Review - "Ninefox Gambit"

Ninefox Gambit, The Machineries of Empire #1
by Yoon Ha Lee
rating: ☆☆☆
published: 6th April 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

tw for implied rape in a flashback scene, implied suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts

Around 270 pages into this book, having skimread a few I'll admit, I was fully prepared to rate this book 2 stars. Up until then, it had been not all that interesting, bordering on tedious, with the only real bright spot being Jedao and Cheris' interactions, and the fact that Cheris is a wlw.

The book is essentially an extended battle scene, full of pages of tactical considerations. Some of these tactics are related to battle formations, which are computed using complex mathematical calculations, and the fact that every time one was used, Yoon Ha Lee went into a lot of detail about them, the book was slowed down immeasurably. Added to the fact that you just get dropped into this world with zero explanation of how it works, and that it's actually a very complex world for a sci-fi book, I found it hard to get into.

It took me a good while to understand that this Empire was underpinned by a specific, mathematically-derived calendar, and that any deviations from this calendar (presumably made by computing something new) were heretical. On top of that, there are six factions, each charged with a different aspect of life - much like Divergent. For example, the Kel - the faction Cheris belongs to - are the foot soldiers (and pretty much cannon fodder). In the past, the seventh faction, the Liozh, had turned heretic and so were destroyed. All this would have been helpful to know from the start, but I can understand why the author might not want to add a whole section explaining the world - it often makes the beginning clunky and unrealistic.

So, as I said, this book was heading towards a two star review from me, when the last 40 pages happened.

This is one of those books that sets you up so you think you know everything for about 90% of the book and then in the last 10% is like ha lol played you. Those last 40 pages alone were enough for me to boost the rating by one star (I was tempted to rate it 4 stars actually because they even made me look back in fondness on the 270 preceding pages of tediousness) and to want to read the next book. I think that if I now went back and reread this book, I would enjoy it a lot more.

On top of this, no one in this entire universe is straight. Cheris has only ever had female lovers, Jedao has had both male and female lovers, and they're also explicitly attracted characters of the same gender. A lot of the time it feels like authors don't necessarily write that part of the LGBT character, but Yoon Ha Lee does (Cheris more than Jedao in this book, but only because it's more like her POV - Jedao gets his turn in the short story prequels). In addition, in the short story Extracurricular Activities, there's a character who uses they/them pronouns.

In the end, this was a good book. I just wish I had enjoyed it right from the start.

Review - "Penance"

Penance
by Kanae Minato
rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 6th April 2017
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Actual rating 3.5

Honestly, this is one of those books which I neither hated nor loved particularly much. It was a compelling mystery story, but it lacked something that meant I didn't connect with it as much as I might have.

Penance is the story of four women, 15 years on from the murder of their friend, Emily, in the village they grew up in. It's told as five separate accounts - letters or speeches or conversations - each of which provides a little bit more information about the killer. The final account is from Emily's mother, and draws the entire mystery to a close.

It's an easy and quick enough read, and the mystery itself is compelling, but there were parts which threw me, like when it turned out that Takahiro married Sae because he saw her as a human doll and he wanted to treat her as such and when it turned out Akiko's brother was sexually abusing his stepdaughter because his wife didn't want him to touch her so instead offered up her daughter and he accepted. It also felt a bit too short for me to entirely connect and sympathise with the characters (besides Yuka) . But then again, they probably weren't supposed to be entirely sympathetic.

So overall, it was a good mystery and kept me engaged enough to finish it in one night, but I never really fully connected with it.

Review - "Letters to the Lost"

Letters to the Lost
by Brigid Kemmerer
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 6th April 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

"You can't make your own path with your eyes closed."

Galley provided by publisher

How do I put into words how much I loved this book? It wrecked me. I genuinely cannot remember the last time I cried over a book, but this one made me cry at least twice and tear up many times more.

Letters to the Lost is the story of Juliet and Declan, both of whom have lost someone in their family, as they start exchanging letters after Declan responds to one Juliet has written and left on her mother's grave. It's an emotional bruiser of a book, with suckerpunches coming basically every page, no holds barred. It does this all the while being a far from complex story - it's about two people finding refuge in each other, while not knowing who the other is.

