Category Archives: Book Reviews

‘Sense and Sensibility’, or, Jane Austen has a wicked sense of humour

I’ve just finished reading ‘Sense and Sensibility’ for the first time in about 15 years. It struck me as I finished reading it how funny Jane Austen was. I’d heard that her letters to her sister Cassandra were full of wit, but I didn’t know how witty she was until I read the last few pages of the book. Her closing paragraphs discussing the ‘happiness’ of Mr and Mrs John Dashwood, Mr and Mrs Robert Ferrers and Mrs Ferrers struck me especially. She could have said the same things more bluntly but the eloquence and wry tone only added to the reader’s impression that they all ended less than happily.

I’ve read many of Austen’s novels, but most of them I haven’t read in a very long time. Going back to them I have found humour that I missed in the past, either because I was too young to understand the joke when I last read them or because I read them too quickly and didn’t pay enough attention. There are many good reasons to re-read books one has only read in youth, or where a number of years has passed. New appreciation of the same words, coloured by greater age and experience, and finding a new perspective on the same, is one of the best. Along with, ‘I like that book, so I’m reading it again’.

That being said, sometimes it is disappointing to go back to a book much loved as a teenager and realise that it’s shallow or badly written. The image it throws upon your younger self, in choosing to read something like that, can be painful.

Best be off, things to do and all that,

Rose

Review: The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland

I finally finished reading this book a few days ago, and then eventually managed to get a decent internet connection, so at last I can post this review.

‘The Falcons of Fire and Ice’ interweaves the lives of a cast of Icelandic and Portuguese characters in a supernatural adventure.

Isabela must save her father from the machinations of the Inquisition, or risk losing everything. After the king’s prized gyrfalcons are discovered dead she is given a year and a day to replace them. She must travel to Iceland alone.

Cruz is a crook, but the Inquisition have a job for him, a job he can not refuse. He must prevent Isabela from acquiring the falcons. She must die or he will.

Eyedis and Valdis are twins condemned to life chained in a cave, dispensing healing and advice to the people of Iceland. Eyedis must help Isabela find her gyrfalcons, but she needs Isabela’s help in return – to defeat the spirit lurking in Valdis.

Set in a time of religious upheaval and intolerance, the live of these people are inextricably linked. They must defeat monsters out of myth, human monstrosity and save hundreds of innocent lives. But the mountains are stirring and time is running out.

 

It took me a while to get in to this book, but once the characters make it to Iceland the momentum builds and it becomes a thoroughly enjoyable adventure though early modern Europe. The glossary at the end is also very interesting, and helps to fill in any gaps in understanding that exist.

 

 

Review: ‘Blackout’ by Mira Grant (Seanan McQuire)

The third and final instalment of the ‘Newsflesh’ trilogy leads the reader further in to the conspiracy that the ‘After the End Times’ team have been chasing since Georgia’s murder.

Shaun and his team are back out on the road, seeking help, and the truth – as always. The team must complete Dr. Abbey’s tasks if they want to get what they need.
After a narrow escape or two, and meeting a zombie bear, the team regroups in Seattle. Re-united with more than just the living they find that there are more ways than one to bring back the dead. The Conspiracy reaches all the way to the White House, but with new allies they break the story open and do what they do best – get it out on the internet.

A thoroughly enjoyable tale, with a plot that keeps the reader enthralled throughout. Alternating the point of view, changing narrator, only adds to this and makes the novel more interesting. This is an excellent finale, intelligent and well written.

5/5

Review: ‘Kiss the dead’ by Laurell K Hamilton

Anita Blake returns in this, the 21st novel in the ‘Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter’ series.

A fifteen year old girl is missing, presumed kidnapped by vampires. Anita is the Marshal on the case. Working with RPIT, St.Louis police’s specialist preternatural crime branch, she must interrogate a witness/suspect and find the girl. There is little time, and when their suspect finally answers the questions they realise there is no time at all.

Going to the rescue Anita and the team find that the problem is much worse. With two officers dead and a potentially volatile group of ‘Free’ vampires holding the girl hostage violence is the most likely outcome. A conspiracy is uncovered that will cause Anita personal pain, unless it can be stopped.
The investigation continues and things take a turn for the worse when bomb making materials are discovered. Who and what are the targets?

Then a ray of hope arrives, in the form of Weiskopf, the human servant of Benjamin, the vampire nominally in charge of the ‘free’ vampires. Shocked at the news of potential explosive devises Weiskopf reveals how little control over the other vampires Benjamin truly has. Unfortunately it’s too late.

A phone call from Nicky (Anita’s bodyguard and lover) let’s them know the conspiracy has taken hostages. Going to the rescue once again, this time of people so much closer to Anita than a stranger, Anita has to prevent bloodshed and end the violence once and for all.

Through all this Anita has been questioning herself, but so have her colleagues and superiors within the police force who are questioning her loyalties and integrity. A one-time friend believes she has become a monster, her newest boyfriend has problems with her job and the women in the office are getting terribly jealous. And should she trust the new Marshal she has to work with?

