What I'm reading: long awaited releases.

I love book series, but the wait between installments can be a killer, as any George R. R. Martin fan can attest. Sometimes I get distracted and forget about the books I am waiting impatiently to read, and the publication date sneaks up on me, as was the case with Maureen Johnson's The Madness Underneath and Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Princess.

I am on the fence about reviewing Clockwork Princess because a) it's the end of a series and b) I still have too many feels to really write a decent review. I definitely recommend both, though! TMU is a ghost thriller kinda, set in London, which I reviewed here, and CP2 (the 2 is because the middle book in the trilogy, Clockwork Prince is CP) is a steampunk take on Clare's The Mortal Instruments, which I definitely enjoy. The movie is coming out in August, and the cast is phenomenal, they've got Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell-Bower, Lena Headey (Cersei from "Game of Thrones" Queen Gorgo in 300!), Aidan Turner (uber hot vamp Mitchell in the UK "Being Human" show) and Robert Sheehan (Misfits). I die.

Other than that, I've been slowly chewing through Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files series, which is decent, thus far. I mean, they're about a wizard named Harry, so. A grown-up one, in this case. I can't say I really love them—Harry Dresden is sexist in a way that I assume is supposed to be endearing. There are a lot of female characters, though, and they're not entirely flat. In fact, Harry gets saved by them on occasion. But it's still kind of grating to be inside of a character's head when you would probably want to verbally eviscerate them in reality.

I've also started reading Bea Johnson from The Zero Waste Home's upcoming book. I've loved her blog for years, since I read an article in Sunset Magazine. I was undergoing a bit of doubt about my personal commitment to reducing my environmental impact, and seeing that another person, another family, had felt the same way and really DONE something about it changed my life. The book is great so far, and I can't wait to review it here and on my eco/lifestyle blog, Project Pura Vida.

What are you reading lately? Are you, like, me, avoiding your course materials?

The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1) by Mindee Arnett

The Nightmare Affair
by Mindee Arnett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Published March 5th 2013 by Tor Teen

ISBN 0765333333

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

The blurb for this book really did it for me. Personifying nightmares? Awkward chest sitting? A magical academy? Sign me up!

No, really, sign me up—I never got a Hogwarts letter.

After reading the blurb and receiving the ARC from Tor Teen via NetGalley, I wish I had better news to report. I did like a lot of things about the book—I just wish I had liked them more.

Dusty is an outcast at Arkwell Academy, thus you get some unpopular-girl vs. The Cool Kids dynamics, which I didn't find 100% convincing, mostly because I've never witnessed such blatant bullying before in school. The Draco-Malfoy-loudly-mocking-Harry-at-mealtimes thing never seemed plausible to me, because I've never witnessed a bully so secure at the top of the food chain that someone wouldn't call them out, eventually. I'm no authority on bullies, though, despite my extensive public school resume (10 different occasions of being the new kid). Maybe it's a private school thing?

Speaking of schools, Arkwell Academy is such a great draw toward this book. The idea of a Nightmare personified is way cool, and when you add in her magical secret high school that teaches witches, fairies, sirens, demons, and, yes, Nightmares, to do magic had me really excited. I found myself feeling a little deprived mid-book—I wish Arnett had gone into a bit more detail about the different students and their magic, maybe a couple more characters, and more depth to the cast we got to meet. The characters all seem to be smart and intrepid, but disproportionally emotionally immature. I think getting to see more of them, dialogue and action, in future books could definitely even this out.

In addition, the political structure of the magical world is referenced several times, and the reader isn't ever given a first hand perspective into how it operates and how Dusty understands it. Give me more! Politics send a lot of people to sleep, but throw in some fantasy characters and history and they can be made really compelling.

All-in-all, The Nightmare Affair is a fast read with enough fresh spin on a collection of tropes to make it palatable. I could criticize it some more, but I think it's a book a younger teen (12-14) might really enjoy. A fresh pair of eyes could really get stuck on elements that seem tired and over-done to a reader like me. And it's got that little bit of boarding school story appeal that never seems to get old.

