ARC Review | The Wandering Queen

3.5

I’m not an expert on the story of Dido. I know the basics, but I haven’t read the Aeneid so I am missing parts of the story. The writing in this is fantastic for the most part, but where it lacks is in the emotions. We are told about all these different emotions Dido is feeling, but not really shown. It makes for a disconnect in the story.

This is told in a dual timeline format, with some chapters being dedicated to Elissa when she still lived in Tyre, and the rest to when she has fled her home and founded a new city, Carthage, and taken up a new name, Dido. Elissa is dealt a bad hand from the get go, with her father’s dying wishes being changed and her brother taking over the kingdom. She carries on the best she can, and eventually marries and falls in love with a priest named Zakarbaal (the placement on those two things occurring is intentional). Her husband’s death is the eventual reason that she flees Tyre, but this is where the lack of showing in emotions comes in. We are told how sad she is over it, but we aren’t shown. It’s really hard to believe she’s as upset as she is, when there is such a disconnect.

After fleeing with many of the citizens of Tyre, they eventually land and found a new city, Carthage. Here Dido has sworn to never love or marry, though she has received interest from Iarbas. She rules her city well, but faces the daunting loneliness of ruling alone. I think. Again we are told these things but not shown. Aaaaand then Aeneas shows up and throws everything into turmoil. The promise Dido made to her first husband is gone as she is quickly swept up by Aeneas. As stated above, I haven’t read the Aeneid so I can’t speak for Aeneas there, but in this I have a hard time understanding why Dido fell for him. He shows himself to be a rather cold and almost cruel person right from the get go, while Iarbas was gracious and kind. I know we can’t always help who we fall in love with, but damn, I would have thought she’d gain more wisdom as she grew up, not less. The ending is also completely different than how I know Dido’s story originally ended, and I can’t decide if I agree with it or not. There’s an argument to be made for both. It’s something I’ll have to think on more.

This is still a good book, and I enjoyed the writing besides the telling vs. showing when it comes to emotion. I think it would have helped to now Dido’s story a little better. I’ll definitely need to check out the Aeneid soon.

ARC Review | Wolf Worm

4 stars

So this was horrifying.

I remember a while back my best friend having a keen interest in botflies. She loves entomology, and will get vested in different insects at times. We also happened to be pet groomers at this time, which I think fueled the interest. We never found botflies on an animal, but there was always the possibility. I remember the discussions we’d have about them, and just how horrifying and gross they can be. They are not something I’d ever want on me, and I don’t particularly want to come across them in my day to day life either.

The book follows Sonia Wilson, who has taken a position with Dr. Halder to paint insects for his book. When she arrives at his home, she can tell something is not right, but can’t explain what it is. The mystery slowly unfolds, and I do mean slowly. It moves at a snails pace for the first half, and then picks up a lot for the second half. It’s worth it to stick with cause it will pay off in the end, but it can be a bit of a struggle at times. There are a few things that happen here and there in the first part to deepen the mystery, but aren’t explained until nearly the end. I would have liked to know a little more about the others, but I suppose that’s part of the mystery.

This book is really not for the squeamish. If you have a tough time with insects, especially the parasitic kind, or reading about said insects infecting humans or animals and what that entails, this is not the book for you. I’m not a squeamish person generally, but even I had moments with this, just cause I know what these insects can do. If this kind of thing doesn’t bother you, and you like a unique kind of horror, then I’d definitely give this a shot.

ARC Review | The Unwritten Rules of Magic

3 stars

This was not really what I was expecting. It’s marketed as a book featuring magical realism that also touches on themes of grief, coping, and love, but there is very little magical realism to be had. I was expecting something a little more along the lines of Sarah Addison Allen’s books, but that is definitely not the case here. The story is about family and the complicated relationships they contain, with the magical realism almost feeling like an afterthought..

The book follows Emerson, who is dealing with the recent death of her father, along with a daughter who doesn’t want to speak to her and an alcoholic mother in denial about her addiction. Emerson can be hard to like at times – she is very controlling and can’t accept anyone wanting to make their own decisions. While cleaning out her father’s belongings, she comes across his old typewriter than he refused to let anyone touch. She takes it home, uses it, and discovers it can make wishes come true. This is about the extent of the magical realism, and really, it almost feels like coincidence at times. Emerson uses the typewriter much like her father did – to try and control people’s lives to fit what she thinks should happen. It can be really heavy handed at times with the lessons the reader is supposed to take from the story. I appreciate the lessons, but I prefer being able to suss them out myself and not have them smack me in the face.

