3.5 Stars
As an Urban Fantasy this just about works, although for me it was more outright Fantasy with the tale taking place both in modern day LA and then a parallel LA than can be reached if only you know how to open, or access, a portal. There is also a lot of ambiguity about a lot of the characters we meet, particularly in the "real LA" - are they genuinely of this time and place or are they voyagers from the parallel world? This ambiguity did spoil things for me as I would spend time wondering about a minor character (who has no actual bearing on this story) and find myself 3 or 4 paragraphs further on and having to backtrack and re-read.
The base story is actually pretty straight forward, it is just gussied up with a supernatural element to Maggie's bounty hunting. Then rather than some covert para-military group causing issues it is a breakaway vampire sect. Of course Maggie has to have a sidekick - don't all battlers of evil / vaguely detective types? In this case it is an Elf, to be honest he does fit the moderately useless but pretty sidekick trope rather well. The world building is fairly pedestrian and we never really learn too much about the "real LA" Maggie inhabits or it's counterpoint, just general overviews of each.
Fortunately, Maggie is smart and snarky and doesn't seem to think that she is invincible. In fact, she is nicely aware of her human vulnerability - especially against vampires. The writing itself is enthusiastic and peps along through the story at quite a pace. Unfortunately, it does kind of mask the shortcomings of the plot and that the bare bones of the world are only partially fleshed. That said, whilst reading the story I did find myself enjoying it and whilst not breathlessly turning pages I was fairly well immersed and, therefore, interested in how things were going for Maggie and Killian.
Not the best of the genre but a long way from the worst. Not too sure I am invested enough to check out the rest of the series though.
Sunday, 22 September 2019
The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Despite the character being polar opposite to me - the only shopping I enjoy is for books - I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I love the film based on the book and although the plots diverge quite early on (no Girl In The Green Scarf here), for me this made the story all the more charming for this reader.
At some level we all know the horror of those brown envelopes dropping through the door. The heart stopping pause as you bend to pick them up. If you're unlucky you know the terror of the phone ringing, wondering if it is a collection agency trying to claw back money you don't have but you have spent. Whichever category you fall into there is something about Rebecca Bloomwood's life that speak to a modern existence. Conspicuous consumption, measuring your worth as a person against material goods, it rings all too shockingly true.
Told with a wit and humour that manages to breakthrough the relentlessness of Rebecca's precarious position. Ms Kinsella manages to draw fun out of Rebecca's situation and the romantic element, whilst entirely predictable, is light and enjoyable. The story is well balanced and has enough reality in it to make it relatable to most readers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse in to a world that I have no knowledge of. City living, is almost as odd to me as country living. Working as a journalist is something I have no clue on - although it sounds as much a drudge as any other job. All I could relate to was trying to balance a budget and failing.
Fun and wittily told, I found myself rooting for Rebecca and wondering just how she was so blind to romance.
At some level we all know the horror of those brown envelopes dropping through the door. The heart stopping pause as you bend to pick them up. If you're unlucky you know the terror of the phone ringing, wondering if it is a collection agency trying to claw back money you don't have but you have spent. Whichever category you fall into there is something about Rebecca Bloomwood's life that speak to a modern existence. Conspicuous consumption, measuring your worth as a person against material goods, it rings all too shockingly true.
Told with a wit and humour that manages to breakthrough the relentlessness of Rebecca's precarious position. Ms Kinsella manages to draw fun out of Rebecca's situation and the romantic element, whilst entirely predictable, is light and enjoyable. The story is well balanced and has enough reality in it to make it relatable to most readers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse in to a world that I have no knowledge of. City living, is almost as odd to me as country living. Working as a journalist is something I have no clue on - although it sounds as much a drudge as any other job. All I could relate to was trying to balance a budget and failing.
Fun and wittily told, I found myself rooting for Rebecca and wondering just how she was so blind to romance.
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
The sixth book in the series, sees Peter Grant back in his beloved London, working out of The Folly and being subject to Nightingale's nagging about his apprenticeship and the pull of his more legitimate Police masters. Strangely, Toby doesn't get much of a sniff in this book - maybe Peter no longer needs his assistance in picking up on Vestigia, but I found myself missing the ratty little terrier. Leslie is still out there somewhere, as is The Faceless Man, the Metropolitan Police still view Peter and Nightingale as weird and likely to be dangerous and Lady Ty is about to call in her dues.
