Review: Notorious Sorcerer

Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I loved this!

The story follows Siyon, a bit of a street urchin with a curiosity for alchemy. Bezim is a city that practices this art that involves connection to the three other planes of existence: Aethyr, Empyre and Abyss. No magic here, kids, just pure unexplainable science. Siyon delves to procure ingredients for the other alchemists in the city, but he longs to learn more.

From the very beginning, I was hooked. I mostly had no clue what was happening with all the 'alchemy' but I was content to just ride along with Siyon as he did his thing. It was such a fascinating, unique concept to me and I loved his quest for more.

The characters were a lot of fun - Zagiri, the girl resisting her heritage and taking part in street brawls and alchemical rituals instead of wearing dresses and going to tea; Izmirlian, the cocky rich kid using his influence because he has a thirst for discovery and a heart bigger than expected; feisty Anahid who is starting to push the boundaries of propriety to discover who she really wants to be ... and of course Siyon, who is not the typical street rat who likes to complain about rich people. I mean, he does complain of course, but he still gets things done and he's not one to judge the rich people until he's actually met them. So that was kind of refreshing. Siyon knows what he wants and goes after it, but he still cares a great deal for the people around him.

The city of Bezim was a lot of fun, and the down side to getting an ARC is that I wanted the map. I had a glance at a final copy and I think I could get lost tracing the paths of the characters through this city. It really has its own personality, and I could very much feel the atmosphere of it.

My only real complaint is the world-building - I feel like this story barely scraped the surface, and I wanted more. I wanted history, and descriptions, and just a better understanding of alchemy and its purpose. But I am patient enough to wait for the sequel to flesh things out a little more.

I never got bored reading this and it took so many twists and shared so many little adventures that I never quite knew what would come next. I enjoyed the growing relationship between Siyon and Izmilrlian, and felt it was the perfect balance of softness and honesty. They worked incredibly well together.

I wasn't quite expecting this to impress me as much as it did, but I'll be recommending it to all fantasy lovers looking for something unique. It was a really fun read that kept me hooked the entire time.

With thanks to the publisher for an ARC

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Comic Life

 Earlier this year, I began working at a comic book store.

If you're a subscriber, you may have noticed my reviews this year have included both manga and comic trade paperbacks. A story in any form is still a story, and being surrounded by these mediums on a daily basis has seen me include them quite regularly into my reading habits.

It does mean my reading of novels has dropped a little, but comics have also helped me out of what was becoming a slump - I'm back to reading regularly, where before I was opting more for TV, movies or video games ( hello to my new Minecraft habit, but that's another story).

One thing that's been interesting with this new comic-loving lifestyle is the jumping on point.

I've found it quite interesting how some comics are easily digestible for the uninitiated, whereas others are almost impossible to enjoy when you're not up to date with the characters, events, and storylines that have come before.

For example, I saw advertised the forthcoming title, Artemis: Wanted from DC, which sounded fantastic. However, I learned it was a spin-off that followed Trial of the Amazons - a six-part series that ran across Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and its own, two-issue, Trial of the Amazons. I went back and read issues 3-6 of this series so I had a better idea of what was going on, but it's a lot of work for someone looking for a good title to start with. (As it turned out, only one single issue of Artemis came out, which was incredibly disappointing. Read my Goodreads review for the single issue HERE)

My first foray into the collected editions went much better. I chose to start with a character that fascinated me: Venom. He's only relatively new to the spotlight, so fortunately there aren't too many options to cloud the judgement. I wanted to start at the very beginning, so I chose Volume One of the Venom Epic Collection - Symbiosis.

Marvel's Epic Collections are now my go-to recommendation for people looking for a starting point for comics. They collect a whole lot of various issues into one cohesive story, so even later volumes stand on their own perfectly well. In Symbiosis, I was able to read about the very beginnings of Venom (as a suit of Spider-Man) and his development from a villain of the web slinger to a hero in his own right. (You can find my Goodreads review for this volume HERE)

Since then, I've read widely across all publishers, though I do tend to favour Marvel. Titles I've enjoyed include Saga, The Boys, DCeased, Batman: The Long Halloween, Savage Avengers and House of M. I'm addicted, now, so I'm constantly digging into the worlds and trying to discover the best collections to read. Next up, I'm looking at the very popular Batman story, Hush.

I've also been reading a bit more manga in an effort to learn the most popular stories, but I've found myself more attracted to the stories that were around a decade or so ago, when I first discovered manga/anime. That's why you'll see reviews for titles like Inuyasha and Dragon Ball, as well as a lot of first volumes of the newer titles.

