Review - "Himself"

Himself
by Jess Kidd
rating:☆☆☆
published: 27th October 2016
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

If I'm honest, I was pretty ambivalent about this book for the most part. Mostly what kept me going was how compelling the writing was, because I wasn't a huge fan of any of the characters besides Mrs Cauley. By the end, several more of them had grown on me and I was fully wrapped up in the mystery.

The novel tells the story of Mahony, a young man who travels from Dublin to a small village in the hopes of finding out more about his mother, who ostensibly abandoned him as a baby. Coincidentally, he can also see and talk to ghosts, although this plot point was never really explored all that much I felt. It just seemed to be expected that the reader accept he could do this. When he gets to the village, he learns that no one particularly liked his mother - some even going so far as to call her the devil - and no one knows what happened to her: although they all claim that she left the village of her own accord, one or two are of the mind that she was murdered, and thus decide to help Mahony investigate.

The writing style in this book reminded me a lot of Tana French, lyrical and maybe a bit pretentious but in a way that you don't mind so much. The mystery itself was also vaguely reminiscent of Tana French, I thought, but that may have been just the general vibes of the book. I didn't mind it, but there's only so much lyrical writing can do for me if a book is relatively slow-build as this one was. It grew on me slowly too - I took probably about half the book or so to really get into it, and I never was really all that invested in the characters, despite wanting to know the identity of the killer (I ended up staying up til 1am to finish it, so it had to be doing something right).

My one gripe is that, from the moment Mahony arrives in the village, basically every woman falls in love with him. It seemed kind of pointless, especially his affair with Roisun - I just don't get why it was a necessary plot point. But, overall, it was a good enough book, although never really amazing.

Review - "Iron Cast"

Iron Cast
by Destiny Soria
rating:☆☆☆☆☆
published: 11th October 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

More than anything, she wanted to kiss him. He was so bright and beautiful and vulnerable in the daylight. But she couldn't let herself.

Galley provided by publisher

Hands down, this is one of the best books I've read this year. Perhaps I found it a little slow, up until about the halfway point, and was thinking of rating it only 4 stars, but then it burst into life. There were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and I was emotionally drained by the end.

Iron Cast is set in Boston in 1919, in a world where there exist 'hemopaths' - people with powers to create illusions, manipulate memories, and various other things, based on poetry or music or painting. Following a con where a politician ended up losing $2,000, the use of these powers is outlawed and the Hemopath Protection Agency is set up, ostensibly to register and protect hemopaths, but more often than not they pick up hemopaths and take them to Haversham Asylum. In the city however, there remain clubs where hemopaths put on shows. The main characters, Ada and Corinne, are members of the Cast Iron club, one such place. Then the club owner, Johnny Dervish, is killed and suddenly they are no longer safe.

I honestly don't know how to review this book. It was so amazing and I loved pretty much everything about it. The setting was so unique and interesting - it reminded me a little of The Diviners (but almost in reverse because hemopaths are persecuted in this) and The Great Gatsby (which I hate but love the setting of). Fantasy like this, based in the real world but in the past, is my favourite kind, really.

Beyond the setting, the characters were amazing too. Maybe they could have done with a little more fleshing out. In some cases, it seemed that the reasons behind their doing things (like Corinne moving to the Cast Iron club) were a little bit subtext rather than being explicitly stated (which, I guess is OK as the reader, it's just when she was talking to Gabriel about things that it felt slightly off). Other than that, they were all brilliant, and I probably cried a few times over them but I'm not admitting to anything. I would have liked Corinne and Gabriel to end less openendedly but it made sense in the context of the story, so I'm not complaining too much.

Then there are the plot twists. Not one of them I saw coming - each and every one was a (usually unwelcome) shock. And they went on right to the end. I don't think I've read many books that have had so many twists in such quick succession and I've not been able to see any of them coming.

Overall, this book was amazing and everyone should read it, basically.

Review - "No Master"

No Master, Bounty #3
by Christine d'Abo
rating:☆
published: 27th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

To be honest, I can't believe I finished this. I'm not entirely sure why I thought it would be a good idea to read it in the first place (honestly, the sex slave thing was pretty off-putting) but I did and so I read it.

And I wish I hadn't.

It's not that the writing was bad, as with most of these kinds of books which I give one star, because it wasn't. It's better writing than most of the ones I read, although that's not hard because sometimes the writing is flat out awful. The issues I had lay entirely with the plot.

