The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials #2) - Philip Pullman

Shehadasked:Whatishe?Afriendoranenemy?

Thealethiometeranswered:Heisamurderer.

Whenshesawtheanswer,sherelaxedatonce.

Lyrafindsherselfinashimmering,hauntedotherworld–Cittàgazze,wheresoul-eatingSpectresstalkthestreetsandwingbeatsofdistantangelssoundagainstthesky.

Butsheisnotwithoutallies:twelve-year-oldWillParry,fleeingforhislifeaftertakinganother's,hasalsostumbledintothisstrangenewrealm.

Onaperilousjourneyfromworldtoworld,LyraandWilluncoveradeadlysecret:anobjectofextraordinaryanddevastatingpower.

Andwitheverystep,theymoveclosertoanevengreaterthreat–andtheshatteringtruthoftheirowndestiny.Shehadasked:Whatishe?Afriendoranenemy?

Thealethiometeranswered:Heisamurderer.

Whenshesawtheanswer,sherelaxedatonce.

Lyrafindsherselfinashimmering,hauntedotherworld–Cittàgazze,wheresoul-eatingSpectresstalkthestreetsandwingbeatsofdistantangelssoundagainstthesky.

Butsheisnotwithoutallies:twelve-year-oldWillParry,fleeingforhislifeaftertakinganother's,hasalsostumbledintothisstrangenewrealm.

Onaperilousjourneyfromworldtoworld,LyraandWilluncoveradeadlysecret:anobjectofextraordinaryanddevastatingpower.

Andwitheverystep,theymoveclosertoanevengreaterthreat–andtheshatteringtruthoftheirowndestiny.She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy?

The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.

When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky.

But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.

On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power.

And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny.

"She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy?
The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.
When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once.

Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky.

But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm.

On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power.

And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny."

Hope everyone is staying sane in quarantine. I am really missing the library, but on the positive side I am really ploughing through my to-read pile. 
I am the first person in my family to make it past the first book in this series. Both of my parents started this one but couldn't make it through. I can totally see why. 

The first book of this trilogy is, personally, wonderful. A rich world, emotive story telling and a fast moving plot. In The Golden Compass, we were treated to a rich alternate universe that had elements that were similar to our own, like some of the geopolitical structure, and elements that were entirely fantastical, like armoured polar bears and witches. (so cool) The Subtle Knife, however decides that most of this is insignificant and takes place almost entirely in a different, and mostly un - fleshed out, universe. It seems like Philip Pullman wanted to reel us in with high fantasy before he could preach at us. It defiantly felt like a book that's sole purpose was to set up for the final third, mainly filler and exposition. 

The second protagonist of the series Will, the Adam to Pullman’s Eve, takes the lead here. Initially I was, and to be honest I still am, very resistant to this idea. I had grown to respect Lyra; she’s a really strong heroine. Will is a giant "young adult fiction" stereotype, in search of the father he never knew while protecting his mother from bad guys and seems to be gifted in the combat department while being unrealistically stoic for his age. But after a while it kind of started to make sense. Pullman has expanded his story considerably. Lyra has three chapters told from her perspective. The same amount, roughly speaking, is told from the perspective of Will. The rest of the chapters are from side characters of the previous book. So there’s a strong move away from a Lyra centred story. While I understand this desicion from a structural perspective, it really dilluted the emotional connection to the charcters, I found myself no longer invested at all. 
At times this felt like an entirely different series altogether. There is no sense of closure at the end of this. The first book had a strong ending, but this has very little, more like a fade screen. This book seemed to be a mere set-up for the next instalment, which makes it rather difficult to review; it’s like picking out the middle bit of a story and trying to criticise it as a separate entity from the rest of it: it’s not easy to do. Any criticism you make are negated by the fact that this is not a separate book: it’s a chunk of a greater work.  

The plot was also quite faulty. Things just kind of happened with very little motivation or thought out plan. It felt almost episodic. 

Something I wasn't expecting was the religious/ spiritual element that was added. It was hinted at in the Golden Compass, but I wasn't expecting it to become so overt. I really, really love the dissection and rethinking of religion in fantasy. Anything that discusses religion in a new way has got me and I think these books had great potential. There could be a lot to discuss with adolescents (not young children...at all). The nature of the soul, the natural man, organized religion, the costs and benefits of religions and the danger of absolute control. All appropriate things to discuss with younger children. But unfortunately Pullman takes that conversation away with his lack of metaphor. It becomes impossible to argue, "I think the dust means this." or "what do you think The Authority is for Pullman?" when he throws his opinion at you with real life Christian beliefs and makes it so in your face.