It can get quite overwhelming at times - there are so many stories I want to experience, while I've also got a stack of novels sitting around begging to be read. But I really do feel blessed to be a reader, and to have so much available to me.

You won't find any of my reviews for the single issues on this blog - they tend to be quite short, and there are a lot of them - but you can follow me on Goodreads if you want all of my reading updates and reviews.

If you're a comic/manga reader, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on these things, too!

Review: The Easy Life in Kamusari

The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really loved the narrator of the audio, and I liked the idea of the story, but ultimately I was kinda bored by it.

It's set in the tiny village of Kamusari, where Yuki is sent to work for a year after finishing school. His parents hope it will help him find his way a little, learn discipline etc. Naturally he's very resistant at first but soon finds himself settling into the more relaxed lifestyle of the village.

The majority of the book details forestry work, and the rest is spent on festivals (SO. MANY. FESTIVALS.) and Yuki's lil crush on Nao, all of which excited very little interest in me I'm afraid. So content-wise, not really a lot to interest me.

What I did love, however, was the characters. There were so many vibrant personalities and I think the narrator did an excellent job of portraying each with their individual quirks without going out of his way to do ridiculous voices. It ended up being a lot of fun to lose myself in the discussions and arguments between the characters and imagine them all with their unique camaraderie.

I also did really love the idea of this quiet way of life, and that 'getting back to nature' vibe but I felt like this story didn't quite deliver on it. Yuki was too distracted by Nao and I felt that when he took the time to appreciate nature it really just went on for too long.

So:
-great idea
-average execution
-fantastic characters
-doing mundane things
-teenage drama
-excellent audio presentation

Loved the authenticity in the narration - some of those Japanese words looked very challenging so it was nice to hear them pronounced flawlessly out loud!

Those with a better attention span than I may get more details out of this story and so appreciate it more, but for me it was just okay, and mostly saved by the audio.

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Review: Cobalt Blue

Cobalt Blue by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Holy crap that was EPIC.

GIVE ME MORE (please).

This ridiculously fun novella was all kinds of crazy.

It's The Boys meets Captain America with no punches pulled - the action is hectic and non-stop, and the good guys just cannot catch a break. It's a steady rise of stakes that will have you on the edge of your seat wondering how this could possibly end well.

I'm a massive fan of Matthew Reilly's work because, even though it's often predictable, it delivers action I can really see in my mind. I think sometimes the predictability element helps in sucking me in - even if I think I know what's going to happen, it's still a lot of fun to watch it play out.

Reilly has made no secret of his film-making aspirations (and indeed produced his first, Interceptor, which was released earlier this year) and I believe it's that love of film that helps bring his stories to life. This book was a superhero movie I was able to watch quite vividly in my head. There's no time wasted on insignificant details, but there's somehow still enough description that we can easily find ourselves within the pages of the story.

I blitzed through this book and I'm definitely keen to read more from this world of megalomaniac supes. It was dark, brutal and fast, and left me craving more.

Don't go into this looking for anything too genius, but if you're keen for a damn good time that keeps you hooked, this ought to be a fun few hours.

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Review: The Freedom of Birds

The Freedom of Birds by Stephanie Parkyn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An entertaining, well-written story, though a little too aimless for my tastes.

I love the writing, and felt the same towards the author's previous novel, Josephine's Garden. The language is beautiful and invokes real feeling, drawing you into the story. It's easy to fall into the setting and see the world of this story come alive in the mind's eye.

The story, however, was a little too bland for my tastes. I enjoyed the wanderings but ultimately they felt a bit pointless, with no real goal for these characters. I was entertained enough reading about their travels, but wasn't ever sure what I was hanging onto them for.

The characters themselves were unique, and I particularly enjoyed following Saskia. She was a character I really felt for, and empathised with. Remi was too obnoxious for me to feel anything but frustration towards him, and Pascal was so easily manipulated that rather than feeling sorry for him or admiring his loyalty I was quite disappointed in him. I wish I'd seen more growth from these two, but they seemed the same deluded two at the end of the tale.

The war talk did lose me a little, but the characters did see me through to the end. So while I wasn't too sold on the slow, meandering story I did enjoy the writing very much and ended up quite attached to Saskia.

An entertaining enough read that lovers of historical fiction should enjoy; a little slow for my tastes but beautifully written in such a way that the setting really comes alive.

With thanks to A&U for an ARC

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