For one, the whole sex slave thing is dodgy from the off. Especially the fact that Zain then has to go back into that environment after having escaped and endure it again. And Korbin doesn't really attempt to make it easier on him. There are the few cursory are you sure you're ok with this's but nothing else.

The mind reading stone is another problem I had. It just makes everything suspiciously easy. No worries that they can't communicate while they're in master-slave disguise (which, again, no thanks. Couldn't it have been the other way round? Also the bit where it's like Zain's all submissive, that he likes it? It doesn't seem all that believable given that he spend a lot of his life as a sex slave being abused by his master...) they can send thoughts to each other's minds (and just wait for it, by the end they don't even need the stone they've strengthened a connection in their mind that means they can do without! I'm willing to suspend belief for a lot of things but this is not one of them).

The final big problem I found was right near the end, at the climax, where Zain is captured by Clayson (his old master) and injected with the drug that works like ultra-Viagra and makes him hard, and then Clayson starts raping him and saying how everyone in his employ is going to rape Zain until he's raw and bleeding and dead. Like I am absolutely not here for shit like this when it's not apparently gratuitous, let alone when it is. It's gross and I really did almost quit reading right there in disgust. Instead I just skipped that scene. Then, a bit later, there's another scene where Clayson comes and beats up Zain and he slams his head repeatedly against the floor, but then two minutes later Zain's alright and walking around just fine. It doesn't make sense.

Just no, basically.

Review - "Villains, Inc."

Villains, Inc
edited by Tan-Ni Fan
rating:☆☆☆
published: 15th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Overall rating is averaged from individual ratings

When Shadows Touch Mountains by Helena Maeve ★★★★

This was a solid one to start the anthology off with. It's basically the story of King Arthur, or part of it, but with the reader seeing things from the side of Mordred. It's told from the point of view of Kirth, a man who killed his father and was handed over to a slaver, who subsequently hands him over to Mordred in an attempt to gain favour.

This is one of those ones that works very well as a short story. It felt a bit like a snippet of a longer story, and my one big issue with it was that it wasn't longer. It could easily be a whole book in itself (which I would happily read...).

There was one point where the skip between locations seemed a little abrupt, and there could have been something spent on the time in between, but that was about the only part where I felt it could have been improved.

I loved the inclusion of polyamory, too. It was a nice departure from all the monogamous relationships, and also a great way to avoid those pesky love triangles.

Strait of Monsters by Stephanie Rabig ★★★

More like 2.5.

To be honest, I was a little bored by this one. It told the story of Chryssa, a member of a crew who's ship gets wrecked by Scylla and Charybdis, and who ends up surviving after she is marooned on Medusa's island. Here, she falls in love with Medusa, and decides to stay. That's about all there is to the plot - minus the bit where Perseus shows up to try kill Medusa, and then Chryssa and Medusa fly off on Pegasus to save Andromeda.

I'm not entirely sure what it was lacking for me, though perhaps the characters were a bit flat and unrealistic. I did love that Chryssa was trans though, there is that.

Famished by Cassandra Pierce ★★

This one was just plain weird. There was this house with a basement of dead monks' ghosts who ate people and the owner of the house was perfectly willing (with the help of his creepy butler) to feed them. Until someone he's attracted to shows up at which point he's like hell no.

Again, it was kind of boring and the writing wasn't great. The clubbing scene was kind of strange, and almost didn't fit with the rest of the story. Also, Clive's "big secret" wasn't actually that shocking in the context of the story. I mean, what's one poxy little murder when your boyfriend regularly feeds people to ghosts?

There was also a stifling case of instalove, made even worse by the fact that it's a short story. And the scene where Clive confesses he's gay, he brings it up by saying "I'm not like other blokes...". Sorry to break it to you, bud, but you're not that special.

Then also, this line: "Clive went on hunching his hips and massaging Blaylock's silky throat muscles."

Vinc by Michelle Chow ★★★

Never did I think I would somewhat enjoy a story about a weresalamander, but here I am, proven wrong. It's a little light on the plot, but it was nice to see that there is no instalove whatsoever (thank you, thank you). All that happens is that they start dating, which is loads more realistic than most stories.

