review Archives - Page 29 of 63

Yzabel / October 25, 2015

Review: The Palace Job

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Loch is seeking revenge.

It would help if she wasn’t in jail.

The plan: to steal a priceless elven manuscript that once belonged to her family, but now is in the hands of the most powerful man in the Republic. To do so Loch—former soldier, former prisoner, current fugitive—must assemble a crack team of magical misfits that includes a cynical illusionist, a shapeshifting unicorn, a repentant death priestess, a talking magical warhammer, and a lad with seemingly no skills to help her break into the floating fortress of Heaven’s Spire and the vault that holds her family’s treasure—all while eluding the unrelenting pursuit of Justicar Pyvic, whose only mission is to see the law upheld.

What could possibly go wrong?

Review:

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

I have a soft spot for heist novels. Give me thieves, rogues, criminal jobs demanding planning, enemies getting in the way, and odds are I’ll be happy—all the more when most if the action takes place in a city, and not travelling (I have trouble with the latter). I got this here, and perhaps even more than I bargained for, as it’s not only about one job in the end: not only does each party member have his or her own little heist part first, but it’s also about a bigger con, and quite a few people here have the potential to be both a criminal and a life-saver. In general, anyway, the characters were enjoyable.

Loch, whose motives are of theft and revenge, but who’ll stay loyal to her friends to the end. The death priestess, who didn’t want the job for starters, yet has to contend with what she was given. The magician, who could very well scamper away but is growing fond of the kid. The unicorn who will not abandon said kid, even though she’d probably be better off whisking him away too. The justicar, in a typical “investigator who may or may not see the light” fashion that I still found nice to read about no matter what. The orphaned girl caught unti playing politics because her adoptive father doesn’t leave her a choice, yet sooner or later will have to revise her own position, too. The safe-cracker with apparently bottomless pockets of supplies, vials and enchanted crossbolts, who could’ve had another life, only it would’ve been one by her own choice.

There’s humour woven into the batch, even though the straits are often dire and the truth unpleasant. Loch has a comeback for a lot of situations. The flirtation bits were fun to read. The death priestess comes from an unexpected angle, to say the least (starting with her introduction scene). Kail and his “your mom” insults that never fail to work: hard to believe, but still hilarious. Dairy regularly tripping over his own feet (manner of speaking) and causing catastrophes that are fun yet wield interesting results. Ululenia the unicorn and her virgins, also her alliteration-rigged mind magic. Puppet shows to keep people informed, allowing the “journalists” to tell probably more than they would be allowed to otherwise.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel, too, which is longer and more complex than I expected. Some may appear as deus ex machina, as the characters seem to plan for a lot of contingencies without the reader being warned. Sometimes it worked, at others I thought “too easy”. However, thinking back on it, it’s obvious that Loch et al. aren’t naive, and after a while I started suspecting when such twists may occur, and imagining “surely they won’t fall for that,” or “I smell trap, but I’m positive that character will see through it no matter what, in a way or other, because by now they know each other too well.”

Let’s not forget the political commentary, which is maybe where I would’ve liked to see more, as the “racial interactions” were a bit simplistic (the “whites”, the Imperials who’re basically “Asians”, and the Urujar as “the blacks”). Probably there weren’t enough pages to tackle absolutely everything here, but since it *was* part of the political side of the plot (Silestin adopted Naria and paraded her as a means of showing his intentions towards “racial equality”), as well as of the heist itself (the acrobat/contortionist/martial artist had to be an Imperial with a name sounding like a translation from kanji), I think it should’ve been approached a little differently.

These qualms set apart, I really enjoyed this book, and am glad I have the next one on my reader as well.

Yzabel / October 22, 2015

Review: Storm Fall

Storm Fall by Tracy Banghart

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Aris Haan gave up everything to join the Atalantan Military: her family, her boyfriend, even her identity. In the end, though, it didn’t matter that she was a war hero. When the all-male Military discovered that she was actually a woman, she was sent home and erased from history.