View all my reviews | Buy this book on Amazon.com

Reviewed: The Madness Underneath (Shades of London, #2) by Maureen Johnson

The Madness Underneath
 by Maureen Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Published February 26th 2013 by Putnam Juvenile

ISBN 1101607831

After her near-fatal run-in with the Jack the Ripper copycat, Rory Devereaux has been living in Bristol under the close watch of her parents. So when her therapist suddenly suggests she return to Wexford, Rory jumps at the chance to get back to her friends. But Rory's brush with the Ripper touched her more than she thought possible: she's become a human terminus, with the power to eliminate ghosts on contact. She soon finds out that the Shades--the city's secret ghost-fighting police--are responsible for her return. The Ripper may be gone, but now there is a string of new inexplicable deaths threatening London. Rory has evidence that the deaths are no coincidence. Something much more sinister is going on, and now she must convince the squad to listen to her before it's too late.
In this follow-up to the Edgar Award-nominated THE NAME OF THE STAR, Maureen Johnson adds another layer of spectacularly gruesome details to the streets of London that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. —from Goodreads

I honestly feel there is no way to write a review on this book without referring to THE THING which is very spoiler-y, but I am going to try.

The Madness Underneath is the sequel to Johnson's 2011 The Name of the Star, which was very good! The Madness Underneath was good, but not quite as good as the first, which was about a copycat Jack the Ripper murderer in present-day London — lots of history, mystery, and thrills. And ghosts!

I definitely recommend you pick up a copy of the first book! Though, having read the sequel so long after reading The Name of the Star, I was a little fuzzy on the details, and I was too impatient to re-read before starting this book, so I can say with relative certainty that it can stand alone.

Overall the story was decent, though the characterization was a bit weaker than the first book, which is odd, because the focus was placed more so on the characters' inner struggles than the actual crime/mystery. I think this is the only aspect of the story that was lacking. Maureen Johnson did a really very excellent job writing Rory's PTSD (if it was that) and anxiety. Having gone through a similar bout of anxieties about school (without any paranormal fatal injury), I was able to connect with the character very well, almost to the point where it was painful to read. This was personal, but I think any reader will be able to really get in her head.

So if you like ghosts and a really strong sense of setting (way to make me want to move to London, MJ, the weather is HORRIBLE there), I definitely recommend this series. Hopefully Book 3 will be even better!

View all my reviews | Buy The Madness Underneath on Amazon

Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells

Emilie and the Hollow World
by Martha Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Expected publication: April 2nd 2013 by Strange Chemistry

ISBN 1908844493

 

While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure. Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father. With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.  —from Goodreads.

I've never read a book by Martha Wells before, and generally Journey to the Center of the Earth-type novels aren't my cup of tea, probably because mole-people don't interest me and I have an aversion to the dark. Emilie and the Hollow World sounded just different enough to be intriguing.

That said, after I received the ARC from Angry Robot on NetGalley, it took me forever to start reading, which I regret, because I really liked it! However, I was a bit prejudiced, given the YA marketing & cover design, and I thought, going in, this book was probably going to be quite fluffy. Well, I overestimated the fluff (minimal) and underestimated (or misread) the age of the protagonist, Emilie. I read the first few pages assuming she was a plucky 11 or 12 year old — not so. Emilie is 16, and further, some of the elements of her backstory (and of the beginning of the sequel if there will be one) are more northward in the YA spectrum than an 11 year old character might have. But only slightly. One or two degrees northward. Still appropriate and not at all shocking for any middle-grade fiction reader. So despite being even older than the intended audience than I'd expected to be, I still enjoyed the story.

Very steampunk, great world-building (in an aquatic way, a personal favorite), and likeable characters, especially Emilie and Miss Marlende. Sort of like the child protégé of Gail Carriger's Alexia Tarabotti, though much less prim and chatty. I also quite liked how Wells describes the non-human characters.

 I would recommend this book to middle-grade readers and older who like steampunk, The Swiss Family Robinson (do kids still read that?), Robinson Crusoe, Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (this especially! A favorite of mine), and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series.

 View all my reviews | Buy or pre-order on Amazon

p.s. I went back and read some reviews on The Swiss Family Robinson and I am completely unsurprised to find out how much many adults hate it. I'm glad I read it and saw the movie as a child. I remember really liking it, but given all the criticism about how much senseless animal shooting goes on, maybe it makes sense I grew up to be a vegetarian.

The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper (finally) reviewed.

The Demonologist
by Andrew Pyper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Published March 5th 2013 by Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 1451697414

Professor David Ullman’s expertise in the literature of the demonic—notably Milton’s Paradise Lost—has won him wide acclaim. But David is not a believer.

