Friday 30 September 2016

Dreamwielder

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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]


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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.



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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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

Saturday 24 September 2016

Blog Tour: The Deviants by C.J. Skuse


Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Welcome to the blog tour for C.J. Skuse's new book The Deviants! This book came out on the 22nd of September, two days ago, and I'd highly recommend you pick it up.


The Deviants is a contemporary thriller meets old-fashioned adventure story for young adult readers. Inspired by The Famous Five and other classic adventure stories, Skuse takes the fun element of these traditional books and combines them with some darker elements of the 21st century.

What impressed me personally in The Deviants was the inclusion of a lot of tough issues in our modern era that had echoing consequences for the characters throughout the entire book. It often feels like we're ticking boxes for diversity or mature subjects these days, but then trailing off their actual impact on people and the world - Skuse takes these darker themes and doesn't back away from the full reality of their effect in the world.

And all at the same time, the lovable cast of characters and Skuse's comforting light-hearted moments in times of darkness means that The Deviants is actually a very enjoyable read, despite its subject matter. It might not be summer anymore, but as autumn comes in it's the perfect read to snuggle up with for some excitement and mystery.

You can read my full review here - thedaisydeer.blogspot.co.uk/thedeviants


C.J. Skuse was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing or Children and, aside from writing novels, works as a freelance children's fiction consultant and lectures in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University. C.J. loves Masterchef, Gummy Bears and murder sites. Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and have Ryan Gosling present her with the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Find C.J. on Twitter - @CeejaytheAuthor

Buy The Deviants from Amazon.


Please check out the other stops on The Deviants blog tour!
Today's other stop:
Tomorrow's stops:

Friday 16 September 2016

The Penelopiad

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Book Title: The Penelopiad
Author: Margaret Atwood
Date Started: September 11th 2016
Date Completed: September 16th 2016
Genres: Historical, Fantasy
Quality Rating: Five Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star
Final Rating: Five stars
Review:

It's taken me a long time to get around to reading Margaret Atwood but I'm definitely going to be picking up more now, and I'm so happy The Penelopiad was the first book of hers I tried. This is exactly what I think an adaptation should be, and with the beautiful addition of Atwood's very clear and distinguished personality, I can't praise this book highly enough. She's the feminist author of the century and I would love to read more mythology from her.

I've heard that each book Atwood writes could very come from a different author, but I really hope that isn't true because I'd happily read this style forever. The dry wit and keen intelligence in the writing of this book is amazing, both in entertainment and getting across very strong opinions. Suffice to say Atwood isn't softening reality of the classical world for anyone's comfort - yet there's still a playful edge to the narration which lets the audience embrace the harsh truths of the piece.
The accomplishment that amazed me the most, though, was Atwood's adaptation skills. The Penelopiad so perfectly takes the proper, pure mythology and adapts it into something new and accessible without tainting the original. You can tell she's passionate about the world of classical literature, but she has the talent to mix it with her own style and not leave anything behind in the process. In fact, throughout the whole novel we have lovely little references to the so much of classical literature - my favourite being the transitions from prose to epic poetry, to tragic theatre and back - but there's so much of Atwood's own persona and characterisation that it doesn't matter if you understand the references, there's still plenty to engage with.

The Odyssey is one of my favourite classics, so naturally I was going to like a retelling of it if it was faithful enough to the orignal - but I think I loved the parts Atwood conjured up herself just as much (if not more) than the direct retelling of the original. Regardless of you're even aware of Odysseus' story or anything in classical literature, I think The Penelopiad is very accessible, but I do think I got a little bit of extra pleasure with that awareness of what the original is like (and undoubtedly the fact that I have fond memories of complaining about Odysseus and his ways, so hearing similar judgement from his wife is quite entertaining in itself).
Classical literature from antiquity is often very intimidating, even to those who study it, which is why I think something like this is the perfect thing to open a gateway for readers of any age. I honestly think studying The Penelopiad in GCSE Classics (is that a thing?) would be a brilliant way to teach people about ancient literature without throwing them in at the deep end - so many of the key themes of The Odyssey are in The Penelopiad, and so many of the original little tales are in there, but with some criticism and analysis of the poem itself slipped in there, and in a much shorter and less dense story. This book is easy to read, good at explaining concepts and themes, but keeps plot and character focused - what better way is there to make something traditionally exclusive accessible to everyone?

This book follows a lot of the famous heroes from The Odyssey, and effectively communicates the attitudes and personalities of the time, but at its centre is a woman who is rarely mentioned past being Odysseus' wife. Penelope fulfils this role, and continues on to write her own story in a brilliantly clever and thoughtful narration, but she also provides a commentary on the women of the classical world in general. Having practically no experience in reading stories that actually include classical women as both high-borns and slaves, I adored this dynamic and the relationships explored.

The Penelopiad is a love letter to epic poetry with a modern eye. If classical literature has ever been intimidating, Atwood has translated it to new audiences effortlessly, balancing the traditional themes and intent with a new twist of feminism, comedy and witty intelligence.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/561371.The_Penelopiad

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Empire of Storms

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Book Title: Empire of Storms
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #5
Date Started: September 7th 2016
Date Completed: September 11th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Action, Adventure
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star
Final Rating: Five stars
Review:

Empire of Storms has flaws. A lot of them. And from the reactions of other people that I've been seeing, I'm definitely not alone in that response. However, by the general standard of Young Adult fantasy it is leaps and bounds ahead - I think it's just by the standard of our wonderful Sarah J. Maas it's not what we wanted. Regardless, I still enjoyed Empire of Storms a lot, and wow that ending made me forget the problems I was having for a good while.

