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.

The Cat and the City

Book Title: The Cat and the City

Author: Nick Bradley

Date Started: February 10th 2020

Date Completed: March 24th 2020

Genres: Contemporary, Short Story

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

In all fairness to this book, I spent most of it comparing it to other works of Japanese literature I'm familiar with, primarily Murakami (because it feels like it's trying really hard to be Murakami) and that's a hard act to follow. But it also didn't do it for me, at all. I jumped at the chance to read this because I thought the idea of snippets of lives that somehow cross paths with this tortoise-shell cat in Japan sounded cool! Turns out the cat isn't so much a motif or a thread; just a coincidental object each story shares. Fine, but the individual stories weren't working for me either.

I made it three short stories in (a fair percentage through the book), but none of them clicked, whether it be the pacing, the themes, the characters etc. The fact that most of what I was expecting was hindered on the cat motif or a cultural exploration of Japan (which from a Western perspective is already ambiguous) meant that I was disappointed. It might have the setting, socio-political events and I guess references of Japan, but it doesn't feel like it has the heart, and isn't offering anything else besides to hold my interest.

All the King's Men

Book Title: All the King's Men

Author: Nora Sakavic

Series: All for the Game #3

Date Started: February 25th 2020

Date Completed: March 22nd 2020

Genres: Contemporary, Thriller, Romance

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

All for the Game was an unexpected favourite of mine when I picked it up on a whim a few years ago. I ended up turning to the last book when I just couldn't get into anything else and wanted a fun, engaging read where I could invest pretty much 100% in the characters and zone out of the real world. As always, this series delivered. I was actually expecting something more dramatic for the final conclusion to the trilogy, but what Sakavic chose instead was satisfying, fulfilling and just right (and pretty dramatic in all fairness).

These books are all about characters, and rightly so with a cast like this. The Foxes are a total mess in just about every way, but their diversity and (believable) complexity is immediately appealing. Really it's all melodrama, somewhere between a teen drama and gang thriller. But the stakes (both criminal and domestic) are so convincing that you completely buy into it - it's a masterclass in creating empathy in characters and an engaging storyline alongside.

I've really enjoyed this series; I'm very glad I randomly decided to take a stranger's recommendation and pay the 99p (!) to buy the first book. It isn't a cult classic for nothing, though I am still surprised it hasn't been picked up in the mainstream yet. Her work isn't just entertaining, Sakavic is a damn good writer - and she might make a good screenwriter too, especially with stories like these.

The King of Crows

Book Title: The King of Crows

Author: Libba Bray

Series: The Diviners #4

Date Started: January 16th 2020

Date Completed: February 10th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Mystery, Romance, Horror

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I’ve been awaiting the finale of The Diviners series for a few months and suddenly it appeared at my door, when I’d quite forgotten about it. And suddenly I was sucked straight back down the rabbit hole into Bray’s supernatural, ghostly 1920s New York adventure, even on crowded commuter trains in the gloom of British winter. It barely took me three days, and I absolutely loved it.

Okay, yeah, the final resolution was actually quite easily solved, but it was emotionally satisfying and at the end of the day that’s more important for me. I’ll admit that the way characters’ emotions were generally put at a level that was convenient for the plot rather than their arcs annoyed me a little (Sam should be more worried about his mother, surely? Evie should be more upset about Will? Why has everyone forgotten about Woody?!). But it’s also the kind of thing that you get used to with this series; with a cast of characters so big it’s likely that some of their side-plots are going to fall through the cracks.

To the book’s credits, all of the characters do still sustain a full arc, finishing neatly in this final novel. I thought it was slightly obsessed with the romances, a little more than was necessary, but nevertheless allowed the protagonists to grow within themselves. I don’t have the time to single every person out, so I’ll just say this about Evie, arguably the main protagonist but my personal favourite either way. Evie is a very flawed character, who I root for ceaselessly. And everyone knows I’m a fan of Evie and Sam, but I loved that this also felt like the platonic love story of Evie and Theta, and Evie finally coming to terms with having balanced friendships with what I can only see as depression and possibly PTSD. That in itself means a lot to me. 

