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Hayley's 2016 Reading


Hayley

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Oh that's lovely! I hadn't actually seen that edition. I got my Banned edition on Book depository, but I ordered two (which I thought were slightly different) and one wasn't the Banned edition at all, it was this ugly yoke

 

I hope so much that you love the story, I really, really do.

 

I hate it when you order a book and get a different cover from the picture. Unless the cover you get is prettier... then it's fine  :D

I'm going to start reading Fly By Night now actually, I'm really looking forward to it!

 

 

But first a quick review of...

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie  - Gruesome, gripping and full of personality

 

The main thing I really liked about The First Law trilogy was the detail of characters. You're not just following one 'good guy' hero, you see all sides of the story, from the various views of very unique and detailed characters. This, if possible, was done even better in this book. Although the book is pretty long the whole thing is actually only set over about three days of war, but so much happens in those three days and you end up caring about the fate of so many characters you just can't stop reading. One difference between this and the original trilogy is that this is definitely the more gruesome book. It's used to good purpose, we're supposed to be seeing the horrific reality of war, but it did actually make me feel slightly sick at times. 

I would point out to anyone thinking of reading this that, although it is advertised as a standalone book set within the First Law world, it would be very hard to follow what was going on if you hadn't read the original trilogy first. It does directly follow events from those books, with mostly the same characters.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and I'm definitely going to be looking out for the others set in the First Law world!

 

 

and now on to Fly By Night  :smile: 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice review of The Heroes! I'm glad you enjoyed it :). I have this book and The First Law trilogy on my TBR.

Thank you, I really enjoyed all of them so I hope you do too when you get to them!  :smile:

 

I actually finished Fly by Night a few days ago but just haven't had time to review it yet (or to start a new book, which is terrible!)

 

 

Fly By Night by Francis Hardinge - An Orwellian Fairy Tale

 

The first thing I thought when I started reading this book is it's just so pretty! The writing often gives the scenes a very fairy tale feel. For example, this was a bit I liked:

'There was no escaping the sound of water. It had many voices. The clearest sounded like someone shaking glass beads in a sieve. The waterfall spray beat the leaves with a noise like paper children applauding. From the ravines rose a sound like the chuckle of granite throated goblins.'

There are other parts, and characters, just as nicely written in a fairy tale style but I really don't want to give anything away because this book also has a very gripping mystery at its heart. I thought when I started this book that it was about a world in which books were banned but it's actually a lot more complicated than that. What it's really about is censorship and freedom, as well as government control and the impact of fear and lack of education,  which is why I decided to give this book the summary title of an Orwellian fairy tale. These subjects aren't brushed over either, they're dealt with in quite a complex way, but never a way that's complicated to read. That might come from the fact that, although written in the third person, Hardinge constantly points to the main character's view of the action around her and this character (Mosca) is only twelve years old.

If I had one criticism (and this is something I now know a few people picked up on) it's that there are some parts near the end when things are explained in a very obvious way. And those parts sort of jolt you away from the subtlety of the message in the rest of the book. I do understand that, as a young adult novel, the author has to be aware that a younger audience might feel the need for an overarching explanation when so many themes have been dealt with and it doesn't spoil the book by any means, it's just a picky thing. Every other thing about the book would have worked perfectly as an adult novel in my opinion (but then, I often don't really get how they're categorised anyway!). 

I would absolutely recommend other people to try this book. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it and the mystery had me (literally) accidentally losing about two hours of time I was meant to be working because I couldn't put it down.  :giggle2:  

 

I'm thinking of either reading The Woman in White or Fool Moon (the second Dresden Files book, which I found in a charity shop a few days ago... not doing very well at not buying books :blush2: ) next.  

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  • 1 month later...

So glad you enjoyed Fly By Night! There's a sequel to it, too, which I have yet to read. I'm going to reread FBN first, I think!

 

I definitely want to read the sequel. I don't think it really needed a sequel but if it's as good as the first book I'm not complaining!  :D

 

Hi Hayley

 I like the way you are doing your reviews !  Great job !

 

Thank you  :smile:

 

I'm a bit behind now, I finished reading The Woman in White a few days ago but just haven't had time to post yet! I sent a big chunk of my work off this morning though so I can actually do some none-work related writing at last.

 

 

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Multi-layered Mystery

 

It was actually really hard to think of a short description to do this book justice. I went with the thing I liked most about the book and that was the depth of the mystery. There are so many secrets to be revealed throughout the book but it remains so intense and focused. It's so well crafted that everything just intertwines in a really intriguing way. This is helped by the fact that, like The Moonstone by Collins (which I also loved), the story is partly told through the diaries and accounts of different people who all experience the story in a different way.

If I had one small criticism it would be that there was a fairly small section near the beginning where it felt a bit slow but it more than makes up for that when it picks up again. It was literally one of those books I couldn't put down, I sat up until 2 in the morning reading it because I just had to find out what happened next.

