strange and random happenstance

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: February 11th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Stories are the architecture of Faerie, more powerful than magic, more powerful than kings, and Cambridge professor, Emily Wilde, PhD, MPhil, BSc, Dde, tenured, is now in the middle of one. She and her fiance, Wendell Bambleby, are about to retake his kingdom. They've both taken a sabbatical from Cambridge to accomplish this goal. Wendell has been in exile from the Silva Lupi since his stepmother killed his entire family and assumed the throne. Thanks to Emily he not only has a way back, but his stepmother might have already perished by poisoning and he has a rather intimidating entourage. One wouldn't want to show up in one of the most dangerous Faerie realms without a plan. So they swan in with the guardians lead by Razkarden, the trolls, the tree fauns, and the fuchszwerge, the fox-faeries, lead by Snowbell. And they are met with no opposition. Which might be the most unnerving thing about entering the Silva Lupi. Eventually Queen Arna's half-brother, Lord Taran, saunters up and tells them the lay of the land. Arna isn't dead but if Wendell wants the throne he has to best Lord Taran. It's nothing personal, violence comes as naturally as drawing breath to the monarchs of the Silva Lupi, and he promised Wendell's father that he would protect the kingdom from a weak ruler. Lord Taran is the greatest swordsman in the land, and, for a while, Wendell holds his own, but it's not in swordplay that he bests his father, it's by his needle and thread. The path cleared they ascend their thrones and it seems that their only problem will be Emily adjusting the the great many monsters in Wendell's court. But Queen Arna has a neatly constructed vengeance in store. As Emily poisoned her she has in turn poisoned the land. Emily and Wendell worked so hard to find a way back to his world, that all their efforts should have been brought to this; only Wendell's death will lift the curse. Nothing more, nothing less. The Folk do appreciate a story that comes full circle. So in the logical extension of the illogic of Faerie, Emily will save the day due to her living a life lead by scholarly tomes. Stories are the foundations of this world, they may be used as a compass, a guiding star. They just need the right story, they need their guiding star, and this problem will just go away. Once she finds "King Macan's Bees" she thinks she has the answer, the story echoes the present problems, but it's uncanny how accurate it echoes them. Which worries Emily. Queen Arna is cunning and while Emily will never tire of untangling a faerie mystery, could this one be Wendell's last?

Heather Fawcett's Lady Emily series has been a magical, if at times menacing, romp through Faerie and it's academic accouterments. And while I've loved all the volumes in this series I find myself singling this one out as the most magical. While I could say it's because I've grown accustomed to the horrors, much like Emily is attempting to with the monsters in Wendell's court, I think it's really because of a few scenes of such magic that my breath was taken away. The most magical of these is when Emily and Wendell officially marry. In Faerie you don't have to have a big ceremony, you just have to declare your intentions and the deed is done. Which, let's be honest, Emily enjoyed far more than being the center of attention. But when they make their intentions known on a boat as they go to confront his stepmother when they pull apart from sealing their bond with a kiss the world around them is celebrating their love. Faeries are gathering along the shore with lights, like a forest full of fireflies, they illuminate the dark in a way that is pure magic. This is what I've always pictured when I think of the realms of faeries. Little me laying in bed being told fairy tales thrills at this moment. And my love of fairy tales is brought to a whole new level in this volume. Because Heather Fawcett tackles the intersectionality of ghost stories and fairy tales. That's right, Heather Fawcett is bringing in spiritualism into a story I already love and upping the game to a whole new level. So, ghost stories and fairy tales. They could both be under the umbrella of folklore, but personally I like to put them under the umbrella of horror. Because true ghost stories and fairy tales are terrifying. And that fear, that aspect of horror is what draws me in every time. It's the dark shadow of bedtime tales, those that keep you up at night because they have the ring of truth. For me, these types of tales are interchangeable. They are both about something otherworldly. And that this was acknowledged in this series makes me giddy. What's more, it's one of the reasons dryadology even exists as a discipline, because of people studying ghosts. Though, to take this even further, Archibald Robbins of the University of Amsterdam was an iconoclast who theorized there were interactions between the Folk and the spirit world. Then Helen Worthington-West took this further and presented a paper about a brownie who had spoken with the recently deceased using a door. Doors, like the door Emily needed to find to return Wendell to his realm. But this door goes to a spiritual limbo. A place half in the world, half elsewhere, where the ghosts of the Folk linger. Oh my, it's the commingling of two things that in my mind have always been linked that I just can't get enough of. I want more. And I totally agree with Emily, she should have been studying ghost stories instead of the histories of great faerie monarchs.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Cambridge, Emily Wilde, Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, Faeries, Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories, Heather Fawcett, King Macan's Bees, Poison, Queen Arna, Silva Lupi, Spiritualism, Stories, Summer School, Wendell Bambleby

Underland by Robert Macfarlane
Published by: W.W. Norton and Company
Publication Date: May 2nd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Humankind has had such an impact on the world it is now a designated epoch, the Anthropocene. Robert Macfarlane takes it on himself to look at the forgotten realms of the Earth and see how they have been impacted by humankind and in turn how they have impacted us. Macfarlane takes eleven journeys to come to grips with the underland. Because that is where our history is, in deep time. With all that history laid bare the question is posited, are we really the caretakers that the Earth deserves? Humans have been around for such a short amount of time and yet the damage we have done is incalculable. Starting near his home his first journey takes him to the cave systems in the Mendips in Somerset. There he wonders if the Earth might just swallow him whole. The mental strain of the dangers he's about to face become apparent. He's not just taxing himself physically on these journeys, but mentally. He is placing himself at the mercy of the Earth and the Earth isn't kind to those who journey where they shouldn't. In Boulby, Yorkshire, he visits a mine that's so deep that it goes under the North Sea where Dark Matter is studied. So far underland as to be undisturbed by the disturbances of man. But the underland can also be studied above ground. The trees of Epping Forest have an understory beneath the forest that lets them communicate using fungi, a wood wide web if you will. Having experienced in England some of the great natural and manmade conduits to the underland he visits France and perhaps one of the most famous underground spaces in the world, the Paris Catacombs. There are the sections that are for tourists, but that isn't what he's interested in. He's reached out to urban explorers, those who map the terrain of abandoned buildings and have therefore taken a great interest in the Catacombs. Those who illegally tour the mines of Paris which were built for the access of workers are called cataphiles. They take Macfarlane on a journey he will never forget. Rooms that haven't been seen in hundreds of years and modern graffiti that seems to exist solely to say, I was here. The underland is vast, there are starless rivers, nuclear dumps, caves that can only be accessed at certain times of the year. Robert Macfarlane tasks himself to record it all, to pass on what he's learned, and to teach us to be better stewards of this amazing planet.

