Review: Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass series #3) by Sarah J. Maas

So it's no secret how excited I was about the third installment of the Throne of Glass series - I've been telling almost everybody know that It's Nearly Out. I loved Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, at a recent book signing I learned just how lovely Sarah J. Maas actually is, and Heir of Fire promised to be just as wonderful. The ending of the previous book made me desperate to know more... but it's finally here!

Plot summary: Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien's only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan's Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King's Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan's biggest threat - and his own toughest enemy. 

While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

Heir of Fire doesn't have the same sense of instant gratification that was present in Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight - I wasn't instantly hooked and didn't feel the same need to keep desperately turning pages that I'd felt before. It's not that it's bad or anything even remotely like it; it's just that all the characters had separated and gone off with new characters that I didn't know or care all that much about. I wasn't really interested. And I don't like fairies. That doesn't help.

It just didn't feel like part of the same series. The most interesting sections were those about the Ironteeth witches and the wyverns, which is a new plotline unique to Heir of Fire. Incidentally, I'd happily have read that story as a separate series - it's really interesting and quite dark.

My final complaint about the beginning of Heir of Fire is the complete lack of recapping. It took quite a while before I could remember what vow was made to who and which battle had happened when, etc. It may be an idea to skim a plot summary before picking this up, unless you happen to have your ever-suffering mother present to answer every irritating whiny question you have about the previous books. Which I did.

However. The book picks up remarkably quickly after about 25% or so. As in the previous books, there is some beautiful prose and some parts that really affected me. It always irks me to archive these books under the 'Young Adult' review section because some of the twists involved in this story are brutal. They're clever and shocking in a way that I've never seen done before, but it's hardly fluffy YA. Oh, and the attention to detail deserves a mention as well. Certain tiny, trivial events happen that break your heart and make you let out a little gasp. Or that might just be me.

She would not let that light go out.
She would fill the world with it, with her light - her gift. She would light up the darkness, so brightly that all who were lost or wounded or broken would find their way to it, a beacon for those who still dwelled in that abyss. It would not take a monster to destroy a monster - but light, light to drive out darkness.
She was not afraid.

I was a bit disappointed that there's little development of Celaena and Chaol's relationship, which was the thing I loved the most about the previous series (which is surprising for me). I did enjoy her friendship with Rowan, although it was slightly 'Insta-Friend' at one point. However, I much prefer to be teased with the hint of a relationship than have it rammed in my face like some YA books are wont to do.

While I enjoyed learning more about Celaena's past, I actually found that all the best parts (in my opinion) didn't involve her in the slightest. Which is odd, but there you go. There's nothing wrong with her but there was just so much going on elsewhere!

Heir of Fire ended up being just as amazing as Throne of Glass and Heir of Fire. The slightly slow beginning meant that it wasn't quite as good overall, but I finished the page with exactly the same desperation for the next book in the series. I'd actually thought that this was the final installment, but apparently not... I'm just happy Sarah J. Maas writes so quickly!

Read my review of Crown of Midnight, see what happened when I met Sarah J. Maas or read Ellie's review of Heir of Fire at Curiosity Killed the Bookworm.

Review: The Coming of the Fairies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Yes, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The one who created the most logical and rational investigator of all time. He believed in fairies, didn't you know? No, seriously. I touched on this briefly in my review of The Secret Life of Harry Houdini, but the gist is that Sir ACD was an ardent Spiritualist and devoted a large portion of his later years to promoting and trying to find evidence for the popular new religion. Then he wrote a book about fairies and here we are.

Summary: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), best known as the author of Sherlock Holmes stories but also a devout Spiritualist, was entirely convinced by a set of photographs apparently showing two young girls from Cottingley in Yorkshire playing with a group of tiny, translucent fairies. To demonstrate his unshakeable belief in the spirit world, he published The Coming of the Fairies in 1922. Doyle's book lays out the story of the photographs, their supposed provenance, and the implications of their existence. This quirky and fascinating book allows us to get inside the mind of an intelligent, highly respected man who happened to believe in fairies.

