Review: Preservation

Preservation by Jock Serong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Robinson Crusoe meets Silence of the Lambs meets that old primary school song we all learned about Botany Bay.

This one is based on the true story of a shipwreck back in Australia's early (settlement) days, and man, is it a doozy.

The ship wrecks off the coast of Tassie Van Diemen's Land and a handful of men decide they need to make tracks towards Sydney in hopes of sending help. They take a bunch of slaves and don't even get me started ranting about slavery. Let's just say I'm glad this was 200+ years ago.

So among them is Figge, who is basically the devil incarnate, and while everyone is trying their best to survive in the formidable Australian bush, this guy has his own agenda that makes things a lot harder than they need to be.

So here we have:
- Hostile environment
- Discord among survivors
- White people being jerks to slaves
- Long, arduous trek
- Sneaky little criminal mastermind

So it's actually really fun and devious and I can't lie, I enjoyed it immensely.

The writing threw me at first. I was worried that it was going to be one of those books that works so hard to say things in fancy convoluted ways that I'd be bogged down by the language, but it had just the right blend of description and action. There were actually some beautiful, picturesque phrases and the words really brought the setting to life. This will be particularly effective if you've ever been out into the Australian bush, but it also paints a very clear, realistic picture for people who might want to know more about Australia.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints, which was quite effective in amping up the mystery factor, because you don't know which parts are lies and which parts are truth. They take turns in telling the tale of the trek north, but all slight variations. It did make it a little confusing at times but I think that was kind of the point. Wasn't entirely sure about the necessity of including all the present-day drama with the wife and the illness etc but I guess it was just another facet of life in this new and strange land.

Naturally, the aboriginal communities were a big part of this story. I found it interesting the way they were portrayed, particularly in the way they associated preferentially with the slaves. I think that was a powerful statement. It's also quite a vital piece of Australia's history - to communicate that these people were already here, living full lives with their own social systems, not wanting anything, all before white settlers went tromping all over, claiming the country for themselves. It wasn't a pushed agenda, though; it was just a realistic factor of the story. Handled poorly, this could have caused massive controversy I think, but it was written into the story with great respect, so kudos to the author for that.

This is a fascinating fictionalised account of a small piece of Australia's early history, but it's also a great, sinister novel on its own. I loved the references to Australian wildlife (particularly the 'fat badgers') and I felt such patriotism reading about this hostile environment that only the tough survive. That's my country! You also get to know these nasty characters - Figge in particular is such a subtle menace that it makes for a ripper of a story.

Well researched and eloquently written, I have no hesitation in recommending this one. Crime lovers, people who want to know more about Australian history, or the landscape in general. People who like adventure stories tinged with a little bit of evil. Overall, a fantastic read.

With thanks to Text Publishing for my ARC.

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Review: Kingdom of Ash

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*Throws book across the room*

I'm done. I'M SO DONE.

Huh.

Literally.

So. Let's start with some fun stats!

In this book, the word 'mate' appears 86 times in relation to Aelin and Rowan. (There were at least another ten or so references in regards to other couples.)

There are also 23 missing question marks, and that's after generously conceding that some places made a justifiable impact without one.

I didn't count the number of sentences that were structured in that horribly repetitive way that I griped about in my review for A Court of Frost and Starlight. But that was an equally absurd number.

Honestly, when I read three 'mate's just on the first page alone, I put the book down again and didn't pick it up for another few days. I couldn't face it. I've loved this series since the beginning but Empire of Storms was such a let down for me and I was so worried that this book was going to be equally painful. The romance took such a prominent position in EoS which really detracted from the fantasy elements of the series.

Thankfully, this brought back some of the magic, and while it wasn't the five star conclusion I was hoping for, it wasn't as terrible as I'd feared. There were some real gut-wrenching moments in this one.

WARNING: HERE LIES SPOILERS FOR THE PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES.

This one opens with Aelin in that terrible iron box that she was forced to endure an extra year while we all trudged through A-Grade Bore Chaol's story. You can thank SJM for that one, Aelin.

