Wednesday 28 February 2018

The Hazel Wood

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Book Title: The Hazel Wood
Author: Melissa Albert
Date Started: February 26th 2018
Date Completed: February 28th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery, Young Adult
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to Netgalley for this ebook for review ◆

The Hazel Wood is half supernatural urban fantasy and half dark fairytale. And I mean half quite literally since it transitions rather suddenly just after the midpoint. I liked it, but I think it had issues that could've been solved.

I loved the first part of this book. And I loved the second part of this book. I did not love them together. Part 1 is City of Bones (the movie) mixed with Inkheart, then at around 65% we go into what I see as Part 2, which is Alice in Wonderland meets the Spiderwick Chronicles. I adore both of them, but not following on from each other. If you know the stories I've mentioned, you'll probably be able to pick out how they don't run smoothly into one another. A supernatural urban setting with characters going on treasure hunts in a city is one thing - and it can even be moved into a more direct fantasy storyline quite easily - but suddenly crashing headfirst into a dark, whimsical full-on fairytale land with no ties to what just happened is too much too fast. Maybe if this was a two-book series that could work with a break in the middle, but within a page we go switch. As a reader, I have expectations when I'm lulled into a story (and 65% is a fair amount through a story), and it can be really hard to rapidly abandon everything I've learnt about a world if things change. Alright, maybe this is partly a personal preference thing, but I'm sad because I can only remember these two parts compared to one, instead of imagining them as a single story weaved together.

My favourite thing about this book was Finch. He's not the main character but I think he was far more interesting than anyone else. He might have walked out of a John Green novel or maybe Call Me By Your Name (not in the way you're thinking), but he was interesting, (annoyingly) charming, and conflicted. I think I liked him so much because the choice between a relationship and his dream/desire/whatever you want to call it was a choice he genuinely struggled with. So often we have protagonists that are conflicted for ten minutes and then saying 'I'd never give you up'. That's not how it works in real life. The choice between a person and a lifestyle can be really hard. Sadly, compared to him, Alice (the protagonist) was a bit lack-lustre for me. Her big reveal fell flat for me personally because it felt like it came out of nowhere (I guess it makes sense, but it didn't feel like it tilted the world on its head like it should have), and her characterisation was more generic. She played her part, but she wasn't the star of the show.

The Hazel Wood had my favourite kind of ending: life changes and things get left behind - often things we don't want to leave behind - but the world and the characters move forward anyway. I think a lot of people look at those sorts of resolutions as sad endings, and they are in a lot of ways. But I think it's so good when a story can pull off a realist ending where it is bittersweet because the world moves forward as if nothing happened, but this protagonist is never going to be able to go back to how they were, and show that that's okay. The Hazel Wood pulled it off. I just wish it hadn't been tainted by the blatant and abrupt tone shift in the middle. In all fairness, there's a lot of things that I don't think were solved (or I missed them being solved) and some motivations that didn't make sense in the end, but I'll let it slide because my main issue with this book pretty much entirely consumed my attention.

It's not really my style of fairytale - it definitely borders more on the supernatural horror side than traditional faerie - but I still loved its little twists and dark side. The emphasis on the adventure made it feel more like a children's book than Young Adult. I'm not even sure the horror aspects are too much for that audience, it's just the swearing and age of the characters that seems to have pushed it to a teenage audience. I feel like this book wanted to be something that wasn't natural to it, hence the dramatic out-of-place tone shift in the middle too. It had its strong points, but I think it would've been stronger if Albert had let it run its natural course, rather than trying to tailor it to a different audience.

Paper and Fire

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Book Title: Paper and Fire
Author: Rachel Caine
Series: The Great Library #2
Date Started: February 23rd 2018
Date Completed: February 26th 2018
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:

This series is so much fun. The action is great, the romance is addictive, the world is brilliant. Any alternative history where books, knowledge and adventure are the focus wins for me, but The Great Library books bring more than that.

There's a lot of worldbuilding and imagination packed into this. To her credit, Caine does it without you really noticing while you're reading; everything works together very naturally. It wasn't until I tried to explain it to a friend that I realised how much detail is weaved through that influences the politics and personality of the characters. Not to mention how much it elevates the setting itself; I adore Egypt and ancient history anyway, but Caine fits mechanical lions and magic teleportation into it without losing the tone and believability.

