Homegoing

Book Title: Homegoing

Author: Yaa Gyasi

Date Started: May 1st 2019

Date Completed: July 31st 2019

Genres: Historical

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I hold my hands up and say I got to 25% in this book and, while I think it was great and important and I was enjoying it, the story was just so slow. There's so much information, and so many connections and relationships and context that my brain got overwhelmed when it was mixed with a very dense but gradual plotline. If you like in-depth bloodlines, African history, deep prose then I would recommend picking this up - the overwhelming flood of praise of this book backs me up. It's just too slow and full to the brim of information for me at the moment.

The Glass Magician

Book Title: The Glass Magician

Author: Charlie N. Holmberg

Date Started: July 30th 2019

Date Completed: July 30th 2019

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

These books are delightful fun; sweet, cute, fluffy. As they go on they get an edge of adventure and their fair share of thrills, but really they're quick, easy, enjoyable reads. I read this in one sitting of about five/six hours, unwilling to put it down after every chapter because it was fun.

My pet peeves of cliched dialogue and unjustified emotional turns were triggered, and it's really a bit silly sometimes but for enjoyment's sake, why not. At least everyone is equally silly and it fits with the quaint, early 1900s steampunk themes.

What I think The Glass Magician does really well, however, is its addition of mystery and adventure to the narrative. There's a lot more of a thriller theme going on this time, and the story benefits from the action and tension. We also get to have a deeper look into the world - which is really what shines through in the series. The different disciplines and qualities of the magic system feed deeply into the narrative, and Holmberg's planning becomes a lot more clear.

A quick read, but an enjoyable one, The Glass Magician was one I picked up on a win but allowed me to step away from the real world for a few hours. And that's what any good book should do.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Book Title: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Author: Hank Green

Date Started: July 18th 2019

Date Completed: July 29th 2019

Genres: Contemporary, Sci-Fi, Mystery

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing thoroughly impressed me. Let's put aside Hank's connections and what I'm sure was considerable pressure and expectations from every angle, this is an absolutely remarkable debut whatever way you look at it, and I cannot wait to read more from him.

This is, at heart, a coming-of-age-(kinda)-meets-mystery-meets-adventure contemporary novel with a nice bit of science fiction thrown in for good measure. Often, these kinds of thing aren't my jam because the prose is convoluted or cliché or just plain dull. But Hank has given such a clear voice to April, the protagonist and narrator, that that was immediately not a problem. In fact, considering the very well researched and frankly quite sciency foundations to the story, I didn't feel like I was in a professor's lecture or reading a textbook. And I felt like I learnt a few things. Of course, the wonderful VlogBrothers history definitely helped Hank out here, but spoken and written words are still a jump to change between, but this book takes the best from both for a really solid result.

A good balance of action to talking to anecdotal events helps the story along, but even in its quiet moments there's a nice balance of being heartfelt without being pretentious, to the point where it absolutely moved me - and then had me laughing a few moments later. At the centre of this are the very human characters who, from small to large parts, all ring quite true. I can't help relating to Maya most of all, but there are moments when you can see glimpses of your own experiences in everyone's arcs. And yes, April gets on your nerves sometimes but that's the story that's being told. It's integral that she gets on your nerves sometimes because that's a big part of what she's going through and learning from. And you still root for her. Kudos for the three-dimensional, complex and flawed female heroine dude.

Even though it wasn't really my genre and was something I started reading on a whim, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing quickly found its way into my heart, kept me engaged the whole way through and made me very excited about what stories are brewing in Hank Green's head.

Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun

Book Title: Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun

Author: Guillermo del Toro & Cornelia Funike

Date Started: June 28th 2019

Date Completed: July 9th 2019

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Historical, Horror

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

A literary adaptation of one of my favourite films by one of my favourite childhood authors? I literally couldn't wait. Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke are both massive influences on me and have evolved the beloved fairytale genre into a contemporary and still vitally important sphere. I was hoping this book would uncover some of del Toro's other ideas that didn't make it into the film, and while you do get this in a few tiny little instances and through the beautiful fairytales Funke intersperses throughout the story, it's few and far between.

The main drag on my experience of this book was how much it spoon-fed you. I get that you can't lace the image with a million little hints to the overarching story like you can in a moving picture, but the problem with book-to-movie adaptations done backwards is that they spend far too much time trying to recreate the movie experience, rather than changing the story to fit with a literary format. As it is, the perspectives and locations are confusing because they jump about so rapidly in order to simulate editing that it's hard not to just let the original film play in your head instead of letting the book conjure up its own images.

There needs to be space for the writing to breath and expand itself. In adaptations, there's really three important things: character, meaning, and tone. Sure, the first two are there, but the make or break element of tone was lost because everything was so literal. It needed to be a retelling with a little creative license, not a written down version of a film. And that's not an easy task and with all due respect, these guys do a great job of recreating the movie on paper. But I don't think that was the goal - or shouldn't have been anyway.

Of course, the story is amazing. You can't get these two geniuses together and not make something good. But for me, it was the little fairytales - the one thing that was allowed to expand completely from the original film - that gave this 'retelling' strength. In traditional fashion, the folkloric tales parallel characters, events or lessons in the real world which gives the enhancement that you really need from a literary version.

If you're going to remake a story in another format, something needs to be added to it for it to be worth reliving in a different way. Do the illustrations and fairytales do that? Sure, why not. But it's not groundbreaking. I feel like the problem may have come from the target audience because while I was reading it really felt like it was made for younger readers - and in a way I love that, because Pan's Labyrinth does have darkness, and I think it's great something more real is made accessible for younger readers without being patronising. But at the same time, it really limits how far the novel could grow on its own, making it ultimately one in a long line of movie-to-book adaptations that make you wonder why you don't just watch the film.

