Brief Book Reviews
My year of free 2-day shipping from Amazon ended. They're offering me 50% off the annual cost of the service ($40USD/reg $80USD), but I don't think I buy enough stuff from to justify the cost. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.
Finished Reads (since this post):
All ratings are out of 5 stars.
The Wizard of London (Mercedes Lackey) ★♦ 1.5 stars
The Serpent's Shadow (Mercedes Lackey) ★♦ 1.5 stars
Reviewing these together, as they were both kinda meh, and in all honesty they deserve something between 1 star and 1.5 stars. Mostly I'm annoyed at the how Lackey handled my beloved Snow Queen fairy tale (The Wizard of London), and Lackey talking about Hindu gods (The Serpent's Shadow) just felt a bit off to me (eg: the villain was, of course, a worshipper of Kali; the seven "dwarves" are animals that happen to be symbols of various Hindu gods). Lackey is, for whatever reason, very quick to wrap up everyting within a couple pages of all the Elemental Masters books I've read so far.
Momo (Michael Ende) ★★★♦ 3.5 stars
I'm sorry, mermaidbia, I still prefer Ende's The Neverending Story. But Momo is full of sweet details, and its story is, I think, very timely for how some people spend their lives. And it has a tortoise who is the best tortoise ever.
The Nightmare Factory (Thomas Ligotti) ★★♦ 2.5 stars
Actually a graphic novelization of four Ligotti short stories. Of the four, I only liked two (they will haunt me forever). I can't even remember what the other two were about.
Midnight Robber (Nalo Hopkinson) ★★★★♦ 4.5 stars
I could go on and on about this book and how much I enjoyed it and what it does right, but instead I think you should read it. Fair warning (?), however: it is written in Caribbean English, both in narrative and dialogue. I got used to it pretty quickly and felt it added to the story, but YMMV. Trigger warning: there is some sexual abuse in the book, but ultimately the story is about how Tan-Tan survives it and refuses to let herself be defined by it.
Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman) ★★★ 3 stars
Gaiman's fiction more miss than hit for me, but Anansi Boys wasn't too bad. Anansi was one of the first Trickster figures I'd ever read about (the others being Coyote and Hermes), so I read this book before the first book, American Gods. (And I don't think I needed to read it either.) Eh. I never really know what to say about Gaiman's novels -- most of his male primary characters are milquetoasty and somewhat whiny, and Charlie is cut from that cloth. On the other hand, Spider's crazy behaviour, in particular how he shoves himself into other people's lives, does ring true, in the sense that if Anansi had children, that is how his children would behave.
Brown Girl in the Ring (Nalo Hopkinson) ★★★ 3 stars
I believe this is Nalo's first novel, but that doesn't mean the book suffers for that; it's just obvious that Nalo's learned a thing or two as she wrote the book. Set in Toronto, Canada, after some sort of economic collapse in the area, leaving the city itself in horrible shambles; those with means fled to the suburbs, leaving the city to be run by drug lords and struggle on its own. Full of Caribbean myths, which I liked, and the main character's cowardly, drug-addicted, gang-affiliated, means-well-but-fucksup baby daddy, who I found utterly annoying. The dialogue is Caribbean English, although unlike Midnight Robber the actual descriptions are not.
Finished Reads (since this post):
All ratings are out of 5 stars.
The Wizard of London (Mercedes Lackey) ★♦ 1.5 stars
The Serpent's Shadow (Mercedes Lackey) ★♦ 1.5 stars
Reviewing these together, as they were both kinda meh, and in all honesty they deserve something between 1 star and 1.5 stars. Mostly I'm annoyed at the how Lackey handled my beloved Snow Queen fairy tale (The Wizard of London), and Lackey talking about Hindu gods (The Serpent's Shadow) just felt a bit off to me (eg: the villain was, of course, a worshipper of Kali; the seven "dwarves" are animals that happen to be symbols of various Hindu gods). Lackey is, for whatever reason, very quick to wrap up everyting within a couple pages of all the Elemental Masters books I've read so far.
Momo (Michael Ende) ★★★♦ 3.5 stars
I'm sorry, mermaidbia, I still prefer Ende's The Neverending Story. But Momo is full of sweet details, and its story is, I think, very timely for how some people spend their lives. And it has a tortoise who is the best tortoise ever.
The Nightmare Factory (Thomas Ligotti) ★★♦ 2.5 stars
Actually a graphic novelization of four Ligotti short stories. Of the four, I only liked two (they will haunt me forever). I can't even remember what the other two were about.
Midnight Robber (Nalo Hopkinson) ★★★★♦ 4.5 stars
I could go on and on about this book and how much I enjoyed it and what it does right, but instead I think you should read it. Fair warning (?), however: it is written in Caribbean English, both in narrative and dialogue. I got used to it pretty quickly and felt it added to the story, but YMMV. Trigger warning: there is some sexual abuse in the book, but ultimately the story is about how Tan-Tan survives it and refuses to let herself be defined by it.
Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman) ★★★ 3 stars
Gaiman's fiction more miss than hit for me, but Anansi Boys wasn't too bad. Anansi was one of the first Trickster figures I'd ever read about (the others being Coyote and Hermes), so I read this book before the first book, American Gods. (And I don't think I needed to read it either.) Eh. I never really know what to say about Gaiman's novels -- most of his male primary characters are milquetoasty and somewhat whiny, and Charlie is cut from that cloth. On the other hand, Spider's crazy behaviour, in particular how he shoves himself into other people's lives, does ring true, in the sense that if Anansi had children, that is how his children would behave.
Brown Girl in the Ring (Nalo Hopkinson) ★★★ 3 stars
I believe this is Nalo's first novel, but that doesn't mean the book suffers for that; it's just obvious that Nalo's learned a thing or two as she wrote the book. Set in Toronto, Canada, after some sort of economic collapse in the area, leaving the city itself in horrible shambles; those with means fled to the suburbs, leaving the city to be run by drug lords and struggle on its own. Full of Caribbean myths, which I liked, and the main character's cowardly, drug-addicted, gang-affiliated, means-well-but-fucksup baby daddy, who I found utterly annoying. The dialogue is Caribbean English, although unlike Midnight Robber the actual descriptions are not.