So she's being tortured while Rowan and friends tear up the world looking for her (in a relatively fast but otherwise peaceful manner) and Chaol is headed back to the mainland after Getting The Girl (and an army). Dorian and Manon are looking for witches and keys and meanwhile Aedion is fighting a brutal battle against Morath in Terrasen with the help of Lysandra, whom he treats like dirt. Nice, pal.

DRAMA ENSUES.

The torture stuff is whack. I don't know how to feel about it. I just ... I mean, it gets real dark and she's traumatised and all but I feel like it was too extreme? I dunno. It felt messy somehow. Didn't stop my heart aching for her, though. Or for Fenrys. I love that guy. Wolf. Babe. Whatever.

And of course it's so fkn BADASS when she is freed so that was fun. Rowan is a straight up savage. But just the once. It kinda bothered me that he wasn't more savage more often. Does that make me a bad person? Lorcan, on the other hand, is admirably dark and cold and even with all the Elide drama he still stays true to himself and is like, 'I AIN'T GONNA GROVEL, B*TCH!' which I lowkey appreciated with my stone cold heart. I mean, that whole, 'treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen' stuff is not cool. So good on him for sticking to his guns. Even if I did kinda ship that broken little romance.

Meanwhile, Aedion is up north fighting Morath. Tense battles. He's having a hard time.

Chaol returns to his homeland with his Sweet Lil Thang Yrene who honestly I still don't particularly like. (view spoiler)[It bothers me how important she became in this novel. Like, she popped up in a short story from back in the Sam Days, then guest starred in Chaol's book, but now she's the one that's gotta save the world? SJM YOU TRIPPIN'. (hide spoiler)] But they're all cute together and stuff and everyone's super happy that Chaol has a wife and I am happy that his mopiness has been reduced drastically. I mean he's still a bit dramatic over his daddy issues but at least he has a bit more of a backbone now. (HA. SEE WHAT I DID THERE.)

Meanwhile, Aedion and Lysandra are having angst over each other while they endlessly battle Morath up north.

Manon and Dorian are still having a lot of kinky sex mating and Manon is having feelings. I miss the witch who would just slice and dice anything that annoyed her. She was way more fun with no feelings. But I like that she's still mostly an ice-queen. I dislike these two together because they kinda cheapen one another? Separate, they are both so savage, but then they get together and it's all feelings and emo drama. They are more fun when they are apart. This is one ship I won't board. Those two are too fierce on their own. Anyway, aside from their lovemaking mating, Manon is all about finding Crochan witches and Dorian is all about finding Erawan's third key so DRAMA ENSUES.

Guess where Aedion is? YEP. He's up north, still fighting Morath. What a hero. He and Lysandra are still working out the kinks of their relationship.

I kinda got really bored of the same formula being repeated over and over AND OVER again. There's a battle, things are looking terrible, then all of a sudden someone or something shows up to turn the tide. But it's a short reprieve coz that's not enough so the battle starts to go badly and things are looking terrible and then ALL OF A SUDDEN ... and so it goes on and on and on. And it's mostly Aedion up north having to live this repetitive rollercoaster so I really feel for the guy.

There were also so many scenes that reminded me of things I've seen (repeatedly, coz I'm a nerd) in LOTR. Actual battle scenes taken directly from the movie and transposed on the ToG world. It never had the desired effect on me when I read those scenes coz I was a little mad at what felt like a ripoff. (view spoiler)[For example, THE HEADS. We all know those were Faramir's men, not Ansel's. PLEASE. (hide spoiler)]

But as much as I hated the copious amounts of coupling and rip offs and repeated style devices etc etc I still love these characters SO MUCH. They are fun. They are badass. They interact with one another in really fascinating ways (even if it is disturbing how closely related everybody actually is). I love the cadre, and the snarling and ferocity with which they all fight. I love Aelin's resilience (even if it's a bit of a stretch) and I love the women who stand up for themselves. I love Dorian and believe him to be the most underrated character of the entire series. I love how villainous Manon and her Thirteen are. (view spoiler)[And I loved that, at the end, we had that precious moment with Aelin, Dorian and Chaol, as a nod to where this entire series began. (hide spoiler)]

So even though it was way too long and full of tedious battles, I still really enjoyed it.

