Saturday 31 December 2016

TheDaisyDeer's Best Books of 2016


2016 has been an interesting year for me in reading. When I look back on the year it's a bit disappointing that there aren't any stand-out books for me (if you've been around for a while you might notice that I don't have a 'best overall novel' this year).
But at the same time when I go back to my blog or GoodReads and see everything together, it appears that actually that I've had a very good reading year: I read more books this year than last, I read a wider variety and began looking at things like poetry and graphic novels, I had my first full year working with NetGalley and became a reviewer for Unbound Publishers as well.
And there have definitely been stories I have fallen in love with too. Quite uncharacteristically of me, I've shed a few emotional tears over books in 2016, and I've nearly thrown my kindle across the room in frustration at how stupid some novels are.
Overall, though there might not be one particular book that I instantly remember as being the best thing I read in 2016, there are a whole host of novels that I loved and are more than worthy to be gracing bookshelves everywhere. Here are the best books that I read (but were not necessarily released) in 2016:

.oʇoɥd s'Daisy Leigh-Phippard
Novel with the Best Story read in 2016:
29559052
Empire of Storms
Sarah J. Maas

Novel with the Best Writing read in 2016:
17262384
A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness

Novel with the Best Entertainment read in 2016:
28696452
This Savage Song
V.E. Schwab

Best New Discovery read in 2016:
561371
The Penelopiad
Margaret Atwood

Best Fantasy Novel read in 2016:
26236443
A Gathering of Shadows
V.E. Schwab

Best Sci-Fi Novel read in 2016:
28587880
Sleeping Giants
Sylvain Neuvel

Best Dystopian Novel read in 2016:
27433569
Wolf by Wolf
Ryan Graudin

Best Historical Novel read in 2016:
28930418
Salt to the Sea
Ruta Sepetys

Best Contemporary Novel read in 2016:
624641
The Dreamers
Gilbert Adair

Best Romantic Novel read in 2016:
28587801
The Winner's Kiss
Marie Rutkoski

Best Classic Novel read in 2016:
839731
The Burial at Thebes (Antigone)
Sophocles, translated by Seamus Heaney

Best Mystery/Thriller Novel read in 2016:
28933383
Crooked Kingdom
Leigh Bardugo

Best Graphic Novel read in 2016:
3106983
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
Read my summary of Persepolis here!

Best Poetry Collection read in 2016:
27803255
Give Me a God I Can Relate To
Blythe Baird

Best Review Copy [not otherwise mentioned] read in 2016:
30840109
Falling Awake
provided by NetGalley & Vintage
Alice Oswald


Image Sources:
Empire of Storms - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29559052-empire-of-storms
A Monster Calls - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17262384-a-monster-calls
This Savage Song - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28696452-this-savage-song
The Penelopiad - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/561371.The_Penelopiad
A Gathering of Shadows - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26236443-a-gathering-of-shadows
Sleeping Giants - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28587880-sleeping-giants
Wolf by Wolf- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27433569-wolf-by-wolf
Salt to the Sea - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28930418-salt-to-the-sea
The Dreamers - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/624641.The_Dreamers
The Winner's Kiss - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28587801-the-winner-s-kiss
The Burial at Thebes - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/839731.The_Burial_at_Thebes
Crooked Kingdom - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28933383-crooked-kingdom
Persepolis - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3106983-persepolis
Give Me a God I Can Relate To - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27803255-give-me-a-god-i-can-relate-to
Peter and Alice - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17347724-peter-and-alice
Falling Awake - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30840109-falling-awake

Friday 30 December 2016

Crystal Storm

29589436

Book Title: Crystal Storm
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series: Falling Kingdoms #5
Date Started: December 26th 2016
Date Completed: December 15th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

As the fifth instalment of the Falling Kingdoms series, things are started to pull together. The characters are gravitating towards each other and everyone's endgames are starting to be revealed. But while Crystal Storm jumped the story forward, for me it stumbled back in terms of character development and relationships.

This book was quite predictable, but then again I've never read the Falling Kingdoms series for its plotline, I've always been much more interested in its characters. But it'd be nice to have a few little twists here and there like the previous books. In fact a lot of what didn't work for me in Crystal Storm is to do with the standards the series has set itself so far, so I can't be too harsh; Gathering Shadows and Frozen Tides especially were always going to be a tough act to follow. But where the rest of the series has felt well done with a few little errors slipping through, Crystal Storm felt like there was a huge rush to get the book done so a lot of things were left to slide in. There's an awful lot of telling instead of showing in this book, and when there's so many characters we know so well to interact with one another this really shouldn't be the case, especially when Rhodes has be able to imply things without directly telling us before.
Another little thing I want to mention was the way that abuse was dealt with. On the surface, there's a great, strong picture given about how wrong it is. But saying 'I'd never let anyone raise a hand to me, I'm too strong' and leaving it at that doesn't give a good representation of how other people's actions supposedly dictate your strength or weakness. How other people act say things about them, not you. I'm very sure this wasn't the message that was intended, but it troubles me that it only half dealt with the issue. I find this a bit in the feminist side of the story as well: everyone's very quick to say that the women are as strong as men, but are also very quick to insult men for being men, and are then happy submit to masculinity. As a whole, these aren't huge, glaring problems because it the vast scheme of things it works in the story and supports the characters and their values, but it's still a little detail that I think gets out of hand in a lot of fiction quickly if its not addressed.

