The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
2 December 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Just finished reading the Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. I’m conflicted with this book. Basicially I have quite a few criticisms and yet in spite of that, and in spite of myself, I liked it! So, my thoughts on it are a mess.
On the one hand, I think it’s well written, it’s gory and bloodthirsty. The vampires are truly blood sucking killers and I liked the concept. On the other hand, I think there are inconsistencies, I think there is a lack of real believability with the Coldtown side of things (as much as you can have a lack of believability when you’re reading about vampires!) and I think that the story is a little bit long and could probably have been shortened slightly, or maybe shortened in some areas and lengthened in others.
The story opens on something of a massacre. A party at a remote farmhouse has become a scene straight out of a horror story. Tana, also at the party has worken up in the bath where she basically slept in order to get away from the action, and particularly to get away from her ex boyfriend Aidan. When she wakes up almost everyone is dead and the place has been liberally decorated in blood. The only other survivor is Aidan, who has been bitten and so now carries the infection and has been chained to a bed and a vampire (Gavriel) – also chained up who he seems to be sharing the bedroom with, and worse, there are sounds of movement below, the killers are stirring. Tana needs to escape pdq and has decided to rescue not only her ex but the vampire who is being held captive. I know. What a maniac. Although the vampire in question does seem to be trying to help her! The three then set out to one of the Coldtowns – I will explain!
Basically In Black’s imagined world vampires are real and are no longer a secret that hunts us from the shadows, stealthy and secretive. The infection that causes vampirism has spread and as a result Coldtowns have been created where vampires now live, along with humans. It’s a form of captivity and the basis of it is that the vampires don’t kill (all) the humans they live with – as they’ll no longer have anyone to feed from. Simple supply and demand. Of course, these Coldtowns have gathered something of a cult status with people clamouring to get in thinking that they will themselves become immortal. People with a suspected infection (because there are still rogue vampires out there – stalked by real life famous bounty hunters) are put into Coldtown to see if they can resist the temptation of blood and sweat out the infection. A process that takes approximately 3 months. Of course during that time, without some pretty strong form of restraint it’s more than likely that the bloodlust will win out.
On top of this, the action from within Coldtowns is televised and broadcast around the country with some vampires gathering a massive following – one of the most popular being the Vampire Lucien – who sort of put me in mind of the vampires in the Trueblood series.
Now, back to the three making their way to the nearest Coldtown. Along the way they pick up a couple of young people, twins, who are in search of immortality and aim to enter Vampire Ville in search of it. Between them they come up with a plan that involves claiming that they’ve caught the vampire Gavriel and are turning him into Coldtown for the reward (a marker – which gives the carrier right to freedom from the place – the only real way out of Coldtown short of a body bag). Tana plans to quarantine herself there, stay out of trouble, fight off the disease and return home using her market to gain freedom. Of course, the likelihood of that really happening is slim especially given that she’s travelling with (1) a real vampire (2) an almost turned vampire and (3) two wannabe vampires. Not to mention Coldtown isn’t an easy place to live! And, she’s a bit like one of those annoying females in a horror movie – the one who has to go and check the cellar, or trip over on a tree root when trying to escape.
I’m not going to go into the plot any further as there are a couple of twists along the way that I don’t want to spoil.
As I said above. I enjoy Holly Black’s writing style. She has a great dramatic style, very descriptive, particularly the horror scenes plus the book gets off to a really fast start! I like way the story is split between the ‘now’ and the ‘then’, which serve to bring to light things not only from Tana’s earlier life but also Gavriel’s. I also like the fact that the vampires are vicious and act like real predators and I like the story behind the whole vampire ‘explosion’.
