strange and random happenstance

What did I know about The Witcher prior to Netflix's announcement that they were making a TV show? That it was a popular video game. What did I know about The Witcher after Netflix's announcement that they were making a TV Show? That it was a popular video game, there were also books, and Henry Cavill was going to play the lead and was a big fan. The thing about the show is it's actually hard to get into. The first season has I don't know how many timelines and tries to impart the mythology of the world via osmosis. This is not a method I would recommend to anyone trying to impart large chunks of knowledge. It's very confusing. Even to those who are rewatching, so say my friends. I'm not the biggest fan of the info dump, but I wouldn't object too strongly in this instance. In fact I think I might have learned more from The Witcher: Blood Origin about the mythology and history of the Continent than I did from the main show. This all led me to prefer the one-off episodes. Sure, they were mainly monster of the week episodes, but if anyone says anything bad about the creepy incest episode "Betrayer Moon" or the just insane reimagining of Beauty and the Beast "A Grain of Truth" I will fight you. Once I get my hands on a Witcher potion. The thing you have to understand about The Witcher, from what I can see, it doesn't really have any pretensions to be something it's not. It's not trying to be something more like The Rings of Power, it's just trying to be itself, which is Xena: Warrior Princess with an actual budget. You even get the off-the-wall cameos like Molesley from Downton Abbey to Simon Callow who wandered by for two episodes as an eccentric bookseller with a rather fiery end, to Graham McTavish obviously playing the role Simon Callow wanted, nudist talking to owls. In other words all I'm asking for is a Bruce Campbell cameo. Hell, I'd even watch Bruce as Geralt more than I'd watch the least Hemsworth brother take on the role. And serious question, do we think this is a option? Because I am not joking about preferring a Bruce Campbell version seeing as there's no way in hell I'm watching one with that Hemsworth on board. So in a moment of clarity, I will confess that this review is for the final season of The Witcher. Let's face it, it's how we all feel. I even wonder if Netflix feels the same way, there was an odd survey they had me fill out back in July... And given the way it ended, I don't know if I want to give them a second chance. The first half of this season was oddly informative and didn't confuse me in the least, except for the part where like no one told Ciri her father is alive. It's like they realized from The Witcher: Blood Origin that an audience wants a comprehensible story. They also got the memo that Jaskier should be in every episode AND have an adorable love interest AND a rival, bringing on a marvelous bard who so breaks the forth wall. But then "The Witcher Red Wedding" happened. And while it was magnificent, the writers forgot that in the world of Game of Thrones that the "Red Wedding" was quickly followed by the even more spectacular "Purple Wedding." Here we got a grumbling deathbed Geralt and a vision quest Ciri. Oh, and no resolution. Don't forget the fact that they wasted their last three episodes and in particular their final episode on nothing. What a waste of a Witcher. I think that should be one of Jaskier's final songs.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Beauty and the Beast, Bruce Campbell, Ciri, Downton Abbey, Geralt, Graham McTavish, Henry Cavill, Jaskier, Molesley, Netflix, Simon Callow, The Witcher, The Witcher: Blood Origin, Yennifer