Now for some spoilery gushing:

(view spoiler)[ WTF WAS UP WITH THAT STUPID GRATUITOUS APPEARANCE FROM RHYS??? Come on. I mean, I was totally expecting a nod to other works of fantasy fiction with the whole 'falling through other worlds' bit, but to actually insert Rhys (even if he's not named, I SEE YOU) ... I honestly feel real mad about it but also super impressed that SJM worked that in there. BRAVO.

I am both happy and sad about the lack of meaningful deaths here. Like, I'm glad none of my favourites died but I feel like maybe SJM was too nice there. But I'm honestly so glad that Fenrys survived because I was totally tipping him to be the sacrificial lamb, since he wasn't paired up. People in couples always seem to outlast the single ones. (RIP GAV THO)

Was also hugely saddened by the spectacular deaths of the Thirteen and while it was all super impressive and tragic I feel like they probably didn't ALL need to die for that. Just saying. So glad that Abraxos survived, though, and that Manon was actually so heartbroken when he was knocking on death's door. More fictional characters need to appreciate animals the way Manon appreciates her wyvern. (hide spoiler)]

Anyhoo, I think I've exhausted all of my ranting now.

Summary: Long, with some tedious moments and repetition, but still a worthy end to the series.

But also:

THANK GOD THAT'S OVER.

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NaNoWriMo

So I've signed up for NaNoWriMo for the first time in my life.

NaNoWriMo: That's National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated. November, every year, people from all over the world dedicate themselves to churning out 50,000 words of a complete novel. Apparently the prep is a year-round thing - so I'm a little late, boarding the ship at the start of the designated month - but hey, I've always been decent at 'winging it'. (I definitely had to Google how it all works, though.)

I have found that it really helps with the motivation. I've felt the urge to write quite strongly this past month or so, and have been attempting short stories and other writing adventures. But NNWM (is there a rule against shortening it further?!) has inspired me to put some serious effort into a novel I've been working on for years. I've got outlines, sketches, spin-off stories, character summaries etc. but haven't put a great deal of effort into writing the actual story and bringing it all together. So it's nice to finally be spending some time nurturing this one, and coaxing the story out of my mind and on to the page.

At the same time, I'm so eager to get my work out into the public domain, so I'm frustrated at how long this writing process is going to be. So I'm also toying with the idea of putting more effort into the side projects and short stories. But I also feel like I can only write these things when I get creative flares and can punch out a story in one go. I'm notorious for failing to finish my work.

All I know is that I have this burning urge to tell my stories, and have other people read them. I need to create, and I want to give birth to characters that truly come alive. I have such high hopes for my big dreams.

Writing is hard work, man. But I'm looking forward to the extra motivation that NNWM will provide.


***


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Review: The Sea Was a Fair Master

The Sea Was a Fair Master by Calvin Demmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not gonna lie, this was actually a lot better than I was expecting!

What can I say? I'm a skeptic when it comes to e-published authors. So many people seem to write a complete story then just go about self-publishing the ebook ASAP, which means they skip editing, beta reading, etc. - all the refining processes that turn a raw story into a compelling novel. I still enjoy reading amateur work, but mostly because I want to give feedback, suggestions - ways to clean it up and make it a bit more marketable. So many great stories out there meet early deaths because they carry too much dead weight. I like to help lighten the load - Tetris it a little bit, sometimes.

(Yes, I'm a word nerd. I want to do this stuff for a living but dang is it hard to break into the industry. So I just do it for free. :D)

Anyhoo, I digress.

Reading this book, I wasn't compelled to consider ways it could be improved. It never felt raw or unrefined, and the writing is fantastic. Maybe a little too fancy in places (there are A LOT of similes) but it really draws you in and paints quite colourful pictures.

