Crazy that I lugged this book around for fifteen years, only to finally read it and discover that I hate it!
This is a book with dragons that contains Crazy that I lugged this book around for fifteen years, only to finally read it and discover that I hate it!
This is a book with dragons that contains almost no dragons. This is a book with magic that contains almost no magic. This is a book written by two afab people that contains virtually no women.
What it does have: very poor worldbuilding. We're in some alternate fantastical culture, which we know because they say 'Versity for university (dumb) and roman for novel, but like...is there a France in this world, then? There is a Chinese-coded country with whom the home nation of our main characters is at war, but even the sketchiest details of what this war is about are not provided until around page 300 of a 430 page book. So there are no stakes, but there is an icky tang of racism?
There are also two pairs of dudes, one a sort of Mr. Rochester/Jane Eyre duo who swiftly fall in love but have very little chemistry. The other is made up of a young university...sorry, 'Versity student and the top rider in the Dragon Corps, who is a sexist pig and a bully. They at least have some more interesting tension simmering between them but surprise! (view spoiler)[They're actually long-lost brothers. (hide spoiler)]
Most of the novel revolves around these relationships instead of any sort of plot (or dragons or magic, HELLO) and it's honestly so boring, in that "fandom I'm not in" kind of way. Why should we care about any of these people or what they're doing? Jones and Bennett assume an investment that they never justify.
I, too, was unjustified -- in hanging onto this book for so long....more
Wow Armstrong has really grown as an author in the last twenty years. This was pretty insufferable. An extremely 2004 book in terms of the gender binaWow Armstrong has really grown as an author in the last twenty years. This was pretty insufferable. An extremely 2004 book in terms of the gender binary and also the constant discussions of weight (and how it's discussed), the main character, Paige, is also so stupid and makes so many idiotic and obviously avoidable decisions you can't help but feel that maybe she shouldn't be running a coven or have custody of a magical teenager.
A good reminder of why I hated urban fantasy of this era (and most eras)....more
A modern retelling of the myth of Geryon and Herakles; a metacommentary on the work of the poet Stesichoros that's both real and not real; a queer lovA modern retelling of the myth of Geryon and Herakles; a metacommentary on the work of the poet Stesichoros that's both real and not real; a queer love story; confusing. I liked the meta framework the best; as for the main novel/poem/the love story...to my surprise and sadness I didn't really click with it. I just...I don't find Carson's use of language that beautiful or interesting, to be honest.
Don't pick at that Geryon you'll get it infected. Just leave it alone and let it heal, said his mother rhinestoning past on her way to the door. She had all her breasts on this evening Geryon stared in amazement.
Finished this one back in November but forgot to review. I also initially gave it four stars, but it has not sat particularly welMystery box book #36!
Finished this one back in November but forgot to review. I also initially gave it four stars, but it has not sat particularly well with me so it's dropping down one. Essentially: this is an old-school adventure in the style of Treasure Island, but with zeppelins and dragons and one (1) female character. It's fine, and maybe especially fine if you are a twelve-year-old boy, but I don't think Oppel really adds much to the genre with his updates, and in fact, Stevenson makes more interesting character choices, in my mind, than Oppel does; in fact, Oppel seems to default to (view spoiler)[killing characters off rather than continuing to develop them or leaving things open to ambiguity (hide spoiler)]. Glad to have finally read this -- it had been on my TBR for forever -- but I won't be continuing with the series....more
This was just so...mid? The writing was fine, and the beginning introduces some promising characters and interesting moving pieces, but I kept waitingThis was just so...mid? The writing was fine, and the beginning introduces some promising characters and interesting moving pieces, but I kept waiting for it to go somewhere, add up to something, and it just...didn't....more
I mistakenly thought that this would be about wonderful oddities of Canadian culture, a la Souvenir of Canada or Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, but insteI mistakenly thought that this would be about wonderful oddities of Canadian culture, a la Souvenir of Canada or Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, but instead it's a brief burst of propaganda the likes of which you'd get from a elementary school textbook. Canada is a country of immigrants! The treatment of Indigenous peoples was not so bad! (Brief awkward aside about Residential Schools.) It's very aspirational and bootstrappy in a way I recognize as an American. (Not a compliment.)
