The ending is great, with a truly clever conclusion to a hinted-at mystery. Getting there, though, was a frustrating journey. I don't know if it was tThe ending is great, with a truly clever conclusion to a hinted-at mystery. Getting there, though, was a frustrating journey. I don't know if it was the pacing (as others have mentioned), the characterization (which felt uneven - I wanted more depth from the characters), the unconvincing love story, the missing details of worldbuilding that I wanted to flesh out the story and pull me along.
Merged review:
The ending is great, with a truly clever conclusion to a hinted-at mystery. Getting there, though, was a frustrating journey. I don't know if it was the pacing (as others have mentioned), the characterization (which felt uneven - I wanted more depth from the characters), the unconvincing love story, the missing details of worldbuilding that I wanted to flesh out the story and pull me along....more
The linked stories in this book felt to me like the forerunner of Garrison Keillor's tales of Lake Wobegon, with a hint of John Steinbeck and a somewhThe linked stories in this book felt to me like the forerunner of Garrison Keillor's tales of Lake Wobegon, with a hint of John Steinbeck and a somewhat gentler O. Henry and a streak of magical realism. The titular Gösta Berling is a defrocked priest who comes to live among the pensioners at the Ekeby estate - a group of mostly old men who are given a home by the mistress of the estate. In one of the first stories, on Christmas Eve the men make a deal with (perhaps) the devil to gain the estate; the rest of the stories tell various tales of the men and their lives, and the women around them, as the year progresses around the seasons, ending with Christmas one year later. The tales vary: some are moralistic, some humorous, some are realistic, some have elements of the fantastic, some are romantic, some are pragmatic. It seemed to me as though they gathered sophistication and depth as they went on, though partly that may be because the later stories call back to the people and events of previous ones. There is a great deal of tremendously evocative scenery description, and as I listened on my exercise runs, I imagined the dark forests and clear lakes of Värmland.
Reading (listening) in translation I can only imagine that the original was beautifully written, for the translation is lovely and melodic. The translation by Pauline Bancroft Flach was made not long after the original publication in 1894, and she preserved what to a modern reader seems old-fashioned phrasing, but it helps set the scene, I think - and after all, the stories are set even earlier, in the 1820s. The cadences are meant to be read aloud, and so it was a joy to listen to the Librivox recording. The narrator, a volunteer as all Librivox readers are, has a pleasant voice, though it's a bit sing-song (I suspect because of his native Swedish intonations), and his voices for the various characters are well-done and clear. The only issue is that he mispronounces a number of English words (I particularly noticed 'cradle' and 'fatigue'), but if you can overlook this, it's really a great listen....more
Not my favorite of this series. Aethelflaed has no agency - she's basically just a MacGuffin who gets beat up a lot - and although this is admittedly Not my favorite of this series. Aethelflaed has no agency - she's basically just a MacGuffin who gets beat up a lot - and although this is admittedly a mostly-male-centered series, this seemed particularly bad. I mean, I still love Uhtred, and I enjoyed the "dead man" plot, but in general this was mostly a boring fighting book. I noticed a lot of places where the TV version did things differently, and I can see why. (Osferth, for example, is really a sad sack in the book, and Aldhelm is as mean as Aethelred. Not to mention that in the book, Aethelflaed is 14, half the age of Aethelred; the actress is in her late 20s and the TV character is presented as late teens, while Aethelred seems to be in his early 20s, not much older.)...more
It was pretty clear to me what was going on from quite early on, and so it was kind of exasperating waiting for the characters to figure it out, too. It was pretty clear to me what was going on from quite early on, and so it was kind of exasperating waiting for the characters to figure it out, too. Otherwise, it was mostly quite charming, though the endgame romance seemed a bit sudden. Rollo is still my favorite character from this series....more
I liked this a lot! The grounding in both Jewish and Slavic cultures, and the borrowing from well-known fairy tales and myths, made it both familiar aI liked this a lot! The grounding in both Jewish and Slavic cultures, and the borrowing from well-known fairy tales and myths, made it both familiar and novel to me, and I really liked that it foregrounded strong women - who still made mistakes, and had doubts, and had to make significant sacrifices to reach their goals. The romances were obvious from the start, but I thought they made more sense here than the one in Uprooted. Though I have to say, Miryem's family seems awfully okay with her marrying a blond goy! I could have done without so many first-person narrators, and I feel the book was a little long, but overall I enjoyed it....more