Now she has a chance to go back to the battlefield—as herself. But as hard as it was to be a soldier in disguise, it’s even more difficult now. The men in her unit undermine her at every turn. The Safaran army has spies everywhere, perhaps even on Aris’s stationpoint. And she’s falling for her mysterious superior officer, Milek. But their relationship is forbidden, just stolen moments between training sessions and missions. There’s no room for love in war.

Then Aris discovers that Safara’s leaders have set their sights on her, Atalanta’s hero. And she must find them before they find her . . .

Review:

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

Sequel to “Rebel Wing” (which I read back when its title was “Shattered Veil”), this novel sheds light on Aris Haan’s life after she escaped Elom and helped free the Ward of Ruslana: on her fears at first (her love of flying tainted by her harsh experience), on her decision to go back to the Military, on the daily fight to be accepted in a sector where women are just newly accepted—even though quite a few, disguised as men, already proved that girls can do it just as well as boys.

Like its predecessor, “Storm Fall” deals with this issue of acceptance, in a different way since the whole “women in the army” is now in the open, but still as something worth fighting for, and difficult to accept for some. Aris and others are faced with insubordination, snide remarks, sexual harassment, and it’s painfully obvious that even proving their worth as flyers and fighters isn’t enough for some. And it’s not only the men being reluctant: other women outside of the Military aren’t so keen about this new opening. Aris still has to fight, still has to assert herself, and she does it with conviction and with open eyes: she knows she has to fend for herself if she doesn’t want to be seen as a damsel in distress—and yes, it’s something she definitely doesn’t want. She counts on other people’s help in circumstances where anyone would expect and need help, but not because she’s a woman in need of males to save her: because she’s a soldier in trouble, who needs the help of her fellow soldiers, period.

This was definitely a part of the story I enjoyed, because it was portrayed in quite a believable (if depressing) way. However, I wish it had been more a focus: I found it more interesting than the romance—but then, anyone who’s read my reviews must know by now that I’m not a huge fan of romantic subplots for the sake of romantic subplots only. No surprise here.

Calix here turned out to be a pretty decent guy, who did the right thing(s) and showed he had learnt to respect other people’s choices. He genuinely likes Aris, and I think that having him as a friend rather than a potential remaining love interest is a good move here. Also, very loyal guy, to the point of risking demotion or worse in order to help the ones he cares about: not only Aris, but her family as well. While at first, I wondered if this didn’t send the wrong kind of message (“women are men’s downfall”), it still seems to lean much more towards themes of friendship and loyalty, all the more because Calix cares about Aris’s parents and their grief—it’s not just about the girl, so to speak.

In general, there were good plot point and ideas, that would have deserved more spotlight: Elom’s role, the women’s struggles in the military (maybe seeing more of them “in action”, to find out the various range of possible reactions there)… The three romantic arcs were too heavy handed, and detracted from the really interesting parts.

Also, the relationship between Dysis and Daakon wasn’t always handled well. In the first book, the tension was understandable because Daakon thought she was a guy, and he was interested in guys, and Dysis actually being a woman made things complicated. But here, they ran around in odd circles. I’m thinking of one specific turning point here (spoilerish, so I don’t want to explain it too much), where something happened that doesn’t make much sense if Daakon’s not interested in women at all… but reaching that point, seeing it through the end, and then still being torn about loving a woman was kind of… illogical. Whether he was torn about finding himself bi, having to reconsider where it stood (hey, it happens), or torn about liking Dysis in a platonic way but not in a physical one, both were handled poorly.

Ultimately, I still liked this story, and may check the third book in this series, all the more because 1) the last chapter opens up on an even more dangerous situation, and 2) I keep expecting a twist when it comes to Elom, and would like to know whether I’m right or not. But I would welcome less romance, especially the thorny part about Milek and Aris, since it could very well undermine the latter’s efforts as a woman in the military.

2.5 stars (because of the romance), 3.5 or 4 otherwise.

