Review - "Eyes Like Those"

Eyes Like Those, Seven Shores #1
by Melissa Brayden
rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 1st October 2017
spoilers? vague ones

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

More like 3.5

If there's one thing I struggle to find, it's good wlw lit. Melissa Brayden may well be the solution to all of my problems. This is the first book I've read by her and, while I wasn't overly impressed with the writing (it's good and readable, which is impressive in the genre to begin with, but nothing special), the plot and the characters were more than enough to make up for it.

The book tells the story of Isabel, a promising scriptwriter who has been working in a restaurant while trying to find script work, as she moves to Hollywood to take up a job writing on a popular TV show. There, she meets Taylor, a captivating and unattainable woman, who is also her boss - the showrunner.

The best part of this book was the relationships. Isabel moves into her friend's apartment, and meets three other women - Autumn, Hadley, and Gia. Her friendship with these three was my absolute favourite part of the book. They're always building each other up, and supporting each other, and that's something you really don't see enough of in lit. Similarly with Isabel and Taylor's relationship. They actually became friends before anything started, and I feel like that doesn't happen all that often in NA lit.

If there was one little complaint I did have about their relationship, it's that, while the slowburn was good and appreciated, it lacked some tension. Mariana Zapata is a very good example of someone who writes the most excellent tension, and that's what this book lacked. Sure, we see that they're attracted to one another, but the tension, either romantic or sexual, is just not quite there.

I also didn't really like how the narrative refused to explicitly frame Taylor's past relationship, with Aspen - the lead actress on the show, as abusive. Because that's what it was. Aspen manipulated Taylor, got violent and threw plates around, and cheated on Taylor, and once Taylor's broken up with her, she conveniently forgets all that and tries to get her back. But it's never mentioned as being abusive, not even when, once Aspen realises she won't get her own way, she aims to ruin Taylor's whole life. If that doesn't smack of manipulative and abusive, I don't know what does.

Overall, this was one of the best wlw NA books I've read (I know that's not saying a lot, but trust me here), and Melissa Brayden is definitely a writer I'll be coming back to.

Review - "Invictus"

Invictus
by Ryan Graudin
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 26th September 2017
spoilers? nope

Goodreads

He was a hero spurned. No, it felt worse than that. He'd become a bystander in someone else's story.

Galley provided by publisher

Invictus tells the story of Farway McCarthy, a cadet kicked out of the time travelling corps after he fails his final exam, who takes up black market missions so he can travel back in time to find out what happened to his mother. He captains the crew of the TM Invictus - Priya, Gram, Imogen, and Saffron the red panda. On a mission to retrieve a priceless book from the Titanic as it sinks, he encounters another time traveller, but one who's story does not ring true.

From the start, the world building in this book is epic and so unique. It's like nothing I've read before, which is always a good start. But despite the promising opening, the plot builds slowly. Incredibly slowly, that is. It was a good 70% into the book before I got to the point where I couldn't put it down.

Part of that came from the fact that it was overwhelmingly heterosexual. There are two relationships: Far and Priya, and Imogen and Gram. Of the two, I much preferred Imogen and Gram, because you got to see some development of that relationship. When it came to Far and Priya, what you got was them as acquaintances in one part, then a skip-ahead to a few months later and they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Which, honestly, was just tedious. There were even parts of the book I marked as insert heterosexual interlude because it was that boring a relationship. I love Priya and, to a lesser extent, Far, but together they just didn't do anything for me. Both romances felt entirely unnecessary.

Not to mention that Far is an absolute arsehole (I say this even though I love him), and I just couldn't really sympathise with him. He genuinely reminds me of the Brooding YA Hero twitter account. In fact, scrolling through that, I found a number of tweets that actually reminded me of Far. He's arrogant and quite selfish and always trying to do ""heroic"" things and it just grinds on you. He was okay to start with but it quickly got a little boring to read from his point of view.

Another aspect of the plot dragging was that it seemed to have a kind of pattern where it went slow for a bit, then fast for a couple of chapters, then back to slow, and then fast, and so on. And the slow parts were so much longer than the fast parts, which meant that, while several moments had me going HOLY CRAP, they were overwhelmed by the slight boringness of the slower sections.

That all being said, I did really like this book overall. And I think that's because, for me, the dragging in the plot was made up for by the characters and the ending. I loved each and every person in this - especially Eliot, even though at times she bordered on being the ~mysterious girl~ trope personified. And the last 130 pages or so? If only the rest of the book had been so good.

In the end, I just wish it had fully lived up to Blood for Blood.

Review - "Circe"

Circe
by Madeline Miller
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 10th April 2018
spoilers? some

Goodreads

"How do you bear it?" he said
[...]
"We bear it as best we can," I said.

Galley provided by publisher

Circe is perhaps one of my most anticipated books for the next year and, while I have been wavering on how to rate it, it definitely did not disappoint. I would say I perhaps didn't like it so much as I did The Song of Achilles when I read that, but that's always going to be a hard book to top.

The novel tells the story of the nymph, Circe, from her birth up until she is released from exile. Circe is the daughter of the sun god, Helios, although by all accounts she is a strange child, lacking in the powers that her father and siblings all possess. The first quarter or so of the book is taken up with Circe living in her father's palace, ignored by most of her family and his courtesans. Then, she discovers the ability to do witchcraft, at which point she is exiled to live alone on an island, Aiaia. It was at this point that I really got into the story.

That's not to say it was boring up until that point - Madeline Miller's gorgeous writing was plenty enough for me to maintain interest - but after the exile happens, Circe really comes into her own. That was my favourite aspect of this book, seeing Circe develop from being someone who's eager to please her father, even as he tells her she's the least of his children, into someone with the power to challenge Athena herself.

My favourite part of the book comes when Circe meets Telemachus and Penelope. I loved how Miller wrote the growth of the relationship between Penelope and Circe. Initially, Circe believes that Penelope and Telemachus wish vengeance on Telegonus, her son (for reasons which Wikipedia will happily tell you), but they get to know each other and become friends. There are too many books where two women, in love with the same man, will be framed as nemeses so I appreciated that they became close instead.

If there was one thing I found pretty awkward about this book, it's that it ends with Telemachus and Circe implied as being in a relationship. The awkwardness comes from the fact that Circe had previously had a relationship with Odysseus (Telemachus' father), which had spawned a son, Telegonus. So Circe ends up in a relationship with her own son's half brother... It just felt weird.

That's probably why I can't rate this five stars, though I originally did so immediately after finishing. I was wavering between four and five for a while, but that is enough to tip my review to a four.

NB. non-graphic rape TW just before halfway through, and implied incest TW throughout.