All round, Bray allows her characters to have conditions, histories or general struggles that they suffer from, but can live through – as well as defeating the king of an undead army while they’re at it. You have a disabled character, characters with mental health difficulties, characters of African, Chinese, Irish heritage, characters of varying sexualities (including asexual!). I have never read another book that has that much representation. And none of their stories – none of them – are solely about these parts of their character.

One of the things that has always been strong with this series is its portrayal of 1920s America – a fair amount of which is based off of fact which might surprise some readers. And while the last instalment does feel less political than the rest of the series it was, after all, tying up the ends of the story with its political points already made many times. And the representation truly is gold, all the way through. The cast is so diverse, their identities normalised but acknowledged with all the societal prejudices they come with. But Bray represents it proudly, which makes it empowering.

This series has been an absolute joy to read from start to finish. It’s entertaining to read, indulgently romantic without being sickly. It knows when to make a scene exciting or scary, heartfelt or cold, and its representation is one of the best examples of diversity in YA out there at the moment. The King of Crows was a fitting end to the series, and for once I’m actually excited about the potential for a sequel series that’s sort of (?) hinted at in the epilogue.

The Midnight Lie

Book Title: The Midnight Lie

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Series: The Midnight Lie #1

Date Started: January 16th 2020

Date Completed: February 6th 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Mystery

Quality Rating: Two Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Two Stars

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

◆ Thanks to NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

A few years ago I was persuaded to read The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski. I thought it would be too much of a romance for my tastes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it complex, political, nuanced and exciting. When The Midnight Lie came up, I was prepared to be blown away once again. Sadly, this book turned out to be everything I had wrongly assumed the first time round, only this time my expectations were pretty high.

I had two main problems for enjoying this book. The first was that I couldn’t get behind the main character, Nirrim. As a Half-Kith, a ‘lesser’ citizen preyed upon by law enforcement and just about everyone above her, she’s been brainwashed into thinking she’s inferior. Or at least when it serves the plot. The problem is then that she comes across so stupid and/or hopeless that it’s dull. Subsequently, everyone referring to her like she’s clever drags things into unbelievable territory.

My second reservation is the representation of the lesbian (bisexual?) relationship. It begins with us being persuaded that the love interest is a man because Nirrim’s eye-sight and hearing is conveniently easily-led (some girls can seem ‘masculine’, that’s fine, but for the rest of the book she’s pretty feminised in everything apart from clothes – and I suppose the fact that she’s a lesbian (but associating that with masculinity is already problematic). There’s a part where Sid is described offering Nirrim her arm ‘like a man would,’ and when I read that it immediately crystallised what I didn’t like: it really felt like all that had been done was change the gender of one of the characters. But sexuality is so much deeper than that (and gender is likewise, women aren’t just ‘like’ men or women), especially in a society that shuns non-heteronormative orientations.

The plot itself is actually pretty slow; there are these massive stakes but it never actually feels massive. It’s too familiar, it’s too predictable (painfully so), and there’s way too much talking for us to feel the urgency of the moment anyway. Nothing really happens. I don’t really know what the story was supposed to be. A love story? Well, that already rings false. A dystopian class drama? There isn’t enough attention paid to Nirrim’s character traits in that case (she has no problem frivolously throwing a very expensive item into a bet, and she doesn’t seem that offended by Sid’s honestly superficial approach to things). A mystery about where magic comes from in this world? That’s basically never in the forefront so I’d call it a cheap option. But turns out that’s actually what it is.

The key fantastical element that allows Nirrim to succeed (something about Nirrim having an over-active imagination? Magic blood? Mind control?! I’m still unclear) is mentioned at the beginning and then disappears for 300 odd pages and comes into play right at the end. And what a strange ending it is. So off-beat, different from everything up until then, but unfortunately not at all satisfying. There was me criticising the romance for being too important to the story, and then the finale has literally nothing to do with any of it. (Top tip to publishers (ft. SPOILER), maybe selling something on the LGBT element isn’t a great idea when the relationship doesn’t actually last).