One afternoon he receives a visitor at his campus office, a strikingly thin woman who offers him an invitation: travel to Venice, Italy, witness a “phenomenon,” and offer his professional opinion, in return for an extravagant sum of money. Needing a fresh start, David accepts and heads to Italy with his beloved twelve-year-old daughter Tess.

What happens in Venice will send David on an unimaginable journey from skeptic to true believer, as he opens himself up to the possibility that demons really do exist. In a terrifying quest guided by symbols and riddles from the pages of Paradise Lost, David attempts to rescue his daughter from the Unnamed—a demonic entity that has chosen him as its messenger. -from Goodreads

The UK cover. Much prettier, non?

I want to clarify that though I gave this book 3 stars I didn't like it. It was just written well enough that to rate it lower would have been spiteful.

David Ullman is a professor at Columbia University. He has a strong friendship with colleague and psychologist Elaine O'Brien, but is otherwise a solitary man. His marriage is ending, and his wife has been cheating on him with yet another Columbia prof. His relationship with his preteen daughter Tess is the best thing he's got at the opening of the novel. Unfortunately, through a series of uncanny events that lead to an impromptu trip to Venice sponsored by a mysterious employer, Tess is taken from him. David is willing to do anything to get her back, up to and including striding into Hell.

Now, the first thing that must be said is that The Demonologist takes itself pretty seriously. It is written about a university professor of literature by what sounds like an academic, probably a university professor of literature — or a writer trying very hard to sound like one. Pyper gets points there.

The story has thrilling, introspective and scary moments. On two separate occasions I was chilled, though this is not saying much, I am easily scared. I can't even read the Bible without getting freaked out. Unfortunately for me, quotes from Milton and Revelations make up a substantial amount of the dialogue, and are the fulcrums on which the plot turns. This is both positive, as it fits in the academic narrator framework, and negative, as the relation between the quotation-clues seems arbitrary, though the quotations themselves are familiar.

Despite that, in a way, it all does work. The basis of the supernatural element of this work is that maybe all of the stories of angels and demons and denizens of hell are true, and the mind is a space — the ultimate battleground for humanity. What separates the sane and good from the morally compromised and possessed is the belief. Once you've gotten this and suspended reality, you are taken on quite a ride. Pyper's David Ullman totally pulls this off.

Unfortunately for my opinion of the book, and this review, this wasn't enough to win me over. For a book that takes itself as seriously as The Demonologist does, the number of tired tropes motivating the narration are just lazy. A cuckolded academic chosen to be the cosmic harbinger of demonic existence? A damsel in distress, and not only that, but also a child-like Eurydice? (The Orpheus/Eurydice trope is referenced in the text, but STILL). A terminally ill woman who has nothing more important to her in her final weeks than to join a seemingly insane friend on a cross country wild goose chase?

The jacket of the ARC I was reading (won through a FirstReads giveaway) said the book is in development for a movie. Well, it did read a lot like a screenplay at times. Not in a bad way. It was what it was.

Altogether, I think this is a book most readers will enjoy. I can't say it wasn't an engrossing read. If you're not nitpicky, and can stomach the description of women (albeit dead women) being beaten, and a general lack of character development for them, well, have at it. Just read it during the day.

p.s. Click here to see the spoilers I removed in the full review on Goodreads, if you're into that.

Excellent human being: Sanne (BooksAndQuills) On Reading and Guilt.

Ahhh, this. I am in my last semester studying literature and I am doing the same thing. It really makes me feel better to know that I am not being so exceptionally lazy. Just a usual amount of lazy. My university has a lot of classes where no one will speak up, too. It drives me nuts.

Anyway check out Sanne's channel and or blog. She's London based, fun to follow, and takes great pictures.

F*ck! I'm in My Twenties by Emma Koenig the book!

So earlier today I blogged about not having any desire to read or review anything. Then I got this in the mail and everything changed.


 F*ck! I'm in My Twenties
by Emma Koenig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Published August 22nd 2012 by Chronicle Books

ISBN: 1452110530

I started following Emma Koenig's Tumblr blog sometime in early 2012. She would sporadically post these incredibly funny, heart/gut/brain-wrenchingly astute hand-drawn comics about her life and I would like and reblog them and generally run around holding print outs and screaming, "Me, this is ME!" hoping people would have some kind of insight into my life.

