YA Weekend Audio: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
Posted on October 26, 2019 18 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 2.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Wednesday Books (October 8, 2019)
Length: 416 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Emily Shaffer
Well, this certainly didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. Maybe it’s because there was so much going on, or that all the parts just didn’t fit together as well as they should, but quite a few things came together in way that kept me from enjoying this book. And to be honest, a lot of the themes rubbed me the wrong way.
Billed as a speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale, throw in a bit of The Crucible, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Flies and you’ll have something resembling The Grace Year. The story follows Tierney James who is preparing for a rite of passage that every young woman in the village must go through once they reach age sixteen. In her home of Garner County, it is believed that girl has the magic to seduce a man, to drive other women to jealousy, and this power is in their very bones, their blood, and on their skin. To cleanse them of this poisonous curse before marriage, girls are sent off into the wild for a “grace year”, where they can release their magic before returning to the village purified.
But in the wilderness, there are many dangers. The young women on their grace year are expected to fend for themselves against the elements, resource shortages, and, of course, each other. Then, there are the hunters who live in the woods, called poachers because they believe the magic of the girls’ body parts can fetch high prices on the black market. Every year, a few young women fall victim to these killers and don’t make it home. Tierney, however, is determined to survive her grace year. Though she has no plans to marry even when she returns, she has her younger sisters to think about, who would be at the village’s mercy if she dies.
But right before her grace year, Tierney’s best friend Michael paints a target on her back by presenting her with a veil—signifying his intent to marry her. This causes Kiersten, the mean-spirited girl whom everyone thought was his intended, to become even more nasty and vindictive than ever. And now, Tierney must go into the wilderness with her, along with more than thirty other girls. Already the tribal lines have been drawn, and they grow ever deeper as Kiersten uses her manipulation to gain more support to her side.
So, I think I know where Kim Liggett was trying to go with The Grace Year. The feminist undertones came through loud and clear, as did the messages about women fighting back against a male-dominated society and female oppression. Unfortunately though, the execution was well off the mark and in some ways even more degrading than the toxic patriarchal attitudes this story was meant to take apart, and I blame it all on the pandering to YA genre conventions. YA books these days, especially those starring female protagonists, tend to play too much emphasis on romance and not enough on female friendships. Somewhere along the way, we’ve come to associate the “strong female character” with a young woman who stands alone, and worse, she’s always inevitably the one who all the men in the story are interested in, and her most significant relationship by the end of the book always turns out to be one with–you guessed it—a guy.
This is pretty much Tierney. On the surface, she makes an appealing protagonist—independent, determined, and resourceful. And yet, she is vulnerable and delicate in her isolation. At the end of the day, she still had to be saved by Ryker, a poacher. After which, queue one of the worst insta-love romances I’ve ever read in my life, so that’s saying something. I actually let out a “What the hell?” when they just decided to jump into bed. Worse, Tierney’s “awakening” to her feelings towards Ryker seemed to have come soon after the part where he verbally claims her in front of his friend Anders, so make of that how you will.
Finally, this book touches upon one of my biggest pet peeves—a story which is supposed to celebrate women coming together and supporting each other to fight against the obstacles placed against them, except the biggest conflicts somehow wind up coming down to the women tearing each other down. The two strongest women in this book were Tierney and Kiersten, and sadly, they were pitted against each other. The rest of the girls were either complete nobodies or mindless sheep, led by the nose by either character. Tierney also spends much of this book walking around with an infuriatingly self-righteous “forgive them, for they know not what they do” attitude, and her relationship with Gertie, the closest thing to a friendship she has among the grace year girls, feels more like an opportunity to exercise her savior complex rather than something truly genuine.
So what The Grace Year boils down to is a book that feels like it wants to convey a good message, but regrettable, that message—along with the ways the author tried to convey it—came across as extremely messy or simply misguided. Then there was that awkward romance which threw a wrench into the whole thing. Clearly though, I have my own biases against the certain YA genre tropes and this story just so happened the contain a few that really annoy me, so you might do better with it. I was a huge fan of Lim Liggett’s The Last Harvest, but this and her last book The Unfortunates didn’t work for me, so while I’ll still probably check out her future work, next time I’ll keep expectations in check.
