‘Are you looking at me? Did you rub my lamp? Did you wake me up?’
19 October 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: 10 wishes from the book genie, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday is :
’10 Wishes I’d Ask The Book Genie To Grant Me’
Well, this could have been easy – I could just pick 10 books that I’m desperate to read!
- Instead, not to be greedy or anything, but I want ALL the books that I want and I want them NOW! And now, I still have 9 wishes left.
- Wish No.2 is easy, now I need a time turner – how else can I find the time to read ALL those books.
- I need Santa’s little helper to come and do all my chores – that helps with the reading time after all – I do have ALL those books to read.
- ‘I wish, I wish I had a wormhole’ – yeah, a wormhole to disappear down into! A nice comfy space with a huge soft chair. A cosy little hobbit hole type place.
- I need one of those magic bowls and a magic glass – the kind that just refills automatically with delicious things. I might forget to eat and drink otherwise. I haven’t got time for trivialities.
- I should probably get a bigger house – I have to fit ALL those books somewhere. It’s reasonable.
- I need to be able to shrink all my books so that they fit in my bag. Hang on – I already have that – a kindle!
Okay, I don’t need any more wishes from the book genie. These’ll do for now – perhaps I can keep my last three for a rainy day or the next available books from Patrick Rothfuss, Mark Lawrence and Scott Lynch.
No.19 Creature from the black lagoon #Drawlloween
19 October 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Drawlloween, Halloween, The Creature from the black lagoon
Today is day 19 of Drawlloween – a fun event that I found out about here on the lovely ‘Not Yet Read’. Okay – this is the toughest one off the list – it IS!
So, with that thought firmly in mind, and keeping your sense of humour intact, try and picture a creature from the lagoon, pre special FX, your basic black and white ‘B’ type movie. Now, you have all that pictured? Yes? so this won’t be too much of a shock – maybe squint your eyes or something before looking at it, or just shut them completely – and, be aware that I tried to make it very dark – in fact I considered making it completely black – the creature from the black lagoon on a very dark, moonless night – it could’ve worked. Oh, whatever, here it is – you were warned.
you don’t have to look at this…
oh look, is that Superman flying by
really…
don’t do it…
Well, nobody can say I didn’t warn you.. And, you can stop laughing now – I can’t be held responsible for any accidents while you’re all splitting your sides. That is all.
City of Burning Shadows by Barbara J Webb #SPFBO
City of Burning Shadows is my third read for the SPFBO and I can say that it was an enjoyable one.
Hiding from the past, from the horror of his life as a priest after the gods disappeared.
Hiding from his emotions, denying the nightmares that haunt his sleep and the anger that fuels his days.
Most of all, hiding from the truth—that no matter how much he keeps his head down, no matter how he clings to the echoes of everyday life, his city—his world—is dying.
When a new technology offers salvation to his desperate city, Ash must reach out to people he left behind and step back into the world that almost killed him. But coming out of hiding now could be the worst mistake Ash has ever made.
Because there are monsters in the darkness, feeding the chaos, watching the city burn. And once those monsters know his name, Ash will never be able to hide again.
City of Burning Shadows was a very intriguing story. We begin the story and are introduced to Ash. We gradually learn that Ash was a priest – until the Gods upped and left one day, seemingly without reason and apparently causing hysteria and panic in their absence.
Ash now has a job, working for a firm called Price and Breckenridge, for which he counts himself lucky, he’s just about making ends meet. He suffers nightmares about the past and has tried to hide from his former life. He can’t hide forever though and the slow decline of the City is about to provide the impetus to shake up his life once again.
So, what made this read enjoyable.
Firstly we have secondary world building which I actually quite enjoy as I think it gives the author a certain amount of freedom. Ash lives in a City in the desert called Miroc. Unfortunately the absence of the Gods (known as the Abandon) seems to have led to the decline of the water supply and therefore the City is in rather dire straits at the start of the story. We have a world in which magic exists – wielded by the priests. We also have a world in which other races, non human, exist and live side by side – maybe not always harmoniously but nonetheless. The City itself is split. The Crescent is the City in the Sky, supported by girders and inaccessible to anybody except the Jansynians. A race of people who come across as strangely superior. They have advanced technology and weapons and the water shortage doesn’t seem to have affected them. They live above the rest of the City, unconcerned with the plight of those below. Immediately below The Crescent, living amongst the girders and support is a sprawling underworld/shanty town called the Web. Not a place to visit in the dead of night. The author, in building this world manages to have written a story that comes across actually as a strange combination of Sci-fi/urban fantasy and dark/noir detective.
We have quite a number of characters to take on board and I won’t list them all here. The main characters are Ash and his former lover Seana, a Jansynian who seems to have moved fairly high up the ranks. We have Ash’s boss Price and another colleague from a race whose magic allows them to shapeshift. We also have two sisters called Copper and Spark.
In terms of plot, Basically, there is a possibility of saving Miroc – an invention that could bring rain back to the desert. However, not everybody is interested in the salvation of the City which means the inventor needs protection from the bad guys – whoever they may happen to be.
What I particularly enjoyed about this story is that it was a fast paced read that escalates in intensity until you frankly haven’t got a clue anymore who to trust or not to. There is some very imaginative scenes, I’m thinking particularly of those in the temple, and some creepy situations where the shadows seem to shift – which spooked me out!