Despite being the conclusion of a series, this stands alone pretty well. This is a historic novel that leads up to a climax at the Battle of Poitiers,Despite being the conclusion of a series, this stands alone pretty well. This is a historic novel that leads up to a climax at the Battle of Poitiers, an important battle in the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and man, is there a lot of fighting. Unfortunately in audiobook I couldn't skim over the many gory battles. Cornwell also regards archers and archery like Tom Clancy regards submarines, and there are many lovingly detailed and repetitive descriptions of the archer's quidditch-toned - oops, I mean, archery-honed muscles. But the actual human stories are pretty enjoyable, and there's a lot of humor in it....more
I really loved it - so far it's my favorite of the series. The action is straightforward, Uhtred's journey for revenge on Kjartan and Sven - though thI really loved it - so far it's my favorite of the series. The action is straightforward, Uhtred's journey for revenge on Kjartan and Sven - though that journey itself is not straightforward. There's just so much (dark) humor in Uhtred's retelling of his misadventures, how he ruefully admits now, as he looks back on his life, that his plans were brought low by inexorable fate. And also, I love Sihtric and Finan from the TV series, and so seeing them on the page was really delightful. It was definitely interesting to note the differences between the book and the show....more
It's always hard to rate a short-story collection, especially an anthology from multiple authors, because the contents are always going to vary. In thIt's always hard to rate a short-story collection, especially an anthology from multiple authors, because the contents are always going to vary. In this collection, the stories ranged from middle-grade to YA, set in a variety of countries and a variety of time periods, and the audio version (which I got through the SYNC free audiobook program) uses a variety of narrators as well (with accents appropriate to the stories). The only thing these stories have in common is that they are all inspired by an item from the First World War, which is described by a neutral narrator after each story.
Because I started listening to this back in late April my recall is fuzzy on a few of the stories, but I will try to at least give a rating for all of them. Most of them had a very strong anti-war slant, sometimes simplistic.
"Our Jacko" by Michael Morpurgo *** Contemporary schoolkid learns about his uncle who died in the Great War, who left behind a helmet.
"Another Kind of Missing" by A. L. Kennedy ** Young boy visiting his invalided-out father in the hospital. It's implied he has mental as well as physical damage.
"Don't Call It Glory" by Marcus Sedgwick ** A sort of ghost story, about a young boy who learns that a German bomber had hit a tree on his street, and he learns the history and becomes a pacifist as the ghost of one of the crew observes and relives wartime experiences. Parts were interesting, but it felt like the author wasn't quite sure what to write about.
"The Country You Called Home" by John Boyne *** Irishmen have issues about being recruited by England for the war. Low-key but well done.
"When they were needed most" by Tracy Chevalier **** A mother packing Christmas boxes for soldiers brings one home for her children to see, and they speculate about their father, away at war, getting his. This has a clever structure and supernatural elements, and was one of my favorites despite having some Americanisms - this is set in England - that even American me noticed.
"A world that has no war in it" by David Almond ** An Irish Romeo-and-Juliet family feud set in the late 20th century, with Romeo and Juliet affected by the old lady who comes to tell their school about the Great War and her beau who died in it. A bit smarmy for my taste.
"A Harlem Hellfighter and his horn" by Tanya Lee Stone ** The single American-focused story, and I liked the idea of following a young black musician, but there wasn't much to it.
"Maud's Story" by Adele Geras *** Finally, a story with a female protagonist! When a girl's older sister falls pregnant by her soldier boyfriend, she secretly takes her place at the local pottery factory to earn money for her family.
"Captain Rosalie" by Timothee de Fombelle **** Five-year-old Rosalie is left to sit at the back of a classroom of older children while her mother works for the war effort. Her POV, as she imagines herself an intelligence officer spying behind enemy lines, is charming, and the story is thoughtful and emotionally charged. Possibly my favorite.
"Each Slow Dusk" by Sheena Wilkinson **** Though maybe this was my favorite. An Irish schoolgirl finds her college dreams threatened by her father's expectations that she nurse her injured brother who has been invalided out from the war. Not only does it focus on a female character, it shows the terrible cost of war even on those who did not actually fight.
