Changeless - Gail Carriger

I'mage from Goodreads

Once again I loved these characters. I loved their quirks. I loved their newly developed depths. And most of all I loved the fierce protectiveness they suddenly developed for one another.

If you read my review of Soulless you will know that I enjoyed it and central to that enjoyment were the respective characters of Alexia Tarabotti and Lord Maccon. Well Alexia Tarabotti just became Lady Alexia Maccon, and the fun that was these two reached a whole new level.

Married life proposed completely new aspects to what it means to be a Soulless. First of all there’s the practicality, meaning that Alexia lives very much in the real world, even if that real world is fictional to us. Secondly there’s the fact that although he’s immortal, all bodily functions frozen forever, she turns her husband mortal, posing some very interesting questions.

The story itself once again followed a fantastic premise. What happens when you take resumed mortality and spread it to affect pretty much all of London? You get a very angry werewolf! I found it fascinating to watch trails develop and see how various characters would react.

I loved the interaction with Lady Kingair. Once again I think Gail Carriger is exploring avenues most people would never even think to look at.  I’d never before considered the possibility that Vampires and Werewolves may have children before being turned, stereotypically being very young adults at the age of turning, and it was a unique idea.

Finally I once again loved the ending! So dramatic, and a perfect set up for Blameless. But seriously, who else saw the pregnancy coming?! It had to happen just from asking the marriage questions I hinted at earlier!

Rowen

22 days to go

Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion

Image from Goodreads

Warm bodies is a story that I, like many, first came into contact with when the film trailer was played. It was a film that looked both hilarious and touching, along the lines of Shaun of the Dead, and I wanted to go see it....

I who avoid all scary movies...

I didn't...

However when I found a copy of Warm Bodies in my local Waterstones I jumped at the chance to read it. 

Warm bodies lives up to its promises - how can a book about a zombie falling in love with a girl be anything but hilarious? How can a book about that girl falling in love right back be anything but touching? 

This book captivated me. It's a love story every bit as classic as Romeo and Juliet, or Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. It's a story that I think will stand the test of time. Not because of the context, or the writing style, but because the emotions at its core are so heartfelt, so real, that they shine through every page.

I really enjoyed the flashes of Perry's life that we glimpsed when R was eating his brain. It was a description which for the first time ever helped me to understand why a Zombie might possibly want to eat brains...

The writing style for Warm Bodies seemed unusual for its genre. It reminded me of books like A Room with a View, and other early 20th Century classics. It jumped around a fair bit, which made sense within the story, and I found it made reading it easier, despite this being a style I don't usually enjoy. 

I loved this book! It is quite possibly the best book I've read so far this year! I'd recommend it to all my friends, and I've even passed it on to my Dad, which only happens with the very best books.

Now just to find and watch the film!

Rowen

24 days to go

The Magician's Guild - Trudi Canavan

I picked this book up from a Charity Shop in my home town centre a few years ago, this particular shop I always felt was awesome. It was a relatively large shop, split across two sites, one of which was filled with books. It was crooked, and packed, and there was a guy who used to volunteer there, I'm not sure if he still does, who could tell you off the top of his head if just about any book was currently available. This shop moved sites about a year and a half ago to the main street, this meant it was smaller, all on one site, had ready traffic (it'd always been a bit out of the way before), but also that the book part got relegated to the basement. It's still my favourite charity shop to look around, but it lost something in that move in my opinion. 

Anyway, I saw this book and I bought it. Nothing more went through my mind, the entire Black Magician trilogy was there, and frankly it was beautiful. I came home and put the books to one side; because to be honest I was a little scared they wouldn't live up to the expectations I'd managed to build up while carrying them around for an hour.

Occasionally I would think 'I have those caravan books....' but for a while they were lost in my bookcase, I find this is a not infrequent problem, and I'm excited for the day when I'll have enough shelf space to see all my books, although I'm not convinced it will last. Anyway earlier this year I found them, and since I've been on a bit of a series binge this year I decided to read the whole lot. 

The Magician's Guild I would say did live up to my expectations. It had a unique concept of magic, which at the same time was not indifferent to previous worlds. It conveyed a real sense of danger to Sonea, but at the same time I could see why she would hide from the guild, the very people who have always posed a danger to the existence of her family.

I like the way in which the writing would be able to reach to a wide range of audiences. 

All in all it was one of the best fantasy books I've read in a while and it's a shame I put it off.

Rowen

I'm hoping to post a kind of Advent Calender on the blog, because I'm way behind on my reviews and I'd like to have them at least tamed by the new year. 

25 Days to go

Soulless - Gail Carriger

Soulless was my introduction to Steampunk, a genre which has held me hook, line and sinker. After reading this book, which was loaned to me by a friend, I would definitely like to make further explorations into the genre.

Alexia Tarabotti was a character I found frankly hilarious, I don’t know if she was designed as such or if she became so accidentally, but I couldn’t help giggling at her quirks. I loved her mannerisms as she did her level best to fit into a Victorian London not so different than our own, but with some quirks of its own.

