Category: Z-Old Users (Page 15 of 50)

BOOK REVIEW – The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen #1) by Sarah Fine

May 27, 2016 / Anna

The Impostor Queen (The Impostor Queen #1)
by Sarah Fine
Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Elli was only a child when the Elders of Kupari chose her to succeed the Valtia, the queen who wields infinitely powerful ice and fire magic in service of her people. The only life Elli has known has been in the temple, surrounded by luxury, tutored by magic-wielding priests, preparing for the day when the queen perishes—and the ice and fire find a new home in Elli, who is prophesied to be the most powerful Valtia to ever rule.

But when the queen dies defending the kingdom from invading warriors, the magic doesn’t enter Elli. It’s nowhere to be found.

Disgraced, Elli flees to the outlands, home of banished criminals—some who would love to see the temple burn with all its priests inside. As she finds her footing in this new world, Elli uncovers devastating new information about the Kupari magic, those who wield it, and the prophecy that foretold her destiny. Torn between her love for her people and her growing loyalty to the banished, Elli struggles to understand the true role she was meant to play. But as war looms, she must choose the right side before the kingdom and its magic are completely destroyed.

The only one that matters is : Would I’ve liked this novel more if Ellie had stopped ONE FUCKING SECOND with her endless inner questions? Because it drove me nuts? But I guess we’ll never know? Yet again, I seem to be the only one who was bothered by this? Perhaps because once I first noticed it I couldn’t unsee it? Finally, why do her questions always come by pair?

Let’s write this review that way because apparently that’s a thing?

What’s better than discovering who you are when everything you knew was a lie?
Does the wonderful fact that she’s flawed can make up for the annoyance?

What IS it with all the growling lately?
I’m sorry because you’re nice and all but – After promising first impressions you were such a bore and I’m already starting to forget you? (such a long question which isn’t really a question, sorry?)

Can we have more of this –

“The fire wielder has a wide grin on his face. “Can you see it? Can you feel it?” He lets out a shaky chuckle. “Chaos,” he mouths.”

PLEASE? View Spoiler »

Can we savor the fact that there’s neither love triangle nor instalove?
Can I shed a tear because I didn’t really care for it?
(Why is lust always referred as “this low pull in her belly“? ← Can I unsee that word once and for all?)

Why is Ellie so easily and conveniently saved every freaking time she needs it?
Can we stop using that annoying I Know Things But I Won’t Tell device to bring more angst in the story? View Spoiler »

Why was it so hard to get through the beginning?
Is it me or the pacing is a little off, jumping from rushed scenes to dragged out ones?

How something that seems so detailed at first glance can be so very vague at the same time?
Are we going to learn more about the villains and the rest of the world at some point?

What’s up with the generic (and roll eyes worthy) romantic lines as “and though he is made of ice, he sets me on fire” (wow, didn’t see that one coming) or “when you look at me, I’m suddenly warm”?
WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THE QUESTIONS?

Don’t get me wrong, I still think that the premise was interesting but in the end, The Impostor Queen – while entertaining – is pretty generic and I felt meh about it?

BOOK REVIEW – City of Stairs (The Divine Cities #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

May 26, 2016 / Anna

City of Stairs (The Divine Cities #1)
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Years ago, the city of Bulikov wielded the powers of the Gods to conquer the world. But after its divine protectors were mysteriously killed, the conqueror has become the conquered; the city's proud history has been erased and censored, progress has left it behind, and it is just another colonial outpost of the world's new geopolitical power. Into this musty, backward city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the quiet woman is just another lowly diplomat sent by Bulikov's oppressors. Unofficially, Shara is one of her country's most accomplished spymasters — dispatched to investigate the brutal murder of a seemingly harmless historian. As Shara pursues the mystery through the ever-shifting physical and political geography of the city, she begins to suspect that the beings who once protected Bulikov may not be as dead as they seem — and that her own abilities might be touched by the divine as well.

► What a cruel, marvelous, surprising little thing.