What frustrated me the most about this book was that there's so many stupid pieces of dialogue, or silly predictable plot twists, or even tiny little actions that are so cliched and out of place just for the sake of having a 'funny' response or a forced interaction between characters. Don't get me wrong, these little things definitely happened in the previous books but they weren't every other page. In Crystal Storm it felt like Rhodes was doing whatever felt the most dramatic regardless of the continuity she'd painstakingly built up over the series. She sacrifices her own story for sounds cool and I just think it's a shame. In this book especially, the instances of this became much bigger plot holes and empty logic just to get into tense situations or play with our heart strings. But unfortunately it brought me so out of the story I wasn't getting that emotional response anymore.
While everyone's paths have crossed, and we're building up to the ending from here on out, Crystal Storm honestly felt... stagnant. Though the story did progress, we didn't actually move that far over the whole book - you can count the locations on one hand - and events didn't have the weight to it like in the previous books. In all fairness, some things had to be cleared up before we get into the final chapters of the series, but perhaps it was a bad, bad idea to bring everyone together so soon then. When I saw everyone ending up in the same place, I immediately thought that this is it, things are really going to speed up now. Instead, I'm still waiting for that final catalyst to go off as everything goes to hell.

I've mentioned that I felt Crystal Storm took a stumble backwards in terms of characters for this book; the most obvious example of this being that I don't think the characters were really themselves. I sympathise with Rhodes at having to write so many characters that we've grown to know so well in the same place at the same time (again, was that sensible?), but in favour or creating some honestly unnecessary dramatic tension we have characters acting like people they're not. And the consequence of this was that they're losing their lovability; I'm finding it harder and harder to look at them as real people. In fact, in the few days it's taken me to get to writing this review I completely forgot that we lost some people in this book. That's not a good sign.
This series follows multiple narratives, but it's a lie to say that it's not the Cleo and Magnus show. Unusually, this is something that's developed as the readers have made clear their preferences and it's really nice to see that Rhodes is giving us more of them as a result. I, personally, love both Cleo and Magnus - on their own and together. However, some of their relationship dramas in this book were just for the hell of it, let's be honest. (Slight spoilers: there's no reason to 'curse' Cleo past the sexual tension; there's no logic behind them keeping their relationship a secret; there's no point in suggesting a love triangle with Jonas other than to have the angsty arguments). I have no problems with romance being included - hell, Cleo and Magnus is a couple that I definitely indulge in - but because I like them as characters so much I want it to feel genuine, not cliche tension to tease your readers.

Crystal Storm was a genuinely enjoyable read but it's not the standard I expect from Rhodes these days. A long series where hype grows is a hard thing to keep up and I commend her for where the books are going, but this particular instalment was a bit of a let down when so much of it was powered with cliches that we know Rhodes has the ability to avoid.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29589436-crystal-storm

Wednesday 14 December 2016

White as Snow

362592

Book Title: White as Snow
Author: Tanith Lee
Date Started: November 26th 2016
Date Completed: December 12th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Historical
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

Hearing that White as Snow was inspired by a blend of fairytale and Greek mythology was enough for me to pick it up and these elements were definitely the highlights for me, but unfortunately the rest didn’t hold up. I don’t want to say the book doesn’t have other merits - it definitely does - but things were so slow it was hard to keep my enthusiasm up.

Finally, I have found a retelling of a fairytale that actually keeps the magic of the original. I have nothing against modern or other unexpected twists in retellings, but reading stories I’m very passionate about get ruined because the writer doesn’t understand the atmosphere and point of fairytales is not something I particularly enjoy. You can tell that Lee understands fairytales, and definitely favours the darker originals in her work. I’ve been looking for something exactly like this for a very long time, it’s just such a shame the pacing wasn’t up to scratch to keep me involved; from the writing-side of it, I loved it. But I couldn’t keep myself engaged with the story and characters.
Likewise, extensive world building is something I really respect and value, especially when it’s elaborating and developing a pre-existing idea, but White as Snow gets very slow very quickly. The main storyline doesn’t even start until halfway through the book because there’s so much time given to setting up characters. Some of this works, the rest is just unnecessary and frankly boring.

If you ever needed a book detailing the cruelty to women in medieval times then this is more than enough. While I’m glad it included some things, at times it was quite sickening to actually read. It’s important that we show sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse etc, but I struggled to keep coming back to the book when I knew there was going to be more and not a lot of redemption in response.
For arguably such a small novel, there are an awful lot of elements and little storylines introduced throughout that are then left behind not long after. The story spans such a huge time period that it’s understandable that elements are no longer relevant to the characters, but for a reader it became harder to latch onto a story that left behind stories you wanted to explore and placed them with new and unfamiliar ones. I personally really liked the wood folk, for example, and would’ve liked to see them carried on for a little longer, but they fade out at the halfway point and are never really mentioned again. A lot of the reason I found it hard to enjoy this book was due to the almost disjointed nature of the plot line.

With all good retellings, White as Snow has a twist on the original; we don’t only follow Coira (‘snow white’), but also her mother Arpazia (or the ‘wicked queen’). Needless to say, Arpazia has more than enough exposition to explain her well-known evilness and I honestly enjoyed her story more than Coira’s. But - and there’s a big but - sharing the protagonist space between both Arpazia and Coira made it very hard for me to find a place to read from: I feel like we were jumping between the women but not really exploring either of them that well. Pacing got complicated later in the book when both their stories were going on and felt like it dragged even more as a consequence. Additionally, both Arpazia and Coira are distant, detached characters - understandably - but it makes it hard to latch onto their narratives when it doesn’t feel like they’re really in them either.