When I heard she had a book coming out, I couldn't have been happier, because a) I think her work is hilarious and b) clearly this is a windfall she needed (hope you took care of that mice prob, girl).

Even though I've seen many of the graphics in the book before, for free, on her tumblr, I bought the paperback and still got at least three solid belly laughs out of it. Which, when you're in your fucking twenties, don't come around as often as you need. And if you're in your twenties you should probably read this book (or at least check out her blog).

I can't wait to see what she does next, writing-wise, because I think she's got a lot to offer. (Also she lives in LA, or did, and I never knew we could have been bffs bb, and ignored each other when we were too busy but been totally understanding about it because F Our Ls call me)

View all my reviews

What I'm reading + An aversion to seriousness breeds boredom.

So I've been a boring book blogger lately because a) I haven't been reading much of anything new and b) the stuff I have been reading doesn't inspire much rave reviewing.

I DID finally get to read the sequel to Wolf Tower by Tanith Lee, which I'd been looking for in vain for years, because it is currently out of print and not available in ebook form, which is a shame, because those books are SO delightful. I wrote quite a long nice review on Goodreads and then accidentally left the page and my browser ate it. As you might imagine the frustration kind of dead-ended my enthusiasm for review writing for a bit. (Don't worry I've added the Lazarus form recovery add-on so that doesn't happen again, because I KNOW I am too lazy to write my reviews in a text-editor first)

It is slowly coming back (my enthusiasm), however the book I am currently reading, The Demonologist, while very good so far (and a bit scary!) isn't one of my usual reading-for-pleasure genres. So I'm procrastinating?

I  know, that really doesn't make sense, but I've mentioned before how I am studying English Lit in my last semester of college. So I am reading lots of things. Really good things. Mostly old really good things. And I hate it. I hate it so so much. I don't like being forced to do anything ever, so my brain just takes a vacation whenever I try to make myself read something serious. Serious as in aspirations of literary grandeur. I would say The Demonologist is much more literary than most of the stuff I have been reading for pleasure lately. It really is very good so far. But I need more magic and witches and like, faerie folk. And swords. I need many more swords.

Anyway that's all I have to say. Maybe I will get over my review aversion and reading aversion and have something to discuss with you soon. I've been itching to start the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, on my friend Michael's recommendation. And another friend, Jake, suggested I start the Dresden Files series. I want to get excited and dive in (I am on Spring Break this week, too) but instead I am rereading the three Alex Craft novels in bed with a cat on my neck. I'm currently on Grave Dance. I KNOW, but they are SO good.

Do you have genre aversion? Tell me I'm not crazy (I mean, I am, but you know yadada mean).

Review: Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bites
by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published April 1st 2007 by Penguin  

(first published March 27th 2007)

ISBN 0441014895 

http://kate.ilona-andrews.com/

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league—but she wouldn't have it any other way…-from Goodreads

I waited too long to review this book, and now I don't really remember enough of my first impression to give an objective review.

Kate Daniels is a mercenary-for-hire in a world where magic and technology vie for dominance in waves, kind of like large scale power outages (which do happen when the magic is on). Civilization, left reeling when buildings began collapsing and cars and airplanes became unreliable, has had to adapt to the resurgence of mystical, mythical forces in their world.

Interesting set-up, non? The world-building is pretty excellent. The concept takes a bit to warm up on you, but luckily this book has an excellent protagonist and otherwise solid characterization to keep you company while you adjust. Kate is a bit of a mysterious character at the outset, and there are details about her you don't discover by the end of the book. Not so enigmatic that it drives you crazy, but just intriguing enough to make the details stick in your head.

There are few weaknesses about this book, and if I'd reviewed it right away I may not have mentioned them at all, the first being that nearly every male character in this book is described as somewhat attractive. The mind reels. It's not a romance novel, and it's not trying not to be either. Nearly every single one of these attractive men propositions Kate at some point. She turns them all down, naturally, because trope. It sounds unkind, but you want to think that this protagonist is different from all of the other self-sufficient women protagonists who are super hot and extra caustic. She is and she isn't. Unfortunately you don't find out until later books why she ISN'T quite as unreasonably chaste and trope-y as she comes off. So in this context, the romances are a bit silly.

