Back in September i did a post recapping some of my reads that I kind of had thoughts on but they weren’t those strong kind of thoughts where you either want to tear the book in half from frustration because, please return my 4 hours you evil fiend, or you want to gently caress it and sing sweet lullabies while you protect it from all the hurtful things people could potentially say. Well, in my literary adventures leading up to this months releases, I had a couple more. Not saying they are bad, not saying i want to throw them at people Shia LeBeouf style while screaming ‘Just read it”. They just… were.
Massive thanks to Netgalley for approving me for these reads! Without you i would instead be staring at a wall wishing my life away as the days count down to the novels releases. Now that the formalities are (mostly) over, lets get on with those quality recaps you all know and love.
The Lord of Stariel – A.J Lancaster
The best way I can describe The Lord of Stariel is a mix between Pride and Prejudice (yes there’s even a Darcy-esque jerk involved) and A Court of Thorns and Roses with a dash of, I wanna say, Iron Fey. Honestly it feels like alot of things but also not particularly like anything that has previously been published (I appreciate this is confusing…).
Henrietta’s (Hetta) father, the previous Lord of Stariel, has died, leaving their lands without a master until the date of The Choosing when the Star Stone will choose his successor. His first born son, Marius, and nephew, Jack, are both favourites for the role with neither acknowledging the fact that Jack has been groomed from a young age to take over. On the day of The Choosing, however, nothing goes to plan and a completely different Lord is chosen by the Stone, throwing the estate into chaos as its residents come to terms with their new master. But did the Stone really choose its new master or did someone rig the draw?
I quite enjoyed the premise of this novel as it promised magic and wonder, fairies and mystery. Unfortunately it didn’t quite hit its mark for me. Rather than being wonderous most of the time and maintaining a good pace, it felt very periodical and kind of dragged on. Don’t get me wrong, the portions in which magic was occurring were quite exciting but these were unfortunately few and far between. While i appreciated the authors effort to make a magical narrative set in a ?Victorian-type era, with the invention and rollout of electricity and the motorvehicle seeming to take centre stage in Hetta’s life, it felt more Great Expectations than fantasy. The pace was very slow, with Hetta seeming to care more about her various love interests than her role for the majority of the novel, only seeming to worry about the family’s plight when someone acted ‘strange’, or there was ‘a clue’ that someone had figured out.
As a whole, I am unsure whether I would pick this up as a physical release but would be happy had i purchased it from Kindle for its $5-ish price tag. It’s primary redeeming feature was the final 20% where things actually happened. The final pages well and truly left room for further instalments. As it was an average book, I will split the score down the middle at the exact average of 3/5 stars. Thankyou to the crew at Camberion Press for providing me with an advanced reading copy prior to the release date.
The Lord of Stariel released worldwide on November 1st and is expected to be part of a quartet entitled The Stariel Quartet.
How To Fracture A Fairytale – Jane Yolen
I received this advanced reading copy from Tachyon, a US based publishing company (thankyou for the arc ^_^) and I must say i quite enjoyed this one. An anthology of fairytales with a twist, even the least keen reader can easily pick out stories from their childhood, expertly moulded into something that while similar is completely different.
I think my favourites would have to be The Bridge’s Complaint, a twist on the Three Billy Goats whereby the viewpoint is that of the bridge; Happy Dens, a play on Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood and Peter and The Wolf; and Slipping Sideways Through Eternity, a tale set in an internment camp during World War Two.
Overall Yolen has expertly twisted these tales so as while recognisable, they are also all unique in their own right. As an added bonus, the foreword is written by Marissa Meyer, author of the Lunar Chronicles, an expert at the reweaving of known narratives in her own right. 4 out of 5 stars.
It is the latest in a long publication history for Yolen and released 5th November 2018
The Revolution of Jack Frost – K M Robinson
Let me be clear that I desperately wanted to enjoy this book. When I saw the synopsis, I was so utterly intrigued that I requested it so very fast, if you had have blinked, you would have missed me frantically spamming the request button. Completely forgetting it was in my library, I finally picked it up this morning and was unfortunately disappointed.
The novel is about a group of people being stuck in a bunker testing and hopefully evolving to changing weather so as to continue the human race after war has changed the climate. Unfortunately it was a lot of ‘things are changing’ every page for the first quarter, a girl named Genesis who is in love with Jack but the love feels more Stockholm Syndrome than actual love and a bunch of young people oblivious to the situation until almost half way through.
The narrative which showed potential on my initial reading of the synopsis was lacklustre while also moving at a snails pace. I found that I did not emotionally connect with any of the characters and frequently skipped large portions of text in order to simply get the novel over with.
While I am deeply grateful to Xpresso Book Tours/Bleeding Ink for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this novel prior to its November 6th release, I am giving it a single star out of five as it was simply not my thing.
Outrun The Wind – Elizabeth Tammi
I headed into this one with extremely high expectations, I’ve been hearing about this debut for six months or more and just fell in love with the idea of a retelling of Atalanta, the virgin huntress who refused to marry. When I dove in, I found myself initally entertained but by the end a little underwhelmed.
At its core, this is simply a 360 page long retelling of Greek mythology. Those who are familiar with Artemis and her huntresses would recognise all the essential elements – Meleager’s love, his demise, the footraces to win Atalanta’s love, the transformation into lions. It’s all there but nothing has really changed. Unfortunately, it being portrayed as a ‘retelling’ made me hope there would be something different (ala Neil Gaiman or Madeleine Miller) an expectation I probably should not have had.
By the time I finished, I felt a little like there hadn’t been any change except that instead of having no love interest, it is instead a love between a shunned Huntress and Atalanta. Artemis and Apollo employ their expected tricks and the story continues. I will mention here though that I did like the fact that it was told from both the POV of Atalanta and Kahina, the shunned Huntress. Overall, I liked this but I didnt love it. Taking me just under 2 1/2 hours to complete, it was an easy read, a stimulating tale for those not familiar with Greek mythos and a welcome spin for those who are. Due to this, I am giving it a 3.5/5 stars.
Thankyou to Northstar Editions/Flux for providing me with an advanced reading copy. I am always grateful to be given an opportunity to read retellings of well known tales. It releases November 27 and is Tammi’s debut novel.
Close Encounters of the Paper Kind 