The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ve been waiting a long time to read Sarah Rees Brennan’s Demon’s Lexicon, and I’m happy to report it greatly surpassed all expectations. Which, to be fair, were fairly few.

Nick is a tough guy with a tough past, yadda yadda, but he reads so unlike a tired cliche. In fact, half the fun of the book is trying to figure out just what his deal is, exactly. He’s a survivor, callous, unemotional, but with a fierce loyalty to his older brother, Alan. My theories ranged far, from a budding psychopath to high functioning autistic. I’m good at guessing, but I didn’t actually clue into the real twist until about halfway through.

Alan is a tough nut to crack, too. He’s a charming con, behind a facade of nerd and harmlessness. It took a long time for him to grow on me, probably until the end of the book, maybe even the first part of the second book. Which is also good.

I just realized I am not coherently reviewing this book because I liked it so much I can’t, and also because even though I only started this one last night, I’m smack in the middle of the third and my attention can’t be divided. That good.

View all my reviews

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes coming in with lowered expectations can pay off. This was just barely one of those times.

Rachel Caine writes up many a figurative storm in Ill Wind. The narrator’s voice is chatty and forthright without grating on my intolerance for women who spend too much time thinking about clothes, shoes, cars, and how hot they are. Well…maybe it grated a little.

(view spoiler)[I didn’t have a problem at all with the convenient new romance, which only bothered me in the instances when David got all bossy protector-y. Even so, his motivation materialized, albeit toward the end.

Somehow the Djinn were at once not explored enough and also made too human to retain their mystique. The first sighting of the Djinn was exciting, I couldn’t wait to see the dynamic play out. I would have liked to know more about their history with the Wardens (and the history of the Warden’s themselves), maybe more exploration/exploitation of that thorough list of rules at the beginning.

I also wish Joanne had been given a bit more present to contextualize her past. A lot of info was dumped about her and then never mentioned again. Honestly, I could have run wild with her speshul snowflake childhood stories and the whole learning to control the weather stuff. But then, maybe spinning the story out wouldn’t have worked, given the entire thing is structured around a very unlikely road trip/car chase. Unlikely given the lack of sleep she mentions frequently,, the number of times she has to stop (the woman drinks a lot of coffee, you’re tryna tell me our delicate flower doesn’t need frequent pee breaks?), and the gratuitous liberties Caine takes with the geography of the United States.

Lastly, I’d have loved to have seen more of Lewis in the present day in this book. Granted, now I plan to read all of them to see if there is more of him to come, but I am curious to know what his deal is. Also I get the feeling that since every man ever is in love with this chick (no idea why, she’s in this perpetual state of emotional and physical unavailability, re: lightning} the fact that she was with both her mentor, the Djinn, and him at some point would have raised eyebrows. And now she’s dead. I mean…the possibilities, man.

I don’t know, you go through the whole story telling me this chick wanted to succeed in her career and be promoted and self actualize because she’s SOOOO powerful, and then you kind of kill/superpower her. Frankly, I was reminded of the Twilight series. She was a lot more interesting than Bella, though weirdly into similar things like old cars…and she goes and gets “saved” by being turned into a superhuman creature. Been there, read that.
(hide spoiler)]

All in all though, despite its flaws Ill Wind was a decent beach read. Lots of explosions and bad-ass weather manipulation, explained in technical detail. Bad geography, but what are you gonna do.

View all my reviews

Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As introspectively awe-inspiring as Fun Home but in a much more exhaustive way. Bechdel narrates her creative process as she weaves the narrative of the current book. The book refers to itself as a meta-book in the text.

It’s amazing that something so incredibly personal and minutely detailed remained gripping, even after having read Fun Home the same day. Bechdel is amazing, but I still get the impression that for all of her confessionals in these graphic novels, she still maintains a conscious distance.

What were in depth and serendipitous literary references and allusions in Fun Home seemed a bit forced here, but again, Bechdel was aware of it. Such lucid commentary on the thought process and the creative process. Really a great work. Probably deserves more stars.

