A Thousand Ships

Book Title: A Thousand Ships

Author: Natalie Haynes

Date Started: April 16th 2020

Date Completed: April 25th 2020

Genres: Historical, Mythology

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

With a somewhat weighted heart, I have to admit that I didn't find anything particularly special about A Thousand Ships. It's plainly written, ticks all the boxes for a Greek myth retelling, but doesn't really put a twist on anything. Yes, it's giving voice to the women who are often glossed over in the canon, but there are other novels and short story collections that, in my opinion, do the same thing in a more interesting and creative way. That doesn't mean this book is without its strengths, however.

A Thousand Ships is like reading a book of Greek myths - direct, simple, self-contained but still connecting to the greater arc of the universe that was Ancient Greece and its surrounding kingdoms - which is probably the point. My problem was going into this expecting a novel, which made it feel fragmented at the start. When I noticed that it was trying to echo the old story collections, things started to take shape. But, honestly, I feel like this was a chance to flesh out the women's lives alongside their part in the poems, but all it really did was narrate the traditional tales in their voice. Which is fine, and obviously still necessary (and the fact that the women were painted in varying colours was very refreshing), but I was honestly expecting more.

I do wonder what it would be like to read this without knowing the original Greek myths in detail; I think you might be a bit lost. There's a lot of information and names and connections, and many different myths in this novel. It's not really a just retelling of the Trojan War, but more of a big chunk of Greek history since it also retells The Odyssey, (a bit of The Aeneid) and adapts multiple other miscellaneous tales through connections in family relations, time jumps and even parallels to the current events. That, I did like. Greek mythology is hard to appreciate without understanding the bigger picture because literally everything ties into something else - it's like Marvel on steroids, and actually motivated. But for a beginner, that's quite a deep pool to be thrown into at first.

That being said, I am going to, ironically, completely contradict what I just said and suggest that A Thousand Ships might also be a good introduction to 'feminist' Greek mythology. While there's a lot of references that aren't necessarily coherent unless you know the history, I think it's possible to accept you don't recognise the names or connections and keep reading. And what it does do is touch on just about anything you could possibly be interested in within Greek mythology, and from the viewpoints of the women. I actually think the fact that I already knew the stories and have read a fair heap of feminist retellings/essays on the myths mean that nothing felt especially new for me. But had I read this when I was studying classics in college, I probably would have been in love.

Night of the Dragon

Book Title: Night of the Dragon

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Shadow of the Fox #3

Date Started: April 17th 2020

Date Completed: April 19th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Look, the Shadow of the Fox trilogy has been fun. I've made a lot of arguments pointing out my issues with it, but I have also tried to make it clear I found a lot of entertainment in it as well. I got what I was expecting, ups and downs, the whole way through and that counts for a lot.

I've had the same pet peeves about the writing style throughout the series; flippant narration, abundant cliches, overly-direct plot clues, confusing perspectives etc. What felt more prominent in Night of the Dragon was that a lot of things are said to sound cool rather than to make sense. When a character says two contradicting sentences mere lines apart it pulls you out of the narrative as a reader because you question yourself and the author - which is fine in a first draft but at this point, it contributes to making everything feel messy.

For this last instalment, we basically have a massive battle from very early on - or rather four or five battles because the baddies and 'rules' keep (predictably) changing. With all the illusions and confusing perspectives, it's not the easiest to keep track of, but it is definitely entertaining. The rest is as expected: melodrama, romantic angst, monster fighting. Kudos to Kagawa for not totally copping out at the end, which she definitely had the opportunity to do. I'm sure a lot of people will be really satisfied even if the might see it coming.

Really, the only thing that really disappointed me was the fact that Tatsumi's transformation had zero impact (there are quite a few events in this that you could cut out of the book and the actual plot wouldn't be affected but this was the only one I was genuinely frustrated by). Other than that, you get to see all the characters doing their thing, Yumeko has a cool arc and finale, and the monsters are demons are at the top of their game.

In a nutshell: exciting, engaging, eye-rolling, but enjoyable. This trilogy has given me some much-needed respite over the week I read all three in. It's a worthy addition to the catalogue of YA, not least for its freshness and authentic exploration of Japanese mythology; but it's probably tedious for those outside of the direct YA audience.

Soul of the Sword

Book Title: Soul of the Sword

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Shadow of the Fox #2

Date Started: April 15th 2020

Date Completed: April 17th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

Despite my complaints about the first book in the Shadow of the Fox series, I clearly didn't hate it because I was craving more literally the next day. Considering I'm stuck inside and out of work, why not? Ultimately, it comes down to this: they're not the best written, but hell if these books aren't entertaining and exciting - like actually exciting. And that's commendable.

I have the same pet peeves with the writing style as the first book (too direct, flippant, messy), but the characters were way better this time round. Things felt more weighty as a result, and I could take it all a bit more seriously. Maybe their motivations are clearer, maybe they've been given more layers, but whatever the reason, I didn't want to hit them every time they said something in their head because it was so stupid.

