to my taste. I’m not sure why exactly, I just had the feeling that, while in some parts they came truly alive, in others they were “made for the story”, so to speak. As a result, a few happenings and evolutions had an aftertaste of artificial. (Well, of course a story is artificial, and the ones who people it are just as artificial; I just don’t like feeling it.) In some places, too, the writing wasn’t as polished as in others; for instance, I’d spot a fine sentence next to one full of unneeded (in my opinion, that is) adverbs.

It was an amusing book—and I must say, I loved the ending. I sensed it coming, but only in retrospect: only when it happened did I realise it just couldn’t end in any other way. I’ll remember the story and the atmosphere more than the characters, though.

Yzabel / January 6, 2014

Review: A Study In Ashes

A Study in Ashes by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

As part of her devil’s bargain with the industrial steam barons, Evelina Cooper is finally enrolled in the Ladies’ College of London. However, she’s attending as the Gold King’s pet magician, in handcuffs and forbidden contact with even her closest relation, the detective Sherlock Holmes.

Not even Niccolo, the dashing pirate captain, and his sentient airship can save her. But Evelina’s problems are only part of a larger war. The Baskerville Affair is finally coming to light, and the rebels are making their move to wrest power from the barons and restore it to Queen Victoria. Missing heirs and nightmare hounds are the order of the day—or at least that’s what Dr. Watson is telling the press.

But their plans are doomed unless Evelina escapes to unite her magic with the rebels’ machines—and even then her powers aren’t what they used to be. A sorcerer has awakened a dark hunger in Evelina’s soul, and only he can keep her from endangering them all. The only problem is… he’s dead.

Review:

(I got this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

A pretty interesting ending to the plots in this series (and probably the beginning to another arc), that ties up all elements together, and have they all meet on the final “battlefield” of London, if I may say so.

However, while I appreciated this novel, I thought it lost itself, compared to what was developed in the first volume. As a steampunk-themed story, it was enjoyable, but I felt as if its initial spark had died down somewhere along the way. The potential for mystery and investigation I expected from Evelina (as well as from Holmes’ presence) kind of took the back-burner. Evie was more passive, in a way, going through events more as a victim than as a strong person; granted, she’s been through quite a few hardships, and those had to take their toll, and yet, in spite of the understanding she gained from them, I thought she was somewhat… diminished. In a weird way (weird, because those were things I had enjoyed in A Study In Silks), this time the detective/mystery aspect was feeble and unneeded. Had it been a different setting, with Holmes left out, I might actually have found this story better, more able to stand on its own two feet.

I also can’t make up my mind about the Imogen subplot. It was like a side-story, related to the main plot through the characters, but not bearing any weight on the main events. I kept having the nagging feeling that at some point, the author hadn’t been sure what to do with Imogen anymore, except having her tag along, and gave her a new part for her and Poppy to have something to do. Only that part was mostly disconnected from the others.

On the other hand, I quite enjoyed Alice, who turned out to be the person I hoped the indeed was. I wished she would’ve had a more important role.

Consider it at 2.5 stars for now. Maybe I’ll knock it the extra half-star later on. Right now, I’m still bothered by the way some of its plots were tackled.

Yzabel / December 25, 2013

Review: Dead Beautiful

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

After Renee Winters discovers her parents lying dead in California’s Redwood Forest in what appears to be a strange double murder, her grandfather sends her off to Gottfried Academy in Maine, a remote and mysterious high school dedicated to philosophy, “crude sciences,” and Latin: the Language of the Dead. It’s here she meets Dante, a dark and elusive student to whom she feels inexplicably drawn.

As they get to know each other better, Dante can’t seem to control his attraction either, and their desires gradually deepen into a complex and dangerous romance. Dangerous because Dante is hiding a frightening secret. A secret so terrible, it has him fearing for Renee’s life.

Dante’s not the only one with secrets, though. Turns out Gottfried Academy has a few of its own… Like, how come students keep disappearing? Why are the prefect-like Monitors creeping around campus during the night? And what exactly are the Headmistress and Professors really up to? Renee is determined to find out why.
Dead Beautiful is both a compelling romance and thought-provoking read, bringing shocking new meaning to life, death, love, and the nature of the soul.

Review:

(I got an ebook version of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I don’t know whether to give it 2 or 3 stars. Some parts I liked, some I found OK, some were a little dumb in my opinion.

I must say I really liked the atmosphere in this novel: the boarding school and its odd rules, the Gothic feeling, beautiful buildings… All of this surrounded with a veil of mystery, strange behaviours from some of the characters, and bits of foreshadowing that clicked pretty well once the story reached the moments when they made sense. I also liked the “mythology” behind it all: what happened to the children, the role of the Monitors, and why the school was built. It was a somewhat different take on death than what I’ve read up until now.

The pacing lacked in the first half of the book: I think a few chapters could’ve been condensed without the mystery being lessened. Things picked up by chapter 10, which was too far in the story to my liking (and they happened a little too fast in the end, with the explanation dropped on me rather too suddenly). Descriptions helped set the atmosphere, indeed, but after a while, I was starting to wonder when the main character would finally get it—or, rather, when she would actually take useful steps and ask the right questions to the right people.

My main problem with this novel were the characters. The insta-love between Renée and Dante was explained (and easy to foresee, come to think of it), so it bothered me less here than it usually does. However, I found their relationship too basic, too superficial, and I would’ve appreciated seeing more development here. As it was, it didn’t really feel right with the ending. And, as mentioned above, I expected more action from Renée, more investigating; she looked like she could’ve been so much more, yet wasn’t exploited to her full potential. Instead, she remained too vain.

I guess I’m going to file this novel in my list of “OK books”. I cared enough to keep on reading, but I’ll probably forget about it fast.