I really like Eliza Clark's writing style. I find it incredibly compelling.
There were plenty of cool ideas in this collection of short stories based aI really like Eliza Clark's writing style. I find it incredibly compelling.
There were plenty of cool ideas in this collection of short stories based around insatiable desire. However, I found a lot of them, while incredibly intriguing, petered away to nothing. The endings felt abrupt or a bit flat, which was a shame.
Still, it makes me realise how much I would probably enjoy a full length novel from this author....more
I found this to be a very curious bit of speculative fiction.
Inspired by Bluebeard's Castle, this novella ponders the themes of enviro3.5 rounded up.
I found this to be a very curious bit of speculative fiction.
Inspired by Bluebeard's Castle, this novella ponders the themes of environmentalism and the merging of cultures - the shock of being introduced to new ways of living, feeling, communicating and how those can erode away your original identity.
While I really enjoyed this - it's beautifully written and the world is intricately built and designed. However, the plot at times felt meandering. I thought this was a standalone novella, but as you storm to the finish line, it was clear there had to be another book. So many questions left unresolved, and a cliff hanger as well?
With a year to wait for the second volume in this duology, and the fact it was a small hardback less than 200 pages long, I have to question why the author would make a multi part novella series. Why not just release it in its entirety as one, large standalone fantasy? It's quite frustrating as a reader....more
A city has gone into lockdownn due to a plague, causing people to become sick and die within a few days. With discussions about c2.5 stars rounded up.
A city has gone into lockdownn due to a plague, causing people to become sick and die within a few days. With discussions about cleanliness, mask wearing and soldiers prowling the streets questioning why people were outside, this could have been inspired by the covid pandemic.
Instead, it's a short but only hollow retelling of Romeo and Juliet, touching on cartel crime syndicates and police brutality. For a 100 page novella, there were two sex scenes that felt utterly unnecessary.
Our protagonist is a fixer for the mob, doing a body exchange of two crime families children. He's emotionally intelligent, sensitive, job proud with apparently zero self-confidence and a rampant horniness.
I felt a bit lost as to the purpose of the story, the passage of time didn't make sense and, quite frankly, I was a bit bored....more
This lyrical novella feels both familiar and startlingly new. The pondering on language is delightful. In this worlHalf fairytale, half murder ballad.
This lyrical novella feels both familiar and startlingly new. The pondering on language is delightful. In this world, grammar is magic. Both are transformative in their intentions, which is such a wonderful idea.
The combinations of music and riddles makes for an intriguing book that feels bizarrely English. For something so short, I took my time flowing along with the story, which has a delicious end.
In this volume, we are also given a sneak peak into El-Mohtar's future collection of short stories. The tale of a man missing his memories and a pound of flesh is a wonderful little mystery that makes me hungry for me.
These are stories that will stay with me, have taken up residence in my mind and will be carried forward until I'm gone....more
Ok, so this is very atmospheric and has an intriguing magic system that I found fascinating. I liked the world that had been built. Although it's nothOk, so this is very atmospheric and has an intriguing magic system that I found fascinating. I liked the world that had been built. Although it's nothing particularly new or groundbreaking, it makes sense and flows naturally.
I rooted for our female MC. Leading a double life to rescue witches from the slaughter of a ruthless regime, one born from the cruelty of the previous ruling Witch Queens. Decent. Solid.
However, the romance is utterly stupid.
Ok, so at first, it's built on suberterfuge. Makes sense. She's grilling our male MC for information on captured witches because he's captain of the blood guard and prides himself on running down evil magic users. Fine. He's grilling her because he believes her to be the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante releasing all his captors before he can purge them. Ok, silly but fine.
But then they start to catch feelings.
However, this makes no sense. This is the man who slit her grandmother's throat in front of a crowd of cheering onlookers. Who hunted down witches and had dogs rip them apart. Who murdered children proven to have magical abilities. I don't care how "solid" his chest is, he's still a violent monster and I don't believe anyone could look past that. Yes yes, there's a bit of a back story to explain why he's predjudiced. But still. NO. You just wouldn't. Even if you do secretly loathe yourself because you were the one to hand your grandmother over to this brute.