This may seem like an odd choice of book for me. I'm not all that found of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thanks to what I read in the Houdini book mentioned above (they were friends and later, bitter rivals, if you wondered why he'd be relevant), I've professed several times to my dislike of fairies and especially to my dislike of the Cottingley Fairies, considering I can actually see those woods if I lean out of my window and I'm therefore heartily sick of that story. 


So why would I read this? Aside from some kind of fascination of the awful, it's just... interesting. I wanted to know how such a well-respected logical man completely failed to see that those fairies were cut out off a picture book and stuck onto hat pins. This book is from his own hand and I really did want to peer inside his head a little.

It was also partly for amusement value, I have to admit. I wanted to have a bit of a chuckle at ACD's expense - not particularly benevolent of me, but there you go. After a while, however, his belief does start to make a strange kind of sense. If fairies proof can be found that fairies exist, then the other things he believed in (like his wife being able to communicate with his deceased son) might be real as well. He'd based his reputation on Pheneas, his spirit guide, and investigating the fairies may well have shown that he was right all along.

In the introduction, John M. Lynch states that:

It is unfair to force Doyle to wear the mantle of his creation, the ultra-rationalist Holmes.   

That's true, actually. If I wrote a book about a character who believed in fairies, you wouldn't automatically assume that I did too, would you? Logically, the opposite shouldn't be true either. I think the point is that Sir ACD proved in his writing that he was capable of thinking logically, and yet chose not to when it came to the real world. That's the part I have trouble understanding.

So, the book itself. It's short but quite repetetive. To give it some credit, it attempts to produce scientific explanation as to why most people can't see fairies and spirits:

We see objects within the limits which make up our colour spectrum, with infinite vibrations, unused by us, on either side of them. If we could conceive a race of beings which were construed in material which threw out shorter or longer vibrations, they would be invisible unless we could tune ourselves up or tone them down...
If the objects are indeed there, and if the inventive power of the human brain is turned upon the problem, it is likely that some sort of psychic spectacles, inconceivable to us at the moment, will be invented, and that we shall all be able to adapt ourselves to the new conditions. 

Those parts are quite interesting but then the book also evidences Sir ACD's whole trail of documents - This person sent me THIS letter and then I wrote THIS letter to another person...' and quotes the usually quite lengthy letter in full. To be fair to Sir ACD, he does also include the letters from those who haven't come round to his point of view. As they tend to be very much alike, this gets quite tedious.  There are some moments of pure snarkiness which are quite amusing, but on the whole it's a little bit dry.

The Coming of the Fairies is basically a play-by-play of ACD's whole investigation, although I use that term loosely. It can be quite difficult to keep all the different people straight when there are so many letters flying back and forth.

I don't know if you've ever seen the photographs in question, but they're obviously, painfully not fairies. I don't think you need the scientific knowledge we have now to see that. May Bowley wrote to Sir ACD and suggested that:

The whiteness of the fairies may be due to their lack of shadow, which may also explain their somewhat artificial-looking flatness.

Umm, no. They look artificial and flat because... they're artifical and flat. This book even actively considers whether they could be paper cut-outs... and then decides that they definitely couldn't be. Argh. It just shows how desperately people wanted to believe, I suppose.  I actually feel quite sad that they turned out to be fake photographs - wouldn't it be amazing if they were real?

In the end, Sir ACD considers the existence of fairies to be definitively proved - although I think he may need to reconsider his definition of proof. A soldier stating that he saw the fairies too doesn't class as evidence just because he happens to be in the army!

My opinions towards Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have changed thanks to The Coming of the Fairies. Previously I wanted to hit him with The Book of Logic, but now I just kind of want to hug him. He wasn't very objective and refused to believe anything that didn't fit in with him own ideas, but he had his reasons, I suppose. He's just hard to take seriously - he talks about referring to his spirit guide for answers! I respect him for including the oppostion's arguments in this book - he's nothing if not thorough.

