(note before I start this review: HALF CANNONBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!) At this point, Blood of Tyrants being the eighth book in the Temeraire series, I am still very much on board the Temeraire train, but reading all of them in a row without the benefit of waiting between books (other than brief stints when the library is out of copies of whatever’s next) has meant that a certain fatigue has set in. I think I said in an earlier review that Novik has an incredible way of […]
When Graphic Novels Meet Modern History
At the beginning of CBR8, I reviewed two graphic novels that deal with contemporary history: Marzi, about Poland under martial law and the Solidarity movement, and War Brothers about civil war and child soldiers in Uganda. Both were excellent and demonstrated for me that the graphic novel is a great way to introduce readers to events that might have either passed notice or seemed too far away to really matter. In particular, I think the graphic novel lends itself to drawing in young readers, educating […]
Sisters are doing it for themselves
Despite all those engagement pictures you’re inundated with on Facebook are telling you, marriage rates in America are slowing down. According to the U.S. Census, the proportion of married adults is dropping and for the first time, single women outnumber their married counterparts. Author Rebecca Traister argues that these unmarried women are a revolutionary force, changing our definitions of love and family, and pushing the political conversation to the left. “Women…perhaps especially those who have lived untethered from the energy-sucking and identity-sapping institution of marriage […]
Disappointment returns but Addison helps a little
I have to admit: I liked the first book better. I think it’s because the concept of mixing old photos with the story was new but got old by the second volume, and Hollow City felt a little too reliant on the first novel. Hollow City picks up where Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children leaves off, with the children fleeing their safe zone, called a loop, in order to find another group like them who can help them get their guardian Miss Peregrine back […]