I loved the sound of White as Snow, and I did like what I read but every time I put it down I found it hard to think of reasons to pick it back up. The story, while vivid and mystical, was slow the point of dragging, and the characters so far removed due to their circumstances that they were hard to engage with. The more I read, the lower the rating went in my head and while I loved this book to begin with, sadly it wasn’t the most enjoyable thing for the all 300 pages.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/362592.White_as_Snow

Saturday 26 November 2016

Every Mountain Made Low

29430524

Book Title: Every Mountain Made Low
Author: Alex White
Date Started: November 11th 2016
Date Completed: November 25th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Dystopian, Thriller
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this ebook for review ◆

Every Mountain Made Low was, for the most part, very enjoyable. It's only really just occurring to me how strange that title is; there's no clear link to the story, and the general atmosphere it suggests doesn't suit this book. Nonetheless, White had an engaging premise, a great protagonist and executed his story very well in places - but overall, I can't help feeling that this novel didn't reach its full potential, both in storyline and style. Towards the end, I got the feeling that a word count was trying to be met, rather than the tide of the story naturally taking White along to the end.

White's writing style was generally unremarkable, but concise enough to leave the reader open to engage with the storyline. I often struggle to find something to talk about when there's nothing blatant to praise or criticise in the style of prose, but actually the fact that I was able to fall so easily into the story White was trying to tell is a huge strength of the book in itself.

Every Mountain Made Low has a pretty standard crime-based storyline, but with an added twist of ghosts. When I first read the description of this book on NetGalley, that was certainly something that stuck out to me. In the end, it ended up being less of a key concept and more of a little flavour to the action scenes - when I mentioned that this book didn't reach its full potential, this was definitely one of the things that could've been utilised better. The whole flow of White's ideas could've improved from a little more work, but there was a solid enough world holding things together that it was still enjoyable.
When I began this book my immediate thought was 'five stars, I love it.' From there on certain things happened that I wasn't so happy with, and then a really good part came up again and I was continually switching between five and four stars (and sometimes three, I'll be honest). I was still pretty undecided three-quarters in as to how to rate this book, but then the downward spiral started to come undone. The biggest weakness of this book is that it loses its steam towards the ends: where the beginning had been overall quite slow in worldbuilding, character development and events, the end suddenly had so much condensed into a much smaller space. Normally this wouldn't have torn down a book so much for me, but the momentum of the initial engagement had just run out by that time. Suddenly characters felt very inconsistent past Loxley and there were huge jumps in relationship dynamics in favour of getting to the end of the plot. The conclusion definitely dragged on longer than we needed for how quickly things felt like they were wrapped up. I felt like I'd missed two or three chapters right in the middle of the book where everything should've been properly transitioned into the approach of the climax. Instead, we go from the 'everyday' - however horrible and strange that is for Loxley - into the concluding sequences, when really we needed just a little bit more establishing of where we were headed.

If we're talking about the characters in this book, Loxley is really all the focus you have. Don't get me wrong, there's a whole host of various different people, but no one is really given that much attention in terms of development as our protagonist is. Understandably, I'll admit, because Loxley is a brilliant portrayal of a strong character with a learning disability - something I've come across maybe twice before in my many years of reading. As someone who doesn't know that much about learning disabilities (and so doesn't want to assume Loxley has autism as opposed to another learning disability), the narration did a really good job of showing how Loxley reacts to things is perfectly understandable from her perspective, but points out where other people just don't understand her. Manipulation and general ignorance towards her disability were also shown pretty well, I think, and White intertwined it all quite naturally within the primarily crime-based storyline.

A sort of dystopian meets crime thriller ghost story, Every Mountain Made Low is a very interesting addition to bookshelves. I haven't seen such unflinching diversity for a while, and it was so nice to read about characters who aren't in the mainstream but don't even really ponder on the fact that they aren't. Though things drifted off towards the end for me, I enjoyed reading it for the most part and think the adult crime genre will welcome it happily.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29430524-every-mountain-made-low

Thursday 10 November 2016

Versailles

27993245

Book Title: Versailles
Author: Yannick Hill
Date Started: October 29th 2016
Date Completed: November 9th 2016
Genres: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to Unbound Publishers for this copy for review ◆

Versailles was an interesting idea and something I hadn't seen before in the Young Adult genre but it wasn't pulled off as well I would have liked. There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but they were far and few in between and as a whole piece, it couldn't hold my attention. I got about half way through, but unfortunately I just had to make the decision to leave it there because I wasn't giving it much attention anymore because it just left me unengaged.

When I started this book I was pleasantly surprised by how different it felt. The first thing that I noticed was how like a script it read - and in a good way. I can see how some people might find it a bit disjointing, but for a film geek like me, it was strangely refreshing. Not least in the way that it hid some of the very direct storytelling the Hill uses; I hate it when authors tell the reader things in a situation or about a character instead of showing them through the action, but it wasn't so frustrating in this style. Unfortunately, it isn't really enough to hold up a story that doesn't feel like it's progressing even at the halfway point.

The story about the family inside the digital fortress of Versailles was miles ahead of the exploration of technology's influence on our culture. This isn't even that much of an insight into what constant, inescapable media could do to a family in a fictional world, it's about this particular family. Perhaps if the message around technology wasn't so confused it might be different, but what I read in the first half of the novel showed the evilness of humans to be a far greater threat than the technology they used to stay in power. Honestly, as far as I could tell the technology wasn't that damaging at all (it's even a very clear and effective escape for River's problematic situation), but it's in fact the father who's ruining these people's lives - a father who is painted as a one-sided psychopath, I might add.
Which moves me onto my other issue that made it had for me to stay engaged and immersed in the story: I didn't know what I was supposed to take seriously. There's a lot of abstract imagery in Versailles, and that caught my attention at first, but then there's some things that I don't know if they're actually there in this futuristic technological dystopia, or if they're a metaphor. When you combine that with some honestly ridiculous attempts to create teenage memes or whatever you want to call it, you cross a line between what can be understood in the suspension-of-belief that fiction creates, and what's just silly. I don't know what parts of Versailles were supposed to be taken seriously and what was intended to be satirical, and I think that comes from putting some character into prose.