Did I have niggles or criticisms. Yes. They didn’t particularly affect my enjoyment though. I think the world building could have been a little stronger. For example, why are all these different races living together?? I gather that Miroc was a sort of trade hub and crossroads and I think that some of these characters were trapped there during the Abandon. But, I do think the world building could have been beefed up a bit. I also think the characters need a bit more development – and probably the dialogue could be sharpened.
On the whole though I thought this was quite a fascinating read, it fairly raced ahead and I was caught up with the action and mystery.
I would rate this 7/10.
No.18 Mask #Drawlloween
Today is day 18 of Drawlloween – a fun event that I found out about here on the lovely ‘Not Yet Read’. So, my take on a mask kind of turned out a little odd. I was aiming for one of those masks where the person holds it up in front of their face and I was going for something sinister. Looking at it now it kind of looks more like a wine glass with the reflection of someone who’s just realised that all the wine has gone!! But here it is:
Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey, readalong week 2
18 October 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel's Avatar, Readalong week No.2
W
elcome to week two of our readalong of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series. Kushiel’s Avatar is the third in the series and I am loving it so far. So much goodness. All free to join in, if you’ve already read this then please join in with the comments. The full schedule is here and this week Allie at Tethyan Books is our lovely host. Before moving on: a word of warning – there will be spoilers lurking below.
I must say before I even start that I’m loving this book so far, in fact, at this point it’s almost becoming my favourite. I don’t know why, whether it just feels easier to read now knowing the characters more, I can’t be sure, but I’m really enjoying the story so far. Anyway, moving swiftly on:
Chapters 14 – 25
1. Phedre has been incredibly efficient in finding out what has happened to Imriel. Do you think it really is as simple as a random act of cruelty? Is it a punishment from Kushiel, and if so, why were the other two children involved?
I’m not sure what to make of it at this point. At first I was tempted to say that it was a random act of cruelty but then part of me also thinks maybe Imriel has been taken deliberately – and the other two were taken as a guise to make it seem like a random act. Part of me just thinks it’s too much of a coincidence that Imriel – out of all the other goat herders – should be the one taken and also that only Imriel was shipped on. I think there are just too many coincidences. Perhaps one of the Gods has equally chosen Imriel for special attention in much the same way that Phedre has been chosen? It remains to be seen but I’m definitely intrigued.
2. A lot of justice is meted out (or not) to different people. Do you think the priests deserve forgiveness for hiding Imriel? Do you agree with the harsh methods in Amilcar toward the slavers?
The priests – well, I don’t think they’ve done anything worse than the priestesses who are currently providing sanctity to Melisande? We all know that priests have to be confidential and not divulge things that they hear from their congregation so in much the same way I don’t see why the priests should be punished for taking the boy in and giving him an upbringing – they would hold to the same confidentiality. Plus it seems like they were being fair in that Imriel truly was being brought up in ignorance of who he was – I hope that’s the case anyway as it could lead to trouble if he inadvertently blurts something out to his captors! In terms of the slavers I’m not sorry to say that I think they got what they deserved. I admit that I don’t like torture but I simply don’t think they would have given up the information otherwise. And, I really, strongly, dislike (despise even) slavers – I know that’s probably a bit strong – but it really is the way I feel. In fantasy you tend to read about slavers on occasion and every time I experience the same feeling of horror that you could be taken from your home and then called a slave. What right do people have to do such a thing – it makes me totally aghast.
3. Do you think it’s worth it for Phedre to go to Serenissima to get information from Melisande, or would it be better for her to travel with the royal entourage and find her own guide?
I think she should go to Melisande. You never quite know what to expect from Melisande and even now I’m not sure what tricks she has up her sleeves but on the flip side of the coin Phedre could learn something important or pick up some small clue. I think it’s highly possible that any guide Melisande provides will already have an agenda and in that respect I think it’s good that Phedre is trying to learn the language – at least that way she might have a surreptitious way of discovering something unbeknown to others. Plus this way we have two threads – the one following Imriel’s trail and the one seeking the answer to the Hyacinthe puzzle. It will be interesting to see if they cross paths.
4. It occurs to me that Joscelin improved the public attitude towards the Cassilines, though he was cast out, and the Prince of Travellers may be having a similar effect for his own people. In what ways do you think the Tsingani and the prejudice against them might change as a result of recent events? Do you think Hyacinthe will ever be allowed to go back to them, and if so, should he?
Hopefully some of the prejudices against the Tsingani will be quelled although to be honest I think it’s doubtful. These prejudices are built up over years and years and whilst one person’s opinion might be changed due to circumstances I think the majority of people will continue with their fear and distrust. In fairness the Tsingani also have their own fear and loathing of the ‘Gadje’ – although I think they have more reason in that they will have experienced much more prejudice. I think that putting to bed such deep seated prejudices takes a long time and hopefully small steps such as this help but I also think it takes both parties putting down their baggage and trying. I’m not sure if Hyacinthe should go back to the Tsingani – it’s never really been his home as it? He’d be a little like a fish out of water there and I think people would still dislike his use of the dromonde and also would probably be scared of him after his time as Master of the Straits. I don’t know – I think Hyachinthe’s home will more likely be where his friends and loved ones are. I wonder what he will make of Sibeal and whether they might have a future together? He might find it easier to be with somebody he has an affinity with after all. I hope he finds some measure happiness anyway – more than that I hope he finds a way to still be a part of these stories as I’ve missed his presence.
The other participants:
- Susan at Dab of Darkness
- Allie at Tethyan Books
- Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
- Me at Lynn’s Book Blog
- Emily at Emma Wolf
Books and travelling with Lynn 