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

There are tales that should only be told in the darkest months or at the darkest hours. Tales of magic most wondrous and dangerous. Tales that you think you know the outcome but take you to unexpected vistas, places beyond which normal sanitized fairy tales end. There's a beastly prince who holds a town in his grasp. Yet all he really longs for is a story. One that ends true. And there's the young Ayama, overlooked by her own family, who could save them all or realize her own overlooked power. There are animals who believe that no matter what that they are the most clever and that they will never be caught. But what if they fail to see the danger in disguise? Then there's Nadya. Girls have been disappearing in the woods near her home. Everyone says the woods is eating them. But Nadya doesn't believe in that superstitious rumor. She believes the danger is closer to home. She doesn't trust her new step-mother who just has to be a wicked one. A witch that drives Nadya from her home and her beloved father and into the very woods that "eat" young girls. Yet Nadya finds a kind witch. A witch that takes care of her and eventually she learns that nothing is as it seems. Father's in fact can be trouble, as young and beautiful Yeva learns. Her father decides to barter her hand for his own prosperity, never once thinking what his daughter might want. Though one should never expect an outcome they desire when they don't fully appreciate what led them to victory. The worm can turn. As it does for Droessen the toymaker. He wants to better himself and his standing in the world. He wishes not to be someone brought for entertainment at the holidays. He wants wealth. He wants what his patrons have. So he makes a vehicle for his purposes, a nutcracker. One who will do his bidding. Yet what happens when knowledge and autonomy set in? Life always has a way to strike you down when you try to reach beyond your abilities, when you try to set your hat at something that you don't deserve. But most importantly, when you use others to achieve those goals. Ulla learns this the hardest way possible, but one related to living darkness might just find a way to get her revenge.

The Language of Thorns is a compilation of dark fairy tales that everyone should own. And I mean EVERYONE. You don't need to have read Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books in order to appreciate them. You don't need to have any experience with her writing AT ALL. This is just an amazing series of tales that I know my grandmother would have loved to read with me, for her the darker the tale the more she enjoyed it. Of course if you ARE a fan of the Grishaverse this book should already be on your bookshelf for the deeper understanding you acquire of the complexity and history of the world Leigh has created. As with any good set of fairy tales several of these are well known tales told in a different way. We have Beauty and the Beast, The Nutcracker, and The Little Mermaid. She makes them all deliciously darker. And this is saying something because Leigh uses the original story of The Little Mermaid as her inspiration, NOT the Disney version... though you can still feel the Disney influence in a wonderfully twisted way. I loved all these tales so much but I have to say the retelling of The Nutcracker, "The Soldier Prince" won my heart. I have never been a fan of The Nutcracker, I have issues with the rat king, but here Leigh combines it with another story I am not too fond of, The Velveteen Rabbit, and creates a Christmas tale that is a meditation on what makes us who we are and what can happen if we take control of our own destinies and stories. None of these stories end up where you expect and I think that is what makes them so powerful. That and the illustrations. This book could be bought just for Sara Kipin's illustrations alone. She starts each tale with just one small drawing that every time you flip the page gets added to until the entire tale has this magnificent border that has morphed and changed over the course of the tale. As a final treat the last two pages of each tale are a beautiful illustration surrounded by the border we have seen develop. It's truly astonishing and reminds me of the awe I had for flip books when I was little. This whole book reminded me of my childhood and I love that this is a selection of fairy tales for those of all ages. Share it with those you love.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bardugo Bash, Beauty and the Beast, Fairy Tales, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Magic, Midnight Tales, The Language of Thorns, The Little Mermaid, The Nutcracker, The Soldier Prince, The Velveteen Rabbit, Witches

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: September 26th, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

There are tales that should only be told in the darkest months or at the darkest hours. Tales of magic most wondrous and dangerous. Tales that you think you know the outcome but take you to unexpected vistas, places beyond which normal sanitized fairy tales end. There's a beastly prince who holds a town in his grasp. Yet all he really longs for is a story. One that ends true. And there's the young Ayama, overlooked by her own family, who could save them all or realize her own overlooked power. There are animals who believe that no matter what that they are the most clever and that they will never be caught. But what if they fail to see the danger in disguise? Then there's Nadya. Girls have been disappearing in the woods near her home. Everyone says the woods is eating them. But Nadya doesn't believe in that superstitious rumor. She believes the danger is closer to home. She doesn't trust her new step-mother who just has to be a wicked one. A witch that drives Nadya from her home and her beloved father and into the very woods that "eat" young girls. Yet Nadya finds a kind witch. A witch that takes care of her and eventually she learns that nothing is as it seems. Father's in fact can be trouble, as young and beautiful Yeva learns. Her father decides to barter her hand for his own prosperity, never once thinking what his daughter might want. Though one should never expect an outcome they desire when they don't fully appreciate what led them to victory. The worm can turn. As it does for Droessen the toymaker. He wants to better himself and his standing in the world. He wishes not to be someone brought for entertainment at the holidays. He wants wealth. He wants what his patrons have. So he makes a vehicle for his purposes, a nutcracker. One who will do his bidding. Yet what happens when knowledge and autonomy set in? Life always has a way to strike you down when you try to reach beyond your abilities, when you try to set your hat at something that you don't deserve. But most importantly, when you use others to achieve those goals. Ulla learns this the hardest way possible, but one related to living darkness might just find a way to get her revenge.

