Unfortunately, life happened, so it’s been a while since my last review. It took me an extra month to finish the last 60 pages of The Devourers! I did participate in our Cannonball Read book club discussion on time. Better late to review than never, I say. 😉 The Devourers was on several 2016 year end lists. I hadn’t read much contemporary fantasy, so was very intrigued to read it. I also love stories about shape-shifters (and most supernatural creatures). While reading the Kate Daniels’ series by Ilona Andrews, […]
Intellectually interesting, not so much enjoyable for me.
Well, I think I’ve put this review off long enough, and it will be a short one, since our fantastic discussion last month covered a LOT of ground. The Devourers is certainly an original take on werewolves, I’ll give it that, but this book was just not for me. I get intellectually what it was going for, and in parts I was engaged, but overall, I just didn’t care. At the beginning of the book, I actively disliked it. As many have said in their […]
CBR Fantasy Book Club – Bad book = good discussion
Oh boy. This book was not for me. I’ll start this review with some of my comments from the CBR book club, and expound a little from there. “I’m a little over halfway through and I will power through because I am a completist but I don’t like this book. It is a slog. I like plot and character development and I don’t see how this has either. We learn about the characters but they just “are.” The development happens as they slooowly reveal things […]
“I am not all human women… you are what all women fear in this world”
In my reading habits, I do not read too much fantasy. I have never been a fan of high fantasy, those works that are set in an alternate world. I struggled with The Hobbit for years before finally managing to get through the audio book last year, for example. I do better with “low” fantasy, stories set in the recognizable world which include magical or mythological elements, which is where books like Daughter of Smoke and Bone work much better for me. The Devourers, our […]
False Advertising, or I Hate Philosophizing
There are 2 reasons I hated this. One, it’s billed as fantasy, and really is not. Promising me something, and giving me something else is just uncool. Two, I do not enjoy at all narrative that try too hard to be philosophical. This goes there big time. The same story repeated from 3 different perspectives offering new details each time, involving werewolves and half werewolves. This is probably where the fantasy label comes from, but you need more than werewolves to bury the fact the […]
Book Club Discussion Post: The Devourers
Welcome to our first #CannonBookClub of 2017! We’re tackling the fantasy work The Devourers by Indra Das. First, a personal thanks to all of you who attempted this book: reading something because you are ‘supposed to’ is rarely as fun as reading something because you want to, but I always feel our discussions more than make up the difference. Ground rules remain the same as they always have. For those of you who might be joining us for the first time (hello new friends!) all […]