For me I had a problem with a disconnect between what this book was sold as and what it actually is. Underland was said to deliver "an epic exploration of the Earth's underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself." What I really connected to in that teaser was the myth and literature part. Which Robert Macfarlane never really addresses. I mean, come on! Book girl here wants to hear all about the underworld in literature. He barely touches on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and that one is just a gimme! What about all the tales of the realms of fairies being underground? Underhill anyone anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Fairy Mounds? Fairy Forts? I mean seeing as this book is about the magic of the Earth and what it means to people I think an exploration of how we've peopled that land in our myths and fairy tales would be quite important. But again, the book was sold as something it was not. The problem being my expectations were repeatedly crushed. I kept thinking, oh, the next section, that will be the section I've been waiting for. And if never was. Therefore I think that this book would be better on a reread. I'd have no expectations because I know what it's about and they'd be reigned in. The problem is I'm rather claustrophobic, and well, I don't know if I could read this book again. If there's one thing I'd tell anyone who was about to read this book, besides ranting about literary tradition being omitted, is that if you are even slightly claustrophobic you can not read this book. My Dad has a friend who told him he had to read this book, knowing that my claustrophobia is nothing compared to my Dad's, I laughed and laughed and said he can never read this book. Ever. I even thought, maybe I could find a section he could read... But no. Claustrophobics, run away run away. And I just realized I reached the point in my review where I'm just doing odd movie quotes so will move this along, no more Monty Python. The other problem I faced was while this is a whole interconnected narrative it's basically broken down into stories. Short stories. I don't really like short stories. There's no consistency. So while I loved "Invisible Cities (Paris)," "Red Dancers (Lofoten, Norway)" left me cold. The journeys he went on were so diverse that his writing style was inconsistent and annoying. To me. I can see why others found it magical, I just found it highly competent. Which, trust me, is a compliment.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Anthropocene, Claustrophobic, Deep Time, Earth, Fairy Tales, For the Love of Book Clubs, Literature, Paris Catacombs, Robert MacFarlane, Underground, Underland, Urban Explorers

The Ghosts of Nothing by Cecily Walters
Published by: Cecily Walters
Publication Date: July 18th, 2023
Format: Kindle, 380 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

If your last name is Morrighan you're going to have a tough time of it in Nothing, a town typically topping "most haunted" lists. Nelly Morrighan knows this all too well. She has been bullied and ostracized her entire life because the town believes all their woes can be laid at the feet of the Morrighans. All her sixteen years have been spent holding in the pain, keeping her head down, not thinking about her missing mother and her institutionalized father. Because the one time she lashed out at her bullies a kid ended up in the hospital. Her one reprieve is school, far away from Nothing, even if she's saddled with a roommate from home. Until her strict grandmother changes her mind and Nelly ends up boarding at the local school which is run by the mother of the boy she hospitalized. But these changes are nothing compared to the bigger changes ahead when she uncovers a secret. A secret that has been kept from her her entire life and revealed by two otherworldly figures she encounters on the Morrighan Farm late one night, Jack and Fig. Who just happen to be fairies. And Nelly's a half-fairy. And unlike almost all offspring of these forbidden interspecies liaisons she has power. And for someone who has spent their entire life cowering, you know when you are given power you must wield it responsibly. Which is why Nelly's off to the land of fairies. It was her powers that hospitalized her bully, and it was Fig's powers that has done the same to Nelly's grandmother. They can put things right by travelling to the other realm. Which is dangerous for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is what Nelly is and the fact that Fig is a wanted criminal and that the government assumes that she is dead, which is what she will be if she is found back in fairy. But Nelly's eyes are opened there and she feels free for the first time ever, the food tastes different, she feels powerful, and no longer haunted by her name. Will she be able to hold onto this feeling when she returns to Nothing or will the past come back to haunt her?

As one of my friends said about The Ghosts of Nothing it's cinematic. He put into one word what I was struggling to say with way too many. This book reminds me of epic eighties fantasy movies, you know, cinematic. The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Return to Oz, The Secret of Nimh, movies that are part of my DNA. These films showed us wonders as well as horrors. Sure, they might have traumatized an entire generation, but I wouldn't have had my childhood any other way. Because these films made me believe in magic. The Ghosts of Nothing connected me to memories I had long since forgotten. Growing up I had a huge sugar maple in my front yard and I would spend hours under it and near it, carefully prying open the propellers while watching a very specific section of sky which, thanks to the eighties Serendipity books series, I was convinced was the only place where a pegasus could come through to our world. I saw a unicorn at the circus, so surely a pegasus would visit me! I mean, I now know that that wasn't a unicorn I saw, but there was still the magic of nature under that maple. And reading about the maple keys, the distinct turn of phrase the inhabitants of Nothing use for maple propellers, brought all these memories flooding back. It also made me wonder how the inhabitants of this town use such a fairy turn of phrase. I'm wondering if there's a lot more cross-pollination between the worlds that we will learn about in the coming books. And that again feeds into the fairy tale origins of it all. The way stories are passed down through the generations and are used to teach us lessons and morals. And the thing is, these lessons can be terrifying, and those morals, they might just mean you life. This book doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of life. The politics in particular in the fairy realm will feel eerily prescient to anyone following today's news. Which is what fairy tales are all about, telling us a story but reflecting the world around us. Dark and light. I can't wait to see how Nelly embraces her powers, but I think the real lesson she needs to take to heart is to not be too hard on herself. The world is dark and full of monsters, be the light even if other people can't see it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 80s, Cecily Walters, Fairies, Fairy Tales, For the Love of Book Clubs, Labyrinth, Maple Keys, Nelly Morrighan, Return to Oz, Serendipity, The Ghosts of Nothing, The Neverending Story, The Secret of Nimh

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Stephanie Burgis
Publication Date: Octover 4th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 307 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

When her parents lost everything and promptly died Elinor Tregarth and her two sisters had to rely on the kindness of their relatives. But no one household could be expected to take on three penniless orphans so they were separated across the length and breath of England. Elinor ended up at Hathergill Hall to be a dogsbody to her cousin Penelope. Penelope under normal circumstances is hard to deal with, leading up to her debut she's a nightmare. She is making everyone, in particular Elinor, suffer. But Elinor never knew there'd be a breaking point but the tantrum Penelope throws when she hears her mother's friend Mrs. De Lacey isn't coming would destroy anyone's resolve. It's the fashionable thing for all young ladies to have a dragon, to be nothing more than an accessory, an inanimate object on one's shoulder. So of course Penelope's father got her the best dragon money can buy. Though poor Sir Jessamyn Carnavoran Artos has a nervous disposition and Penelope's treatment of him breaks Elinor. She snaps at her cousin and flees Hathergill Hall with Sir Jessamyn, her meager belongings, and her four shillings and sixpence she has diligently saved. Only to be promptly run over by a carriage, losing all her savings to dirty ditchwater. The carriage belongs to one Mr. Cornelius Aubrey, who is a scholar and dragon expert, so he instantly is more interested in Sir Jessamyn than Elinor, his companion is Mr. Benedict Hawkins, who hopes to be Penelope's future fiance, as his father lost all his money in the same scheme that wiped out Elinor's parents. For the first time in Elinor's life she thinks, if only she could be the type of girl to attract someone like Benedict Hawkins, or if she'd admit it to herself, Benedict Hawkins. The four travelers spend the night in a local inn. Before she falls asleep Elinor wishes she could be rich and beautiful, like Mrs. De Lacey, she could win the heart of Benedict and be able to care for Sir Jessamyn as he deserves. And that's when something magical happens. But everyone knows dragons can't do magic! Yet the next day Elinor is glamoured to look like Mrs. De Lacey and she has to put on the performance of a lifetime to save herself, her sisters, and her heart. If only fairy tales could come true.

