strange and random happenstance: All Soul's Trilogy

Showing posts with label All Soul's Trilogy. Show all posts

Monday, May 7, 2018

Tuesday Tomorrow

The World of All Souls by Deborah Harkness
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: May 8th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Discovery of Witches introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Shadow of Night and The Book of Life carried Deborah Harkness's series to its spellbinding conclusion.

In The World of All Souls, Harkness shares the rich sources of inspiration behind her bewitching novels. She draws together synopses, character bios, maps, recipes, and even the science behind creatures, magic, and alchemy--all with her signature historian's touch. Bursting with fascinating facts and dazzling artwork, this essential handbook is a must-have for longtime fans and eager newcomers alike."

It's called Deborah Harkness is going all Outlander on us!

Lumberjanes: The Moon is Up by Mariko Tamaki
Published by: Amulet Books
Publication Date: May 8th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Welcome to Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types. The five scouts of Roanoke cabin—Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley—love their summers at camp. They get to hang out with their best friends, earn Lumberjane scout badges, annoy their no-nonsense counselor Jen...and go on supernatural adventures. That last one? A pretty normal occurrence at Miss Qiunzella’s, where the woods contain endless mysteries.

As the camp gears up for the big Galaxy Wars competition, Jo and the gang get some help from an unexpected visitor—a Moon Pirate!

Book Two will focus on Jo, the ingenious inventor of the group who also happens to be trans."

Does anyone else find the labeling of Jo a little against the vibe of the comics. They are what they are and that's why we love them... perhaps it was the marketing department trying to be woke.

On the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein by Charlie Harmon
Published by: Imagine
Publication Date: May 8th, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A celebratory, intimate, and detailed look at the public and private life of Leonard Bernstein written by his former assistant. Foreword by Broadway legend Harold Prince.

Leonard Bernstein reeked of cheap cologne and obviously hadn't showered, shaved, or slept in a while. Was he drunk to boot? He greeted his new assistant with "What are you drinking?" Yes, he was drunk.

Charlie Harmon was hired to manage the day-to-day parts of Bernstein's life. There was one additional responsibility: make sure Bernstein met the deadline for an opera commission. But things kept getting in the way: the centenary of Igor Stravinsky, intestinal parasites picked up in Mexico, teaching all summer in Los Angeles, a baker's dozen of young men, plus depression, exhaustion, insomnia, and cut-throat games of anagrams. Did the opera get written?

For four years, Charlie saw Bernstein every day, as his social director, gatekeeper, valet, music copyist, and itinerant orchestra librarian. He packed (and unpacked) Bernstein's umpteen pieces of luggage, got the Maestro to his concerts, kept him occupied changing planes in Zurich, Anchorage, Tokyo, or Madrid, and learned how to make small talk with mayors, ambassadors, a chancellor, a queen, and a Hollywood legend or two. How could anyone absorb all those people and places? Because there was music: late-night piano duets, or the Maestro's command to accompany an audition, or, by the way, the greatest orchestras in the world. Charlie did it, and this is what it was like, told for the first time."

For my brother!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: A Discovery of Witches, All Soul's Trilogy, Deborah Harkness, Leonard Bernstein, Lumberjanes, Mariko Tamaki, Outlander, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life, The World of All Souls, Tuesday Tomorrow

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Book Review - Deborah Harkness's The Book of Life

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
ARC Provided by the Publisher
Published by: Viking Adult
Publication Date: July 15th, 2014
Format: Hardcover, 576 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

Matthew and Diana return from the past to find much changed and much the same as it ever was. There has been loses while they were gone, and they must morn them. But life goes on, as Diana's ever increasing belly shows. The time has come to find answers as the lives growing in Diana's belly depend on them. Matthew delves into the science side at Yale while Diana goes to England to find out the answers of Ashmole 782. New and old technologies are used to find out secrets of their supernatural kind. Secrets that will hopefully bring the Congregation to a new understanding of how the world works. Witches and vampires and demons are more alike then they are different and these similarities should be embraced not segregated. But in the end there will be a battle, but will it be political or will Matthew's dangerous past come back to haunt him?