The book itself is a little dry. It's full of repetetive correspondance and it trails off a little towards the end, but there are some interesting 'scientific' arguments in and amongst. I would recommend reading this, but perhaps get it from the library instead.

I actually feel quite close-minded now. I mean, I'm not saying I believe in them, but who am I to say that they don't exist?

Read my review of The Secret Life of Harry Houdini, in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle features heavily.

Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

In the interests of disclosure, let me begin by saying that Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell took me nearly a month to read. Hell, Anna Karenina didn't take me that long and I was reading other books at the same time! While I don't mind investing a long period of time in a novel, it has to be worth it and I'm not entirely sure that Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell really was.

Plot summary: Two magicians shall appear in England. The first shall fear me; the second shall long to behold me The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation's past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country. Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange. Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very opposite of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms the one between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

First of all, you really do have to try with this book. It's not something you can pick up for two minutes at a time, or a page here and there. Nor can you read it while even remotely distracted as it's actually quite heavy at times (and I'm not just referring to the literal weight of 1000 pages!). Unfortunately, unlike some lengthy books where the story engrosses you and you're at the end before you know it (like 11.22.63 by Stephen King), you're always completely aware just how long this book is. I was constantly closing the book and examining the position of my bookmark to see how far I'd reached. 

It definitely has the tone of a serious history book, hence the detail and formal style. It 'references' the books of magic that Norrell and Strange talk about and uses footnotes when it's going off on a larger tangent. This does mean that occasionally the footnotes take up more room on a page than the actual text, but that's not really a huge problem. Unfortunately you don't often see much emotion or characterisation in weighty historical volumes, and this one (although an imitation) is no exception. I couldn't help but feel that after 1000 pages, I should know the characters better than I did. Surely some of that time could have been invested in creating fuller characters?

I don't think I ever really understood the reason for the rivalry between Mr Norell and Jonathan Strange though. It was just suddenly there - this huge, dramatic hatred caused by nothing that I could see. Something like that could be excused in a 320 page teen novel with huge font, but not in a dense 1000 page serious novel. Seriously, the narrative has time to discuss a beggar's father's employer's ancestors at one point (literally) but not to do more than lightly skip over a major plot point?

Somewhat ironically, the ending seemed rather rushed.It was almost as if Susanna Clarke realised how long her novel was going to be and tied everything off as quickly as possible. It's not all dealt with unfortunately, but there are some conclusions that I enjoyed - such as what happened to Stephen, for example.

I do have to give it credit for continuity though; I don't think I could map this thing out with a flow chart and coloured string. Characters from earlier in the novel occasionally pop up in the footnotes later on, as having published a book that is then referenced from this book.

As you can probably gather, I just couldn't get into Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. You know how sometimes it's best to start a story knowing next to nothing about the story, so that every little twist comes as a surprise? Well here I'd recommend the exact opposite. Read up on a basic outline before you begin or you'll end up blithely wondering what the point is. The story tends to bump from minor event to minor event and I was at least two third of the way through before I could take a stab at what the over-arching plot really is. Just read a basic outline first so you can keep focused.

It was just too long! I loved the idea of it - Victorian magicians trapped in a bitter rivalry during the restoration of English magic - and it could have been wonderful. I'm sure it will make a wonderful movie one day (or three, judging by the current trend of scraping three films out of one book), but the effort required to read this in novel form just doesn't pay off.

Read a more positive review of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell at 

Lit Addicted Brit.

Review: Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas

Scrawled on the page of my review notebook dedicated to Our Tragic Universe in huge red letters are the words 'This will be a BITCH to review!!!' And you know what? It really, really is. I really did love it though. I've never read a Scarlett Thomas book before, despite Bex's continuous prodding, but I saw this in the charity shop all pretty and shiny (literally, it looks like it's made out of gold tin foil) and I just had to give it a go. It's one of those books where you know you absolutely adored it but just can't work out why. Ah well, want to bare with me while I have a go? :)

Plot summary - If Kelsey Newman's theory about the end of time is true, we are all going to live forever. For Meg - locked in a hopeless relationship and with a deadline long-gone for a book that she can't write - this thought fills her with dread.