Yzabel / October 18, 2015

Review: Homunculus and the Cat

Homunculus and the Cat by Nathan Croft

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Just a typical kitten saves the afterlife story, disguised as a book about death.

In a world where every culture’s mythology is real, Medusa’s sisters want revenge on Poseidon, Troy is under siege again, and the Yakuza want their homunculi (mythological artificial humans) back.

Near Atlantis’ Chinatown, a kitten and her human campaign for homunculi rights. Against them are Japanese death gods, an underworld cult, and a fat Atlantean bureaucrat.

The main character dies (more than once) and a few underworlds’ way of death is threatened.

There are Also giant armored battle squids.

Review:

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

Good ideas in this mash-up of various mythologies and their associated creatures, however, in the end, it was a bit too choppy to my taste.

The world of Gaia was inventive, fun, full of conundrums and syllogisms, all of those making for a place brimming with diversity… and with the problems associated to it, especially acceptance. This theme, along with the one of “humanity” in its largest meaning, was developed through the homunculi: artificial human-shaped beings, crafted by alchemists, gifted with certain powers, with a beautiful appearance for some, with intelligence and feelings, yet considered as unworthy because they didn’t have a soul—or so, some people said.

The political undercurrents permeating the story (the vote, the tricks used in Atlantis to thwart it against the homunculi, the strong will of a few people like Petra to help them get rights at last) were definitely interesting. Perhaps because of all the many creatures in this novel, the hypocrisy behind their reluctance to accept the “soulless” articificial beings was even more tangible, and made for a good metaphor of injustices happening in the human world. I can say I’d really have wanted this specific plot to shine more.

Where the mashup worked much less for me was in the narrative itself. A lot of things happened, more or less tied to the aforementioned plot depending on the moments, but they happened very fast, in a chaotic way. I guess it reflected the chaotic nature of Gaia, yet it didn’t male for a coherent read, and there were several moments when I had no idea anymore what was happening, why, or how the characters had come to that particular point or conclusion. Even though it made more sense once I read a few pages back, it was annoying nonetheless.

The other problem with such fast-paced events was that they didn’t leave much room to character development, and I felt I was told, rather than shown, the relationships between Tyro and the cat, Tyro and Mina, Tyro and Herakles… (Tyro wants to save him, but since I didn’t get to see them interact much, I didn’t feel very invested in knowing about the outcome. Same about Tyro and Ankh’Si: the conclusion here was so rushed I wasn’t sure if my copy of the book missed a chapter or two.)

I really liked the world developed here, however it was so diverse that it eclipsed the characters. Since I like those to be as developed in a “humoristic” read as in a “serious” one, albeit in different ways, I suppose, it didn’t work very well for me in the end.

Yzabel / October 13, 2015

Review: Ashstorm

Ashstorm by A.D. Starrling

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

The Hunter who should have been king.

The Elemental who fears love.

The Seer who is yet to embrace her powers.

Three immortals whose fates are intertwined with that of the oldest and most formidable enemy the immortal and human societies have ever faced.

1599. While hunting a deadly adversary who has eluded him for two hundred years, Asgard Godard falls into an icy tomb that leaves him frozen in time.

1969. After more than a century on the run, Ethan Storm finds himself at the mercy of the man who ripped his family apart and sent him into exile.

2013. Following a hundred years of solitary existence, Olivia Ash wakes from a nightmare to find the home where she has lived her entire life under attack by a deadly foe.

Linked by an incredible destiny and with time very much against them, Asgard, Ethan, and Olivia must keep ahead of their common enemy and the rogue branch of the US army at his command. When an unlikely ally crosses their path, they come into possession of a set of clues that help them unearth their opponents’ devastating plans.

With the future of the whole world at risk, the three immortals and their allies must draw on all their skills and unique abilities to defeat the man who has inflicted so much loss and misery upon their lives.

Review:

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

I read the first three books in this series last year, and found them enjoyable—not the best, but definitely enjoyable, and making me feel like checking if book 4 was out. Which it was.