I was also not a fan of how Emerson reasoned with her daughter over her secret (which I guessed pretty early on). This is one of those hot button topics, and everyone will have a drastically different take, but I really didn’t agree with how it was handled by either of them. And then Emerson immediately wanting to use the typewriter to erase everything was really grating.

This isn’t terrible – I think a lot of people will probably relate to it rather well, as many people do have tough family dynamics. Emerson and her choices just made it difficult to enjoy at times.

ARC Review | Skylark

4 stars

This novel is told in dual timelines, though they are not connected with each other in the usual way. Generally you expect dual timelines to either feature at least one character in both, or several generations of a family, but this one has neither. However, the stories are connected, but more so with themes – of resistance, struggle, and hope.

The first timeline is in 1664, and follows Alouette, the daughter of a dyer who is trying to perfect a shade of blue in the hope that this will save her and her father. It does the opposite; they are caught by the Dyer’s Guild and sentenced to prison. Her father is sent to a men’s prison, while Alouette is sent to an asylum for women deemed “unworthy.” They are women considered insane, simply because they fought back, had ideas, committed adultery. They are subjected to cruel treatments meant to “cure” them and stripped of all dignity and free will. Here we find Alouette’s struggles, and see her try and resist and dream of a better life.

The second timeline is in 1939 and follow Kristof Larsen, a Dutch psychiatrist living in Paris. He has already dealt with a personal tragedy involving mental illness, and believes he can save the soldiers suffering from psychotic breaks (now known as PTSD), instead of leaving them to suffer in silence or be subjected to cruel treatments, He meets a family living in the same building and befriends them. This family, the Brodsky’s, is Jewish, and slowly become subjected to the horrors of the treatment of Jews during WWII. Not only does Kristof try and resist the Germans and save his patients when the Germans overtake his hospital, but he becomes the lifeline for Sasha, the Brodsky’s teenage daughter.

Both timelines feature a character thrust into a situation where they must make a choice – resist or conform. Alouette must decide whether to let the asylum chip away at her until there’s nothing left, or find a way to escape. Kristof must decide whether to let the Germans destroy his patients and friends, or find a way to try and save them. There are many struggles, times when both characters feel like giving up, despair, but also hope and the will to survive. An excellent read for anyone who loves historical fiction and novels of WWII.

ARC Review | The Last of Earth

4 stars

One of my biggest dreams is to fly to Nepal and hike to Everest Base Camp. Reading this gave me so much imagery for that, though the characters in this are journeying to Tibet. It is very image driven – there are so many descriptions of the landscape and weather, you really feel as if you are there.

Back in the late 1800’s, Tibet was closed to all outsiders except for Indians looking to trade goods and make pilgrimages. During this time, many foreigners tried sneaking across the border, whether for their own ambitions and glory, or because they were hired by their governments to spy. The book follows two parties that are heading to Tibet, both of which have a foreigner trying to sneak in. One features Balram, who is guiding an English captain who wishes to map the Tsangpo River. Along with them are several other bearers, who help to carry the supplies, shepherd the sheep brought along, cook the food, and whatever else is necessary to complete the trip. The second follows Katherine, a half English, half Indian woman who wishes to be the first woman to see Tibet. She has hired a guide by the name of Mani to help her.

The story can be incredibly slow at times, as it is very character and image driven. Though there is the plot of each team trying to reach Tibet, it’s almost second to the characters themselves. You learn a lot about Balram and his bigger reason for joining the captain, Katherine and how she’s felt out of place for much of her life, and a mysterious man named Chetak, who appears to help both parties at times. There are so many descriptions of the landscape and the trials of traveling through such harsh land. There were no modern conveniences that people today would have available; it is all tents (if everyone was lucky enough to sleep in one), carrying all the supplies and food for the entire trip, no other modes of transportation besides walking. Even mountain trekkers today generally have the luxury of towns along the way with inns and fresh food. There is tension and a few accidents, but for the most part there is very little action.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the land and hardships of trekking. The characters were all well done and you could really understand their reasonings for what they do. It’s a great book for anyone who enjoys descriptive, character driven historical fiction, but those wanting a faster pace may struggle with this.