There's also so much more to this book than just the mystery. It actually deals quite a lot with gender inequality at the time and I really think one of the characters, Marian Halcombe, is the best example of female strength and independence I've ever read in a Victorian novel. As well as this though, and without giving anything away, there are also themes of mental illness, questions of social class ... I want to say more but some of the things don't appear until later and I don't want to give anyone a clue to the mystery.  :P   

I would definitely recommend it, particularly if you like a good mystery!

 

 

I think I'm going to start reading Fool Moon now, the second 'Dresden Files' book. I enjoyed the first one but there were a few things that I did have reservations about so I'm interested to see whether I'll like this one more  :smile:

 

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Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - Gritty and Gripping

 

And when I say gripping, I literally read it until past 2am yesterday, even though it was absolutely my intention to put it down and go to sleep at about 11.30. I liked this better than the first book, for a start. With the first book I felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen at the end very early on and there were no real surprises, but there were a lot of things that kept me guessing in this case. I also felt like it did a really good job of integrating the magical world into the normal criminal world this time. It had the feeling, as a whole, of building up to something more, which is exciting because I know other people have said this series really gets good after the third book. 

It wasn't perfect. I think there were a couple of things that didn't make absolute sense. They didn't harm the plot, I'm just still not sure why they were there even now that I've finished it.

(These really are big spoilers to the plot so don't read it if you haven't read the book!)

For example, I don't understand why Tera didn't tell her fiancée about the group she was leader of. Obviously the fact that she didn't is supposed to make us wrongly suspicious of her, but I don't see what reason there could be for her keeping it secret.
I also didn't understand the system that Marcone was hung up by at the end at all. I read it back about three times. Maybe it wasn't the books fault and I was just being really stupid but I just could not understand how that whole scene worked.

 

Overall though I enjoyed reading it, it had great suspense and it made me look forward to getting the next one  :smile:

 

 

 

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Thanks Athena  :smile:

 

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - Pure Imagination with Incredible Writing

 

I had really high expectations for this book and it exceeded them. It's so uniquely imaginative and yet so believable. The real world and the fantastical merge seamlessly. Like Trigger Warning, it's a book that feels like an adventure, there's something new to discover on every page and these discoveries are both frightening and beautiful. I love the concept of a fantastical world full of the people who've 'fallen through the cracks'. I loved all the unique characters, all with wonderfully memorable personalities. The only thing I didn't love was finishing it because I just wanted it to keep going! Apparently Neil Gaiman has said in interviews that he would write a sequel to this book so I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed!

 

I'm really not sure what to read next now. I might just close my eyes and pick at random :giggle2:   

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I don't own this one, but it sounds great. I've read and liked other Neil Gaiman books. Great review :).

 

Thank you  :smile:  I think you would like it. I would say it's one of his best that I've read

 

 

Have you read other Gaiman books? I rather liked The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

 

Yeah, I loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane! I've read Stardust, American Gods, Trigger Warning and Good Omens too. Stardust was probably my favourite out of those but they're all good books :smile:  

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I'm so glad you enjoyed Neverwhere. It is one of my favourite books, so I am always delighted when other people like it too! :smile: 

 

A sequel would be wonderful (in every sense of the word), but if you need a Neverwhere pick-me-up, Mr Gaiman wrote a short story entitled How the Marquis Got His Coat Back. It's a really good short story. 

 

I have only recently got Trigger Warning, but it may be awhile before I get to read it as my TBR mountain has other plans for me.  :blush2: 

 

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Thanks Chrissy, I just had a look at How the Marquis Got his Coat Back and it's only £1.99 too! I will definitely be getting that  :smile:

 

I thought Trigger Warning was brilliant so I hope you enjoy it when you do get round to it! 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Pretty Mythology

 

I saw this book behind the counter in an oxfam book shop a while ago and bought it even though I had no idea what it was about because I'd enjoyed The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, I like Victorian things and it was really really pretty  :blush2: . The edition is a hardback from 1914 (the book was originally published in 1853) and it turned out it's a book of popular Greek mythology adapted for children, which I was very pleased about because I always liked mythology!

The 'pretty' in my title refers to the stories themselves as well as the cover. They're told a bit like myths crossed with fairy tales. Obviously, being for children, a lot of the gruesome and tragic aspects of the myths have been removed. Hawthorne also made all the protagonists either children or very young people who have only just passed childhood. For those reasons it's definitely not a good idea to take these as a guide to Greek mythology. On the other hand, it was really interesting and fun to read alternative versions of the stories I already knew (or at least had aspects of myths I knew of) and also to see how these stories were being presented to Victorian children. For example, among the Argonauts on their quest for the golden fleece is 'a beautiful young woman, named Atlanta, who had been nursed among the mountains by a bear [...] she had grown up in a very wild way, and talked much about the rights of women, and loved hunting and war better than her needle.' There are a lot of Victorian children's stories that are just purely moral tales of bad children getting lost or eaten or other terrible things so it was nice to imagine a little girl hearing about the wild female warrior who goes on adventures and promotes women's rights  :D .

