The Part about the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
The long title is pretty descriptive of the kind of book
this is. The Part about the Dragon Was (Mostly) True, Heloise the Bard 1, by Sean Gibson is a comedic fantasy that
relies heavily on verbal acrobatics. It’s told by Heloise the Bard (or was it
Heloise the Beautiful, as she is very fond of reminding the readers), a
half-elf bard (I don’t remember what the other half was) who sets out to give
the reader a true account of what went down with the red dragon (the false
account of which she is also responsible of.)
We follow an odd-ball team of would-be adventurers who want
to make name for themselves by killing the dragon (though they probably should’ve
been taking care of the mad wizard they accidentally unleashed), lured there by
Heloise’s somewhat inflated promises of the dragon’s gold. There’s a half-dwarf,
half-halfling street magician (I’m sorry, prestidigitator), an elf archer
(though aren’t they all), a rock giant who’s both slow and sweet, and a wizard
who belongs to a race that look like rats. Heloise joins them to be able to
tell their story accurately (to the readers anyway; the tavern folk get the
official version because it pays better). They’re not exactly a seamless and accomplished team, but
they’re getting (mostly) there.
This was a fun book, but not quite laugh-out-loud funny; clever
rather than comedic. It’s a bit slow read too. Heloise has a tendency to go off
on a tangent (or a tangent’s tangent) in practically every paragraph and I had
to read everything twice to remember what the actual sentence was about. Moreover,
there are two stories going side by side, the official one and the truth, so
the plot takes forever to get to the point. After a while, I began to skip the
official accounts that were helpfully in italics. They weren’t as interesting
as the truth anyway. But despite the slowness and the tangents (or maybe
because of the tangents, as the cleverest bits tended to be there), this was a
pleasurable read where the characters turned out to be something other than
their stereotypes and the truth was stranger than—well, I’ll let you find out
yourselves.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an
honest review.
Hex Breaker is a readable story that suffers from not
knowing what kind of book it wants to be. The cover promises fantasy with
magic; the back cover description promises urban fantasy mystery. It tries, but
fails. I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A mystery from the shared past of the main characters
threatens the life of Devin Rayne. But instead of investigating the past, the
PI duo Alexandra Quinn and Rio Mondragon (though mostly Quinn, because Rio
is useless) run after random clues that don’t really lead anywhere except by
accident. A great production is made of acquiring one clue that turns out to be
useless. There are flashback chapters that I foolishly presumed would reveal
what happened ten years ago and foreshadow the baddie. My money was on Rio. But
the baddie turned out to be a rando we’d barely met with random motivations,
which is just about the worst mistake a mystery author can do. One star for
that.
So it’s not a good mystery. It could be a romance. Quinn
certainly has her fair share of men to choose from. Two she declares to be the
loves of her life, though she takes her time to admit it (and I still don’t
know why there was such antagonism between her and Devin in the first place if
she’s always loved him). One is there for sex and random conflict. But there is
no proper happily ever after—or even happily for now. I give the
pair that forms six months the tops.
In the end I think this was a New Adult relationship drama,
though the characters were over thirty (I presume; they claimed to be under,
but they’ve graduated a decade ago). There are several relationships and a lot
of drama.
Quinn and Rio are best friends since college turned co-workers.
But I didn’t really feel their friendship. Rio did really shitty things to
Quinn to either ‘protect’ her or just because he’s an asshole. Quinn and Jack are
supposed to be dating, but all sorts of drama come from that. Quinn and Devin are
the source of the main drama, past and present, with the added complication of
Quinn and Hale. Then there is a random assortment of old college friends
introduced for no reason that I could fathom, as they play no role in the story.
They’re just word-fillers that come with their own dramas and could (should, actually) all be cut. And to crown
it all, Quinn and Aine, her best friend, who casually violates Quinn’s bodily
and mental integrity with potions and magic several times, basically just
because she wants to, with no compunction or repercussions. She made me root
for the bureaucrats who wanted to make every magic user wear a scarlet
letter.