I have always strongly identified with Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, so to have a similarly named capable young woman as the heroine of Scales and Sensibility, I couldn't be happier than Sir Jessamyn with a plate full of pheasant. Everything about this book just brought me joy. My love of dragons, happily ever afters, the Regency, house parties, revenge, true love, wait, I'm going a bit William Goldman there... This book at first sounded a little absurd, not that I don't like absurdity, but a world with dragons and no magic? I thought maybe it wouldn't work. But Stephanie Burgis does such a credible job grounding her fantastical tales. Everything makes sense with her worldbuilding. With her Harwood Spellbook "British" society being run by women was historically linked to Boudica. Here the way dragons were discovered was more along the lines of Mary Anning and her hunt for a living fossil. In the last two years I have become more than a little Mary Anning obsessed, I've even read The Essex Serpent twice as well as watching the miniseries to follow Cora Seabourne's desperate attempts to follow in Mary Anning's footsteps. Therefore a world in which a living fossil, a dragon, without magic, without anything other than just being a reptile that is named a dragon makes such sense. Of course there turns out to be more to Sir Jessamyn than meets the eye, but the point is, I loved this realistic grounding. What's more the whole financial scandal that lost Elinor and Beneidct's families their fortunes, The Great Brazilian Bubble, was common with banks and investments during the time period and had a real world counterpart, the South Sea Bubble, which, while earlier, was used to great effect in Andrea Penrose's Regency novel, Sweet Revenge and therefore makes me link the Regency more with the scandal than perhaps it ought. As fairy tales always have their grounding in reality, being written to teach a lesson that would otherwise go unheeded, so does fantasy. And really good fantasy builds it story on a bedrock of truth, and that's what this book is and does, now I need to go find me a dragon, because I now know they're out there.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Benedict Hawkins, Cornelius Aubrey, Dragons, Elinor Tregarth, Fairy Tales, Mary Anning, Mrs. De Lacey, Regency Magic, Scales and Sensibility, Sir Jessamyn, South Sea Bubble, Stephanie Burgis, The Essex Serpent

Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Stephanie Burgis
Publication Date: Octover 4th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 307 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

When her parents lost everything and promptly died Elinor Tregarth and her two sisters had to rely on the kindness of their relatives. But no one household could be expected to take on three penniless orphans so they were separated across the length and breath of England. Elinor ended up at Hathergill Hall to be a dogsbody to her cousin Penelope. Penelope under normal circumstances is hard to deal with, leading up to her debut she's a nightmare. She is making everyone, in particular Elinor, suffer. But Elinor never knew there'd be a breaking point but the tantrum Penelope throws when she hears her mother's friend Mrs. De Lacey isn't coming would destroy anyone's resolve. It's the fashionable thing for all young ladies to have a dragon, to be nothing more than an accessory, an inanimate object on one's shoulder. So of course Penelope's father got her the best dragon money can buy. Though poor Sir Jessamyn Carnavoran Artos has a nervous disposition and Penelope's treatment of him breaks Elinor. She snaps at her cousin and flees Hathergill Hall with Sir Jessamyn, her meager belongings, and her four shillings and sixpence she has diligently saved. Only to be promptly run over by a carriage, losing all her savings to dirty ditchwater. The carriage belongs to one Mr. Cornelius Aubrey, who is a scholar and dragon expert, so he instantly is more interested in Sir Jessamyn than Elinor, his companion is Mr. Benedict Hawkins, who hopes to be Penelope's future fiance, as his father lost all his money in the same scheme that wiped out Elinor's parents. For the first time in Elinor's life she thinks, if only she could be the type of girl to attract someone like Benedict Hawkins, or if she'd admit it to herself, Benedict Hawkins. The four travelers spend the night in a local inn. Before she falls asleep Elinor wishes she could be rich and beautiful, like Mrs. De Lacey, she could win the heart of Benedict and be able to care for Sir Jessamyn as he deserves. And that's when something magical happens. But everyone knows dragons can't do magic! Yet the next day Elinor is glamoured to look like Mrs. De Lacey and she has to put on the performance of a lifetime to save herself, her sisters, and her heart. If only fairy tales could come true.

I have always strongly identified with Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, so to have a similarly named capable young woman as the heroine of Scales and Sensibility, I couldn't be happier than Sir Jessamyn with a plate full of pheasant. Everything about this book just brought me joy. My love of dragons, happily ever afters, the Regency, house parties, revenge, true love, wait, I'm going a bit William Goldman there... This book at first sounded a little absurd, not that I don't like absurdity, but a world with dragons and no magic? I thought maybe it wouldn't work. But Stephanie Burgis does such a credible job grounding her fantastical tales. Everything makes sense with her worldbuilding. With her Harwood Spellbook "British" society being run by women was historically linked to Boudica. Here the way dragons were discovered was more along the lines of Mary Anning and her hunt for a living fossil. In the last two years I have become more than a little Mary Anning obsessed, I've even read The Essex Serpent twice as well as watching the miniseries to follow Cora Seabourne's desperate attempts to follow in Mary Anning's footsteps. Therefore a world in which a living fossil, a dragon, without magic, without anything other than just being a reptile that is named a dragon makes such sense. Of course there turns out to be more to Sir Jessamyn than meets the eye, but the point is, I loved this realistic grounding. What's more the whole financial scandal that lost Elinor and Beneidct's families their fortunes, The Great Brazilian Bubble, was common with banks and investments during the time period and had a real world counterpart, the South Sea Bubble, which, while earlier, was used to great effect in Andrea Penrose's Regency novel, Sweet Revenge and therefore makes me link the Regency more with the scandal than perhaps it ought. As fairy tales always have their grounding in reality, being written to teach a lesson that would otherwise go unheeded, so does fantasy. And really good fantasy builds it story on a bedrock of truth, and that's what this book is and does, now I need to go find me a dragon, because I now know they're out there.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Benedict Hawkins, Cornelius Aubrey, Dragons, Elinor Tregarth, Fairy Tales, Mary Anning, Mrs. De Lacey, Regency Magic, Scales and Sensibility, Sir Jessamyn, South Sea Bubble, Stephanie Burgis, The Essex Serpent

All the Blood We Share by Camilla Bruce
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: November 22nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A sinister novel based on the real Bloody Benders, a family of serial killers in the old West bound by butchery and obscured by the shadows of American history.

The winds shift nervously on the Kansas plain whispering of travelers lost and buried, whispering of witches. Something dark and twisted has taken root at the Bender Inn.

At first the townspeople of Cherryvale welcome the rising medium Kate Bender and her family. Kate's messages from the Beyond give their tedious dreams hope and her mother's potions cure their little ills - for a price. No one knows about their other business, the shortcut to a better life. And why shouldn’t their family prosper? They’re careful. It’s only from those who are marked, those who travel alone and can easily disappear, that the Benders demand their pound of flesh.

But even a gifted seer like Kate can make a misstep. Now as the secrets festering beneath the soil of the family orchard threaten to bring them all to ruin, the Benders must sharpen their craft - or vanish themselves."

The Bloody Benders are IN this year. Which makes sense, any true crime aficionados will point out they are the least exposed of true crime mysteries.

At Midnight: 15 Beloved Fairy Tales Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: November 22nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A dazzling collection of original and retold fairy tales from fifteen acclaimed and bestselling YA writers.

Fairy tales have been spun for thousands of years and remain among our most treasured stories. Weaving fresh tales with unexpected reimaginings, At Midnight brings together a diverse group of celebrated YA writers to breathe new life into a storied tradition. You'll discover...