STEP 1 : Be intrigued by this complex, original and fascinating world-building whose layers still hide so many gems (I’m sure of it).

STEP 2 : Let the stupefaction stun you when you discover how all the threads are carefully weaved, bringing together… Well : politics, opression, a murder mystery, religion, tolerance, identity, fanaticism, racism and the ever controversial question of the Greater Good whose relevance is never a sure thing (for whom, decided by whom, see)… etc etc etc. And you are not even bored (if you are, let it be known that I don’t do refunds).

STEP 3 : Be so fucking surprised that all this religious talk is not driving you nuts (okay, this one might be only for me) – actually, not that surprised : I’m interested in religion, as in : history and culture. I am not interested in being preached to. Guess what path the story took.

STEP 4 : Be amazed and a little in love with these FEMALE LEADS who put to shame every traditional Fantasy story which let us think that women are either queens or whores (tell me I’m wrong). Strong female leads can also be smart and fierce and driven and not the regular warrior either. Thank you Shara for showing us that we can be badass with our brain. (I love you too, Mulaghesh)

STEP 5 : Do not be fooled by thinking that these characters will be perfect or chosen or you know, heroes. Yet they’re not anti-heroes either : indeed all of them show their realism through the slow reveal of their flaws. You just wait.

STEP 6 : Go meet Vo, because you need to (also, I said so). View Spoiler »

STEP 7 : Bottle the laughs and smiles (and IN YOUR FACE, ASSHOLE! ← of course that’s a thing) whenever they’re thrown at you, because you’ll need them.

STEP 8 : Do not think for one second that your heart is safe. Conceited me, who thought that I could go through Bulikov without threatening my well-being. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

STEP 9 : Be compelled to keep reading because really? It’s not like you have a choice.

STEP 10 : Be aware that I overlooked some flaws, and I’m not even ashamed : mostly, a little too much telling in some parts and a deus-ex-machina-like character View Spoiler ». I DO NOT CARE.

THIS BOOK IS WORTHY.

Art by John Petersen (source) – Thanks Kat for the idea 🙂

BOOK REVIEW – The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1) by Craig Schaefer

May 22, 2016 / Anna

The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)
by Craig Schaefer
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Nobody knows the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas like Daniel Faust, a sorcerer for hire and ex-gangster who uses black magic and bullets to solve his clients' problems. When an old man comes seeking vengeance for his murdered granddaughter, what looks like a simple job quickly spirals out of control.

Soon Daniel stands in the crossfire between a murderous porn director; a corrupt cop with a quick trigger finger; and his own former employer, a racket boss who isn't entirely human. Then there's Caitlin: brilliant, beautiful, and the lethal right hand of a demon prince.

A man named Faust should know what happens when you rub shoulders with demons. Still Daniel can't resist being drawn to Caitlin's flame as they race to unlock the secret of the Etruscan Box, a relic that people all over town are dying -- and killing -- to get their hands on. As the bodies drop and the double-crosses pile up, Daniel will need every shred of his wits, courage and sheer ruthlessness just to survive.

Daniel Faust knew he was standing with one foot over the brink of hell. He's about to find out just how far he can fall.

What you should know is this : I don’t like Urban Fantasy, which is baffling, given that I love Fantasy and cities – there’s just something in them that never really appeal to me, a feeling of something lacking even though I hardly can pinpoint why that is.

The Long Way Down is perhaps one of my best discoveries in that genre, so although it will probably never be a favorite of mine, I cannot hide how pleasantly surprised it made me. Well done, and here’s why.

➊ The world building is vivid and horrific, spreading very noir vibes. Did I say that I loved thrillers? Because I do. These are dark times guys, and I should issue a trigger warning against violence, abuse and murder (including towards kids at some point). Abusive. Disgusting. Maddening. Welcome to Daniel’s world. Granted, he has a pretty healthy way to look at it, and doesn’t condone it by any means, but it was still hard to take on sometimes. Some graphic scenes of violence made me want to throw up, and I don’t think I’m easily disturbed. You’ve been warned.

