Author: Greig

Professional Librarian from Fife who likes books and music.

antigone?

Posted on by Greig

Chimes at Midnight

Seanan McGuire

chimes at midnightThe latest Toby Daye book is as enjoyable as ever.
Tremendous upheaval comes to the Kingdom of the Mists in this book but it feels more like the theme of this one is about Toby accepting that she belongs in Faerie with the family she’s made up along the way.
It’s simultaneously very exciting and very annoying that hints about what appears to be the series endgame crop up in the last couple of chapters and the bonus short story.
I think, though, that some really awful things are going to start happening soon to our favourite changeling knight.
A total must read for Toby fans and the series as a whole is more than recommended for those who don’t actively hate urban fantasy.

Rating: B+

squirrel?

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Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Jenny Lawson

Lets Pretend This NeverHappenedLawson’s autobiography is incredibly funny, occasionally moving and nearly always faintly disturbing.
I really don’t want to spoil anything for you. I wholeheartedly recommend this book unless you have no taste for dark humour or you’re incredibly squeamish.

Rating: A

heels?

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Something About You

Julie James

Something about youThis is an incredibly fluffy, totally predictable romance novel about the romance between an assistant DA and an FBI agent that blossoms after she becomes the only material witness to a murder.
It was recommended to me by someone on Tumblr. I’ll be ignoring their recommendations from now on.

Rating: C

mechanism?

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Catching Fire

Suzanne Collins

catching fireThe latest trailer for the film version of this book was released at San Diego Comic Con and it got me slightly excited.
So I dug out my ebook and started reading and you know what? I think I like this book a whole lot more than I did the first time round.
The first person perspective is both the strength and weakness of this series.
It’s a strength because Katniss is such an interesting, damaged person and seeing the world via her naively cynical viewpoint skews the world in novel ways.
It’s a weakness because much of the really interesting stuff that happens – politically, culturally – are events that Katniss doesn’t attend or doesn’t understand.
It’s kind of wonderful that you have to piece together the back story by yourself but sometimes you really can’t tell what’s happened to place Katniss in whatever fresh hell she’s landed in.
What’s interesting about Catching Fire on a second read is how hard Katniss is trying to be empathetic, how much she’s learned from the horror of being in The Hunger Games about valuing the survival of other people.
Despite the many ways she’s been used and abused by the powerful, this is someone in the slow process of growing into a better person before fresh trauma is heaped upon her.
I really do recommend this series. It’s no masterpiece of literature but it is a very enjoyable and thought provoking read with a compelling central character.

Rating: A

wiggin?

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Ender’s Game

Orson Scott Card

ender's gameIt’s a long time since I last read this book – nearly nine years ago.
With the upcoming release of a film of this and the subsequent furore over Card’s ridiculous homophobia I took a notion to read Ender’s Game again.
I picked it up in the afternoon and next thing I knew it was nearly three in the morning and the book was finished.
It’s a brilliant piece of science fiction with themes still relevant today, vivid world building and a compelling central character.
Despite loving this book I have very deliberately never read another Orson Scott Card book. I can ignore his views when caught up in the story but purchasing his books makes me feel complicit when he funds organizations that pursue an agenda I cannot support.
Having said all that I still thoroughly recommend reading Ender’s Game – it is genuinely great.

Rating: A

malerie?

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Struck By Lightning

Chris Colfer

Struck by lightningEntertainingly sarky high school novella by the Glee star.
I bought the book after being entertained by the film’s trailer.
It’s told in the form of the lead character’s diary as he blackmails his way through the school popular elite in order to publish a literary magazine to strengthen his college application.
The story is told for maximum dark humour and with absolutely no interest in making the central character sympathetic.
Not outstanding but certainly worth a read.

Rating: B

serum?

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Divergent

Veronica Roth

divergentThis is a very enjoyable slice of dystopian YA science fiction.
It’s Chicago in the future and after some unspecified calamity the city is isolated and people split up into five factions.
At sixteen children are tested for factional affinity and then have to choose which faction they want to join.
This is a very quick read and it’s an intriguing world the author’s set up that is begging to be expanded in later volumes.
Obviously it’s going to be compared to The Hunger Games books as it’s a first-person narrative book for teenagers set in a bleak future. Honestly it’s not as good but it’s still worth a read and I’m definitely reading the sequel.

Rating: B+

finding?

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The Language of Spells

Sarah Painter

the language of spellsThis was another Kindle daily deal that I was tempted by.
The plot is about a young woman who inherits her great-aunt’s house and the repercussions as the past is dredged up by her return to where she grew up.
This is a nice little romance novel that happens to have a lead character with real magical powers.
Weirdly it reminded me a bit of Diana Wynne Jones – though not in her league – with the small town English setting and the prosaic everyday magic.
I enjoyed it quite a lot and will definitely check out any new books by the author to see if she can get even better.

Rating: B

wren?

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Mockingbird

Chuck Wendig

MockingbirdThe sequel to Blackbirds takes a while to build up steam but once it hits the meat of the story it easily meets the standards of the first book.
Miriam Black is a very interesting character and it’s good to see Wendig making her more complex and nuanced with every book.
I think you really need to have read the first book to get the most from this one (though I think it would work as a standalone to some extent). I would recommend it just as much as Blackbirds.

Rating: B+