I think the biggest problem for me was that the characters were just dislikeable. Now, I appreciate they're all supposed to be brainwashed at the start (presumably it develops a little more in the second half of the book, but I didn't see huge leaps in the first portion), but it's exaggerated to the point where I didn't like them, and I wasn't rooting for them or anything they did. And the problem was then that you're supposed to connect to these people being smothered in this futuristic digital palace, but I didn't because they felt so alien and emotionless to the point where it wasn't enjoyable to read about them. Even Missy, who arguably leads the story through her rebellious act of running away from both her home and all social media, doesn't feel like she actually believes in what she's doing. They're characters going through the motions of a narrative without the heart to come to life.

For an exploration into the influence of technology for a Young Adult audience, Versailles is an interesting new addition to what's available. Personally, it couldn't decide on what it was enough to be able to get me on board, but there are definitely some aspects which I was pleasantly surprised to read about. It's not quite contemporary but features family dynamics, not quite sci-fi but is definitely very futuristic, not quite adventure but has road-trip aspects to it - the list goes on. I can't say I've seen anything exactly like it on the market so if it sounds intriguing maybe it'll be that something new for you.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27993245-versailles

Sunday 30 October 2016

The Lie Tree

30201080

Book Title: The Lie Tree
Author: Frances Hardinge
Date Started: October 17th 2016
Date Completed: October 29th 2016
Genres: Mystery, Historical, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

Hardinge's tale of secrets, scandal and social status on a secluded little island has the ring of 'award-worthiness' all around it, and I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a lot that this wasn't a book that was all bark and no bite. In fact, The Lie Tree had a lot of bite when it came to blending the survival of politics in the early 1800s (particularly for women) and the more fantastical idea of a tree that tells its owner hidden truths. I appreciated the pains that were taken in the first half of the book to achieve a sense of realism that could be understood without overly detailed or dull world building of an unforgiving culture. It was just disappointing for me when Hardinge started making the facts looser and looser to create a sort of climax that was in the end a bit hard to believe.

The element of feminism in this book was completely unexpected but very good. I didn't know a lot about the book going in; I'd heard good things, but I had just thought it would be an interesting story - not an engaging mystery with commentary on the social structure weaved throughout. The representation of women to start with was really nice because we had such a huge range of characters, some very clearly opposing or agreeing with social ideals, and others not quite sure who they were - but again we started to lose the consistency at the midway point. I felt like, in terms of writing and story, Hardinge had put a lot of effort into the initial construction of her world and characters, but then wanted to have fun and so let more and more things slip out of actuality and into entertaining fiction. And don't get me wrong, the entertainment was still there, but it felt out of place compared to the beginning of the book.

I loved the little flashes of all these different genres and subjects we get in this book: archaeology, science, magical realism, thrillers, botany, palaeontology, photography etc. You can tell how much thorough research Hardinge put in, but there's a genuine feel of passion and interest there too. Personally, I've always been fascinated with fossils and ruined artefacts so the book was already scoring points with me, but even areas like botany and science that I know nothing about became quite interesting through the mouths of the characters. Faith as a heroine aided this, as I'll get onto, but just in general Hardinge made what sounded like a dull piece of the landscape of the story into an element that fascinated the protagonist and the reader alike.
Sadly though, as with all mysteries, the revelation of the 'criminal' makes or breaks the story and The Lie Tree was a bit lack-luster for me. I've mentioned several times already that the halfway point of this book peaked in terms of believable realism and took a downward spiral from there. In terms of entertainment and sheer pride, it ticked all the boxes and I loved reading it, but when it came to actually wrapping up what had been a book so concerned with subtly but succinctly getting across its point it just fell down a few pegs.

The Lie Tree has a whole host of characters and Hardinge does very well to balance them all in her narrative with a distinction between each of them, but of course the stand-out character has to be our daring protagonist, Faith. From the start, she's an interesting person, but we see her develop a great deal in a short amount of time - and not in the direction you might expect. I jumped between feeling like I was in Faith's position and feeling voyeuristic a lot in the story, which surprisingly didn't pull me out of the book too much but was a little confusing when it came to how I was supposed to feel about everything that was happening. On the one hand, I really empathised with the horrible ways Faith was being treated, but I also completely understood why people were reacting in the way they were. I'm sure Hardinge probably designed it this way and was a big part of why the book won the Costa book award in 2015. She very cleverly puts you in a place where you aren't quite sure how to react to very strong situations, just like Faith isn't sure how a woman is supposed to do the things she needs to do without breaking her social status.