➋ The Long Way Down pictures a morally ambiguous – but likeable all the same – hero. I loved this sorcerer, alright? If he doesn’t shy away from harsh decisions and actions sometimes, he stays in the good side of things as far as I’m concerned (I never disliked a hero ready to beat the fuck out of sociopaths, SUE ME). As for Caitlin, CAITLIN! The girl’s a DEMON. A not-so-nice one at it – how awesome is that?! Despite my slight disbelief at the way their relationship evolved *cough* THIS IS TOO FAST! I DON’T BUY IT!! *cough* I still immensely enjoyed their banter and… hmm… differences? I also very much laughed at the stunts Caitlin pulled because… Reversal of genders, people. Seeing Daniel dumbfounded because she ordered his food for him – and understandably upset about it – was in my opinion a great way of denouncing stereotypical controlling behavior, even implicitly.

➌ For ONCE the plot kept me interested, which is so rare in everything UF. Indeed I genuinely wanted to know where the story would go and in the end, I’m pretty satisfied by the way Craig Schaefer wrapped its mystery. Note that I (almost) never read any UF, therefore I am not able to notice the similarities between this book and the other ones in that genre. Perhaps it’s cliché. Perhaps it’s been better done before. The thing is, I don’t freaking know, and honestly? I don’t care.

➍ Finally the perfect balance between grim and humor. Forget all the books where we don’t know if we should laugh or be horrified – but think sparks of humor lightening the mood a little. I say yes to that.

Daniel, Daniel, what did you do to me?

BOOK REVIEW – Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

May 21, 2016 / Anna

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
Razor-sharp, psychological thriller set in a snowy Arctic wilderness.

“They say that dead men tell no tales, but they’re wrong. Even the dead tell stories.”

It's 1910. In a cabin north of the Arctic Circle, in a place murderously cold and desolate, Sig Andersson is alone. Except for the corpse of his father, frozen to death that morning when he fell through the ice on the lake.

The cabin is silent, so silent, and then there's a knock at the door. It's a stranger, and as his extraordinary story of gold dust and gold lust unwinds, Sig's thoughts turn more and more to his father's prized possession, a Colt revolver, hidden in the storeroom.

A revolver just waiting to be used...but should Sig use it, or not?

What a fool I was, thinking that I rated my books depending on the story they delivered. If one novel can destroy this belief, it’s Revolver.

Sometimes, it’s all about the atmosphere.

Sometimes, a storyline that shouldn’t work for me just does. And oh man, how Revolver shouldn’t work : ~~1910. A fifteen years-old boy living in a little cabin in Nome, Alaska. The frozen dead corpse of his father. A strong fixation on an old Colt (don’t hate me, but I do not like guns). Religion~~.

Here’s my advice : forget the blurb. Forget the story, even, because that’s not really what matters. Let yourself be swept along in the chilling and sad atmosphere, where all our self-delusions are shattered. What’s life, really, when so many factors stay beyond our control? See, I do not believe in Fate or whatever you want to call it. This is actually a concept that annoys me, because lazy much?! (I would say moronic, but I’ve spent years listening to my mum and she really believe in that stuff. Also, I respect others’ opinions)

Yet I recognize that we deceive ourselves when we think that we hold a complete control on your life. We can’t. Life’s made of choices, of chaos, of other people and their choices, and we’re too complex creatures to organize ourselves like a schedule (also, planning sucks, okay?)

I am really, really happy we’re not machines, and reading the discreetly beautiful and compelling words of Marcus Sedgwick, the feeling of being lost spread into my chest more and more along the way – I loved it. In that sense, I think that his numerous references to guns, by showing the delusion of security, of control they offer (again, gun-skeptic here, bear with me), perfectly served this disenchanted and thought-provoking story.

Considering my personal preferences, I shouldn’t have given this book the time of a day, yet I’m very, very glad I did, because wow. Such an haunting little story, Revolver is. I was invested from the beginning and my interest – my fascination – never wavered.