Now, in terms of criticisms. Well, firstly, I don’t understand why vampires, who are so strong and deadly, would so meekly comply with being held captive in Coldtowns – it seems to me that they’re the top of the chain so why aren’t we being herded in towns of their making and being kept like cattle. Okay, some of the vampires remain out there – in the wild – but the majority of them live in a sort of self imposed style of imprisonment where their lives are on display to the outside world. I also don’t really understand how anybody in the town really goes about their everyday lives. There is no law and order and it’s not really clear how the people there survive or eek out a living – just simple things like where does the food come from – okay, it would be boring to have all that churned out in the book but I’m just curious about it. Also, why is it that all of the vampires have to be so overwhelmingly beautiful?? Again, just curious. It’s sort of implied that if you’re turned you’ll be drop dead gorgeous. Okay, well no wonder then that so many people seek immortality if all of a sudden they turn into this beautiful creature! Come on, you choose, mortal, short, chubby, plain Jane or live forever, unbelievably lovely to behold, strong, fast and doted upon by your would-be victims. I did like that the author incorporates a struggle for the vampires, this whole area of is the disease just really making their true self come to the surface without the thin veneer of civilisation and also that some of them were unable to live with the atrocities that they have committed and actually end their own existence.
It does look as though I’m being overly critical which isn’t intentional as I actually enjoyed this. More than that, and rather predictably, I liked Gavriel. Clearly, along the way I’ve developed a penchant for Shakespeare quoting, slightly insane vampires. I would read more of his stories – he sort of puts me in mind a little bit of Lestat.
Okay, I’m not going to say this is the most original vampire story, it’s got elements of a number of things, but I’m not sure just how you could actually hit upon a truly original story any more as vampires have been so popular in books over recent years. I did like that this had a feeling almost of the vampire disease being similar to a zombie style disease.
RETURN OF THE SCI-FI EXPERIENCE…
RETURN OF THE SCI-FI EXPERIENCE by Carl @ Stainless Steel Droppings 1 SPACE The boundless white noise of the internet serves as a back-drop for the MAIN TITLE, followed by a SCROLL DOWN, which crawls into infinity (and beyond) with hundreds, nay thousands of sci fi books listed... Episode VI RETURN OF THE SCI FI EXPERIENCE PAN DOWN to reveal a monstrous half-completed Death Star, its massive superstructure revealing row upon row of shelving, awaiting the thousands of books and reviews that will be read and written during the next two months. An Imperial Star Destroyer moves overhead toward the massive armored space station. 2 INT IMPERIAL SHUTTLE - COCKPIT The shuttle captain makes contact with the Death Star. SHUTTLE CAPTAIN We're starting our approach. 3 INT DEATH STAR - CONTROL ROOM Bloggers move anxiously about among the stacks of books. A SHIELD OPERATOR hits switches beside a large screen, on which is a display of the Death Star. A control officer rushes over to the shield operator. OFFICER Inform the commander that Lord Steel's shuttle has arrived. OPERATOR Yes, sir. A squad of Imperial storm troopers moves into formation before the craft. 4 INT DEATH STAR - MAIN DOCKING BAY The exit hatch of the shuttle opens with a WHOOSH, revealing only darkness. Then, heavy FOOTSTEPS AND MECHANICAL BREATHING. From this black void appears STAINLESS STEEL DROPPINGS, LORD OF THE SCI FI EXPERIENCE. Steel looks over the assemblage of bloggers as he strides down the ramp. BLOGGERS Lord Steel, this is an unexpected pleasure. We're honored by your presence. STEEL You may dispense with the pleasantries. I'm here to put you all back on schedule. The bloggers turn ashen and begin to shake. BLOGGERS Lord Steel, we bloggers are working as fast as we can. STEEL Perhaps, but maybe I can find NEW ways to motivate you.BLOGGERS We assure you, this experience will be monumental, stupendous, gigantic,.. mmm, big, as always! STEEL The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation. BLOGGERS But he asks the impossible. We want more blogs! STEEL Then perhaps you can tell him when he arrives. BLOGGERS (aghast) The Emperor's coming here? STEEL That is correct, Bloggers. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress. BLOGGERS We shall double, triple our efforts. STEEL I hope so, Bloggers, for your sake. The Emperor is not as... forgiving as I am! That’s right. Tune in here and check out the details. Don’t miss it. Starting this December.... the Sci Fi Experience!