Audiobook Comments: Despite my issues with some of the story elements of The Grace Year, the book was actually pretty good in audio, though for about the first hour or so I thought the main character’s name was “Tyranny” based on the way the narrator said it. I also enjoyed the interview between Kim Liggett and Emily Shaffer at the end of book, giving some great insights into the novel’s inspiration.
Friday Face-Off: Scary Freebie!
Posted on October 25, 2019 24 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Any scary you like!”
~ HALLOWEEN FREEBIE
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
Halloween is almost here! To celebrate, I’ll be featuring the classics on Friday Face-Off for the full month of October. This week, we’re closing off the month’s spooktacular covers with one of the scariest books of all. Two years before it gave rise to the hit film adaptation, The Exorcist novel was published in 1971 by William Peter Blatty (who also ended up writing and producing the movie) after he was inspired by the events of a 1949 case involving the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy who was alleged under demonic possession. Here are some of the covers:
From left to right:
Harper & Row (1971) – HarperTorch (1994) – Harper Paperbacks (2011)
Bantam (1984) – Corgi Books (1999) – Faber & Faber (2000)
Italian Edition (1974) – German Edition A (2001) – German Edition B (2019)
Bulgarian Edition (2012) – Lithuanian Edition (2017) – French Edition (2016)
Spanish Edition A (1972) – Spanish Edition B (2007) – Georgian Edition (2017)
Polish Edition (2017) – Russian Edition A (2016) – Russian Edition B (2017)
Portuguese Edition A (2017) – Portuguese Edition B (2016) – Finnish Edition (1988)
Winner:
There was one cover that immediately grabbed my attention, and that was the Georgian edition. There were many disturbing scenes in the movie, but the upside down crab walk that was cut from the original but added back into the extended 2000 version always gets to me.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Audiobook Review: The Possession by Michael Rutger
Posted on October 24, 2019 18 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Possession by Michael Rutger
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror
Series: Book 2 of The Anomaly Files
Publisher: Hachette Audio (July 23, 2019)
Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Wayne Pyle
With the tease of ghostly possession as its premise, I thought this follow-up to The Anomaly would provide a creepier experience. But in fact, what we get is a more mysterious than scary scenario involving an isolated small town, its curious network of low stone walls that twist and turn across its wooded landscape, and a missing teenager. While The Possession lacks a lot of the intensity and body horror that made the first book such a chilling read, it did have its moments.
Also, in case you’re wondering, The Possession can be read as a standalone. Very few references are made to The Anomaly even though this book takes place not long after those events, following protagonist Nolan Moore and his team as they investigate another possible lead for their YouTube documentary series, The Anomaly Files. Of course, one major change we see in this novel is the addition of Kristy, Nolan’s ex-wife, who gains a prominent voice as a POV character. The story actually opens with her arrival in Birchlake, a quaint little village nestled in the hills of northern California. A journalist working on a piece about bullying, Kristy has come searching for more information on the disappearance of 14-year-old Alaina Hixon, whose social media accounts show signs that the girl may have a victim of harassment. One of her photos on Instagram has several comments calling her a witch, including a particularly threatening one telling Alaina that it was time for her to join her mother, who died in a car accident not too long ago.
But to Kristy’s frustration, her questions around town seem to lead nowhere, and worse, strange things suddenly start happening around her. Queue Nolan and The Anomaly Files crew, who come to Birchlake hoping to find an interesting angle to revive the falling ratings of their show, and the miles of mysterious stone walls in the region appear to fit the bill. For one thing, their unknown origins are certain to spawn some wild theories and speculation, and for another, at least this assignment should be a lot less deadly than their last one—or so they thought.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t find The Possession to be as good as The Anomaly, but to be fair, the first book had a lot going for it that this sequel didn’t, such as the claustrophobia of being below ground, a gruesome infection that can tear your body apart, or monsters in the dark that can strike at any second. Instead, what we have here is a more mundane scenario. After all, as far as mystery and thriller premises go, there’s certainly no shortage of small-town settings or missing person cases when it comes to this genre. In fact, the paranormal elements of the story did not emerge until much later, and the middle sections of the book were also plagued by several lulls which I thought made The Possession a lot slower and a lot less exciting and frightening.
