I loved The Bear and the Nightingale, and rather than doing my usual plunge straight into the sequel, I have been holding off on this on to try to extend and savor the story more. However, once I saw Aquillia’s review of The Girl in the Tower, I decided I was done waiting since I wanted to be able to have a discussion. Looking back, I have noticed that while everyone seems to like The Bear and the Nightingale, the responses to certain details have […]
It’s the Messy Emotions That Lead to the Creation of Art and Beauty
I’m very late to the game on this one – it caught my eye years ago but I kept classifying it as a “I’ll get around to it later, maybe once there are sequels” novel and it ended up very far down on the backburner. I’m not really sure why it ended up as a “I’ll get around to it” novel since dragons are right in my wheel house but there are just too many books to choose from! The novel takes place in the […]
Ain’t she sweet
There was a post going around tumblr for a while referencing “the knowing eye contact women make when men are talking,” which someone else helpfully supplemented with this illustrative gif from Carol* (and if you’re looking at this opening excerpt from the CBR top page, you do have to click through to see it, I’m afraid): The Ladies of Grace Adieu, by Susanna Clarke, feels like the prose manifestation of that post. Set in the world of her popular novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. […]
I Feel so Damned Spoilt Reading These
So I spent my last review squealing all over Mark Lawrence’s Red Sister, which I thought was some of the best fantasy I had read all year. Well, the universe must be spoiling me or something, because Josiah Bancroft’s books run in at a close second! I’ll be reviewing them both together, so there will be very, very mild spoilers for the first book. I’ll try not to do too much damage, but be warned. I’ve always enjoyed the more weird and wonderful entries […]
Winter in Russia, and a monster in the dark.
This was not quite what I was expecting. I think I was expecting something more along the lines of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, because people have compared them endlessly, but aside from taking inspiration from Russian folklore, the two books don’t have very much in common. Uprooted is a fairytale, albeit one that is lengthened and deepened. The Bear and the Nightingale is a historical fantasy that is historical fiction first, fantasy second. This book takes place in medieval Russia, then called Rus’. The daughter of […]
Go for the throat.
I was in just exactly the right mood for this. And this was just exactly the right balance of satire, genuine laugh out loud humor, and sneaky pathos that I prefer in my Discworld books. But, hey, is this really the last of the Witches books? Are they in the Tiffany Aching ones? I’m gonna miss these ladies. (Even Magrat. And hey, she’s not too bad now that she’s a mother. Much more forceful, and less of a limp dishrag.) Firstly, this is a clever […]
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