I thought perhaps that this story needed a little more context in it as well, because it's light on that too. Like, why are people suddenly becoming infected with this were-virus? Where did it come from?

There was also a magical mystical know-it-all vet, who told the main character to "find his anchor". Teen Wolf much?

Good Things by Sumi ★

This is by far the worst story of the whole anthology. It was about an incubus who suddenly realises that women don't do it for him, he's in fact gay. Which would be OK, but the whole incubus/succubus thing is steeped in dubious consent, and that made this story very uncomfortable.

The whole Erigus/Jeff thing is gross. For one, it's hugely dubious consent, bordering on rape almost, and Jeff does bring that up at one point, but it's never mentioned again. Erigus spends a whole scene mocking Jeff still being a virgin, and the fact that he has a girlfriend even though he's gay. And then, he offers to take Jeff to Hell to be with him forever (which he eventually does to once Jeff's girlfriend-now-wife dies because why not). Just generally, it's pretty messed up.

There's also some pretty dubious comments about Jeff's ethnicity like: "Erigus liked fucking Asian guys because they usually had barely any hair." and "I'm a total lightweight. Asian." O-k-a-y.

Mandelbrot by A. D. Truax ★★★★★

This one was by far my favourite of the whole anthology. It's about Evander, the secret boyfriend of the city's hero, who keeps getting kidnapped by the "villain" who actually just wants to get the hero's attention but it's not working. It reminds me quite a lot of Hero by Perry Moore, which is a great book, and a Disney/Pixar film I can't recall the name of, and probably this story rescues the anthology for me.

Again, it works well as a short story, but equally feels like it could be a longer story too. The characters are great, and the plot is just right for a short story - it doesn't try to fit too much in, but also doesn't skimp on it. I would say, read this anthology just for this story, because it's one of the (few) highlights.

Review - "For The Win"

For The Win, The Perfect Play #1 by Sara Rider
rating:☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 6th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Anything worth fighting for always required sacrifices. She wasn't the type to live her life in the shadows of what-ifs and regret.

Galley provided by publisher

For The Win tells the story of Lainey Lukas as she gets back into football following a horrific injury in the World Cup final. The owner of the franchise she joins, decides that the women's team will train on the main training ground, while the men's team get relegated to the apparently cursed Cricket Ground pitch, a move which doesn't go down well with Gabe Havelak, the men's captain.

Thus begins the media-dubbed "Battle of the Sexes" in which the teams compete in various tasks (including cooking and fund-raising) to prove they are the better team. Whoever wins gets to train on the main pitch.

Overall, the book was enjoyable. I really liked the first half of it, but the second half was a bit less interesting, especially once Lainey and Gabe had actually got together. I feel like that could have been delayed for a while longer.

The second half of the book also included some of the scenes I didn't like so much. There was Lainey's sudden attack of jealousy and possessiveness, following Grace flirting with Gabe after the naked calendar reveal. Which, I guess, was a nice subversion of the man usually doing that, but possessiveness always makes me a little dubious, especially if it's as violently expressed as I read this being and unless it's conveyed reciprocally, which it wasn't here.

Another scene I wasn't a huge fan of was their first sex scene, which involved an overuse of the word "pounding". If it's aiming to be 'hot' or whatever, then pounding is not the way to go about it surely. I feel like it ruins all the sexual tension (not that there seemed to be huge amounts, beyond 'oh he's hot'/'oh she's hot').

And then the Havelak family curse, which felt unnecessary, really. Especially the scene were Mama Havelak starts claiming that Lainey is a proponent of the curse, while Lainey is there. At which point, Lainey gets pissed off at Gabe (why?), and they have a prank war (but really, it's just aimed at getting attention, like pulling pigtails). And then they make up (including a 24-hour sex marathon, which, forgive me, is so unbelievable), and everyone's happy.

There were a few other issues I had with this book. For one, there was the women-hating-on-women thing going on. All of the female footballers hated on Grace because she kept flirting with the guys (especially Gabe) and... not much else. Not here for that, sorry.

Also the overprotective parents/brother trope going on, with Tessa. I mean, Tessa is wholly capable of looking out for herself, even at 14. It was understandable given that the guy Gabe was eyeing up in his overprotective mode was 19, but Tessa was perfectly able to show her lack of interest. Like, chill out, Gabe.