Dahlia Adler reimagining "Rumpelstiltskin,"
Tracy Deonn, "The Nightingale,"
H. E. Edgmon, "Snow White,"
Hafsah Faizal, "Little Red Riding Hood,"
Stacey Lee, "The Little Matchstick Girl,"
Roselle Lim, "Hansel and Gretel,"
Darcie Little Badger, "Puss in Boots,"
Malinda Lo, "Frau Trude,"
Alex London, "Cinderella,"
Anna-Marie McLemore, "The Nutcracker,"
Rebecca Podos, "The Robber Bridegroom,"
Rory Power, "Sleeping Beauty,"
Meredith Russo, "The Little Mermaid,"
Gita Trelease, "Fitcher’s Bird,"
and an all-new fairy tale by Melissa Albert."

There's nothing I love more than a good fairy tale retelling, and look, "The Nutcracker!"

The World Record Book of Racist Stories by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: November 22nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A new collection of hilarious, intergenerational anecdotes full of absurd detail about everyday experiences of racism from the New York Times bestselling authors of You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, comedian Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey.

Families may not always see eye to eye; we get on each other's nerves, have different perspectives and lives - especially when we consider how we've grown up in different generations. But for the Ruffin family and many others, there has been one constant that connects them: racism hasn't gone anywhere.

From her raucous musical numbers to turning upsetting news into laughs as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show or in her Late Night with Seth Meyers segments, Amber is no stranger to finding the funny wherever she looks. With equal parts heart and humor, she and her sister Lacey Lamar shared some of the eye-opening and outrageous experiences Lacey had faced in Nebraska in their first book. Now, the dynamic duo makes it clear - Lacey isn't the only one in the family with ridiculous encounters to share! Amber and Lacey have many more uproarious stories, both from their own lives and the entire Ruffin family.

Recounting the wildest tales of racism from their parents, their siblings, and Amber's nieces and nephews, this intergenerational look at ludicrous (but all too believable) everyday racism as experienced across age, gender, and appearance will have you gasping with shock and laughter in turn. Validating for anyone who has first-hand experience, and revealing for anyone who doesn't, Amber and Lacey's next book helps us all find the absurdity in the pervasive frustrations of racism. Illuminating and packed with love and laughter, this is a must-read for just about everyone."

I love Amber Ruffin.

Made With Love by Tom Daley
Published by: Dey Street Books
Publication Date: November 22nd, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Olympic gold medal–winning diver and beloved LGBTQ icon Tom Daley offers thirty exclusive knitting and crocheting patterns to enjoy and share.

During the Tokyo Olympics, British diver Tom Daley was often spotted calming his nerves with knitting needles in hand. His new favorite hobby, which he picked up during the Covid lockdown, combined with his gold medal performance, won him a new legion of fans. In fact, his Olympic inspired cardigan, made just before he left for Japan, grabbed nearly as many headlines as his win.

In his native England, Daley is beloved as a four-time Olympic medalist, well-known television personality, and activist in the LGBTQ space. In addition, Daley and his husband, the Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, are the parents of a toddler son, and many of Tom’s projects are adorable toys or clothes for Robbie.

Now Tom has created thirty original projects for this book, sharing his joy of knitting and crocheting as a calming and creative outlet alongside his charming, witty personality. Full color and totally bespoke for this book, these projects run the gamut from toys to clothing for adults and kids to home décor. Full of color, full of joy, and Made with Love™ (the name of Tom's online store, selling projects, patterns and branded merchandise) this is yarn crafts made very cool."

If you are like me and have been obsessed with Tom Daley since the Tokyo Olympics you've been asking yourself, when is he writing a knitting book!?! Well the answer is now. Here it is!

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: November 22nd, 2022
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An interior designer who is never without the perfect plan learns to renovate her love life without one in this new romantic comedy by Ashley Herring Blake, author of Delilah Green Doesn't Care.

For Astrid Parker, failure is unacceptable. Ever since she broke up with her fiancé a year ago, she's been focused on her career - her friends might say she's obsessed, but she knows she's just driven. When Pru Everwood asks her to be the designer for the Everwood Inn's renovation, which will be featured on a popular HGTV show, Innside America, Astrid is thrilled. Not only will the project distract her from her failed engagement and help her struggling business, but her perpetually displeased mother might finally give her a nod of approval.

However, Astrid never planned on Jordan Everwood, Pru's granddaughter and the lead carpenter for the renovation, who despises every modern design decision Astrid makes. Jordan is determined to preserve the history of her family's inn, particularly as the rest of her life is in shambles. When that determination turns into some light sabotage to ruffle Astrid's perfect little feathers, the showrunners ask them to play up the tension. But somewhere along the way, their dislike for each other evolves into something quite different, and Astrid must decide what success truly means. Is she going to pursue the life that she's expected to lead or the one that she wants?"

Sold at the fake TV show being called Innside America.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amber Ruffin, Ashley Herring Blake, Bloody Benders, Camilla Bruce, Fairy Tale Retelling, Fairy Tales, Knitting, Lacey Lamar, Tom Daley, True Crime

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

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: June 4th, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (Different edition then one reviewed)

Alina and Mal barely escaped the Darkling in the fold of darkness and death that divides Ravka. Alina wrested back control of her power from the Darkling, but not before a deadly price was paid. So many lives lost on that sand skiff. Hiding out halfway around the world Alina is haunted by what happened and the choices she has made. Sickening, she longs to use her powers and the ill gotten amplifier but it is too risky. She has turned her back on Ravka, hoping for a new life with Mal and that the rumors of the Darkling's continued existence are a lie. But they cannot hide forever. The Darkling finds them across the True Sea. He has plans for Alina and disturbing new powers of his own. He isn't just manipulating the world around him, he is creating something new, he is using the darkest of magics. He is dabbling in the forbidden. Instead of taking his captives back to Ravka the Darkling takes them far north on the hunt for another creature out of fairy tale and myth. A second forbidden amplifier for Alina's powers. Though little does the Darkling know that there are other people who also have plans for Alina. Plans that she can't ignore. Impossible you might say, but really you probably mean improbable. Alina can no longer turn her back on her country's suffering as the Grisha are ostracized and Ravka is divided. She agrees to return and lead the second army in the place of the Darkling with the sole purpose of his downfall. Yet are her new powers and believed divinity a match for the Darkling? Or does she need more power in order to succeed? The fact remains that the Darkling is the only one who understands what she is going through and therefore the only one she can turn to. A fact born out the more removed she feels from the other Grisha and in particular from Mal. But those are things that can wait, the battle with the Darkling is coming. Can she survive it in tact or will the power coursing through her corrupt her like it did the Darkling?

