Suzie

This is a very different book on re-reading. The first time around I was gripped by a desperate desire to understand the mysteries; the deaths, the ‘accident', the Factory, and of course what was in the study. I enjoyed it, the ending was suitably climatic, and the twist suitably satisfying.

I can still appreciate the clever touches, the call backs to Frankenstein et al. and the slightly demented humour of it all, but a second read shows how much is dependent on that mystery. Without the suspense, the meandering summer days and repetitive descriptions of violence quickly start to feel redundant. I still think it's a good book and well constructed, but it isn't one that rewards re-reading.

I bought this because I wanted some of that classic golden era short-story fun sci-fi... and I got Harlan Ellison. It's ‘dark' and vivid, and definitely not fun...

There's a thin line between tackling dark story lines in a meaningful way and just indulging in a bit of trauma for entertainment, and this veers uncomfortably close to that line.

A fun romp that hits a few of my weak spots (warring mafia families, urban fantasy, fully realised female characters) and thus I steamed through and promptly bought the sequel. It's exactly what it says on the tin; plus well-written and engaging. My one niggle is that there's a few places where the book raises plot threads and characters that never really get followed up with (I haven't finished the trilogy yet, so perhaps they arise later, but I suspect they won't).

The central characters are ruthlessly violent, and there's not much morality on display, so this won't be to everyone's tastes.

Beautifully written (but kind of ultimately unsatisfying?)
Metaphors all the way down!

The smaller stories were more interesting than the ‘main' story. With a roster of characters that includes the moon, fate, time, time-crossed lovers, fortune teller and a pirate girl etc. it's a shame the book focuses on the rather dull main character who seems to want nothing and spends most of his time wandering around in bewilderment.

It's still four stars, because the world building/mythology is incredible. Would love to see an art book...

I picked this because it was the only thing on the kindle read first list that I even remotely had an interest in this month, but I am far from the intended audience.

(Sidenote: I was grumpy the second the main character drifted across lanes because she wasn't paying attention whilst driving. Dangerous driving kills FFS, it's not ‘relatable'.)

Anyway, it was fine, well written, and an interesting read for most mothers-with-jobs-who-have-never-thought-about-gender-roles-before. As such, this book was ... well, fine. Just not for me.

This is a fairly typical piece of historical romantic wish-fulfillment, and that isn't a genre I particularly like. Nonetheless, it was well executed, if unchallenging, and the central time-travel premise was interesting!

I found it irritating that the central character went from ‘multi-millionaire author' to ‘extremely wealthy doctors wife' to ‘landed gentry' which sat uncomfortably alongside the Irish War of Independence and formation of the IRA... but this I guess is the nature of historical romance, where history is used as an exotic backdrop more than anything we should be challenged with. And as an example of historical romance it was done well.

This is a snow crash of a book to be honest. A bunch of cool ideas, characters that appear bad-ass but then turn out to exist only in order to progress the plot, pages and pages and pages of info-dumping. At one point the Librarian is info-dumping to Hiro, and at another point Hiro is info-dumping to Uncle Enzo and others ... and the two characters sound identical.

I would love to see someone take this world and write a smaller, more human, story set in it.

Some of these stories are excellent, with highlights for me including ‘The Woman who grew wings', ‘The women who sowed seeds of doubt' and ‘The woman who unravelled'. Other stories took the literal metaphor thing too far without adding much to it (‘The woman who had a strong suit' was just irritating).

It's all very middle class, but it's nice to see a collection of stories that leans toward the chick lit category but still tries to be inclusive and consider things like gender roles in a critical way, even if it does come out as a bit ‘Feminism 101'.

When I started reading this, I thought ‘dear lord, what have I gotten myself into'. The writing is dense and opaque; disheartened, I turned away.

Then I returned, and my ear caught the rhythm of it. I found myself pulled inexorably into the complex dynamics of this family of the American South. Dashed about from one narrative to another, I could not find my footing. But I finished the book exhilarated, exhausted, and with a strange hunger to start reading again from the beginning.

Writing about the horrors that faced the Jews during WWII is not an easy thing to do. Sadly, this book offers little more than a flat one-note description of events that most people are familiar with. The characters are one dimensional, either heroic or evil. They talk to each other in clichés. The writing is redolent of a Mills & Boon novel and is not up to carrying such heavy subject matter.

Another one of those books that throws in a bunch of difficult and nuanced topics only to deal with them in the most superficial and simplistic way and then tie it up in a bow at the end. The ‘romance' is at the level of a Mills & Boon novel, the writing is only just competent and all the characters are one dimensional stereotypes. Which is a shame, because as noted it tries to take on some difficult topics like inequality, colonialism, adoption, miscarriage, arranged marriages... but it's all toothless.