The age difference was also an issue. I don't quite understand why almost every romance has to have a significant (like, 5 or 6 years) age difference. Is it like a rule of NA romance? Why can't they just be the same age? (Also, the masturbation to a poster of him when she was younger is borderline creepy.)

I think part of the reason I didn't enjoy this book more was because I was always internally comparing it to Kulti, which has great characters and such unbearable tension. For The Win seemed for a while like it might live up to that, but in the end, it was a little disappointing, even though I enjoyed it.

Review - "The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy"

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer
rating:☆☆☆☆
published: 8th April 2014
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Sometimes, the most awesome and complicated thing you can do is just stick around.

Don't be put off by the "perfect for fans of John Green" tagline - this is actually much much better than his books.

The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy is the story of what happens when a high school becomes the backdrop to a reality TV show, For Art's Sake. Needless to say, the decision doesn't go down well with everybody, and a group of students decide to take a stand by distributing a rebellious epic poem, extolling the vices of For Art's Sake.

The plot is simple. Beyond that, there's all the cliches, boy likes popular girl, boy's best (female) friend likes him, etc, etc, you know the drill. However, there's no real romance in this, and arguably there's more to Luke and Ethan's relationship than there is to any romantic relationships Ethan might have. When Luke betrayed them and went on the show, my heart broke. Not gonna lie, I thought it was going to take the gay route, but it didn't, and instead filled all Ethan's descriptions of Luke with some "no homo" shit. (Even though they did seem somewhat... involved descriptions. Are you sure there's no homo there, Ethan? Not to mention how much he obsessed over Luke later on - even his other best friends called him out on that. Look, Kate Hattemer, I just think you've missed a trick here.)

It's also pretty funny. I kept laughing out loud every now and then, which is always nice in a book (and laughing out loud because the book intended it, rather than because there was a turn of phrase that struck me as hilarious).

Overall, this book is a nice, simple read, and surprisingly enjoyable, even if it does conform to about 10 of the possible cliches.

Review - "On The Brink"

On The Brink, In The Zone #0
by Kate Willoughby
rating:☆☆
published: 28th June 2016
spoilers? yes

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Like with most of these kinds of novellas, I feel like they would actually work better as a full-length novel. As it is, there is not nearly enough time (~90 pages) for the required character development to be realistic or seem effective.

Mostly, my issue lay with the plot of this book seeming kind of unbelievable. The interview for one, seemed a bit confusing. Like, why would some newspaper be so interested in Jeremy's story? And the presidents desperate desire to promote how diverse and accepting his school is. I mean, I guess it's entirely plausible that a school president is that eager to promote diversity, but when it gets to the athletes willingly making this incredibly cheesy video to basically just prove that they're not homophobic or anything, that's when I call bull.

I could have probably lived with it, but that plot's that seem unreasonable and implausible tend to turn me off books, and that's compounded by my other issues.

Firstly, Jeremy is somewhat obsessed with Hart, before he even knows him. And it's a little creepy how much he knows about him, and how closely he watches his game. Also, the part where they meet when Jeremy goes to the players' entrance seemed a little contrived. Surely they could equally have met at an after-party of something? It would have made more sense.

The subsequent blowjob in the car in the parking lot of the ice rink was also pretty unrealistic. I mean, they've just me, Hart has told Jeremy he was putting him off his game, then all of a sudden the conversation switches to experimentation and how if you kiss a boy it doesn't make you gay, right? (You do know there are more than two sexualities, right, bud?) This then leads to this wonderful quote:

It [his cock] tasted good. Salty and earthy, like virility in 3-D. He gobbled up more of it...

I have trouble enough reading sex scenes because they're uncomfortable, but then ones that throw sentences like this in just put me off entirely (and make me burst into laughter, which I'm sure is not the author's intention). (See also, later on: You want to hear me grunt?)

A minor point: I'm not a huge fan of experimentation storylines to begin with - I mean, I don't mind them, but I wouldn't pick them over everything else - let alone ones where someone's desperately trying to convince themselves and the other person that they're not gay, while they've got their dick in that person's mouth.

There's also that really irritating thing where the characters seem to have to say 'I love you' to one another. Even when they've known each other for not that long, and it's really not believable. 'I like you lots' would have done surely.

A final final point, it did make me tear up a little when Hart said he had to deny himself to be big in the NHL. I'm weak. (And perhaps rating too harshly.)