In the battle of good versus evil there always comes a time when the wiser action is to run. To regroup and come back hopefully stronger than before. While necessary, this can sometimes lead to boring storytelling. The suffering, the privations, the hardships, the hope of news that perhaps the luck of the enemy is running out. These stories are never my favorite. After the epic showdown in the fold between Alina and the Darkling Bardugo went in an unexpected direction. The Darkling forces Alina and Mal out of hiding almost immediately. Alina and Mal could go on the offensive while preparing a strong defense without us waiting until the next volume. A defense that might involve fairy tales. Bardugo has tapped into the vein of Russian folktales and brought out what modernization and progress mean to our shared past. In Siege and Storm the words of the Darkling that the time of the Grisha is coming to a close is not only explored but expanded on. There is this interesting dynamic of past versus future, with the old ways dying off. The future doesn't belong to Tsars and magic and fairy tales, but to iron and steel and guns. Yes, we see glimpses that perhaps, just maybe, there could be a world where they could coexist, feeding each other, but that seems like the true fairy tale. Yet what strikes me most is that while Ravka might possibly be saved by these modern military advancements, their only true hope lies with Alina. Alina isn't a creature of the modern world, she is of the old world. She is of the time when maps still bore legends that said beyond here there be monsters. She thinks in fairy stories of the too-clever fox. The third amplifier she seeks is that of the fire bird, a creature of myth that isn't just in one or two stories, but in every story of Ravka. A fairy tale holds the key to the future, and that is a world that I want to live in. A world where stories are real.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alina, Amplifier, Bardugo Bash, Deification, Fairy Tales, Fire Bird, Folktales, Grisha, Leigh Bardugo, Mal, Modernization, Myths, Ravka, Russia, Russian, Second Army, Siege and Storm, Sun Summoner, The Darkling, Tsars

The House of Whispers by Laura Purcell
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Hester Why isn't really Hester Why. But who she was had too much baggage. Too much pain. Too many secrets. In fact, she might just be cursed. So she is making a new start, or more accurately, a new start is being foisted upon her. So why not take a new name in the process as an extra level of protection? With only a handful of belongings and a hip flask she heads to Cornwall and Morvoren House. She is to be nurse to the elderly Louise Pinecroft. When Hester arrives at Morvoren the winter is harsh and bleak, there is a sense the snow is finally coming, and the sea is ominous. Hester always thought she'd like to see the sea, now she's wondering if she'll regret this desire. Miss Pinecroft's house perches precariously above the churning waves. She spends her days in an unheated room with all the curtains drawn keeping vigil over bone china. Big vases, small figurines, plates, teacups, all this, as well as Miss Pinecroft, are now Hester's bounden duty. The nurse in her rebels. This elderly woman needs warmth and sustenance and proper clothes, not a drafty room where she wallows in her own filth and myopically watches knickknacks! But just as Hester has her secrets, so does Morvoren House. Bought by Louise's father after their family was ravaged by consumption, he was going to regain his medical renown by finding the cure to the disease that carried away his family. But forty years later there is no cure. Louise is an old woman consumed by the horrors of the past and the uncanny. Morvoren House might have meant to foster in a new age of medical understanding, instead it's caught in the old ties of folklore and fairy tales. Something is happening in the house. Locked doors are being opened without a key, salt borders doorways, clothes are wore inside out, young fertile women are in danger, and the bone china must never be left alone.

Whenever someone tells me to read a book because it reminds them of Daphne Du Maurier I gird my loins. Because if there's one thing this has proven to me time and time again is that people haven't actually read Daphne Du Maurier. They think they know what her writing is like, probably because they watched Rebecca, and have therefore jumped to conclusions. So let it be known when I say a book reminds me of Daphne Du Maurier I actually mean it. I've done my research. Meaning I've read more than one of her books. In fact I've broken double digits not counting re-reads. So yes, The House of Whispers doesn't let you down on the Du Maurier vibe. Now I won't go as far as Natasha Pulley and say it might be better than Du Maurier, because it's different, and that makes it it's own wonderful thing. This is part Poldark part Du Maurier part Fairy Tale and it's bloody brilliant. Pushing aside her first two Georgian books, once Purcell embraced the Gothic aesthetic, her next two books, The Silent Companions and The Poison Thread, could, in a way, be interchangeable in their narrative structure, drawing out the supernatural reveal until right at the end. It felt rushed to have the reveal and then the curtain drop literally within the span of a handful of words. This was gimmicky, and I was fully prepared to have it repeat here, but it didn't. I wouldn't necessarily say I was pleasantly surprised, more in awe. Laura Purcell has grown so much as an author it's almost like this book is separate from the rest of her body of work. I can't put my finger on any one thing that made this book better except that everything is better. Her character development, her plotting, her structure, every little thing kept me invested as I devoured this book. She has always had a well developed sense of place, almost at the cost of the characters, but here the characters, even those I didn't like, were fully rounded and fascinating. This is a tale of tragedy and otherness and obsession, and I can't wait to see what Laura Purcell will do next!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bone China, Consumption, Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier, Fairy Tales, Gothic, Laura Purcell, Natasha Pulley, Poldark, Rebecca, Regency, The House of Whispers, The Poison Thread, The Silent Companions

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 House of Whispers by Laura Purcell
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: June 9th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Hester Why isn't really Hester Why. But who she was had too much baggage. Too much pain. Too many secrets. In fact, she might just be cursed. So she is making a new start, or more accurately, a new start is being foisted upon her. So why not take a new name in the process as an extra level of protection? With only a handful of belongings and a hip flask she heads to Cornwall and Morvoren House. She is to be nurse to the elderly Louise Pinecroft. When Hester arrives at Morvoren the winter is harsh and bleak, there is a sense the snow is finally coming, and the sea is ominous. Hester always thought she'd like to see the sea, now she's wondering if she'll regret this desire. Miss Pinecroft's house perches precariously above the churning waves. She spends her days in an unheated room with all the curtains drawn keeping vigil over bone china. Big vases, small figurines, plates, teacups, all this, as well as Miss Pinecroft, are now Hester's bounden duty. The nurse in her rebels. This elderly woman needs warmth and sustenance and proper clothes, not a drafty room where she wallows in her own filth and myopically watches knickknacks! But just as Hester has her secrets, so does Morvoren House. Bought by Louise's father after their family was ravaged by consumption, he was going to regain his medical renown by finding the cure to the disease that carried away his family. But forty years later there is no cure. Louise is an old woman consumed by the horrors of the past and the uncanny. Morvoren House might have meant to foster in a new age of medical understanding, instead it's caught in the old ties of folklore and fairy tales. Something is happening in the house. Locked doors are being opened without a key, salt borders doorways, clothes are wore inside out, young fertile women are in danger, and the bone china must never be left alone.

Whenever someone tells me to read a book because it reminds them of Daphne Du Maurier I gird my loins. Because if there's one thing this has proven to me time and time again is that people haven't actually read Daphne Du Maurier. They think they know what her writing is like, probably because they watched Rebecca, and have therefore jumped to conclusions. So let it be known when I say a book reminds me of Daphne Du Maurier I actually mean it. I've done my research. Meaning I've read more than one of her books. In fact I've broken double digits not counting re-reads. So yes, The House of Whispers doesn't let you down on the Du Maurier vibe. Now I won't go as far as Natasha Pulley and say it might be better than Du Maurier, because it's different, and that makes it it's own wonderful thing. This is part Poldark part Du Maurier part Fairy Tale and it's bloody brilliant. Pushing aside her first two Georgian books, once Purcell embraced the Gothic aesthetic, her next two books, The Silent Companions and The Poison Thread, could, in a way, be interchangeable in their narrative structure, drawing out the supernatural reveal until right at the end. It felt rushed to have the reveal and then the curtain drop literally within the span of a handful of words. This was gimmicky, and I was fully prepared to have it repeat here, but it didn't. I wouldn't necessarily say I was pleasantly surprised, more in awe. Laura Purcell has grown so much as an author it's almost like this book is separate from the rest of her body of work. I can't put my finger on any one thing that made this book better except that everything is better. Her character development, her plotting, her structure, every little thing kept me invested as I devoured this book. She has always had a well developed sense of place, almost at the cost of the characters, but here the characters, even those I didn't like, were fully rounded and fascinating. This is a tale of tragedy and otherness and obsession, and I can't wait to see what Laura Purcell will do next!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bone China, Consumption, Cornwall, Daphne Du Maurier, Fairy Tales, Going Gothic, Gothic, Laura Purcell, Natasha Pulley, Poldark, Rebecca, Regency, The House of Whispers, The Poison Thread, The Silent Companions