Meg is lost in a labyrinth of her own devising. But could there be an important connection between a wild beast living on Dartmoor, a ship in a bottle, the science of time, a knitting pattern for the shape of the universe and the Cottingley Fairies? Or is her life just one long chain of coincidences?

Smart, entrancing and buzzing with big ideas, Our Tragic Universe is a book about how relationships are created and destroyed, and how a story might just save your life.

I was completely hooked on this book from the very few pages, even though I hadn't worked out where it was leading or even what it was about. I still haven't actually. I think that's part of its charm though - it's very normal on some levels. It's just Meg, going about her daily (and fairly mediocre) life while thinking in exactly the same way we all do - pointless and rambly musings heading off in tangents in all directions.

It never gets boring though, that's the thing. There's virtually no action and there are a fair few lengthy essays about philosophy, but somehow Meg's voice saves it. The prose is jumpy, rambling and... well, completely amazing. It's not always relevant to the plot (to the extent that one actually exists) but it didn't bother me - I just got lost in Meg's world and her thoughts. It's like being inside a real person's life, not a book person's life.

How do you end a story about a Beast? We'd discussed that for hours. Chekhov said if you have a gun in a story it needs to go off. If you have a Beast in a story, does it need to 'go off' too? When? How? My novel, my bloody albatross, The Death of the Author, deliberately had no such symmetry, and I was constantly in turmoil because one minute it would have too much narrative: people desperately in love, or waking up from their comas, or lying in ditches contemplating great life cchanges and so on - just like a formulaic genre novel - then I'd fiddle with it and it would die: a species extinct before it has even begun. 

 There's a lot of book talk in Our Tragic Universe, both specific and vague. The former is great - Meg mentions Anna Karenina a lot, amongst other books, and I loved relating her thoughts to my own. The latter though? Not so much. She's desperately trying to write a literary novel and run classes on genre formulation and, despite being reasonable well-read and informed on the literary world, a lot of it went way over my head. It's also occasionally quite snide about teenage books - sometimes I got the feeling that Scarlett Thomas would never deign to write anything other than literary fiction. To be fair, she's very, very good at it!

Nothing is too obscure for Meg and Scarlett Thomas to muse over - placebos, the end of the world, evolution, memories, veganism, homeopathic remedies... It's great; I've never read a book like it. Even the damn Cottingley Fairies get a mention... *sighs* God, I loathe fairies. I live within walking distance of Cottingley Woods where the whole thing took place so there's an awful lot of fairy-ness around here. Although, judging by how excited I got when it was mentioned in the book, I don't hate the very source of where my fairy dislike originated. A bundle of contradictions, that's me.

You may have gathered by now, but not a whole lot actually happens in Our Tragic Universe. There is an over-riding objective (wonderful, I'm inserting legal terminology into reviews now...) but it was over-shadowed for me by the general prose. I think I'd have prefered a few more answers by the end, but I suppose that that's kind of the point.

Well, it's looking like the copy of The End of Mr Y that has been sat on my TBR for more than a year will eventually get read, along with everything else Scarlett Thomas has ever written ever. 

Visit Scarlett Thomas' website here, or find her on Twitter. 

Review: Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll

This is my first book from Transworld's Book Group Reading Challenge, where bloggers were given the chance to choose four books from a list to review one at a time. I chose this one because of the pretty cover (I know, I know, but who hasn't done that?) and the promise of fairy lore mixed with a bit of swan imagery.