The only fault I could find with Alexia was the emphasis placed on her British-ness. It was a bit like a part of her had been written using soaps as the only guide and it became a bit caricature-ish. The supposed culture of ‘Oh he’s been shot, but maybe if we give him some tea he’ll get up and be hunky dory again’.

I loved Lord Maccon, his completely bewildered aggressiveness was fascinating to watch unfold. And pairing him with Professor Lyall was pure genius. They’re a lot like a more balanced, but more hot headed, Sherlock and Watson duo. Brilliant!

The story was as compelling as the characters who it revolved around. Artificially created Vampires, who’d have thought it? It’s a take on Vampires I’d never have thought of, even after watching the alternate reality episode of Buffy where she never came to Sunnydale and the Harvest went ahead leading to the building of a machine which basically milked human blood.

I was really content with the ending, although some of the reasoning behind it I found aggravating. I think if it had been a stand-alone novel I would have been more than happy, but I’m very glad the series is continuing. I particularly liked the part where Ivy blushed.

All in all a brilliant story!

Rowen

Last week of Scouting

Yesterday night was my last night at Beavers until Christmas, or possibly later, tonight is my last at Explorers and next Monday is my last at Cubs. Fortunately I still get to come back to Scouts on a Friday night while I'm at Uni or I'm not sure what I'd do with myself. 

Being a Scout Leader is a very strange situation in some ways, I imagine it's a bit like being a teacher, except you spend your downtime with the kids, you camp with them and you play games with them. I like to think that they see you more as a friend than a boss, and whilst you obviously have responsibility your job is to make sure they have fun, not that they learn. Hopefully they learn something at the same time, but if not at least they've enjoyed themselves. 

From my perspective, helping out at each section within our group it feels a bit like I have 40 odd children. I have definitely developed emotional attachments to them all. I get to see them excited when they've achieved something they didn't think they could, or when they get to try something they never would elsewhere. I get to see them growing as individuals when I've reprimanded them and they can tell me what they've done wrong and why they won't be doing it again. 

Honestly I can say it breaks my heart a little to say goodbye to these little people. I can't wait to see them again, and it was made all the worse by the Beavers being disappointed it was my last night for a while last night. 

I'll miss them all!

Rowen

Strata –Terry Pratchett

If you think of Terry Pratchett then as a rule you think of Discworld, but a relatively small part of the large selection of books that he’s written has nothing to do with the disc. Strata quite literally straddles this border.

It was written before he had fully developed the concept of the disc but at the same time it is an early exploration of it. Centering on Kin Arad it is about her discoveries regarding the creation of the universe. She is over 200 years old and has been creating planets for much of her life. Nothing fazes her.

That is until she is brought the news of a planet which is a disc, situated in uncharted space. She sets out to explore it, in the company of two unlikely and unexpected companions. Marco the legally human Kung, a species of highly warlike, four-armed, giant frogs. And silver, the gentle Shand, a linguist and historian who has to eat the synthetic flesh of her own species or she will transform into a ravening monster.

This book is stock full of Terry Pratchett’s legendary wit and is satisfying in the completeness of it’s storyline. The three discover the secrets of the disc, it’s utter wrongness and inevitably decide upon a course of action which will solve all of their problems.

I’d never heard of this book, unlike most of his books which you can see everywhere. If you get the chance then I’d recommend you read it.

Rowen

Gardens of the Moon – Steven Erikson

In looking for something to read whilst on holiday I searched for the ’10 best fantasy series’ and came across a list entitled 10 fantasy series to read while waiting for George R. R. Martin. The list gave me confidence because at the very top of the list was the Kingkiller Chronicles; a series which although incomplete has entrenched itself firmly in my heart.

So I read the list and I found five series which appealed to my sense of taste, some of which weren’t yet complete. Others, apparently, were, although there are too many cases of authors going back to series and adding to them for this necessarily to hold true. Coming top of this list, from my perspective, was Steven Erikson’s Malazan book of the fallen series. It was complete, always nice when you’re planning on reading the books back to back, and it was long, something which generally holds appeal for me since it gives me a chance to know the characters. So with no further ado I purchased the entire ten books for my kindle, all the while wondering if this was in actual fact a good investment of my money.

Book one, Gardens of the the Moon, was brilliant. Erikson span several threads which started out wholly unconnected but progressively ran closer together. From that reasoning alone this book could be compared to a work by Martin. Not only that but he has no compunctions about killing off major, even central, characters to the story. More than one character I held great belief, was killed during the course of this book, although with the nature of true fantasy there are illusions that a characters death will necessarily stick.

And that is where the book differs greatly from Martin’s. In ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ the magic is a subtle, almost non-existent, undercurrent to the main story. In Malazan book of the fallen the story would not progress without it. In many ways it is a story of how a game of the gods affects their mortal pawns.

The biggest issue I had with this book was how the first few chapters jumped from time to character and I struggled to find a foothold. Once it had settled down however pure brilliance emerged. It rang true as well to the preface the author had written seven books on, He said something to the effect of either a reader will not like my style and I will lose them in the first third of the first book or they will be fully on board and riding the waves with me seven books later.

I’m glad I persevered, the story is worth it.

Rowen