In all honesty, I bought The Lie Tree because I saw the special Chris Riddell illustrated edition and couldn't say no - I wasn't overly interested beforehand, regardless of the hype. There's only really six or seven full-page drawings but they helped immerse me in the world, and I'm glad that I picked up a book I would otherwise have let pass by because it was worth it. Though I assume the primary audience for the book is maybe 12-16, I think both younger and older readers can enjoy this book, and get a lot from it - if you ever need a history lesson in what life was like for women in the 1800s, here's the perfect way to teach your kids without them knowing you're doing it.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30201080-the-lie-tree

Monday 17 October 2016

The Fever Code


Book Title: The Fever Code
Author: James Dashner
Series: The Maze Runner #0.6
Date Started: October 7th 2016
Date Completed: October 17th 2016
Genres: Dystopian, Mystery
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I promise I did. I was ready for some character backstories from the Gladers - especially Newt and his sister, and Minho who we know basically nothing about at all - I was hoping for some proper, sound explanations from WICKED, and maybe a few exciting action scenes in between. I would've taken whatever storyline as long as we had those characters we love back. But I don't feel like we did have them, so in the end I just couldn't enjoy it.

One of the first things I noticed when reading The Fever Code was just how far Dashner has come in his writing style. I always said that his prose really wasn't great in the original trilogy, and it has always been a bit of a struggle for me to get through his juddering style. But, seemingly out of nowhere, this book has a really good flow in its writing. It's not perfect (Dashner really needs to work on distinguishing his character's dialogues past catchphrases and between age groups; when the five year old kids at the start speak the same at the adults do ten years later there's a problem), but overall I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could actually get lost in the world while I was reading without being pulled out by having to reread a sentence several times to understand it.

This book, in short, is a patchy collection of scenes that Dashner has clearly had in his head since he wrote the first book. These specific scenes are all developed and interesting because he's had a couple of years to turn them over in his head, but when they're combined with lots of scenes that feel like they've been made up on the spot in order to fill in the gaps things start to fall apart and lose their pace a little bit. When some of the scenes that Dashner clearly had a sentimental attachment to (and so wanted to include) are set when the characters are about five just as they're abducted, we then have this enormous gap of about ten years to when most of the actual action of this book happens (predictably, when the first lot of people have been sent into the Glade). What needed to happen was for Dashner's editor (as the unbiased overlooker) to step back and say 'I'm sorry, I see this is important to you, but it's weakening the story' and either not include it or incorporate it in in a flashback or narration or something. Instead we get this huge portion of the book which is trying to compensate for the huge gap between events by being filled with pointless and at times boring scenes that don't transition the time well or even develop characters or plot. We honestly didn't need the first three quarters of this book in terms of making the main story points - and it's not like James had to set the scene and introduce the characters, we're all well aware of who these people are. If we're here, we want new information, but we don't really get it.
So when I had those thoughts going around my head for the majority of this book, and then suddenly that last quarter comes up I really wandered why we needed most of this book that is really a huge introduction to the climax. (All I can think is that there isn't enough in just the ending to write a whole book.) The conclusion to the book itself was a little lack lustre for me, but I do admit that I was already a little too disappointed to be able to take anything in properly anymore. And we all knew how this book was going to end of course, but the 'shock' factor right at the end didn't really surprise or impact me a lot - but even then, the pacing in that last little section was really good! And the emotions started to feel actually real and I caught a glimmer of that original playfulness that makes this trilogy so fun. I wish the whole book had been like that ending quarter, and I wish Dashner had sacrificed those few scenes right at the beginning to focus properly on the later development.

We were promised to be reunited with old characters. Oh, I was so excited, I was so ready to hear these tragic backstories. And we got them a bit - and if you're a fan of Thomas you get it a lot. The Fever Code is very much the Thomas and Teresa show again (understandably, everything does happen because of them), but I missed the side characters and, for most of them, they're barely in more than a couple of pages and mentions. Honestly, this was the biggest thing that got in the way of my enjoyment of this book, and I hold my hands up and say yes, I did let the fact it didn't live up to expectations sway me. But I don't think anyone can go into this book without expectations: it's the prequel to a series that gets you attached to certain characters, of course you want to be able to explore them more in a story that supposedly follows their backstory.
On a personal note, Newt is entirely wasted on this book. I have a personal attachment to him, but he's a well known fan favourite, and it's clear Dashner knew this because he very aptly positioned the token reunion scene between Newt and his sister - but that's pretty much your lot for that relationship. Overall, a lot of the side characters past Teresa, Chuck, and maybe Ava Paige, become little name drops or cameos scattered throughout the story. Some of them aren't necessary to the plot and are just there so you can say 'oh look, here's this person', and the rest don't spend nearly enough time actually exploring those side characters again.

In all fairness, The Fever Code had a tough wrap from the beginning: we all had our hopes for what sort of backstories we were going to explore, and I have to say the films definitely haven't helped in terms of reminding people of what actually happens in the canon. There were some parts that really confused me until I remembered some of the weirder little events in the book (that still don't really make sense). In its own right, this book isn't that bad but it's not what we've been sold, and it didn't focus on the aspects of the prequel I was invested in.

Image Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmTthUXVIAAc_ny.jpg

Friday 14 October 2016

The Chess Queen Enigma

25507130

Book Title: The Chess Queen Enigma
Author: Colleen Gleason
Series: Stoker & Holmes #3
Date Started: October 3rd 2016
Date Completed: October 7th 2016
Genres: Mystery, Historical, Thriller, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I started this series a while ago and was very pleasantly surprised at how much entertainment I got out of it. Don't get me wrong, if you're going in wanting a proper storyline and solid logic and characters, you're going to get very easily annoyed - but what these books do give you is the opportunity to just suspend the desire for reason and just enjoy some nonsense. That's been the strength of the series, and my problem with The Chess Queen Enigma was Gleason tried to go further into the realms of a full-functioning mystery when the foundations she'd built were completely flimsy. I don't come to these books for a quality literary story: I come for the fun, and that was what needed to be brought back.