The Language of Thorns is a compilation of dark fairy tales that everyone should own. And I mean EVERYONE. You don't need to have read Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books in order to appreciate them. You don't need to have any experience with her writing AT ALL. This is just an amazing series of tales that I know my grandmother would have loved to read with me, for her the darker the tale the more she enjoyed it. Of course if you ARE a fan of the Grishaverse this book should already be on your bookshelf for the deeper understanding you acquire of the complexity and history of the world Leigh has created. As with any good set of fairy tales several of these are well known tales told in a different way. We have Beauty and the Beast, The Nutcracker, and The Little Mermaid. She makes them all deliciously darker. And this is saying something because Leigh uses the original story of The Little Mermaid as her inspiration, NOT the Disney version... though you can still feel the Disney influence in a wonderfully twisted way. I loved all these tales so much but I have to say the retelling of The Nutcracker, "The Soldier Prince" won my heart. I have never been a fan of The Nutcracker, I have issues with the rat king, but here Leigh combines it with another story I am not too fond of, The Velveteen Rabbit, and creates a Christmas tale that is a meditation on what makes us who we are and what can happen if we take control of our own destinies and stories. None of these stories end up where you expect and I think that is what makes them so powerful. That and the illustrations. This book could be bought just for Sara Kipin's illustrations alone. She starts each tale with just one small drawing that every time you flip the page gets added to until the entire tale has this magnificent border that has morphed and changed over the course of the tale. As a final treat the last two pages of each tale are a beautiful illustration surrounded by the border we have seen develop. It's truly astonishing and reminds me of the awe I had for flip books when I was little. This whole book reminded me of my childhood and I love that this is a selection of fairy tales for those of all ages. Share it with those you love.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beauty and the Beast, Fairy Tales, Grishaverse, Leigh Bardugo, Magic, Midnight Tales, The Language of Thorns, The Little Mermaid, The Nutcracker, The Soldier Prince, The Velveteen Rabbit, Witches

The Revenant Express by George Mann
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The grand adventure continues in George Mann's Newbury and Hobbes steampunk mystery series, as a Victorian special agent races across a continent to save his beloved's life on board The Revenant Express.

Sir Maurice Newbury is bereft as his trusty assistant Veronica Hobbes lies dying with a wounded heart. Newbury and Veronica's sister Amelia must take a sleeper train across Europe to St. Petersberg to claim a clockwork heart that Newbury has commissioned from Faberge to save Veronica from a life trapped in limbo.

No sooner do they take off then sinister goings-on start to plague the train, and it is discovered that an old villain, thought dead, is also on board and seeking revenge. Can Newbury and Amelia defeat him and get the clockwork organ back to the Fixer in time to save Veronica? And can they do so without Newbury going so far into the dark side of occult magic that he can never return?

Meanwhile, Sir Charles Bainbridge is the only one of their team left in London to struggle with a case involving a series of horrific crimes. Someone is kidnapping prominent men and infecting them with the Revenant plague, leaving them chained in various locations around the city. But why?

It's a rousing chase to save both London and Veronica. Will these brave detectives be up to the task?"

FINALLY! With the way George jumps around in his storytelling we knew Veronica would survive... but it's been AGONY to find out how. Thankfully The Revenant Express has arrived at the station. 

Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit by Patricia Marcantonio
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Amidst the heraldry of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations, a string of brutal murders rocks Britain's upper crust - and could threaten the realm itself - in the spellbinding debut of Patricia Marcantonio's Felicity Carrol mysteries.

Felicity Carrol is interested in everything - except being a proper young matron of Victorian society. Brilliant and resourceful, Felicity took refuge in science and education after her mother died and her father abandoned her to servants. Now, all he wants is for her to marry into a family of status and money.

Felicity has other ambitions - but her plans shudder to a halt when her mentor is murdered at the British Museum and his priceless manuscript of King Arthur lore is stolen. Tapping into her photographic memory and the latest in the burgeoning field of forensic detection, Felicity launches an investigation. Handsome Scotland Yard Inspector Jackson Davies is also on the case, and finds Felicity as meddlesome as she is intelligent. But when more nobles are murdered and their King Arthur relics stolen, Felicity must journey on her own into the dark underworld of antiquity theft, where she uncovers a motive far more nefarious than simple profit.

As the killer sets his sights on a new victim - a charismatic duke who has captured Felicity’s imagination - the stakes rise to impossible heights. It’s a case that could shake the kingdom in Patricia Marcantonio’s series debut, Felicity Carrol and the Perilous Pursuit."

This sounds like a wonderful little cozy whodunit!

The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 353 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the bestselling author of The Tuscan Child comes a beautiful and heart-rending novel of a woman’s love and sacrifice during the First World War.

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.

When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Emily’s lover has not only died a hero but has left her terrified—and with child. Since no one knows that Emily was never married, she adopts the charade of a war widow.

As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster, but may open a path to her destiny."

Land girls in Devonshire? Oh yes! 

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Everyone's invited... everyone's a suspect...

For fans of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a shivery, atmospheric, page-turning novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Agatha Christie, in which a group of old college friends are snowed in at a hunting lodge...and murder and mayhem ensue.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?"

With all the buzz around this book I have literally had it preordered since day one. Plus it looks like another winter storm is on the way, so perhaps this week I'll just stay in a devour it!

Careless Love by Peter Robinson
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"His fans include Stephen King, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, Ian Rankin, and Louise Penney. He has won acclaim and numerous international prizes and awards, including the Edgar. Now, Peter Robinson, one of the world’s greatest suspense writers, returns with a powerful mystery in which his legendary Detective Superintendent Alan Banks must solve two perplexing crimes.

Two suspicious deaths challenge DS Alan Banks and his crack investigative team.

A young local student’s body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. The death looks like suicide, but there are too many open questions for Banks and his team to rule out foul play. The victim didn’t own a car. She didn’t even drive. How did she get there? Where—and when—did she die? Did someone move her, and if so, why?

A man in his sixties is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. He is wearing an expensive suit and carrying no identification. Post mortem findings indicate that he died from injuries sustained during a fall. Was it an accident—did he slip and fall? Or was he pushed? Why was he up there? And why are there no signs of a vehicle near where he fell?

As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries surrounding these two cases proliferate, a source close to Annie reveals a piece of information that shocks the team and impacts the investigations. An old enemy has returned in a new guise—a nefarious foe who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants.

With the stakes raised, the hunt is on. But will Banks be able to find the evidence to stop him in time?"

New DCI Banks! WHAT! WHAT!

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
Published by: Viking
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The new standalone novel from bestselling author Jasper Fforde.

Every Winter, the human population hibernates.

During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness, devoid of human activity.

Well, not quite.

Your name is Charlie Worthing and it's your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses.

You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense; nothing more than a quirky artefact borne of the sleeping mind.

When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling.

When you get the dreams too, it's weird.

When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity.

But teasing truth from the Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping, and stamp collecting, ensure you aren't eaten by Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can only be satisfied by comfort food, and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk.