I think the story itself is becoming a little repetitive. You get (well-written) action scenes and then some puzzle-solving dialogue, then another action scene, some threatening, secret meetings etc. But it's only really something that I notice in hindsight; while I'm in the middle of it it's exciting and it's fun. There's enough variety in the exact situation they're discussing and the exact action and tension that I'm more than engaged. And, really, what I come for is the characters.

Having varied characters with their own personalities and motivations seems to be one of the more difficult things for writers, particularly in YA books; they're (stereotypically) more likely to have a range of ages and tend to focus on protagonists that are in limbo and haven't quite worked out who they are. It's hard to write, understandably. Which is why Paper and Fire (and The Great Library series as a whole so far) is so engaging to read. There's a big cast of main characters and each of them has different strengths and weaknesses - and they affect the way the story goes because of these! If Dario wasn't such an arrogant but self-righteous idiot, things would've gone differently; if Morgan wasn't so determined and persistent (even if she does spend half her time crying) Jess and the others would've been screwed. I make a big deal about this because I really don't come across it that often, and it's what makes me fall in love with a story. Diversity is so important in the literal sense (I adore the fact that in a cast of eight primary characters, three are white English and the rest are from all across the globe) but also in the sense of personalities; people are so different to each other and it's a very hard thing to translate into fiction. But Caine does it.

If you couldn't tell, I really enjoy this series. It's not high literature but I always want to immediately keep going when I finish a book. I'm glad there are going to be more than three books, but I'm not so happy that I have to wait a while for them.

Monday 26 February 2018

The Gloaming

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Book Title: The Gloaming
Author: Kirsty Logan
Date Started: February 12th 2018
Date Completed: February 23rd 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adult
Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Five Star
Final Rating: Four stars
Review:


◆ Thanks to Netgalley for this ebook for review ◆

Oh, for the love of fairytales. This is a story made for lovers of books, of the sea, of fairytales, of love stories and of magic. It's halfway between a fairytale and a literary fiction novel itself, and it sucked me in straight from the start.

It's not exactly what I would call magical realism - at least not in the literal sense. Which is ironic because no one can quite define magical realism. We have mermaids that turn out to not be mermaids, and curses that are more or less imagined, but we also have people turning to stone (or do they?). As much as the genre frustrates a lot of people, I have to say I love the way the interpretations belong to their readers. I read The Gloaming from he magical perspective but I'm sure you can read it more from the realist one and enjoy it just as much.

This is simultaneously a book where not much happens, and yet you're constantly waiting for the next thing. Logan's writing is enchanting in and of itself, but by following four or five interweaving characters, there are patterns and clues that you pick up from each one that connects everything. From what I remember of The Gracekeepers, there was a similar sort of structure; multiple players jumping around the main plot as they travel around together. The Gloaming is more isolated geographically but builds it characters up bigger I think.

It's a beautiful story, but damn it's sad. There's obviously a commentary on modernisation, growing up in general and love. That's not to say it's an unhappy ending. On the contrary, I felt a somewhat cathartic joy when I finished it on the train. I think it's really important we have stories that have tough topics but also representation that end well (the lesbian romance is some of the best representation of its kind I've read). Not all struggles have to end in misery, especially not in fiction.

I almost want to study this book. The recurring symbols, the metaphors, the little retellings. It's as rich as something you'd read in school but so much more creative. I hope Logan continues to receive recognition and will hopefully be able to give us more soon.

Monday 12 February 2018

Immortal Reign

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Book Title: Immortal Reign
Author: Morgan Rhodes
Series: Falling Kingdoms #6
Date Started: February 11th 2018
Date Completed: February 12th 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Young Adult
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

I've never said that the Falling Kingdoms series was high literature, but it has always been enjoyable. This sticks through to Immortal Reign, if waning a little towards the end. I think the more inventive storyline at the beginning of this series was far more effective than the canon good vs. evil battle it becomes, but it's nice having been able to follow these characters along further.

