Book Review: Ararat by Christopher Golden
Posted on May 12, 2017 20 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: St. Martin’s Press (April 18, 2017)
Length: 320 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Adam and Meryam are a newly engaged couple from very different backgrounds, but they have always bonded over their love of adventure. In recent years, they have even achieved moderate fame for their series of videos taken from their travels around the world. Now they are eyeing their next great challenge, an expedition to climb Turkey’s Mount Ararat after an avalanche has reportedly revealed a massive cave up high in the side of the mountain. Wasting no time, Adam and Meryam call upon an old friend to be their mountaineering guide, and together they begin a harrowing race up Ararat in order to be the first ones to discover its secrets.
However, what they end up finding in the cavern goes even beyond their wildest dreams. Within its depths, the couple discover the remains of a large ancient ship, which immediately raises the question: could this be Noah’s Ark, the great vessel that weathered the Biblical flood in the Book of Genesis? To answer this question, a full team is quickly assembled to excavate and study the find, with Meryam at its head as project manager. Included among the scientists and other experts is also a documentary crew, which is how, when a mysterious coffin is unearthed among the ruins, everything that happens next is captured on film.
Throwing caution to the wind, the coffin is pried open, revealing an ugly, desiccated corpse. It is immediately apparent to everyone present that this could not be Noah—for the body is twisted and misshapen, and the top of the creature’s skull is adorned with a pair of horns. The remains of the demon—for it is impossible not to think of it as such—puts everyone on edge, regardless of their religious beliefs. Soon, the tensions start taking their toll, with project members acting erratically and others going missing. Worse, there’s no escape, for a blizzard has swept in, leaving them all trapped on Mount Ararat with an evil force.
This is my first Christopher Golden novel, and I was not disappointed. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I’m a big fan of “snowbound horror”, which I truly believe is starting to become a bonafide subgenre of its own. The most effective stories of this type can make you shiver even while reading in the sweltering heat of summer or indoors beside a warm and cozy fire, if the author can convey the right type of atmosphere. There’s just something I find so creepy and oppressive about the isolation of wintry, sub-zero temperature settings, and happily, Ararat was no exception. Golden was able to capture the forbidding environment of the mountains, making it clear that, whatever may happen to our hapless characters, they are on their own.
I also enjoyed the novel’s premise. I think most people are familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark, but probably far fewer of us would expect it to be the topic of a horror novel. It made for a strange but suspenseful read, with just enough ambiguity to keep one guessing. Contrary to what one might think, the story is also very light on the religious themes, focusing instead on the human drama. Even without the threat of a demonic presence, trap a large group of strangers together in an inaccessible cave on the side of a mountain and inevitably you’ll see the fur start to fly. I was motivated to turn the pages simply because I wanted to see how everything would resolve, and in a way, the tensions and mistrust between the project members reminded me a lot of John Carpenter’s The Thing—all it takes is a bit of doubt and suspicion thrown into the mix, and even the strongest relationships can begin to fall apart.
Yet I do have one major complaint about this book, and that is the story’s pacing. From browsing reviews of Golden’s other works, it seems like a rather common issue among readers, and I couldn’t help but notice a lot of a similar pacing problems in Ararat. Namely, the author blew through things so fast that I barely had a chance to connect to any of the characters, and therefore many of their ultimate fates left me feeling unaffected. Character depth was also pretty much non-existent, with heavy reliance on telling rather than showing, and sometimes the difference between a good book and a great one is the effort and time it takes to develop these little details.
Still, Ararat was a solidly fun read, despite not meeting its full potential. It’s certainly no Dan Simmon’s The Terror, but these kinds of books are also satisfying in their own way, and not least because they are often guaranteed entertainment. If you’re simply in the mood to pass the time with a creepy thriller-horror novel complete with gore, violence, and a staggering body count, this book will get the job done well.
Audiobook Review: Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon
Posted on May 11, 2017 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.
Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of Vatta’s Peace
Publisher: Audible Studios (April 11, 2017)
Length: 14 hrs and 1 min
Author Information: Website
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Cold Welcome was my first Elizabeth Moon, and what an excellent surprise it was! Knowing little about the book, I dove right in thinking it would be your run-of-the-mill military science fiction, so imagine my delight when I found out it was more of a survival adventure.
The star of the novel is Admiral Kylara Vatta, a space-fleet commander returning to her home world of Slotter Key where a hero’s welcome awaits her. But when sabotage brings her shuttle down over the most inhospitable part of the planet, what greets her instead is death and rough icy seas. With most of the shuttle’s passengers dead from the crash, Ky and all those who are left on the life rafts must do what they can to survive until the rescue crews can reach them.