But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly, you'll be fine."

Jasper Fforde, in my mind, excels at standalones that have a hint of the apocalypse, so Early Riser is RIGHT up my alley. Terminal Uprising by Jim C. Hines
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Human civilization didn’t just fall. It was pushed.

The Krakau came to Earth in the year 2104. By 2105, humanity had been reduced to shambling, feral monsters. In the Krakau’s defense, it was an accident, and a century later, they did come back and try to fix us. Sort of.

It’s been four months since Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos learned the truth of that accident. Four months since she and her team of hygiene and sanitation specialists stole the EMCS Pufferfish and stopped a bioterrorism attack against the Krakau homeworld. Four months since she set out to find proof of what really happened on Earth all those years ago.

Between trying to protect their secrets and fighting the xenocidal Prodryans, who’ve been escalating their war against everyone who isn’t Prodryan, the Krakau have their tentacles full.

Mops’ mission changes when she learns of a secret Krakau laboratory on Earth. A small group under command of Fleet Admiral Belle-Bonne Sage is working to create a new weapon, one that could bring victory over the Prodryans … or drown the galaxy in chaos.

To discover the truth, Mops and her rogue cleaning crew will have to do the one thing she fears most: return to Earth, a world overrun by feral apes, wild dogs, savage humans, and worse. (After all, the planet hasn’t been cleaned in a century and a half!) What Mops finds in the filthy ruins of humanity could change everything, assuming she survives long enough to share it.

Perhaps humanity isn’t as dead as the galaxy thought."

Speaking of apocalypse... 

The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: February 12th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A luxuriously magical retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in seventeenth-century France - and told from the point of view of the Beast himself.

I am neither monster nor man - yet I am both.

I am the Beast.

He is a broken, wild thing, his heart’s nature exposed by his beastly form. Long ago cursed with a wretched existence, the Beast prowls the dusty hallways of his ruined château with only magical, unseen servants to keep him company - until a weary traveler disturbs his isolation.

Bewitched by the man’s dreams of his beautiful daughter, the Beast devises a plan to lure her to the château. There, Isabeau courageously exchanges her father’s life for her own and agrees to remain with the Beast for a year. But even as their time together weaves its own spell, the Beast finds winning Isabeau’s love is only the first impossible step in breaking free from the curse..."

I am a sucker for any Beauty and the Beast retelling. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beauty and the Beast, DCI Banks, Early Riser, Felicity Carrol, George Mann, Jasper Fforde, Jim C. Hines, Newbury and Hobbes, Peter Robinson, Rhys Bowen, The Hunting Party, The Revenant Express, The Victory Garden

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Published by: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: 1979
Format: Paperback, 176 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy

A young and blushing bride is rushed by her new husband to his isolated castle. She doesn't love him, but he is wealthy, and that decides her mother. Once in his domain he subjects her to humiliations and sexual sadism. Yet this is just his character. A character that will test his new wife beyond sanity. For he purposefully leaves her alone to her own devices and she finds that which brings her husband joy. Torture. Murder. Death. All his previous wives' corpses in the cellar. All brutally slain at her new husband's hand. Man's baser desires and his ability to overcome or embrace them run thematically through these ten classic stories which are reinterpretations and retellings of some of the most famous of fairy tales. Or distillations if you will, as Carter said, "My intention was not to do 'versions' or, as the American edition of the book said, horribly, 'adult' fairy tales, but to extract the latent content from the traditional stories." Beasts from vampires to werewolves stride across the pages of Carter's collection. Some of the beasts look dangerous but are truly kind, while man may look harmless yet he can be the most dangerous of all. And while they are adult, brutal and sensual, they aren't just versions, despite Carter not wanting them to be labelled as such she can't escape the classification, but they are something more. They are subversive, they are feminine, they are something entirely new that spawned many imitations and inspired many authors with her magical realism. They are their own thing, but the beginning of something new is often not the best or the final version of what was attempted.

