3.5 stars. At this point, my expectations for Jane Austen retellings are so very very low. There are about 2 that I can think of that I would recommend to anyone and considering I’ve read plenty? That’s not a great batting average. It’s like authors/publishers know fans will pick them up so they don’t feel like they have to try very hard. People LOVE Lizzie & Darcy so of course they’ll read. But in truth, you’re getting compared to one of the best writers of […]
Where have I seen this plot before?!?!
Stop me if you’ve hear this before: mysterious giant metallic objects, robot/sculptures in this this case, suddenly appear all over the world and humanity at first freaks out, then adjusts. Upon further study, the unknowable objects, named Carls here, are revealed to have impossible properties, and thus maybe are not from Earth. Cue alien invasion debate/panic. A hero, April May in this case, who likely had something to do with the first contact believes that the Carls are not threatening, and works to figure out […]
Who Published This Book Half-Finished?
Coming off the heels of the stupendous Dread Nation, I was pumped for this YA novel. The setup: children travel through magical portals to alternate worlds, only to become distraught upon their return to their tedious old lives. (Postmodern Wonderland or Narnia!) Though this book won all the awards—Hugo, Alex, Locus Nebula—it utterly failed to enchant me. I suppose my heart is a closed door. Or maybe an inky void. Nancy (the sixth most interesting character, maybe) lands at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children […]
One of the good ones
If you just search for the title on Amazon, you don’t get this book until somewhere after the 10th page of results, and it’s on the 4th page if you search just books. That’s just sad, because it’s really a good book. Well this one starts off sad, doesn’t it? We start with a young woman, Saville, traveling with her father to a new city away from her mother’s grave. And her father is an ass. He is a tailor who somehow sews things differently? […]