Monthly Archives: April 2024

books, Reviews, science fiction, Space opera

Redemption Ark (Revelation Space 2) by Alasdair Reynolds

Leave a comment

Sponsored link

Stars: 2.5 out of 5.

This is the third book I read by this author, and I’m beginning to see a trend: the worldbuilding is excellent. The ideas are fascinating and thought-provoking. The faraway future of human space exploration and settlement the author paints is definitely worth exploring further. But the characters, oh the characters… the author can’t write engaging characters to save his life.

It was a slight issue for me in the first book of the series, Revelation Space, but the new world was interesting enough to dive into that I overlooked the lack of engaging characters to follow. It was also visible in the prequel Chasm City, but at least that book gave me some answers about other things raised in book 1, so I let is slide. But this problem came to the forefront in this book, because the main storyline is most definitely character driven. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any good characters to latch on to. And by good I mean interesting and realistic, or even engaging. 

I couldn’t care less for Clavain and his identity crisis, mostly because he came off condescending and thinking himself smarter and better than anyone else in the universe… while making some rather stupid assumptions and decisions. I also didn’t like Skade and couldn’t really understand her motivations for being as she is. You would think that it would be better explained, since she is the main villain. But even her story was put aside halfway through, when Clavain and his crew got busy with the big confrontation with the Triumvir. 

Speaking of which, what was that even about? We spent pages upon pages talking about the importance of the weapons, and everyone is fighting for control and possession of said weapons… only to just leave them and run at the end? What was the point of this book exactly then? If they were essential for the fight against the Inhibitors, then why didn’t anyone bother to scoop them up before they turned tail and burned it out of the dying system?

As it stands, the book dragged for me. In fact, it took me the better half of last year and then a couple months in 2024 to finish it, simply because I would start losing interest after 10 pages or so and put the book away. I had to force myself to come back to it every time and finish it. I will still give book 3 a try to see where this story is going, but I hope it will be a much tighter book with at least a couple characters I can latch into.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Four Roads Cross (Craft Sequence 5) by Max Gladstone

Leave a comment

Sponsored link

Stars: 5 out of 5.

This book is a direct continuation of Three Parts Dead, book 1 in the Craft Sequence series, since it describes events that happen almost immediately after the ending of that book. So technically, you could skip books 2-4 and just read this one. Why though? All books in this series are excellent, and some of the characters we followed in those books make a brief appearance in this one as well. I would say reading them in order listed is an enjoyment in itself.

As we remember, book 1 ended with Tara helping bring the goddess Seril back to life, only this is far from a happy ending for both Seril and Kos, as well as Alt Coulumb. Seril is weak, her cult is small, and she poses a serious financial and reputational risk to Kos and his church. Now Tara and her friends will have to fight for the future of their city and answer a few important questions about themselves and their beliefs.

This book raises a few very interesting questions. What is better? The cold and clinical approach of the Craft, where everything is a transaction, and there is no room left for such things as sentiment, love, friendship, etc. Or faith that sometimes requires self-sacrifice and acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Or is there a way to combine both of those approaches and to find a happy medium? 

This battle of identity is most evident in Tara’s arc in this book, because she has to go against everything she’s been thought in the Hidden Schools. It’s by daring to open her heart to faith and friendship that she wins her case and, I think, finds a home she’s secretly been longing for all her life. 

This is also evident in Abelard’s journey in this book, who undergoes a crisis of faith and feels betrayed and used by his god, only to find his own quiet strength in the middle of the chaos. Acceptance is also the theme when it comes to Cat and Raz, who finally face their own demons and emerge victorious from those battles. 

In a way, this book is a catharsis for all the events that started in book 1 of the series, and a beautiful resolution for some of those characters I grew to love so much. I know there are more books in this series, and I will definitely pick up the next one.

books, Fantasy, Reviews

The Vagabond King by Jodie Bond

Leave a comment

Sponsored link

DNF at 25%.

I’m sorry to say this, but I couldn’t get into this book at all, no matter how much I tried.

The characters aren’t distinct or likable enough, and their motivations are not shown enough to me to care or get invested.

I mean, seriously, what does Savanta want? The author says that she misses her daughter, but we are never shown that. You could have shown us a scene of her sneaking over to her village at night to spy on her family at night, longing to talk to them, but unable to show them the monster she became… or working towards a way of restoring her humanity. I would have been invested in that. As it stands, I couldn’t care less for her.

As for Threon, plot armor is strong with this one. The amount of stupid stuff he does is phenomenal. He should be dead 10 times over. The fact that he isn’t, and doesn’t seem to learn either, doesn’t make him particularly endearing.

Add to that the fact that the world building is sketchy at best, and the story unfolds Ata glacial pace after a very strong opening chapter, and this is not a book I feel like sticking around for.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews

A Mirage in the Memory by Simon Tull

Leave a comment

Sponsored link

Stars: 3 out of 5.

I like the concept of this book. This is a post-apocalyptic world where some humans have been turned into vampires… then exterminated normal humans. Now the world is ending, the civilization is crumbling, and the immortal vampires linger in sun-shielded cities under the tyrannical rule of a handful of families. 

I was fascinated by the few glimpses we have of this world and I would have loved to learn more. Unfortunately, the author gives us only crumbs of information. Though I understand that this is a prequel, so maybe the events that led to the current state of affairs are explained in the main books.

My issue with this book is that even though the world is fascinating, I simply couldn’t empathize with the protagonist. Yes, he is haunted by the things he has done and the lover he was forced to leave behind, but it felt rather flat for me. I think I would have felt more invested in his plight if the author had introduced me to his relationship with his wife a bit more. Maybe in flashbacks or something. Or if I got to experience the event that made him leave her behind instead of just seeing it mentioned here and there. As it stands, I had no clear feel for their relationship, and no clue why he left her, or why he felt guilty about it. 