It's such an intriguing mix of stories and I was captivated by every. single. one. Sure, some of them were totally bizarre and left me scratching my head, but there were also others that really sucked me in and had me thoroughly entertained. The Santa one still stands out. I loved that they were so short and got straight into the action. The characters were easily apparent and varied and there was so much refreshing originality here that I just settled in to enjoy the unexpected.

The writing is impressively communicative for such short works but it never gets so descriptive that it detracts from the story. It packs a hard punch and keeps things entertaining.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, and I'm thankful for being given the chance to read it! Highly recommend for lovers of the bizarre, particularly in horror and sci-fi.

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Review: Contest

Contest by Matthew Reilly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

**Re-read 11/18**

Yep, still love everything about this book.

Savage aliens ✔
Explosions ✔
Blood and gore ✔
Epic chase scenes ✔
Dumb people getting what they deserve ✔
Unpredictable fight scenes ✔
Creative deaths ✔
Reluctant hero ✔

It's so FAST and EXPLOSIVE and has so much FIERCENESS and I just ... *happy sigh*

Plus it's set in a library and honestly, what book lover doesn't love a library setting?

RIP though to all those books that got slimed, or bloodied, or shredded, or burnt ... etc. *moment of silence*

***

**21/10/18**

Re-reading this book ASAP. I need to remind myself of the reasons I still love it so much.

***

It's been a while since I've found a book that I find impossible to put down! I read Contest in two days, despite having to work. The pace was nice and fast, there was always something interesting happening and the characters were cleverly created. Highly addictive and straight to my favourites list!


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Review: Carmilla

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Such a classic, old school, vampire novel.

The unsuspecting hosts, the beautiful and mysterious guest. The girl who begins to grow wearier day by day. The strange behaviours of the beloved guest.

It just builds the suspense so brilliantly, and part of the fun is in seeing how these rational people deal with the irrational.

This one was interesting because the vampire is a girl very similar to her victim, and there is the element of friendship (and courtship?) that makes things so much more sinister. Every time Carmilla got handsy it gave me chills.

A great little horror story for Halloween!

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Review: Ace of Shades

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

MUST HAVE NEXT BOOK ASAP.

In short: Lady and the Tramp meets Six of Crows.

Lady: Enne; prim and proper and easily corruptible more fight than you'd expect. She's come to the City of Sin to find her missing mother.

Tramp: Levi; conman and street lord with a heart of gold massive debt to pay off.

He sees Enne as his ticket to freedom; she sees Levi as the only one who can help her find her mother.

I liked the pair together. I liked that they were slow to get along, and had plenty of insults to throw at one another. I liked that Enne kept her prim and proper ways, even when she began to do less prim and proper things. She's still a lady, duh.

Levi was one of the most pathetic street lords I've ever met in a book but I kinda loved him more for it? He actually seems human and I really enjoyed that.

It does has a similar Six of Crows vibe, but where SoC was super clever with its plotting and sass, this one dialed back the action and allows the reader to understand that these characters are actually human. They mess up, and they hurt, and sometimes they cry, too. Yes, they seem badass, but you never know someone's real story. I liked that this one kind of went a bit deeper. Made you think about the lives that led these two kids to here.

That being said, it meant I kinda missed the Squad Sass. The nice mix of competing personalities that always leads to crazy shenanigans. This one is very Enne-and-Levi. I'm hoping the second book gathers a bit more of a crew.

It had some really fun moments and I loved the magic/powers/gifts stuff. It's quite clever and keeps things interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing more of that. Plus, I love Levi's gift. Super jealous, tbh.

Honestly, if you want to compare it to the cleverness and sass that was SoC, you'll probably be disappointed, but if you want a similar kinda frolic that goes a lot deeper but still has fun dark themes, I highly recommend this one. I was expecting it to be mediocre and was pleasantly surprised.

And I really need to get my hands on the next one. I NEED MORE.

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