However, as time goes on, the hope that someone will find them before the winter sets in begins to fade. So far Ky’s leadership has kept them going far beyond what they expected, but soon the survivors will need better shelter and a new source of food. And yet when they make landfall on a rocky beach, they find their conditions are only marginally improved. This continent, apparently abandoned because of failed terraforming efforts, has little in terms of resources, but what the survivors do find is a secret military base that certain shadowy groups have gone to great lengths to conceal. Now there is a new fear that those coming for the survivors might not be their rescuers at all, but in fact the saboteurs looking to finish the job. Meanwhile, there are those in Ky’s circle of loved ones who still believe her to be alive, and thus begins a race against time to unravel the conspiracy before more lives are lost.
Like I said, Cold Welcome was my first novel by Elizabeth Moon, so I had no background knowledge of the story or any of the characters prior to starting. But even though it is actually the first book of a new sequel series to Vatta’s War, I still found it perfectly accessible as a newcomer to the world. The protagonist Ky hails from a powerful family that runs a large interstellar shipping corporation. Seeking a life outside Vatta Enterprises, however, she had enrolled in the Spaceforce Academy, only to be forced to resign and driven back to captaining an old trade ship for the family business. As luck would have it though, the military training she received came in handy during the war that followed, and she was able to bring victory to her side. All this was revealed organically in the brief introduction with no need for any awkward info-dumping, and soon the story was drawing me deeper into the drama and action.
Personally, I love sci-fi survival stories. They pit characters against the harsh environment—not an enemy you can just shoot. Ky’s shuttle ends up crashing into a vast ocean in subzero temperatures, and from there it’s just one disaster after another as Moon throws all kinds of dangers at our characters, from failing equipment to shark attacks. Often, survival stories also go hand in hand with space disasters, so as a bonus you get a good mix of thrills and suspense. But above all, I enjoy reading about the courage and resourcefulness of those who find themselves in a tight spot, and tales of group survival are even more interesting because of the different personalities and social interactions. And in the case of Ky’s group, tensions climb even higher when she starts suspecting a traitor in their midst.
What follows is a tale of adventure, but also a mystery as Ky struggles to keep everyone alive while attempting to root out their saboteur. I thought she was an amazing character who was intelligent, capable, but also wise enough to know she does not have all the answers. One of her first acts, which raised my esteem of her even more, was to learn more about her fellow survivors and take in account all of their skills and knowledge. They say that a good leader knows how to lead, but also knows when to follow, which is a principle Ky subscribes to as she defers to those who know more than her in certain areas. I love the sections where she attempts to keep the group running like well-oiled machine, relying on the routine of duty to distract themselves from their predicament. This is, after all, a military science fiction story as much as it is a tale of survival.
Why do I love Mil Sci-fi? Well, action and political intrigue are very good incentives, but I was also pleased to find that Cold Welcome encompassed all that and a whole lot more. It’s always nice to get something unexpected, even better when the surprise turns out to be so much fun, and after this book I can’t wait to try even more by Elizabeth Moon.
Audiobook Comments: I was lucky enough to receive the audiobook of Cold Welcome for review, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The narration by Brittany Pressley, if not phenomenal, was well done and completely satisfactory. Overall I have no real issues with the production and I would recommend it!
Waiting on Wednesday 05/10/17
Posted on May 10, 2017 24 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
The Genius Plague by David Walton (October 3, 2017 by Pyr Books)
I have enjoyed Walton’s sci-fi in the past, so I was intrigued when I found out about his new novel coming out this fall. I’m sure we’ve all read our fair share of books about nasty diseases, infections and outbreaks, but The Genius Plague sounds like a very different kind of story about a fungal plague pandemic. If you think you know where this will lead, you better think again….
WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU SMARTER
What if the pandemic you thought would kill you made you more intelligent instead? In the Amazon jungle, a disease is spreading. To those who survive, it grants enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. But the miracle may be the sinister survival mechanism of a fungal organism, manipulating the infected into serving it.
Paul Johns, a mycologist, is convinced the fungal host is the next stage of human evolution, while his brother Neil, an analyst at the NSA, is committed to its destruction. Is the human race the master in this symbiotic relationship, or are we becoming the pawns of a subtly dominating and utterly alien intelligence?
Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Things On Our Reading Wishlist
Posted on May 9, 2017 12 Comments
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. They created the meme because they love lists. Who doesn’t love lists? They wanted to share these list with fellow book lovers and ask that we share in return to connect with our fellow book lovers. To learn more about participating in the challenge, stop by their page dedicated to it and dive in!