"Little Wars" by Urula Dubosarsky ** The sole Australian-set story, about a girl whose brother and his friend play with toy soldiers, and she envies them the games she's not allowed....more
I liked the first book a whole lot. I loved the second. I was let down by this conclusion, which begins directly after the second book ends, though I'I liked the first book a whole lot. I loved the second. I was let down by this conclusion, which begins directly after the second book ends, though I'm not sure whether this is due to the book or to me. Certainly I feel that maybe if I had read this book in a few long sittings, rather than spread out over several weeks, I might have felt more invested in it - but maybe the reason I kept finding excuses to put it back down over only a few chapters is that I didn't feel invested in it.
Not that I didn't like The Winter of the Witch. It really cranks the old-Rus mythology up to 11, with upyr (Slavic vampires) and the demon-goddesses of both Midnight and Midday, which was very cool. But I felt very distant from Vasilisa, and not as invested in her trials and tribulations as I was in the previous book - and her trials and tribulations meander a lot, here, as Arden brings together the over-arching thread of the fate of old-religion spirits in a Christianizing world, along with the political fate of Moscow with the Tatars at the door. The personal fates of the individual characters were less compelling to me, but unfortunately that's typically what drives my engagement with a novel....more
A lot of convoluted wandering around. I generally liked it a lot, but by the last battle I found myself skimming. Cornwell is to shield wall battles wA lot of convoluted wandering around. I generally liked it a lot, but by the last battle I found myself skimming. Cornwell is to shield wall battles what Tom Clancy is to submarine battles, is all I'm saying.
(Also interesting to note the changes made for the TV series.)...more
I always enjoy the idea of "subverting" (quotes because, see below) the classical narrative of hero-man and villain-woman-along-the-way, and certainl I always enjoy the idea of "subverting" (quotes because, see below) the classical narrative of hero-man and villain-woman-along-the-way, and certainly there was a lot I liked about this book from Circe's POV. At first passive and controlled, Circe begins to fight back against those with greater power than she has; she doesn't really come into her own until she faces the first negative consequences and is exiled to her own island, and for a while she is mostly just reacting rather than acting, but I like that she does act, eventually.
What I didn't like was that a lot of the narrative centers on a woman's value as a wife and mother, which, I understand Miller is just working with the myth, here, but still, it always feels like the traditional roles preserved. Though also, this is basically Daddy Issues: The Novel, and I guess that ending with taking your sometime lover's son by his actual wife as your new lover is a poke in the eye to the patriarchy. (But I still kind of wanted it to end with Circe and Penelope together as Lesbian Witches of Aiaia.)...more
A spy novel set in an alternate 1938, where death (provided you have a Ticket) sends you not into the formless void but into Summerland, an extension A spy novel set in an alternate 1938, where death (provided you have a Ticket) sends you not into the formless void but into Summerland, an extension of the British Empire where Queen Victoria still reigns and there is a whole branch of non-living government bureaucracy. There were a lot of elements I liked - the four-dimensional nature of the afterlife, the various ways the dead have of interacting with the living, and most especially the Prime Minister being a thinly-disguised version of HG Wells - but in a way it felt as though there was so much shoved into the story that the characters and their concerns felt less compelling to me than they should have. The beginning's great, the end's great, but the stuff in the middle feels meandery and confusing....more
After watching the Sharpe series on TV, I read one of Cornwell's Sharpe books and found it terribly boring. So I was a little apprehensive about readiAfter watching the Sharpe series on TV, I read one of Cornwell's Sharpe books and found it terribly boring. So I was a little apprehensive about reading this, after watching the TV series based on these books, particularly since Uhtred is kind of 10th-century Sharpe. But I liked it a lot! Uhtred as a narrator is alternately boastful and disarmingly honest about his shortcomings, and I love the element of the story being told by adult Uhtred looking back on his childhood, the combination of the naivete of the youth as mediated by the later understanding of the grown man.
