Category: books

Book Review | The Fool’s Girl by Celia Rees

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There are times in which I feel, for a person with an English Lit degree, terribly under-read. Reading a YA Shakespearean retelling and realizing I have only cursory knowledge of the source material is one of those times. 

The Fool’s Girl essentially continues the story of Twelfth Night through the eyes of Violetta, the daughter of the play’s protagonist, after their country has fallen apart. She, along with Feste, the fool, search for an ancient relic, stolen by Malvolio- in a scheme entangling a London playwright by name of William Shakespeare.

Well, there certainly is enough drama to keep the story going. Politics, familial betrayal, ghosts… all of this and more come about in the story Violetta tells Will, taking the reader along for the ride. Rees flips between 3red and 1st person to do so, which I find interesting.

I find myself much preferring the 1st person however- the voice is much more compelling, the language richer, the descriptions more vibrant. The writing in the 3rd person sections are still good, but it feels flat somehow in comparison. There’s an awful lot of ‘telling’ going on here, where some description, some sense of internal life, would have done wonders. It’s in these 3rd person sections that the story drags.

Other than the first person sections, I had difficulty connecting to Violetta. She just doesn’t seem to come off the page as much as I would hope. This goes doubly for most of the minor characters, including the love interest. Feste, however, I greatly enjoyed. He’s tricky and biting. Despite caring for people (well, his specific people), he’s not nice, which in my opinion makes him one of the best sort of fools.

Speaking of Feste and other characters taken from Twelfth Night, however I will say that those readers who have a fondness for them won’t find this the most cheerful read. Rees decides in this story to flip genres on this poor cast of characters, shifting the story of Twelfth Night from comedy to tragedy as time goes on and the story continues past the dropping of the metaphorical curtain. Such is the way with retellings, twisting and turning the original story to make something new, still I must admit that the turn was pretty drastic and in several occasions I would argue a poor decision regarding characterization.

December Wrap-up 2020

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Well, I had a feeling that my December TBR wouldn’t remain static, and it didn’t. I got through…. I think two of the books I’d originally pulled out for myself and the month kind of collapsed in on itself after that. I blame fanfic. I should say the holidays- that would make more sense, wouldn’t it? But no, it was fanfic.

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
Having enjoyed the movie, I perhaps had too high of hopes for this one. Unfortunately the humor that worked so well in the film wasn’t that great on paper and the protagonist (and about every other character in this book) soured an interesting concept.
full review

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt
This was an okay read, overall. It was vaguely Christmassy, at least, though you really can’t judge a book by its cover here. Totally different vibe going on in the book. I just don’t really think I’m the biggest fan of legal thrillers, though, despite my childhood love of Matlock.
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 1- Here There be Gerblins by Pietsch and McElroy
I was pleasantly surprised by how well this first volume is put together. Anyone who’s listened to TAZ Balance (what the comic is based off of) will know that this arc was…. well, it was very McElroy-brand manic at times. The comic smooths that out a bit while leaving in the humor, creating a great start for this comic series. /
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 2 – Murder on the Rockport Limited! by Pietsch and McElroy
I’d already read and reviewed TAZ vol 2 before, but I was thoroughly ready to pick it back up again after reading Here There be Gerblins. Having read three volumes now of the story, I can still say this is my favorite one yet- high praise considering this wasn’t one of my favorite arcs in the podcast.
full review

The Adventure Zone Vol 3 – Petals to the Metal
And once again, a wonderful adaption of the podcast. It’s a crazy mess of a story featuring crazy plant powers, illegal racing, and romance. The side-characters were great in this one, and I was thrilled to see that a particular issue that the McElroys stumbled into was fixed in this version of the story.

full review

Aggretsuko – Metal to the Max by Barnes, Williams, and Hickey

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Okay, first off, thank you to netgalley for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you unfamiliar with Aggretsuko it is an animated series, both online and on netflix, focusing in on Retsuko, the day-to-day aggravations of her job, and her heavy metal habit- the way she deals with said job. On paper that sounds…. well, kind of weird, but the results are a great blend of cute and satire that is really unique. Recently Oni press has created a comic book series based off of the story and this graphic novel collects the first three issues.