Things We Say in the Dark

Book Title: Things We Say in the Dark

Author: Kirsty Logan

Date Started: June 19th 2019

Date Completed: June 24th 2019

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Short Story

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you Harvill Secker for the uncorrected proof! ◆

A girl leaves her window open to the monster that calls to her, while a couple explores treetops, caves and icy landscapes looking for the right home, and a woman sleeps with a marble man to escape a ghost. My favourites followed a Kelpie's revenge, a woman isolated in the city, and parents taking their child to an amusement park where things are not what they seem.

Kirsty's short story collection is a lot of things, but above all else it is a haunting commentary on female identity, blurred somewhere between the vengeance of Angela Carter and the unsettling mystery of Shirley Jackson. It's not horror in its gore, its creepy inferences, or prophetic warnings of death and depression - it's horror because in so many ways it's real. Girls are dressed like dolls even when they're corpses, we do fall into the hands of abusers because they feel safe, and disapproving family members do play on our minds even when they're long gone. But with that realism comes empowerment too; it's nice to have lesbians in practically every story without it being a 'thing', and it's damn satisfying for the woman to be the one to swallow the man whole for once (literally).

King of Scars

Book Title: King of Scars

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Nikolai Duology #1

Date Started: May 4th 2019

Date Completed: July 15th 2019

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

Oh boy. So I was hoping this rating would shift by the time I came to write up my review. Unfortunately, it's still a three-star read for me. I don't know whether it was bad timing (I was finishing my degree) or just the book, but King of Scars took me forever to read because I only really read a few pages at a time. I did enjoy it, but the fact it felt like a snail's pace to get through it didn't help.

King of Scars follows three stories, essentially: you have the foray into the Fold, from Nikolai and Zoya's perspective, the drama back at Os Alta from Izaak's, and then hundreds of miles away there's Nina infiltrating Fjerda. Each is good individually, but they don't necessarily fit together. There were times when it felt a little bit like there were three different novellas being cross-cut between, but they didn't connect at all in some cases. I'm sure it's probably something that will become clear in the second book, but if you know me you'll know I think every story should be able to stand on its own, whether it's part of a bigger narrative or not.

And, even though there's technically three stories going on at the same time, not a lot happens. It's enjoyable to read if you know and love the other books because you get all these little peaks into their backstory and personal lives. But it's also self-indulgent in the way that Six of Crows so wonderfully avoided; it gives us so much information that just isn't necessary to the story - and maybe it will be at one point but it's just filler in an already sparse narrative. Weirdly, the ending feels rushed my comparison because all the exposition gets dropped and it's just the events. Which is fine, but it's not what I was expecting or what I feel like the story totally deserved.

Leigh Bardugo's characters are an absolute gift; that's where her talents really shine through. They're diverse, both relatable and fantastically eccentric, and have a real way of surprising you. My personal favourite is, of course, Nina thanks to Six of Crows, but it was really nice to see some old faces mixed in with them. It's like a little game of mix and match. Entertaining. But not necessarily the best use of their potential.

It's a shame you kind of need to know the original trilogy to understand a lot of what's going on in King of Scars. It's also a shame I can't really remember much of it myself. But, regardless, I'm sure the next book will be the one packed with action and the knots to tie loose ends.

Bedlam

Book Title: Bedlam

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #12

Date Started: May 30th 2019

Date Completed: June 1st 2019

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Horror

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Stars

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

Anyone that knows me knows that the staple of my reading is basically Skulduggery, Throne of Glass and anything Neil Gaiman writes. I've enjoyed the last couple of sequels to the original series, this Bedlam was one of those books that hit me straight in the face. It’s taken a running jump, but Skulduggery’s finally back to its old self.

Bedlam was a lot more in the line of the action/adventure/fantasy genre like the old books (rather than maybe the horror thriller direction the first two sequels looked at) which is more my kind of thing. But it takes what worked really well from Resurrection and Midnight and mixes it in too; these sequel books get to look at the darker and more 'mature' consequences of the original series, primarily through Valkyrie being genuinely traumatised from it all amongst other things. Bedlam balances the two temperaments really well.

There's a hell of a lot going on now. Only two books in and it's hotting up real quick. But it's coherent, even with what is already a massive cast of characters, I can remember their plots as I get to each chapter. I think a big part of this is the fact that Derek humanises his villains out of stereotypes and into people, sometimes for comic effect but also to raise the stakes. If we can relate, on some level, to a villain they're so much more engaging. I'm sure as hell not rooting for China or Sebastian or Caisson, but they're still interesting to read about.

Speaking of characters, I have to put out recognition for Tanith Low, my own true queen, idol, hero, badass. I can't explain how happy I am that she's back in the fold, damaged but fighting. Again with Val, characters may be messed up from their experiences, but they're getting better. Derek's really good at letting his characters evolve consistently, they're not stuck in characteristics forever. Val's been in pretty dark places, but she can work her way out of them too. As someone with mental health difficulties, it's rare to see characters functioning in a story with these issues, let alone see them go through good and bad days alike.

Derek's just great on representation all round, man. His characters go beyond ticking a box because he just writes people, in all their weird and wonderful variations. The protagonist is bisexual, and while it's a part of her identity, it's not her storyline. The female characters are kick ass because they kick ass, not because they have to prove themselves (I will refer once again to my one and only queen swordlady). I'm so grateful that I had the original series when I was a kid and that it's grown up with me as I've grown up, but it also makes me happy that they're still coming out for new generations.

It's been a long time since I read something, looked up and realised four hours had unexpectedly past. I've had quite a few 'not-want-to-put-down' books, but none that I physically couldn't put down. I can't wait for the rest of this series because it's going to be just as epic as the first one.