Revisionary is the fourth and final book in Jim C. Hines’ Magic Ex Libris series, and the short version of this review is: this is a satisfying ending that still leaves a Whole Lot of Room in the Libriomancer universe if Jim ever decides to come back to it. The long version is behind the cut because SPOILERS.
I mean, I GET it, but I don’t have to be HAPPY about it.
I have liked every Jim C. Hines book I’ve ever read, and that holds true for The Snow Queen’s Shadow. But I didn’t LIKE like this book. In fact, I think I’m in a fight with it. We definitely weren’t speaking for a while, and I got kind of pouty and shouty with it. Pouty shouty, if you will. The thing about this book, which is the fourth and last in Hines’ Princess quartet, is that it’s a smart, well-written ending to the series. It […]
These fun fairy-tale retellings are feminist as f*ck.
The Stepsister Scheme Jim C. Hines is honestly one of my favorite authors, even though he’s never written a book that I’ve lost my mind* over. What he writes is solid, fun fantasy with a strong feminist backbone. He also seems to have a thing for championing the underdog, and writing stories that subvert traditional story-types. The Princess series, of which I’ve read all but the last book at the time of writing this review, is particularly notable as all the main characters are ladies, […]
Fire spider: IGNITE!!!
Sometimes you go into a book with expectations, and the book blows those expectations all to hell. The first two books in the Magic Ex Libris series were fun, pulpy romps through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (and through the annals of great fantasy and sci-fi literature). We followed librarian cum libriomancer, Isaac Vainio, a man who can use magic to pull things out of books, as he fought off all mess of troubles. As a member of the Porters, a secret society of magic […]
If Schroedinger opened Pandora’s box…
What happens when what you’ve always known yourself to be is locked away from you? What happens when a secret that’s been a secret for hundreds of years suddenly isn’t a secret anymore? (A word of warning, regarding secrets: Here there be spoilers for the first two books in the series. I’m sorry. I can’t discuss this one without discussing them, at least a little bit.) Ex-libriomancer Isaac Vaino doesn’t have an answer for the second thing at the beginning of Jim Hines’ Unbound, because he’s […]