This week’s topic: Top Ten Things On Our Reading Wishlist
As much as I rant and rave about things I would like to see in books and the reading the community, this topic still threw me for a loop. I didn’t want to just throw out anything while working on this. I wanted to be somewhat purposeful with this list, so I tried not to throw out all the things that randomly come up when I’m thinking about book-related things. The things that I chose for this list are things that have come up for me fairly often in the past few days/months/years.
- More Time – This is really my biggest wish for this year. This has been one of my biggest challenges with reading and trying to blog about books. Between family, work, and the million of other things I do most days, sometimes it can be really hard to do all the reading I’d like to do even with audiobooks.
- More Diversity – It gets tiring reading stories where writers can’t seem to write outside a bubble where only certain people, situations, and struggles exist. And trust me, I understand that some writers are afraid of reaching outside their scope and possibly offending people, but that’s why you have open dialogue with people, sensitivity readers, etc. There are resources to help writers if you’re committed to treating characters like people and learning about new situations, cultures, etc. Don’t let your limitations be your leash.
- More Nuanced Discussions – This is something that I’ve really only started paying attention to more as I’ve started blogging about books. I’ve always discussed books with others, but as I’ve ventured further into the realm of books, I find that I like to be more involved in book discussions that try to tackle issues in books, how authors handle them, and how readers respond to these things. I’ve been thinking about this a bit more as I’ve been keeping up with the dialogue for a few controversial speculative books and how readers are shaping this dialogue between themselves and the authors.
- More Speculative YA Books That Focus Less on Romance – If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know I have a somewhat complicated relationship with YA romance in the speculative realm. It can be a bit problematic, and once the romance is established, the story tends to focus more on that than the original intent of the story. There are a few speculative YA stories I’ve read that don’t go over to the wayside once the love interest is established or who treat the romance as the secondary story that it, and I’ve enjoyed them more for it.
- Better Handling of Mental Illness – This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine in general with media villanizing mental illness. In speculative fiction that doesn’t take place in a modern setting or are set in made up worlds, there are so many villains who are obviously coded as having certain mental illnesses, and stories like these further reinforce the idea that mental illness is scary, evil, and uncontrollable. You don’t have to code a character on a certain mental illness spectrum for them to be evil. We see evidence of people doing terrible things to each other every day without villainizing some of our most vulnerable populations.
- More Fun Stories in a High Fantasy Setting – Don’t get me wrong. I love my dark stories, but there seems to be a trend of darkness in high fantasy for the past few years. Sometimes, I need a break from it, but I still want to wander through a fantasy world. When I find a story that is more lighthearted or comical in nature in a high fantasy setting, it’s like a breath of light after reading through such depressing, suffocating worlds. Maybe there are plenty of fantasy stories out there in this sort of setting, and I just haven’t found them.
- More Rounded Female Characters – There’s nothing wrong with the badass female or the strong female in literature. I welcome them, but the thing I think people forget when writing these characters is that they should still be rounded characters. There’s nothing wrong with giving these characters vulnerabilities. It’s okay if your female character isn’t someone who bring a guy down with a well-placed kick. It’s okay if they’re not much of a fighter at all. It’s okay if they don’t have some great destiny to be the savior of all things. You can write female characters who are transparent, vulnerable, authentic and they can still be interesting and relatable. Interesting people come in a variety of personalities and abilities. Female characters shouldn’t be any different.
- Less Trying to Explain Away Characters’ Very Bad Behavior – Every protagonist of a story can’t be a shining beacon of perfection. That would make for a very boring story and character. In fact, some of the protagonists that we meet have downright loathsome qualities about them, but I’ve noticed that instead of having a character work through a particularly nasty character flaw, authors would rather treat it like a cute quirk or try to make it seem like these attitudes/behaviors aren’t a big deal. In that same vein, I wish authors would stop being apologists for their supporting characters’, especially potential love interests, terrible behavior and attitudes. It’s just plain gross.
- Less Unnecessary Book Snobbery and Clique-ish Behavior – I never realized how terribly snobby the book community could be until I spent more time in the book community. Usually I would see it more in the book circles that pretend to like James Joyce and like to look down on speculative books or comics as not being capable of literary genius, but I’m starting to notice it more in the speculative book reading communities, too. Whether it’s book readers ganging up on people who were surprised by the red wedding in the television series Game of Thrones because the viewers wouldn’t have been so shocked if they’d “read the books” or mob mentality rearing it’s ugly head on Goodreads when a popular book reviewer/blogger decides they’re out for blood just because they want to be and the more impressionable readers follow suit for no other reason than to impress said reviewer, it’s getting to a point where I avoid certain places and topics and stick to a small circle of readers I trust for my sanity.