All in all, pretty much a standard set up for PC Grant. Lets face it, if you've read this far in to the series then you know what to expect. Peter bumbles about a bit, Nightingale acts a little fusty and then pulls some superior magic out of his bag of metaphysical tricks, Leslie and the Faceless Man both taunt Peter and The Folly, Molly acts plain "odd" and serves peculiar meals. The Rivers are still exerting their inexorable wiles over the city, as any good Goddess should, basically shady business as normal.
Not as good as the fifth book, but maybe this is because we are back in a city setting and there was something so liberating about having Peter way out of his comfort zone. Of course, by being back in the city this means that the opportunity for Peter to create mayhem amps up and he does not disappoint. From destroying a department store to washing away a multimillion pound town house you can feel Mr Grant's fingerprints all over it - how his bosses haven't locked him up and thrown away the key is anyones guess.
The telling is, as always, by narration from Peter's perspective; I will admit to a sneaky longing to hear from Nightingale directly. Mr Aaronovitch's writing is compelling, witty and sucks you in. Even though this is an Urban Fantasy it is wildly off the wall and yet balanced by sound police procedures so it works - even though it shouldn't really work it somehow does.
I'm not sure why I enjoy these books so much but I really do, they are a genuine treat that enliven an otherwise dull and miserable day.
All in all, pretty much a standard set up for PC Grant. Lets face it, if you've read this far in to the series then you know what to expect. Peter bumbles about a bit, Nightingale acts a little fusty and then pulls some superior magic out of his bag of metaphysical tricks, Leslie and the Faceless Man both taunt Peter and The Folly, Molly acts plain "odd" and serves peculiar meals. The Rivers are still exerting their inexorable wiles over the city, as any good Goddess should, basically shady business as normal.
Not as good as the fifth book, but maybe this is because we are back in a city setting and there was something so liberating about having Peter way out of his comfort zone. Of course, by being back in the city this means that the opportunity for Peter to create mayhem amps up and he does not disappoint. From destroying a department store to washing away a multimillion pound town house you can feel Mr Grant's fingerprints all over it - how his bosses haven't locked him up and thrown away the key is anyones guess.
The telling is, as always, by narration from Peter's perspective; I will admit to a sneaky longing to hear from Nightingale directly. Mr Aaronovitch's writing is compelling, witty and sucks you in. Even though this is an Urban Fantasy it is wildly off the wall and yet balanced by sound police procedures so it works - even though it shouldn't really work it somehow does.
I'm not sure why I enjoy these books so much but I really do, they are a genuine treat that enliven an otherwise dull and miserable day.
The Wayward Girls by Amanda Mason
3.5 Stars
The long hot summer of 1976 - you really had to be there. Unfortunately Cathy and her children (Anto, Flor, Lucia, Bianca and Dan) are at Iron Sike Farm during this time. Seemingly abandoned there by Joe and struggling not only for money but for acceptance in to the small Yorkshire community surrounding the farm things look grim for them. They start to look even worse when a tapping starts in the walls, marbles rain down from nowhere in the house and furniture begins moving on it's own. When the local press publicise the events a paranormal research society becomes interested and moves to the area to investigate. The investigation seemingly ends in tragedy; for the Corvino family but also for the investigators.
Fast forward to the present day and interest in the Haunting At Iron Sike Farm has resurfaced and a University An-Soc wants to re-open the investigations. Even this is not what it seems as there is a personal element to the investigation that seems certain to skew the resulting observations.
Unfortunately, the swapping between the two timelines serves only to dilute the other correspondingly. Initially we start in the modern day and it certainly seems like something supernatural is happening at the farm. Somehow the tension built in the opening chapter is dissipated completely by meeting Lucy and Cathy in the modern day and I found it hard to find the same level of intrigue again.
Of the two time frames the 1976 one is the more interesting. Not the effects of the haunting but the interplay between Lucia and her elder sister Bianca; the way they relate to the rest of the family, the investigation team and the wider community.
The haunting itself bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Enfield Haunting; along with the opposing viewpoints about it's veracity. To be honest, I feel this spoilt things a little for me as events that happen in the farm bore a striking resemblance to the reported activity in the Suburban house and also the events depicted in fictionalised televisations of the reports.
There are a few twists and turns to the story - some psychological, some far more prosaic and "real". The pacing is patchy throughout, not in a build and dissipate tension way but in a much more stuttery pattern. I wish I could say that by lingering on seemingly unimportant sections of dialogue or describing a scene in microscopic detail becomes relevant later in the story. Unfortunately, it doesn't. For me, the story itself is less important that the relationship between the sisters - that is what kept me reading.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA READERS FIRST.