New characters are introduced here, some of them bearing birth marks (and displaying powers) like the main characters in the previous installments, leading more and more to the gathering of a kind of “league” who, no doubt, will have to fight more and more dangerous odds. Olivia and Ethan complement and enhance each other’s powers nicely, while Asgard is tied to quite a few people among the most important ones, owing to his own birth. If there’s one thing, it’s how little we see of the others as the cast keeps on growing. I can’t help but feel impatient regarding the moment when they’re finally all together (is this book it, or will others appear in the next one?). Such a group is bound to have an impressive dynamics.

The focus was less on Kronos in general, and more on one specific antagonist pursuing goals tied partly to it and partly to his own ambitions. The idea of a secret base and secret experiments was a bit basic, though, so I hope later developments—the kind hinted at by the end of the novel—will go deeper. That Kronos isn’t “only that”. I’m sure it’s not.

I’m a bit torn, too, regarding relationships between the characters. Although the idea of soulmates finding each other is nice, it’s starting to feel like every set of people is meant to find their own love interest in each story. Maybe it’s just me, but at some point I’d like to see something different, bonds that would run very deep without necessary being “couple-love”. We have some of this here with Ethan and Asgard, and I wish we could see more: after all, they fought Jonah for decades, and their loyalty to each other is unswerving. Comrades to death, and all that.

I still enjoyed the blend of action and quieter moments nonetheless, all the more because the characters didn’t completely forget about their predicament (something that tends to happen too often in many books: as soon as the love interest appears, the impending end of the world doesn’t seem so important anymore, and too much time is spent on trifles).

Once again, I’m not rating this novel higher… yet I’ll still seek out volume 5.

Yzabel / October 10, 2015

Review: The Conquering Dark

The Conquering Dark by Clay Griffith

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

The Crown and Key Society face their most terrifying villain yet: Gaios, a deranged demigod with the power to destroy Britain.

To avenge a centuries-old betrayal, Gaios is hell-bent on summoning the elemental forces of the earth to level London and bury Britain. The Crown and Key Society, a secret league consisting of a magician, an alchemist, and a monster-hunter, is the realm’s only hope—and to stop Gaios, they must gather their full strength and come together as a team, or the world will fall apart.

But Simon Archer, the Crown and Key’s leader and the last living magician-scribe, has lost his powers. As Gaios searches for the Stone of Scone, which will give him destructive dominion over the land, monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane, alchemist extraordinaire Kate Anstruther, gadget geek Penny Carter, and Charlotte the werewolf scramble to reconnect Simon to his magic before the world as they know it is left forever in ruins.

Review:

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

I have to admit I read this third installment because I had received a copy to review, and I didn’t want to let it go to oblivion; however, I wouldn’t have picked it otherwise.

A lot of points I made in my reviews of the first two novels stand here again. The action scenes had a spectacular side, yet in the grand scheme of things didn’t bring that much to the plot nor to the characters. The magic system—”speaking a secret word” doesn’t do much for me (I want technobabble, to make the magic look “real”, like something the character truly masters and knows about). Again, the book read like a draft more than like an edited version (I’m not talking about proofing here), even considering it was an ARC; I could sense a lot of telling instead of showing scenes and thoughts, as well as sentence structures that could, and should, have been polished. I can only hope this was different in the final, printed version.

Also problematic was the characters’ growth. More time was devoted to Imogen and Charlotte, which was great, because their relationships with Kate for the one and Malcom for the other provide good opportunities for questioning. Who needs to accept whom? What if Imogen never goes back to being “human”? Can she accept that? And what of the monster hunter’s affection for the very creature he’s supposed to hunt? Unfortunately, they were more part of the story as new additions to the group, fighting alongside with the others—cf. the first action scene, making everybody look as if they’re some kind of badass society of supernatural-savvy people who’ve been fighting crime together for years. The gap between the events of book 2 and 3 (a few months) removes plenty of possibilities here, as we go for instance from one Imogen to a completely different one, without getting to see her evolve fully; this would’ve been very interesting to witness, at least in my opinion.