I also need to mention that a lot of the choices the protagonist makes in this story are… questionable, to say the least. Not to mention that the ending is a complete downer. I mean, nothing was accomplished. Thibault is still as much of a slave as he ever was, AND he still doesn’t know where his wife is or if she is even still alive. So what was the purpose of all this?

I was honestly more interested in the side characters, like the burned hacker or the android mod builder. Them, I wouldn’t mind reading about. Thibault? Not so much.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy, YA

Between Shifts (The City Between 2) by W.R. Gingell

Leave a comment

Sponsored Link

Stars: 4.5 out of 5.

This series is a delight to read so far. The first book introduced us to this bizarre world and the trio of not-so-human psychos, and we are getting better acquainted with all of them in this book. Also, werewolves are real. Oh, sorry, lycanthropes. They don’t like being called werewolves.   

Pet has a knack of picking up strays and getting emotionally attached to them. In the first book, it was detective Tuatu (who is decidedly more friendly in this book) and the old mad bloke. In this one it’s Daniel, the lycanthrope with a plethora of werewolf issues on top of the usual pile of teenage raging hormones issues. And you know what? I really like that about Pet. Her good heart and compassion is a nice foible to the callous disregard the other three display towards humans. 

My suspicion is also growing that she isn’t a simple human, and I think that the trio is aware of that, but chose not to tell her anything for reasons. I mean why did her parents raise her in such secrecy that there were almost no records of her, and nobody even thought to look for her when they were murdered? Also, a simple human wouldn’t be able to yank objects from Between, or persuade them to be something other than they appear in the human world. Not to mention see Between and be able to navigate it. No, there is more to Pet that meets the eye, and I am looking forward to discovering what it is.

The story itself was pretty straightforward, at least to me, but I still had a blast reading it, mainly because I love the interactions between Pet and her three psychos. The side characters are also pretty engaging. I mean detective Tuatu was a bit of a prick in the first book, but he is growing  on me. Ultimately, he his heart is in the right place. 

I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Between Jobs (The City Between 1) by W.R. Gingell

Leave a comment

Sponsored Link

Stars: 4 out of 5.

This is the strangest book I’ve read in a long time. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s strange in a good way, and I absolutely loved it, but it is weird.

It starts in a slightly usual way for an urban fantasy, with an ordinary girl and three beautiful strangers that aren’t human… But wait, because the strangers are much more interesting than the usual urban fantasy fare, and the girl… well, I’m still not convinced she is entirely human. And together they form this weird dysfunctional family that is rather fascinating to read about.

The world itself is also pretty original. Not only does the action happen in Tasmania, instead of the usual USA / UK setting, but the supernatural elements are rather original. We have our real world, that the humans inhabit. then we have the Behind, where fae and other creatures originate from. And linking them together is the Between, a strange ever-changing place that is not really here, but also not really there, and where time, space and even shapes are malleable. Fae can travel the Between to go from our reality into the Behind and back again. Humans can’t, unless they are taken in by a fae, or slip accidentally into an opened passageway.  Most of those who end up Between don’t come back, or if they do, the experience drove them to madness. 

I really liked this book. I loved the story itself, but also everything else that was alluded to but never clearly explained, because it feels like there is a whole vast world to explore, and this book only scratched its surface. I also really loved Pet. This girl has no fear or sense of self-preservation, but her interactions with the three psychos are really fun to read about. I’m sure there is a bigger mystery about the murder of her parents and how she managed to survive hidden in that house for four year without anyone even being aware of her existence. I hope this will be explained in later books, and I will happily be there for the ride. 

I should also mention that these books are fairly short, so it’s a quick sweet read between heftier books just for a change of tone and pace.

books, Fantasy, Reviews

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix

Leave a comment

Sponsored link

Stars: 4 out of 5.

I am not usually a fan of collections of short stories about the same characters. I feel like the format doesn’t give the author enough time to develop the characters and tell a compelling story at the same time, especially if the stories aren’t in chronological order or were written for different magazines and published at different times. And this compilation suffers from the same drawbacks, but the characters are compelling enough that I derived some genuine enjoyment following them around.

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz make an odd pair, to say the least. One is a human knight, skilled with firearms and swords, also a dandy and a bit of a womanizer. The other one is… a living puppet with a singular mission of exterminating rogue godlets who intend to cause harm to the world.  It’s also implied that Mister Fitz is a lot older that anyone knows and suspects, older even than the order of Witches from which Sir Hereward originated. Add to that the fact that he used to be Hereward’s nanny when he was a little boy, and their relationship is interesting, to say the least. 

Sir Hereward himself is a bit harder to read, probably because we don’t get to explore his needs and wants as much in these stories. We know that he is the forbidden child to an order of Witches that are supposed to only sire female (Dune anyone?), but since his mother was part of the ruling council, he was allowed to live, and even train with other witches, but then exiled forever to go and hunt down rogue godlets in the world away from the witch stronghold. But we never really explore what Hereward himself wants in life, or how he feels about being a perpetual nomad, not able to put roots anywhere, traveling from one battle to another with only a living puppet for company. I would have loved to have this aspect explored more in the stories I read.

The world these two characters inhabit is also really interesting. It’s full of magic and different deities, called godlets. Some are powerful, some less so. Some are benevolent or simply harmless, while others either intentionally cause harm or are just so incompatible with the world they invaded that they slowly destroy everything around them. I loved the fact that Hereward and Fitz aren’t heartless killers who eliminate any godlet they are pointed at. They always assess the situation and do what’s right, even disobeying direct orders sometimes, when those orders are unjust. 

I would love to read more stories about these characters, even maybe a novella or a full blown novel where we can explore their inner workings a bit more and dive deeper into this world.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.