I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld Book #38) by Terry Pratchett
Published by: Corgi
Publication Date: September 2nd, 2010
Format: Paperback, 419 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Need not want. That's the way of the witch. You are respected and well regarded, but not really liked. Who indeed would like the person who knows all your dirty little secrets and does what needs to be done? There is also a certain amount of fear underneath, because though a witch's job has little to do with magic, there's always the threat of it. Worn to the bone by the needs of the people of the Chalk Tiffany doesn't have time for sleep, especially when the rough music starts. Mr. Petty has been singled out by the villagers, an abusive man; he has taken things too far this time with his daughter Amber. While Tiffany doesn't necessary support or condemn the villagers and their plan to oust Mr. Petty, she knows one thing, evil though he may be, Mr. Petty doesn't deserve to die. After dealing with Mr. Petty and having another sleepless night, Tiffany is called to the home of the Baron. Once everyone thought that one day she would be the mistress of the manner when Roland inherited. But being the two "different" people didn't mean they were the two "right" people for each other and Roland is deep in preparations for his wedding to Letitia while his father slips away. When Roland goes away to the great city of Ankh Morpork, his father, the Baron, finally dies peacefully.

The Baron's nurse, a vengeful and hateful woman, claims that Tiffany killed him for his wealth. Tiffany, being unable to deal with these absurd accusations leaves to find Roland and break the news to him. Telling Roland doesn't go as she had planned, instead she ends up in prison with her faithful Nac Mac Feegles. But there is one thing to say about prison, it's safe. There in Ankh Morpork she felt the rising fear and hatred she's been feeling for weeks. People are starting to believe the old stories of evil witches and gingerbread cottages, of the cacklers, of the theory that "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." But there was a stench of rotting and hatred and a man in black only she could see. A man with holes where his eyes should be. Tiffany soon learns that this Cunning Man must be stopped. Her own life could be in danger as Roland himself turns against her. But she soon learns she has unexpected allies, who, even if they did inadvertently release the Cunning Man, are willing to help watch him burn. Because if he doesn't, everyone else will.

Tiffany has grown up. She has seen the best and the worst of mankind and she takes care of them all. Just because a person appears beyond redemption doesn't mean they aren't worth fighting for, that way leads cackling. She takes everyone's pain away and leaves no comfort for herself. This is a far darker and more disturbing tale of Discworld then has been seen in the annals of Tiffany Aching. But then, the Cunning man is one of the most terrifying villains seen yet. Sure Tiffany kissed the Winter away and walked in the lands of fairies and DEATH, but those creatures were more creatures of myth and fairy tale than a man who through his own hatred and his own dark past is able to corrupt and despoil those who come in contact with him, though he is long dead. Because, deep down, I Shall Wear Midnight shows that the true danger isn't magic, it is man. The Cunning man was once a man like all others. And when Tiffany struggles to quickly save Mr. Petty she is not only saving him from himself, but from his fellow townsfolk. The people that Tiffany grew up around, those she cares for and trusts, when the rough music starts the true danger is your fellow man, and that is a terrifying truth. Even your best friend or neighbor could spell your end.

Yet Tiffany learns more than the cruelty of fellow man as she's grown up. She has more responsibility on her shoulders than ever before. No longer a naive young girl she lives in a world of sleepless nights. Nights spent caring for those who probably don't give her a second thought. The truth of the world is open to her and it shows her that the world is made up of assumptions based solely on appearances. Her and Roland were to marry because that's how it looked to outsiders. Witches are evil old ladies who live alone in the woods. And girls like Letitia with their typical fairy-tale-princess looks and pretty gowns are destined for a happily ever after. Whereas the truth is Tiffany and Roland were never fated to marry, they were too different. The poor old lady killed in the woods years ago was nothing but a poor old lady, not an ounce of witch about her; unlike Letitia who dreams of being a witch and nothing would please her more than a wart or two. Truth can never be found on the surface. Appearances are deceiving. The genius of Pratchett is that he takes concepts that are so ingrained in our culture that they have reached the point of being a cliche, but then he shows it to us in a new light, in the vulnerability of an old lady and her cat, and we realize the importance of this truth that led to it being a cliche.

And while showing us the worst humanity has to offer, Pratchett also shows us those moments of grace. We have been raised to fear DEATH. That when the time comes it is always too soon and too painful. What should be a sad moment, when Roland's father dies, instead we are given a death with dignity. The pain is taken away and a happy memory brought forward. His death wasn't just a release, it was beautiful. That is what Pratchett does time and time again. He takes what we expect and gives it back to us in another way, turned and twisted about to get at the heart of the matter. He takes the concept of the wicked witch, turns it on its head and makes us see that these women of fairy tale who are feared are the ones who have it right. You must care for them that can't. You don't burn down old ladies' houses and kill their cats, you don't run people out of town, you show kindness, even if it must be said in a stern tone of voice. I can not say enough how Pratchett's writing shows such a unique thought process, a great mind that was willing to question everything and in that quest gave us a new way to look at the world. Life happens not as you expect because maybe that's what is needed.

Re-reading this book was bittersweet in the wake of Pratchett's own death. While this book turned out not to be the final Tiffany Aching book, Tiffany did end Discworld with The Shepherd's Crown. But to me, this should be the end of Tiffany's story. She might have other adventures, but here... here she is glorious. This story is so perfect that there was no way to capture that sense of completion by writing yet another tale, it was unnecessary. Though with the love and care Pratchett obviously felt for Tiffany, it is no wonder that he wanted his last book to be with the character he loved most. And despite all the characters he has created over his prolific career, I find it amazing that so many people have identified with Tiffany; a rather obstinate, forthright girl, who just happens to be a witch. She's a character the likes of which will be echoed in countless other characters for a long time to come. Yet in the end, she's uniquely herself and uniquely Pratchett. And of all her tales, this one is uniquely perfect. It's rare that a book ends on just the right note, but Pratchett has succeeded perfectly. The absolute right note which has a bite of a susurration to it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Ankh Morpork, Cats, DEATH, Discworld, Fairy Tales, I Shall Wear Midnight, Nac Mac Feegles, Roland, Rough Music, Ten Years, Terry Pratchett, The Chalk, The Cunning Man, The Shepherd's Crown, Tiffany Aching, Witches

Victoria Schwab, AKA V.E. Schwab if she's writing for adults and not YA or middle grade or just embracing the whole J.K. Rowling book readers are sexist vibe, is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books. She had an eclectic childhood with a British mother, a Beverly Hills father, and a southern upbringing leading to some interesting linguist habits if you are lucky enough to meet her. Her love of fairy tales and folklore has made her someone who is obsessed with writing about magical portals, just look to Kell's abilities in her Shades of Magic series. Because, if anything, doors are what seem to define Victoria's life. A wandering soul she has never settled on just going through one door. Why would you when you could try to go through them all? This lead her to changing her major six times when she was at Washington University in St. Louis. Physics, Film, Set Design, Art History, English, Communication Design doesn't seem so unsettled when you look at all the jobs she's had; department store clerk, assistant caterer, personal chef, dog daycare attendant, bookstore clerk, writer. I for one am very glad she finally landed on writer.