A lot of the time, if I can't bear the writing I can't bear the book. Most novels I don't end up finishing are ones where the style of writing is constantly bringing me out of the story and frustrating me to the point where I don't want to read anymore. And while this series has some truly terrible writing and narrative points - there are times when the action or characters are just so silly and ridiculous that I don't understand how it ever seemed like a good idea to let it through to the final edit - there's a kind of childishness running through the whole series that actually does make it a little easier to accept how bad it is at points. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but to give credit where it's due, the normal balance between the childish writing, but then the equally innocent and adventurous action almost overrides each other to where you can just enjoy the book. Once again, I would say this wasn't as consistent as in The Chess Queen Enigma as with the other books, but I was still able to let a lot of silly things go because I was enjoying myself.

This book tries to be clever and missed out the fun in doing so. The Stoker and Holmes series isn't a sophisticated or clever series and that's fine; its strength is in that it's so much fun, but it's so important not to lose that. What I noticed happening a bit more in The Chess Queen Enigma was that where we might have previously expected an action scene or a little argument between characters, we were instead given an internal monologue of one of the characters trying to work something complicated out. With a character like Mina Holmes we get that a lot anyway, but it's a lot more engaging when it's said out loud and where we get other people reacting. This book felt a little like Mina and Evaline were going about their own business, going to a place where something briefly happened, then parting ways again. They didn't feel like the team they've been built up to be and so any consequential action was then just a bit dry because of that.
I also wasn't too happy about the conclusion to this sequel. While this series is good at making sure each book has its own plot that weaves into the overarching story, the point of this book felt, well, pointless. In terms of moving the characters forward in their journey as a whole, I can't really see anything that will have a long-lasting effect, and as a stand-alone book it was a bit flat. But on top of that, we have certain aspects of the series that clearly needed to be solved quickly, and so Gleason cheats us a developed solution and just magics the problems away. Obviously, there are plans in place for future books, but part of me feels that since so little happened in this novel - and apparently there was a very big problem to take care of before the next book - why did we not focus on exploring that one issue that didn't appear until the last few pages?

The Chess Queen Enigma loses the characters that we know and love a little bit. They're still there, and still falling into their own pre-made stereotypes, but I noticed that we didn't really get to see them interacting with each other that much. The strength when you have character-driven stories is getting to see them play off each other, and there was definitely a lack of that here; I wanted more of Mina and Grayling arguing, Mina and Evaline grudgingly accepting they're a good team, Pix and Evaline constantly trying to be one step ahead of the other. When the action was lacking, and the writing was trying to become more sophisticated and less pure fun, the thing that could've pulled everything back was the characters but we just weren't given enough opportunities for them to do that.

This book didn't have the thrill factor and entertainment that the previous two had; it was probably the weakest instalment of the series so far. Nevertheless, I still want to read the rest of the series. It's a nice break from what I usually read, and when it's fun it's really fun. I just hope that the series goes back to its original balance of entertainment next to the utterly ridiculous storylines.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25507130-the-chess-queen-enigma

Sunday 2 October 2016

Crooked Kingdom

28933383

Book Title: Crooked Kingdom
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Series: Six of Crows #2
Date Started: September 27th 2016
Date Completed: October 1st 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Adventure, Romance
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star
Final Rating: Five stars
Review:

I adored this book and it's a wonderful ending to the story, but I have to admit that it didn't quite live up to Six of Crows. In the end, it didn't stop me loving it in the slightest - I really couldn't put it down - and I'm actually quite sad that it's over now. I'm just hoping Bardugo has more stories in this world hidden up her sleeve to come.

Part of what makes these books so good is how utterly immersive they are, and that comes how well built the world is. Somehow, I remember pretty much everything in terms of politics and magic and action from Six of Crows because it's so well established as a real world. Bardugo has definitely grown as an author since Shadow and Bone, because I seem to remember a lot of people having a problem with how much sheer information you have to take in so quickly in order to just understand what's going on. In Crooked Kingdom I could easily slip back into everything like I read Six of Crows yesterday, and of course the easier it is to get lost in the world, the deeper you can go into the story and its characters.

The big reason why Crooked Kingdom wasn't quite up to Six of Crows' standards was because of this constant feeling that we were in a playground where the characters were testing out all these different relationships and action scenes and crimes, but were ultimately a little safe: pretty much every heist Kaz already has sorted out. He's three steps ahead of everyone without even the reader knowing a lot, and while this exaggerated how awesome he was and gave the reader a little bit of tension when we started repeating that style it definitely reduced the feeling of threat. Six of Crows was so brilliant in its ability to again and again send us to the edge of our seats because the characters were so often being thrown into situations that were essentially entirely out of their control, and we just had to watch them improvise and hope. Crooked Kingdom felt a lot more preplanned.
Choosing Ketterdam as the backdrop for this playground was so good, though. In a way, I was able to let a lot of my frustration with Kaz being seemingly invincible because it is his home turf, and he genuinely does rule the backstreets of the city, regardless of how that affected my anticipation in the book. I loved seeing all the local places the Dregs were surrounded by, but I really wanted time to explore it in more detail.
Crooked Kingdom has a bittersweet ending, and nothing else would have fitted. I was genuinely sad with a lot of the characters, but we've also got such an uplifting conclusion in those last few chapters. Though I didn't connect with the characters quite so much this time - and these books are so heavily character driven - and so didn't react as strongly to their experiences, I was still affected by their endings, and I still don't want to leave them yet.

