Did you read my explanation of Reviews in Brief? No? Go check out Monday’s post! More information about my neurotic thought process than you could ever want!
Are you back? OK. Some more reviews. And, I daresay, maybe these will help some of you with your holiday book shopping? Yes? No? If not, don’t tell me. Let me live in my illusory happy-land. *Waves tiny drink umbrella at you from my cabana next to the swimming pool* More review catch-up to come next week. I’m getting there. Slowly but surely. Happy Thanksgiving!
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund. I’ll keep this short, because Tanita already reviewed this one for last year’s Cybils much more ably and knowledgeably than I—the Austen heathen who has only ever read Pride & Prejudice in graphic novel format and whose other Austen experience is limited to movies (but how much do I love the BBC thing with Colin Firth?? SO MUCH). Anyway, that meant I had very little urge to make direct comparisons between this book and its inspiration, Persuasion, other than on the most general level of the story being “Austenesque.” To make this short: Sci-fi. Love it. Luddites vs. Those Who Want to Recoup Tech: Love it. (And writing it. Soon. Next, in fact.) Prickly heroine and equally prickly hero: Fun. Love it. Class and genetic warfare: Yes, even more sci-fi love. Post-apocalyptic stuff: Yes, yes, I love that, too. I enjoyed the whole book much more than I thought I might.
Review copy source: Library ebook | Buy from Indiebound
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. This is the sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I enjoyed for its artistic, quirky heroine as well as its truly unusual take on the whole battle of good-vs.-evil, angel-vs.-demon scenario. I don’t normally gravitate towards angel/demon fiction, but the way it’s done here, it’s much more complex than the usual reiterations of Biblical-type winged seraphim and whatnot, which you’ll know if you read the first one. In this second volume, we have Karou, former apprentice to the missing, presumed-dead monster resurrectionist, feeling betrayed by the one she thought she loved and assuming their youthful dream of peace between the opposing sides is hopeless and gone forever. Can hope be rebuilt? How much can love and forgiveness be tested? I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but it’s an excellent sequel if you enjoyed the first one—I actually think I might have liked it even more.
Review copy source: Library ebook | Buy from Indiebound
Spirit and Dust, by Rosemary Clement-Moore. This one’s also been reviewed by Tanita—go check out her detailed writeup for more info. As always, though, I adored this one, and I loved reading another book in the same general universe as Texas Gothic, with some overlapping characters. This time we’re following Daisy Goodnight, equally immersed in the supernatural, but a totally different personality than her cousin Amy in Texas Gothic. Fun with ghosts, magic, witches, suspense, a Hot Guy, and plenty of hilarity, which is something the author does really, really well.
Review copy source: Library | Buy from Indiebound
City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster. I really liked the premise/setting of this one. If you’ve ever visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, it’s kind of like that—in the City of Thousand Dolls, the abandoned orphan girls of the empire are raised to be productive citizens: healers, wives, courtesans, musicians, depending on which House they are apprenticed to. It’s even said that there’s a House of Assassins…which sets the plot in motion. One of the girls in the City has been murdered. Whodunit, and why? Sixteen-year-old Nisha, assistant to the Matron of the City, is determined to find out, but as the mysterious crimes continue, she herself is in danger, too. Oh, and she can talk telepathically to cats. (I had trouble with that at first. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and I have to admit I had a moment where I thought, oh, no, but it turns out to be not only important to the plot, but leads to a much more interesting twist than I could have envisioned.)
Review copy source: Library | Buy from Indiebound