I kind of ran out of steam after hitting #9. I blame late not blogging and not enough sleep. What are some things serious or not so serious on your reading wishlist?
Book Review: The Last Iota by Robert Kroese
Posted on May 9, 2017 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 Last Iota by Robert Kroese
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 2
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (May 9, 2017)
Length: 320 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Last Iota is definitely one of those awesome and rare instances where a sequel surpasses its predecessor. All the elements that made The Big Sheep such a rollicking good read are back, and this time the mystery is even bigger, better, and more impressive than before. The humor has been cranked up a notch as well, thanks to the often witty, sardonic back-and-forth exchanges between the two main characters. Just to give you an idea of how much I enjoyed myself, I was still wiping away the tears of laughter as I sat down to draft this review.
It is the year 2039, eleven years after the great Collapse which decimated the world’s economy and caused a large chunk of Los Angeles to be abandoned by the American government, turning it into the Disincorporated Zone. Picking up shortly after the end of the first book, the story once again follows Blake Fowler as he struggles to keep his and his partner Erasmus Keane’s private investigation firm afloat following the fallout from their last assignment. Things have gotten so desperate that they are forced to take a job from an old adversary, the famous actress and movie mogul Selah Fiore. The Hollywood star is paying them a large sum of money to track down one of the nine rare commemorative collectible iota coins that were minted post-Collapse, back when the dollar was tanking and the powers-that-be were pushing hard for the use of a new virtual currency. But since the iota coin itself has little value, as it is only a physical representation of the iota currency which is all virtual, why would Selah be putting so much of her effort and resources into recovering just one? Even without the prospect of a large paycheck, Fowler knows that Keane will agree to take the job, if nothing else to satisfy his own curiosity.
Meanwhile, Fowler’s missing girlfriend Gwen has recently resurfaced, claiming to have been hiding in the Disincorporated Zone for the last three years. After finding out about his new case, however, she suddenly takes off again, presumably back to the DZ. Perhaps not coincidentally, her re-disappearance also occurs simultaneously with a series of online auction sales for iota coins, all to the same anonymous buyer. Someone else is out there is snapping up the coins, and they’re going to great lengths to do it. The mystery deepens further when Selah turns up dead, and Keane and Fowler are framed for her murder. Soon it becomes clear everything is linked to the coins, and our protagonists must somehow decipher the puzzle of the nine iotas before their enemy can get their hands on the last one.
Besides being hilariously funny and full of exhilarating plot twists, the premise behind The Last Iota is also incredibly fascinating. If you told me last week that I’d be on the edge my seat reading about the dollar index and currency markets, I would have laughed in your face. And yet, Robert Kroese has managed to make these concepts a huge part of his story, while at the same time making it easy for a complete banking and finance noob like me to understand. Most impressively, he made everything sound so exciting. After all, I’ve always asserted that the best reads are not only fun and satisfying, but they also leave you feeling like you learned something interesting and new. I found myself enthralled with the mechanisms and potential behind virtual currencies, and the events described in this book inspired me to read further on the subject after I was finished.
As well, the characters continue to be very well drawn, and I love the dynamic between Keane and Fowler. With the former’s genius and the latter’s tactical knowledge, together they make a formidable team. Still, while it’s hard not to compare their relationship to that of a modern-day Sherlock Holmes and Watson, the complexities behind their partnership go far deeper than that. Calling them friends would be stretching it, and sometimes they even feel like opponents who are sticking together simply because they both need something from the other. And yet, neither is it strictly business. Keane may be an eccentric, and Fowler may be keeping secrets, but at the end of the day a strange kind of trust exists between them, and against all odds they make it work. As a reader, I can hardly complain about the clash of personalities either, not when their interactions often result in such amusing banter and scenarios.
Compared to the first book, The Last Iota also features a tighter, more logical plot, and the twists are even more shocking and unexpected. My attention was gripped by the intensity of the story as the hunt for a simple coin gradually snowballed into a life-or-death race to unravel a conspiracy threatening to throw the world into another Collapse. Within this narrative Kroese has injected all the central features of classic noir and then some, combining mystery elements with imaginative world-building and social ramifications to create something that is entirely unique and stands on its own.
The result is a truly fascinating and unforgettable novel, one that was a distinct pleasure to read. I have a feeling the author has a lot more in store for us now that a strong foundation for the series has been established, and it will be interesting indeed to see what Keane and Fowler will be up to next. To the last line of the book, all I have to say is: Hell yes, I’m ready for another round!