We get to see both perspectives. Rune has insta-lust that developes into love and Ok, maybe you could say its understandably a bit self destructive because she expects to one day be caught and killed. But Gideon - there's no development or depth. In his chapters he says "i find her attractive but if she's a witch I'll slit her throat" and that never changes. Not once throughout the book.
Utterly stupid, but I'll probably read the next book....more
I really should have dnf'd this after the first 70 pages.
It's an intriguing premise: a genderless narrator searches for their missing father. Their faI really should have dnf'd this after the first 70 pages.
It's an intriguing premise: a genderless narrator searches for their missing father. Their father, who has vanished in the Scottish countryside whilst looking for their wife. A wife who is dead.
This is a book exploring what appears to be a generational mental health crisis. One parent has a breakdown after the death of their partner, and their child subsequently succumbs to their own inner demons of depression whilst trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to their missing father in the mountains. You piece this together through notes left by the missing dad, alongside the observations of the nameless narrator.
In order to portray this mental collapse, the author has the narrator spiral. Their stream of consciousness becomes more erratic, repetitive and hard to follow. They begin to reenact their father's unstable behaviour, making the narrative ceaseless and cyclical.
Unfortunately, this makes for a very mundane and monotonous read. While there are snippets of interest - references to a devil prowling the wilderness are particularly emotive and spine tingling - these are few and far between. I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness in general - there's usually very little dialogue and no real plot.
If you want to read a book about grief and overcoming poor mental health, I would highly recommend Brat by Gabriel Smith instead. That book made me weep more than once, whereas this novel had me skim reading it right to the last page....more
I really wanted to dive into the second instalment of this trilogy and fall in love. Be swept away by the world building and myth2.5 stars rounded up.
I really wanted to dive into the second instalment of this trilogy and fall in love. Be swept away by the world building and mythology and sink deeper into the overarching story about the fae curse and the extinct humans.
Unfortunately, I was a more than a little disappointed.
While the universe is still rich and intriguing, I found the opening recap chapter clunky and utilitarian. This book really lacked the magic of the first one, which I think for me was intrinsically linked to the tale of the three Gods. Instead, what we got was chapters from Afa's grimoire which failed to expand on this mythology and were a little dull.
I also found the main cast of characters mostly disagreeable and unbelievably naive to the point of stupidity. There were a number of reveals in this book, which for me were incredibly obvious, yet the main characters were shocked by them. There were also way too many conveniences to push the plot forward.
Lettle at this point is fairly insufferable. Near the end of the book she appears to self reflect a little, but for the most part she is arrogant, angry and unbelievably selfish. It was a shame as she was a favourite character of mine in the first book. But she also suffers from the stupid character syndrome. Set up as this brilliant new seer of the ages, she can't interpret prophecies which are obvious to the reader. Silly.
Yeeran is also an idiot apparently. I find it difficult to believe she would genuinely think she could tell the elves, who have been hunting and slaughtering obeah for millennium, to stop just because it meant they might be killing a fae as well. Like they would care when they've already taken so many lives? And to think they wouldn't want to invade Mosima and steal their resources? Just because she asked nicely? Stupid, again.
Rayan is a 2d cutout and Salawa, our firebrand Elven chief, is stripped of everything that made her interesting.
The only redeeming characters are Golan, Alder and Furi and for the most part, they are sidelined.
While the final reveal was a kicker - I truly did not see that coming and yet when I look back, all the hints were there - a single twist cannot redeem this book.
It's an easy, fast paced read that is generally well written, but I spent too much of my time wondering how such a beautiful world could be filled with so many idiots to really enjoy it....more
I found this volume to be very repetitive and meandering, as if Lin wasn't sure how to get from the end of the last book to the final acDisappointing.