What I love about this comic is how well it manages to translate the animated series into graphic novel format. The same brand of humor is there, with inconsiderate coworkers and bosses slowly building Retsuko’s stress levels. The strange mixture of true-to-life and exaggeration is ever-present, with both a head-cold-zombie chase through the office as well as social-media-fame shallowness being the fuel for Retsuko’s ire.

Interestingly, each comic was created by a different author/illustrator. The stories all fit well together, forming a cohesive tone, if not an overarching story. My favorite of the three is probably the first, “Down with the Sickness”. It’s by far the lowest regarding amount of dialogue, but the mad race through the office, mop-wielding and avoiding their fallen co-workers, is a thoroughly pre-covid take on infectious disease- which I really think I needed in all this craziness. Second favorite would probably be “The Visitor”, in which an overly enthusiastic worker from Canada is sent on an exchange in order to grow worker morale. Cultures clash, obviously. The addition of a new character is always fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed this Karen (yes that’s her name).

I do, however, feel they may have almost played it too safe in regards to the art style at times. As previously stated, there’s a cohesion present among the different stories, and while that works, one of the advantages of having multiple creators work on a series is the open-possibilities, seeing the different ways the world can be interpreted artistically. While there was some variation in styles, notably a softer, rounder look in “Down with the Sickness” (the first comic), they mostly remain a match for the netflix series. All of the art is great, but I would have appreciated a wider variety.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Aggretsuko, you wouldn’t be remiss in picking up the graphic novel. The stories, additionally will make sense if you’re not familiar with the Netflix series, and may be a good way to get a taste of the characters and story, if you don’t mind a few minor spoilers.

Book Review | The Adventure Zone- Here There be Gerblins by Carey Pietsch & the McElroys

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So, normally it’s fairly standard to start with the first book of a series and then make your way forward. For those of you who’ve seen my previous review on The Adventure Zone you’ll know that definitely didn’t happen, starting out on the second volume instead. Not that big a deal, since I’ve already listened to the podcast, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t thrilled to finally get the first volume for Christmas this year.

The art is by Carey Pietsch, and is so fitting for the series mixture of comedy and at-times-drama, lively and very much animated, especially regarding expressions. It’s colored in a palette that veers from cool to warm in turn. The color contrast works though, the chosen colors still complementing each other interestingly.

The comic does a fantastic job of transferring the story from the podcast to a visual media, especially in this earliest arc which was, understandably, a little shaky in its original format. I mean, they hadn’t expected The Adventure Zone to turn into what it became- originally just being a sort of one-off break in MBMBAM (the McElroy’s original podcast). The comic takes what the original iteration of the story and strengthens it, arguably benefiting from having the story and the characters already established. The characters that the McElroy’s had finally fully discovered by the end of the series sit there on the page.

And, just like in the podcast, where the story really shines is in the banter between the characters. The Adventure Zone comic is a meta-tastic fourth-wall-breaking piece of comedy, taking the joking ‘are we really doing this?’ nature of the earliest portions of the series and running with it, transferring it onto the page in the form of characters who, although are very grounded in the world they come from, don’t really take a lot seriously…. until they do. Because interspersed between those moments of silliness and Kenny Chesney references are real moments, horror and awe and connections-formed and being formed, that make these characters more than a bunch of jokes.

The meta-ness of course, might not be for everyone. The McElroy’s have a certain brand of humor that’s a little manic, a little off-the wall, that (like any brand of humor or storytelling) isn’t for everyone. If you’d rather have your fantasy story uninterrupted by jokes, or if the idea of the DM being an actual character who occasionally pops up in the corner of a panel, like some sort of polo-shirt wearing guiding voice, is off-putting, then this may not be the story for you.

