Sirens 2013 reading: October

Oct 29, 2012 12:24

I'm going to try getting into bookblogging again by doing a monthly post on the reading I'm doing from next year's Sirens staff reading list. We'll see if I can keep it up!


Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke and Bone: I was surprised at how much I liked this. I mean, star-crossed lovers are not usually my thing, much less preternaturally gorgeous star-crossed lovers with gem-colored hair and eyes, and I’m not much into paranormal either. I think if it weren’t on the Sirens reading list and generally liked by my Goodreads friends, I’d have passed it up, and that would have been a shame. A couple of things stood out for me: the prose in general, which was very lush and vivid without going over the top, and the dialogue in particular, especially the banter between the heroine and her best friend. Also, the worldbuilding is interesting, with a well-engineered conflict. I’m glad the next book is coming out soon!


Kate Thompson, The New Policeman: The residents of Kinvara, a small town in Ireland, feel as though time is slipping away from them: nobody has enough time, and it just seems to be getting worse. When J.J.’s mother asks for more time for her birthday, J.J. sets out to find it for her and finds himself caught up in a world of fantastical creatures out of Irish mythology. This has an interesting set-up, but it takes forever to get going, and never caught my interest that much. I will admit that this is partly a grouch on my part - the chapters are all very short, and each is prefaced with a page of Irish folk music, so because I read fast, the page-turn rate drove me nuts. I don’t think I’ll be reading it again - anyone want it?


Mercedes Lackey, Arrows of the Queen: I picked this up at the Sirens book sale after the animal companions panel, as I’d never read any Lackey. I spent quite a bit of time, especially during the first half, in thinking about how similar in setup it is to Dragonsong (shy girl rebels against gender roles, finds animal companion and new life with people who accept her), and Talia seemed a little Mary-Sue-ish (knows the perfect thing to say to help everyone! unusually strong Gift! learns quickly! rides perfectly! even has a lovely singing voice!). I liked it, though, and will read the rest of the trilogy, but I wonder if I wouldn’t have liked it much more if I’d come to it earlier.

The Taylor was definitely the stand-out for this month. I’ve also started reading Tiptree’s Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, but I find that I can’t read more than one story at a time, so that might take me a while.

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