Category: Book Reviews

Book Reviews

The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home (Catherine M. Valente) Review

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5 stars.

This is the fifth book in the Fairyland series and I think the last. At least it is the last following these characters anyway, but the ending does such a good job of tying up September’s story that I don’t mind at all.

“The Land of Parents is strange and full of peril.”
The last book in the series followed the changeling children Hawthorne and Tamburlaine and I did find that the writing style which I usually thoroughly enjoy started to annoy me a little in that book, however, that must have just been down to the characters or the story, because the writing style in this book read to me like the first one and is infinitely quotable all the way through.

“Today I shall be a wicked murderous tyrant and crush something nice under my heel.”
We meet September as she is the Queen of Fairyland, but all the previous monarchs of Fairyland are also present and they all want to rule, so The Cantankerous Derby is set in place and whoever can find The Heart of Fairyland will rule. The derby takes up most of the rest of the book and The Heart of Fairyland, while possible to be anything is of course only possible to be one thing really, and once you know what it is it’s obvious and very fitting for not only the Fairyland series but every fairytale about magical worlds.

“All librarians are members of the Catalogue. That’s what you call a coven when it’s made up of Librarians instead of witches.”
I would say that while I do have my favourite books of the series and less favourite books of the series, as a whole the series does work extremely well and I know this will not be the last time I read the whole series through.

Book Reviews

The Island (M.A. Bennett) Review

Christy.E.S1 Comment

3 stars.

Contains spoilers for the book.

A sort of retelling of Lord of The Flies by William Goldman. Seven students survive a plane crash on a desert island, but all is not as it seems.

“I was just sorry I didn’t have a swishy cloak.”
I was going to give this book two stars until I got to the last third. Though the writing style is similar to how a modern teenager would speak and is written well. There didn’t seem much point to the story and I after a few incidents on the island I found it hard to sympathise with the narrator, as he does act incredibly selfish while on the island.

“”You know there actually is a middle of nowhere? It’s the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, and it’s called Point Nemo.”
The last third of the book gained that extra star as the character does start to become less selfish as time on the island goes on. And after the characters find out that the plane crash did not happen by accident but was in fact staged and their time on the island is being documented, then they do all work together to get off the island.

“”They cancelled the show. So you never saw the characters getting off the island. In the world of the show, they’re still there, stranded, frozen in TV limbo.””
The book is quite a quick read and easy to follow. It’s just a shame that the last third of the book is the only part where I enjoyed the story and characters.

Book Reviews

June Wrap-Up and July TBR

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Books read in June:

War Storm – Victoria Aveyard:
3 Stars
This is the final story in the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard, though the first book in the series is one of my favourite books from the last few years, the third book in the series and this one will not be. The book wraps up the series well and doesn’t fall into the trap of many books of the same genre in trying to give all the characters a happy ending and thew ending of the book does make sense for the characters, but I’m still disappointed by it.
Favourite Quote: “Soft hands, better suited to book pages. Never used in war. Never needed in battle. I envy those hands.”

As They Say in Zanzibar – David Crystal:
4 Stars
This is a linguistics book that I got from the library and is mainly a book of proverbs from around the world. As someone who studies linguistics as much as they can it is interesting to learn how different countries have different sayings for the same situations and hoe some sayings are more well known than others.
Favourite Quote: “Those who hear not the music think the dancers mad – China.”

City of Circles – Jess Richards:
3 Stars
This is a book set partly in a circus and partly in a city called Matryoshka – the city of circles from the title. I enjoyed reading about the world and the places in the book more than I enjoyed the actual plot and story. Matryoshka is a city that seems like places I have been and places I have never been at the same time and reading the book did make me wonder if it is time I went travelling again, but the plot didn’t capture as I had hoped it would.

Books to read in July:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman:
This book is the book chosen by my book group for July and I have been recommended this book by a few different people so was waiting for a reason to go and buy it. The book follows Eleanor as she tries to stop being lonely. Having already read the first few pages I can already tell I am going to thoroughly enjoy reading this book, I just hope I can finish it before I meet with my book group!

Mun Mun – Jesse Andrews:
This book is the latest book I have received from Readers First in exchange for a review so will be doing a full review of this book after I have finished it. The book is set in a world where your physical size is directly related to how much money you have and those with the least money are roughly the size of mice. It follows one person as they try to make more money so they can become taller. The book seemed such an interesting way of looking at wealth in society that it seemed impossible not to read.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Illumination of Ursula Flight (Anna-Marie Crowhurst)

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“there was nothing I liked more than to see my own name drawn out by my own hand, and so I wrote it everywhere I could, including places I knew were forbidden”

The story follows Ursula Flight as she vows while young to become an actress and the twists of fate that must happen for a respectable woman to become an actor in the 17th century.