It's not so much that the book is horribly bad, per se, though I do think it becomes too dark for the age group I initially thought it was written for. The plot was glitchy and the writing sub par. Okay so maybe it was bad. 

Age Rating 14+. Depections of mental illness, quite brutal violence and graphic wound description. 

The Garden of the Fugative - Ceridwen Dovey

"Almost twenty years after forbidding him to contact her, Vita receives a letter from a man who has long stalked her from a distance. Once, Royce was her benefactor and she was one of his brightest protégées. Now Royce is ailing and Vita’s career as a filmmaker has stalled, and both have reasons for wanting to settle accounts. They enter into an intimate game of words, played according to shifting rules of engagement."

Through Royce’s confession, we learn about Pompeii from an anthropological perspective, and through Vita’s perspective, we learn about South Africa post apartheid. From both, we learn about guilt, its manifestation and destructive qualities, both on the individual and on those surrounding them. 

As a white South African having immigrated to the UK at a young age, and moved about a lot since, this book was closer to home then I was expecting it to be. However while it was wonderful to read about my country I found trying to relate to Vita's white guilt plot line difficult. She is just drowning in self pity, doing  nothing to help the people that she feels guilty for oppressing, even though she nor her family has actually oppressed anyone but did the exact opposite. Of course South Africa has a bad racial history, but the way to move forward isn't to become lethargic from guilt. I would have preferred if Dovey had focused more on the unsettled, non-belonging feelings that come from being an immigrant which is something far more South Africans I have spoken to suffer from than white guilt. (No South African I have ever spoken to suffers from white guilt.)

As I read, I enjoyed the book, it felt beautiful, tense and there where some very meaningful passages. The parts taking place in Pompeii where interesting and I actually learnt quite a bit. It was a slow build. However there was no pay off. No dramatic ending, just a meaningless fizzle out. It was so disappointing. All the drama built up and hinted at, Royce's stalker tendencies and him kidnapping Vita for a night are all brushed over. The emotional highlights are told in the most unemotional ways. It was so boring and such wasted potential. 

Told in letters relating stories from many years ago, this is historical rather than being in the story itself - it feels stale. The narrators are so unlikeable I didn’t care if they lived or died (he’s a stalker; she’s an amateur artist wallowing in self-pity). Interesting themes where drowned in stale action & factual download.

Age Rating 14+. Some more adult themes discussed but not in depth. 

The Sealwoman's Gift - Sally Magnusson

"In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted some 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island off the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and their three children. Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywhere were largely silent.

In this brilliant reimagining, Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Ásta, the pastor's wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture Ásta meets the loss of both her freedom and her children with the one thing she has brought from home: the stories in her head. Steeped in the sagas and folk tales of her northern homeland, she finds herself experiencing not just the separations and agonies of captivity, but the reassessments that come in any age when intelligent eyes are opened to other lives, other cultures and other kinds of loving."

I started this book really really enjoying it. The writing is stunning. Descriptive and immersive without you being bogged down in long passages. The descriptions of Algiers and Iceland are fabulous and you get an immediate understanding and feel for each place. I could feel myself nigh on shivering in the Iceland passages.

The characters are also well portrayed. They felt nuanced, deep and their emotions well fleshed out. 

The author has captured Icelandic ways very well—the feel of the land, both its beauty and its harshness, and the importance of sagas in Icelandic culture. However when the story shifts to Algiers, the telling becomes less authentic, less vivid. This part is mostly fiction and it feels as such. We are told of the difficulties that arose for the large group of Icelanders gathered there. These Icelanders remain as a diffuse group. Their sufferings feel distant, spoken of, but not felt by the reader. Ásta and her three children, one child was born on the ship, were well treated. Their suffering is incredibly marginal, which in my view gives the parts of the book set in Algiers a fairy tale feel to them. Only when Ásta must decide whether to remain or return to Iceland, leave behind her children and a man toward whom she has come to have ambiguous feelings of love, does the story begin to have depth. 

Sally Magnusson clearly did her due diligence in research, and you can see Magnusson striving to describe the contrasts between the chilly poverty of life in a small Icelandic village with the warm opulence of a wealthy merchant's townhouse in north Africa. However, it all felt a bit laboured. The pacing is rough, the occasional hints at mythical/magical realism elements are out of place, there's lots of telling-not-showing, and frankly I found Magnusson's representation of slavery and the experiences of enslaved people to make for increasingly uncomfortable reading as the novel progressed.

Is it possible for there to be a complicated, fraught, emotional relationship between an enslaved woman and the man who owns her, who threatens her with sexual violence and who sells her children away from her forever? Yes. Is it possible for a read to be uncomfortable without being distasteful—to ask a reader to face up to difficult issues without being vulgar or maudlin? Yes. But Magnusson's writing doesn't have the depth needed to sell the relationship she posits between Ásta and Cilleby as believable, and so she falls back on stale, shallow tropes: the blonde, feisty woman from Iceland who is seduced into pleasure on a silk mattress by a blue-eyed, half-Dutch Moor. As the book progressed, I felt ever more like I was reading a slightly more high-minded version of one of those awful orientalising Mills and Boons novels. 

It was interesting to observe why some Icelanders chose to remain in Algiers. However as said before these conflict where very emotionally removed from the story and I couldn't explore these issues as much as I wanted to. Here the author takes the opportunity to compare lifestyle differences in Iceland and in Algiers. Similarities and differences in religious beliefs where cleverly dealt with. Ásta’s emotional difficulties on returning to Iceland are well drawn. It was this that saved the book for me. 

However I found her choice to go back to Iceland frustrating. Leaving behind her beloved children, knowing that she will never see them again, only to return to a life of cold hardship. Maybe it comes from me being a Third Culture Kid but that kind of stupid homesickness didn't resonate with me, especially after it is made clear that she has grown to love Algiers just as much. How will the common Icelander's even relate to her experiences, her struggles? They won't, she will forever be an outsider in her own country. Rather stay somewhere where you are really an outsider and where you have a better chance of seeing your children again. 

Age Rating 15+. As said before there are some threats of sexual violence. Obviously slavery is a main theme and the violence that come with that is quite central to the plot. A women is raped, though it is off page, it is still obvious what happened. Asta's youngest son is sold to a man that it is heavily hinted sexually abuses him. So quite heavy stuff. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

"Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succès de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb."

During Lockdown I thought it would be fun to take advantage of the free audiobooks and listen to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a book that has been on my reading list for a while. So I sat down and listened while frantically crocheting. 

This was my first experience in reading/listening to Oscar Wilde and the man’s gift for prose and dialogue is magical. I very quickly came to understand why he is such a beloved author. This story reads somewhat like a dark, corrupted Jane Austen in that the writing was snappy and pleasant on the ear so perfectly fit for a modern audience, but the feeling it left you with was one of hopelessness and despair.

The level of cynicism and societal disregard that Wilde’s characters display towards humanity is simply staggering and dangerously interesting to explore. Despite the dark aspects (or more likely because of it) this is one of the most engaging, compelling and lyrical pieces of literature I have read. The quality of the prose is nothing short of masterful. Many books have multiple meanings and morals layered within them but this is probably the best example of this that I have found. Themes, morals and social observations are made and discussed, weaved through the entire piece leaving you reeling and introspective. 

I assume most people know the basic outline of the plot, but I will give you a few sentences on it anyway. The three main characters are Basil Hallward, Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray. Basil Hallward is an artist who after painting a picture of Dorian Gray becomes obsessed with him because of his beauty. The homosexual vs. muse adoration that Basil feels towards Dorian is left vague, likely because of the time it was written. Dorian then meets a friend of Basil’s, Lord Henry, and becomes enthralled with Lord Henry’s world view, which is a form of extreme hedonism that posits that the only worthwhile life is one spent pursuing beauty and satisfaction for the senses in the most ruinous of ways.

While this story is often mentioned among the classics of the Horror genre (which I do have a problem with) this is much more a study of the human monster/hidden psyche than it is some bogeyman. My favourite parts of the story were the extensive dialogues between the characters, usually Dorian and Lord Henry. They were wonderfully perverse and display a level of casual cruelty and vileness towards humanity. Dorian, while often portrayed as someone innocent lead astray, I must heartily disagree. He is quite evil, when I say evil, I don't mean just misguided or weak-minded, someone bamboozled by the clever lectures of Lord Henry. I found Gray to be selfish, vain, inhumanly callous, sadistically cruel and capriciously thoughtless. 

Overall one of the few classics genuinely worth the name. I loved the prose and dialogue but definitely not for you if you are someone that doesn't enjoy lots of prose. 

Age Rating 14+. There are some more shocking moments like a murder, but other than that it is quite tame. There are a few allusions to gay relationships, lots of young men are disgraced after knowing Dorian but that is so vague and really just a mere suggestion. 

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar

"This voyage is special. It will change everything…

One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock hears urgent knocking on his front door. One of his captains is waiting eagerly on the step. He has sold Jonah’s ship for what appears to be a mermaid.
As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock’s marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society. At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on… and a courtesan of great accomplishment. This chance meeting will steer both their lives onto a dangerous new course, a journey on which they will learn that priceless things come at the greatest cost…

What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the destructive power mermaids are said to possess?"
The scene is set for a picturesque romp through the teeming wharves, poverty stricken alleyways, gentrified squares and quaint rural areas, all of which we now know as inner London! The sights, sounds and smells of the time roll off the page.

The theme of mermaids and how they lure sailors onto the rocks seems to mirror the plight of some of the women in the novel who, in these deeply misogynistic times, use their femininity to lure men to gain influence, riches or simply to survive. Angelica Neal the grand but fickle courtesan is a wonderfully flawed and nuanced character and a key player in the story.

Part gritty and realistic, part whimsical and magical, this story of eighteenth century life is well told. However is didn't fully deliver. I was expecting magical realism, fantasy and mermaids based on the blurb. What I got was a well written historical romance novel, steeped in descriptive prose that felt a little flat to me.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock follows a humble merchant and his love for a courtesan, whom he meets after a chance encounter with a mermaid. Jonah was a little dull in character, and felt as though he was severally lacking in any emotional depth (and backbone). Angelica, our courtesan, in comparison is scatty and all over the place. I wasn't keen on her characterization either at first, as she felt so different to Jonah, and I couldn't really understand her interest in him at all. She did become more sympathtic as the story porgresses but the romance was still incrediably forced. 

The pace is agonizingly slow, and the romance takes a long time to develop. I understand that the constraints of the time meant a romance of this nature would be upheld with trepidation and many longing glances - but unfortunately I felt it meandered too much before anything really happens. The ending, although it took a long time to get to, also left a lot of loose story lines which annoyed me. The real mermaid come completely out of left feild and it was so late in the story it felt like an odd addititon. 

I really didn't get what I expected out of this unfortunately. If it was targeted more as a historical romance it would perhaps find a better audience.

Age Rating 17+. Way, way more sexual then I thought it was going to be. Trust me, there is a bloody orgy in a brothel in one scene. 

The Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

"Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.

Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime."

I bought this book awhile ago while on holiday but never actually got around to reading it. I am now really happy that I waited for a few years to read it as I think a more mature outlook helps to appreciate this book. 

It is a heavily character driven book, that explores humanity, society and war and uses sci-fi as a wonderful vehicle to explore these themes.

First of all, I really liked the characters which is important due to the lack of action in the book. There is a highly diverse cast. Much like any ship-enclosed story, it largely becomes about the characters and how they interact. Characterization is one of the story strengths; through small, focused interactions, almost each crew member is fleshed out fully and beautifully. Rosemary, Sissex and Dr. Chef feel the most well-rounded but I love them all.  Kizzy and Jenks are the mechanical engineers who keep the ship running. Kizzy is often comic relief. At times, Kizzy bordered on the absurd, but her personality stayed solidly genuine and she did provide a few laugh-out-loud moments, particularly her (mis-heard) song about "My Socks Match My Hat." 

I adored the exploration of Sissex's culture and her character. I would say that was solidly one of my favourite aspects of the book. The creation of a culture that felt solid, realistic and fleshed out without huge amount of detail and exposition. It was also sooo different from any human culture but it was handled with a great amount of respect. 

This book emphasizes the importance of respect; respecting peoples’ pronouns, peoples’ bodies, and peoples’ feelings. The representation in this book is honestly unparalleled. From different species, to different races, to different genders, to different sexualities, to different mental health issues, to different bodies types, to different upbringings, to different cultures, to different traditions, to different religions, to different social settings, to so much more. 

I really appreciated how the human culture is as interesting as the alien cultures. Too often in Sci-fi does humanity become a homogenous group with the same beliefs and culture. I really loved how that didn't happen. Human culture has actually been shaped by history. For example, the culture of the Exodus Fleet has a pacifistic streak, which has formed Ashby’s strong aversion to weapons. The wealthy Martians have a superiority complex generations old. Certain sections of humans love technology, Modders, but some absolutely hate Tech. The complexity was a welcome change from the normal. 

Now that I have waffled on about why I enjoyed this book I have to talk about what I didn't. This book while it had many positive features wasn't in anyway perfect. 

It did fall in to being too didactic for my taste. It was obvious what issues where being handled and it didn't leave much interpretation up to the reader, it didn't spark discussion but rather preached. It was very in your face which moral point of view you should be following. There was little doubt as to the author's political and social beliefs. This was a bit of a problem for me, while a book is obviously written and a reflection on the author it shouldn't be so obvious. 

The plotting was also unsteady. A number of readers relate this book to the Firefly tv series, and it's easy to see why; a loveable, ragtag crew copes with various adversities in weekly adventures.

The wafer thin plot could be summarised as a bunch of super best friends have a great time pootling about the galaxy eating food and learning trite lessons on the importance of diversity with zero tension or conflict. The pacing of the smaller on-the-way elements to the overarching story of the big tunnelling job is incredibly uneven. The trip is supposed to take a standard year, but with a couple of very short stopovers, it seems no different to any other time period of the book. More significantly, the ending felt incredibly rushed and anticlimactic, again incongruous with the lengthy and significant trip. 

When I learned from one of my co-readers that Chambers had lost her job and created a Kickstarter to fund finishing the book, it made more sense. I can't wait to see what she does with time and resources. 
Over all a book worth reading and certainly with some very good elements. Not the most subtle or nuanced approach to the themes discussed however. I think it would have been greatly improved with more tension and action that could have provided a backdrop to the lessons being learnt by the characters. 

Age Rating 14+. Some quite adult themes are present. War, sex, sexuality, technology, culture and religion are all there. 

The Wicked King (#2) - Holly Black

"You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world."


I have mixed feeling on this book.



On one hand I adore the character Jude. She is intelligent, feisty, realistic and sassy. She thinks things through and never makes a decision that makes me face palm, which to be honest is a rarity in YA female protagonists. I love her capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections. For stubborn bravery that seems more of a result of chaining her fears and not unhooking their leashes just yet. For bottomless generosity of heart with undertones of naked lust for power and petty, capricious malice. Jude is full of so many wants, too many to prioritize, and they all feel desperate. I would almost say that I liked her more this book than the first one, she seems to have come more into her power and feels more comfortable with her role and power grabbing ways. I also am a sucker for a morally grey protagonist.



I also absolutely adore Holly Black's prescriptions of the Fae, their world, their clothes. As someone raised on stories of the Irish Tuatha De Danaan and every other culture’s old faerie myths, I have a real soft spot for them and love different incarnation and people's interpretations of them. With a stage magician's flair for misdirection, Holly Black weaves a captivating spell with languorously descriptive writing, the atmosphere was so vividly imagined I felt like moss would just start appearing around me, and branches would just grow from any surface I looked at. I love the malicious, inhuman, brutality of Black's Fae.



The political intrigue is fabulous in this book. You won’t know who or what to believe, and you surely won’t know who to trust. All these storylines come together to create something so beautiful. This book was a wild ride from page one to the very last page. Actually, especially the very last page.



Now onto something I was less sure about. I personally quite enjoy Carden's character, not to the depths that others do, but he is certainly very interesting. He seems to be a consummate arse and to be honest he is, but he has a level of depth and complexity that is great to explore. He was never loved, he was abused by his brother and neglected by his parents. The only way to gain any kind of attention was being the worst person in existence.



However, something I am not quite so sure about is the romance. I think I am going to be the unpopular opinion here, but I just find it problematic. Both these characters are deeply broken, manipulative and their interactions display that. While I love books that explore the darker side of human relationships and their consequences, I don't like highly problematic relationships being portrayed as romantic to a younger and impressionable audience.



If you read this book with the awareness that the relationship is not one to model actual relationships on and the behaviours displayed are problematic, then you will have a wonderful read. Through the use of breath-taking set pieces, engaging characters, and a gratifying emotional hook that will keep the pages whirring, ending this second instalment with a spinning sense of history repeating itself and a cliff-hanger that has you reeling.



Age Rating 15+. Some brutal violence, sex scene that weren't graphic but where obvious, extreme humiliation and semi-torture while imprisoned.

Sixty - One Nails (#1) - Mike Shevdon

"Sixty-One Nails follows Niall Petersen, from a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life. The Untainted, the darkest of the Seven Courts, have made their play for power, and unless Niall can recreate the ritual of the Sixty-One Nails, their dark dominion will enslave all of the Feyre, and all of humankind too."

Sixty-One Nails is boldly compared to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere on the front cover, a claim that got my attention, but made me suspicious as well. Was there any chance that Shevdon's novel could compare?

The answer is . . . not really. To be honest, other than the beginning in which the main character Niall is drawn into an otherworld-London, there is very little to compare to Neverwhere.

The book explores the structure of the Feyre councils. Blackbird, an very old Fey, as well as Niall, the main character, are on the run. They are considered “tainted.” Having human DNA is not a positive. To have any form of protection Niall must find a way to be accepted by one of the Feyre courts. The 7th court, or “The Untainted” are a select group of Feyre that believe consorting with humans is something to be cleansed and engaged in rampant war with the other courts. They have been sealed off but are gaining access to the world a foothold at a time.
The premise is wonderful and the execution was mostly very good. I liked the characters, they felt real and witty. Though they really, really suffered from insta-love, I mean they know each other for two day and then they have a baby together and want to get married. Like what?? She is hundreds of years old and chooses this dude, over everyone she could have??

The world was well built, the different courts need more exploring but I can see great potential. I also really enjoyed the use of a real world ritual. 

On the other hand, this was in sore need of a severe, even ruthless, editing. There were far too many repetitive bits of dialogue, and we were told so many times about what would happen "if the barriers fell", and there was even one chapter that ended on a final bit of resolution about what Blackbird and Niall would do next (you know, to prevent the barriers falling? Because IF THE BARRIERS FALL...), and the next chapter started up as if readers could have forgotten what had just been decided, slowly and with much discussion, the page before.

There was also way way to much description, so much so that I found myself happily skimming this book. 

Age Rating 14+. Overall an okay book for a quick read. Adore the stunning cover. One scene of fayre sex which personally wasn't necessary but hey. Also some sexual illusions too. No swearing however. 

Persuasion - Jane Austen

"Eight years before the story proper begins, Anne Elliot is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?"

Personally Persuasion is one of Jane Austen's most moving, realistic and serious of her books with a strong underlying moral message. While all of Austen's novels are generally comic, Persuasion is the most nuanced. It's been described as "autumnal" and that word suits it very well. There's a quiet bittersweetness to it that you just don't get in Austen's other work.

Anne is an older heroine, roughly 27, and so disasterously near being on the shelf, as it where. Love seems to have deserted her and her sorrow has marred her beauty. She is in great danger of ceasing to exist, not physically, but socially. When we meet her, she's barely there at all. Although a woman of strong feelings and high intelligence, she is ignored and overlooked by most of the other characters, being called "only Anne." In the universe of Austen's novels, the individual doesn't truly exist unless connected with the social world, and while Anne has a stoic strength, we understand that she is in some senses doomed if things don't change for her. 

Anne might not suit everyone as a character and I can completely understand that. She is far less spunky than other Austen heroines with no witty repartie or sharp comebacks and can strike some as being a bit of a push over. In some ways I can agree with that. She isn't the kind of character that I would normally gravitate towards. However, I think there is something to be learnt in Anne's stoic handling of the situation. She has every reason to be angery and resentful at her treatement, yet she is unfailingly kind, self controlled and endearing. 

The small cast of character inhance the importance of the social network during that period, and displays the smallness of people's worlds and connections. Everything feels isolated and Anne has no where to turn to for a differing opinion, she feels so very alone. 

Austen's intelligence, dry wit and humor are evidenced on every page. She makes observation on the human condition that stand today and will leave modern audience chuckling in recognition. The melancholy, autumnal feel of the first part of the book, when all you can see is Anne's blighted hopes and how she is disregarded and mistreated by almost everyone around her, is wrenching. Then, like springtime, comes the slow, gradual return of joy and hope to Anne's life. 

Age Rating 12+ Absolutely nothing untoward. I was having Jane Austen's books read to me since I was tiny.