There is no doubt in my mind that The Bloody Chamber is a classic. Female empowerment through the retelling and restructuring of fairy tales was at the time it was written original and has now evolved into a subgenre all it's own thanks to the groundwork laid by Carter. Yet because something is a classic doesn't mean it's enjoyable. Yes, you can have admiration for something that you just don't quite like, and that's how I feel about this collection of short stories. I feel as if they were written to be studied, not enjoyed. Carter was pushing boundaries, establishing ideas that would development into today's literary tropes, but these stories come across as experiments, some failing and some succeeding. As a whole they are overly written with obscure words meant to be studied for hidden and double meanings. This style of writing doesn't really flow. It has meaning but that doesn't mean it's fun to read. Of the ten short stories the titular story is the strongest. Based on "Bluebeard" this overly sexual story plays with the underpinnings of the original tale of a beastly marriage and allows it to become somehow modern with the introduction of technology and also feminist with the bride being saved by her mother instead of her brothers. Yet what I was forcibly struck by is how this story has effected other storytellers. You can see how it influenced Susan Hill's writing of The Woman in Black. But more importantly, I defy you to think of any world in which Guillermo del Toro could have made Crimson Peak without The Bloody Chamber having existed first.

Despite how groundbreaking a collection this is there is a repetitive quality that just grinds on you. Carter is in several instances taking the same source material and trying to spin it into a different interpretation. Of the ten stories two are based on "Beauty and the Beast" while three, almost a third of the book, are based on "Little Red Riding Hood," though one of them, in a way I can not fathom, supposedly incorporates Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Was it the mirror? Please someone explain this to me! So when you get to the end of the book and you have three stories all coming out of the same source, you might like the first, by the second you feel as if you've already read it, and by the third you are just sick of the story. It doesn't help that she literally uses the same turn of phrase again and again. Observations, words, structure, they add to the repetitive feeling. Yet if we were to take a bigger view, using the same theme, the same story, the same language over and over is like an artist creating a series of paintings. There's a unifying theme. There's a similarity. There's something undefinable that the artist is bringing to the work that makes them all a unit. So while the stories in The Bloody Chamber might repeat, might make clunky transitions from one story to the next, I find it fascinating how you are looking at her process. You are seeing her develop a series of ideas. Like the visual artist, she is working through shit, and as I've said previously, that is why this collection is interesting. You can studying it, you can break it down, and you can see how she's working through it.

Carter isn't just working through concepts, she's also working through ways in which to tell a story. So yes, occasionally the stories can end up feeling like writing exercises watching how she plays with narrating the story, but never once did it slip into that smugness that defined the "codas" in John Scalzi's Redshirts. There it felt like pretension, here it feels like experimentation, and that is the saving grace. The two stories that play with this the most are "Puss-in-Boots" and "The Erl-King." The later story is almost incomprehensibly dense and there's a weird disconnect with the narration slipping between second and third person, and yes, I will always have issues with second person narration, there's something about it that rubs me the wrong way. Yet "Puss-in-Boots" works in switching between first and third person. The slipping between the two from personal to detached just becomes the personality of a cat. Through this little narrative slip she is able to make her whole story imbued with the personality of her protagonist. So while I may criticize this roughness to the stories, this literary exercise feel, sometimes it works so well that I can not fault her for trying something again and again until she got it right. I guess what I just find most interesting about this book is that it's an author willing to show their flaws. Their process is on display and once again I come back to the importance of this work, not as a book you sit down and read for fun, but one you sit down and study. You embrace the lessons you learn. Though not this time through fairy tale morality, but through the tricks of the storyteller.