“”She tried to cure the baker with a toasted toad,” said Mary. “But she only gave him warts.””

The book is well researched and the characters are well rounded making them feel real as you are reading it.
The book is a bit slow considering it is mainly just the story of Ursula’s life and though the pay off at the end is great for Ursula, it doesn’t feel like enough to warrant the build up of all the previous chapters.

“SIBELIAH: I cannot look at the sunset!

URSULA: Plainly you must open your eyes first or you will not see it.”

The writing includes some scripts and lists which make the reading easier and quicker as you go along and the writing style is humorous without ever going anachronistic in it’s style.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Electrical Venus (Julie Mayhew)

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“Some of us start humble and choose to climb. Then comes the fall, a momentary loss of balance, but we get up, we brush ourselves down, we bathe in dust and we ready our feathers. For soon, I believe, we will sing, bird. In ways quite fantastic, we shall sing.”

This is a book that got better near to the end. Not that it wasn’t good at the beginning, but having seen the characters grow and learn from their mistakes throughout the book it does make the ending more enjoyable.

“‘Will it feel as sure as a punch to the jaw? Like the sting of alcohol upon a wound? Will it be as certain as the teeth of a goose? Or as sound as a beating with a wooden spoon?'”
The book has three perspectives, one a narrator, and the other two the characters Mim and Alex – these two characters perspectives are written as if they are diary entries, but on account of them both being circus performers instead of writing their diary entries down, they speak to the animals in the circus in monologues that would do well to be read aloud – at the back of the book it is stated that the book started life as a radio show which explains the monologues.
“MISS MIM, a Student of Natural Philosophy, Human Nature and Magical Electrickery, and her Partner, MASTER ALEX, a lofty Tumbler, Rope Dancer and Acrobat of some Distinction will demonstrate the accurate Disposition of the Heart via the most extraordinary Means.”

The characters are well written and I found myself truly invested in their stories and characterisation by the end of the book.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Pharmacist’s Wife (Vanessa Tait)

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3/5 stars.

“‘But we find a bee’s sting in nature, why should we not find this? Only instead of poison there is pleasure…'”

Set in 1869, the book follows Rebecca Palmer as she is given a new medicine created by her husband named heroin. The book follows her descent into addiction and although the drug takes her away from her unhappy marriage with Mr Palmer, her life starts to unravel.

“The very last shoe any woman could run away in.”
The book has possibly slightly too many things in it. Rebecca’s descent into addiction and the world she now finds herself in would have been plot enough, instead we are shown Victorian bawdy houses, as well as Mr Palmer’s belief that heroin will prove to be a wonder drug for women to keep them in their place and to stop them from wanting to encroach on the world of men.
While these scenes are well written and do to an extent have an impact on the plot, you can’t help but feel that the story would remain exactly the same if they were taken out.

“‘For women are strong and bear much punishment.”
The last third of the book is the only time where I found the book to be a page turner – without revealing too much – Rebecca finds an ingenious way to take revenge on her husband for making her addicted to heroin.
The book is a good read, especially for all the knowledge of Victorian pharmacy that is inside it, but it was not the same book I was expecting to read.

Book Reviews

Book Review: To Kill a Kingdom (Alexandra Christo)

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“Technically I’m a murderer, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities.”

This book is loosely based on The Little Mermaid, but is a darker retelling of the story as instead of a mermaid the main character is a siren turned human for punishment. In order to redeem herself she must take the heart of a prince in her human form.

“Love is a word we scarcely hear in the ocean.”

The book is a joy to read, as both the story and the writing style compliment each other well and it seems that the surface of the world created in the book has barely been scratched, as there are a hundred kingdoms and we only visit a handful.

“Is that what it means to be human? Pushing someone else out of danger and throwing yourself in?”

The book is a standalone so the ending ties everything together well but could have been done over more than a few pages and any other books set in this world, but following different characters, would be interesting to read to find out more about the hundred kingdoms.

“I died once and I haven’t been able to do it again since.”

For a debut novel or for any novel, the story is compelling and the writing style unique, and I will definitely read whatever story Alexandra Christo tells next.

5/5.

 

Book Reviews

Book Review: Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

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I was interested to read this book as it seemed to be a YA story about death that took new paths about the subject, it is and it isn’t.

“It is almost as if snow has come in the night, just for my pleasure,”
The main character Lily manages to get a few extra days on earth courtesy of her brother and she uses this time to help her friends start to accept her death. There are a few missed opportunities for storylines in the book and while we have a first person p.o.v. for Lily, every so often there are a few pages in the third person for another character such as her mother or a friend which I feel wasn’t necessary to see things from the other characters p.o.v. as well as Lily’s.