ARC Review | The Copywriter

3 stars

If I could pick one word to describe this book, it would be pretentious. I’ve never been a fan of books where the characters have an over-inflated sense of self and try to say things that sound super deep but are really nonsense. Someone saying they are a journalistic language sculptor and then going on to describe what that means – how they went to Germany and trekked through a forest every day to masturbate into spiderwebs and therefore cum is speech because the etymological root of semen is ‘seed’ is wild. Also, I didn’t think the sentence “is your cocaine gluten free” would be something I’d ever read. And can someone explain to me how Lord of the Rings is supposed to be anti-Semitic? Because that one makes no sense.

The first half follows the narrator as he discusses his life with his girlfriend, a few close friends, and his job. There are some quite eye-roll inducing sentences (see above), but nothing profound. The second half of the book was more enjoyable than the first. It was a bit more relatable, with the narrator trying to figure out what do after he loses his job and girlfriend, then embarks on a road trip while blowing through his savings to try and find himself. The writing is better, the sentences less awkward (though there are still a few), and it doesn’t drag quite as much.

I think this book will appeal to a very specific audience, which I am not a part of. I can see what the author was trying to do, but it really isn’t my cup of tea.

ARC Review | Room to Breathe

3 stars

I didn’t love this, or even really enjoy it, and I’m not sure exactly why, especially because I generally really like Kasie West’s books. Maybe it was because I didn’t connect with any of the characters? Maybe I didn’t enjoy the ‘then’ and ‘now’ writing structure? Or maybe it’s because in the book Indy talks about how her parents were supposed to go to San Diego for her mom’s 40th birthday, which is exactly where I’m going in two months for my 40th birthday.

The book focuses on Indy and Beau, two best friends who quit talking to each other for an unknown reason. The ‘then’ parts of the book help establish their friendship with each other and their other two best friends, Ava and Caroline, while the ‘now’ chapters focus on Indy and Beau being trapped together and being absolutely miserable over it. The ‘then’ chapters slowly work through the mystery of why they quit talking, and the ‘now’ chapters slowly work through them talking again. Dual timelines can work really well, and I’ve enjoyed books that feature them before, but sometimes they just don’t do it for me, and this was one of those times. I found myself getting rather frustrated and just wanting to skip ahead to find out what happened.

I did understand the feeling of not talking to a best friend for months over something that ended up not being a big deal. And while Indy and Beau hash it all out, there isn’t quite the same resolution with Ava and Caroline. I also couldn’t really figure out why Ava and Caroline so easily joined Beau’s side. Like, it was mainly an argument between Beau and Indy, and when Ava and Caroline found out they immediately sided with him and didn’t give Indy a chance to explain anything or bother to ask her what was really going on. I get that part of that was Indy’s fault for being secretive, but she was also trying to keep a promise she made to her parents. And when things start coming to light, they still didn’t bother to talk to Indy about it. It was all kinda weird, and the ending just didn’t sit right with me.

Even though I didn’t love this, Kasie West still has a good track record and I’ll continue to read her work. She’s one of the few YA authors I’ll always go back to, even as I am involved less and less with the genre.

ARC Review | Detour

3 stars

Have you ever watched the original Star Trek series episode “Mirror, Mirror”? Cause this is a lot like that, just with less gold sashes and sexy outfits.

I love the idea of this book – a crew heading to Saturn’s moon Titan to see what awaits them. Titan potentially holds more promise for life and as a future human settlement, due to having liquid hydrocarbon lakes on the surface, weather patterns, and surface features similar to Earth. However, the crew and training they received is totally farfetched. There’s no way a crew of 6 people – with only 3 being actual astronauts and the other 3 being civilians with no training – would get only 5 weeks to train together before being blasted into space. Armageddon, is that you?

It is also a bit disappointing that for being a space book, very little actually happens in space. Almost half of the book is taken up by introducing us to our overly diverse but extremely stereotypical characters. It’s like the authors were trying their absolute damndest to make sure they got every conceivable diverse character in the book, and then used the absolute basics for each of their characterizations. I don’t think they could have gotten more cliche if they tried. They are all selected by Jeff Bezos – I mean John Ward – to take a trip to Titan, which is supposed to herald in a new era for humanity and space travel, but then we never get to see any of it. We read about the launch in a news report, and then it jumps immediately to them being just a day or two from Titan. There is an issue on board, which takes all of 30 pages, if that, and then skips right over the journey home. There isn’t really a lot explained during their crisis around Titan. You get a quick explanation of what they think is happening, some macho chest puffing between Stitch and Mike, Ryan and Padma acting eerily like Cooper and Brand from Interstellar, then bam! it’s all over. Once they’re home, it’s the Mirror, Mirror episode with a bit of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon puzzle thriller thrown in. It really feels like the authors watched Star Trek and Interstellar and read lots of Dan Brown and decided to throw them all together. Not that it’s bad – it’s just easy to see all these influences throughout the book.