Bardugo has a knack for worldbuilding, but characters are the real stars of the show in this series and every single one is written with so much care and depth that I just never want to stop reading about them. I have to say that, despite looking at the protagonists' pasts a lot in Crooked Kingdom, I didn't feel like we explored them as people quite as much as in Six of Crows, but I was happy just watching them move on from here - the flashbacks weren't entirely necessary a lot of the time, and weren't as interesting as Kaz, Nina and Matthias' had been in the last book, but I do appreciate the little extra information they gave to the story.
Nina is still my absolute favourite out of the seven protagonists (I'm counting Kuwei even though I know a lot of people don't because I really love his character and I think he does contribute to the atmosphere of the group). Her interactions with Matthias and Kaz especially enforce this: I just love their dynamics and personalities against the world they're in, and they're some of the more unexpected personalities to exist in that sort of backdrop. Kaz' development in this book as well was so interesting, and even though I loved him in Six of Crows, he's probably the one character which Crooked Kingdom added to my love of the person, as opposed to just enforcing it. But honestly, every character is a joy to read, on their own but especially together - I really appreciate Bardugo mixing up the pairings and little groups every now and then just so she can really get the best of their different personalities with any combination of characters.

I love the way Crooked Kingdom draws this story to a close, and Bardugo has really used the structure of the duology the way it should be used. But I really don't want this to be the last time I see these characters; I need more from this world and I don't want to leave it behind.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28933383-crooked-kingdom

Friday 30 September 2016

Dreamwielder

17279464

Book Title: Dreamwielder
Author: Garrett Calcaterra
Series: The Dreamwielder Chronicles #1
Date Started: September 18th 2016
Date Completed: September 23rd 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Quality Rating: Two Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Star
Final Rating: Two stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I didn't finish Dreamwielder, and frankly, I didn't want to. I admit, the story had potential that might have turned into something right at the end of the book, but I read a fair bit of the way through and it was making me want to avoid reading altogether. From what I did read, my main sentiment was that of confusion: there seems to be the style of a children's book, but with some things not suitable to be in a children's book - and I'm pretty sure this is aimed at a Young Adult audience anyway.

Dreamwielder has a weird writing style and that was ultimately why I let myself give up on this book. It's not quite third person, but even if I ignored that strange feeling in that audience positioning, we then got very different levels of characterisation for each person we followed; even if you're in third person, there's often an atmosphere or a tone when following a certain character and that was definitely true for Prince Caile, for example. I felt his tension in his chapters, and I could pick up on the relationships he had with those around him because of the subtext of his actions. Jump over to Makkaria, and there was no substance in her story - everything was suddenly very direct and felt so hollow.
In general, it felt a lot like a children's book in its choice of words, and its way of getting across information. But then there are some elements that shocked me just because I was automatically going into the mindset of 'this is a children's book', and then suddenly there's a naked women nailed through her navel to a wooden wheel that detects when magic is used. That's quite a sickening image regardless of the context, but when I felt like I was reading something intended for children - when it isn't even intended for children, this is supposedly a Young Adult novel - I was jarred again and again out of the narrative, and if a book can't keep me in its world while I'm reading it there's a problem.

Though I didn't finish Dreamwielder, so can't talk about the entire story arc or how it resolves itself, I can talk about its lack of unity in the first third of the book. Taking the time to gently establish the world at the beginning of this book would have been really helpful to the whole book, and I feel a bit sorry for Calcaterra because I can see how he tried to weave the world building throughout the whole novel, but he didn't manage to pull it off. What we end up with is a lot of information dumping scattered through various parts of the book, including an attempt to make come complicated politics that really drives the story. The problem is there isn't a strong enough world in place to hold these things up when you're also trying to concentrate on the story and the characters.
Furthermore, from what I read, the various stories we're following seem incredibly disjointed. I was hoping they were going to start converging and overlapping (I read quite a bit further than I originally intended to because I could feel things starting to head together), but the more I read, the further everyone started to move from each other. Makkaria is completely separate from the Prince and Princess to start with, and all the main characters end up heading in completely opposite directions - which of course would have been great if they had been united in a theme, or a discovery, or something that just gave us a reason to follow their stories simultaneously.

I was quite hopeful in terms of characters for this book because we're initially introduced to quite an unusual cast at the start. It seems that Makkaria is the main protagonist, but then we've got her grandfather who is actually quite central to the story (more so than Makkaria herself, but I'll get to that in a moment), and we also have Prince Caile and his bodyguard, and then Princess Taera. What I didn't understand was why we're sold a story about Makkaria being the key character that is going to influence everyone else in the first few chapters but end up actually getting a whole lot more activity and general plot from people that feel completely unrelated to her story. What I read made it feel like Prince Caile's book - in fact, Makkaria barely feels like a character in this story because she's so passive and seemingly childish. I think she's intended to be about 12 years old, but she feels 7 and the problem is that, because she's influenced and directed by the people around her, her story is actually completely overtaken with her grandfather's character. If it was supposed to be about her grandfather, I would be happy to buy into this, but Dreamwielder doesn't establish him as the protagonist, it establishes Makkaria - and she is almost entirely submissive to her grandfather's story.