Her "wicked case" of wanderlust means she's not even settled in where she lives, splitting her time between Nashville (where she grew up), rural France (where her family lives), and Edinburgh (where she buried her heart), as well as touring to promote her latest book. But as she's haunting the Paris streets or trudging up English hillsides, or even tucked into the corner of a coffee shop she's dreaming up monsters and stories, because the fact is wandering is a good way to "stir up stories." All those questions that can be drawn from old tales of what is under that burrow, where could that door lead, what about the "places between, and the cracks where reality slips into something darker, stranger?" For the constant reader who loves hearth and home over the wider world, it's wonderful to be a fan of an author who, while sharing similar loves from BBC Shows to baking cookies, also is the exact opposite. She goes out into the world and then brings back the stories, twists and turns them, and makes them into echoes of this world and others. I can't wait for her next adventure to make it to print! I need a good escape.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Doors, Edinburgh, Fairy Tales, Folklore, France, J.K. Rowling, Kell, Middle Grade, Nashville, Paris, Regency Magic, Shades of Magic, St. Louis, V.E. Schwab, Victoria Schwab, Wanderlust, Washington University, YA

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 Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
Published by: Bloomsbury USA
Publication Date: August 1st, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★ 
To Buy

Merrick Tremayne worries he may be going insane. Yes, prolonged removal from society for recuperation on his family estate in Cornwall doesn't help, but he has precedence; his mother went insane at about his age and is locked up in an asylum. A very nice asylum, but an asylum nonetheless. She claims she saw a stone statue move and Merrick is sure that he has just seen the same thing. Therefore the arrival of his old comrade in arms, Sir Clements Markham from the East India Company with his wife Minna is a welcome diversion. Clem wants Merrick to go with him to Peru and smuggle out some cinchona cuttings because India is in desperate need of quinine, which is made from the bark of the cinchona trees, and the Company is sick of paying the Peruvian monopoly. Merrick is uncertain, before his injury he wouldn't have questioned his ability to pull off this heist, but now? Yet Clem is insistent that the expedition needs Merrick. Their destination is New Bethlehem, lovingly christened Bedlam. The Tremayne family has a connection to that town going back generations. Merrick's grandfather lived there for awhile learning to speak Quechua. Therefore if their cover as "mapmakers" is exposed Merrick's connection might save their lives. Merrick accepts. Mainly because if he is going insane he might as well go out with one last great adventure. With their guide, Raphael, who is the local priest in Bedlam, Merrick learns that what is commonly accepted by the world at large isn't necessarily so once you get off the beaten track. There is danger in the woods, statues that are revered, and a mystery surrounding Raphael... how could this young man have known Merrick's grandfather for a start?

I love magical realism. I love seeing the world we know and love with that little something extra. That spark of magic that makes everything just that much more marvelous. Most people think of magical realism in a modern setting yet, when you think about it, my most favorite subgenre of all, Regency Magic, is magical realism but set in an historical setting. Because I love nothing more than magical historical fiction. Seriously, I can't think of a combination of all the disparate things I love coming together perfectly than in this motley blend. Which is why I love The Bedlam Stacks. Sure, it's set some twenty-two to thirty-nine years after the Regency, depending on whether you believe the Regency ended when Queen Victoria took the throne or before, but it has all those wonderful elements that I love about Regency Magic. There's the real, human need for quinine, but there's also the deeper human need for fables and folk tales and how they come to be. This gives The Bedlam Stacks a mythical quality. There's what is real and what people believe to be real. And Sir Clements Markham's 1859 journey for cinchona actually happened. It happened entirely different, but the core, the basic framework is there. Which is why the magic is so easily grafted on. It's believable that in this foreign country you could wander into a land that time had forgot. Because magic is just something we don't understand. As I remember Philippa Gregory saying in a talk once about writing The White Queen, she wrote the witchcraft as witchcraft because that is how it appeared to the people of the time. This merging of the magical and the historical results in a fairy tale that would be worthy of Doctor Who. Early Doctor Who. Because there's your learning moment and then there's your adventure.

But then there's the Steampunk element. As you probably have guessed over the years by my reading choices and some of my sartorial choices at conventions I have fully embraced Steampunk in many aspects of my life. And there is this element here. Though I would go further and analyze this more, because I think most people are basing this label on the cover coupled with Merrick's insistence that the statues in Bedlam are clockwork. Needless to say covers are designed to sell and Merrick is very much mistaken. Yet I do believe that categorizing The Bedlam Stacks on the outer fringes of Steampunk isn't wrong. The reason I believe this is because of the lamps. Yes, the lamp on the cover is one of them. Sure, they have clockwork in them, but it's not the clockwork in my mind that makes them Steampunk. What makes them Steampunk is that they are utilizing technology and knowledge available to them and creating something new and functional. Much like the fantastical creations in Steampunk based on steam power being the only option these lamps use clock gears to constantly stir up the pollen of the trees in the woods that give off light. The Bedlamites have made something that is completely unique to their region, trees with lighted pollen and a tendency to go boom, and found a way to make it work for them. Throughout the Stacks, there are just little things here and there that show the ingenuity of these people, but there is no greater example than in these lights. I also very much want one for myself.

While the Steampunk elements might be a fascinating aspect of this book it's not why I am so in love with it. What got me was the human element. The connection that each and every character has to the other. Clem and Merrick, who have a strained friendship, in fact prior to his injury Merrick didn't even think they would consider each other friends. Seeing them put through their paces and how their comradely nature erodes is a feeling anyone who has traveled with friends will relate to, and they didn't even have the ability to have the whole music/no music while driving argument. The business nature of Clem versus the more exploratory nature of Merrick allows Merrick to forge connections in Bedlam with the locals. He becomes a part of their community. And as the community of Bedlam is made up of all injured or disfigured people Merrick's leg injury doesn't seem like such a burden anymore. He is considered more fit than the majority of the residents. This, more than sitting in Cornwall with his brother, does more to help him recover than anything else. Yet it's his constantly evolving friendship with Raphael that is the cornerstone, the bedrock, the ONE THING, that this book is about. Two men, from totally different cultures and times, coming together to be friends. The layers of Raphael's reluctance that are broken down and through over time, that let Merrick see who he truly is, that's almost the most magical aspect of The Bedlam Stacks. Though I do have this caveat, their relationship is ambiguous to whether or not it evolves into romantic feelings. Some people are all for this, some people are not. I have no problem with this and do agree that what they felt for each other was love, but I'm uncertain if I think or want it to be romantic in nature. At the end this reveal seems a little forced. They love each other and I don't think it needs definition.