So, if you’re going into this one expecting a horror thrill ride, like in The Anomaly, I think you’ll be disappointed. There’s not much here that would invoke the kind of visceral response and bone-deep fear I got from the first book. Instead, I found the tone of The Possession to be quite different in that it places more emphasis on the atmosphere of intrigue and mystery, and the vibes you get are more unsettling and confusing than outright scary.
I also wasn’t sure what to make of the extra POVs in this book. Aside from Kristy, we get bits of the story from a few additional perspectives, making Nolan’s role in this feel far less important. I didn’t feel there was sufficient development into his character, mainly because we spent the bulk of the time with Kristy, whose voice wasn’t as engaging, and in truth, I felt a little annoyed that we switched tack in this book to focus so much on her.
Still, things picked up in the second half. Not coincidentally, this was also when more of the speculative elements came into play. Admittedly, the story takes a baffling turn and becomes a lot more complicated at this point, but this was one of those rare cases where I thought the ambiguity actually helped. Not everything needs to be explained, and I felt that the vagueness added a dash of intrigue to the ending, though I know it’s probably not going to work for everyone.
Bottom line, if you enjoyed The Anomaly, you definitely owe it to yourself to give The Possession a try, keeping in mind the tone won’t be the same, and you also have a much less scary plot and setting. But if you don’t mind the change of pace, this could be well worth your time.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Anomaly (Book 1)
Waiting on Wednesday 10/23/19
Posted on October 23, 2019 14 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell (May 5, 2020 by Gallery/Saga Press)
I’m loving everything about this, from the description to the title and cover! Crossing my fingers it will be everything I hope it to be.
“In this brilliant debut fantasy, a story of secrets, rebellion, and murder are shattering the Hollows, where magic costs memory to use, and only the son of the kingdom’s despised traitor holds the truth.
Michael is branded a traitor as a child because of the murder of the king’s nine-year-old son, by his father David Kingman. Ten years later on Michael lives a hardscrabble life, with his sister Gwen, performing crimes with his friends against minor royals in a weak attempt at striking back at the world that rejects him and his family.
In a world where memory is the coin that pays for magic, Michael knows something is there in the hot white emptiness of his mind. So when the opportunity arrives to get folded back into court, via the most politically dangerous member of the kingdom’s royal council, Michael takes it, desperate to find a way back to his past. He discovers a royal family that is spiraling into a self-serving dictatorship as gun-wielding rebels clash against magically trained militia.
What the truth holds is a set of shocking revelations that will completely change the Hollows, if Michael and his friends and family can survive long enough to see it.”
Book Review: Ghoster by Jason Arnopp
Posted on October 22, 2019 26 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Orbit (October 22, 2019)
Length: 496 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Like many readers who came to this novel, I am a huge fan of Jason Arnopp’s The Last Days of Jack Sparks so needless to say I could hardly wait to get my hands on Ghoster. Some of the early mixed reviews had me nervous though, so I went into it with my expectations in check. In some ways, I’m glad I did, because the book did not turn out the way I thought at all, and that was both a good and bad thing.
At the center of Ghoster is protagonist Kate Collins, a somewhat self-doubting paramedic who has an addiction to social media. Recently, she has made a conscious effort to put some distance between herself and her phone, and around the same time, she also started going out with a man named Scott Palmer. Sweet, charming, and handsome, he seemed like the perfect guy, except for the fact he hardly talks about himself and can be quite guarded about his life. Still, when Scott asks her to move in after just a short period of dating, Kate is ecstatic and agrees immediately, quitting her job, packing up all her belongings, and driving straight to Brighton where her new life awaited her.