I found this volume to be very repetitive and meandering, as if Lin wasn't sure how to get from the end of the last book to the final act of this book.
The reveal was incredibly obvious, and although I really enjoyed the final 20% of the book, it didn't make up for what was a limp to the finish, in my opinion....more
I find Imamura's writing so compelling. Her stories are surreal but in a way that feels perfectly reasonable.
My favourite story is the namesake of theI find Imamura's writing so compelling. Her stories are surreal but in a way that feels perfectly reasonable.
My favourite story is the namesake of the collection. I could really feel Asa's joy at finally being able to perform in a caregiving role.
I admit the second story is quite dark and I wonder if it alluded to suicide, but it wasn't clear cut. It was a very sad story overall.
The final in the trilogy felt it rounded things off nicely - these three stories are about women trying to find their way and place in modern society....more
About 400 pages too long and segmented in an unnecessary way - I also disliked the obnoxious use of quotes from famous writers pre-facing every part. About 400 pages too long and segmented in an unnecessary way - I also disliked the obnoxious use of quotes from famous writers pre-facing every part.
Part 1 is essentially a prologue. It goes into an entirely unnecessary level of detail to provide backstory to a well worn dystopian idea.
What annoyed me is that I actually became quite invested in the characters you're introduced to, just to have it mean mostly f-all 350 pages later when there is a nearly 100 year time skip and the entire world has to be built by the author again.
I also felt there were times when the telling came to a natural end. Especially around the 800 page mark, where it made sense for the story to end in preparation for book 2. But instead the author insisted on smashing through what is quite an important plot point. I can't believe I'm saying it, but that part actually felt rushed.
Finally, comparing a woman's vagina as she gives birth to a "flower with its petals peeling away" - go away. I do not need to read a graphic description of someone shoving their hands into a uterus to pull a baby out.
This is a book about vampires, but not the sexy kind. Instead, more of an animalistic hive mind. And they can only be stopped by a girl who can give them back their identity.
It felt like a mashup of Doom, Resident Evil, The Strand and the actual Bible. Needless to say I won't be continuing on with the series....more
"Nothing I do makes sense... I was dragged into this story; my only freedom is to create."
This is beautifully written. I have seen some reviews critic"Nothing I do makes sense... I was dragged into this story; my only freedom is to create."
This is beautifully written. I have seen some reviews criticising the prose, and I just don't understand why. It is raw and lyrical. Yuszczuk's depiction of both naked animal desire and the slow, surrender to death and disease is beautiful and honest.
The book is segmented into 2 sections. And that's where the problems arise. They feel like separate stories that are poorly and rapidly forced to entwine in the last fifth of the book, in order to justify the duel perspectives.
Section one follows a fairly typical vampire creation story that seems heavily inspired by Dracula. I particularly enjoyed how this vampire is devoid of humanity and driven by hunger. She has a strong, emotional connection to her vampire sisters but feels nothing for humans. It's quite refreshing, considering modern vampire tales have a tendency to make these monsters just very sexy immortal men. This vampire is an animal. A predator. And that's all they desire.
I found the secondary narrative of a woman dealing with her dying mother and how that forces her to examine her relationship with her young son, touching and carefully constructed.
But for me, it's feels a world away from the blurbs premise. I got to page 190 of 240 and only then started to see these two women's tales overlap. Their lives had to collide violently and at speed due to the page number constraints. I saw some pondering on female agency, but to suggest this echoes Frankenstein is an awful stretch.
The ending is what placed the final nails in the coffin, pun intended. Without spoiling it, I do not understand the human protagonists final decision. These characters had not had the time to construct any kind of meaningful relationship to justify this choice. The narrative had established the female vampire as animalistic - her behaviour with Alma contradicts this.
I finished the book annoyed and confused.
It needed to be longer. These were two interesting, beguiling tales and should have been given the time necessary to mesh them together. To conjur a meaningful relationship between a vampire who feels out of time and place, and a woman who has been so devastated by her mother's death, she no longer feels a part of her own life anymore....more
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