Review - "Another Brooklyn"

Another Brooklyn
by Jacqueline Woodson
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 2nd February 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

I know now that what is tragic isn’t the moment. It is the memory.

Galley provided by publisher

Another Brooklyn is about August, an anthropologist, who, in Brooklyn for her father's funeral, sees an old friend, which brings back memories of her childhood and the formation and falling apart of her friendship with a group of girls. Most of the book is taken up with retelling her childhood, following her move from Tennessee to Brooklyn.

I'm honestly at a loss as to how to review this book. It is so so good. The writing is wonderful, and so evocative. Perhaps the only issue I had is how short it was - I could read Jacqueline Woodson's writing forever, so I would totally have been OK with another 200 pages added on.

Other than that, I don't have much more to say about this book. There's very little that actually happens in the book - it's all recounted - but despite that, I was completely hooked from the start.

Review - "An Extraordinary Union"

An Extraordinary Union
by Alyssa Cole
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 28th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

You know those books where you just don't have a clear-cut opinion on them, you're kind of apathetic about them? This was one of those for me.

I loved the idea of this book, and the execution of it was good, but I just had a sort of disconnect between liking the idea and liking the main characters and their relationship. That's not to say I disliked them, but I didn't really get invested in them, and so I found it harder to like the book.

On top of that, the story seemed to drag a little. If it had dragged, but the characters had engaged me, I don't think I would have had a problem, but the combination of the two meant I was just a bit bored. Up until the end when everything started happening.

Also, the development of the relationship between the two main characters was kind of lacking. We know that Malcolm is drawn to Elle, but it seems very like a relationship based on him lusting after her - with the focus on her looks - rather than anything more concrete. In addition, he doesn't seem to know quite when to back off at times. She tells him multiple times that they can't be together, and he tells her she can trust being around him without him wanting her, but he stays around her and maybe sometimes seems to push the idea of them on her. Not in a way that felt hugely uncomfortable, thankfully, but it did feel like he wasn't respecting that maybe she knew better than he did on that topic.

Overall the book was good, but I just didn't engage with it as much as I might have.

Review - "Ensnared"

Ensnared
by Rita Stradling
rating: ☆
published: 18th December 2017
spoilers? a few

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

To be blunt, if I could rate this book zero stars, I would. I wouldn't even give it half a star - it does not merit it.

Let's start with the premise. It's a good one, a futuristic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, right? But the rose is not a rose, instead a robot named Rose. And the Beast is not a beast but a heavily facially-scarred man. At this, we get to the first sticking point. In the original, the beast is a man who is cursed to look like a horrific monster. So, is the author comparing the looks of a scarred man to those of a horrific monster? Apparently so. And if you follow that thread, then the curse appears to be either child abuse at the hands of his mother (which, I will come to later), or his terrible immune system which means he can't leave the house (in itself, framed as a result of his abusive mother never letting him leave). What seems like a good premise quickly turns into a mess.

So the premise is a problem. But perhaps the writing can solve the issues.

Not so. To begin with, the writing itself is tedious and the story drags immensely. I actually ended up skimming long scenes just because nothing was happening.

Secondly, Lorccan (the "beast") is a controlling and manipulative arsehole. I have numerous quotes saved related to this, but in the interests of keeping this review short, here are a choice few.

"You will come to the dining room every day at six exactly. If I am not in there, you will wait for me until I am. If I do not come, you will leave the dining room at seven." "Yes, sir." "You will not call me sir. You will call me Lorccan or Lor." "Yes, Lorccan" "And you will never come out of your room at night, ever." This he almost yelled.

"I cannot ingest food," Alainn told him. "I was assured that you could. That you could ingest it, then clean it out of your system by bringing the food back up," he sounded almost angry as he said it.

"You can go to your room," he said in a low voice. Alainn nodded. "Okay." "Go straight there. Once you are inside, you will be locked in for the night."

"Where are you?" she asked. "I am in my office, but I can see you." His voice sounded no less annoyed as he answered.

"What is going on?" he yelled. "I have... important computations to do. My systems are telling me my computations are more important than eating food with some man in the dark." He said nothing but after a second, his footsteps approached the bed. She swallowed hard and scooted to sit on the edge. "You will come to dinner." He was close, a hulking shadow directly before her.

So yeah. And this is the relationship I am supposed to be rooting for. There's absolutely no character development whatsoever either. Also, when she refuses to do as he is ordering her to, he gets upset and asks why she is so insistent on upsetting him. Tell me how this isn't a prime example of an emotionally abusive relationship.