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Big Sheep (Book 1)
Audiobook Review Bites
Posted on May 8, 2017 15 Comments
Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Dark Hunter #1
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (September 15)
Tiara’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Night Pleasures follows the misadventures of Amanda Devereaux and the hunter Kyrian of Thrace. Amanda comes from a family of magically talented women including herself, but her gifts have stagnated because she’d prefer to have a normal life as an accountant and marry a normal man. However, her family’s strangeness manages to run off the only normal man who seemed willing to marry her at the start of this story. Her family’s strangeness, specifically the fact that she looks exactly like her vampire hunter twin, is the reason she finds herself cuffed to Kyrian, who is a supernatural being akin to a vampire, a few pages later.
Kenyon created a story that fused the supernatural and myths (of the gods and goddesses variety) together well. I did enjoy learning about what makes Kyrian and his “brothers” different from a normal vampire, and the few other beings like Kyrian that we meet have interesting back stories including Kyrian himself. I liked the Devereaux sisters well-enough, and I sympathized with Amanda’s need for something normal and safe until she comes to terms with the fact that her life won’t allow such luxuries. Despite all the the things that I liked in the story, there was still something about the story that was a little off. Bits of it dragged for far too long in my opinion, and there were parts of the story that just felt too much like somebody threw up rainbows all over these characters.
The narration for this was pretty good. I liked that MacDuffie used the what I call the “old money” Southern accent for the sisters, but it did make them sound a bit older than they were for that reason. Her voices for the men were okay, nothing that really stood out aside from one of Kyrian’s human friends we meet in the beginning. I’ll definitely continue to listen to these books for however long I continue this series.
This wasn’t a bad book, but I just didn’t find myself overly impressed with the story I’ll read the next book or two in this series (and maybe backtrack to Dark Lover as a friend suggested) before deciding if I want to continue with this series or not because I did enjoy the characters and the elements she added to what could’ve been another stale vampire story and could see the lore of this world becoming something that I could enjoy.
Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie | Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Macmillan Audio (July 11, 2008) | Whispersync Ready: Yes
Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Hidden Legacy #1
Publisher: Avon (October 28, 2014)
Tiara’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nevada Baylor is a detective tasked with trying to find a powerful suspect in a very tense case. She’s note sure if she has the prowess to handle the case. However, she can’t really afford to turn down the case. Soon, she finds herself in the clutches of Connor Rogan who happens to be rich, sexy, a powerful magic user, and rumored insane, and he has his own reasons for needing to find this same target.
Like all their stories, this book is fun. The characters are engaging, and as a reader you just find yourself wanting to keep going. I still think Dina from their Innkeeper Chronicles (review for Clean Sweep here) is my favorite heroine so far out of their books that I’ve read, but Nevada is probably a close second. Out of all their male heroes I’ve met so far, Connor is my favorite. He does follow the typical ‘bad boy who isn’t that bad” formula, but he feels the most nuanced of their male characters so far. I liked Connor much more than I did their other male characters upon his arrival in the story.
This husband and wife duo definitely writes some compelling stories, but I find that I’m often not that into the romance part of their stories. I’m being more forgiving about this because I enjoy almost every other element of their stories, and I’m going to assume that the romance will start to feel more natural in subsequent books. (Note: I’ve only read the first book in three of their series, including this one.) I also enjoy the narrator they use to narrate their books who really brings personality to their stories.
Narrator: Renée Raudman | Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins | Audiobook Publisher: HarperAudio (October 28, 2014) | Whispersync Ready: Yes
YA Weekend: Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Posted on May 7, 2017 29 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: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: HarperTeen (March 14, 2017)
Length: 384 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I have a bit of a problem. It’s called an addiction to Beauty and the Beast retellings. No matter how often it gets done, or how often I get burned, I just can’t seem to get enough. Call it a personal interest or a guilty pleasure, I just can’t seem to say no.
Hunted is somewhat of a surprising entry into the genre though, in that it combines the traditional “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale with another one from Russian folklore, “Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf”. The book follows Yeva (whose nickname is “Beauty”), the youngest of a rich merchant’s three daughters. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the family winds up losing their entire fortune, forcing them all to move back into their old hunting lodge in the woods. Obsessed with paying off his debts, Yeva’s father sinks deeper into madness and despair, raving about capturing a great beast that lives in the forest, convinced that once he is successful they will regain their wealth and prestigious way of life. So when he goes missing one night, it is Yeva who sets out to find him, since among her sisters it is she who possesses the most skill in tracking and hunting.
Sadly for Yeva, what she finds instead is death and ruination in a cursed valley, ruled over by a creature out of myth. Imprisoned by this strange Beast, she is forced to do as he commands, helping him hunt his elusive prey in the forest or risk him bringing harm upon the rest of her family. In time, however, Yeva learns the truth behind why the Beast has kept her close, and begins to realize that he may be as much a prisoner as she is.