I did forget how hand-holdey the writing is. I find myself sitting there thinking 'yes, I know' whenever I'm reminded about a plot point that was revealed five minutes ago. As a reader, I don't need to be directly told everything. If Cleo's angry you only have to say it once (and at this point I'm probably going to expect it) - don't go through a thesaurus looking for different versions of the same adjective. I think it's more a self-conscious thing than bad technique, but I would hope that six books into a series there's enough character development to hold the people up by themselves without having to tell the reader exactly what they're thinking.

The plotline goes pretty much as you'd expect from a Falling Kingdoms books: things change three times a page, people argue five times a page, and time itself jumps massively in a single sentence. People often refer to this series as the Young Adult Game of Thrones, and I think that's kind of fair (I don't think YA necessarily has to be as simplistic as that leads you to believe, but the structure and storytelling style is similar). But, don't get me wrong, it is still enjoyable. As much as I don't like being told everything rather than being shown it, it's nice to just fall into a book and let it take you without having to engage much. The dramatics are indulgently so, over-the-top and a bit silly but it's fun. (The romance is a bit lovey-dovey at this point but hey, guilty pleasures.) I just wish the structure of logic was held a little stronger, so I could buy into the story, however over-dramatic it was.

The biggest example of which being the characters' motivations. Ever since learning about scriptwriting and directing I've been a little hyperaware of this, but what a character wants is what determines how they act. Most of us don't even acknowledge that motivation, it's just what's underlying to make the character developed and solid. But in Immortal Reign, characters change their tune lightning fast just to go with what the story needs, and I think it's a disrespect to their characters. I mean what even was Lucia in this book? In theory, she's conflicted between protecting those she cares about and doing the right thing, but what happens is that she's confiding in the heroes one moment and allied with the antagonists with all of her loyalty the next - and I'm supposed to feel like she's still conflicted. It wasn't ambivalent, it was just unbelievable. 

This is all really to do with the fact that Cleo should really be the protagonist. I don't know why we have so many characters when the author clearly only cares about her - and don't get me wrong, I only care about Cleo. But there's this whole cast of characters that aren't distinguishable enough to do anything more than show up in a few scenes and say a few words before hanging around behind the main trio. I feel like this wasn't so prevalent in the other books, but now that all the heroes are in the same location at the same time with the same obstacles, everyone but Cleo, Magnus, and maybe Jonas, just get pushed to the side. I think the book might have benefitted from being Cleo's story, with a whole host of other side characters, than trying to make everyone equal in an ensemble cast.

I did still enjoy the last book in the Falling Kingdoms series, but it's a shame it didn't really evolve into something stronger. I definitely preferred when the conflict came from the relationships between the protagonists - there were dimensions to the action. Now that all the heroes get along and the antagonist is effectively a faceless evil the engagement isn't quite there for me.

Saturday 10 February 2018

Hold Back the Stars

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Book Title: Hold Back the Stars
Author: Katie Khan
Date Started: February 5th 2018
Date Completed: February 10th 2018
Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:

◆ Thanks to Netgalley for this ebook for review ◆

Hold Back the Stars wasn't my usual genre - in fact, romance and sci-fi are probably my two worst genres for novels. But, I'd had a personal recommendation and a review copy so I was open to trying it. In the end, it was what I expected and not. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to, but there were just a few things that irked me to the point where I couldn't focus anymore.

I think a selling point for this book is its worldbuilding. As much as it's set-out as a contemporary novel, there are some really interesting aspects of the world that influence the story. There's been a dystopian war, but now there is 'utopia' in Europia, even if America and the Middle East are completely screwed. Surprisingly, this utopia is actually quite believable; people have jobs, families, friends and entertainment like we do today. With one difference: you can't settle down as a family until midlife (around 30?). Now, this seems logical to me when it's explained: the idea is that you have time where you have to focus on yourself and contribute to the community to keep utopia afloat before you start to focus on starting a family. Which isn't to say that you aren't allowed to have relationships when you're younger - in fact there are multiple occasions on which the protagonists are told that they aren't going to be punished for having a relationship, it's just going to be frowned upon and they won't be allowed to officially settle. I think a reason why I struggled with this book towards the end is that fact that this is the main emotional conflict; there's action, and there are smaller storylines, but the primary conflict is this Couples Rule. I can understand the emotional strain of such a situation, but this rule is made out to be evil - as are the people that believe in it - and that made no sense to me. If those in favour of it hadn't been so typecast as evil there may have been a grey area I was more inclined to believe, but it was Max and Carys against the world over this logical, if a little harsh rule. It was hard to get behind.