All the tricks and twists and literary play mean that while some stories are long others are brutally short and brutally violent. While "The Courtship of Mr. Lyon" could fall under the brutally short descriptor, a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" at top speed, only one story falls under both categories, "The Snow Child," which even Wikipedia deems nothing more than a vignette. After I read this story my only thoughts were "WTF did I just read!?!" The story is literally only two pages long and involves a Count wishing a child, a "young woman" into being who dies and he then rapes her corpse and she turns into snow! What the hell is this story supposed to be about? What is the moral? Most versions of "The Snow-child" are about infidelity and desire, so sure, we've got that here what with the Count raping a young girl in front of his wife... but I just don't know how to handle this. Fairy Tales have always been about subjugation, teaching lessons so children and wives will behave, yet Carter has made her stories more about empowerment and belonging, finding you place in the world even if it's amongst the beasts. What does the rape of anyone, let alone a snow corpse, have to do with any of the messages and themes she's been toying with? Why didn't anyone go, you know, your stories, they can be a bit brutal, but this one, well this one is a step too far, so let's just nix it and move onto the moody vampire? OK? Seriously, MOODY VAMPIRE no more rape! I'd even take a fourth retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" than to EVER have to think of Carter's version of "The Snow Child" ever again.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angela Carter, Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, Crimson Peak, Fairy Tales, Going Gothic, Guillermo del Toro, Lewis Carroll, Little Red Riding Hood, Rape, The Bloody Chamber, The Snow Child, The Woman in Black

The wonderful thing about New York, aside from an amazing literary history that can be found in the haunts of all the authors that have walked the streets of this thriving metropolis, is that the city has amazing institutes where the works of these great authors are housed. I'm talking about libraries folks! Now, because you are just visiting New York do not think this rules out libraries. Yes, you do have to live there and have a library card to check out books, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the buildings (and the gift shops)! New York City has some of the most beautiful and iconic libraries in the world. Of course there are the more functional and drab libraries, but the main branch, it is truly worthy of it's title as the third largest library in the world. The great edifice is located at 5th Avenue and West 42nd Street, where it is guarded over by Patience and Fortitude, the great lions that any bibliophile should recognize, have they been to New York or not, I mean just look at this month's themed banner.  

But you know what the best part about libraries is? Unlike almost every other location I have mentioned you get to enter and not stand outside imagining what the interior is like! Though I bet the lions would keep you company if you were to remain outside. The entrance hall is that worthy of a grand mansion. While the main hall doesn't have that much natural light, the candelabras give you a sense of entering another world. The hush throughout the building is uncanny. The first time I went to this library it was bucketing down outside and despite being soaking wet and having squeaky shoes I was compelled to walk silently, no matter how hard that feat was.

One thing I do regret about my visit was that I was a little too worried to disturb others to look at some of the amazing reading rooms. If you are quiet and polite, I don't think anyone is going to mind. This is the Rose Main Reading Room. This room is almost two city blocks long and brilliant murals line the ceiling of the most heavenly of skies. Here too you are walking in the steps of great authors. Norman Mailer, Elizabeth Bishop, and E.L. Doctorow have all worked under this painted sky.

What I love most about this edifice is that this kind of detail and grandeur is usually more associated with seats of government, like my State Capital, yet here it is all for knowledge and books! This ceiling is the McGraw Rotunda (though ironically rectangular in shape). Edward Laning did this amazing series of murals as part of the WPA initiative. The concept is The Story of the Recorded Word, from Moses descending with the ten commandments, to Gutenberg showing his famous bible. But overhead Prometheus brings to mankind fire and knowledge stolen from the gods, for which he would be eternally punished. But it still makes a great mural!

The holy grail among libraries in New York though has to be the Morgan Library. The Morgan Library is located at 225 Madison Avenue, between East 36th and 37th Street. This was originally built as the private library of J.P. Morgan, but is now a museum. This is the number one place I want to visit in New York. For the span of years in which I was more frequently visiting New York the library was closed due to a huge renovation project, but thankfully it is now open. What I find amazing is just the number of original manuscripts housed here. Manuscripts that you would think would be elsewhere, like three Gutenberg Bibles, Shelley's notebook, Balzac's works! But then it never does to have preconceptions of where things should be, I should know better then to think Shelley's notebook is somewhere in Italy where he tragically died, after all, who would think all of Tolkien's manuscripts are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? And yes, I have seen them.