Penny was still full of fun and useful ideas (the battle fan: for when a lady cannot bring a gun). The others, though, I couldn’t really push myself to care about. The villain’s motives were somewhat shallow, which didn’t make them very interesting as characters either. More insight about Ash, Gaios and Byron’s relationships would’ve been necessary, to fully get why their group imploded for starters, and why everything turned sour to the point of a full-out war between Ash and Gaios. “Because I loved him and he didn’t love me back” is a bit… simplistic.

The story read like an average action movie, and was somewhat entertaining, but I already know I won’t remember much about it very soon.

Yzabel / October 7, 2015

Review: Harry Plotter and The Chamber of Serpents

Harry Plotter and The Chamber of Serpents, A Potter Secret Parody by M.J. Ware

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Austin comes to England knowing as an American he’ll stick out at his new school. But when an errant owl lands him at Hogwarts he’s in for more than he expected.

Review:

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

A somewhat funny idea, although in the end it didn’t go far enough to be more than quaint fanfiction. The story is basically that of the second Harry Potter book, from the point of view of an American pupil thrown into Hogwarts. It was mildly interesting, in that it inserted a different take on why some events got to unfold the way they did in the original novel (the cat hair ending up in the potion, for instance), as well as peeked into what may have been the daily life of other students than the ones we saw throughout Rowling’s series.

However, this should have been taken further, and to greater lengths, I think, in order to become a story of its own. As it was, it didn’t bring much to the Potterverse, because the “blanks” it filled weren’t many, and so it was mostly a retelling from a different perspective, rather than something really interesting. Austin being American didn’t play much of a part either; he could have been German or French, and it would’ve been roughly the same. The reason why he ended up in second year when he hadn’t attended the first wasn’t really explained either: “so that he’d be on the level with the Harry, Hermione and Draco of the official timeline” and “because he wasn’t in England before” are a bit of an easy cop-out.

Some aspects were tentatively explored (a Slytherin/Slipperen being friends with a Gryffindor/Gryffinbore, opening up to other people, all Slytherins aren’t uptight worshippers of pure blooded ancestry…), only not enough. It felt like an attempt to redeem this House by downplaying the others (Harry seen negatively…), in a “Slytherins are misunderstood” way, instead of delving further into what could’ve been complex House relationships. This is reflected in general in how the novel remained too close to the original one, and never soared away from it to become its own.

Also, seeing the names changed (Harry Plotter, Hogworts…) was strange: everything’s so close to the original that it doesn’t fool anybody. No doubt a matter of copyright, yet it made me wonder where Rowling stood regarding all of this. Did she allow it, and if yes, then why not a joint effort of sorts, using the real names and places? And if not allowed… then what? (Yes, you can tell I’m always torn when it comes to fanfiction. That said, the book’s free, which I can appreciate—making money off it would’ve been shameful.)

Fun enough if you want something light to read and on which you don’t want to focus a lot. Otherwise nothing exceptional.

Yzabel / October 6, 2015

Review: The Dead House

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Three students: dead.
Carly Johnson: vanished without a trace.

Two decades have passed since an inferno swept through Elmbridge High, claiming the lives of three teenagers and causing one student, Carly Johnson, to disappear. The main suspect: Kaitlyn, “the girl of nowhere.”

Kaitlyn’s diary, discovered in the ruins of Elmbridge High, reveals the thoughts of a disturbed mind. Its charred pages tell a sinister version of events that took place that tragic night, and the girl of nowhere is caught in the center of it all. But many claim Kaitlyn doesn’t exist, and in a way, she doesn’t – because she is the alter ego of Carly Johnson.

Carly gets the day. Kaitlyn has the night. It’s during the night that a mystery surrounding the Dead House unravels and a dark, twisted magic ruins the lives of each student that dares touch it.