But upon her arrival, she is surprised to find an empty house. No furniture, no electricity, no boyfriend. Scott also hasn’t been answering her calls or her texts. Soon, she discovers the reason why, as he appeared to have left behind his battered but still working cell phone, the only sign of him left in the entire place. Refusing to believe she has been ghosted, Kate convinces herself that something must have happened to Scott, and decides to unlock his phone and start digging into his life to find some answers. What she discovers, however, is devastating. Everything she thought she knew about the man she loved was a lie. Worse, the shock accompanying these new revelations is compounded by the strange atmosphere Kate has been getting from Scott’s apartment.
With all the lies and half-truths being flung around social media these days, one of the main takeaway messages from Ghoster is, just how do you know if a person is really who they say they are online? This book definitely a cautionary tale against the overuse of electronic devices and the danger of being too connected. However, I also think it serves as a great guide as to what not to do when you’re in a relationship! It’s simple, really—just do the opposite of everything Kate does. When a guy refuses to tell you important details about himself or talk about his family, warning signs should be blaring in your head. Also, out of all the movies in the world, he names as his favorite the one that just happens to be your favorite as well? And you’re really naive enough to buy that? Don’t even get me started about the part where she throws her whole life, her brains, and all her self-respect out the window the moment Scott asks her to move in. And when she finds the place empty, she just decides to settle in anyway like everything is normal? Any average person would have drawn the logical conclusion that they’ve been dumped, and move on. But oh no, not Kate. She continues to pine and obsess even though every sign is telling her to pull her head out of her ass and get out of that place.
I suppose that was the main issue I had with the novel. Kate is a horrible protagonist, one I couldn’t sympathize with no matter how hard I tried because everything she did seemed at odds with what common sense would dictate. There’s really no nice way to say this, so what the heck: she’s an airhead. What else would you call a person who actively creates problems for herself by making staggeringly dumb choices, and worse, never learning from those lessons and repeating the same mistakes? On some level, I understood that Arnopp wanted to make an example of her, but I didn’t like how everything about her personality was so off-putting. After all, Jack Sparks was unlikeable in the author’s last novel, but the character was at least funny, interesting, and displayed some semblance of intelligence.
But now on to the good parts, to the elements I really enjoyed about Ghoster, and I have to say most of them have to do with the actual story itself. Overall, the plot presents a good mystery, if you can ignore all the protagonist’s questionable choices to make it possible. There’s a thrill, for example, every time Kate discovered some new clue or disturbing little tidbit in Scott’s phone which would lead to more puzzles and secrets. And there were plenty of scenes that were genuinely creepy, especially those ghostly nighttime moments at Scott’s apartment, as well as the chilling twists revealed towards the end.
Overall, if only I could have gotten over my intense dislike of the protagonist, I think I could have found Ghoster immensely enjoyable. Of course, there were other minor issues, like some disjointed pacing and several situations that strained my ability to suspend my disbelief or were just downright bizarre, but Kate presented the biggest struggle. Still, in deciding how to rate this book, I chose to believe everything about her character was by design and ultimately went with my gut instinct based on how much I liked the novel. And by that measure, I found it quite entertaining. This book was not nearly as awesome as I wanted it to be, but I had fun with it nonetheless, and I will be looking forward to more by Jason Arnopp.
Book Review: The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith
Posted on October 21, 2019 22 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Series: Book 1 of The Vine Witch
Publisher: 47North (October 1, 2019)
Length: 263 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith was a charming book—sure, not one that would likely linger too long in your mind or make an in indelible impression, but it was by no means a bad read. While the publisher blurb doesn’t reveal much about the story, I was intrigued by the setting of a vineyard nestled in the historical French countryside, as well as the idea of vine witches whose powers enable them to create the richest and most complex wines.