The "All Souls Trilogy" baffles me. It has so much wasted potential but, like some other series that I have found middling, it has a fierce fanbase that I don't want to rile, as well as a few close friends. This is the same fanbase that can see no wrong in Outlander, the forty year old women who will beat you to death if you say anything against Jamie Fraser. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm just not at the point in my life where this reaches out and touches something deep in my soul, instead I'm sticking by my opinion that this is Twilight for middle aged women. Before I actually read this installment I was excited for the conclusion of this series. Shadow of Night really captured my interest with it's historical bent, but sadly this volume decided to focus on science versus history. The mess this resulted in felt like Michael Crichton writing YA. The writing was clumsy with the shift from Diana's first person narration to Matthew's third person narration. The ending was a trite cliche with an extremely unrealistic HEA. In fact, was there actually enough to merit the moniker "book" when anything of interest was unresolved and everything seemed like it could be summed up in an afterword?

Now for the fun part. The part where I take apart The Book of Life and point at everything that drove me crazy. Shall we start with Stevie Nicks? I think we shall. What the hell is it with Stevie Nicks and witches? Yes she's rumored to be one, but she denies it so often and then does an about turn that you could get whiplash. But the fact of witches identifying with her music has gotten to a point in our culture where it's so cliched that to use it you seriously are going to incur my wrath. It just shows a laziness that you can't think of something more interesting and will just rely on the stereotype. Wasn't this whole series trying to say that things are more complicated and confusing then what you'd expect? Well, that means I'd expect something better then Stevie Nicks. At least she didn't show up and do an extended music video in the middle of the book for absolutely no reason, thank you American Horror Story: Coven and Ryan Murphy for bringing me that cringe worthy moment in television history. That moment is also the first thing that popped in my mind while reading this book. Ug. Stop.

As Gallowglass says "This family was more fun when we had fewer medical degrees." Thank you Gallowglass, aka the one character I like, for pointing out the obvious. The characters zeal for scientifically researching the world of creatures and their problems, from studying blood rage to genomes to The Book of Life itself made me want to scream in frustration. I like the history, I don't like the science. Yes, in books that tackle supernatural beings we have to look at the world they now inhabit, the fact that DNA and genetics can uncover centuries old secrets, but do we need to do it in such detail? Let's all go to Yale and get a research grant and blah blah blah, blood rage, blah blah blah, babies, blah blah blah, what was I even talking about? Now I'm not saying science can't be interesting, but it's more interesting when it's real. When it's made up mumbo jumbo by an author that isn't that accomplished and has tons of plot holes and inconsistencies? No thanks.

But you know what's worse then science? Politics! I hate politics. I pay attention because it's what every good citizen should do. Also, I live in the epicenter of political evil right now, so, well, it's a main topic of conversation, as in, what stupid and illegal thing happened today? But do I want to read, watch, listen, osmose politics for fun? NO! Here we have ANOTHER book with an unnatural union being thwarted by a secret governing body that just doesn't get the world is changing. Again, Twilight much? Any urban fantasy author will tell Harkness that it's best to leave the overly political BS that governs your world off stage. Seriously, all those meetings in Venice where they were droning on and on about all the different species that Harkness has created I was more interested in the architecture. The boat rides to and from the meetings were more thrilling. How did she make Venice boring? Well, she made a lot of things boring and took a lot of pages to do it, so really, I shouldn't be that surprised.

Writing this review is making me realize why it took me a month to read this book. ME, who usually devours a book in a few days no matter the length. OK, let's get this over with. So, what annoyance shall I conclude with? Oh, how about Diana! At the beginning of this series Diana was the conduit for the reader. She was fairly normal, aside from the whole being a witch thing. But over time as her relationship with Matthew deepened, she has become something other then human, something more. She now has arrows and firedrakes and weaving IN HER ARM! Yes, it's kind of cool, but there's also the fact that she is totally unrelatable now. She's a superhero, so we can look up to her, but the truth is, do people really truly ever relate to superheroes? They might want to be them, but relatability isn't part of that. Maybe my whole problem with this book and it's fans is that I can't relate at all and perhaps it's better if we just keep our distance.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: All Soul's Trilogy, American Horror Story, Ashmole 782, Deborah Harkness, Gallowglass, HEA, Outlander, Shadow of Night, Stevie Nicks, The Book of Life, Twilight, Vampires, Witches, Yale