It's written in dual POV, so you get to put yourself in the shoes of each person. Which is good, because a lot of times when you have a dickhead character, like Declan is painted as in Juliet's POV to begin with, you don't get a sense of how they actually are because it's single POV. And that makes any sort of character development, unless very explicitly done, hard to believe. There was one time where I was a bit confused about who's POV it was, but that was just because it didn't change when I expected it to have (there was a reason behind it though).

A lot of things about this book really messed me up. Specifically, the ones based around the family relationships. There were some scenes, mostly revolving around Declan and his family relationships, that really got to me, and those were the times I ended up crying.

I don't know if I'll read another book this year that messes me up as much as this one (although Jeff Zentner's new one is out soon and just the blurb tells me I'm going to end up in tears). I read it in only a few hours too, and then had to wait for about an hour before I could leave my room because of all the crying. It's definitely one I'll be coming back to over and over.

Review - "A Crown of Wishes"

A Crown of Wishes, The Star-Touched Queen #2
by Roshani Chokshi
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 28th March 2017
spoilers? no

Goodreads

And the truth was that he was not afraid of being seen for what he was. He was afraid of being seen as someone who could never be more.

Galley provided by publisher

You know when it's an author's second book and the first one was so amazing that you're kind of worried that nothing can live up to that? Not so with this one. A Crown of Wishes is as amazing, if not more so, as The Star-Touched Queen.

The writing is just as gorgeous as usual, with some wonderful descriptions (especially of food and gardens) that bring the story to life. The setting this time is the Tournament of Wishes, in which Gauri and Vikram are competing. Gauri is Maya's sister, introduced in the first book, a princess who has been in captivity by her kingdom's enemies for 6 months. Vikram is the adopted prince of Bharata's enemies, who wants to be king and to be respected by the council.

The characters are also wonderful, and so realistic and their relationship is a hate to love one, which is one of my favourite tropes ever. They start off as enemies, on account of their kingdoms, and they develop so beautifully to fall in love. And Roshani Chokshi writes it so well. And writes it without any relationship-based conflict, which I always appreciate.

I think Roshani Chokshi is one of my favourite authors, on the basis of this book and the last, and from now on she'll definitely be an auto-read.

Review - "The Heartbeat Hypothesis"

The Heartbeat Hypothesis
by Lindsey Frydman
rating: ☆☆
published: 20th March 2017
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Honestly, 3 stars is probably not indicative of how much I enjoyed most of this book. I say most because, for a good three quarters of it, I was really liking it. The writing was good, the story was engaging, possibly the only issue I had was how quickly they got together (I feel like a slowburn would have suited this a lot more). And then the last quarter happened.

It started off with the reveal that Jake (the love interest) had been abused as a child, as in beaten to the point where he thought he would die. Implied multiple times this happened. And because we're all about using abuse as an angsty plot point apparently, this is only ever mentioned once. Never past that.

Then, at the same time as he's telling Audra about this, he makes this comment:

"But... what about your mom? I mean, was it just your dad who..."

"My mom couldn't stop him, even if she'd wanted to. Sometimes I don't know if she did want to."

Because if she'd wanted to stop him, wouldn't she have left? For her own sake? To save her children?

"She's mentally ill," he said, sliding off the bench. "But it's never been a good enough excuse for me."

Where to even start with this. The assumption that she didn't want to stop him because she didn't leave? The victim blaming? The implication that her having a mental illness was behind her not leaving? The fact that he thinks she's using that as an excuse not to leave? It's all messy. And I wouldn't have minded it so much if the narrative had called all these things out. But guess what. It does not. This is brought up this single time, and never challenged. Just thinking about this quote makes me angry and I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't rate this lower.

Tack onto this, the fact that, at the end, his mother burns down their house, killing herself and his father, and that this is painted as her "cracking"? Even messier.

There's also a point where Audra reads Jake's diary (violating his privacy much?) because she's so curious, and the contents of this diary imply that Jake has had or is still having suicidal thoughts. But don't worry (Jake says), he only ever thought about it, only ever planned where he might do it, he never really considered going through with it. And with that, this plot point is just brushed aside.

With all this, I feel like this book had ample opportunity to explore a love interest with a mental illness. The question is, whether I would actually have wanted it to, given how much it demonises his mother who does have one (an unidentified one, too. So don't worry, we aren't just demonising a single mental illness! It's equal opportunity demonisation).

So yeah. On second thoughts, I'm rating down.