Soul of the Sword is a less explorative of Japanese mythology than its predecessor; it uses a more common YA situation and plot. A lot less happens. Well, not much happens at all, in fact. I wouldn't say it's fallen victim to filler book syndrome, but perhaps there were two things that Kagawa needed to happen in the middle of the series and she built up what she could around that. That's totally fine if you're marathoning the series like me, but I could see myself getting frustrated with it if I was reading at a normal pace.

If you read my previous review, you'll maybe remember me saying that I would rather not have the love angst. Yeah, I didn't get my wish - and you can just tell that isn't going to change in the last book. Brooding male love interests are just boring at this point - if they were ever interesting. I also notice that YA seems very quick to defend men being assholes by revealing a long tragic past, and then letting them be not very nice with is... something to note. In all fairness, Tatsumi is certainly a mild instance of this, but if Yumeko doesn't have words with him in Night of the Dragon, I'll have something to say about all this.

Look, I blazed through Soul of the Sword, and I think I'll just go straight to the last one (since that was actually the book I was given for free to review). My expectations are a little mixed, but I'm sure it'll be entertaining for a few hours and that's all I'm asking for.

Shadow of the Fox

Book Title: Shadow of the Fox

Author: Julie Kagawa

Series: Shadow of the Fox #1

Date Started: April 15th 2020

Date Completed: April 12th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Historical

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

I was approved a copy of Night of the Dragon, the third instalment in this series, to review without knowing it was a later book. So, I wanted to jump into the first novel and, however brutally I'm going to criticise this book in this review, I did enjoy it. It was worth the thing that frustrated me, and I will probably read the next book. But, wow, did it infuriate me.

Inspired by Japanese mythology (and, I'm assuming, history), Shadow of the Fox is a fantasy adventure that feels a lot more like the legendary epics I read as a kid than a lot of YA stories I've come across. Which is a very strong point. The mythology is great, made accessible without losing its authenticity, and quite frankly refreshing, especially in this genre. The guy still gets to do more than the girl does, but at least the girl is active and has some unique attributes - I'll take it, okay.

But, unfortunately, this book reminded me why I stopped reading the token 'Young Adult' novels unless I heard anything especially good. Look, I hate the assumption that all YA is shallow and vapid because it's simply incorrect and way too generalising for what is essentially an age-range target audience. But there are a handful of clichés and writing 'quirks' that repeatedly pop up in the genre, and Shadow of the Fox has pretty much all of them. This self-important, flippant narration and way of speaking is, firstly, patronising for a teenage audience, but also just annoying; unnecessary (inexplicable) love triangles; indulgent exposition and info-dumping; first person that tries to keep secrets from the reader - which never works if your characters lack the subtext that every character in this book lacks. The stories are, often, worth it - and yes, it was for this book. But wow, I was so close to abandoning the book because of it.

I've already mentioned that the YA style of writing annoyed me, but a lot of pretty simple techniques were messy as well. You get hit over the head with the plot, with no chance of using your own brain to engage with the story and make what were already quite obvious connections. I also had a hard time keeping track of the perspectives in each chapter. We have dual perspective narration, switching between chapters, but both are told in first-person (which I already think is misused at the best of times), but they are literally indistinguishable from each other until the other character's name is mentioned. I was reading scenes getting confused because one of the characters was internally talking about something they didn't know about - oh wait, no it's the other protagonist. I see. Yumeko and Tatsumi, our protagonists, are two very different people. Making their first-person narration unique shouldn't be that difficult.

On the positive side, what I did love was this story and its world. Japanese culture and history has always been of interest to me, but even if you aren't as familiar with it, Kagawa explains the important parts and lets the rest sink in through osmosis in the background. Story structure-wise, it's a bit like The Last Airbender, with the travelling companions meeting various legendary spirits encountering problems with the modern world and solving their problems on their journey. That was the big thing that made it feel like a genuine traditional epic; the big overarching story encompassing these little satisfying narratives. Once the action kicks in about 40% through the book I started racing through it because it was exciting, it was fun! And the characters talked less and had things to think about other than being angsty (the key to good storytelling, ladies and gentlemen, believe it or not, is having things happen).

There was, predictably, a cop-out ending and that added to my frustration with this book that could've been a firm favourite of mine if it was just a little less messy. I hate it when authors make promises to their reader and refuse to pay out on them because they want to stretch it across a whole series or make the reader squirm while they wait for an incredibly predictable thing to happen - I don't need the angst, and I don't find it satisfying. Convince me that the characters are in actual peril and maybe I can buy into spinning out the tension, but when I can tell you right now how the series is going to end, pulling it out longer is asking for my enjoyment of it to be stretched thin when it could be bubbling over in one book.

