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[Mara=^.^=]

 

 

Ugghhh this book was almost 5 star, fave-romance material Too bad the second half of the book was NOT to my liking.

 

I'm feeling super lazy right now and don't want to write a lengthy summary, so I'll just do blips:

 

Mythic India. King's daughter gets bad horoscope saying she'll be wedded to death. Girl is ostracized her whole life. Country experiences political upheaval. Father arranges marriage for her and tells her to drink poison during the ceremony and martyr herself for the good of the kingdom. Girl agrees. God of death shows up and actually marries her. "Wedded to death". Clever. Girl is taken to Akaran, a magical realm in the Otherworld, where she learns about how to be a goddess of death. Turns out she and death god boy were married in her previous life, but they had a fight and she peaced-out by walking into the reincarnation pool. LOL. When deities have a spat, shit goes cray. Girl learns a bunch of weird magical shit. Lots of glorious god-flirting. Then villain? Whose motivation makes no sense? And random hero journey that should've been its own separate book? Something thrown in quick about her sister? Whatever. Girl saves husband who has become useless. The end.

 

The main problem with this book is that it didn't need a villain. There was more than enough conflict present already, what with all the political unrest, the challenge of reforging her identity, the commingling romance and suspicion, and all the weird crap about influencing fate. The second half of the book would've been much more interesting if she'd been forced to choose between and/or balance her profound love for her little human sister and her growing/re-awakening love for her god-husband. There was no need for a confusing, rushed backstory about a villain who used to be her friend in her previous life. Especially when nothing that this person did or said or convinced the protag to do made ANY sense at all. Her screentime should've been allotted to the coolest character in the novel: a bizarrely charismatic, flesh-eating horse demon who became the main character's bff during her journey. Yeah. That's a thing.

 

Sigh. Loved the romance and the magic. Disliked the direction the book went in. For once, it should've focused more on the romantic crap, and less on the adventure. If the author wanted the MC to go on a quest, she should've expanded that section and made it into a sequel.

 

Pbbbt. I'm so far behind on these reviews

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

I loved the horse so much

[Mara=^.^=]

Also even though I didn't mention it in my tired!Mara review, I totally agree with what you said in you review, about the prose being poetic and beautiful.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Read Friday Never Leaving awhile back, never reviewed it.

 

 

Basically, it's a book about a homeless Australian teenager and her stint with a group of other runaways and their charismatic, sociopathic leader. The book killed off my favorite character, which is pretty much par for the course for me when it comes to literature.

 

Rating: Made me cry, but still meh.

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

I'm so far behind on these! I recently finished Queen's Own Fool by Jane Volen and Robert J. Harris.

 

 

 

It's a historical fiction piece that explores the relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and her real life (female) fool, known only as La Jardinière. The cover description made it sound like it was going to be an LGBT novel, so I was deeply disappointed when I discovered that this was not the case. In the end the book was interesting enough, I suppose, but not what I wanted. Also the main character was waaaaay too young to be making some of the sophisticated political and philosophical gibes that were attributed to her. Sorry, but no uneducated 12-year-old is that f*cking witty.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

Read Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the sequel to my much-beloved Six of Crows.

 

Oh. My. God. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

I cannot speak

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

*NODS*

[Mara=^.^=]

Well, I technically reached my goal, although I kinda stopped writing reviews for some of the books I read as the year progressed. No idea what the final tally was.

[Mara=^.^=]

2017 BELOW

[Mara=^.^=]

 

I got this book for Christmas, and it's taken me about a month to get through, despite its short length. The book is an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek satire that tells the stories of the Bible from God's perspective. It's not so much laugh-out-loud funny as it is twisted and wonderfully absurd. It's the sort of thing that I would recommend to people who are willing to laugh at the strangeness of life, no matter the source of that strangeness. It's not the sort of thing I would recommend to a devout religious person who is offended by blasphemous jokes

 

Rating: 3.5 stars

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

My buddy Mike recommended this series to me after I complained about the lack of novels set during the Ice Age. Clan of the Cave Bear begins the story of Ayla, an orphaned Cro Magnon girl who is rescued and raised by a small group of Neanderthals. It details her struggles as she tries to find her place within their rigidly sexist, hierarchical, and superstitious society. The protagonist is incredibly sympathetic - lonely, tragic, vulnerable, but wonderfully courageous and ingenious and endearing. Ayla's adopted mother, Iza the medicine woman, and Iza's brother Creb (the tribe's heavily deformed holy man) are among the book's best characters - you cannot help but grow deeply attached to them. The lead antagonist, Broud, is a cartoonishly despicable turd of a person who will cause your blood to boil.

 

The story is written in a peculiar way - at times, it zooms out and starts lecturing, almost like a documentary. The author is a master of describing the landscapes, flora, and fauna of the Pleistocene epoch. When you're reading, you can almost smell the fresh herbs, feel the cold wind on your face, and hear the crunch of snow under your boots. She creates a rich, nuanced culture for the Clan, that - while not necessarily probable based on what we know about Neanderthals - is plausible at least. She clearly did a lot of research for this book, which is why it's so jarring whenever you come across a passage about evolution. She includes the long-discredited ideas of Lamarckism (The Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics) and seems to be suggesting that 'predestination' plays a role in extinction. She gives the Neanderthals a type of biologically-impossible "racial memory" that allows them to access the experiences of ALL past life forms in their line, all the way back to unicellular organisms. My inner paleoanthropologist was just like... WHUT That's NOT A THING.

 

I should also give a little trigger warning here, if you plan to read this book. The main character is raped at the age of 10 (she doesn't understand it as rape, since the Clan has no concept of consent, but it's clear what's going on) and gives birth at 11. There is a lot of violence and gore in the novel; the narrative does NOT shy away from the brutality of Ice Age life. Still, if you're interested in the era and don't mind reading repetitive sequences about Paleolithic tech, I'd recommend this title.

