This review was originally written on July 4, 2014
And, we have the first book of the blog in which I didn't read far enough to feel justified in rating it. I don't recall anymore how early on it was that I DNFed it...but it was early on. Obviously, this book didn't live up to the hype.
I
felt proud of myself for being patient at first. Patient with the similarities to other books
(it's like Ember and Wool mated), patient with the colorless lack of
strong emotion in the characters, and patient with a main character who
was too immature to hold the position of main character.
I got a
bit less patient with the lazy, contrived escape, and even less than
that when the campers started in with their "dialect."
Sad to
say, though, that what finally tipped me over the edge was a declarative
sentence closed with a question mark. See, what that tells me is that
we have an author who is perfectly fine with selling a product without
springing for a competent editor. THAT makes me angry.
There might be a good story buried under all the mediocrity. I'll never find out.
Unrated
This review was originally written on July 13, 2013
I remember reading Buzzfeed list on terrific fantasy books with awful covers. It was a
riot, but I couldn't help wonder why this one didn't make the list.
I
almost didn't buy the book because of it. This was back in the days
before online reviews and recommendations, and I had passed over this
book in the local used book store many times. It didn't sound bad but
the cover looked so pink and little-girly that I kept putting it back on
the shelf; there's no way I'd like a book that looks so fluffy and
childish!
I must have been particularly hard up for new reading material on one trip or another, 'cause I eventually did buy it.
And it blew me away.
This
book is the introduction to the world of Valdemar. It's the book that
started it all, in a world that I revisited many, many times. A world I
loved immediately with a love that increased every time I reread it.
Now,
I love Mercedes Lackey. I've loved virtually everything she's written,
and by now I've read most of it. There are other people who look at
Valdemar as dreck with trite, cliche characters and a formulaic,
superficial plot. I can't really even deny that these people have a
point, even if I think they're being too hard on her books. But there's
just something about this world that I still love to escape to after all
these years that speaks to its magic. Nevertheless, I'm not writing
this to change anyone's mind.
No, I'm writing this review
primarily to speak to those other readers who look at the cover of this
book and roll their eyes; clearly this is going to be "Girl with Bad
Haircut Meets My Little Pony." Not so. This pink and pale blue gaggy
cover holds one of my top favorite stories ever. To those of you on the
fence, I'd recommend getting this book and preparing yourself for a
multi-volume adventure.
9/10 stars
This review was originally written on September 11, 2014
Night Calls, by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
After all the failures to launch I've read lately, I have to say, this was a totally unexpected and very welcome surprise.
There's
probably no need to recap the plot, but I will say that, on the
surface, it's not exactly new. Night Calls takes a witchcrafty view of
magic; rituals, herbs, spirits...but even though there are tons of witch
books (though if we're being precise, Alfreda is a practitioner or
wizard, not a witch), Kimbriel did a really, really good job with it.
I
think this book is classified as YA, but let me assure you: this is not
one of those YA stories that's so juvenile or simply told that an adult
can't enjoy it...and considering Alfreda opens the story at age (I
think) 11, that's saying a lot. It helps, I think, that the setting
requires the main character to be more mature than one of today's
pre-teens. The story has a distinct Little House on the Prairie feel to
it, and even though there's action, it's interspersed with a lot of
regular life and learning. Those who require a non-stop joyride in their
books may not take to this story. Personally, I think it's nice to not
have to read something that has my pulse going at warp speed through the
whole thing; I like a substantial story, and the style allows the time
we readers need to grow with the characters.
From what I could
tell - which may not be much considering I'm not a historian - the
author did her homework with respect to realism and accuracy. Sometimes,
even when a book is only nominally historical (for instance, set in a
different world with medieval-level technology), you find little
anachronisms that jar you out of the story. Not so here. From the
geography to the culture to the religion, I was impressed by how far I
was able to immerse myself in Olde Tyme Michigan Territory.
One
of the things that most surprised me was how literary the book was. That
adjective came to me while I was reading the story, and afterward, I
read a thing on the author's Goodreads page about how she's been deemed
too literary for regular readers and too regular to be classed as
literature. (That's paraphrased.) Now, that could very well represent
the views of the publishers, but I'd have to disagree with them. This
author actually combines the best of both worlds into something that is
artistic and enriching and amazingly entertaining all at once.
(Frankly, I think whoever does the marketing for her publisher ought to have his or her legs taken off at the knees. I devour fantasy, and even though the book has been around for nearly 20 years, I'd never heard of it or her. I feel cheated!)
Truly,
I'm astonished, enough that I'm adding this to the short list of my
all-time favorites. The sequel doesn't disappoint either (I may have
liked that one even better than this first book), and I'm typing this
now to kill time before book 3 is released tomorrow.
Especially
if you like themes of witchcraft and coming-of-age - and really, even if
those aren't normally your thing - I strongly recommend this book. I've
been trying to think of another book that would make a good comparison,
and I can't. It's beyond compare. And it's one that I'll be re-reading
many many times in the years to come.
9/10 stars
