Borderline is a sharp urban fantasy book with a new take on the “fairies walk among us” trope. It stands out, in part, for its unusual protagonist (more on that later) but also achieves above-average marks for its balance of fresh world-building with a well-paced plot. Leaning too hard on one or the other can result either in a story that drags under the weight of excessive detail, or an ill-defined, unprincipled universe where anything goes with the plot because anything can be magicked to […]
NightinFail
Spoilers in this review. This book made me tired. I confess, I do not get what everyone sees in The Nightingale. I feel like because it is set in WWII/the Holocaust, and we know that terrible things happened, this book had ALL OF THE TERRIBLE THINGS and we just accept that EVERY TERRIBLE THING happened to the characters because, of course, it was a time of terrible things. But it was too much; it was simply not believable to me after a point. But I’m […]
The Review of the Great Books
I really, really liked Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, which is an incredibly blase way to compliment a book so raw and confrontational and, well, brilliant. The remaining three books in the Neapolitan Novels series build on the strong momentum established by the first and, in the process, continue to be some of the most poignant reading I’ve experienced in ages. The feelings that these books provoked in me were strong and visceral, inflamed and tender in their ebb and flow. These are not feel-good […]
“The girls were wild for dancing, and nothing else. No hearts beat underneath those thin, bright dresses. They laughed like glass.”
3.5 stars This is a very imaginative and clever re-telling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy-tale set in Prohibition NYC. The princesses are flappers and their father is some kind of business magnate trying to protect his family legacy without a son, the poor man. He keeps them locked up in their large home to protect their virtue and reputation, because that’s a surefire way to earn the obedience of teenagers. Here’s the overview from Goodreads: “Jo, the firstborn, “The General” to her eleven sisters, […]
Forgive me, I did not like this
I had problems with this book, honestly. I know it was tackling a difficult subject. I know that I am not the one to be evaluating and judging the well-being of suicidal teens, and the protagonist of this book is literally a boy planning to commit suicide, and he wants to take some people with him. Leonard’s confessional is all cynicism, antipathy, and naive self-centeredness, and right out of the gate his corrosive rationalizations for wanting to kill his classmate and himself are brashly laid […]
“Her voice carried the voices of a hundred thousand souls in it; a whole history of resistance and rage moved with her.”
3.5 stars And my cantankerous/ambivalent streak continues. Shadowshaper had so many the elements of a book I should have really liked: an inventive, unique fantasy and magic practice, a foundation in folklore that hasn’t been done to death, a dynamic protagonist, and a diverse, reliable, realistic support system for that protagonist. Additionally, the audiobook was masterfully performed by Anika Noni Rose, making Shadowshaper a joy to listen to. But something about the book, that I can’t quite put a finger on other than having this […]
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