Throughout the whole story, magical and human, I have come to one conclusion, I would die of altitude sickness. I had kind of thought this in passing before but now I have 100% certainty. I would die. This started years ago when watching An Idiot Abroad with Karl Pilkington when he made it three-quarters of the way to Machu Picchu and gave up requesting a Sir David Attenborough-esque voice-over. I'm pretty sure this would be me. Is the journey worth the reward? Worth the pain? Well The Bedlam Stacks made me think 100% no. As Natasha Pulley said, she had no idea the horror of altitude sickness and now her research made sense once she experienced it first had. The inability to think, like you're living in a fog. The headaches, the nausea, the incapacitation, all of it! Weird asides like Sir Clements Markham being unconcerned his team were being followed, because he didn't have the ability to care or worry! Yet the nail in my coffin was the whole nosebleeds issue. As in you get them all the time up there where the air is clear. Here's the thing. I have a lifelong fear of nosebleeds. Why you might ask? Well, I used to have them daily. Also horrifically. Once I had a nosebleed while in Milwaukee when I was little that lasted the entire trip, two full days. I just laid on my uncle's living room floor thinking everything in his house is white what will he do if I get some blood spattered about... he went ballistic when he thought I broke his toy robot, which I didn't by-the-way. Once in grade school I got a nosebleed at recess that soaked my entire sweatshirt before I could get to the nurse's office. This all culminated in my having to have my nose cauterized in 2002. Therefore to willingly go somewhere where this could happen? Sorry I'm out. Ah books, showing us places we could never go to. Now that's magic.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: An Idiot Abroad, Bedlam, Doctor Who, East India Company, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Historical Fiction, Karl Pilkington, Love, Magic, Natasha Pulley, Peru, Quinine, Regency Magic, Steampunk, The Bedlam Stacks

Winter by Marissa Meyer
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
Publication Date: November 10th, 2015
Format: Hardcover, 832 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Kidnapping Kai on his wedding day was basically a declaration of war against Queen Levana. But Kai needed to know the whole truth about Levana, and more importantly, about Cinder; that she is Princess Selene, the true ruler of Luna. The rebels, Cinder, Iko, Cress, Thorne, and Wolf, need to get to Luna to broadcast Cinder's identity, foment a rebellion, and rescue Scarlet. After their plan is formed they return Kai to his now decimated palace where he declares his continued allegiance to the alliance with Luna and his desire to still marry Levana. The wedding is rescheduled for ten days later. In Artemesia, the capital of Luna. Just as they had planned. They are going to use Kai's ship as a Trojan Horse and sneak right into the capital. Levana had thought of this outcome and was prepared, but so had Cinder and her friends, enough distractions and they have escaped Levana's grasp once more. Winter has also escaped Levana's grasp, with the help of her guard Jacin and Scarlet, her death was faked and they were able to escape the capital. The two groups meet at Wolf's mother's house in the outer sectors. Maha Kesley offers them shelter, but they know any illusion of safety won't be long lived.

They are now not just outlaws but have an entire moon's worth of soldiers actively hunting them. As rebellion begins to take hold Cinder and Wolf are captured by Levana. But with Winter using her natural charisma to enlist help for Cinder out in the outer sectors there is still hope. What's more, by putting Cinder on trial Levana made a major mistake. Cinder was able to capture Levana's true face. Using her cybernetics Cinder was able to document not just Levana's biggest secret but the travesty of her own trial. Escaping from certain death once again the rebels marshal their forces and plot their final assault. They need to attack the palace head on with their forces from the other sectors, forces that Levana has tried to kill by releasing the letumosis virus. If Levana thinks that victory will be that easy, she is sadly mistaken. Using stealth and forces within the palace as well as those without Levana just might be defeated. But in the end it will come down to just Levana and Cinder in a room. One will be victorious and the other will be dead. Can Cinder get her happily ever after for herself and her friends or was it all just a glamour?

The Lunar Chronicles for me has been a ride of smooth freshly paved concrete and Illinois highways that peter out into dirt roads. There was the perfection that was Cress and the low point of Scarlet. But through it all it has been an overall enjoyable ride. The end of the journey was just a little bumpier than I would have liked. Winter was overlong and many chapters felt like the wheels where just spinning and there was no forward momentum. I'm not saying I wasn't satisfied by the ending, everyone ended up exactly where they should, it was just rough getting there. There was just too much toing and froing. They're in the palace, they're out of the palace, they're captured, they're free, they're in danger, they're safe. Over and over and over again. Exactly how many times do you have to break into a palace only to have to break out again only to have to break in again in one book? Many many times if Winter is the benchmark and with many different subsets of characters. There's literally only so much stalling I can take, which is exactly what every setback felt like. Stalling. It's like Meyer didn't want the end to happen too quickly so she threw in so many obstacles it was almost laughable. This ending was a long time coming. At times it felt like it wasn't going to come at all.

Also, while I admit that everyone ended up where they should, perhaps there should have been some repercussions? Yes, yes, I know this is a retelling of a Fairy Tale so a Fairy Tale HEA is expected, but wouldn't there have been more weight to the story if not everyone got an HEA? In particular I'm thinking about Wolf and his non-transformation transformation. When Wolf and Cinder are captured Wolf is forcibly turned back into one of the Queen's Guards. But more than that he's not just reprogrammed, he's remade into an even more wolfy mutant wolf solider. Snout elongated, mouth widened, my grandmother what big teeth you have, the whole Big Bad Wolf makeover. All that bio-engineering to make him not the Wolf Scarlet and the rest of them knew and loved. It is stressed over and over again that Wolf has been changed so dramatically that he is no longer who he was but just one look at Scarlet and it's all fine!?! It's like all that extensive surgery actually didn't change his appearance much at all. Say what!?! Pages and pages about how he's different and then it's all fixed with a kiss. This is the most Fairy Tale aspect of the entire book and I think that if some reality had been brought to bear just in this one instance the book would have been elevated. Wolf and Scarlet die for the cause? That makes much more sense.

But overall there were a lot of things that just didn't make sense as this series drew to a close. Not just the repetitive nature of the story or the fact that EVERY SINGLE PERSON gets an HEA, but there's The Hunger Games aspect. What I have loved about The Lunar Chronicles is that it took stories that were well known and loved and gave them an entirely new spin. Cinderella is a cyborg but also a space princess! How much more out of the box and original is that? And then when we meet all the wealthy residents of Artemesia they're just extras from The Hunger Games who happened to also be residents of The Capital, in that series and this. Um, what!?! This really just threw me for a loop. I've always touted this series as inventive and original and then in the entire structure of Luna it became a rip-off of another dystopian series. Instead of districts we have sectors, many devoted to the same purposes as those in The Hunger Games. Oh, and the Capital residents, glamours and gaudy clothing and wild looks aplenty. I seriously thought that Caesar Flickerman was going to do a play-by-play of Levana and Kai's wedding. And what baffled me most of all? This wasn't the Luna that we saw in Fairest! This is an entirely new and entirely derivative Luna! WTH people! I just couldn't get beyond this and I still can't. Why, just why!?!

And in the end, the saddest thing of all was that my predictions for the character Winter came true. When Scarlet came out I bemoaned the fact that with all the new characters being added in each volume that by the time we got to Winter's story she would be entirely sidelined. And she was. And this just makes me pissed. Why? Because this book is overly long and filled with all this unnecessary padding and somewhere, deep down in its heart, is this amazing story that is only Winter's. The way Meyer has updated the story of Snow White is exquisite, from the fake death in the menagerie to Levana handing her the apple dosed with the letumosis virus, each and every aspect of this book that is only Winter's story is perfection. There's an elegance and a sadness to her story that captures the bittersweet nature of looking back on Fairy Tales when you think you've outgrown them. The way she doesn't use her power because it's against her core beliefs but is making her insane, the natural charisma that makes the Lunar people drawn to her. I just wanted a book about Winter. No one else. She deserved her own story. She has spent her life in the shadows, tortured by Levana, the least she deserved was not to have the new Queen, Cinder, do the same thing. But such is life. No one, not even fictional characters I have come to love, get what they deserve.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Backlog Bonanza, Caesar Flickerman, Cinder, Cress, Dystopian, Fairest, Fairy Tales, Glamour, HEA, Levana, Luna, Marissa Meyer, Scarlet, Snow White, The Hunger Games, The Lunar Chronicles, Trojan Horse, Winter, Wolf