The book opens on the Chanceaux Valley, home to the Chateau Renard vineyard where our protagonist Elena Bourneanu lived with an old woman she calls her Grand-Mere. The Chateau has long been known for its remarkable, full-bodied wines and the secret to its success is Elena, a vine witch who users her spells to enhance the winemaking process. But prior to the story’s start, Elena ran afoul of a curse and had been transformed into a toad, leading to the ruin of Chateau Renard now that it was bereft of her magic.
Years later, Elena was able to return to her body, albeit with weakened powers. When she returns to the Chateau, however, she is dismayed to discover that Grand-Mere had sold it in her absence, and the vineyard now belongs to a handsome stranger named Jean-Paul Martel. Without Elena, the quality of the wine had gone down, yet to her frustration, Jean-Paul, who doesn’t believe in village superstition, refuses to allow her to use magic to restore it. But Elena knows something more is afoot, and recognizes a hex when she sees one, she’s also pretty sure she knows who was behind the curse that stole seven years of her life. But between hiding her identity and planning her revenge, Elena has plenty on her mind and did not foresee being a target of the anti-witch movement, nor did she expect that she and Jean-Paul would grow closer and develop feelings for each other.
The Vine Witch was good entertainment, though I have to say, I think I expected more. By that, I mean everything from the story to the world-building and the characters were too lightly sketched, and I chalk this up to this being the author’s debut, because it has all the telltale signs. Certainly the passion is there, but at times the prose was overly purple, trivial details were heavily described while more important elements were neglected, and there were paragraphs where lot was given when only a little was demanded so that the words practically tripped over themselves. A perfect example of this is the setting. Smith never really managed to establish a solid sense of the place, even though there were plenty of opportunities to do so. The culture and atmosphere of Chanceaux Valley only started to materialize late in the game, hence prior to that, I had only with the publisher’s description of turn-of-the-century France to point me in the right direction and help me imagine the context.
The same goes for the characters, who were relatable and interesting enough, but were still hard to pin down. I wanted more out of Elena’s personality and voice, especially given what was done to her, and yet those aspects of her character came across as somewhat distant and artificial. Speaking of which, the romance also felt forced, like everything between Elena and Jean-Paul was meant to be a foregone conclusion anyway, so why not just drop all pretenses and go through the motions. As you can imagine, that had a way of sapping all the anticipation and life out of the relationship.
Despite all my criticisms though, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy The Vine Witch. Although I had expected more from it, I also realize and appreciate the fact that it is a debut, and I think in spite of a few hiccups here and there, Luanne G. Smith has delivered an impressive historical fantasy with a solid premise. This book was also a quick read and could have used some polishing in places and beefing up in others, but I like to think just a teensy little bit more tweaking would have gotten the plot and character development to a good place. Quite honestly, the only thing missing was a little oomph, that extra secret ingredient to make the book more consequential and memorable, which I believe only comes with experience and more writing. Hence if Smith continues upon this path of growth, I definitely look forward to checking out she writes next.
YA Weekend: Angel Mage by Garth Nix
Posted on October 20, 2019 23 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (October 1, 2019)
Length: 560 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Since this was my first time reading Garth Nix, I really had no idea what to expect. With the exception of his Old Kingdom series, his books have always given me the impression of being skewed towards younger, Middle Grade readers, which was why I was surprised at the maturity and richness of Angel Mage. I’m not just talking thematically, or the world-building either; even the writing style was very lush and complex, closely resembling the tone of literary classics.
And no wonder. For this novel, Nix was clearly inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. However, the incredible world in which the story takes place feels highly original and unique, filled with a vast trove of magical lore to die for. After more than a hundred years of dormancy, an angelic mage named Liliath emerges from her resting place with the goal of being reunited with her archangel lover once again. In her day, she was a powerful icon maker, and was responsible for the Ash Blood plague which wiped out most of Ystara and transformed many of its victims into horrific monsters called beastlings. The cursed survivors were led to the neighboring capital of Sarance by Liliath where they thrived, but now their descendants are called the Refusers, unable to be touched by magic and shunned by the angels.