View all my reviews

White Cat by Holly Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a good book! I was reluctant to read it for a very long time because of my opinion of the other Holly Black books I’ve read (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside). They were okay, good even, but kind of lacking. I didn’t really connect with them and they didn’t impress me.

White Cat totally did. The concept is refreshing, and I liked how the mob elements gave a very gritty, realistic urban feel to the story.

I’m reading Red Glove now, and I’m happy to report: my trust in Holly Black’s writing has been fully restored.

View all my reviews

Eona by Alison Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wrote a glowing review for Eon, and I’m sad to say I can’t do the same for Eona. It just wasn’t as good, in my opinion, and I think that opinion largely comes from the flaws and weaknesses of the characters in this book: the second and final part of the story.

I know that’s nonsensical, because who wants to read about perfect flawless characters who never make mistakes and aren’t very realistic? Nobody, I suppose, but that didn’t stop me from despising every single character by the end of the book. Except maybe Dela, and the minor characters like Rilla, Vida and Tozay.

I honestly cannot understand the romance in the book either, because though Kygo/Eona is clearly set out to be the OTP, Kygo is a selfish asshat with serious rage issues, not to mention being controlling in a very scary way. But he’s *pretty* and a prince, so, you know, he’s AMAZING.

Sadly, I thought Ido was much better constructed, and I understood the relationship Goodman created between him and Eona, I was just disappointed to see he was really as villainous as when he was introduced.

Don’t even get me STARTED on Eona, who was utterly surrendered to the mercy of misogyny the minute she embraced her femininity. She was so strong as a boy, why couldn’t she be AS strong as a female character? It drove me nuts! Here I was thinking THIS woman was meant to begin to shift her society’s perceptions of women based on her high profile, dire responsibilities, and power, and she ended up just being a wishy-washy liar. If it can be said that she had strengths, they all fell into the set of “womanly” characteristics which I am so, so tired of seeing praised in “strong” female characters.

Let’s not even mention the irony of the fact that the Mirror Dragon is the keeper of Truth, and Eona consistently lies to every single person she comes in contact with, regardless of the fact that over and over again it proves to screw her over. I understood that in the context of her life, trust was difficult or impossible for her, but I still think a more perceptive character would have realized that lying is her undoing.

I guess if anything, she is written very convincingly as an incredibly naive 16 year old.

Despite ALL OF THAT, it was still a pretty engrossing read. Irritating at times, sure, but still well written.

View all my reviews

Eon by Alison Goodman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I vacillated between four and five stars for this book, and I ended up going with my *feels* instead of being hoity-toity and and judging it purely on its very few imperfections (of which I can’t call up an example at the moment, go figure).

Eon is written well, to start off. I was turning pages with an elevated heart rate, desperate to see what happened next. It was awesome. I was so sucked into the story and I felt Goodman gives the reader just the right amount of exposition about the geography and culture of Eon’s world. The history, not so much. This is crucial to the plot, however, as the reader begins to become aware, slowly, that a destructive patriarchy has erased and tried to rewrite the mystical laws and history of the world.

Speaking of, I really, really liked how Goodman confronted many feminist topics in a fantasy setting. Clearly, this is nothing new, especially YA fiction. I chose this book on Tamora Pierce’s recommendation (her quote is on the cover), and she has been writing pro-feminist YA fantasy for like, almost 30 years now? I think the major difference I would draw between a Pierce novel and Goodman’s Eon is that Tamora Pierce’s worlds sometimes have pockets of equalized cultures and traditions, in which women are protected. This is only hinted at in Eon, in which the eponymous character faces death with no quarter in hiding her sex. There is more hardness in Goodman’s reality, which seemed more realistic to me than Pierce’s style of tart practicality.

The other thing I really liked was the treatment of Lady Dela’s character. I won’t go into it to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say that I thought she was very well done by the author.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to reading Eona, and I’m glad to have discovered another author who does fantasy so very well.