For me, however, it was just what I needed, on this strange cut-off Christmas.

Book Review | The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

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It’s always a risk, picking up a book mini-series, even if the novels are ones that can stand-alone, like your average mystery novel. Still, it can be nice, sometimes, coming in blind, popping into an already-established world. Thus, I didn’t mind picking up the 15th book in the Andy Carpenter series The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, a novel about a gruff puppy-rescuer accused of murdering her neighbor after his complaints about her number of dogs. 

It’s an interesting enough story, with a sufficient number of twists and complications to keep one’s interest. It’s also a quick read, with pretty good pacing throughout. Unlike a few mysteries I’ve read, the details and clues are well-played out, the evidence easy to follow as it’s put together and presented by Andy in the courtroom.

The writing is pretty straight-forward, but the tone is fairly lighthearted for the subject material involved. There’s a light humor here that comes out during those courtroom scenes where the protagonist/narrator can use his wit and sarcasm. Those were definitely some of my favorite scenes.

Still, I can’t say the story really sucked me in. The characters, other than Andy and the accused Martha, felt a little bland (of course that can happen in the middle of a series, so that may be on me). And while the narrative started out strong and the courtroom scenes were good, I felt myself losing interest at times.

Long story short, while I don’t feel I wasted any time by reading this one, I’ll probably not be picking up another nook in the series.

Book Review | Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

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Out of the new Christmas books I found for this December’s reading, this is the one I was looking forward to the most. For those of you not familiar with the book, or the movie based on it, Christmas with the Kranks, it follows the Kranks and their decision to forgo Christmas in lieu of a cruise, as their daughter won’t be home. They find that bucking tradition might be harder than they think.

The premise is interesting. I think everyone’s had those moments, faced with the stress of the holidays where they just want to throw up their hands and be done with the whole thing. The thoughts of ‘what if we did something different this year’.

Thus the reason I feel disappointed by this book. I really wanted to like it, especially since I found the movie amusing- not my favorite holiday film, but I don’t turn it down if someone else wants to watch it. Unfortunately the detractors from the film are here in the book and even more noticeable.

Take the characters. I didn’t like any of them, but Luther especially was often unsympathetic, which is strange given how easy it would be, as previously stated, to make the reader feel for them. He’s so very often smug, self-centered, money-focused and, to be quite honest, racist (as is Nora, his wife with at least three comments throughout the book between them). And yes, character flaws make for realistic characters, but I struggled to find moments where I found him to be a normal human being instead of a scrooge caricature. 

And the neighbors aren’t any better. Seriously, who are these people that they think it’s a great idea to spend the season harassing their neighbors over a 6 foot plastic snowman? 

The story itself, once you get past the premise is… well bizarre. Everything is exaggerated, from the reactions to the Kranks’ decision, to their daughter’s hyper-whirlwind romance. This translated decently to the big screen, with the humor fairly clear, but in Grisham’s prose it misses something, never quite sticking the landing. 

Ultimately, it wasn’t one of the worst books I’ve read recently, but it does seem to be one of those rare books where the movie might just be a better choice.

December 2020 TBR

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So, I’m gonna preface this with the saying I have no intention of reading all of these books this month- I know by now that my interest in any one topic or book waxes and wanes sometimes by the hour, so it’s best to have an assortment brought out to choose from. So, here’s my TBR tower, heavily weighted towards Christmas stories. You’ll see, as the month goes along, which I’m actually pulling out (and not discarding after a few pages).

Skipping Christmas – John Grisham
I’ve seen the movie- not one my favorites, but I’m not gonna turn my nose up at it if someone else wants to watch it, or if my holiday faves aren’t available. I’ve always been curious as to how the book compares, so I didn’t hesitate to pick up this one from the thrift store when I saw it a couple of weeks ago.