Retellings can be tricky, because there’s a fine art to treading that razor thin line between going over familiar ground and offering something new and interesting at the same time. Hunted manages to strike this balance remarkably well, staying true to the essence of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale while still throwing in fresh and unexpected elements. We see much evidence of this approach in the beginning and at the end of the novel which, not surprisingly, I found to be the best parts. The middle section was a bit ho-hum in comparison, because we all know what happens is going to be some variation of the same events leading to our captive falling in love with her captor.
To Meagan Spooner’s credit though, Hunted does not exactly play out like your typical cringe-inducing tale of Stockholm Syndome (the way many bad retellings are handled). For one thing, there’s a lot more to her Beast than simply a man whose good nature is buried deep inside a savage creature’s body, just waiting for the right woman to come along and draw it out. Neither is Yeva a pushover like a lot of the so-called “strong and independent” YA heroines whose resolve crumbles the moment a bad boy deigns to show a hint of kindness (though, there was that facepalm moment in which Yeva stubbornly refuses to thank the Beast for saving her life, yet the gratitude comes gushing out like a waterfall the instant he shows her a few musty old books. Priorities, girl, priorities!) In fact, this is a woman who several times attempts to murder her captor and actually bloodies her hands while doing so, showing more balls than the vast majority of YA protagonists I’ve encountered in a similar situation. While Yeva might be forced to obey the Beast, she does not go quietly about it, and continues to fight his will right up until the later parts of the novel.
Still, considering how the Beast was so terrible to her at the beginning and the way Yeva was so intent on killing him, their eventual romance came rather abruptly and was not very convincing. Their intrinsic faults aside though, both characters were fascinating studies, especially the Beast, whose true self is revealed to us in snippets of his POV. I also liked how the story paid homage to the myths of the Firebird, a common motif in Slavic folklore that often symbolizes a difficult quest. By incorporating the tale of “Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf”, Hunted warns against being tempted by more when life’s simpler satisfactions may be right in front of your eyes. There’s a good dose of magic here too, which is both the cause and the cure for all the conflict, and in order to break the curse that binds her and the Beast, Yeva must undertake her own “Firebird quest”.
Everything considered, I had a good time with Hunted and thought it was one of the more enjoyable Beauty and the Beast retellings I’ve ever read. While it’s not entirely free of flaws, I liked how the story introduced plenty of clever and inventive elements to the table. All in all a satisfying read.
Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on May 6, 2017 36 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
Thank you to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received. For more details and full descriptions of the books, be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages!
Kicking off this week’s roundup is a book I’m really excited about: Devil’s Call by J. Danielle Dorn doesn’t come out until July but I’ve already read it and LOVED it. Following a mixed-race witch protagonist named Li Lian, this fantasy-Western horror novel is a revenge story, told in the form of a letter written to the unborn child she is carrying as she travels across the American frontier hunting the men who murdered her husband. Already it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing me rave about it for a long time yet. Huge thanks to Inkshares for giving me the opportunity to read this marvelous book!
Next up, I received this pair of ARCs from the incredible Wunderkind PR team: The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H. Wilson is the upcoming sci-fi novel from the author of Robopocalypse about a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for centuries; and The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente is a short story collection described as “a ferocious riff on women in superhero comics”. I’m especially excited about this one because it will be my first read by Valente! With thanks to Doubleday and Saga Press, respectively.
Also thanks to both Jo Fletcher Books and Broadway Books for sending me a finished copy of City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett – both the UK and US editions are gorgeous, and they look even better sitting side by side! In case you missed it, my review went up earlier this week; be sure to check it out to see how much I enjoyed the book.
I was also thrilled to receive this surprise ARC of Soul of the World by David Mealing from the amazing folks at Orbit. As you know, it was already on my list of highly anticipated books for this summer, so its arrival was certainly most welcome!
My deepest thanks also goes to Django Wexler for sending me a signed ARC of his upcoming Middle Grade novel The Fall of the Readers! Despite not being a big reader of MG fiction, I am a die-hard fan of this series. This will be the fourth and final book, and I can’t wait to find out what happens.
And speaking of endings, All Good Things by Emma Newman will be concluding the Split Worlds pentalogy later this summer, so I best catch up with book four before then! From the publisher I also received Sovereign by April Daniels, the sequel to Dreadnought, a YA superhero novel starring a transgender heroine. Thank you to Diversion Books for these ARCs.