“A bright moon casts a blue light across the room,”
I did enjoy the writing style, feeling that it was close to actual teenage speech and I have read many books where this was not the case. The writing style does make the more obvious themes of the story entertaining to read meaning I wasn’t tempted to skip parts of the book at any point.

“I picture their golden heads waving under the orange African sunshine in a few months’ time,”
The book explores themes of grief, regret and acceptance in a way I have not read before and as this is a debut novel I would be interested in reading more by the author.

3/5

 

Book Reviews

Book Rating System

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So, one of my goals for this year is to write more book reviews, both on here and on Goodreads. That includes rating the books as well. In the past, I have usually just finished reading books and not rated them, but this neither helps the authors of the books or the algorithm on Goodreads to know what sort of books I want to read next, but as someone who doesn’t regularly rate books they’ve read, what exactly is my rating system? What makes one book one star and another five stars? Well I think I’ve come up with a rating system that makes sense for me so here goes:

1 star – I rarely give books one star. Usually if there is a book that I am going to give one star it’s going to be a book that I DNF, although for me this is rare. If I don’t finish a book then I tend not to rate it based on the idea that while the book was not enjoyable for me that isn’t true for everybody in the world.

2 stars: Any book that had enough plot/character development for me to finish the book but is not a book I will ever read again, nor read any other books in the series as they come out will probably get two stars.

3 stars: Any book that I did enjoy but feel could have been better. If the book is part of a series, I will not actively search for the future books but if I see one while browsing in a bookshop or someone wants to buy me the book as a present then I will gladly read the next ones in the series.

4 stars: Any book I give four stars to, is a book I did enjoy and will want to buy any future books in that series and will actively try to read other work by that author. I will not buy other books by the author or in that series immediately but will whenever I can afford to.

5 stars: Any book I give 5 stars to, I will read everything else by that author and will buy all other books in that series as they come out, wanting to have the first edition of any future books in the series. I will tell everyone I know to also read the book and will generally believe that the author can do no wrong writing wise, adding them to my favourite authors list.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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“In Faerie, there are no fish sticks, no ketchup, no television.”

The Cruel Prince is the first book in a new fantasy series by Holly Black and it certainly sets up the future books in the series well. The first chapter is a prologue where we learn how the main character of Jude came to be a mortal living in Faerie, and the book shows the darker side of Faerie lore from the beginning.

“I can no more guess the assumptions that go along with glittering sneakers than a child in a dragon costume knows what real dragons would make of the cooler of her scales.”

At the beginning of the book I thought I understood where it was going to go and how the story was going to play out, but reading further you start to have suspicions that all is not as Jude thinks in the world of Faerie. There is more than one plot twist in the book and while I guessed one of the main ones, I did not guess the one at the end, which is always refreshing for me as I have a habit of guessing endings.

“‘Nice things don’t  happen in storybooks,” Taryn says. ‘Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.'”

A lot of this book is set up for the next one in the series and while the set up does need to happen, the first half of the book does drag a little, but the second half more than makes up for that as Jude learns to use the weaknesses of Faerie to her advantage and the book ends when Jude’s plan is just starting to be borne out.

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The Humans (Matt Haig) Review

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“Basically, the key rule is, if you want to appear sane on Earth you have to be in the right place, wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, and only stepping on the right kind of grass.”

“What must we look like to aliens?” is a question that has prompted many a writer to write a story about just that. Do they think us good? Kind? Weak? Cruel? Bad? Greedy? Strong? The narrator of this book – an alien – comes to the conclusion that humans are all of the above and more and less.

“The tea seemed to be making things better. It was a hot drink made of leaves, used in times of crisis as a means of restoring normality.”

The unnamed narrator arrives on Earth with the task of deleting the knowledge of the Reimann hypothesis – this is a mathematical hypothesis that apparently once proven could lead to space travel – it is a credit to the writing of the book that I kept reading after I learnt it was ultimately about maths.

Once on Earth, however, the narrator becomes confused by the differences between what he has been told about humans and what he observes about humans.

“One life form’s gold is another life form’s tin can.”

The book starts better than it ends, and as the copy of the book I was reading belonged to my mother, I understand why she told me I could keep the copy as “I’m never going to want to read it again.” I, too, will probably never read this book again, but I did enjoy it. A book about the miracle of human existence, the miracle of how we have built our lives – and from the viewpoint of aliens – the miracle of how we consider ourselves advanced and most miraculous of all a book about maths that I enjoyed reading.