As a relationship drama, the book works. I might have given
it four stars even, if it weren’t for everything else. On top of the lousy
mystery, there were too many empty scenes that served no purpose whatsoever
(though the gala dinner works if you think this as a relationship drama);
incoherent world-building (I still don’t know where the book took place) and weak
character introductions (I thought I was reading a second or third book in a
series when I started for all I was able to connect with the characters); and
some writing issues, like head-hopping, especially in those chapters that were
in Rio’s point of view. With some restructuring and better focus, it could be
an enjoyable book. As it is, I’m only giving it three stars.
Lord Lucifer is the first book in a new Regency romance
trilogy by Jade Lee, Lords of the Masquerade, and I received a review copy from
the NetGalley.
Regency romances tend to repeat a certain formula of an
innocent maiden paired with a more experienced man. The pair then waltzes
through the society season from balls to opera performances that offer private
moments for them to fall in love and have hot sex in a side. Some authors are
better at making it feel fresh; some less so.
Jade Lee has taken a different approach in her romance. Diana
has been married off at sixteen to a much older man to save family finances.
Lucas had offered to save her, but his attempts to raise money with gambling had
landed him in such hot waters that he had seen it best to enlist and leave the
country. Twelve years later they meet again. A fairly average approach so far.
But there’s a twist: Diana’s ailing husband is still alive. She’s not a merry
widow with whom the hero connects for a second chance. And she’s not a damsel
in distress, no matter what Lucas tries to tell her—though there is a villain out
to get her.
Most of the book takes place in a sick room and in private
parlours instead of balls and other glittering events. Diana is a dutiful wife
who has carved a life for herself in her husband’s hostile household. Her
husband needs to die, of course, for the young couple to have their happily
ever after, and much is made of his death and the causes of it. Lucas is a
soldier who sets his duty before anything, and so probably for the first time
in a romance history, the hero refuses sex with the heroine unless she agrees
to marry him. It works too.
For all that this is a romance, it’s a fairly gloomy book.
There’s sickness and death. There’s a murderous villain making everyone’s life
worse. There’s a lot of resentment between children and parents. All sorts of
issues that have to be dealt with, and while they add depth to the characters,
they dominate over the romance. There are a couple of fairly bland sex scenes that
fail to engage my emotions, and although I liked Diana and Lucas both, I wasn’t
terribly invested in their HEA. She could’ve retained her hard-earned
independence for all I cared and kept him in a side. But she caves in the end.
The other two gentlemen of the trilogy are introduced in
this book too. A lot is made of it—and then they are completely forgotten
for the rest of the book. So, as a lure for the reader to continue with these
characters, it comes somewhat short. But if I come across them, I may give them
a look.
Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
4/5 stars on Goodreads
I’ve also read Peace Talks by Jim Butcher, the long-awaited
fifteenth Dresden Files book. It’s one of my all-time favourite series, but it
fell a bit short. Harry was still familiar, but the way he interacted with his
friends and family felt slightly off. I remember wishing in earlier books that he
would be more connected with emotions, but now I sort of found him creepy at
times. Especially with how he became aroused by every which woman that he came
across, except the one he professed to be in love with. So the author needs to
work on the delivery there.
Most of the book was spent with waffling about, likely so
that the reader could connect with the characters again. I was still a bit lost
for the great part of it, as it had been so many years since I read this series
last. And then the plot picks up at the very end, only to continue in the next
book. But I’ll read it too, of course.
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
4/5 stars on Goodreads
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones is the last book in
the trilogy that starts with Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s a charming book of
Charmain Baker, a young woman who would much rather read books than do anything
useful. And then she’s given a task to look after her great-uncle’s house while
he’s gone.
The uncle is a wizard and his house is a mysterious place
where rooms appear where ever, but only if you know how to get there. One is
even located in the past. The place is messy and Charmain isn’t terribly
practical, but luckily for her, her uncle’s apprentice Peter shows up to help
her. Not that either of them is terribly pleased by their circumstances. There’s
a plot about the king’s missing gold and a villainous heir to the kingdom. Howl
and Sophie show up too to help with that, and it’s nice to connect with them
again. In the end Charmain discovers that she’s more capable than she thought
she was and that she’s able to do magic. All in all, a nice story about growing
up and finding one’s true self.