Jeweller Garet James isn't the same as everyone else. She just doesn't know it yet. With her fair share of problems – money (lack of), an elderly father, a struggling business – Garet should be just like any other young, feisty, single New Yorker. If only it was that simple... It begins with the old silver box that had been soldered shut. All Garet has to do is open it. A favour for the frail owner of the antiques shop. Who wouldn’t help? Only it’s then that things start to change. Garet doesn't notice at first, the shifts barely perceptible. But the city in which she grew up is beginning to reveal a long-hidden side – darker, and altogether more dangerous: parallel world of chaos, smoke and blood. And now it’s out of the box...and it has no intention of going back in.

Although the story took a bit of getting in to, I really liked the premise. Garet (short for Margaret) is a young-ish jewellery maker who runs an art gallery with her father. The authors have obviously put a lot of effort into researching different jewellery styles and various artists, as the detail mentioned is wonderful and very interesting. It makes the characters seem more believable and the book stand out a little more.

Unfortunately, that's where the 'standing-out' ends. Aside from the jewellery, there is nothing that makes Black Swan Rising different from the 70+ other books I've read this year. There's a vampire love interest complete with obligatory love triangle, a grumpy King Oberon, an evil Elizabethan John Dee and a protagonist who isn't even slightly surprised at her new magical powers. I've read at least three books this year for each one of those plot points. There's not a whole lot of swans either.

But hey, I guess certain stories are reused for a reason. It does work. The plot moves along at a fairly fast clip and it did hold my interest. There are a lot of mythical creatures in this, even lesser known ones like manticores. I especially liked Lol, the little fire fairy. I even liked Garet, and it's rare for me to like a female protagonist in paranormal novels. In fact, I think it succeeded in not even having one overly irritating character.

It's not very real though. I mean, I'm hardly expecting a novel about fairies and vampires to be true to life, but it just didn't wash. As an example, they have seven days to put the demons back in their box or the world will be given over to the Demons of Despair and Discord... yet there's no sense of urgency. Garet and King Oberon meander along quite happily while Garet learns some shiny new magical powers, with nairy a care in the world. If it were me, I'd be slightly more concerned about the fate of the world when leisurely arranging meetings with Oberon.

That's the other thing. While I do credit the authors for making Garet at least mildly surprised at the existence of the supernatural world (it's a pet hate of mine when characters treat the discovery of fairies and vampires as casually as bacon and eggs), it's a small leap for her from that to 'oh right, I have magical powers... What'd you have for lunch today?' Not a direct quote, but you get the idea. She's just not bothered. Not only that, but she gains control instantly and to be honest, the gaining-of-the-magical-powers-thing doesn't really seem to come in to it much apart from filling up space.

There's a sub-plot revolving around Garet's two friends, Becky and Jay, and their struggles to promote their indie band. A lot of other reviewers have slated this part as too-YA, but I liked it. It brings it down to earth a little. I think Black Swan Rising struggles too hard to not be classed as a teenage book, while it would flow a lot better if it didn't try as much. But anyway, I liked the sub-plot, it just seemed to fit somehow.

But then... sigh. You knew it was coming. The unnecessary vampire love interest, complete with pining away and blood drinking. Look, I like Twilight. We all did. But you can stop now. Adding vampire!sex does not make your book good. The character of Will just doesn't seem necessary - there was no atmosphere, no falling in love, no tension... argh. You don't ever get to see why they're attracted to each other. As always, head over in heels in love with no explanation. Apparently his character is going to be expanded upon in a sequel, so it will be interesting to see how his past affects Garet's situation - in which case, I will retract all vampire-related whining.

I will be buying, by the way. The sequel, I mean. I did enjoy Black Swan Rising and I'm intrigued by the historical aspects. I hope The Watchtower will feature more about Garet's lineage, as that will make the series feel slightly more original. To be fair though, the originality doesn't bother me that much - it's more the YA-esque parts that bother me.

Review: Ill Met By Moonlight by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis

This is very possibly the most time I've spent on one book in years. It's High Fantasy, so has a fairly complicated 700-and-odd-page plot along with a multitude of different characters and multiple dimensions. Couple that with my birthday week, a Lupus flare-up and a Boyfriendly Visit and the result is a blog that is fairly sparse on the review front. Never mind, I'm back now with a groaning TBR shelf waiting to be read!