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas – David Rosenfelt
So, normally I’m not the sort to pick up random mysteries from the middle of a series, but hey, I figured why not. It’s a Christmas book and it’s got dogs, which, I can guess from the cover and the general premise of the series (a dog-loving defense attorney) aren’t going to end up horribly killed.

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett
I’ve felt my mind gradually shifting back towards the Discword series recently (obsessing over a story partially penned by Sir Terry will do that I guess), and Hogfather seems the perfect re-entrance point. Unfortunately, this is one of the less likely for this month, since (as of today) finding the book isn’t going all that well. Oh well, crossing my fingers.

Plus-Any number of horoughly re-read children’s books that I’ve pulled out every single year since I got them, not limited to:

Mallory’s Christmas List – Ann M. Martin–
What can I say, I’m a sucker for the Babysitter’s Club, especially this one about a holiday gone excessive.

Kirsten’s Surprise – Janet Beeler Shaw
Really, any of the American Girl holiday books, but this was the first AG book I ever read and it’s still my favorite of the whole lot. Unfortunately, it’s another one that’s lost somewhere in the library, so we’ll see how that goes.

Zappy Holidays – Diana G. Gallagher
What can I say, I’m a product of the 90s and Alex Mack was one of my fave tv shows ever. I haven’t watched it in years, but every year I have to pull out this book. It’s my holiday tradition.

Now for some non-holiday possibilities, because you know there can be too much of a good thing.

The Case for God – Karen Armstrong
What can I say, Good Omens has sparked my comparative religions curiosity again. I love Karen Armstrong, and I hadn’t picked this one up yet- well, before a couple of weeks ago. This is one of my in progress books. I tend towards reading slowly through non-fiction texts. We’ll see how far I get this month.

The Fool’s Girl – Celia Rees
Not so sure about this one, but I’ve got a decent YA/middle grade backlog, and it dips a bit into Shakespeare, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

Book Review | Dune by Frank Herbert

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You know you’ve had an unpleasant experience with a book when you dread even typing up a book review for the thing. When you don’t even get the visceral ‘this book is trash and I need to scream to the heavens (and the internet) my displeasure’, but are thoroughly stuck in the ‘do I really have to pull thing thing out again?’ duldrums.

For those of you not familiar with Dune, it’s a bit of a space epic- centering around Paul Atreides, the son of an aristocratic family that is tasked with the management of the dessert planet Arrakis (otherwise known as Dune), which is the only source of a drug which extends life and provides mental abilities. The story is full of political intrigue and conflict, as various factions seek to control the planet and its resources.

Now, I will say, to start out, that the world building here can be fantastic. There is no way to disagree with this being a foundational piece of modern science fiction literature, because it feels so different than its contemporaries- ahead of its time. The culture of this world, its people and history, is fascinating. The author did an interesting job picking out pieces from actual cultures to build off of.

Unfortunately, the book is presented in such a way that making sense of the world building is a headache. Normally I don’t mind being dropped into a world a being left to figure out some of the mechanics myself, in this case however I spent a good portion of the early part of the book in varying levels of ‘what is going on here, again?’ When you have to look up the cultural concordance in the back of the book at least twice a page for the first fifty or so pages there’s something wrong.

Additionally. The dialogue really leaves something to be desired. At times its good, and feels pretty well normal, and then there’s portions that are so unrealistic, where you can’t help but think ‘nobody speaks like that’. It’s overly stilted and formal, as if they’re actors in a play. This feels especially so when encountering what I can only compare to thought-bubble. Oh, how I hated the thought-bubbles, which often feel intrusive and, in the worst cases, completely take away some of the intrigue the author was (I am assuming) going for. Revealing some character details and thoughts, fine, but when it gets to the point of spoiling what would essentially be a plot twist otherwise… not good.

So, long story short, yeah, I can appreciate the affect that Dune had on modern science fiction. I really do think you can call it a science fiction classic, and I really think it would be up some people’s alley. Does that mean I liked it, or ever want to read it or anything in the series, again? Nope. I’ll be quite happy to never have to interact with the story ever again.