The long hot summer of 1976 - you really had to be there. Unfortunately Cathy and her children (Anto, Flor, Lucia, Bianca and Dan) are at Iron Sike Farm during this time. Seemingly abandoned there by Joe and struggling not only for money but for acceptance in to the small Yorkshire community surrounding the farm things look grim for them. They start to look even worse when a tapping starts in the walls, marbles rain down from nowhere in the house and furniture begins moving on it's own. When the local press publicise the events a paranormal research society becomes interested and moves to the area to investigate. The investigation seemingly ends in tragedy; for the Corvino family but also for the investigators.
Fast forward to the present day and interest in the Haunting At Iron Sike Farm has resurfaced and a University An-Soc wants to re-open the investigations. Even this is not what it seems as there is a personal element to the investigation that seems certain to skew the resulting observations.
Unfortunately, the swapping between the two timelines serves only to dilute the other correspondingly. Initially we start in the modern day and it certainly seems like something supernatural is happening at the farm. Somehow the tension built in the opening chapter is dissipated completely by meeting Lucy and Cathy in the modern day and I found it hard to find the same level of intrigue again.
Of the two time frames the 1976 one is the more interesting. Not the effects of the haunting but the interplay between Lucia and her elder sister Bianca; the way they relate to the rest of the family, the investigation team and the wider community.
The haunting itself bears a striking resemblance to the real-life Enfield Haunting; along with the opposing viewpoints about it's veracity. To be honest, I feel this spoilt things a little for me as events that happen in the farm bore a striking resemblance to the reported activity in the Suburban house and also the events depicted in fictionalised televisations of the reports.
There are a few twists and turns to the story - some psychological, some far more prosaic and "real". The pacing is patchy throughout, not in a build and dissipate tension way but in a much more stuttery pattern. I wish I could say that by lingering on seemingly unimportant sections of dialogue or describing a scene in microscopic detail becomes relevant later in the story. Unfortunately, it doesn't. For me, the story itself is less important that the relationship between the sisters - that is what kept me reading.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA READERS FIRST.
I'll Eat When I'm Dead by Barbara Bourland
This novel sort of falls between a crime story and a faux-expose of the fashion industry. That sounds actually pretty terrible but it genuinely isn't, I did end up surprised with how much I enjoyed the story. Initially it seems pretty vapid and is all about the clothes, the accessories and the settings; not really my sort of thing. However, once you get past all the surface frippery and name dropping of real and imagined high status brands there is actually a pretty decent story tucked away here.
We follow Cat Ono as she struggles with not only being an immigrant to the United States with all the tension not having a Green Card gives but also struggling with daily life. Indeed, her whole life centres around her job at RAGE magazine. When a senior staff member turns up dead in the office it initially seems that she has starved herself into a heart attack. When NYPD Detective Mark Hutton takes a second look at her demise at the request of the family Cat finds herself torn between what she knows and what her heart wants. Cat is a great character on the page and the revelation of her character upon the page is handled very well, slowly unpeeling her outward facade to reveal her true personality. She isn't always particularly likeable and does make some confusing decisions but she feels wholly real and, if we're being honest here, the sort of woman you could have a darn good night out with.
The sub-plot of the death of Cat's mentor and friend weaves well in to the world built by the author. It does sometimes serve as a distraction from the horrors of the fashion industry which became strangely compelling to someone who lives in jeans and a t-shirt. The final denouement for the method of death and who is behind it do take a large leap in to the scarcely believable but still manage to remain entertaining.
On the whole I really enjoyed this book, the writing has a snarky wit to it that draws you in to the characters and their rarefied world. Some of the relationships between them feel a little "off" somehow and I could never really figure out why, it did distract me on occassion from the story as I tried to figure out why it just felt wrong. Generally, I can recommend this a good read.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PUBLISHER.
We follow Cat Ono as she struggles with not only being an immigrant to the United States with all the tension not having a Green Card gives but also struggling with daily life. Indeed, her whole life centres around her job at RAGE magazine. When a senior staff member turns up dead in the office it initially seems that she has starved herself into a heart attack. When NYPD Detective Mark Hutton takes a second look at her demise at the request of the family Cat finds herself torn between what she knows and what her heart wants. Cat is a great character on the page and the revelation of her character upon the page is handled very well, slowly unpeeling her outward facade to reveal her true personality. She isn't always particularly likeable and does make some confusing decisions but she feels wholly real and, if we're being honest here, the sort of woman you could have a darn good night out with.
The sub-plot of the death of Cat's mentor and friend weaves well in to the world built by the author. It does sometimes serve as a distraction from the horrors of the fashion industry which became strangely compelling to someone who lives in jeans and a t-shirt. The final denouement for the method of death and who is behind it do take a large leap in to the scarcely believable but still manage to remain entertaining.