Look, I get that Pasricha is the child of immigrants and has bought into the Myth of Canada in a big way, but he really doesn't need to pass it on like this....more
Still wholly charming: I love Emily and Wendell, and I love the way Emily observes the rules of various species of faerie and figures out how to make Still wholly charming: I love Emily and Wendell, and I love the way Emily observes the rules of various species of faerie and figures out how to make them work for her. I liked the setup here better than the climax and conclusion, though -- I found the latter a bit too quick and easy, both in terms of the larger plot and the emotional resolution between Emily and Wendell. Nevertheless, I'll eagerly return for the third volume. (Which, by reading this early, I will now likely have to wait extra long for. D'oh!)...more
Emphatically not for me. I can recognize some skill in Cutter's execution, but mostly this is just really gross and really OTT -- mutant worms and a sEmphatically not for me. I can recognize some skill in Cutter's execution, but mostly this is just really gross and really OTT -- mutant worms and a storm and not one but two characters who are psychopaths? Did we really need all of that?
Ultimately I could have done without any of it....more
Sadly I didn't like this nearly as much as the first book in Armstrong's other time travel series, A Rip Through Time. The tone is all over the place,Sadly I didn't like this nearly as much as the first book in Armstrong's other time travel series, A Rip Through Time. The tone is all over the place, bouncing between wish-fulfillment romance and attempted gothic murder mystery, but neither feels particularly successful: the mystery is silly, and the romance stumbles because William, the male lead, feels woefully underwritten. Turns out he has to be because (view spoiler)[he needs to seem like a viable suspect in all the murders (hide spoiler)]. But Armstrong lacks the psychological nuance of a du Maurier. I wasn't enchanted....more
Liked this a lot, though I didn't quite love it. It's very grounded and the characters all feel like real people, but the middle is slow, the big reveLiked this a lot, though I didn't quite love it. It's very grounded and the characters all feel like real people, but the middle is slow, the big reveal is obvious, and the stacked-up misunderstandings fueling the denouement were annoying the way Big Misunderstandings always are. Ultimately, the romance didn't work for me as well as the friendship between ordinary Canadian, Gracie Reed, and Chinese mega movie star, Wei Fangli, did. But that friendship is really great! And I definitely left this book happy for everyone -- but in particular that these two ladies had found each other and there was less loneliness in everyone's future....more
Second book in this series, and better than the first. The premise is wonderfully insane -- modern cop Mallory has time traveled into the body of a hoSecond book in this series, and better than the first. The premise is wonderfully insane -- modern cop Mallory has time traveled into the body of a housemaid in Victorian Scotland, and now solves mysteries with her sexy undertaker boss, Gray -- and the first person present tense POV should really grate, but it mostly doesn't. I just really like these characters, man. It's a fun, lovable cast, and the period atmosphere and detail are fun too, even if Armstrong tends toward too much explaining. (Personally, I am not a reader who needs the difference between UK and North American floor-naming explained to her in a novel...but Armstrong thinks her readers do, so okay!)
The tension between Mallory and Gray is also just unusually well done. Armstrong has shown them to have a true connection, and not only do they work well together to solve crimes, they also just...talk about stuff, in a really real and endearing way.
Bless you, UST. Bless you, mystery series with romantic subplots!
Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this! Fawcett's faeries are suitably spooky and inhuman, and I liked how our narrator, Emily -- a scholar oPleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this! Fawcett's faeries are suitably spooky and inhuman, and I liked how our narrator, Emily -- a scholar of the fae, who are in this world known and a respected field of study -- is awkward with her fellow humans but very adept at dealing with the folk, as they follow precise rules. (Though it is never explicitly stated -- the book takes place in an alternate 1909 -- it is very clear to me that Emily is neurodivergent.) The narrative is a bit wandering, but cozy as a fire in its fictional Scandinavian country. It even made me believe in the possibility of a sexy male lead named Wendell. Yes, Wendell. That one's a choice, Heather!...more