As Liliath builds support among the downtrodden Refusers, she also casts her influence outward to four angel-touched young people, all newly arrived in the city: Agnez is a skilled swordswoman and a cadet in the Queen’s Musketeers; Simeon is a promising doctor recently cast out by his institute; Henri is a Cardinal’s clerk who fell into the role by a stroke of fortune; and finally, Dorotea is a scholar and an icon maker of extraordinary talent. The four of them are the key to getting Liliath what she wants, even though they are unaware of their roles in her grand scheme. But as all of them become fast friends, drawn to each other by the hidden threads of fate, eventually they realize Liliath must be stopped and only they can prevent the chaos and destruction which would result from the angel mage’s obsessive quest.
In this fantasy world based on angelic magic and iconography, there’s a lot of background information and detail to get across, making this a very tricky and dense book. I’m not surprised to hear Nix is known for being a master at world building, as evidenced by the amount of thought and effort which must have gone into creating the setting for Angel Mage. In fact, he might have even gotten carried away with it—forgetting that while a complex and rich world is all fine and good, the story needs to be interesting too—because there were sections where I found my attention flagging as I struggled with the information deluge. I hate to say it, but I had to push myself through most of the first hundred pages, because the bulk of it was so tedious.
Thankfully, things improved as our four protagonists were introduced, as the writing style loosened up with their interactions and dialogue, making the story immensely more readable. Although I really enjoyed the idea of icon making and magic from the angels, it was the character development that won me over. Agnez, Henri, Simeon, and Dorotea were all so different, but together their personalities clicked perfectly, and it was convincing and realistic how quickly they became friends. I loved Simeon, a gentle giant who is passionate about healing, as well as flighty Henri who has big dreams but little know-how on how to reach them. And yet, the women were the ones who really stole the show here, with the assertive and hotheaded Agnez offering a counterpoint to the quiet and even-tempered Dorotea. Even Liliath was a powerhouse villainess—ruthless, determined, and uncompromising in her desire to be with her love again. She’s the most frightening sort of antagonist, and while I did not enjoy her POV nearly as much as the other four, it did add a fair amount of excitement and intensity to the overall narrative.
Still, Angel Mage is the kind of book that really demands your full attention, even if it’s not always that successful at keeping it. This can make following the story a little confusing, and there’s also a lot of filler. In general, I think the plot could have used a bit more energy and more even pacing, but that’s really the extent of my complaints.
All in all, I really enjoyed my first book by Garth Nix and would definitely be open to reading more by him in the future. Fans of his will probably eat this one up and fall in love with the characters and this gorgeously crafted world richly threaded with the undertones of a Dumas classic.
Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on October 19, 2019 52 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I round up what I’ve read since the last update and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.
Received for Review
My thanks to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
After a brief dry spell, things are picking up again in my mailbox, with the arrival of some early 2020 ARCs. With thanks to Harper Voyager, I received a couple of these, first the very anticipated Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst. It was such a surprise when this showed up, but I’m very excited to read it. Another surprise arrival was Carved from Stone and Dream by T. Frohock, book five in her Los Nifilim sequence. I’ve very much enjoyed the author’s work in the past, but I sadly fell behind on this series so I’m going to have to do a little research to see if I can read this as a standalone. From the publisher also came a couple of finished copies, including The Blue Eye by Ausma Zehanat Khan, the third book in The Khorasan Archives. I’ve only read the first one, and I can’t believe this series is so far along already! Finally, I also received Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden, and this sounds like another strange one. I’d like to give it a try if I some time this fall.
Thank you to Titan Books, I also received Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove. You know how I can’t resist anything to do with Sherlock Holmes, and this sounds like it would be a great one to read over the holidays.
And with thanks to Pyr and Kaye Publicity, I also got my finished copy of Forever and a Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton, yay! And in case you missed it, Laurence kindly wrote us a guest post earlier in the week, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already, it’s a fun read. I can’t wait to check out his new book, the latest in the Dru Jasper series.