There is a cliffhanger at the end, but not as dramatic as I thought it would be? I will probably read the sequel to see what happens, as I’m curious to see where this all ends up.

Sparkly gold, toned arms, and abs oh my!

ARC Review | Is This a Cry for Help?

-5 stars

DNF at 49%

Buckle up, cause this is gonna be one of the most rage filled reviews I’ve written in a while.

If I could give this book negative stars I would. The first chapter really set the tone for this book. Right off the bat, there is a man watching porn loudly in the library, And when someone complains to Darcy, she almost gets offended over it, because it’s a public library. Like, what? Her library has absolutely no rules regarding watching porn (with the exception of child porn), which is wild. I thought most libraries did, because, you know, children. And just because you’re in a public library shouldn’t mean you can do whatever you want, because most public places do still have rules, as well as cities, counties, and states having laws. I’m just astounded that that is a thing and that no one seems bothered by it. Her wife asks if the man watching porn had been masturbating if she would have kicked him out, and she says no because she doesn’t get paid enough. Later in the chapter, a reporter comes to the library to ask about the porn policy. Darcy seems more offended that he’s outraged that it’s allowed than at the actual person watching porn loudly, and gives him a lesson on libraries being democratic institutions. When he states she should pray after she informs him she can recommend philosophy or theology books if he wants to explore the question of God – as in pray for guidance because she is okay with people watching porn in libraries – she takes it as a threat. I would like to note that I looked up the policies and guidelines for all my local libraries, and they all have rules for internet use, which includes technology protection that is “designed to block or filter visual descriptions that are child porn, harmful to minors, or obscene, without, in as much as possible, infringing on the rights of patron’s access. They may not use email, chatrooms, social media and such to view sexually explicit material.” Cause, you know, children.

In the next chapter, we see that the reporter has written a story about the library. And while I don’t agree with him calling them communist sex dens, I do mostly agree with the sentence they “allow perverts to watch depraved sex acts next to our children and grandmothers.” While it isn’t specifically stated who is around him, there are others around, which could easily have been children or grandmothers, or people who simply don’t want to witness that in public. Darcy laments that the reporter, Declan, appears to be her age, and they most likely grew up exposed to the same school curriculum, news, and pop culture, and is disturbed that he turned out the way he did. Ma’am. Respectfully, what the fuck? I love my local library system. I use it all the time. I pay for it with my taxes and vote yes for the tax that continues to fund it along with art institutions, parks, and zoos. I do not want my taxes paying for people to watch porn. But luckily I don’t have to since they don’t allow it.

Moving along, at one point Darcy is in the bathroom and a coworker is trying to get a hold of her for a situation. Darcy states that she finally answers because she is annoyed at being shouted at in the sanctity of a public washroom stall. What about being subjected to someone else watching porn loudly in the sanctity of a library, which is supposed to be a quiet, safe space? And then a patron curses a few times because she couldn’t figure out what happened to her printing job, and later Darcy is talking to her wife about it. She states that she didn’t have to help her, because she doesn’t have to help patrons who swear at her and that there’s a code of conduct that states patrons can’t swear at employees, among other things, and she could have asked her to leave. Soooooo… you’re offended that someone swore at you and should have told them to leave, but you wouldn’t make someone who is masturbating leave, and had no problem with the porn thing? And your code of conduct says people can’t swear but there’s nothing against porn? Got it. That makes total sense. And then she moves to complaining that she hates it when attention is focused on seedy, unconstructive things instead of the good stuff. And it’s only been 4 chapters.

When Darcy has friends over and they question the porn policy, she sidesteps by first going on a tangent about how the erosion of social services is the problem and then asking what the definition of porn is, whether it should only be accessible to people who can afford home internet or personal devices, and whether it’s fair that poor people can’t watch it and that its privileged content only for those who can afford it. Her friend states that she doesn’t see why anyone would need access to porn, and Darcy counters that if people don’t need porn then libraries should get of other things people don’t need, like comics, and that if libraries ban access to it, then they’ll just ban everything else. Porn is not a right. The internet is also not a right. You don’t need porn to survive.