It’s been a few years since I read Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka last
and I’ve missed several books, so I was little hesitant to start Forged, which
is already the eleventh book in the series. But I requested a review copy from
NetGalley and since I received it, I plunged right in.
I needn’t have worried. I didn’t know any of the characters
except Alex anymore, and I had no knowledge of the events leading here apart
from the basics, but that didn’t mar my reading experience at all. The first
half of the book did an admirable job recapping everything and I had no
problems following the plot. If you’re reading the series back to back, the
setup part may seem a bit slow, but for me it was perfect. I wouldn’t start the
series with this book, as some basic knowledge of Alex and the world is
necessary, but if like me you’ve missed a few books, you can still enjoy this
one.
If you’ve reached this far in the series, you’ll know it
follows Alex Verus, a mage from London with the ability to see the future. He
used to be a nobody, but mage politics and powerful enemies have forged him
into a power player in the mage world. Many plotlines from earlier books come
to their point in this one and Alex has his hands full trying not to get
killed. It comes close a few times. Some of the people he has to face are old
friends. The emotional impact of those scenes came across well, even though I
hadn’t been there along the way. Not all the enemies are dealt with here, and
the book ends with a cliffhanger, so there are more books still to come.
Alex has come a long way since I encountered him last and he’s
really powerful now. In this book it dawns on him that he may have to pay the
ultimate price for his power, and sooner than he would like. He’s still a bit
too trigger happy, racking a massive body count in every battle, not a side of
him I particularly enjoy. But he also still makes friends with unlikeliest
beings, which evens things out a little. And since I’m now caught up with the
events, I may continue with the series again.
Hands down, A Deadly Education, The Scholomance 1, is the
best book I’ve read this year, and I’ve read quite a few. I like Novik’s Temeraire
series set in an alt-history Regency universe with dragons, so I was eager to
read this one when I received a review copy from NetGalley. Her new series
couldn’t be farther from the sophisticated historical fantasy—and
it’s all the better for it.
The book is being advertised as Harry Potter meets The Fight
Club, and it’s sort of accurate and not accurate at all. It’s young adult (urban)
fantasy set in a school for sorcerers. But unlike in Harry Potter, it’s not a
safe haven from the scary real world. The students are inducted at fourteen and
they graduate four years later—if they’re still alive. Because the
school is actively trying to kill them. There are no adults to help them, no
sage elders. There are no teachers. There are only the students and hungry
monsters. And the fight is constant. There are no safe places and they can’t
get out except at graduation, and for that they have to exit through a huge
hall teeming with the killer monsters. Not everyone survives.
Galadriel is on her second to last year, and she’s doing fairly
well. She would do better if she gave into her affinity to dark magic, but she
knows that if she does, she’ll become an unstoppable monster. So she hides her
true nature and sticks to the good magic. But other students shun her, for no
reason that she can understand. In a school that tries to constantly kill one, she
need friends and allies. She can’t even take a shower without someone watching her
back. She has no one.
Then Orion Lake, the hero of her year, takes interest in
her, saving her from a monster after another. That’s what he does. He’s brilliant
at keeping people alive. Galadriel resents him for it—the book starts with her
contemplating his murder—but he seems to be impervious to her anger. And to her amazement,
he starts hanging out with her. And with him, come other people. Not being
alone is a new experience for her. What follows is basically a growth story about
an angry loner, a fairly typical one at that, with popular kids versus the
shunned ones and finding one’s true friends. There’s a little bit of romance
there as well, but in a school where anyone can die at any moment, one doesn’t
want to get too attached. Especially since it turns out that by saving all
those students, Orion has only managed to make the monsters even hungrier—and
they’re out to get the entire school.
What makes this book so brilliant is the world Novik has
created. It’s rich and terrifying, and the narrative doesn’t spend a moment
longer than necessary at explaining things. We learn as we go with Galadriel,
her stream of consciousness describing both the school and the outside world in
an exhausting but unputdownable manner. The chapters and paragraphs are long,
but the reader plunges right in there with her and is in for a ride. The ending
is satisfying, with a hook that guarantees I’m going to want to read the next
book. Instantly, if that were possible.