This was also a week of new discoveries. From Simon & Schuster, I received a new-to-me book earlier this month called White Elephant by Trish Harnetiaux, which is a Christmas mystery according to the publisher description. Another good one to check out over the holidays! From Subterranean Press I also received an ARC of Jane Goes North by Joe R. Lansdale, a road trip adventure. And from 47North and the kind folks at Wunderkind PR I also received a finished copy of The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith, which I’m looking forward to diving into real soon, if I haven’t already started by the time this post goes live.
Also thanks to Tachyon Press for sending me the following ARCs: Sea Change by Nancy Kress, which looks really interesting and I’ve always wanted to read more by the author; as well as The Immortal Conquistador by Carrie Vaughn, a story that sounds linked to her Kitty Norville books. Last but not least, I received this gorgeous graphic novel from HarperCollins called Estranged: The Changeling King by Ethan M. Aldridge. It appears to be the second book in a series, and while it is geared towards Middle Grade readers, the illustrations are simply stunning and I find myself curious to take a look.
A huge digital haul this week, as I find myself gravitating more towards audio, especially. With thanks to Tantor Audio, I received listening copies of Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky. From Hachette Audio, I received the highly anticipated audiobook to The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. From Penguin Random House Audio, I received The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and from their YA imprint Listening Library I received A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy.
I was also sent a few exciting eARCs from authors and publishers. Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence is the third book in the Impossible Times series published by 47North and I can hardly wait to read it! And speaking of not being able to wait, the time has also finally come for The Last Sun sequel, The Hanged Man by J.D Edwards, cheers to Pyr Books and the team at Kaye Publicity. In my email earlier this week I was also ecstatic to find an invite from Entangled: Teen for Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf, the follow-up to the brilliant Bring Me Their Hearts.
Oops, I also might have gone a little nuts on NetGalley and Edelweiss, but with all these eARCs to download right away, it was hard to resist. From Tor, I grabbed The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer, a book I recently featured for Waiting on Wednesday. I also loved the sound of The Return by Rachel Harrison, a horror thriller from Berkley about a group of friends who reunite after the return of them from a mysterious two-year disappearance. St. Martin’s Press also got me good with a trio of highly anticipated books on my wishlist: The God Game by Danny Tobey, Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong, and Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden!
Reviews
Below is a quick summary of my reviews posted since the last update. I was really trying to stack some horror reads for early October, but I didn’t have luck with many of my choices, as you can see. Thank goodness there were a couple good ones though.
The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher (4.5 of 5 stars)
Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne (4 of 5 stars)
The True Bastards by Jonathan French (4 of 5 stars)
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh (4 of 5 stars)
Violet by Scott Thomas (3.5 of 5 stars)
Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky (2.5 of 5 stars)
The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring (2 of 5 stars)
The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht (2 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
Interviews and Guest Posts
A shout out to the authors who stopped by The BiblioSanctum!
Guest Post: “7 Secrets to Making Fascinating Monsters” by Laurence MacNaughton
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Here’s what I’ve managed to “unstack” from the TBR since the last update. More reviews coming soon!
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
Friday Face-Off: Scream
Posted on October 18, 2019 30 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.”