Also, for being a self-proclaimed feminist, Darcy sure does shit on women a lot, with statements such as believing that every woman considered having sex with a man self-harm, it’s socially scripted that they like men, how every woman was put off being with a man, and thinking all women wanted to look the same for weddings- worryingly sickly thin, just enough definition in the arms to look trim but not masculine or strong, an elaborate push-up bra. Is there an opposite term for “pick me?” Cause that’s what this feels like. Every women is different. We all have different feelings and ideas, like and dislike different things, have different dreams and plans, fall for different people. We’re not all drawn to men for power, privilege, and safety. Some of us genuinely want to be with one for love and attraction. And guess what? It’s totally fine. We don’t all feel like we have to marry a man to prove we matter, or that we’re desirable, respectable ladies, like the book states. And sure, some weddings are performative and overboard, but not all of them. I’m a woman. I have a condo, a good paying job, a vehicle, and a cat. I pay my own bills, do my own chores, fix my own stuff around the house when I can, and get help when I can’t. I may not be married yet, but I would like to be, and not because I think it proves I matter or makes me desirable. I would like someone to be with, for that love and companionship, and yes I’d like it to be a man. So get the fuck out of here with all this crap. Don’t call yourself a feminist when all you do is look down on other women. There seems to be a lot of internalized homophobia too. Darcy says she cheated on her boyfriend with a woman (before breaking up with him and marrying Joy), but she didn’t actually consider it cheating because she didn’t consider the woman a person like she considered men people. Also, gay women can be feminine. There’s nothing that says when you’re a lesbian you automatically have to stop wearing dresses or liking feminine things. When my sister married her wife, they both wore big, sparkly wedding dresses, because that’s exactly what they wanted to do and it’s okay for lesbians to wear big, sparkly wedding dresses. Or pantsuits. Or jeans and a t-shirt.

This book is like a train wreck you can’t look away from. That’s really the only reason I made it to 49%. I couldn’t look away. But I eventually got to the point where even though I could easily finish it, I decided not to because I happen to like my brain cells and felt them disintegrating the longer I read.

ARC Review | Through Gates of Garnet and Gold

3.5

We’re back on the roller coaster with this series. I thought I was going to be done after the last book, but I gave it another chance as this one was about Nancy, whose story I enjoyed in Every Heart a Doorway.

Previously, Nancy had returned to the Halls of the Dead, where people become living statues, posing for hours upon hours, not moving, barely breathing, basically being as close to a statue without actually being made of marble. When something starts killing the statues, Nancy returns to Eleanor’s home to recruit help. She is joined by familiar faces Kade and Sumi, and new character Talia. Together they return to the Halls to find out who or what is behind the murders and stop them for good.

I like Nancy, though being a statue sounds absolutely torturous. I’ve also enjoyed both Kade and Sumi, so having them back really helped the story. Talia isn’t given too much space to shine, which is okay since it isn’t really her story. She’s there to help complete a task and not much else. Since she never knew Nancy before, there isn’t any familiarity between them, like there is with her and Kade and Sumi. And while Talia is essential to the final conflict, she’s a lot more forgettable than the rest. However, my guess is we’ll be getting a book about her soon now that she’s been introduced.

I wasn’t really sure how to feel about the discovery of who the murderer is. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but unless there is going to be some major conflict or showdown with them eventually, I really like for it to be dropped. Not that there hasn’t been conflict and showdowns before, but it feels like it should be leading to something bigger. So if it isn’t, I’d rather it be stopped now rather than dragging it on forever. I also wasn’t a fan of the Lord of the Dead. When questioned about why he hadn’t done anything to help the statues, he states that he is the Lord of the world and has other matters to attend to. So helping people not get murdered isn’t important to you? If you’re a Lord over something, you generally have constituents, and should take care of them. He also states that Nancy was a perfect statue before, but since returning the first time, had been willful and obstinate, adjusting herself before the bell granted permission, and wondering if she was rebelling and needed banishing. When rebuked by the Lady, who states the statues did not have rules against love and questioning things, he states that Nancy is only a statue. I really wish he’d been eaten like the other statues, as he clearly had no care for them.

I think most followers of the series will enjoy this, as Nancy seems to be a favorite among readers. We’ll see what the next book offers.