I love looking at the "Old Tyme" pictures in black and white before the restoration. This is the library as it was when Doctorow wrote about it in Ragtime. There is something that makes me think of Citizen Kane with the large and opulent fireplace and just the piles and piles of books. At least they are stored nicer then in all those crates in Xanadu.

But what do I really think when I see pictures of this library? Well, my opinion is twofold. One is, OMG the Library from Beauty and the Beast is real. Two is, why won't someone give me a library like this? I mean, in all seriousness, I don't have to have all the original manuscripts, I mean that would be nice... but just to have a place like this? Dream come true! I could easily fit all my books in there and have room for tons more! Like literally, the books could weigh a ton and I'd still have enough space!

And if ever the main room was too opulent and I wanted to slum it a little, there's the "Red Room." All Victorian and lush. Why aren't we building libraries like this anymore? Yes, I know that there are still beautiful libraries being built, but none have that steeped in feeling of history and the gravitas of these two examples. And the best part? These are but two examples! New York has so many other libraries to explore you could spend your entire trip there just going from library to library. Sneaking into the Cooper Hewitt not to see the Design Museum but to go to the gift shop which used to be Andrew Carnegie's library that overlooked Central Park. Little gems like this are out there for you to find and I hope that one day you get the chance to find them!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beauty and the Beast, Blazac, Citizen Kane, E.L. Doctorow, Elizabeth Bishop, J.R.R. Tolkien, Literary New York, Murals, New York Public Library, Norman Mailer, Prometheus, Ragtime, Shelley, The Morgan Library, WPA

Harbinger: A Book of the Order by Philippa Ballantine
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: July 30th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Deacons of the Order are all that stand between the wicked spirits of the Otherside and the innocent citizens of the Empire. They are sworn to protect humanity, even when they cannot protect themselves…

After the Razing of the Order, Sorcha Faris, one of the most powerful Deacons, is struggling to regain control of the runes she once wielded. The Deacons are needed more desperately than ever. The barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead is weakening, and the Emperor has abandoned his throne, seeking to destroy those he feels have betrayed him.

Though she is haunted by the terrible truth of her past, Sorcha must lead the charge against the gathering hordes of geists seeking to cross into the Empire. But to do so, she will need to manipulate powers beyond her understanding—powers that may prove to be her undoing…"

Ok, so I haven't actually started this series yet... but my love of Pip Ballantine's Ministry Series is SO STRONG that I not only picked up the first in the series, but heartily encourage you to do the same!

Fairest Volume Two: The Hidden Kingdoms by Bill Willingham
Published by: Vertigo
Publication Date: July 30th, 2013
Format: Paperback, 128 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling, award-winning creator Bill Willingham presents a new series starring the female FABLES. Balancing horror, humor and adventure in the FABLES tradition, FAIREST explores the secret histories of Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina, Snow White, Rose Red and others.

In a stand-alone tale, Beast must hunt a beauty, but what is her relation to his past? And then, in a 6-part epic, Rapunzel lives one of the most regimented lives in Fabletown, forced to maintain her rapidly growing hair lest her storybook origins be revealed. But when word of her long-lost children surface, she races across the sea to find them--and a former lover."

Ok, so as you may know, I now have a full blown addiction to Fables. Sadly, I'm all caught up. But luckily the spin off series Fairest is just as awesome. Volume One kicked some serious ass and the coda with Beauty and the Beast means I'm WAY excited for this collection. Like way way way excited, pre-ordered in in December excited. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Beauty and the Beast, Bill Willingham, Fables, Fairest, Harbinger, Ministry of Peculiar Occurances, Philippa Ballantine, Pip Ballantine