They were an interesting, easy and pretty read anyway and I'm glad I picked it up  :smile:

 

I had a voucher for amazon which I was going to use to buy some bookends (because I have 2 new shelves!  :exc: ) but I found some very pretty ones that didn't use all of the voucher so I also bought How the Marquis Got his Coat Back and Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor. One of my best book buying excuses  :D . So I think it's back to Neil Gaiman for me now!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you  :smile:

 

2 new shelves ! How long before they`re full up ? ;)

 

Erm... they may have already been full when I posted last  :lurker:

In my defence though I didn't buy two shelves full of new books - it just means that now all the books that were in random places around my room have a home  :D

 

I have a couple of reviews to do at once today but they're only for short books so I'll keep them short too!

 

How the Marquis Got his Coat Back by Neil Gaiman - Tantalising

 

In Neverwhere Gaiman created a fantastical world that you really want to explore. This book gives you the chance to do that. You get to find out more about some of the Neverwhere characters, meet some new characters and explore some different parts of London Below. It's just so short! It's like a teaser for how brilliant a full sequel could be. It's still definitely worth reading but it's made me really hope there's more still to come from the Neverwhere world.

 

The Portent by George MacDonald - Uniquely Haunting but Strangely Vague

 

This was a bit of a random read. I put it on my phone because I wanted to check something work-related about it and ended up reading the whole book (it's only very short). I like George MacDonald but his other adult novels I've read have been quite dense and complex, whereas this short story isn't at all. It's hard to summarise without giving anything away. It has a lot going on. It has a romance at its heart but is more about the supernatural (and I suspect traditionally Scottish tales of the supernatural but I don't know enough about the subject to say for certain). My criticism would be that it has too much going on for the length of it. There are some really interesting events that seem like they're going to be really important but they don't seem to have really gone anywhere by the end. It's interesting and entertaining but it's not the best I've read from MacDonald.

 

 

Since the last two books I've read have been new I thought I'd pick out one that's been on my shelf for a while and decided on Sepulchre by Kate Mosse. I've only read about 50 pages but it seems good so far  :smile:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse - Enjoyable, but with a "but"


It's hard to review this book because it was a slightly bumpy read. I started off really liking it, then some things started to bother me a bit, then it got good again, then I wasn't sure I liked where the story was going, then it had me gripped again. I did enjoy it, I gave it four stars on goodreads which was my immediate reaction after I finished it. The book swaps between two time periods, which become increasingly interconnected (a style I have enjoyed before) and to be honest I think the problem was that I loved the older parts, but didn't really connect as well with the modern day sections. This is probably to do with the main characters of both sections. In 1891 we have Leonie, who's young, strong minded, stubborn, intelligent and curious. In 2007 we have Meredith, who manages to have a glass of wine with every meal and order cocktails at her hotel every evening even though she's meant to have no money. Aside from that slightly odd feature though I just didn't feel like Meredith had much depth. The only times her story was interesting was when it was focused on Leonie. Luckily though, that happens a lot and even if Meredith's story seemed a bit flat, Leonie's is mysterious and emotional enough to make up for it.


 


 


I really couldn't decide what I felt like reading next. Earlier I picked up the 'Brother's Grimm Selected Tales' my sister bought for my birthday but now I'm thinking A Tale of Two Cities. It's a book I've read chunks of in the past but never just sat and read all the way through. Hoping to pick up my reading pace a bit now I don't have quite as much wok to get finished. I am 14 books behind target according to goodreads  :doh:

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I quite enjoyed Sepulchre when I read it a few years ago, but it wasn't as good as the brilliant Labyrinth ,imo. :)

 

I agree, I loved Labyrinth! Have you read Citadel? I have that on my shelf too but it sounds quite different to the other two.

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It's been so long since I read Sepulchre that I'm actually struggling to remember it, but I know that I did find it a bit of a let down after Labyrinth which I'd really enjoyed.  So much so, it put me off reading Citadel for quite a while, but when I did get around to it, I enjoyed it a lot.  It was a fresh perspective on WW2 for me, and something a bit different.  I'd certainly recommend reading it if you've already read Labyrinth and Sepulchre. :)

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Well I'm glad to hear you both think it's worth reading  :smile: I bought The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse a few days ago too and I'm looking forward to trying that but I feel like maybe I should wait until winter! 

 

I'm enjoying A Tale of Two Cities but my sister is reading The Cursed Child at the moment and keeps making shocked noises like "No! Really?" so I think I'm going to have to read that next to find out what's going on  :giggle2:

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