On the whole I really enjoyed this book, the writing has a snarky wit to it that draws you in to the characters and their rarefied world. Some of the relationships between them feel a little "off" somehow and I could never really figure out why, it did distract me on occassion from the story as I tried to figure out why it just felt wrong. Generally, I can recommend this a good read.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PUBLISHER.
Tuesday, 3 September 2019
The Nursery by Asia MacKay
3.5 Stars
After reading Asia Mackay's debut novel, Killing It, I was really looking forward to this one. Sure enough I was not disappointed when we take back up with Lex right in the middle of a dramatic firefight to rescue an agent whose cover has been blown. The team seem to have survived the perfidy of the first novel and are still fighting the good fight for the Country. Even better this is all sandwiched up against Lex's attempts to be a "normal" mother to Gigi and wife to Dan.
To be honest whilst all the super-spy stuff is fun and creates a wonderful dichotomy between real life and work life that is not where the joy of the story lies. In all honesty some of it does become a little tedious - we get it, Lex has no conscience about killing and will do what needs to be done without batting an eyelash. The real joy is in watching her trying to cope with Motherhood. Her early diatribe about how she is affecting her daughter by saying she looks pretty (potential to make her believe only looks matter), giving her a doll to play with (reinforcing gender stereotypes) is not only spot on but hilariously related on the page.
The story itself centres around a visit from a senior Chinese Politician and her team and the fact that the shadowy Tenebris Network have facilitated a hit on this politician. Platform Eight are down to skeleton staff as someone in one of the security services is leaking information to Tenebris and only Lex and Jake's team are operational. It is down to them to not only foil the assassination plot but to dismantle Tenebris and save the Security Services as a whole. Even more importantly Lex has to somehow keep her marriage together and keep up with the demands of Gigi's Nursery - honestly Miss Yvonne sounds like a complete nightmare.
Whilst this is undoubtedly a fun read, the fact that the whole Tenebris plot has a resolution that not only do you see coming from a mile away but bears startling similarities to the plot of the first novel really spoilt it for me. Initially I was really gunning for this one but as more and more became revealed about the action Platform Eight and Six were taking on this joint task it became resoundingly clear that we were on very familiar territory and by half way through I was more or less skipping the "work" bits and only reading for the "mum" bits.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM READERS FIRST.
After reading Asia Mackay's debut novel, Killing It, I was really looking forward to this one. Sure enough I was not disappointed when we take back up with Lex right in the middle of a dramatic firefight to rescue an agent whose cover has been blown. The team seem to have survived the perfidy of the first novel and are still fighting the good fight for the Country. Even better this is all sandwiched up against Lex's attempts to be a "normal" mother to Gigi and wife to Dan.
To be honest whilst all the super-spy stuff is fun and creates a wonderful dichotomy between real life and work life that is not where the joy of the story lies. In all honesty some of it does become a little tedious - we get it, Lex has no conscience about killing and will do what needs to be done without batting an eyelash. The real joy is in watching her trying to cope with Motherhood. Her early diatribe about how she is affecting her daughter by saying she looks pretty (potential to make her believe only looks matter), giving her a doll to play with (reinforcing gender stereotypes) is not only spot on but hilariously related on the page.
The story itself centres around a visit from a senior Chinese Politician and her team and the fact that the shadowy Tenebris Network have facilitated a hit on this politician. Platform Eight are down to skeleton staff as someone in one of the security services is leaking information to Tenebris and only Lex and Jake's team are operational. It is down to them to not only foil the assassination plot but to dismantle Tenebris and save the Security Services as a whole. Even more importantly Lex has to somehow keep her marriage together and keep up with the demands of Gigi's Nursery - honestly Miss Yvonne sounds like a complete nightmare.
Whilst this is undoubtedly a fun read, the fact that the whole Tenebris plot has a resolution that not only do you see coming from a mile away but bears startling similarities to the plot of the first novel really spoilt it for me. Initially I was really gunning for this one but as more and more became revealed about the action Platform Eight and Six were taking on this joint task it became resoundingly clear that we were on very familiar territory and by half way through I was more or less skipping the "work" bits and only reading for the "mum" bits.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM READERS FIRST.
Gloss by Marilyn Kaye
3.5 Stars
Set in the early 1960s this book does a good job of eliciting the general mood of the era and how dramatically things were beginning to change in the Western World. Teenagers are a relatively new phenomenon and this book follows the exploits of four very disparate girls over one summer. The only thing they have in common is that they each managed to earn their place on a New York internship at a prestigious teen magazine, the titular Gloss.