Thief's Magic

Book Title: Thief's Magic

Author: Trudi Canavan

Series: Millennium's Rule #1

Date Started: March 25th 2020

Date Completed: April 11th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Mystery

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

Well, this definitely wasn't what I was expecting from a Trudi Canavan book. I'm sad to say that Thief's Magic was really quite disappointing for me, though I can't speak for further on in the series, where I suspect things get better. This novel is, essentially, two stories - neither quite interesting enough to be its own book - smooshed together. And, to follow that, it's 99% exposition. Events occur, but the story clearly hasn't started yet. In the epilogue, I was literally wondering why that wasn't the prologue for the first book. 500+ pages is a lot for what was, at best, an entertaining exposition dump.

Now, in all fairness, I've read many books at the beginning of a series that have mostly been setting up things to come. But usually, I'm drawn in by the characters. Quite the opposite here, unfortunately. Tyen, one of our protagonists, is a complete idiot throughout the whole thing. He's naïve, dum, and sometimes straight-up ignorant. Sure, it's part of the world and how he's been brought up in his society, but it's hard to sympathise or root for him when his mistakes are so obviously stupid and his judgements so shallow all of the time. Rielle, our other protagonist, is honestly pretty passive too, though she's given a bit more intelligence and a more fleshed out background and culture to explain her expectations and actions. She's not perfect, but I didn't want to push her off a cliff. This wasn't helped by the fact that the book is filled with internal monologues trying to justify why the characters think and act the way they do. But that doesn't automatically make me empathise with them. Canavan's books have always had a lot of internal monologue, and I have no issue with it, however it was relied on far too much in this book.

But, most of all, I hated the structure of Thief's Magic. Everything else is forgivable or bearable if misjudged, but the structure is badly done and probably would've made the book a lot more enjoyable if it had been done differently. The book is told in parts, switching between Tyen and Rielle's story (which remain completely unrelated for the whole novel - I'm sure they'll meet further into the series but that doesn't help me now). The problem is, these are told in massive chunks that cut away from each story right when something significant happens. First of all, it's just unfair and infuriating to deny your reader the dramatic pay-offs, but second to that is the fact that I don't care about the resolution to the cliffhanger by the time we finally get back round to it. It's like I was being pulled in with one story and then it was abandoned right when I started to engage with it, for reasons I don't understand. Literally, if the chapters were just interchanging throughout the whole book I would have been a lot less frustrated.

Thief's Magic disappointed me mainly because it's not what I expect from a Trudi Canavan book. The Black Magician Trilogy and the Traitor Spy books are some of my favourite stories of all time, and some of the key novels that introduced me to the world of high fantasy. Look, I'm sure things will get more interesting further into the series now that the characters have some spine, a motivation, and there's some sort of goal (literally - LITERALLY - not even mentioned until the last few chapters). But that doesn't make this first instalment any less disappointing.

Seasons of War

Book Title: Seasons of War

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #13

Date Started: April 1st 2020

Date Completed: April 5th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Thriller, Horror, Action, Mystery

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

Seasons of War, number 13 (thirteen!) in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, i.e. perhaps my most loved book series of childhood and my teenage years. It's got a tough act to follow, but it didn't disappoint. This has definitely been my favourite instalment in the sequel series so far; it's a bit like reading all those stories Skulduggery and the others would tell Val about the 'old days'. It was always so wistful, mysterious, and adventurous, and now we get to live through it - albeit, in an updated context. I loved that open-world feel, this real sense of a slow epic in a war the characters had to steadfastly, nobly live through.

But it has to be said: it's so nice to have hope again. We're starting to see Valkyrie and other characters defeat their demons and start up again after some really gruelling stuff in the last few books. I always liked the fact that this sequel series follows the consequences of everything Val went through as a teenager, and a really important part of that is showing that she can survive and find a way to live with the after-effects too (which she was definitely struggling with a few books ago).

As well, it was so good getting to see old friends again. Even if Derek just uses it as a way to torture us by putting them in terrible situations. Honestly, this felt like the first book I wasn't sitting there going 'where's Tanith? You mentioned Dexter, when are we going to see him? What about this other character from the original series, are they going to turn up at any point?' While it's no fault of Derek's, I have been distracted from the story in the past few instalments with the excitement that I might get to see an old friend again. I felt like that need was satisfied this time around.

My one observation that doesn't click is that there are just too many subplots. A lot of them were introduced earlier in the series, but aren't relevant anymore, or have been left unfinished, but they're still in the story, I guess to be consistent. I appreciate that more than them being abandoned, especially since stories are unruly things that will change unexpectedly, but it is sometimes a bit strange. Didn't Tanith want to kill China for an unknown reason? Wasn't the US president super important? Wasn't the Omen-Auger stuff supposed to be the main focus at one point? In all fairness, a lot of them have influenced the main story, but there's some which I feel like could've been wrapped up in the last book or even held back until they became important again.

The elephant in the room is does it feel like the original series? Does it have the same magic? And, honestly, the answer is no. It's darker, crueller, more twisted like it's grown up with a lot of us that were reading these books when we were kids. And though I can't help but go into these books with the original series at the back of my mind, I don't think it's a bad thing that it's different - it's just different. And, at the end of the day, it still leaves me waiting for more, and that's the important thing.