This was one of those books that I noticed on the shelf and pretty much decided to buy before I even picked it up. The cover is designed like a video rental jacket from the 80’s, front to back, right down to the “Be Kind, Rewind” sticker, and it’s like I had no choice. I still remember in fourth grade when the one liquor store in town started renting VCRs and movies on VHS, and just looking at this book brought back the sights and […]
Stay out of the forest…
I haven’t read any Naomi Novik before, but this was recommended on one of those ‘If you liked this, you’ll like…’ on finishing The Bear and the Nightingale, with which it shares a fairytale feel and a young woman coming of age and magic, surrounded by a malignant forest. Uprooted isn’t quite as good as The Bear and The Nightingale, but was good enough for me to note Novik as one to read more from. Agnieska lives in the village of Dvernik where, every ten […]
Watered Down Pratchett Doing Columbo
Fifth Ward: First Watch is pretty standard in a lot of ways. It’s a standard fantasy story of the sort which largely takes place in a vaguely medieval city in which a variety of difference races interact including humans, orcs, elves, and dwarves. It’s also a standard buddy cop story in which the naive young trainee is paired with the gruff experienced veterans, they get on each other’s nerves a lot, but eventually through a series of trials become friends and partners. As is not […]
When the Reckoning Arrives (or Not)
When I read a book for CBR, I like to wait a few days to review it so I can gather my thoughts and decide what I want the focus of my review to be. In the case of A Secret History of Witches, this was a mistake. I mostly spent those few days remembering everything I didn’t like about it. A Secret History of Witches is the story of five generations of a family of witches. Story, actually, is a bit strong, as very […]
“We do not know what things look like. We know what things are like. It must be a very limiting thing, this seeing.”
I still love this. The last time I read A Wrinkle in Time was ten years ago. I hadn’t read the book in years before that, and barely remembered it, except for a few images that had burned into my subconscious (the man with the red eyes, for example; the Murry’s vegetable garden and their laboratory; Charles Wallace; and I remembered that I thought it was terrifying). It’s basically impossible for me to read or review it now without my childhood impressions coloring it. Because […]
Paying the Price of Magic
I missed out on Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books during my teenage years which is when I suspect a lot of people find these books with their magical horses (known as Companions) and tales of growing up and finding out about the world. I’ve been making up for it though since the books have been ending up neatly packaged into trilogies on Kindle over the past couple of years. This particular trilogy is interesting because it features a protagonist who is mentioned very early on in […]
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