Sixteenth century England: a nation at a fatal fork in time, leading to two possible futures. Either an evil queen will join with the Inquisition and rule with a blood-spattered iron hand - or a benevolent queen named Elizabeth will rule wisely and well. But the evil Unseleighe Sidhe are determined that the little girl Elizabeth shall never grow up to take the throne. Opposing them are the good Sidhe of elfland, including Denoriel, who has already foiled one attempt against Elizabeth, almost at the cost of his own life. But a few years have passed, and Denoriel still guards the young princess, now eight years old, secure in the knowledge that Vidal, leader of the evil Unseleighe, is dead. Unfortunately, he is wrong. Vidal was wounded almost fatally, but now his recovery is complete and he has set in motion a plan to bring about a new dark age of which Denoriel is dangerously unaware...

So basically it's the story of Elizabeth I's childhood embroided with fairies and changelings. There are two sets of fairy twins - Denoriel and Aleneil are the 'good' set, trying to protect Elizabeth from the 'bad' set - Pasgen and Rhoslyn, who are trying to abduct her to prevent what they know the future will hold - a happy England and therefore less power for them. 

If you're not a fan of High Fantasy, this is not for you. Ms Lackey's books are usually quite light and easy to read, but this was co-written by Roberta Gellis. I've never read any of her books, but I'm guessing she has a slightly heavier style. It's a very complicated storyline, with a lot of magical theory, different lands and characters with similar names, all of which can be a bit difficult to keep straight in your head.

I'm not saying it's not good - far from it. It's just that if you go into it expecting a light fairytale... well, you're just not going to get it. I love Tudor history though, and magic, so this had 'Hanna' written all over it. The authors have clearly put an awful lot of research into this book though. It doesn't just mention the obvious - Anne Boleyn had her head chopped off, Henry VIII didn't like Anne of Cleves, etc - but the entire plot derives from the lesser known bits. Henry Fitzroy, King Henry's illegitimate son, is not very well widely known but still features prominently in the book.

This is the second in the series (which I wasn't aware when my Mother was waving it at me), but it doesn't really matter. Mercedes Lackey is usually fairly good at explaining what's gone on in previous books, and Ill Met By Moonlight is no exception. I'm sure it would be easier if you had read the first one (This Scepter'd Isle) but it's no great loss. 

The one problem I had with it was the portrayal of certain characters. Obviously nobody can actually know exactly how Elizabeth and Mary behaved and felt - they're long dead and royalty tend to wear invisible masks at the best of times. But there's a certain acceptance (in historical fiction at least) that Elizabeth, even as a child, was precocious and calculating, while Mary was loving and affectionate until she hit middle-age with no sign of a child. I've never read a more unlikeable Elizabeth than in this book though. She's hostile, smug and whiny all at the same time and at times I think she'd have deserved it if she had been captured by fairies.

'Elizabeth was smiling brilliantly. "I know one is not supposed to boast of one's own deeds or cleverness, but... by the Grace of God, I was both brave and clever!"'

Oh shut up. Denoriel is obsessed with her, but it never quite explains why. She's horrible to him. Actually, their relationship is a little creepy. He acts like he's in love with her, when he's an ancient fairy thing and she's nine years old! Mary is whiny, sullen and continuously complains that her life isn't fair. Thankfully, she doesn't feature that often, but that's a direct contradiction of what we all think we know about Mary.

I suppose that historical fiction is just a more serious form of fanfiction - just using real people as your characters. You didn't invent them, but you have to stick to somebody else's idea of them, so I suppose it's quite hard to make it seem real. This wasn't a huge problem with the book - it's baearable and didn't ruin the story, but it does stick in my head.

It's a good story and it's possible to get really engrossed in it - but be prepeared to invest a lot of time in it! I'm going to read a few lighter books first, but then I'm definitely going to read the first one.