3.5 stars. I try not to pay much attention to reviews of books I know I’m definitely going to read soon because I don’t want my opinion to be tainted by anyone else’s, but for some reason I had it in my head that this third book in The Raven Cycle series wasn’t as well received as the first two books. Luckily, that was not the case for me and I loved Blue Lily, Lily Blue just as much as The Raven Boys and The […]
Very silly fun.
Look, if you’ve made it to book four of this series, you know what you’re in for. Vast quantities of absurd silliness. Lots of naked werewolves (played comedically, of course). Foppish vampires. Alexia being no nonsense and getting herself into all sorts of trouble. A supernatural threat that’s not really a threat, but mostly just an excuse for us to hang out with these characters for four hundred pages. The Parasol Protectorate is not plot heavy. These are hang-out books, and if you happen to […]
Unfinished Symphony
This novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and praised by one of my favorite authors, Geraldine Brooks. It is a piece of dystopian fiction imagining an England where music is used to control a population that can no longer read and where memories have disappeared. All anyone needs to know is imparted through the carillon chimes each day. While the conceit is exceedingly clever, and the story often engaging, I found myself ultimately disappointed. This is a case where the reader can’t see […]
Does *anyone* who’s read this book think Richard is a hero?
I’m about to get all up in this book’s craw for some terrible choices on the part of the author, and the part of his characters, but I would like to state up front that I am not opposed to characters making choices that are morally questionable. If characters–especially “the good guys”–don’t mess up every now and again, we usually find them flat or boring. What I AM opposed to is characters making morally questionable choices without either the characters or the author bothering to […]
This book will chew you up and spit you out
What the fuck did I just read? I think I liked it? It definitely kept me guessing, that’s for sure. This book isn’t for the faint hearted. There’s lots of gore, violence, and even a little horror. I wouldn’t say it was a scary book per se, but a lot of crazy shit happens in The Library at Mount Char. The narrative flits back and forth between the main character, Carolyn, as an adult and as a child. As a child her parents were killed […]
Holmes in a Skirt without much Sherlock
A Study in Silks can’t seem to decide if it wants to be a mystery, a steampunk adventure, a comedy of manners, a drama, or a romance. The main character is Evelina Cooper, daughter of a circus performer and a lady from country gentry. From her father’s family she inherits magical abilities and on her mother’s side she is niece to Sherlock Holmes. In her world, magic is illegal in England, and while Victoria rules in name, London is really controlled by a group of […]