Ice is a retelling of East of the Sun West of the Moon, a Norwegian Fairy Tale. I love fairytale retellings, and this one had potential. However the misogyny throughout the story just killed it for me. I think there is the hint of a decent story here, which is doubly frustrating. In the interest of clarity, I did not technically read the latter half of the book. I skipped ahead to the end after I raged out at the book. I liked parts of […]
Past-Future Tech
I’m really conflicted with this book. On the one hand I can say that objectively this is an excellent novel. It’s well written, the characters are fully fleshed out, the plot is engaging, etc etc. However, while I was captivated by parts of the novel there were other parts that I didn’t like and struggled to get through and then there were parts that flat out triggered anxiety attacks and were miserable to get through. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t think I’ll read it […]
A Sad, Disappointing End
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home is the conclusion to Catherynne Valente’s Fairland series for middle grade readers. The first book was a revelation, and is the book that introduced me to Valente. I adored that book, loved it. I enjoyed the second and third books as well, though I don’t think they ever managed to really re-capture the magic in the first book. However the fourth book, The Boy Who Lost Fairyland, was a huge disappointment. Still, even given that I’d been […]
The Wild Magical West
Silver on the Road is a fantasy set in an alternate version of the early western expansion, and is also the very first Laura Anne Gilman novel to completely work for me. I’ve read two others. The first, her urban fantasy, I absolutely hated and the second, the magical wine Renaissance fantasy, wasn’t quite really my cup of tea either, though I didn’t hate it. However, I feel like Gilman’s slow, meandering, detailed style fits perfectly with the western theme. The novel starts on Izzie’s […]