Now for a trio of shiny finished copies! Courtesy of Orbit books, I received The Ship by Antonia Honeywell and The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey – I can’t wait to get started on both! And from Tor Books came this surprise copy of The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis, a steampunk and military fantasy mashup that looks extremely fascinating and I’m curious to check it out. My thanks to the publishers.
Last but not least, I was pretty excited at the following surprise arrivals: The Emperor and the Maula by Robert Silverberg has an interesting history, having been written for a publishing project that never went forward, and as a result it was published only once in an abbreviated form. This edition will be restoring the complete version, for the first time bringing to light the author’s original vision. Next, The Crow’s Dinner by Jonathan Carroll is a debut essay collection described as the author’s “wide-ranging spiritual autobiography”, and River’s Edge by James P. Blaylock is a new novella in the series featuring the adventures of Langdon St. Ives. I wish I knew more about these books, but as of right now there’s still very little information, so be sure to click the links to the publisher’s website to find out more. Many thanks to the awesome folks at Subterranean Press, who are always spoiling me so!
I reached a feedback ratio of 92% at NetGalley earlier this month, so of course I felt obligated to wreck my stats again with new requests. Totally worth it though for these books though, don’t you think? My thanks to Pocket Star for approving me for Owl and the Electric Samurai by Kristi Charish and Tor Books for The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera. And Tor was also kind enough to offer me an eARC of Graveyard Shift by Michael F. Haspil, which is on the list of my most anticipated debuts of 2017.
Over on Edelweiss, I couldn’t resist requesting The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli either. It’s so rare for an YA epic fantasy to catch my eye; I figured it warranted a closer look, and I am grateful to HarperTeen for the chance to check it out.
I also want to thank Rob J. Hayes for getting in touch to let me know about his upcoming novel, Where Loyalties Lie. He had me at “piratical fantasy”!
And finally, cheers to Tor.com for sending a couple more eARCs, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjob and A Red Peace by Spencer Ellsworth. I am quite intrigued by these.
Reviews
Time for a roundup of reviews posted in the last two weeks:
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (4 of 5 stars)
City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett (4 of 5 stars)
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray (4 of 5 stars)
Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan (4 of 5 stars)
Tremontaine created by Ellen Kushner (3 of 5 stars)
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (3 of 5 stars)
The End of the Day by Claire North (2 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
And here are the books I’ve finished recently. I’ve been working hard on unstacking the review pile, and even though I’m still far behind, I’d like to think I’m gradually getting back into the swing of things. Look out for my reviews of the following books 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: Lion
Posted on May 5, 2017 19 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:
“If you place your head in a lion’s mouth, then you cannot complain one day if he happens to bite it off”
~ a cover featuring a LION
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
This is a very special book to me. After all, it was my first experience with Guy Gavriel Kay, and it pretty much made me a fan on the spot. Like a lot of his works, The Lions of Al-Rassan is a historical fantasy. Set in a time and place that recalls the period of Moorish Spain, the novel focuses its attentions on the turbulent relationship between three peoples: the Kindath, the Asharites, and the Jaddites. The story is basically a loose retelling of the Reconquista, compressing centuries into a much shorter time frame.
Of course, while the “Lions” referred to in the title may be metaphorical, that does not mean they do not appear as a frequent theme on the book’s various covers. A great many editions have come out over the years, and here is just a small sampling from around the world:
From left to right, top to bottom: Harper Voyager (2005) – HarperPrism (1995) – Penguin Canada (2010) – HarperCollins UK (1995) – Viking Canada (1995) – Voyager (2012) – Earthlight(1995)
French (1999) – French (2005) – Croatian (2006) – German (1998) – Russian (2003) – Spanish (2009) – French (Quebecois) (1999) – Portuguese (2010)
Winner:
I’m going to go with my heart on this one and choose the Viking Canada edition, because this is the version that graces my beloved copy. Yes, it’s a cop out, but I don’t care 😛
Feel free to tell me how way off base I am though, by letting me know your favorite!
Audiobook Review: Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
Posted on May 4, 2017 32 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Media Tie-In
Series: Star Wars Canon
Publisher: Random House Audio (April 11, 2017)
Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
Author Information: Website
Narrator: Marc Thompson
Unpopular opinion time: I never cared for the Thrawn trilogy. Though to be fair, I was late to the party and only started reading Heir to the Empire after college sometime in the mid-2000s, about 15 years after its original publication. In my eyes, the books did not age very well, and I think many tended to view them through nostalgia-tinted glasses.