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher: Ghoul Goblin
28 November 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Ghoul Goblin, Graphic Novels, Harry Dresden, Jim Butcher
I just finished reading Ghoul Goblin which is a graphic novel combining six comics plus extras such as a summary of the series. The story is set in the world of Harry Dresden and is a completely unique story (as oppose to being one of the already written books turned into graphic format).
I enjoyed this. I can’t say that I’ve read extensively of graphic novels, because frankly I haven’t, but I find it’s something that I think I could quite easily become enamoured with! That being said, I’m clearly no expert – I just like what I like – so, if I come up with a pile of gibberish in the eyes of all the experts out there than that’s my defence!
The story in Ghoul Goblin revolves around a family that seem to have been the subject of a curse. Harry becomes involved when one of the local lawmen seeks his help following a couple of grisly murders of two of the Talbot family members. This involves Harry travelling away from his usual Chicago stomping ground to the quiet town of Boon Mill in Missouri. Of course not everybody there is pleased to make his acquaintance and he becomes particularly unpopular after causing havoc at the funeral for the most recently deceased. The story involves near death experiences with a ghoul and a goblin, being thrown into a cell by the local law – who think he’s some sort of charlatan and seeking the help of a guardian spirit. Something which is far from easy and involves encountering a rather large, okay huge, snake.
What I particularly liked about this is it’s a unique storyline that fans haven’t read before. It gives everybody a little snippet of Harry whilst they’re waiting for further instalments and it brings together all the usual Harry trademarks. The duster, Bob, the VW and Harry’s strange aversion to anything electronic, or more to the point the fact that he’s the glitch in the system. It was also interesting to read a story about Harry accompanied by graphics – although I think Butcher does such an amazing job in the books that visuals aren’t really necessary. I thought the graphics were well done, the story, although obviously much shorter than I’m used to when reading about Harry, was intriguing and the overall experience of reading a graphic novel is so refreshingly different, almost less intense, than reading a novel (or do I just like ogling the pictures!)
In terms of criticisms. I didn’t have anything major although I felt like the graphics could have been slightly darker. That could simply be that my only experience with graphic novels is the Sandman series which is very dark but the Dresden Files is certainly not a series aimed at a YA audience. It can be quite violent and doesn’t shy away from the grim and harsh realities of the strange world that Harry inhabits. I think I wanted more creep factor is all but this wasn’t enough to spoil the experience for me.
I think if you love Harry and you’re just dying for your fix then this will be a great pick me up in between instalments.
I received this from Net Galley in exchange for a honest review. The above is my own opinion.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
27 November 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle
Just finished reading Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. This book is just so good that I want everybody to read it. Right now. Not only did I love this, not only did it make me laugh at inopportune times, but I felt annoyed when I had to stop reading and it’s just got me so excited that I want to talk to everybody else about it. I devoured it. I sat reading in my lunch time laughing and giggling and attracting some very strange looks. My colleagues, intrigued, were like ‘what you reading?’ ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, I said. ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was a book!’ The funny thing is neither did I! In fact it would never have occurred to me to be honest. I love the film, I really do. Could I choose between the two? Probably at the moment I’d err on the side of the book, but that’s because it’s still so fresh and is still making me smile. I’ll have to go and rewatch the film to see how it compares. Anyway, thank goodness for Worlds Without End – without their Women of Genre reading challenge I may never have picked this book up and that would have been a damned fine shame!
The story starts with Sophie. The eldest of three sisters she is destined to fail – it’s the strange will of the fairytale land in which she lives, after all, it’s always the younger sister/princess who is the real focus of the story as we all know. Her two younger sisters experience all the fun and freedom and are even sent out into the world to gain meaningful employment whilst Sophie remains at home, working in the hat shop that belonged to her late father and seemingly becoming more diminished and shrunken as time goes on. The strange thing with Sophie though is that she seems to hold deep within herself a magical ability that allows her to imbue everyday objects almost with a life force of their own. Unfortunately, these abilities draw the attention of the Witch of the Waste and certainly not in a good way! The Witch of the Waste is a whole lot of bad, she’s jealous of any other magical ability and so she goes in search of Sophie. Of course, Sophie is no match for this wicked witch who curses her turning her into an old woman and thus starting this wonderful adventure.