Book Review | Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

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Title: Good Omens
Authors: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Publication date: 1990
Length: 412 pages
Genre: fantasy-supernatural, humor, horror
TW- racism, sexism, homophobia, slurs, maggots, violence, gore, blood, death,  corpse, language, referred to sexual content (fade to black)

Despite my love for this book I’ll be the first to admit, it’s a headache to try to sum up. Essentially though you have a mixup of cosmic proportions when the anti-christ goes missing, a witch with the only completely accurate book of prophecies ever written, and an angel/demon duo who would rather be drinking a nice glass of wine thank you very much can we stop with this whole apocalypse thing already? 

The humor is on point. I rather doubt anything touched by Terry Pratchett could fail in that regard. I don’t often laugh aloud while reading, but there are several parts of the book where I couldn’t help myself. The humor is wonderfully weird and smart (not high-brow by any means, but smart), absurd and wry.

Just because it’s a funny story however, doesn’t mean it isn’t, at times, messed up and creepy as all get out. One of the authors is, after all Neil Gaiman, and his signature darkness is all throughout the story. The horror elements aren’t overwhelming, but they’re used efficiently, like an unexpected dagger. 

The fact that they balance their two styles so well is one of my favorite things about the book really. 

Now there is one thing to keep in mind- not a criticism, but rather an observation. If you dislike bouncing around from character to character- preferring one central protagonist- this might not be a book for you. The story is fast-paced; there are a lot of players here and a lot going on. Gaiman/Pratchett managed to balance all the voices wonderfully, but in doing so they never dwell on a single part of the story for overly long before moving on to another perspective.

Long story short, I love this book. Funny and creepy and weird, it’s a unique story. It’s written by two of my favorite authors and it’s like having the best of both worlds. If you’re a fan of either Pratchett or Gaiman you need to try this book out.

Book Review | I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

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Title: I Am The Messenger
Author: Markus Zusak
Publication date: 2002
Length: 357 pages
Genre: Ya, contemporary, speculative
TW: weapon- gun, abuse-verbal (from parent), strong language, rape, abduction, violence, blood, sexual content, threatened murder, alcohol, gambling, death imagery-hanging

I have found, at times, that anticipation can be my worst enemy when picking up a new book, especially when written by an author I’m familiar with. That was, unfortunately the case here.

I Am the Messenger is the story of a 19 year old cabdriver whose life seems to be going nowhere. That changes, however, after stepping out of his comfort zone and helping to catch a bank robber. That event is not a one-time deal, as he would have preferred, suddenly sucked into a series of tasks sent to him of playing cards- a person to help or hurt- but either way to make a change.

I loved the writing style of the book, which some however may not be as fond of. It’s a little outside of the norm, with short sentences and paragraphs, the result being that the story can move quite quickly at times. In addition, the author’s descriptions are colorful without being flowery. 

Additionally, Zusak does wonderful job of getting the reader into the protagonist’s head, Ed having very clear voice. The protagonist pulls the reader along in his questions of what exactly is going on. The question, however, is will you like it there.

Ed’s thoughts, concerning his best friend and crush Audrey are sometimes icky at best with the all-too-often appearing thought of ‘she’ll sleep with anyone else, why not me?’ Following that up eventually with ‘I’m doing all this good stuff; I deserve something’. A lot of his interactions with women feel strange throughout. 

A lot of the interactions in general feel off, and not quite real. The secondary characters closest to our protagonist are mostly fine, but past that a lot of them start feeling very cookie-cutter. To be honest, I kept waiting for some sort of reveal letting the reader know that it’s all been in his own head, or the people are actors, or something similar. There was a weird twist ending, but it wasn’t that at least.

Perhaps it was partially to do with the fact that I absolutely loved The Book Thief but I felt a little let down by this book. I know it’s best not to compare the two, but seeing what Zusak can do made the flaws in this story stand out all the more, though I Am The Messenger does have a certain charm of its own.