That said, this is a man's book for men, with women relegated (mostly) to their traditional roles - which is reasonable for a historical novel, and I have to say that it made Brida's complete disregard for those traditional roles all the more delicious. I also have to admit that I skimmed some of the pages and pages of painstaking description of battle. (Instead I lingered over the historical notes at the end!) But overall it was a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the next one. ...more
This YA book tells the parallel stories of the mermaid Syrenka, who in 1872 falls in love with a young Plymouth naturalist and chooses to become mortaThis YA book tells the parallel stories of the mermaid Syrenka, who in 1872 falls in love with a young Plymouth naturalist and chooses to become mortal so as to live with him - a choice which, of course, has a difficult and high price - and 17-year-old Hester, living in Plymouth 140 years later, who has sworn not to fall in love because the women in her family have inexplicably died after giving birth. Of course these stories are connected, and the reader is clued in through the narrative of the past long before Hester figures it out, which is a trope I love. (Not quite "unreliable narrator", but "narrator who doesn't have the facts the reader does.") In the first part of the book, the past-narrative is far more interesting than the present-narrative, but about 3/4 through, Hester's story takes an abrupt turn for higher stakes, which I thought was an excellent choice on the part of the author, and I found myself thoroughly engrossed. (Also, the ending involves another trope I adore, but it's a spoiler.)
The audiobook is read by Katherine Kellgren, who I fell in love with from her work on the Bloody Jack series, and she does an excellent job here, too. At the end of the audiobook is an "interview" - more of a conversation - between Kellgren and Fama, and although often these extra-canon looks at the author make me cringe, I really enjoyed listening to these women talking about the research they did for the writing and the narration....more
There's a lot about this book I liked, but for some reason I had to force myself to keep reading. Maybe it was that I felt as though I didn't have a cThere's a lot about this book I liked, but for some reason I had to force myself to keep reading. Maybe it was that I felt as though I didn't have a clear mental roadmap as to where things were going; and it's not that I require hand-holding and everything telegraphed in advance, it's that plot twists and unexpected events only have their full impact if I have expectations beforehand to be dashed, so it was more that I didn't feel invested in anyone or anything in particular. There was a lot of meandering plot that didn't really contribute to the overall arc. I am still unclear on the actual historical events and composition and whats and whys of Daevabad. And in a way I feel almost betrayed by a fantasy world of supposed djinn who don't actually seem particularly magical or djinn-like; it's almost like the writer wanted to superpose the fantasy world on top of the real world, rather than either a faux-Eastern secondary world, or just Eastern culture with added magic. ...more
I didn't actually know what this was about when I started - for some reason the name made me think it would be futuristic cyberpunk - but I love the OI didn't actually know what this was about when I started - for some reason the name made me think it would be futuristic cyberpunk - but I love the Old West, and apparently this carries over into Steampunk Alternate Old West as well. The story itself, about soiled doves and dirty politics in the Pacific Northwest, is not particularly amazing or innovative. But the characters and the incredibly evocative writing make it good, and the narration of the audiobook makes it great.
When I listened to Range of Ghosts, also by Bear, I immediately felt that a) the cadences of her writing were clearly intended to be read aloud, and b) the audiobook narrator totally blew it. But Jennifer Grace is much better than Celeste Ciulla, and her reading makes Karen and the other characters spring into full life.
I also really appreciated the f/f romance, as a side plot to the adventure, and the matter-of-fact inclusion of a trans character and characters of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. And Captain Nemo, too! ...more
An enjoyable coming-of-age novel set against Castro's revolution in Cuba. When the soldiers arrive in their small town in spring of 1961, and close thAn enjoyable coming-of-age novel set against Castro's revolution in Cuba. When the soldiers arrive in their small town in spring of 1961, and close the schools, fourteen-year-0ld Lucía Álvarez (Lucy) and her seven-year-old brother Frankie at first enjoy the unexpected time off. But Lucy is old enough to note the changes to her town, and as her friends join the Jóvenes Rebeldes, her parents, who quietly oppose the revolution, become more isolated and endangered. Eventually the children are sent to the US though Operation Pedro Pan, and live first in a Florida children's refugee camp, then with a host family in Nebraska.
The narrative is a bit simplistic, with events happening in black and white, with few shades of gray. Lucy is only interested in gossiping with her best friend and fantasizing about the boy she has a crush on until events crash down on her. There's quite a bit of pro-Catholic and anti-Communist messaging, and it feels rather transparent. But I guess you really can't expect nuance from a YA/MG story, and considering it's based on the author's parents' life experiences, I'm sure that colored her views.
I thought the audio version was very well done, and the narrator quite good.
There is some alluded-to sexual assault in this book, but it's not explicit....more