Strangely, I close this book thinking about Un roi sans divertissement, another strange tale that took me by surprise during my third year of French Literature in Uni. Same suffocating, snowy ambiance. Same intriguing, out of time mystery.

Same millions of people bored by it, maybe, and same pleasantly surprised Anna.

BOOK REVIEW – The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

May 20, 2016 / Anna

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:
In love we find out who we want to be.
In war we find out who we are.

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Oh, the IRONY. You might have never heard of it, but in 1981 French author Régine Deforges released a book called La bicyclette bleue, 1939-1942 (part of a trilogy), which related the story of two sisters** during WWII in France. Léa, the outspoken, rebel and reckless one, who joins the Resistance after fleeing from the invasion of Paris and Françoise, the older, who has to live under the same roof of a SS during the Occupation. RING A BELL?

This novel, many times bestseller in France, borrowed A LOT from Gone with the Wind, which led to many trials (that Régine Deforges won, in the end, saying that it was all part of “a game” with her editor – Where have I heard that before? Hmm).

Anyway. It seems oh so ironic to me to find so many similarities between The Nightingale and La bicyclette bleue, 1939-1942, because, you know, I’m resilient, but reading the same story is starting to get old.

Of course, of course, I exaggerate, and I’m not saying that Kristin Hannah plagiarized Régine Deforges‘s novel. As for Gone with the Wind‘s parts, there’s none here as far as I’m concerned. No. Both authors of these WWII novels must have used the same inspirations is all – especially real testimonies, surely.

Yet it throws me off, even if I didn’t even like La bicyclette bleue, 1939-1942 – I’m not a fan, but I can’t forget the plot either, and Kristin Hannah‘s characters don’t strike me as interesting enough to follow the same storyline again. I know, I’m talking about WWII settings and I should love and suffer and FEEL for these characters but … I just don’t. They seem very flat and unrealistic to me? Sorry?

Oh, and you know what else throws me off? The shameless lack of any researches about the world. Anachronisms everywhere. Post-card France in one meal (I mean, the Baguette, the canelés, the ile flottante, Cognac (for reasons), the Lavander and Rosamery (which are Provencal plants but WHY THE FUCK NOT). Vianne & Antoine luxurious – YES, those meals and houses are VERY luxurious for that period of time – lifestyle that their jobs cannot explain. Antoine is a postman, alright? In 1939 his salary should be around 600 francs per year. As for Vianne, as a teacher, she could pretend to 900 francs, tops. How in the WORLD can they have 65,000 francs in the bank?! Tell me, really, I need to know how to multiply my funds like that (if that’s explained later in the book, I apologize).

Perhaps it sounds like details to you, and perhaps they are. But when I read an Historical novel, more than Historical facts I need for the book to carry me away in another time. I need to BELIEVE in it. I sure don’t want to read about some cliché, too modern world lacking any savor, picturing my country in such a stereotypical way. So fake, really. Not to mention that I found the writing repetitive and too dramatic, the dialogue awkward and way too much telling rather than showing.

The Nightingale tackles such an essential issue – indeed I believe that the portrayal of women’s role in WWII is VERY important, and I understand why it would appeal to many readers. Yet I can’t see myself finishing it, because really, the similarities and clichés are killing me.

Wasted potential, sadly. They do have the curse words right, though. Merde.

PS. This is a detail, but I do not know one Parisian who would INSTANTLY say something along the lines as, “oh, the bomb must have fallen into the 2nd Arrondissement”. Nope. Streets, districts names like la Bastille or Les Halles, alright, but randomly quoting an arrondissement when YOU’RE NOT EVEN PARISIAN? Pl-ease. Unbelievable – like the whole thing, apparently.

The Nightingale is FULL of inaccuracies like this one, and I expected more from the winner of the 2015 Goodreads Choice Award in HISTORICAL fiction. Ugh.

** Three, actually – thanks Anne for reminding me 😀