~ a cover featuring a SCREAM
Mogsy’s Pick:
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Halloween is almost here! To celebrate, I’ll be featuring the classics on Friday Face-Off for the full month of October. This week, we’ll be shining the spotlight on the controversial dystopian satirical black comedy novel by Anthony Burgess. Here are some of the covers:
From left to right:
W. W. Norton & Company A (1986) – W. W. Norton & Company B (2012) – Penguin Essentials (2011)
Ballantine Books (1971) – Penguin Classics (2010) – Penguin Books (1998)
Spanish Edition (2008) – Polish Edition (2007) – Portuguese Edition (2004)
Turkish Edition (2013) – German Edition (1999) – Hungarin Edition (2016)
Lithuanian Edition (2007) – Swedish Edition (2004) – Indonesian Edition (2017)
Winner:
I deliberately left off any of the movie poster/tie-in covers this week, because clearly there are enough cool artistic covers to enjoy. My favorite this week is probably the Turkish Edition.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: Dark Pattern by Andrew Mayne
Posted on October 17, 2019 21 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Series: Book 4 of The Naturalist
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (October 15th 2019)
Length: 316 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
These Naturalist books tend to be “one day reads” for me, and Dark Pattern, which got devoured in two reading sessions over a matter of hours, was definitely no exception. I love this series so much, and I just knew this novel would be another unputdownable mystery, which is why I’m glad I had the foresight to clear my schedule to devote an entire afternoon to reading, because bloody hell, this one was addictive.
Once again, Dr. Theo Cray is on the case, though he’s had a lot more on his mind since the last time we saw him. If you have not caught up to this point in the series yet, please bear in mind this review may contain some spoilers for the previous books. While each novel features a self-contained story, the events in them do add up to affect the protagonist in a big way, as evidenced at the beginning of Dark Pattern, which sees Theo fretting over his exposure to a dangerous virus at the conclusion of Murder Theory. While his reputation for catching serial killers has all but destroyed his prospects in the educational and research fields, at least he still has his logical mind and moral compass—for the time being, anyway. And he’s going to need all his wits about him if he’s to solve his next big case, brought forth to him by a nursing professional concerned that a corrupt local hospital system may be shielding the activities of a serial killer nurse who is targeting patients.
Following this tip leads Theo to several families who have lost their children to routine hospital care, with the cause of death a mystery. The one common factor is a nurse who has worked with or around the children immediately prior to their deaths, and the pattern is enough to make Theo suspicious and take a closer look. But what he ends up uncovering is so much worse, including corrupt bureaucrats who knew something fishy was going on but refused to do anything, as well as the manipulation of patient statistics to hide the truth.
Gosh, the stuff you read in this book will send chills running down your spine, and what’s even more frightening is how much of the bad conditions are based on truth, if news you see on corruption in healthcare or my own experiences working in hospitals are anything to go by. Dark Pattern is up there as one of the darker novels in the series, both because of story’s themes and what happens to our main character. Being hospitalized is unpleasant enough as it is, but it’s also a place where people should be able to put themselves and their loved ones in the trust of healthcare workers who are supposed to help heal them. The plot’s premise of a serial killer stalking along the antiseptic halls looking for his prey among the ill, the old, and little helpless children made my skin crawl.
And then of course, we come to Theo. He’s been slowly losing it for a while now, pushing his luck (and limits) when it comes to how far he’s willing to go to solve a case. He continues this trend in Dark Pattern, but now his methods and actions have become even bolder and more extreme. While his heart is still in the right place, you can really tell Theo is well on his way down a slippery slope. While this concerns him, the irony is that he’s probably worried for all the wrong reasons, and without revealing too much about the ending, I have to say his lack of perspective and eventual loss of grip on the situation really surprised me.
Which brings me to the elephant in the room. Let’s just say I loved this book for the most part, and was all prepared to throw it a five star rating until the last few chapters happened. Again, without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that this section didn’t quite jive with everything that came before. The conclusion itself was rather underwhelming, and it also almost felt as if the author suddenly ran up against a hard deadline and had to rush through the rest of the book. I can’t deny this was a bit disappointing, though to tell the truth, this bizarre shift made me feel more confused than anything. This is because in a way, the end of Dark Pattern felt like a sort of “soft reset” for Dr. Theo Cray. It pretty much places the series at a place where the story and character can go in any number of new directions, so I suppose just about anything can happen now.
It gives me great hope for a fifth installment. While Dark Pattern didn’t exactly wow me with its ending, the rest of the book and its mystery plot was solid. I look forward to seeing where The Naturalist series will go next.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Naturalist (Book 1)
Review of Looking Glass (Book 2)
Review of Murder Theory (Book 3)
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