Review:

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

The kind of format I like (and I probably missed on a lot more, considering I had a digital copy, not a paper one), mixing extracts from diaries, interviews and camera clips, as well as a non-chronological narrative and an unreliable narrator.

The story mostly revolves around Carly and Kaitlyn, twin sisters of sorts, or perhaps not? They’re two minds in one body, and who can tell whether one is crazy and the other just a mere symptom, or whether they’re actually two souls who just happen to coexist in an unusual way—Carly during the day, and Kaitlyn at night? After their parents’ death, the “sisters” are sent to Elmbridge, a boarding school in Somerset, but their stay there is chaotic, as they’re regularly sent back to Claydon, a psychiatric facility for teens. Under the guidance of Dr. Lansing, Carly has to accept that Kaitlyn is only an alter, meant to hold the painful memory of the night when her family was torn asunder. And yet… Doesn’t Kaitlyn exist in her own way, too? Is she a construct, or a real person? Doesn’t her diary reflect how real she is, just as real as Carly?

“The Dead House” explores this idea, mainly from Kaitlyn’s point of view, but also through Naida’s camera footage and through the group of friends gathered around her: Naida, Carly’s best friend during daytime; Scott, Naida’s boyfriend; and Brett and Ari. Naida’s peculiar in her own way, in that she comes from a family of priests, brought up within the faith of “Mala”, an Scottish mix of traditional witchcraft and voodoo (it doesn’t actually exist, and was created specifically for this story). And she may be the only one to accept that Kaitlyn/Carly is something special, something unique.

However, there’s something rotten in the Dead House: the sisters grow estranged, pills may do more harm than good, the doctor may not be so competent as she thinks she is, and Kaitlyn’s losing herself more and more in the maze of her own mind. Fascinating elements here, that I really liked reading about. Creept imagery, too, even though I’ve read more gory and morbid.

I’m torn when it comes to other aspects of this book, though. First, the Mala part, which sometimes felt strange and… “not Scottish”? There was something unsettling about the names, whether the spirits’ or even the people’s (“Naida” and “Haji” definitely don’t sound Scottish, and their French family-name hints more at New Orleans/voodoo surroundings than British ones). It would also have been interesting to see a real set of beliefs used here, rather than an imaginary one.

Then the romance, which I didn’t particularly care about, as the story could likely have stood on its own just as well with pure friendship and similar relationships. (But I’m very nitpicky when it comes to romance, so don’t mind me here.) The love interests looked really flat compared to Kaitlyn. In fact, most characters seemed flat, including Carly. Perhaps more insights into her own diary, into the post-its the sisters left for each other, would have helped to get to know here better. As it was, I didn’t really care about her either.

I was also confused about the actual time when the story was set: the diary and footage were recovered more than 20 years later, yet there’s no real sense of “the future”. It could’ve been 2015, and it would’ve been just the same. As for the ending, it felt incomplete, and I couldn’t decide whether the supernatural element was a good thing, or if I would’ve enjoyed the novel more if it had been purely a matter of psychological disorders.

As it was, I did enjoy “The Dead House”, and I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. On the other hand, I can’t help but think that something was missing—perhaps several things, even.

Yzabel / October 5, 2015

Review: Lair of Dreams

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to “read” objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners’ abilities…

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Review:

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

Interesting premise, all the more because dreams fascinate me—lucid dreaming, the power to travel in dreams and even shape them—but possibly too ambitious a book for its own good.

The good stuff:

* Dreams and dream walkers. People who can travel in dreams and remember everything upon waking up, consciously alter others’ dreams, find the spirits of the dead to ask them for answers… Meeting other dreamers like them: Henry, Ling, Wai-Mae. The many landscapes found in there, and how they may or may not have ties to the real world. As said: fascinating.

* More bits about the bigger picture: the man in the stove pipe hat. The mysterious men in suits, all with (obviously fake) names of dead presidents. Project Buffalo. Sam’s mother.

* The last chapters, and how the characters had to basically work in both worlds to save the day.