Yes, the characters are caricatures of a type but for good reason, allowing the author to show the prevalent attitudes of the time both to women in the workforce but also the pressures brought to bear on the girls who are straddling the line between what their parents and traditional society expects and the new horizons and opportunities that are opening up to them.
Allison is the Beatnik type. All black clothes, wants to subvert the whole ethos of the magazine and figures the best way to do this is by joining the program. Although she thinks herself a progressive she is a product of her sheltered wealthy upbringing and when she meets Sam her head is turned by his good lucks and what she thinks are wise pronouncements on the Human Condition.
Pamela is a blonde bombshell. Tight dresses and glamourous makeup she is determined to follow the guidance in Sex And The Single Girl and is sure she can have the grand love affair without damaging herself. After being coerced in to a make over by the magazine team she meets the man of her dreams and seems willing to entirely mould herself in to the image of femininity that he seems to expect.
Donna is "Trailer Trash". Her back story is particularly tragic and I won't spoil it by going in to detail here as it does take a while to be drawn out in the book but it is worth waiting for. Of the four main characters she is probably the one we know least about but she is the most realistic sounding one as she doesn't hide behind a facade, she just tries to keep a very low profile so she can go completely unnoticed.
Sherry is the traditional Southern Belle. Coming from a wealthy family with a boyfriend back home that she has already got major life plans with; right down to which sorority she will join at College, when she will get lavaliered, engaged and married to her beau. She has a rather rigid view of life and for her this internship is a real wake up call that lets her see how sheltered her world view is and also that she has an apparent journalistic talent.
It is undoubtedly a nice easy read that gives a pretty good insight in to a very different and forgotten world. The only thing that really irritated me was that for a bunch of 18 year olds they do seem very innocent and naive. Although I wasn't around during this period I am pretty sure they would have been more clued up than this. Still, it works against the misogyny in the workplace and the rather 1950s attitudes expressed in the magazine.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM THE PUBLISHER.
Set in the early 1960s this book does a good job of eliciting the general mood of the era and how dramatically things were beginning to change in the Western World. Teenagers are a relatively new phenomenon and this book follows the exploits of four very disparate girls over one summer. The only thing they have in common is that they each managed to earn their place on a New York internship at a prestigious teen magazine, the titular Gloss.
Yes, the characters are caricatures of a type but for good reason, allowing the author to show the prevalent attitudes of the time both to women in the workforce but also the pressures brought to bear on the girls who are straddling the line between what their parents and traditional society expects and the new horizons and opportunities that are opening up to them.
Allison is the Beatnik type. All black clothes, wants to subvert the whole ethos of the magazine and figures the best way to do this is by joining the program. Although she thinks herself a progressive she is a product of her sheltered wealthy upbringing and when she meets Sam her head is turned by his good lucks and what she thinks are wise pronouncements on the Human Condition.
Pamela is a blonde bombshell. Tight dresses and glamourous makeup she is determined to follow the guidance in Sex And The Single Girl and is sure she can have the grand love affair without damaging herself. After being coerced in to a make over by the magazine team she meets the man of her dreams and seems willing to entirely mould herself in to the image of femininity that he seems to expect.
Donna is "Trailer Trash". Her back story is particularly tragic and I won't spoil it by going in to detail here as it does take a while to be drawn out in the book but it is worth waiting for. Of the four main characters she is probably the one we know least about but she is the most realistic sounding one as she doesn't hide behind a facade, she just tries to keep a very low profile so she can go completely unnoticed.
Sherry is the traditional Southern Belle. Coming from a wealthy family with a boyfriend back home that she has already got major life plans with; right down to which sorority she will join at College, when she will get lavaliered, engaged and married to her beau. She has a rather rigid view of life and for her this internship is a real wake up call that lets her see how sheltered her world view is and also that she has an apparent journalistic talent.
It is undoubtedly a nice easy read that gives a pretty good insight in to a very different and forgotten world. The only thing that really irritated me was that for a bunch of 18 year olds they do seem very innocent and naive. Although I wasn't around during this period I am pretty sure they would have been more clued up than this. Still, it works against the misogyny in the workplace and the rather 1950s attitudes expressed in the magazine.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED FROM THE PUBLISHER.
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Lego Tony Stark's Sakaarian Iron Man 76194
I know nothing about the "What If" TV show but what I do know is that I absolutely LOVE Mechs and Lego always manage to put somet...