Alainn, for about half the book, is pretending to be a robot for Lorccan. And it's during this first half of the book that they start a sexual relationship and apparently fall in love (though where that development is in the text defeats me). Which is terrible, because this is a huge deception, and Alainn is perfectly happy just keeping it up while also flirting with Lorccan. Don't you think Lorccan deserves to know not everything is as he thinks it is before you start up your relationship, Alainn? The first sex scene also happens immediately after Lorccan wakes up after a nightmare. I don't know about you, but on waking up from a nightmare, I feel pretty disorientated and not at all sure of what is going on. Lorccan, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have this problem. And there's no residual fear from the nightmare either. Alainn vaguely expresses not wanting to take advantage of him while he's vulnerable, but she doesn't seem like she's actually going to not have sex with him if he says he is.

There's also the whole thing where Lorccan's nightmares (and presumably his inability to go outside - though this is never explained, and if it is supposed to represent the curse, never resolved either) turn out to be a result of horrific abuse by his mother, which his father helpfully tells him is because his [Lorccan's] scars upset her. And there's never anything in the narrative to point out that this is abusive and victim-blaming in itself. And the abuse is genuinely only mentioned once. One time. All it does, is tell you what Lorccan's nightmares are about. And then it's abandoned. The true definition of using abuse as a plot device.

And then there's the point this review makes well. That Alainn does not care about Lorccan until she sees his scars and realises that she wants to help him. Which is framed as her "hero complex". Just when you thought this couldn't get messier, it does.

Also, there's hardly any evidence of a so-called "hero complex" anyway. More like Alainn's reckless with her own life, and others'. And then there's the whole 'her best friend was killed in a kidnapping' which a) why was she kidnapped? Because of her father's debts? Not made clear, and b) she appears to have suffered no effects as a result of the trauma. Maybe that is realistic, but if I'm supposed to believe that bringing up her best friend, as the robot does at one point, it doesn't make sense for her not to be thinking about her at least once besides this moment. Another thing that seems like a plot device just thrown in as an afterthought.

TL,DR; why didn't I dnf earlier.

Review - "Peter Darling"

Peter Darling
by Austin Chant
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 15th February 2017
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

"You read the letter." The queen spread her wings, showering him in dust. "Go north, Pan."

Galley provided by publisher

I have to say, going into this book, I was somewhat wary. The most prominent portrayals of Hook and Pan tend to have Hook as a man probably in his mid-thirties (I'm guessing), and Pan as a boy of about 12 or even younger. Which obviously presents problems with this whole idea of having them get together.

In this, Peter is aged up by 10 years, having left Neverland to return to his family. The book starts with his arrival back in Neverland. The plot put in place to age up Peter was perhaps a little confusing - in the original book John and Michael also go to Neverland, but in this they don't appear to - and it took me a while to get my head around it because it was never explicitly stated. Either way, there still is an age gap, but they're both adults, and so that made it easier for me to deal with (because, about 99% of the time, age gaps make me uncomfortable - authors who can, for me, do it right are few and far between. Austin Chant is one of those authors). Also it's an enemies-to-lovers trope, which is one of the most amazing tropes there is.

In addition to this, the book is much darker than the original (or what I remember of it, although that could easily be influenced by my memories of the animated Disney film). People die in this Neverland. But that made it all that much more interesting a story. I especially liked the twist where it turns out that Hook and Pan (and Ernest) are the only real people in Neverland. The pirates and the Lost Boys are both figments of their imaginations. And how Neverland itself responds to Peter. It's so much better than keeping it as the original story had it. And slightly more sinister too (which is always a good element to add).

So, without spoiling anything, this book is amazing. As in, I'm-gonna-be-reccing-this-to-the-end-of-time amazing.

Review - "The Upside Of Unrequited"

The Upside of Unrequited
by Becky Albertalli
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 11th April 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Here's the thing they don't tell you about time: there are spaces in between seconds. And sixty seconds is actually a pretty huge number. Three hundred seconds might as well be infinity seconds.

Galley provided by publisher

Becky Albertalli has to be hands down one of my favourite authors. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda was one of the best books I read a few years back, and The Upside of Unrequited, one of my most anticipated books this year, is more than on a par with it.

I don't really have words for how much I loved this book. I adored almost everything about it. Becky Albertalli's writing style, as usual, was great, and sounded so realistically like the voice of a teenager. I don't think I've read another author that writes such a realistic teenage voice.

