God Save the Queen is junk, but it’s fun junk. 3.5 stars really. It reads sort of like a Janet Evanovich novel, not terribly well-written but entertaining because of some interesting characters and narrative possibilities. In a world where vampires and werewolves are in charge (Queen Victoria is one of said vampires), goblins run the underworld (literally), and humans are viewed with suspicion (because they hate the monsters and half-breeds), of course Xandra the half-breed daughter of an aristocrat would discover something unusual about herself […]
If the mysteries of Iris and Lavandula are not revealed, we have a problem
This is a good series. I like the world set up and I like most of the characters. And there’s one more, soon to be released volume to complete (I hope) the various narrative threads. The Split Worlds series is set in world where everyday normalcy exists, and is called Mundanus. But there’s 2 further dimensions; Exilium, where the Fey have been exiled to (get it?), and the Nether, where humans live who interact with the Fey and are stuck in time, literally and socially. […]
Murakami goes oddly normal
I’ve had this on my shelf a while and I finally got around to feeling like reading something weird. Interesting thing is though, this novel is actually not, at least compared to a lot of Murakami’s other works. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage has a lot of the expected Murakami elements, such as a main character in some kind of life rut, a sort of mysterious female who helps him (that’s Sara), some unusual dreams, and a trip somewhere for literal and […]
Monsters and Humans doing Romeo and Juliet right
The ideas of humanizing monsters and monstrous humans seems to be a big theme with Victoria (V.E.) Schwab. This would normally annoy me, except that she does it so well, and with variety each time. This is my third series of hers that I’ve started, and each one is different in terms of world and characters. I’m saving the conclusion of one series, A Conjuring of Light, until the end of the current semester in 3 weeks; if I don’t I’ll be buried by grading […]