Still, setting my personal critique of the books aside, as a character I do maintain that Thrawn is one of the best to come out of the Star Wars universe. And I suspect the powers that be agree as well, explaining why Thrawn was canonically reintroduced in the third season of Star Wars Rebels, despite the original trilogy having been classified “Legends” along with much of the old Expanded Universe. Timothy Zahn was tapped to reprise his role as author to a new novel about the titular character, which is intended to chronicle his early life and meteoric rise to power. It’s a rare opportunity for any reader to revisit a favorite character like this, and thus far I’ve really enjoyed Thrawn’s appearances on the show, which is why, come hell or high water, I knew I was going to read this book.
Like many origin tales, Thrawn begins with our Chiss protagonist in humble circumstances, alone and exiled on a planet at the edge of known space. For those familiar with Zahn’s Mist Encounter, this first section is essentially a fleshed out and updated retelling of the events in that short story. A good chunk of the novel is also told through the eyes of Eli Vanto, a lowly Imperial cadet who is taken along on an investigation of this jungle world because of his knowledge of these backwater systems. When the crew encounters Thrawn, they are immediately impressed by his survival skills and knowledge of military strategy, traits that are said to be valued by the Chiss Ascendancy. Obviously, these skills are also highly sought-after in the Empire, leading the Imperials to bring Thrawn to Coruscant so that Emperor Palpatine can decide his fate.
Despite being an alien, Thrawn manages to impress the Emperor with his eloquence and persuasiveness, and immediately gets assigned to a military academy to hone his skills and knowledge of the Imperial Navy. Eli Vanto is sent along with him, in order to be translator and guide to all things related to the Empire’s culture and society—a role that the cadet resents at first, but in time he learns to respect Thrawn’s intelligence and personality, especially when after graduation, the Chiss starts getting promotion after promotion.
Meanwhile, on a mining planet called Lothal, another origin story for a Rebels character is beginning to unfold. Before she became the governor of her planet, Arihnda Pryce was a young company heiress, forced to watch everything her family has built fall into the Empire’s hands. Secretly vowing her revenge, Pryce agrees to work for an Imperial Senator, already making plans to worm herself inside the political machine where she will bide her time until she has enough power to take what she wants. Along the way though, she’ll need some help—and Thrawn, who is making his own way up the ranks at this point, may prove to be the perfect ally.
Not surprisingly, Thrawn is a very character-focused novel, detailing how the Chiss became so successful even in the face of the Empire’s xenophobia, as well as to put readers into his head. The first is accomplished by simply by giving examples of Thrawn’s genius and describing the processes that led to his victories. It didn’t matter that many in the Empire held anti-alien attitudes; the Emperor saw potential in Thrawn and he only cares about results. It is clear that Thrawn eventually achieved Grand Admiral status on his own terms and merits, and his leadership skills naturally drew others to him despite what they might think of his origins.
However, putting readers into Thrawn’s head is another, more subtle, matter. Zahn’s writing has always struck me as rather stark and clear-cut, in a whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done kind of way. I daresay without the glimpses he offered into Thrawn’s mind, this book could have been a very dry read indeed. Fortunately, peppered throughout the novel are brief looks into what makes his character tick, from his journal excerpts at the beginning of each chapter to his furtive observations on how others are behaving and reacting around him (though there must have been at least a couple dozen mentions of “facial heat” or “cheeks tightening”, making me wish there’d been more variation in the descriptions). A lot can also be gleaned from Thrawn’s interactions with the other characters. Through Vanto’s and Pryce’s eyes, we see how much Thrawn values and rewards hard work and loyalty, and he puts just as much of both into the men and women who work under him. In many ways, Thrawn serves as a counterpoint to a lot of traditional Star Wars villains as well. For one, he does not possess the Force, mainly relying on thinking rather than fighting to win his battles. He also views unnecessary loss of life as a waste, a point that I think earns him a lot of sympathy from readers. While it’s true Thrawn may be a symbol of the Empire, Zahn nevertheless makes it so easy to root for him.
All told, Thrawn isn’t among the best novels I’ve read from the new canon, but neither is it among the worst. It’s actually quite a decent book, and in my eyes, “New Thrawn” certainly beats out “Old Thrawn” hands down. In theory, you’d think Thrawn would also appeal most to fans of the character, the original trilogy, or Star Wars Rebels, but I would urge anyone—even if you do not consider yourself to be a hardcore Star Wars fan—to give this one a look. There’s a reason why Thrawn as a character is so beloved, and this is his story.
Audiobook Comments: At this point, I think anything I say about Marc Thompson will sound like a broken record. But if all of my praise for him happens to sound the same, it’s only because it’s true! The guy is great at voices, and I love his Thrawn, the way he made him sound similar to the Rebels version. Do yourself a favor and listen to this one.
The BiblioSanctum 