View all my reviews

The Griffin Mage by Rachel Neumeier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to buy the first novel separately, but Barnes & Noble only had the last two in stock, or the omnibus. So I went out on a limb and bought three books when I wasn’t even sure I was going to like the first one.

I’m on the second book right now and OMG, it’s so much better than the first, i.e. THERE IS ACTUAL DIALOGUE/I have some idea what’s going on. There is a plot, I can pronounce names, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I kept going through the first one. I’m not as patient a book-finisher as I once was, so it kind of means something. The griffins seem cool, and the descriptions are kind of pretty.

The desert, however, made me roll my eyes SO HARD. I have lived in a desert. They are not all that, especially when your body is 70+ per cent water. For Kes, I guess that isn’t an issue.

Anyway, so far my complaints about the 1st book are essentially:

1)Can’t pronounce any of the names, and I study language. I’m not exactly sure which languages they’re supposed to be based from. Japanese? French? Greek? German? SO MANY VOWELS. If I can’t figure it out by the third time it’s mentioned, I stop caring.

2) There are no character relationships. Like, yeah, there are preexisting filial bonds between Kes & her sister, Bertaud & the king. But outside of that? Kes & Opailikiita? Arbitrary. Kes & Jos? Barren. Like, I get it, Kes has no emotions now, whatever, but apparently Jos doesn’t either? Bertaud is not even a real person (round character), in his slavish devotion to the king. I get it, he raised you. You contemplate his sternness and flaws but that just makes you love him more EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE JEALOUS OF HIS WIFE?

3)Meandering plot.

To be continued when I finish the next one.

Ok, finished all three. The next two books are so very differently written than the first. Being all up in Kes’ headspace is very disconcerting when you flip to the second book and all a sudden you’re following a completely different kind of character. Gereint is older, from a different country, and a slave. But he’s a lot easier to get to know, and a lot more likeable than Kes.

The third book is also easier to slip into for the same reason. They’re both good, solid reads.

My only complaints (of course I have some) are that the relation ships between Bertaud and… anyone? Tehre? are so lightly dealt with that the reader can only rely on conjecture about what he really felt. Mienthe mentions he seems disappointed, and based on the way Neumeier writes by this point you assume it’s his separation from the griffins that is his major disappointment, not that he’d loved and lost someone. I couldn’t even tell you if Mienthe is in love with anyone by the end, because she sort of goes out of her way to say she isn’t, but could be. GAHHH. Implications.

Normally readers complain about being told things point blank, but I think in this case I would have preferred that to being at sea about all of it.

View all my reviews

The Master of Heathcrest Hall by Galen Beckett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m trying really hard to decide whether or not I hated how easily all of the happily-ever-afters came.

I mean, they were all plausible enough. I suppose. But I generally am distrustful of authors who make every single element end the way I wanted them to end. This probably comes of reading George R. R. Martin and having my heart in my throat as I turn each page for fear someone I like has been murdered.

I don’t know, but I’m so glad Ivy and Rafferdy ended up together because he was my favorite character in the whole series, even though I had to read the word “punch” so many times I no longer care for it because of him.

My inner ship-fangirl is pleased, but my lit major critic is wondering how successful Beckett was, exactly, with his whole experiment. The “mystical reasons” men dominated women were NEVER argued. It was just kind of like, women are witches and magicians are aliens. There is no establishment for an argument. It begs the question.

Also, the list of things that went unexplained was far longer than the list of things that were. Such as, what exactly is a White Thorn, what can she do, and why does she have to be female?

Siltheri are men born of witches, but if they can be illusionists why couldn’t witches be too? Are there any homosexuals in this world who aren’t men with witch blood? I don’t think that was a particularly effective means of explaining the gay away. Especially because I don’t see how being a witch’s son would make you gay everysingletime.

I enjoyed the book, but really think it could have been better.

View all my reviews