Review - "Making Faces"

Making Faces
by Amy Harmon
rating: ☆
published: 21st February 2017
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

DNF at 15%

I may be a masochist when it comes to finishing awful books, but I am not so much of one that I will finish a book that makes me almost cry with how bad it is. I don't know if that's just me, because most of my Goodreads friends have rated this 5 stars, but I just can't do it.

Honestly, I knew from about the first chapter that I wasn't going to enjoy this one. The description Fern gives of Ambrose

"The squared-off edge of his sculpted jaw kept him from being too pretty, that and the fact that he was six foot three in his socks, weighed a strapping 215 pounds by the age of eighteen, and had a body corded with muscle from his shoulders to his well-shaped calves."

was just too much. If that had been because 18-year old Fern was infatuated with him that would be alright, I could accept that because then the writing style would change. But there was more

"Fern Taylor loved Ambrose Young, had loved him since she was ten years old and had heard his young voice lifted in a very different kind of song, but in that moment he reached a whole new level of beauty, and Fern was left reeling and dazed that one boy could be gifted with so much."

Because of course he's perfect at everything he does [biggest eye roll known to man].

And this writing style continues even when it's not in Fern's point of view (which was the dealbreaker for me - if it had been because of Fern's infatuation, I could have coped).

"Ambrose wasn't trying to be a jerk. He just didn't understand. And the little redhead with the crazy, curly hair was kind of freaking him out. He'd seen her before at school and knew her name. But he didn't know her. He wondered if she was special. His dad said he had to be nice to kids who were special, because they couldn't help the way they were."

The point at which I just couldn't take it anymore, was when Ambrose decided he wanted to join the army because

"Like the whole country, he wanted someone to pay for the deaths of three thousand people on 9/11. He wanted justice for the kids who lost their moms or dads."

"The United States was in Afghanistan, but some people thought Iraq was next. Someone had to go. Someone had to fight. If not him, then who? What if nobody went? Would it happen again?"

No consideration of the kids who would lose their mums and dads when the US invaded though, but I don't know why I expected otherwise. It's a book about war, written by an American author. What else is it likely to do? (Which I should have known before picking it up, etc etc - I knew it was about war, I didn't realise it was set in 2001.)

Also every time a character said something happened, or someone told them something, there was a flashback to that moment. Like, is that really necessary? And I don't know if it was just the formatting of the ebook, but it was hard to tell when the flashbacks started and ended.

So in the end, I just gave up. The prospect of finishing this book didn't appeal at all. I have better things to do with my time than force myself through it.

Review - "Off The Ice"

Off the Ice, Juniper Falls #1
by Julie Cross
rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 28th February 2017
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Actual rating 3.5

This was a really cute read and, as a plus, had plenty of hockey being played in it. Off the Ice tells the story of Claire, a music student back in her hometown following her dad's operation, and Tate, a hockey goalie, who gets a starting spot on the team after the starting goalie drops out of the team.

Firstly, I really liked Claire and Tate's relationship, and the development of that relationship. They were both so supportive of the other, and it wasn't just a relationship based on physical aspects. The supporting cast of characters was also great, if at times, maybe underdeveloped (though more so with the characters who didn't appear so much, like Jamie and Tate's mum, which is understandable).

It was also so nice to see that there was no girls hating on other girls. I know this is a low standard to hold a book to, but when the plot has it like in this book, with one girl still in love with the main male character, while he and the main female character are getting together, all too often it seems to turn into girls hating on each other. But it didn't here (they even became friends), and that was lovely.

The book does also include child abuse and parents putting huge amounts of pressure on their child to do a sport. It seems to do well in dealing with that plot line, and what was nice to see was it wasn't thrown in at the end almost like an afterthought. It was set out from the start that the book would include this in it. A lot of books seem to have a tendency to just throw it in there, without any warning, and it feels almost as if they are treating the abuse as just another angsty plot point.

What would have been nice, though, would be if the book had also addressed the hockey team's coach's abusive behaviour. Because that's what it was. He made Tate face slapshots with only a glove, stick, and helmet, and that's incredibly dangerous. But it's kind of shrugged off by the players as "normal" for their coach. Which I could understand, if they don't know any other way, but Claire also sees their practice going on and notes how pressurised it is. And does nothing else. I hope that later books will address this though.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I'm really looking forward to more of this series.