* The sleeping sickness.

* Vivid descriptions, sometimes really creepy and eerie.

And the not so good…:

* Half the characters were left aside or weren’t terribly relevant for a good two thirds of the plot. While I found Ling interesting, and Henry got more screen time, it was frustrating to see Jericho left dangling in his museum, Will pretty much out of the picture all the time, Evie doing her radio show (then partying/getting drunk, rinse and repeat), and Theta and Memphis… just standing there in the background, looking cool? I can easily appreciate a plot with a large cast, but here it felt like the two arcs (the sleeping sickness + Project Buffalo) could have benefitted from having each their own novel.

* Everything being all over the place, including the historical themes (immigrants, racial tensions, the KKK…): interesting, yet so many things to tackle that in the end, just like the main characters, they didn’t really come together.

* Inconsistencies. Why did Ling take ages to notice what should be absolutely oblivious, considering her own abilities within dreams?

* Mabel. There was no point in having her around. The poor girl should just forget about Jericho and go live her life.

* Still a lot of 20s slang. I didn’t particularly care for it, and it was repetitive. Like a good deal of the book, in fact.

Conclusion: Really good ideas, only the execution didn’t convince me, and I felt that more threads were left dangling, without any real, solid resolution (even the sleeping sickness arc isn’t 100% resolved, with questions remaining about what caused it in the first place).

Yzabel / October 3, 2015

Review: The Heartless City

The Heartless City by Andrea Berthot

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Henry Jekyll was a brilliant doctor, a passionate idealist who aimed to free mankind of selfishness and vice. He’s also the man who carelessly created a race of monsters.

Once shared secretly among the good doctor’s inner circle, the Hyde drug was smuggled into mass-production – but in pill form, it corrupted its users at the genetic level, leaving them liable to transform without warning. A quarter of the population are now clandestine killers – ticking bombs that could detonate at any given moment.

It’s 1903, and London has been quarantined for thirteen years.

Son of the city’s most prominent physician and cure-seeker, seventeen-year-old Elliot Morrissey has had his own devastating brush with science, downing a potion meant to remove his human weaknesses and strengthen him against the Hydes – and finding instead he’s become an empath, leveled by the emotions of a dying city.

He finds an unlikely ally in Iris Faye, a waitress at one of the city’s rowdier music halls, whose emotions nearly blind him; her fearlessness is a beacon in a city rife with terror. Iris, however, is more than what she seems, and reveals a mission to bring down the establishment that has crippled the people of London.

Together, they aim to discover who’s really pulling the strings in Jekyll’s wake, and why citizens are waking up in the street infected, with no memory of ever having taken the Hyde drug…

Heart-eating monsters, it turns out, are not the greatest evil they must face.

Review:

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

First thing first: gorgeous cover is gorgeous.

I liked the characters in general. Elliot who was a good soul from the beginning, and had to understand that what he perceived as a “weakness” was in fact his greatest strength, all the more after he became an empath. Iris whose mind was open to knowledge and revelations, who accepted people as they were, whose emotions were strong and pure even though she always had to keep them hidden behind her mask.

And some of the secondary characters were pretty good, too. Cam, who couldn’t be himself and whose soul was slowly being snuffed out by his father’s desires and blows. I especially liked Philomena, who could so easily have been a snotty brat, yet turned out to be a strong person, aware that the life her parents had decided for her may actually kill her (married and pregnant at 15, when her body’s still almost that of a child’s), and making plans to have a life of her own instead.

The setting was interesting: a dark, dangerous, quarantined London, 13 years after Dr. Jekyll’s drug changed the face of the city by filling it with monsters derived from the original Mr. Hyde. Only men can be infected (the drug always kills women immediately), and they never know when they’re going to change and rip some poor sod’s heart. Either people go out with guns and machetes, or they’d better run very, very fast. And the poorer people, of course, don’t have any choice in the matter, as they can’t shelter themselves in some mansion or palace, living off what’s left of past fortunes.