There's a possibility that things get better in this book, but I got a third of the way through and I was finding it really hard to stay in the world because the style of writing just wasn't right. From where I left off, I wasn't convinced the story was going to make up for the frustration the writing was causing me, so I decided that life's too short and I stopped reading. Overall, I don't think I can recommend this book to an audience because it doesn't fit in a definite category; I wouldn't say it's suitable for children, but the writing isn't up to the standards of Young Adult fiction. Maybe it does get better, and that's why I've given Dreamwielder the benefit of the doubt and a two-star rating, but I didn't really want to spend any more time finding out for myself.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17279464-dreamwielder

Wednesday 28 September 2016

The Great British Bake Off Book Tag



My wonderful friend Zaheerah made a tag based off of The Great British Bake Off recently, and of course it took me until Week 8 (who's ready for botanical week?) to make my post in response. I thought this was a great idea at first, and having gone through and looked at Zaheerah's categories I think it's both hilarious and ingenious. If you aren't aware, The Great British Bake Off is an extremely popular baking show on BBC1 in the UK, and we're currently in what might be the last series on the BBC. So in celebration of how a baking show has somehow created such a huge cult following - myself included - here's the tag.
[The beautiful graphics were also created by Zaheerah, and if you like what I do here on my blog, she's absolutely someone you should also follow - zaheerahkhalik.wordpress.com]


19351043
I haven't read that many self-published books, but Nimona was published as a web-comic before it can out in physical form and this is one of my favourite graphic novels of all time. Noelle Stevenson's art is wonderful and quirky, but her character dynamics are so witty but genuine I couldn't help but fall in love.



17378527
This series in general had such brilliant potential, and the final book especially started off on such a great beginning, but by the end I felt so disappointed and almost cheated because it fell so flat. I really mourn the way this series ended because it is a genuinely good quartet.


25372801
I admit All the Birds in the Sky was mainly a cover buy, because just look at that design. But aside from the stunning cover, it sounded really interesting with its blend between sci-fi and magical realism and pure fantasy. But from what I can remember - and it's not a lot - nothing happened or suggested anything was going to happen in the first 100 pages or so, and what did was childish, irritating and not enough to compel me to read any more.


607513
If we're going with British children's books then I've got to mention Ottoline and the Yellow Cat by our own Children's Laureate: Chris Riddell. I've met him a few times and he's absolutely wonderful, and his books reflect that friendly, imaginative and enthusiastic personality - especially in Ottoline.


7261699
I think what impressed me so much in Eon was the fact that I wasn't expecting what I got. I knew it was a high-fantasy Asian-influenced historical adventure, but I did not expect the politics, representation and pure spectacle that came along with this book. Goodman is such a talented author and I need to get onto reading the rest of her books.


28696452
I always struggle with recommending books to large groups of people because I often read quite niche books that wouldn't please everyone. But I think Schwab is good at blurring the lines between genres books and crowd-pleasers - This Savage Song is probably the best example of that, because everyone enjoys a good old crime adventure with some original twists.


181405861847018717817631
1374178570897
In last place is Here's Looking at You, and then we've got The Secret History at the other end. In short, one of the books I've enjoyed reading least, to my favourite book of all time.


92406228444163847227940205
97671351348519916881421
1874628224935433
I've called it my Harry Potter more times than I can count, but Skulduggery Pleasant really was the series that grew up with me and grew in its complexity and maturity and darkness as I did. I can't praise it highly enough, and my love for it isn't merely sentimental, the quality of this series - especially the last couple of books - still amazes me.


460337460335460336
The Black Magician Trilogy was really what got me into high fantasy; luckily, I read it at a point where I didn't really get intimidated by big books - and these books are huge. And the politics and magic system and a Game of Thrones-size cast of characters are sustained throughout all three books. It's so well done, and really uses the structure of a trilogy well to tell its story.


16119043
Again, I don't really read many companion books unless they stand on their own - I'm lazy and not a fan of reading something that requires a pre-established understanding. Having said that, I have read quite a few novellas in my time, and I considered putting Sarah J. Maas' The Assassin's Blade in this category, but instead I went with a proper companion book with everyone's favourite English swordswoman and general badass: Tanith Low. (Yes, it's a Skulduggery Pleasant companion book, what did you expect?)

Thanks to Zaheerah again for making the tag and letting me use her lovely graphics, definitely check out her blog. Happy reading everyone, and ready, set, BAKE!


Image Sources
Graphics - Zaheerah
Nimona - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19351043-nimona?ac=1&from_search=true
The Raven King - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378527-the-raven-king?ac=1&from_search=true
All the Birds in the Sky - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25372801-all-the-birds-in-the-sky?ac=1&from_search=true
Ottoline and the Yellow Cat - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/607513.Ottoline_and_the_Yellow_Cat?ac=1&from_search=true
Eon - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7261699-eon
This Savage Song - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28696452-this-savage-song
Here's Looking at You - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18140586-here-s-looking-at-you?ac=1&from_search=true
Raven's Gate - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18470187-raven-s-gate
Under the Empyrean Sky - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17817631-under-the-empyrean-sky?ac=1&from_search=true
The Storyteller - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13741785-the-storyteller
The Secret History - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70897.The_Secret_History
Skulduggery Pleasant - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/924062.Skulduggery_Pleasant
Playing with Fire - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/284441.Playing_with_Fire
The Faceless Ones - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6384722-the-faceless-ones
Dark Days - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7940205-dark-days
Mortal Coil - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9767135-mortal-coil
Death Bringer - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13485199-death-bringer
Kingdom of the Wicked - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16881421-kingdom-of-the-wicked
Last Stand of Dead Men - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18746282-last-stand-of-dead-men
The Dying of the Light - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24935433-the-dying-of-the-light
The Magician's Guild - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460337.The_Magicians_Guild
The Novice - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460335.The_Novice
The High Lord - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460336.The_High_Lord
Tanith Low and the Maleficent Seven - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16119043-tanith-low-in-the-maleficent-seven?ac=1&from_search=true