Sophie sets out to make her own fortune. Or so she tells herself. In truth, she can’t face the people who she knows and loves especially as part of the condition of the curse means she is unable to tell anyone of her predicament. She can’t even be sure people will recognise her so she sets off on her lonely road. Well, it starts off lonely but doesn’t remain that way for long as Sophie helps a couple of ‘things’ in need. Finally, she literally stumbles upon Howl’s moving castle. Howl is a wizard with a terrible reputation. His magic is feared by many and not only that he kidnaps young women and eats them! Or their souls!! Now, maybe you wouldn’t fancy hitching a lift on a strange moving chimney pot where a wicked wizard lives but this seems like Sophie’s best chance for now, particularly as she’s realised just how tired and aching her very much older bones feel, and so, after a bit of a struggle she hops on board.
I’m not going to go too much further into the story. There’s obviously the wicked witch and her terrible plans coupled with the strange goings on in the moving castle – particularly Howl who seems to be far from wicked and who’s bad reputation is something he seems to have enjoyed nurturing himself! He does seem to be a lady’s man however and apparently leaves broken hearts in his wake.
Clearly this is a children’s book and so from that aspect there isn’t any really indepth world building. And, I don’t say that as a criticism but more just as a simple statement of fact. The author goes about writing the story in such a straightforward way that almost takes for granted that the reader will already be fully up to speed with the land of fairytales and will just jump right on board with ease. And that really is the case. Everything in the story is fantastical. The castle is a sort of dark chimney that travels the country. The inside is like a ramshackle cottage! The broom cupboard seems to lead to the bedrooms and the doorway opens onto four different landscapes depending on which way you open it! It’s just chock full of imagination.
On top of that the characters are brilliant. Obviously Sophie, Howl and the fire demon, Calcifer, steal the show. Howl seems to be a terribly vain and sometimes quite cool character. To all intents he seems to spend the majority of his time preening himself before he goes to woo his next victim. Sophie, who manages to stay aboard his moving home by dint of becoming his cleaning lady, spends most of her time grumping around the place and searching the nooks and crannies for the hidden souls of the girls she believes Howl has eaten! Calcifer the demon is contracted to Howl and wants to break free – he sees Sophie has his only hope and promises to help her remove her own curse in return. And, we have the wizard’s apprentice Michael who spends a good deal of his time scratching his head in puzzlement or dashing around the place as he fetches and carries for his master. Of course, ultimately, nothing is as it at first appears and all the characters will eventually be revealed in a different light. Sophie finds being cursed as an old woman very liberating. She’s no longer afraid to speak her mind. She’s curmudgeonly. She makes mistakes and then harrumphs when anybody points them out but aboard the castle she unexpectedly seems to find a whole new meaning for her life. Howl is quite far from what he seems. I loved his wit. I loved the way he treated Sophie and I think it’s great that this eventually turns into something more – a romance – totally untraditional of course.
This is such a delightful, funny and exquisite book. So many fairy tale tropes rolled out and poked fun at in a really engaging way. I don’t think it would be possible to read this without trying to spot your own favourites, for example, for me there was definitely a Wizard of Oz feel to the tale.
It’s a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of a fairy story, a romance, a puzzle and a bundle of laughs. I hope you read it if you haven’t already done so, and if you have, I hope you come and talk to me about it!
I’m submitting this review for my Worlds Without End, Women of Genre Fiction November book and also it counts towards by Classics Club list.
Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch, final week of readalong
25 November 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Readalong week 5, Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch, Tethyan Books
I’ve had such a lot of fun doing this readalong! The thing I love about it is it makes you see things in a different way, opens your eyes a bit more and take a proper look around from another perspective or just plain picks up on little nuances that you’ve missed. The discussion has been awesome and I’m sort of sad it’s over. But, moving on. The questions this week are provided by the lovely Allie at Tethyan books and need I point out that plenty of spoilers will be contained below so if you’ve not yet read this book and are planning to do so then please stop reading now! Go on, scoot!
In Espara…
1. The Republic of Thieves: It’s the first and final performance! What did you think of the play? Were you entertained, or eager to get on with the rest of the story? Also, how do you feel about how the play fits in the novel, in terms of the story and the characters who play the parts? Well, on the whole I’ve really enjoyed the whole theatre side of the story but by the time it came time for the first performance I was totally wound up about the whole Bouldazi affair! So, probably didn’t enjoy the show as much as I should have as I was too busy racing ahead to see how they were going to pull it all off. I think it’s great that Lynch put this story within the story though – just more of what we’ve come to expect about his attention to detail.
2. The Other Performance: Of course, the GB and company had another important performance to get through—the one that ensures none of them end up hanged! What was your favorite part of this scheme? Do you agree with their plan for dealing with Moncraine’s treachery? I thought it was inspired that they framed Moncraine for the murder – and totally justified. He left them hanging after all (or he thought he did)!! Not sure which part was my favourite – it was all a bit fly by the seat of your pants dangerous, I guess I liked having somebody else dress up as Bouldazi and appear on the stage in his clothes and a mask. When you’re in on the con and know what’s happening you can’t help thinking it just won’t work but if you were watching all this as an innocent bystander you’d have no reason to doubt. It was also interesting to see that yet again Sabetha played a pivotal role. You can’t help thinking that’s why Chains admitted a female to the gang (not for this particular scheme of course) but because they needed to be more all rounded – how very articulately phrased! NOT. I always sort of wondered if Chains meant to take on a female or not. He didn’t seem equipped to a certain degree and Sabetha was brought up in this all male environment – which was good for her in terms of competition of course – but led to all sorts of complications when it comes to ramant hormones. If you look at the schemes in Espara though, without Sabetha, everyone would have been in the dirty creek without a paddle!
In Karthain…
3. The Election: It seems Lovaris was indeed the final trick, and the election is over. Are you satisfied with how things turned out? Do you wish that the election had focused more on the political problems of Karthain, or are you satisfied with the mudslinging and pranks that went on between Locke and Sabetha? To be honest I’m not really terribly interested in all the politics – I like that it’s included because I think it makes the whole world building more realistic but if it had been any more in depth I probably would have got a bit ‘meh’ about it. I thought the pranks and mudslinging were the best parts of the whole competition – it’s what I really get out of these books. All the different ways that Lynch comes up with new ideas for his cons. I mean, yeah, some of these were greatly simplified compared to previous books but I still loved them and there was this added feeling of camaraderie because it was between Locke and Jean and Sabetha – it just felt more playful somehow, or perhaps just less tense, especially compared with what was taking place in Espara. I thought it was great that Locke had a scheme that would make the two sides equal. Of course it would only work if Sabetha topped the poll with one extra vote but it still made me laugh that he came up with that idea – and I thought Sabetha took it really well. She felt like she’d won – even if only for a few brief moments.
4. The War: Do you have any speculation on what specific issues might have escalated the two Bondsmagi factions rivalry into this kind of violence? What do you think the surviving Bondsmagi will do next, with all their gathered money and knowledge? I don’t mind telling you that this part of the story blew me away! I was like ‘no way’. What was the competition about then – I suppose it was all just misdirection really. I think that the more conservative Bondsmagi feel really threatened by this idea that any great show of magic will bring reprisals and they clearly think the Falconer and his following would draw more attention. It’s going to be so interesting to see what happens next with this. Plus there was this whole other reference to the lights in the water again – I think when we were looking back at the Falconer as a younger boy and he was looking into the water at one point? Anyway, totally intriguing and mysterious.