The depiction of society here, of what people believed and considered as “proper”, was partly revolting, yet at the same time extremely fitting, in a “people reverted to even older Victorian values” ways. Relationships considered as unnatural. The upper class viewing the working class as faulty and even “deserving” of being killed by Hydes. The budding suffragettes movement crushed because there was no royalty nor parliament left to bring those ideas to. Women being victims in many ways (subverted in that those potential victims were also sturdy pioneers: Virginia, Iris, Philomena, Lady Cullum). Preaching the greatest values, while practicing hypocrisy on a daily basis. This was quite close to the dichotomy I’ve always found fascinating in Victorian mores, full of nobility, but also straying due to associating poverty with vice and laziness, for instance.

The romance: closer to the insta-love type (Iris and Elliot), but bearable. Elliot could fill emotions, after all, so obviously the attraction couldn’t just be physical only: it had to be everything at once on his part. Iris’s side of the romance may have evolved too fast, though. I don’t know. As for Cam… that was beautiful. Sad, too. But beautiful.

Where the book was wanting for me was paradoxically in this setting as well, and in the plot itself: basically, I just wished for more. I would’ve liked to see more of those dark streets, more of the Hydes murdering people, so that what happened in the story would have had even more of an impact. Many plot points were also fairly predictable. It didn’t bother me that much, because this was a case of “even though I know what’s going to happen, I’m still excited and I’m thrilled when it does happen”, but it could easily become a downfall: had I been in a different state of mind when I read the book, it may have dampened my experience.

I was also torn about a specific decision Iris made: incredibly dangerous and bordering on stupid, although at that moment she probably wouldn’t have had many other options, and at least it allowed her to stay at the palace, something she had been meaning to do anyway.

Finally, I’m holding a grudge against the blurb, because it was misleading: I thought the characters would discover the plot’s secrets together, but as it turned out, some of them knew a lot from the beginning—and at the same time, the blurb revealed a coupld ot things that, in my opinion, should’ve best been left for the reader to discover later.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed “The Heartless City”, even though I keep thinking it could’ve been more than what it is. 3.5 stars for a pleasant read no matter what.

Yzabel / October 3, 2015

Review: Tin Stars (Descender #1)

Descender, Vol. 1: Tin Stars by Jeff Lemire

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Young Robot boy TIM-21 and his companions struggle to stay alive in a universe where all androids have been outlawed and bounty hunters lurk on every planet.

Review:

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

Some time in the far future, the worlds of the United Galactic Council are attacked by unknwon robots soon nicknamed “Harvesters”. Ten years later, after robots were outlawed and culled, a child-companion by the name of Tim-21 wakes up alone in a deserted mining colony, only to find out that the kid he was assigned to is gone. Tim doesn’t know yet that he may be the key to unlocking the secret behind the Harvesters, and potentially to fight them in case they ever return, which is why Captain Telsa and former robotics genius Quon try to find him before others do. Others who would like nothing more than to scrap him.

An enjoyable comics, even though it’s not the most original story I’ve read so far in term of such themes and how they’re being explored: the now fallen scientist, the sexy military officer following in her father’s steps, a cult bent on exterminating robots… Tim’s memories were quite interesting, as they touch upon his relationship with his foster family, and what it meant to him, but I can only hope they will be explored further in a next volume, since it’s definitely worth more. A couple of things didn’t make too much sense, too; for instance, why does Tim—a robot-companion created for *cgildren*—carry an embedded weapon? (Unless it’s related to how robots came to be, but even then, it doesn’t stand to logics to leave them with such weapons when everything else, like their height and AI programs, could be changed.)

I quite liked the artwork (watercolour illustrations); I found it really beautiful for close-ups, though a bit confusing when it came to larger-scope scenes. Some fonts were also hard to read, and didn’t fit too well with the overall mood set by the graphics.

This first volume ends on a cliffhanger that may have lots of potential in the next one, so here, too, I hope the story will find a good way to explore this new twist.

2.5/3 stars