Laurell K Hamilton has written another steady instalment in her Anita Blake series. I’ve read all but ‘Hit list’, the novel preceding ‘Kiss the dead’, and mostly I’ve enjoyed them. Unfortunately I’ve found the recent novels repetitive. Ms Hamilton’s formula of ‘criminal investigation/sex/ metaphysics/Anita’s messed up personal life’ has produced some good stories but now its getting boring. The plots are underdeveloped, the writing repetitive and lazy, and editing for continuity lax – I found an instance of an entire paragraph repeated two chapters apart and a characters name changes half way through a scene before changing back again at the end. On a couple of occasions I lost track of events because the writing was unclear.

Yes, on occasion the wry humour that makes the earlier books so enjoyable makes an appearance and the development of some of the newer characters are positive points, but they are outweighed by the problems of the writing and the underdeveloped plot lines.

2/5 – sorry but it just wasn’t that good.

As much as it pains me to admit it I probably won’t read any more of these books, and I’ll only re-read the first dozen. Its such a shame because its a good concept.

That’s the first of the three new books reviewed. I’ll be back in a few days with more.

Bye

Rose

Review: ‘Deadline’ by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire)

The second book in the ‘Newsflesh Trilogy’ throws the reader straight back in to the story, several months after Georgia ‘George’ Mason’s untimely death while reporting on Senator Ryman’s campaign (Feed).

Shaun Mason, her adopted brother and the man who pulled the trigger, now takes up the tale in Georgia’s place in charge of ‘After the End Times’ and not coping at all well with his sister’s death. Life just isn’t any fun anymore. It doesn’t help that she’s the voice he hears in his head now.

One bright day an old acquaintance, Dr. Kelly Connolly, arrives at their door. As well as being officially dead she’s carrying evidence that the conspiracy that put George in her grave is alive and well – and the CDC is at the centre of it. Unfortunately her arrival signals the end of normality for the team. As chaos descends the bloggers and their new associate barely escape with their lives. Disaster follows after as they go back out on the road. Chasing the story. Searching for the truth. Seeking revenge.

But the story is chasing them. And so are the zombies.

As the extent of the conspiracy is unveiled the team get further in to danger; soon it gets worse as the virus that’s causing the dead to rise and eat their friends finds a new vector of infection.

Teaming up with the heiress to a pharmaceutical fortune with her own private army (and lots of miniature dogs), and a certified mad scientist with a viral resistant English mastiff named after her murdered ex-husband, the team continue to hunt down the truth.

A good read, with interesting character development, especially the increasingly unstable Shaun, and an engaging plot-line that keeps the reader hooked with a brilliant twist. ‘Mira Grant’ doesn’t disappoint once again.

4/5

 

 

I’m already halfway through ‘Blackout’ – review coming soon.

Review: Feed by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire)

Zombie apocalypse’s: I do so love them.

Bloggers: News reporters, entertainers, educators. I have a soft spot for them as well.

What happens when you combine them?

Georgia and Shaun Mason, and their colleagues, that’s what.

The adopted children of the first people to lose a child to a zombie labrador, their entire lives have been dictated by, and dedicated to, the ratings.

Shaun likes to poke dead things with sticks, in the hope that its moan back, and then he can shoot it. Of the siblings he’s expected to die first, he lives with reckless abandon, goes out in to the field and returns to tell exciting tales. He’s an ‘Irwin’.

Georgette ‘Buffy’ Meissonier, their partner, friend and tech expert, likes to write poetry and romantic prose while giving the CIA a run for it money – if its electronic and can collect information she can improve it. Mostly she’s a ‘Fictional’, barely ever seen outside of the haven of their van and rarely in the field.

And finally, there’s Georgia ‘George’ Mason. All she wants is the Truth.

They run ‘After the End Times’, a blog site, that’s home to all three kinds of bloggers. They’re organised, determined and young. When they get the job of official press covering the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman, of Wisconsin, they also think they’re made. Travelling with the campaign, they give the public everything they need to know with as little bias as possible. They become among the most popular blog sites on the ‘net. And their candidate is gaining support.

And then things start to go very wrong. After a series of tragedies, sabotage and betrayal, events come to a head at the party Conference. Things will never be the same again for those who remain at ‘After the End Times’.

Well, that’s the story (or at least all I’m going to give you because I don’t want to give too much away), so what did I think?

The characterisation was well done, although Senator Ryman was a little too good, no politician is that decent. The world, a post-Zombie-apocalyse world, is carefully thought through and the society it presents is convincing. The story itself is riveting, keeping the readers interest throughout, exciting and intelligent.

Plus, there’s a sensible explanation for the living dead. Which is always a bonus.

In other words, I liked it. I’d even recommend it.

Now I’m off to read the second book in the series, Deadline.

Bye,

Rose

Review: The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Good evening,

It’s just occurred to me that I forgot to review this book. No excuse really, I have a day job and sometimes it gets in the way of writing, before I know it things have got away from me.

Anyway, on with the purpose of this post.

The Long Earth is an interesting book, intelligent and gripping. And there should clearly be a sequel, because I want to know what happens next.