5. Patience: Given the final revelation that Patience does hate Locke for what he did to the Falconer, what do you make of her behavior towards Locke throughout the book? Do you think her plan of vengeance is well suited to Locke? What do you make of the Black Amaranth story now, as well as the prophecy she threw on top? She’s basically a bloody raging hypocrite. Or at least that’s what I thought at first – I figured she was simply mad at him for butchering her son. There’s no love lost between her and the Falconer though and she wanted him to die – so I then figured that she was more pissed off at Locke for NOT killing him but simply rendering him powerless. She even had her little trapdoor to trap the Falconer when he tried to null the pain – so he would be unable to resist? You have to hand it to her really. She salved her conscience by telling the Falconer about her little prediction, which she knew he would scorn. Then she fixed it so that he’d be incapacitated. Like I say, I think she was simply massively disappointed that he wasn’t dead and was still her problem. I think she also sees the fact that Locke and Jean didn’t finish off the Falconer as a weakness and one more reason to despise them both. I just don’t know what to make of the whole prophecy thing. Part of me thinks she’s just playing with Locke but then part of me thinks she’s just arrogant enough to give him this prediction thinking that he’ll probably decide to ignore it. Unwittingly of course she could have given him a really invaluable piece of information that could just end up saving him – she’ll be a bit gutted if that turns out to be the case! And you know that saying about ‘he who laughs last’…
6. The Epilogue: Speaking of vengeance, do you think the Falconer’s vengeance against his mother was merited or excessively cruel, given the circumstances? On that note, how do you feel about the Falconer’s transformation and possible status as a continuing villain? I like that Lynch has resurrected the Falconer as the villain again. He’s a pretty impressive villain. I absolutely hate the guy – which is what you want from your villains isn’t it. No sympathy. The only thing I don’t understand about the scene with the birds at the end is that it made Patience seem weaker than she had done throughout the novel. Like, when the attack started why didn’t she do one of her mysterious conjuring tricks and simply disappear. Or, couldn’t she have used the Falconer’s name to stop him – or is it that she really didn’t know it was him behind the attack. I think that’s probably the only real scene that I had my doubts about. I wasn’t surprised that the Falconer took the action he did, I was just surprised that Patience didn’t come back with anything – she had five rings after all plus his secret name.
7. Wrapping up: Thus ends the third book in the Gentleman Bastard sequence. How do you think it compares with the first two? In the end, do you prefer the Espara storyline or the Karthain storyline, or did you like them both equally? I don’t know if I could come up with a favourite out of all the books – they all feel so different to each other. The first was obviously the introduction to them all and it’s just so clever that it’s brilliant. The second I loved all the pirates and high jinx out at sea. And now this with two fairly strong stories running parallel. So insightful into the background of the gang, plus getting to revisit the twins. I just can’t decide. Out of the two storylines from RoT I think I probably liked Espara marginally more – I think simply because it had more tension, we got to spend time with the gang again and it was insightful into the Locke/Sabetha situation.
I have to mention the picture at the end – so Sabetha and the woman with the red hair *wiggles eyebrows suspiciously*
And, I loved that little part in the book where the results of the election come in and Losari pulls his rabbit out of the hat and Sabetha and Locke are debating the merits of the situation – I think it’s Locke who says ‘one for the drunkards and philosophers’ (meaning to mull it over!) – it made me laugh because I was thinking obviously we’ll be chewing the fat over this one. So which are you – the drunkard or the philosopher (or a bit of both, perhaps you only philosophise when you’re in your cups? Or maybe you only drink when you start philosophising??)
So now we have the wait to find out what happens next. Not that I’m complaining, my mind can come up with all sorts in the meantime and when the books are this good then it’s worth it – all good things to those who wait. But, if Mr Lynch needs somebody to read over a thing or two in the meantime – well, I’m just saying. Whatever I’m doing I’ll drop it in a nanosecond. Yessiree, I’m your woman.
Books and travelling with Lynn 