Fortunately, this book has something very few others do, aside from well executed writing from multiple authors. It has legitimately funny moments. I've mentioned before how difficult it is for me to read really joke-y books, because either the humor doesn't lift off the page or because it just doesn't ring true with me specifically. I'm weird. But Magic Bites DID make me laugh. More than once, less than five times. The acerbic wit Kate spouts is spot on. The punch lines are punchy. I can't even believe I am saying it. I NEVER say this. But it was.
Kate:

Sickle claws shot from the tips of his stubby fingers. He spread his fingers in a catlike kneading motion, scraping the wooden surface of the table. "Oh boy," I said. "How do you fluff your pillows at night?"

And later, a conversation between Kate and The Beast Lord, Curran:

"What happened to the alpha-wolf?"
"LEGOs."
"Legos?" It sounded Greek but I couldn't recall anything mythological with that name. Wasn't it an island?
"He was carrying a load of laundry into the basement and tripped on the old set of LEGOs his kids left on the stairs. Broke two ribs and an ankle. He'll be out of commission for two weeks." Curran shook his head. "He picked a hell of a time. If I didn't need him I'd kill him."

I dimly recall chortling for several seconds over that one. There are other, funnier moments in subsequent books, these are just the ones I remembered to highlight here.

The final thing I really liked about Kate Daniels as a protagonist and the reality of this fictional world, was how realistically and humanly Kate and other characters reacted to things. If she was in danger, Kate was afraid. REALLY afraid. Not paralysed, but decently fearful. Monsters were monstrous - the vampires, for example, are horrifying in this universe. No Edward Cullens here. If someone got hurt (and didn't have super regeneration powers) they didn't miraculously push through it (though I suppose this is debatable. I tend to pass out from shock if I so much as sprain an ankle).

All in all this was a GREAT book and it opens a GREAT series. I eagerly await the latest.

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Alex who? Kate Daniels has my heart.

Remember last week when I kept going on and on about how much I missed reading Alex Craft novels and I was soooo desolate and just, generally inconsolable? Me neither.

I had a couple of candidates for placeholders until August. One was Darynda Jones' First Grave on the Right, which I reviewed here. I can be counted on to mostly only review books I don't really like. I need to work on this.

Another was/is Sarah J. Mass' series beginning with Throne of Glass. I think I am like 20% through that. That's enough for me. I doubt I will finish it. It is quite terrible.

But but BUT, I did try out Ilona Andrews' Magic Bites. Kate Daniels is my kind of protagonist. She is requisitely Buffy/kickass, but she has flaws too. Like, she makes mistakes. And sometimes apologizes for them. HALLELUJAH.


But really, these books are pretty freaking good. I'd recommend them to anyone, whether they like urban fantasy or not (I scoff quite disdainfully at those who do not).

The series is written by husband-and-wife team Gordon and Ilona Andrews. Ilona is from Russia, so one can be reasonably certain the Russian language and folklore mentioned in the books is accurate, and Gordon is ex-Army. It's kind of weirdly comforting to think how accurate some of the weapons/tactical information in the series must be. A lot of authors do staggering amounts of research (and some, like Laurell K. Hamilton⁺ are actually real life semi-gun-nuts), so I suspend very little disbelief about weapons. However, I doubt any of these well researched people have had the occasion to shoot a person while researching firearms. Maybe Gordon hasn't either. WHO KNOWS REALLY. Maybe I should email him and ask? Would that be rude? I would like, work up to it, obviously. But he's a busy man, I'm sure, and it's not like there is ever a good segue into "Hey, by-the-by, have you ever killed anyone?"


ANYWAY. So I like this Kate Daniels series. I read all the way through to Magic Slays. The next book in the series is called Magic Rises. Guess when it comes out?

July 30th. Sir, I do not shit you. I can't catch a break, can I? Oh well. YOU WIN, PUBLISHERS. I will wait patiently. And beg for ARCs the whole time.


⁺ For some inexplicable reason I mention Laurell K. Hamilton a lot when I talk about books, and writing. And like, guns. And vampires? I don't even know how it works. She just comes up a lot. I mean, I like her writing. I follow her on twitter. Sometimes I read her blog. But I am not particularly fanatical about her? Seriously though, just look through my reviews. It's uncanny. Let's just call it the LKH Phenomenon.