The hero, and he is a hero in the traditional sense of a flawed yet almost superhuman main character, is Joshua Valiente, who was born on another Earth, just a step away. When the Long Earth’s are discovered he rescues scores of children and returns them home. The discovery of untold numbers of Earth’s has an interesting effect on home, or Datum, Earth economics and politics as people drift away.

Eventually Joshua takes on a mission to see how far a person can step, with the assistance of the re-incarnated soul of a Tibetan motorcycle mechanic currently embodied in a computer. Along the way they discover new hominid species and societies of humans, with the help of ‘Sally’ another ‘natural Stepper’ like Joshua.

But back on Datum Earth, among those unable to Step at all a rebellion is brewing and the results will be devastating for everyone.

And I’m not saying anything else because I don’t want to spoil it for you.

This is an interesting new direction for Terry Pratchett (I love his Discworld books) but the fun, insightful nature of his writing clearly shows in this book. I have never read any of Stephen Baxter’s work so I can’t compare The Long Earth to any of them. However, I think I might have to take a trip to the library to find something of his to read.

That’s it, not my most insightful review I know, but I had to write it quickly while I had a decent net connection,

Good bye

Rose

Reviews

I’ve officially given up attempting to read 50 Shades of Grey and its sequels. Sorry if you wanted a review, all can say is I got so bored of the bad writing and repetition I gave up. I’m glad I didn’t buy them, only borrowed them, because they really aren’t worth the money. You can get better smut free on the internet – go have a look around Live Journal or http://www.archiveofourown.org for instance.

However, I will be reviewing ‘The Long Earth’ by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I had to wait a month to get it because out library got flooded in June (we had flash floods) and has only just re-opened. I started reading it this morning, If I hadn’t had other things to do I’d have finished it this evening. Safe to say so far i like it. So, review sometime in the next few days, dodgy internet connection and other commitments (a.k.a. work, why do I have to work? I’d much rather spend my time reading and writing than go to work) permitting.

Bye for now,

Rose

50 Shades of Gray: The review might not happen

I know I said I’d read and review EL James’s 50 Shades trilogy but I got 150 pages in to the first one and got sick of it. I am going to finish reading them, eventually. So far the writing is poor. It’s really not that shocking in its contents, so I really don’t know what the fuss is about. I’m more irritated by the poor writing than anything else.

Give me a few weeks and I might actually post a review.

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Review: The Wolf Gift, A Novel, by Anne Rice

After years of writing about vampires, witches and demons Anne Rice has turned her authorial eye on the werewolf myth. Set in the damp northern Californian city of San Francisco and its environs, over a period of a few months this 404 page novel attempts to explore the nature of good and evil, as the author does in ‘Interview with the Vampire’ and its subsequent series. As with the Vampire Chronicles Ms. Rice has built a world and history of a species that has its origins deep in human prehistory, in this case before the early cities of the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia.

It starts with a young ‘gentleman journalist’ falling in love with a house and its owner. Inheriting the house after a vicious attack that leaves him changed the journalist struggles to find his way. Luckily he meets a beautiful woman, falls in love, and finally finds guidance in the form of much older werewolves. It’s a coming of age novel with werewolves.

Okay, I’m really being succinct and I’ve missed out the big ‘adventure’ that provides all the action, but that’s because I found it a bit predictable. It was a fun read once I got into it. Unfortunately that’s the best I can say about it.

The characters are such stock archetypes I couldn’t really feel any sympathy for them. The hero is too good, always questioning himself, poetic, handsome, and wealthy; his mother is too much the protective superwoman with a brilliant career, his father the retired and retiring academic. His true love is so patient and perfect, his mentor so wise and good, the ‘bad guys’ are truly evil. In short, none of them felt real.

While the plot is good, it lacks any true excitement, one never feels the imperative to continue reading because one absolutely must, there is no feeling of doubt that the hero will overcome  and there will be a ‘happily ever after’. Basically it doesn’t go for the throat. It took me almost two weeks to read, and for a book of just over 400 words that’s a long time by my standards.

The prose is at times poetic, especially when describing the freedom the werewolf feels running through the forests and hunting, but at other times it is heavy, clumsy almost. And she should never, ever again attempt to write ‘intimate’ scenes, they sound awful.

It feels like Ms. Rice is re-writing her old books with a different species, and more Catholicism. Theological and philosophical questions of good and evil enter the narrative right from the first chapter. I don’t have a problem with people allowing their religious feeling to influence their writing; I just don’t like it shoved down my throat in fiction. The theology and philosophy is too heavily laid on; instead of being a subtle background melody informing the narrative, it is more like someone wanders in every few pages to beat you about the head with some religious tract.

I liked it by and large, but it never reaches the eloquence or genius of ‘The Vampire Lestat’ or ‘Queen of the Damned’.  There’s nothing original about the story but it was still a decent read, if nothing else is available. It’s a fairly good werewolf story, but Reuben Golding is forgettable where Lestat de Lioncourt is a genre-defining legend.

That’s all for now,

Rose

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