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Book Review - Deborah Hakness' A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Published by: Viking Adult
Publication Date: February 8th, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Diana is a witch. Something she has always denied herself. Magic killed her parents and magic would have no place in her life. She has created a great academic career for herself and is researching alchemy in Oxford for the semester. Then one day she calls a book from the stacks, Ashmole 782. This book isn't what it seems, it reeks of magic. As soon as she's done, Diana sends it back to the stacks and far away from her. Yet this book will change her life. Soon she learns that this book had been considered lost for hundreds of years and every kind of supernatural and preternatural want it, believing it to be their holy book. Vampires, Daemons and even her own kind are willing to do anything to get it. Enter Matthew Clairmont. Matthew is tall, dark and brooding, everything you'd expect a vampire to be. He takes a keen interest in Diana, not just because of the book, but because something draws her to him.

Soon the two of them are in an inseparable web. Falling for each other, but denying that it is happening. Oxford becomes too dangerous for Diana and Matthew spirits her away to his family estate in France, where Diana will have to face Matthew's mother and her disapproval. She has to be conciliatory to Matthew's wishes that she curtail her active and independent lifestyle in the face of danger. Soon though, it's not just Ashmole 782 which is the true danger, but her feelings for Matthew. Witches and Vampires are not to consort. The Congregation is an organization that rules over the otherworldly. Three members from each group lay down the law. Matthew and Diana are breaking their laws. Soon Diana is kidnapped and rescued and on the run, yet again. An ancient order of knights is called into action and a shadow council is unwittingly formed at Diana's family's home in upstate New York. If there's one thing they need, it's more time. Time to find out the true reason that Diana and Matthew prove such a danger, and time for Diana to embrace her heritage.

This book started out so good. Diana was living the dream. Ok, Diana was living my dream. Researching at Oxford, spending all her spare time in the Bodleian, having anxiety attacks, ok, that's not cool, but I have them, so I can relate, rowing, hey, I always wanted to do rowing, until I realized you had to get up at dawn. She was living the dream life. Then a tall dark stranger entered into her life and it started to get weird and silly. I was ok with the occasional weird multiple species yoga class, yes, there are vampires, witches and daemons doing yoga, because the book had Diana and Oxford. She was strong, independent, active. She kicked some serious ass, all the while in the city of Inspectors Morse and Lewis. Then off the France and she becomes the damsel in distress. She has power, but she can't access it unless certain things happen, mainly, if Matthew is there or in danger. So Deborah took this strong female lead and instantly made her Bella. The Twilight comparisons come fast and quick once Diana because vulnerable. Diana embraces Edward's... oh, wait, I mean Matthew's family, over her own. She continually gets injured and has to be protected, despite the fact that her genes show that she might be the most powerful witch ever. Matthew's siblings all argue over Diana but in the end accept her as one of their own. Sheesh... it went quickly from being a fun read to being an adult Stephenie Meyer's book.

Yet, there's so much silliness I can't stop listing it! Vampires, Daemons and Witches are worried about their races dying out and are obsessed with Darwin. Diana's family house is full of tons and tons and tons of ghosts. It's this weird house that gives and takes as people need, like a room of requirement but house sized. Of course Matthew has an evil ex that almost destroys them randomly thrown in at the end. Diana didn't choose her own fate, she didn't turn away from witchcraft because she wanted too, but because of some juju her parents worked on her. Diana has become a puppet that does yoga. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to read the next book, but now we'll have the silliness of time travel on top of everything else. It's almost as if Deborah Harkness took every single trope in popular romance and fantasy and made it into one book. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. The way she describes the world is beautiful, and she is a talented writer, she just needs to learn you don't need to throw in everything AND the kitchen sink. Also, never, ever do anything that can make someone see parallels between your work and Twilight.