This was a big thing to me because at the start of this book I was completely sold. Much to my surprise, I was won over by the sweet characters, funny interactions and promising universe. Then suddenly near the mid-point (I can tell you it was exactly at the beach scene), things started to irk me. I don't know whether they weren't there to start with or I just didn't notice them, but suddenly there were tiny details popping up everywhere that annoyed me. Little mistakes, silly little choices, minute characteristics. Alone they wouldn't have bothered me, but things start to collect when they're dotted everywhere. I was upset because I was rooting for this book.

And then we reached the end, and I have only one question: what was the point of that? Not the book as a whole, but the way this story was finished. It's a massive spoiler, but for those who have read the book, you will know exactly what I'm talking about and I just don't understand. The author covered all of her bases, literally. With all those little things beforehand, that was the final straw to make me stop rooting for it.

Most negative reviews I've come across of Hold Back the Stars centre around the fact there's too much romance. I knew going in it was more of a romance than a science fiction story, so I didn't mind it so much. And I've read far worse love stories with far less developed characters. The romance wasn't the problem. The issue for me was that the author made some choices I just don't understand that compromised a good, solid, enjoyable story. Why those decisions that just stick out like a sore thumb? I don't know, but it was a shame they took away from my enjoyment considering I fell in love with it to start with.

Monday 5 February 2018

Medea

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Book Title: Medea
Author: Christa Wolf
Date Started: January 13th 2018
Date Completed: February 5th 2018
Genres: Historical, Adult
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Three Star
Final Rating: Three stars
Review:


I've wanted to read Medea ever since I discovered Cassandra - another ancient Greek myth retelling by Christa Wolf. I can't tell you how much I fell in love with that book and so, to be fair, Medea was always going to have a hard time competing. In the end, it didn't even touch Cassandra in terms of excellence, but I think there were several circumstantial things that contributed to that aside from the story.

The first of which is that I'm pretty sure Medea must have had a different translator to Cassandra. Christa Wolf was a German writer and scholar, and so her works are translated into English. Medea felt so much harder to read for me; it was dense, its word choice wasn't as vivid and succinct, and just generally hard to read. The book is less than 200 pages and it took me the better part of a month to get through. It might be that I'm wrong and it's just an example of Wolf's earlier work or something like that, but considering it is a translated work I'd imagine that's what I struggled with.

Aside from that, Wolf's style did still shine through at times. I love how she tells stories; her books are less of a narrative story and more fictionalised studies. The non-linear structure focuses on a human flaw in each character and slowly reveals how it combines with the other flaws of the characters into a spiral of tragedy. Her novels very much follow the style of the ancient stage tragedies, even though they aren't direct retellings of any plays from antiquity. It's not for everyone, but if you're fascinated by people like me it's some of the best stuff out there.

I'm a self-proclaimed classics nerd, but I'm not as familiar with the tale of Jason and Medea as I am with a lot of Greek myths. And even though retellings shouldn't use the original versions as a crutch, not knowing the story well to start with did take away from my experience reading this novel. I felt like a lot of the politics and cultural and personal relationships were revealed once they became apparent to the story, but actually being aware of them to start with might have helped in understanding what was actually happening. I only say this because I know in Cassandra there were a lot of critiques and comments made in the subtext that I only noticed because I knew a lot about the Trojan War to begin with. Perhaps it's something to look at if I ever reread this book, but it didn't strike me as the most accessible instance of a myth retelling.

Medea definitely wasn't as vivid as Cassandra but was still visually alluring and provocative at times. It has a lot to say about the ancient world and woman's place in it, as expected. I feel like Christa Wolf should be more recognised for her work as it really is an interesting look at the classical world and its stories. Maybe go for Cassandra over this one, though.