 

Rating: 3.5 stars

 

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

 

The Valley of Horses continues Ayla's story, after she is forcibly separated from her son and cast out by the only family she's ever known. It details her lonely wanderings and years of solitude in an isolated valley. The book does a great job of conveying the sheer emptiness of the Ice Age world and shows the difficulty of solving problems when you're cut off from human society. During her time in the valley, Ayla learns to hunt with a spear, invents new tech, and stumbles through the labyrinth of her own thoughts. Eventually she tames a foal and rescues a baby cave lion, both of whom provide companionship to the lonely young woman as she struggles to survive the harsh climate.

 

The novel also introduces two Cro Magnon men: Jondalar (Ayla's eventual love interest) and his brother Thonolan, who are undergoing a "Journey" across the vast forests, rivers, and steppe. It follows them as they reside at a series of different human settlements, and we are given a glimpse into a culture that is both similar to and markedly different from the Neanderthal society in the previous book. Jondalar is...how shall I put this...a one-man boink brigade? An insatiable pussy hound? I dunno, man. Too much attention is paid to how desirable he is, and not enough to giving him an engaging personality.

 

Jondalar becomes slightly less boring after he is injured and rescued by Ayla. Their struggle to understand one another despite the language and culture barrier is probably the most compelling part of the book. The gap between them is so vast, yet they are determined to bridge it. Jondalar's flaws and prejudices become evident when he is forced to confront the fact that Ayla was raised by "flatheads" - the pejorative term used by Cro Magnon men to describe Neanderthals. He begins to question his beliefs and challenge his knee-jerk reactions. He's still definitely not my type, though

 

In summary, Valley of the Horses reads like an extremely well-researched, painstaking ethnography and celebration of Ice Age material culture...mixed with porn. The sex scenes are graphic to a comedic extent, and most of them should've been axed. The author spends waaaay too much time talking about how attractive Ayla and Jondalar are, and I grew bored during many of the tree-cutting, boat-making, and tool-carving scenes. The "solution" to Ayla and Jondalar's communication problem was totally phoned in, and I feel like the Cro Magnon belief system was not as well articulated as the Neanderthal one. Still, Ayla continues to be a compelling character, and I loved the relationship she forged with her animal friends. I plan to start the next book in the series tomorrow.

 

Rating:   3 stars

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

Don't have much to say about this one. It was a book about realization - about the power of stories, and sometimes, the value of lies. Simple, short, and bittersweet.

Pros: Poetic, descriptive language and a unique setting.

Cons: Confusing and unclear timeline.

 

Rating: 3 stars

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

The Reader takes place in a fantasy world where, surprise surprise, nobody can read. There is only one Book in all of existence - and it contains everything that has ever happened, and everything that ever will happen. The Book is guarded by a secret society dedicated to studying its text and seeing that its prophecies come to fruition, and these people have like, crazy powers, because writing is closely linked with the supernatural. With the right application of magic, for example, writing the words Entirely Invisible on an object can actually make that object invisible. The world pulses and flows with golden threads that show all of history and control all of time and space, and the Book contains all these threads. It is an object of immense power.

 

The story opens on Sefia, who has lived her life on the run for as long as she can remember. She possesses the Book, although she does not know what it is or why she is being hunted by assassins. Why her aunt was kidnapped. Why her father was murdered. As she struggles to unravel the mystery of her own life, she discovers an even bigger mystery. She learns that she has the power to read.

 

The Reader felt like what it is: a first attempt by an author with a lot of promise. There were a ton of great ideas, and the spatters of blood, smudges of ink, and fake burnt pages added a cool visual element to the text. The mythology was interesting, even if the pacing was weird at times. Unfortunately, there were just too many POV characters, and it made the novel feel jumbled. The author set up ton of different plot threads which I assume will be completed in later books, but I have a hard time seeing how all the side stories and all the characters are going to come together. But hey, who knows. Maybe she'll pull it off.

 

For once, the best part of the book was the love interest - a mute boy who'd been enslaved and forced to fight other boys in gladiatorial style death matches. He was so sweet and vulnerable and loyal, yet so goddamn deadly. Just the right blend of sympathetic and badass - definitely my favorite character.

 

Rating: 3.5 stars

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

I've been wanting to read this one! Now I think I will have to  

[Mara=^.^=]

You might wanna wait until book 2 comes out, so you're not left hanging.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Katia11]

thanks for the tip! :-) do you know when it's supposed to come out? 

[Mara=^.^=]

thanks for the tip! :-) do you know when it's supposed to come out? 

 

This year I heard, but I don't know when.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

Railhead by Philip Reeve is set in one of the most imaginative, fascinating scifi universes I've ever encountered. There should be a hundred books set in this reality...I have so many questions I want answered. There are so many paths I'd like to walk. I want more.

 

It's not that the plot is lacking - the book is well-written and not at all predictable, and the characters are decent enough - it's just overshadowed by the incredibly rich and unusual setting.

 

I don't feel like writing a full review, but if you're into cyberpunk or speculative scifi (or are intrigued by the thought of sentient trains), this is a solid read.

 

Rating: 3.5 stars

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[Mara=^.^=]

 

 

This book suffered from poor world-building, a forced romance, purple prose, and an uninspired protagonist. There were a lot of cool ideas floating around, but the author didn't focus on any of them. I still don't know how anything in this setting actually works, and the big "twist" on the last page confused and irritated me. The ending left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but I won't be picking up the sequel when it comes out. It's not worth the effort.

 

Rating: 2 stars

 

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =