Review: Veronica Roth, Divergent (Divergent, #1) + Movie

I said it before and I'll say it again, it's a miracle if I read a book close to its release, especially if it's a new series. One such miracle was Divergent by Veronica Roth. Not long after the paperback release, I bought my copy of this supposedly fenomenal new YA dystopian novel and it only took another month or three for me to get around to reading it. I was on a roll back then! With the movie release, I revisited my thoughts on the book and sat myself down for the movie.

In the field of YA, the main players have become the dystopian novels (*). One of those is Divergent by Veronica Roth. This book has gained a massive following and has got almost nothing but glorious reviews, some even saying that it is better than The Hunger Games. Since I absolutely loved this series - The Hunger Games, that is - I decided to pick up Divergent to see if it is really that good. Comparing books to The Hunger Games, however, is a tricky business, cause the expectations are really high and this makes that disappointment is never really far away. I will, however, try to keep Katniss at bay and not compare all too much.

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. 

For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. 

But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . 

or it might destroy her.

As with every dystopian novel, the world as we know it is no more. In this case, today’s Chicago is destroyed and instead the city is divided into five Factions, each concentrating on a specific personality trait. The story revolves around Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior and when she takes her test, the results are inconclusive. She is Divergent. She is dangerous. What follows is a whole book filled with training montages, since every initiate into a new faction has to be trained in order to become a member. Tris chooses Dauntless, the brave, as her new faction and thus is her training really exciting. She learns to fight, shoot and overcome her fears. But there are things going on in the city. Things that will strike close to home for Tris.
I really liked what happed in this book, plot wise. The book starts off with the aptitude tests and I was immediately engrossed in the story. It is never boring and things are happening so fast that you just want to keep on reading. I had a hard time putting the book down and as I result, I breezed through it in no time. The world Roth has created is very fascinating and makes you want to read on in order to learn something new again and again (**). I liked how the Factions were based on personality and how people were actually conditioned to act and think in a certain way. The underlying message, being that we can’t rely on one single trait, was not really being shoved down the reader’s throat, but it would have been quite the task to actually miss the point Roth was trying to make (***). 
I did have some issues with the plot, however, which refrained me from giving it the highest score possible. First of all there is the worldbuilding. Like I said, this world – or dystopian society – is really fascinating and very imaginative, but it is never really explained. How did this society come to be? How does it work? There is some information on it, sure, but I felt it was not enough. I guess we will learn more about it in the books to come, but I would have liked a little history on this. Is only Chicago like this? Etc. Also, the factions rely heavily on their members, still, it’s almost easier to become factionless than become a member (****). That struck me as a bit odd as well. However, whilst I did wonder about these things while reading, it’s not a major issue, just a random thought, if you will. Something that did bug me a bit about the plot, was the ending. I though the actual war and fighting was all handled in such a way that things were a bit too convenient, with her mother popping up at the right time and stuff like that. Veronica Roth is still a young writer and this is her very first novel, so I won’t hold it against her, but I thought it a bit of a shame that she isn’t that good at concealing secrets or twists. There are two big twists here, one concerning a character and one about the plot, but both were heavily hinted at and while I couldn’t guess the exact nature of the latter twist, the overall idea was pretty clear to me way before Tris figured it all out. There were just - too? - many hints along the way and they were pretty obvious. But like I said, even though that could have been handled different, I won’t hold it against her.

Next to a fascinating plot, there are a lot of characters here and these were handled fairly well. It’s not easy to have a bunch of characters and give them each their own voice, but Roth managed to do this. The guys were a bit of an all-one-and-the-same and who-are-you-again? bunch, but the ones that mattered managed to stand out. I also liked the mixed bag of characters you’re getting here. Some are really relatable, where others are just despicable in every single way. A big pro here is how the characters aren’t all that black and white, but rather a muddled shade of grey. As a main character, Tris is likeable in the same way Katniss was. Both are very strong young women who aren’t all that likeable at the beginning but you grow to like them over time. Tris does a better job at making you like her than Katniss does, however. She’s a bit less hard-edged. Her love-interest, Four, is a very nice character as well and I like how their relationship grows and isn’t the main focus of the book. It’s also nice to see that Veronica Roth isn’t afraid to kill her characters.
A small issue here as well, though. This book wasn’t very surprising in terms of characters. When Tris meets Eric and the woman from Erudite, she mentions how she dislikes them and doesn’t trust them. These two turn out to be the main instigators of the war, so yes, no big surprises there. It’s not that I really minded that, but a little twist to who the villains were would have been nice. Where the characters weren't goodie two shoes nor absolutely evil, even in their greyness you could easily tell which one belonged to which side.
As for the writing style, it is excellent. It’s quite a big book, nearing 500 pages, but the pages turn like there’s no tomorrow. It helps that the font size is quite big, but still the writing is really fluent and gripping in the right places.People like to compare things and when talking about a specific niche like YA dystopian novels, comparisons rear their head pretty quickly. I even did it by comparing Tris to Katniss, just to make a point, but other than that I try to abstain from comparing books that are unrelated. Instead, it try to enjoy what I read for what it is and judge it on its own merits and not on those of another book. Still, when you hear comparisons stating that Divergent is better than The Hunger Games, you can’t really help but secretly making one for yourself. I did, and I liked The Hunger Games better. So there you have it. I do believe that this comparison is completely useless, though, cause both aren’t really that comparable, I think. What I do know is that Divergent is an enjoyable read. I did have some issues with it, but that didn’t detract from the fact that I liked reading this and seeing that this is Roth’s debut and how it turned out, I am willing to give her a lot of credit, cause she did a very good job.

 

Discover which Faction you belong to. Or are you Divergent as well?

(*) More recently, YA contemporary is becoming the thing to read - much thanks to The Fault In Our Stars, I presume - and the odd Fantasy tries to wriggle its way into the spotlight, but another literary tsunami as we have seen with the dystopian wave hasn't occured to my knowing.  
(**) That being said, I would NOT want to live in this world, though. The amount of times they use needles and inject different kinds of serums into their bodies is just insane. Hopefully they have some very effective cure for HEP/HIV...
(***) But then again, Subtlety isn't one of the five Factions, so clearly all is forgiven!
(****) Some ideas for recruiting posters: "We want you! ... After which we'll do our utmost best to not want you at all!" or "Please feel welcome and make yourself at home... while you still can!"

Upon the release of Divergent in the movie theaters, I had already read the complete trilogy and with it lost quite a lot of my interest in it (*). I did, however, watch the movie when I had the chance, cause I really liked the book and I was hoping for an exciting movie such as The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Alas, I ended up feeling quite disappointed.

I found the movie to be a good portrayel of the book as a whole, but I found the overal ambience of the novel, however, to be missing. There was something exciting about the book, about the training and how Tris was doing in Dauntless. For me, the movie lacked that feeling of excitement and times, it was just plain boring. The climax also didn't cut it for me, to be honest. A good example of how the overall ambience of the movie was less than the book, is the ferris wheel. I thought this was a very powerful scene in the book and here, it was just some climbing. The zipline-scene, however, was as great as I imagined it to be.

As for the ending, I'm not sure what to think of it. I mean, why go through all that trouble to inject Jeanine with the mind-control serum just to order her to shut the system down. Couldn't they just have ordered the Dauntless to stop attacking? I don't know, but that struck me as a bit odd. Another odd thing, was the focus they put on the 'Faction before blood' thing and saying goodbye to your family. However, the different Factions are shown working together... It's difficult to rhyme those two.

As for the characters, I found the portrayel of Tris and Four to be good. Perhaps Tris was not exactly as I had imagined, but I was certainly not disappointed by Shailene Woodley's performance. Their relationship was a bit cheesy, with lots of moments for the audience to drool over Four, but overall I enjoyed them.

The other characters, however, felt a bit like cardboard to me. There just wasn't enough time to get to know the other characters, which diminished the impact of what happened to Al and Will a lot. Also, the motivations behind Eric and Peter's actions were not clear and they came across as douchebags. As for the latter, his personality was toned down a whole lot. By deleting a certain scene with a knife, he's just a bully instead of the Peter we know from the book.

The scenery was quite close to perfection. I can't clearly remember how I envisioned this Chicago, but I was very much in awe of the Chicago we saw in the movie. The music was great as well - I mean, how can Ellie Goulding be anything but great? - but I did find it to be distracting at times. The songs were great, but it might have been better to use an instrumental score instead of the lyrical. But this is just a minor issue.

All in all, while the movie had its great moments, I just wasn't all that impressed with it and the book certainly is way better. I'm not sure about the movie adaptations of the next two books, since I found Divergent to be the best book in the trilogy, but I guess I'll see them anyway.

(*) Thank you for that, Insurgent and Allegiant.

 

Review: Daniel Abraham, The King's Blood (The Dagger And The Coin, #2)

The first book in a big series is always tricky business. You have to balance a whole lot of worldbuilding with setting up the plot and introducing characters, but at the same time, you have to make sure that your book is exciting enough to draw readers in and that it can, more or less, stand on its own. The Dragon's Path, the first book in Daniel Abraham's The Dagger And The Coin series didn't completely succeed in that feat. The second book, however, made good on the promise that The Dragon's Path implied.

After having read the first book in The Dagger And The Coin series by Daniel Abraham, I was left with mixed feelings. My expectations were far higher than the book could live up to, since every other review I read made a favourable comparison to George R.R. Martin. It was, however, no Song Of Ice And Fire, and thus it took me a little while to pick up the second book in the series. When I did come to it, the book proved why this series got so much critical acclaim to start with. The Dagger And The Coin might not be as ambitious as A Song Of Ice And Fire, but it can definitely hold its own against those big epic series and The King's Blood does everything to prove that.

 

War casts its shadow over the lands that the dragons once ruled. Only the courage of a young woman with the mind of a gambler and loyalty to no one stands between hope and universal darkness.

The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. And quietly, almost beneath the notice of anyone, an old, broken-hearted warrior and an apostate priest will begin a terrible journey with an impossible goal: destroy a Goddess before she eats the world.

Whereas the plot in the first book was all over the place and didn’t seem to have any real direction (*), The King’s Blood did have a good sense of direction and purpose. Everything that went down in The Dragon’s Path is coming round with repercussions attached. His surprising save of the young monarch has put Geder in the position of Regent, albeit with the use of some magics. Another one who finds herself in a position she didn’t bargain for is Cithrin, in charge of her own branch of the Medean Bank but under severe supervision. All the while, Dawson and Clara try to survive in a politically precarious environment. In the end, they’ll be faced with the decision of staying true to the throne or to themselves and it’s a choice that might cost them dearly.
Upon finishing The Dragon’s Path, I felt like I read a very long and elaborate prologue and this feeling got reaffirmed with The King’s Blood. Whereas the first book has put the pieces in place, the game of chess has now officially begun. Most of the characters have gotten engaging plotlines with lots of intrigue and deception – I’m especially looking at Cithrin here, the intrigue and plotting is really becoming a second nature for her. While I liked most of the plotlines, I wasn’t that convinced by Marcus’s. It’s not that it was lacklustre, but I definitely missed something there to make me fully connect to his story. In this bunch of five POV’s he falls right in the middle and gets lost there. His story is nor really intriguing nor is his character development taking a turn for the better nor despicable, which makes him the grey mouse in a bunch of brightly coloured personas. Talking about characters that go down the wrong path, Geder is the prime example here. Whereas he garnered some sympathy previously, he’s becoming more and more off-putting as the series – and this book – goes along. This is certainly not a bad thing in terms of my interest for his storyline and the novel in general, on the contrary. The thing that makes his story engaging and off-putting at the same time, is that you witness his progression from hero to tyrant with decisions that fall ever so lightly on the wrong side of the moral spectrum. In this, he is strongly aided by the Priests of the Spider Goddess. With them, magic in slowly creeping in the story and it’s making it even more engaging. This proves once again that you don't need balls of fire weezing around or other mindblowing magical pyrotechniques to write a great Fantasy series. Just some subtle magical aid is all one needs.

While the different storylines are all of a nature that they keep you reading, I do miss the grander scale of some other big Fantasy series. Every character has his or her own little – or not so little – struggles, but it’s hard to find some overarching plot. The bigger picture, if you will, is missing. With three more books to go, I have no doubt that events will come together and tie everything up in one big epic knot.
The character development is pretty much on par with the respective storylines. It’s the ones I’ve mentioned before that truly come to their own in this book, wile Marcus is left standing on the side line. Perhaps it’s because characters like Cithrin, Clara and Geder are so engrossing, that a more even tempered character like Marcus does not stand out as much (**). Dawson portrays some of the same symptoms, but because of his political involvement, his storyline prevents him from befalling the same fate as Marcus. Master Kit, at last, has been a side character for long, but now he’s coming more and more to the front stage and he proves to be an intriguing character. I’m curious to see where the story takes him.
This has all come to be thanks to the solid writing from Daniel Abraham. While it is true that The King’s Blood, as was the case in The Dragon’s Path, starts off really slow, I can’t really critique Abraham’s writing. It’s all just very solid, with enough worldbuilding and exposition to set the stage and a change in pacing to get you hooked for the showdown.

The King’s Blood shows that, while you may not judge a book by its cover, you also can’t judge a series by its first book. The Dagger and The Coin series received lots of praise when the first book was just released and was compared to George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire series. After The Dragon’s Path, however, this comparison felt like a marketing stunt to me, cause everybody was loving Game of Thrones at the time. The King’s Blood proved me wrong in proving the critiques wrong, cause by now I can see where people might get the comparison from. While I do miss the grand scale and some major epicness, The Dagger and The Coin is building up to become another great series that can hold its own in a landscape where Martin and the likes are busy conquering seven kingdoms and more.

Don't miss out on a great series and get your copy of this book right now!

(*) Despite the book being titled The Dragon's Path.

(**) He reminds me a bit of Eddard Stark, in that respect. While a great character, both don't really have that little extra to compete with more colourful characters, at least to me. That being said, you can't rely on the bold and beautiful all the time, so a Marcus is needed to even out the book.

Review: Kevin Hearne, Hunted

I am one of those people who loves to buy and read a lot of series, and when it comes to reading them, I like to have a lot of variety in my bookish diet. Thus best case scenario, there will be a two month gap between subsequent instalments of a series. But as with every best case scenario, it’s not often the case. So in my experience, authors tend to write faster than I can read their finished products and the unfinished series keep piling up and up and up. Whilst I don’t get to talk along that much with other readers of said series – seeing as I am several books behind – I don’t get to experience the dreaded wait for another novel. The Iron Druid Chronicles, however, is the odd one out here. Right from the start I managed to keep track of the series and thus I had the privilege (?) to experience long wait between Trapped and the new one, Hunted (*). But boy, did it deliver! It was well worth the wait.

For a two-thousand-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan is a pretty fast runner. Good thing, because he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt—Artemis and Diana—for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is . . . run like hell.

Crashing the pantheon marathon is the Norse god Loki. Killing Atticus is the only loose end he needs to tie up before unleashing Ragnarok—AKA the Apocalypse. Atticus and Granuaile have to outfox the Olympians and contain the god of mischief if they want to go on living—and still have a world to live in.

Hunted takes off right were Trapped ended, with Atticus, Granuaile and Oberon being chased by huntresses Diana and Artemis. Fair and square, that’s all there is to Hunted, it’s a straightforward roadtrip across Europe where our protagonists try to keep ahead of the huntresses all the while trying to figure out who’s behind the grand scheme of putting the Druids six feet under, for good this time. Straightforward as it may be, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Because of the nature of the plot, there were no slower parts in the book and the tension was constantly present and highly appreciated. The previous books were always light hearted - excluding some darker moments once in a while - no matter what the plot was and Hunted is much of the same. However, at least at two points throughout the story did the mood turn grim. While I read these books mainly because they are a whole lot of fun, I greatly appreciated the change of tone, which went all too nice with the overall atmosphere of the hunt. The ending also had some surprise in store and made me long for the next one already.
The best things about the Iron Druid Chronicles are, in my opinion, the characters. Atticus and Oberon had me at hello and they keep delivering book after book. Especially Oberon; here, I thought he was on fire! It was only two chapters in and he was already wisecrackin’ his butt off, and he kept it going till the end. You just got to admire that little doggie and the stuff he pulls out of his brain. While she was always around, ever since book one, Granuaile didn’t become a major player till the very end of the fourth book. I always thought she had a great deal of potential and I am glad that she delivers on that account. Her addition to the crew makes for a nice balance with Atticus and Oberon without her turning out to be the dull one. In fact, she’s very funny in her own way, but different from her male counterparts.
When you crack an Iron Druid, you know there will be all kinds of gods roaming around, and while it used to be overwhelming in the first couple of books, I came to really like their presence and I’m always looking forward to whatever spin Kevin Hearne has put on a certain pantheon. Needless to say, but Diana and Artemis delivered big time and while he only had a small role here, I found Zeus to be, euhm, interesting, for lack of a better word…
As with the previous novels in this series, the writing is as it should be. Witty, fast-paced and effective for whatever the story has to project. I do want to pinpoint a little something here. Till book five, Atticus has always been the narrator and him as well as Oberon did have quite a distinctive voice. Hunted, however, introduces Granuaile as a narrator and I found that to be very refreshing and I was surprised at how different it felt in way of writing. The first time they shift perspective, it’s not really announced it’s Granuaile talking, but you just sense the shift. It was a very different kind of writing, a bit more lush, perhaps? I found that quite remarkable and I take my imaginary hat off for that. It's not that easy a task to write the voice of an opposite-sex character and Hearne actually made Granuaile feel genuine and genuinely feminine, just by changing the writing and the choice of words.

With Hunted, Kevin Hearne has done his best to push his series a little higher on my favourite urban fantasy list. One thing is for sure, the next adventure for Atticus, Oberon and Granuaile is top priority and can’t come quickly enough.

 

 

Feel the rush of being Hunted by Diana and Artemis yourself and buy your copy right now, before they beat you to it!

 

If you fancy a review of the previous five novels in the series, go check out my GoodReads, they're all up.

(*) In the end, the wait wasn't that long or unbearable, but let's pretend for the sake of this review, shall we?

Review: Brian Ruckley, The Edinburgh Dead

When we talk about how good or bad a certain book is, we mostly talk about plotlines and/or –holes and how the characters were or should have been. Not surprising, though, seeing as they are what the book’s about. There is, however, another important aspect to a good story, and that is the worldbuilding and how the scenery of the story translates into the reader’s mind. The worldbuilding might not put me off of a book, but it certainly holds the possibility of taking the book to another level altogether. Most of the books I read take place in a secondary world – own imagination galore – and most of the urban fantasy I read takes place in some random American city and, from my point of view, might as well have been another secondary world. However, when I stumble upon a book that takes place in a city I have visited – and loved, for that matter – the book appeals to me even more. Brian Ruckley’s The Edinburgh Dead falls in the latter category.

Edinburgh: 1828
In the starkly-lit operating theaters of the city, grisly experiments are being carried out on corpses in the name of medical science. But elsewhere, there are those experimenting with more sinister forces.
Amongst the crowded, sprawling tenements of the labyrinthine Old Town, a body is found, its neck torn to pieces. Charged with investigating the murder is Adam Quire, Officer of the newly- formed Edinburgh Police. The trail will lead him into the deepest reaches of the city's criminal underclass, and to the highest echelons of the filthy rich.
Soon Quire will discover that a darkness is crawling through this city of enlightenment - and no one is safe from its corruption.

Adam Quire is an officer of the Edinburgh police when he stumbles upon a corpse. The evidence at hand points toward the victim being killed by dogs, but upon further investigation, Quire discovers that this case is more than it seems and if he isn’t careful, it might not only lead to his untimely departure from the police, but from life itself as well. For he finds himself enmeshed with the Resurrection Men, bodysnatchers and dead things who won’t stay six feet under ground.
I’m not big on historical novels, but when it draws upon an interesting part of history it might just do the trick. The bodysnatching past of Edinburgh is one of those little fragments of history I find quite fascinating and this, combined with an interesting take on zombies, made this book a pleasant affair. The first half of the novel is kind of like your average historical mystery novel, with a murder to be solved, the brave policeman trying his utmost best despite the not too willing help from the higher class and the search for clues. Nothing wrong with that, but things start to get really interesting when the zombies are introduced. Ruckley has an interesting take on the mainstream brainmunchers and made them fit the setting very well. Perhaps zombies is a wrong turn, and is reanimated corpse more adequate. I felt like, from that moment on, when it became apparent what was going on, the story took a turn for the darker. Even though the living dead are present, other magics stay pretty much out of the picture with some notable exceptions. This general lack of magic in society and the referring to it as the arcane, adds a certain mystery and unreachability to it all, which I found to be very pleasing. As far as the development of the plot is concerned, I think Ruckley did a very fine job of bringing things to a close. My only remark concerning the plot would be the chapter about the war near the start of the book. I found this flashback to be unnecessary and it didn’t really contribute anything to the story nor the character of Quire. Well, it did give him some background, but it might have well been added in smaller flashbacks throughout the main story whenever necessary.
Talking about Quire, I think he is quite a capable main character. He’s no goody two shoes and does flirt with the edge of what’s accepted and expected from him, but it gives him a certain edge and makes him likeable. He's, say, a flawed hero. The only thing I’ve missed from him, is a distinctive voice. While reading the book, he did the job as main character, but in the mass of other characters in my head, he’s not one to stick out. Whereas Quire is quite the likeable lad, the other characters who take the spotlight for sufficient amount of pages to allow a development of feelings, certainly are anything but likeable. One in particular, Blegg, is downright creepy and he gave the group of adversaries a certain punch they needed to become believable as antagonists.
My overall opinion of this book is very much favourable but not outstanding, and that counts for the writing as well. I thought Brian Ruckley had a very nice way of writing, although it took me some time to pick up the pacing of the novel. For me, it was definitely not a fast read and the writing style did contribute to that. While this may sound as if the writing was bad, it wasn't at all. It's just a kind of writing that takes me a little longer to read as opposed to your average urban fantasy novel, for example. Whether or not that’s a con, is something every reader has to decide for him or herself, but I didn’t really mind. Ruckley has a very nice way of telling the story and in that prospect, it’s rather a pro that I had to take my time to take it all in.

Having been to Edingburgh, the experience there blended nicely with the way Brian Ruckley described Old Town and New Town and heightened the atmosphere. I doubt you’ll get the same vibe from Quire walking the different closes of Old Town and the open lanes of New Town if you haven’t experienced the vast contrast for yourself, but you can always give it a try. And heck, why not do both? Cause Edinburgh as well as The Edinburgh Dead are worth your time.

 

 

 

Fancy a trip to Edinburgh yourself? Get your Dead right here and walk in Quire's shoes.

 

Review: Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

 

There is a first time for everything, and The Graveyard Book was my first Neil Gaiman read. I’ve heard a lot about his books, how amazingly stellar they are and more where that came from, but I’ve never really felt the need to pick one of his works up and start reading. This all changed when this novel was thrust in my hands for the Bi-Annual Book Exchange.

 

IT TAKES A GRAVEYARD TO RAISE A CHILD.

 

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy - an ancient indigo man, a gateway to abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible fleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will be in danger from the man Jack - who has already killed Bod's family . . .

This novel is told by means of short stories all from the perspective of Bod. With every story, we move a little forward in time and because of this, the novel as a whole was quite a unique experience. The final chapters – or stories, if you like – make all the previous ones come together in one coherent storyline, and an engaging one at that. Because of the different short stories, it was quite hard to discern where the plot was taking you and it wasn’t until the final chapters that things were becoming clear. By not explicitly including the bigger picture in the first few stories, those solely rely on their own little plot and thus can become rather hit and miss. I didn’t find there to be a particularly bad story, but the third one – “The Hounds of God”, about the ghouls – was probably my least favourite of them all. It wasn’t bad, but the contrast with others, like “The New Friend” and “The Witch’s Headstone” was apparent. The way the different pieces of the puzzle came together in the end, however, was nothing short of brilliance. Even though it is a children’s book, I found the ending to be very engaging and exciting. Together with the very beginning, the highlight of the book for sure.
There are quite some characters inhabiting this story, ranging from the good to the evil, from the dead to the living. Even though the man Jack is a despicable human being and creeped me out, I thought he did a novel job as the bad guy. Abanazer Bolger and Tom Hustings have some fingers in that pie as well. The great thing about the characters, is how they each have their own, unique voice. From the stern Silas to the rather playful Liza, you’ll learn to love each and every one of them. The main star of the show, however, is Bod. He is a fun, vibrant and engaging character and because of the way the novel is structured, you as a reader grows along with him. You follow him in his playfulness, his endearing compassion for others – dead or alive – and schemes to right wrongs. He’s perhaps a bit wise beyond his years, but who wouldn’t be when tutored by ghosts who’ve lived in all different kinds of eras. It takes a graveyard to raise a child, indeed.
The biggest strength of this book, however, is Gaiman’s writing. His prose is not the most elaborate or complicated poetry, but it’s evocative and emotive. Go and read the first chapter and tell me that’s not excellent writing, that it does not tickle your imagination. Go and read the last few pages and tell me you’re not moved. If writing is art, then Neil Gaiman is an artist and The Graveyard Book is a masterpiece. The wonderful illustrations by Dave McKean only add to the imagery of the tale and make it a complete experience for your eyes.

The Graveyard Book was my first of Neil Gaiman, but after reading this, I know two things for sure. One, graveyards will never be the same again to me. Their eeriness has become a place of possibility and growth. Second, this might have been my first, but it will definitely not be my last Neil Gaiman novel.

 

 

Plan your trip to the Graveyard here!

Review: Mike Shevdon, Sixty-One Nails

If there is one thing that confuses me most when it comes to Fantasy, it's the whole subgenre thing. There's epic, high, low, dark, urban, urban-fairy, ... The list goes on and on and on and in the end, I can't wrap my head around it anymore. Whenever I label a new purchase in my excel-file (*), it's more a well-aimed game of darts rather than an accurate display of my subgenre-knowledge. I do know, however, that when the book features a hot chick or skillful wizardesque guy that knows how to kick ass and does that in a contemporary day and age, I have a fairly good chance of correctly choosing 'urban fantasy'. This may account for, say, 95% or even more, and while I very much enjoy novels that fit the description, stumbling upon the odd one out that takes the genre somewhere unexpected, can be an utter delight. Mike Shevdon's Sixty-One Nails happens to belong to the latter pile.

There is a secret war raging beneath the streets of London. A dark magic will be unleashed by the Untainted...Unless a new hero can be found. Neverwhere's faster, smarter brother has arrived. 

The immense 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.

I do read quite a lot of urban fantasy and most of them fit the description as stated earlier. What we get here, is quite the opposite. Niall is a middle-aged man who doesn’t know anything about anything and is completely new to this stuff. The first part of the book sees him discovering his magic and at the same time introduces us to the world Shevdon has created. Later on, there is precious little ass kicking going on and more of a quest that has to be completer in order to prevent bad shenanigans from happening. I got the feeling that the ideas presented here are more leaning towards Epic fantasy which are poured into and Urban setting. The result was the creation of something very refreshing. This quest we're talking about, the restoring of the Quit Rents ceremony, is an actual existing happening where Shevdon has put his own spin on. This I highly appreciated, as well as the information on the actual ceremony included at the back of the novel.
Because Niall has a lot to discover, the story isn’t that past-paced, but it still was quite a fast read because the world of the Feyre was very intriguing. Forget all the beautiful, tall, pointy-eared people you think of right away. The seven Courts differ from each other and most of them don’t even come close to looking human. Each Court has its own form of magic, and whilst there wasn’t a lot of ass-kicking involved, there was some serious power play which made for a fascinating read. The main focus, however, is on the Seventh Court. The other six don’t come into the picture until the very end and I hope they will play a bigger role in the books to come, but the Untainted were capable of carrying the book on their own. They have a fascinating set of powers to display and they Fey themselves are quite the creepy kind. Whenever they showed themselves, especially the woman, the atmosphere got really eerie.
Another thing that, for me, made the novel anything but cookie-cutter, was the setting. Instead of some random American city as is so much the case in Urban fantasy – or at least in those books that I’ve read – this story takes place in London. For once, I was able to picture things how they really are and not my own rendition of some city I've never been. It’s a small thing, of course, but it’s just nice to envision Niall walking the same streets that you have walked. It just adds that little extra to the whole experience. In sum, the world-building was top-notch!

The main characters here are Niall and Blackbird, and I liked them. I don’t think they are the kind of characters that stick with you long after and I won’t be mentioning them when someone asks me for my favourite characters, but they are so very much fitting for this book. I can’t really pinpoint why, but when I was finished with the book, I felt like only Niall and Blackbird could have made this story the way it is. The combo of characters and plot just worked like a charm.
Because Niall knows nothing (**), both him and the reader start out knowing nothing and experience and learn things the same. This was quite nice, opposed to being confronted with someone who already knows the tips and tricks of the business and takes you along for just another ride. While it took me some time to warm up to Blackbird – she doesn’t make it that easy to love nor trust her – I appreciated their interaction and quite like them as a duo. They shared some good moments in this book.
As far as I know is this Shevdon’s first novel. The writing sure doesn’t tell. It feels like the umpteenth book by a well established author and not a debut. The writing is fluent, never contrived, not overly descriptive and finds a good balance between the more darker and upbeat parts in the book.

I happened to stumble upon this series when I won a signed copy of the third book and had to go looking for books one and two. This was, once again, evidence of the fact that there are a lot of very talented authors out there who are not that well known. Mike Shevdon is one of those and Sixty-One Nails is a very good, non-kick-ass urban fantasy that is definitely worth diving in to.

Fancy a trip to the unseelie parts of London yourself? Grab your ticket here.

(*) Well, what did you expect?
(**) Yes, I did envision Blackbird telling Niall in a husky voice: "You know nothing, Niall Petersen".

Review: Stephen Blackmoore, Dead Things

I’m writing this review shortly after reading a blogpost about how the line between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance is blurring more and more. I had to agree with said poster when she stated that it’s not for the good of the series – but it might be when it comes to the sales aspect – when the main focus of Urban Fantasy, being a tight plot filled with action and the supernatural, is being replaced by flimsy romance and way less plot than the amount of pages seems to suggest. If there are others out there who feel the same and are looking for a book that puts the Urban back in Urban Fantasy: meet Stephen Blackmoore and Eric Carter.

 

Necromancer is such an ugly word, but it's a title Eric Carter is stuck with.
He sees ghosts, talks to the dead. He’s turned it into a lucrative career putting troublesome spirits to rest, sometimes taking on even more dangerous things. For a fee, of course.

When he left L.A. fifteen years ago he thought he’d never go back. Too many bad memories. Too many people trying to kill him. But now his sister’s been brutally murdered and Carter wants to find out why.
Was it the gangster looking to settle a score? The ghost of a mage he killed the night he left town? Maybe it’s the patron saint of violent death herself, Santa Muerte, who’s taken an unusually keen interest in him.
Carter’s going to find out who did it and he’s going to make them pay.
As long as they don’t kill him first...

 

At times, blurbs can be deceiving and you end up with something totally different than what you had in mind. With Dead Things, you'll have none of that. The book is what the blurb sais it is. As it suggests, the plot is quite simple, but it’s tight and effective in its simplicity. There are not many different plotlines that can get you side-tracked and everything happens at a very high pace, so the book definitely keeps you engaged for the whole ride. This story is the perfect example how an Urban Fantasy/Fantasy Crime novel should be like. It does keep you guessing in between the numerous confrontations between the good, the bad and the ugly, and when you thought you got it figured out, the tables are turning. Near the end, some things do happen that thincken the storyline a bit and it'll be interesting to see how it all develops in future novels. The whole wrapping up of things might not be as mindblowing as it could have been, but the ‘final battle’ does deliver big time.

So it has quite a good main mystery and on the side there is some sweet little magic taking place. I thought Eric Carter was a very nice take on the necromancer aspect of things as a whole. The idea of Eric being able to cross over to the shadowside, along with the whole range of ghosts depending on how the person died brought something new and fresh to the table and the whole magic built around the ghosts is really fascinating. It doesn’t always have to be about rotting zombie when it comes to necromancy, right? But this is not all when it comes to the hocus-pocus; in fact, his little bag of tricks was the cherry on top. Especially the stickers/nametags he used to bespell things were genius and hilariously clever at the same time - I mean, the sticker on Vivian?!. The idea is just so simple that I’m quite baffled that I didn’t come across things like this in other novels, but Stephen Blackmoore and Eric Carter made the stickers really their own. Also, the tattoos. I won’t say any more about this, but just: the tattoos.
Eric Carter himself is quite the enjoyable main protagonist as well. He’s troubled, that’s for sure, but it gives him a certain je ne sais quoi that makes him likeable as a character, even though he’s not the most pleasant person to be around. Even more so, despite him being troubled and all, he doesn’t constantly remind us of it nor does he turn into a whining child. In that aspect, I found him to be more likeable than Harry Dresden whom I also like, but tends to stress his chivalrous qualities a little too often. The other characters do a good job of supporting him, but it’s Eric that’s shining bright.
The writing is how it should be is this genre. Tight, fast paced and a little rough around the edges. The pace is kept high by the usage of short sentences which are more a kind of spoken language rather than written language. Normally things like this would bother me a bit, but here it suited the pacing and feel of the book very well. Stephen Blackmoore isn’t afraid to make some tough decisions and is able to refrain from adding to much saccharine frosting – in fact he used bare to none – for which he earns a kudos.

To put it simply, I would love to read another Eric Carter novel. Especially after the ending of Dead Things, which made me feel uncomfortable, and that’s a good thing. Even though it’s a little rough around the edges and fairly straight on, I really enjoyed reading it. Dead Things showcases the potential of Mr. Blackmoore as a strong voice in the Urban Fantasy genre and I can only recommend it to fans of the genre.

 

 

Fancy a rough ride with a tattood guy? Pick up your copy of Dead Things right now! 

Review: Lee Battersby, The Corpse-Rat King

Grace: I’m not mad. And I’ll tell you why I’m mad. Because I’m not mad!
Will: You’re not making any sense.
Grace: Oh and all of a sudden you’re the vice-president of things that make sense?
Will: Why vice-president?
Grace: Because Leo’s president. Deal with it.

This particular piece of dialogue – out of an episode that is absolutely hilarious – is not only pretty witty (even more so when you hear it in the context of the whole episode, I promise you), but it actually fitted my feelings upon finishing Lee Battersby’s The Corpse-Rat King very well. The Corpse-Rat king didn’t make that much sense in certain places, but it’s the kind of not-making-sense that just takes the book up a notch and makes it better than it would have been if it all made perfect sense. Do I still make sense?

Marius don Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead.

Just like the living citizens, the dead need a King — after all, the King is God’s representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are.
And so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King. Which he fully intends to do.
Just as soon as he stops running away.

 

This is quite an accurate description of the main plotline, and thus of the first few chapters of the book. When Marius actually starts running from the dead, it get’s crazy really fast. The main plotline is always pulsing in the background of the novel, but what’s on the surface is at times completely weird. It’s like a pearl necklace; the main plotline is the string that keeps every single pearl of craziness together. The best part is, it actually works really well! In terms of craziness, there is a clear progressive line to be found here. At first, it’s all quite calm, but steady as a beating drum, Marius finds himself in the most impossible situations. Three scenes that really stood out to me were the cardgame, the sunken ship and the tomb of kings, with the latter two fighting for the top spot on my best-scene-of-the-book list. Whenever I say that there is a lot of craziness and not that much sense going on here, I mean that in the best of ways. The best comparison I can come up with, is the kind of craziness that’s going on in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. There, as well as in The Corpse-Rat King, the main character finds himself/herself in the most absurd of situations, but it’s those situations that make the book great. On top of that, Lee Battersby flavoured his novel with an interesting take on the dead. More in particular, the trick he pulled on Marius was something I found quite fascinating and I loved discovering what Marius's capable of, alongside him.
The plot might be good, but if there are no memorable characters to carry it, it won’t bring you all that far. Luckily, Marius is able to carry the plot and he does it with style. The way he was portrayed fitted the character of the corpse-rat really well and I liked him quite a lot. His comments, his personality and wit, it worked like a charm. And even though his sidekick Gerd was absent quite a lot, I kind of liked him too, especially the chemistry between both of them was just fun to read about. There are a lot of other characters, but they only make a cameo for a few chapters, only to never be seen again. Normally, I would mind, but surprisingly I don’t mind at all when it comes to this novel. There’s something about Marius being alone – and running away from his quest – that worked really well here. That's not to say I don't want the others around in future stories about Marius. Like I said, the chemistry between Marius and Gerd has the potential to be gold and Gerd's nan looks like a treasure in the making. Crossing my fingers and toes they stick around!
Another plus here is the writing. First of all, I felt like this book didn’t really take itself all to serious, which is a good thing. It's always appreciated when a book isn’t pretending to be something more than it is, and with The Corpse Rat-King, you get what you see. On top of that, Lee Battersby has a very nice and fluent way of writing, which made me able to breeze through the chapters whenever I had the time to read. Also, he was able to really bring across the voice and personality of Marius in a way I’d expected Marius to be. Fun, slightly gritty, not afraid to use strong language whenever it suits the occasion. As it should be.

Safe to say that, even though I bought this on a whim without knowing to much about it, I don’t regret reading it at all. If you’re into a light and hilariously fun and crazy read – and you’re not afraid of rotting flesh and talking corpses – I suggest you give this a try. I’m definitely looking forward to another novel from Lee Battersby’s pen.

 

 

Want to read it yourself? Buy your copy of The Corpse-Rat King at The Book Depository now!

Review: Ben Galley, The Written

Don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s something I’ve been taught and I try to apply that to my book buying as well – and judging from the monstrous covers that flourish on my shelves, I seem to do a pretty good job at that. However, when it came to the Emaneska Series, I let the cover seduce me into buying. I first came across Mr. Galley’s novels on a blog and the beautiful simplicity of these covers for both The Written and Pale Kings stood out to me. The blurb seemed alright, so I just had to...moreDon’t judge a book by its cover. It’s something I’ve been taught and I try to apply that to my book buying as well – and judging from the monstrous covers that flourish on my shelves, I seem to do a pretty good job at that. However, when it came to the Emaneska Series, I let the cover seduce me into buying it. I first came across Mr. Galley’s novels on another blog and the beautiful simplicity of the covers for both The Written and Pale Kings stood out to me. The blurb seemed alright, so I just had to have those covers. The cherry on top, was that there was a great story hidden this gorgeous piece of artwork.     His name is Farden. They whisper that he 's dangerous. Dangerous is only the half of it. Something has gone missing from the libraries of Arfell. Something very old, and something very powerful. Five scholars are now dead, a country is once again on the brink of war, and the magick council is running out of time and options. Entangled in a web of lies and politics and dragged halfway across icy Emaneska and back, Farden must unearth a secret even he doesn t want to know, a secret that will shake the foundations of his world. Dragons, drugs, magick, death, and the deepest of betrayals await. Breathtakingly vast, chillingly dark, brooding and dangerous, The Written will leave you impatiently waiting for the next adventure. Welcome to Emaneska. This might sound like your average cookie cutter fantasy plot, and as a whole is does resemble that in some ways, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I very much enjoy novels like these and it doesn’t always have to be new and ground-breaking to be enjoyable. While staying true to the classical Epic Fantasy novel plotwise, The Written incorporates some elements from the gritty fantasy that populates the bookshops in recent years. This gritty aspects returns in the character of Farden, as well as in the language used and certain scenes. On top of that, Ben Galley came up with some very nice little things to spice up the novel, such as the concept of the Written – which I found very intriguing – and things like a Tearbook and the Storm Giants. It’s things like these that take it a level above the Cookie cutterishness of other novels. The book managed to keep my attention throughout the whole story and even when my suspicions got confirmed towards the end, I still kept reading and rightly so, cause it held some surprises still. The main character, Farden, is quite a bitter man and tends to act like an ass. However, compared to other characters with the same personality, I didn’t find Farden to be annoying or tiring whatsoever. I don’t really like him as a person, but I do like him as main character, if that makes any sense. Apart from Farden, I really took a liking to the dragons and I found the bonds between them and the Siren very fascinating. While I’m hot nor cold regarding Durnus and Elessi, I hope that they get some more time on page the next time around, for I do think they have potential to become quite interesting sidekicks to Farden. This is perhaps the ‘major’ issue I had with this book. The side characters just fell a bit flat, with the exception of Farfallen and Svarta. I would have liked some more in depth info on or interaction with the others. Speaking of the side characters, I liked how the world of Emaneska was richly populated by different species, but never felt overcrowded to me. Also a certain plus is the history of the world, which gave it all some depth. Hopefully the history of the land will be unveiled some more in the books to come. Seeing as this is a debut novel, I was pleasantly surprised with the writing, cause despite the odd typo I found this to be a very pleasant and fluent read. The book starts with the theft and accompanying murders, after which there is a nice balance between action and the slower parts. As I mentioned earlier, I bought this book on a whim and only read some reviews after finishing, so I was quite surprised when I saw the critiques on the writing. Perhaps it’s due to me not being a native English speaker, but the writing never felt unhinged or forced to me, nor did the use of ‘all of a sudden’ and ‘suddenly’ bother me, as reviews on GoodReads tend to go on about – and I have not the slightest clue about why it should bother anyone, to be completely honest. Aside from that, I’m not one to make issues out of spelling where others - again, I'm looking at you, GoodReads reviewers - seem to have issues with the author having some fun with spelling. So as far as I’m concerned, Mr. Galley can spell Vampyre any which way he wants - even more so: Durnus simply deserves a 'y' instead of the 'i' other bloodsuckers are getting, just because. All in all, seeing as this is a debut and he will grow in his writing even more so, The Written only bodes well for the future. So while I may have bought this purely based on the cover, I was pleasantly surprised by the actual novel. Seduced by the looks and charmed by the content, The Written was a very pleasing experience and if he keeps it up, Ben Galley might as well turn out to be the major discovery of 2013. Nice making your acquaintance, Ben and Farden. See you next time around.   Since The Written managed to tick off almost every box I wanted it to, I can't but give it a very hot rating.     Buy The Written at The Book Depository.