I've taken a couple of days to think over what I want to say about this book because all the notes I have are all the things I didn't enjoy, the things that didn't work or lost their way. But I loved this book. I don't want everything I have to say about it to be negative. We have amazing characters; stunning places with their own detailed mythos; developed politics and relationships and plot twists and obstacles that feel real. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that everything I didn't get on with was to do with double standards in the writing. Whether that be double standards in the way characters are presented: Manon and the Fae males, both having committed equally terrible things, seem to be looked at with disgust and pride respectively; it's okay for one of the 'good' main protagonists to act possessively or in a sexist way, but not one of the 'bad' ones; it's okay for the males to be objectified, but not the females. In each instance, it's always a little thing - just a little comment or portrayal that made me tilt my head a bit and move on from, but the more and more little things there are, the more they start to build up. I think it got to me in the end because, really, they could have been solved with little revisions and there wouldn't have been such a problem anymore, but in trying to get across power in some characters, or vulnerability in others, we ended up with a lot of double standards scattered through the whole thing.

High fantasy is my favourite genre, and you can't have a good high fantasy without some politics and social tension. At the start of Empire of Storms, I was worried we were going to fall into the convention of the long lost princess coming back to her kingdom and realising she has to be married off, and fighting that within her own walls - a plot line that ultimately ends up as pure court intrigue with some quite shallow politics at its root. I clearly need to let myself trust authors more, because of course Sarah wouldn't let that be all that happens to Aelin. You have to give credit to her for being unpredictable even in battles or scenes that feel familiar. I personally love when stories go back over everything that's happened in their series so far through references or, as we see here, by bringing back old characters in a way you wouldn't have seen coming. Each book in this series has taken an already complex storyline and added another tangent to build on its foundations while also drawing back on what it has already built, and we really do have an epic conclusion to the series coming up.
As I've already mentioned, the conclusion to this book was enough to stun me into silence for a little while. Sarah knows how to do her varied climaxes: the Throne of Glass books don't all end on the 'final battle', we have duels, chases, magic wars, epic showdowns and sea battles. Though I prefered Queen of Shadows on the whole to this book, Empire of Storms is definitely in the lead with its conclusion - and damn, I don't know how you can finish this book and not desperately need the next one in your hands immediately.

Empire of Storms takes us back to the Aelin show - and don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Aelin show. But it was a bit of a shock after Queen of Shadows, where we had something like six primary characters each with their own little narratives going along. I mean, where the hell was Chaol for this book? Maybe his story wouldn't have been quite as dramatic as Aelin's but he breaks his legs and sent off to get healed and we then just hear nothing from him? It was such a shame. Furthermore, we went into this book with a brilliant host of strong, well-established characters, but I felt like their personalities were getting lost with the romance being pushed so hard: the stubbornness to get across sarcastic and 'entertaining' characters ends up actually losing some of the essence of the people.
Having said that Aelin, as usual, was wonderful.  In fact overall it was so wonderful to just constantly be surrounded by female characters. I think there might still be more named male characters than female, but there being so many scenes with a group of women talking naturally about the plot, or working something out together, or supporting each other, or just being plain friends amongst the horrors around them, was such a brilliant thing to be able to read. Because it does not happen a lot - I found myself pausing a moment when near the end we had three female characters alone being at centre of solving the entire series plotline. I would say that it feels like Sarah's a little lost on exactly who Aelin is at points: she is undoubtedly a stronger and more solid presence when she falls back into Celaena, but doesn't know whether to be assertive or aggressive, patient or gentle as Aelin. (Also, on a side note, magic is awesome and all, and Aelin kicks ass with it, but I do miss her good old fhasioned sword fighting.)
Now Rowan symbolises an interesting point for me that applies to the whole of this book - I honestly think I would've just let everything little thing go if it had not been for this. Rowan has, up to this point, never been annoying, never made me angry, and never felt off to me. I still think his and Aelin's romance came out of nowhere, and again we have a jump in their relationship between the end of Queen of Shadows and here, but I appreciate what Sarah is doing with him. The issue I had in Empire of Storms was the 'territorial fae bullshit' to quote Aelin. It's all very well to have the female characters saying they're being territorial every hundred pages, but it means nothing if the men continue to wrap the girls in cotton wool - that's an exaggeration, Aelin would never let that happen, nor would the others. But the point is we know that Rowan repects Aelin to handle herself, and we know he loves her and wants to protect her, and he has shown that without standing in her way before. But here we were given a self-indulgent romantic interest at Aelin's every beck and call to the point where he was clingy and didn't let her show her own independence. Part of what has always been so strong about Aelin is that she can have romantic interests without them taking away from her character and ability to function as the protagonist in the story - and she does still have that, yes. But Rowan wasn't her partner standing alongside her as she fought own battles; he was her guard stepping in front of her unless she tricked him and went off on her own. And because of some of this, I lost some of that intimacy between them. In fact, intimacy between everyone was something I found harder to feel, despite romance becoming an incredibly dominant and overpowering force in this story as a whole. I think the sex scenes (and there are quite a few, kids) are supposed to be the main focus of romance, but there was a lack of intimacy outside of the bedroom in the rest of the book. I don't object to sex scenes being included in books at all, but I want the quiet moments of intimacy too.

I've been saying some pretty negative things in this review, but honestly I don't give a book five stars lightly: I'm not lying when I say I adored this book and my love for this series can only grow. The fact that I have so much to say about what I feel could be improved is because I so strongly want these books to be the absolute best they can be because they mean so much to me. And I know Sarah is going to make the final book to this series outstanding, we just have to be patient for all the ties to come together.

Image Source - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29559052-empire-of-storms