Then there were the characters themselves. Even if I didn't like every single one of them, they were so well-written, and they formed a diverse cast too. The only characters I wasn't a huge fan of, were Cassie, on occasion - if only because she insisted in interfering, and also then got annoyed at Molly being reasonably angry at something she'd done - and Mina - I may never forgive her that comment about Reid. I would have liked to see to some extent, Mina get called out for the comment she made - Molly did mention it in her POV but I feel like it might have been better to have her confront Mina with that opinion. Because Mina never appears to change that view (though she only expresses it once), and I'd have liked to have seen that.

Besides that, for me, this book was near on perfect. And it's definitely one I'll be recommending to everyone.

Review - "The Elusive Miss Ellison"

The Elusive Miss Ellison, Regency Brides: A Legacy of Grace #1
by Carolyn Miller
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 27th February 2017
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I'm on something of a regency kick at the moment. No other books have appealed to me so much, so obviously I had to pick this one up.

And, while it shares a lot of similarities with Austen novels in particular, it is a good one. To start with the similarities, in the beginning, it is almost to a T, Pride and Prejudice (in fact, the blurb even makes that comparison as well). Then there are scenes which remind me of Emma (specifically, a certain picnic scene). But if you're going to write regency novels, you're obviously going to run the risk of having an Austenesque plot (which, honestly, is no bad thing, because Jane Austen is amazing).

If anything, the pacing in this book seems a little strange. There's a rapid transition from hate to friendship, followed by a lot slower transition into love. And there are long passages where nothing seems to happen, that feel unnecessary or at the very least, like they could have been shortened. Near the end, there's also 1) a kind of flipping back and forth between 'oh he likes me' and 'he only wants me for ___' which doesn't make sense, and 2) a scene of attempted sexual assault which I thought was pointless, frankly. I mean, it doesn't add anything to the storyline, only gives the male character the chance to rescue the female character, and show how disgusting another male character is, but that whole thing is possible without recourse to attempted rape.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the implication that one can only truly be good if one is religious. Before Lavinia's miraculous recovery from severe influenza, which leads to Nicholas becoming a "believer", it's implied that she could never see him as a good person, because he doesn't believe in God. Which, honestly, is a load of bullshit, but one that I might overlook because it's set in regency times, and that's probably pretty close to what they believed. Even so, there was a whole section in the middle where it gets very religious all of a sudden, and I don't know how I felt about that.

But, in general, it was a great book, with wonderful characters, and I definitely can't wait for book two (especially to see if Nicholas and Lavinia show).

Review - "The Prometheus Man"

The Prometheus Man
by Scott Reardon
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 26th January 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

It's been a while since I read an action mystery novel as good as this one. Most of what I seem to read is good, but in a kind of enjoyably bad way. This one, in comparison, is good, and well-written, even if it still rests on the sort of slightly tenuous, co-opted science all the others do too.

Honestly, it maybe didn't start so well as it might have. To give some scientific background, the author starts with a few facts, one of which states that, on receiving an injection of stem cells, ageing mice perform better on the Morris water maze, a "test of cognitive function". My main issue with this statement is that the Morris water maze is not a test of generalised cognitive function. It tests a specific cognitive function, that of spatial working memory. But that's just me being very picky (it's what 8 weeks worth of Behavioural Neuroscience lectures do for you). The good news is, all of the facts that the author presents at the beginning are based on actual research papers (albeit ones which take a bit of digging to find). The point at which this research translates to humans is a little weaker. It's just assumed that because the stem cells have this effect on mice, they would have the same effect on humans. Which is a viable hypothesis to make, when you have no reason to think otherwise, but stem cells in mice are only shown to make their muscles heal quicker, and grow bigger, not necessarily turn them into supermice. But, obviously, if you're going to read and enjoy a book like this, you have to take on trust the science.

Besides the science, which I will always pick apart in books (I can't help it), there was only one small problem I had with this. Every now and then, a character will make a bigoted or offensive sounding remark. Maybe it had a point to it to the author, but that point is never made clear in the narrative, so sometimes you end up being jarred out of the story for a moment.

Otherwise, I loved this book. It's based on the past relationship between two brothers, and the remaining one's desire for revenge on the people who killed his brother. The mystery of what actually happened unfolds gradually, and it's definitely compelling. I pretty much started and finished this book within a few hours, it was that good.

And the writing is definitely a step above a lot of books of this genre. It's also not just explosions for the sake of plot, either. It's more on the mystery end of an action mystery, but with enough action and fighting to pick up the pace of it where necessary.

Even though it's so good, it's kind of disappointing there's only one female character in the whole book. And I did love her, but she didn't really do all that much.