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Book Reviews
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Mistborn: Final Empire (Mistborn Trilogy)
Matt Brew25 August 2012
The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson is one of several authors championing the darker, grittier side of fantasy: heroes & villains blur with morals being questioned and struggles both physical and mental that will challenge not only the character but the reader as well. Slowly but surely through authors like Sanderson & Brent Weeks to name a few this sub-genre is starting to dominate the bookshelves. This offering: "the final empire" is the first in a trilogy telling a tale of oppression and rebellion where heroes commit deeds that we only usually see restricted to Villains. With a plot that twists and turns, some original ideas and interesting characters the novel looks set to be a good read.
In the land of the Final Emperor all is controlled by the Lord Ruler, an all powerful dictator who is a master of the art of allomancy, the manipulation of powers metals give certain humans when they burn them, he rules over the noble folk & in turn the skaa who are treated as less than human. All skaa are slaves, regularly beaten and abused And Sanderson has no hesitation in describing this and making the reader squirm, which in turn further pulls them into the Skaa's story.
The aforementioned Allomancy is key to the plot as our main characters are all Allomancers, Kelsier & Vin are mistborn which means they can swallow any type of metal & use it's powers. Whilst characters like Breeze, Ham and Clubs are only mistings which means they can only use one metals power. To obtain this power the metals need to be drunk in liquid form & then "burnt" which will allows their bodies to become stronger & faster, their eyes to become sharper, gravity will be a thing of the past & it is even possible to burn a metal that will let you see the future. It is a truly original idea in my opinion and made for some great reading & some great action set-pieces that were truly unique.
We follow Kelsier, able aid of the skaa rebellion, through Vin's eyes, whilst she is a street urchin saved by Kelsier he has led a live of being a master criminal & only recently acquired an altruistic streak. Kelsier's character is infectious, his relentless determination & persistence are inspiring and Vin's progression from separated and untrusting street urchin to an accepted member of a community makes for wonderful & gripping reading.
Overall Sanderson has wrote the novel well, with a few grammatical errors here & there and some sloppy structure, with it's strength's easily compensating for it's flaws. The characters struggle against the awesome power of the Lord Ruler is gripping, with the element of Allomancy setting it apart from other novels. It has a flair & a quality unheard of in fantasy, it sweeps aside cliche and provides difficult moral struggles to overcome and a massive evil power to defeat for the sake of justice. A thrilling and excellent read. -
Nobody Cared: An Evil Predator, A Vulnerable Girl Who Fought Back
Jo07 August 2012
Fantastic book. It's a must read. What this young girl went through in her life and how she is a stronger woman for it this book has had me in tears. I have not been able to but this book down.
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Jane Wallace24 July 2012
It's rare for me to feel strongly enough about a book to write a review of it on the internet, and it's even rarer that this would be the kind of book that I'd feel inspired to write about. But Fifty Shades of Grey has become such a cultural phenomenon that I feel like I have to provide a bit of balance and set the record straight about just how good a book it is (or isn't).
Pretty much all of my friends have read Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels, and when we get together it seems to be all anyone talks about lately. With the tabloids dubbing it 'mommy porn' and the books breaking all kinds of sales records, I ended up feeling like I had to check it out for myself just to see what all the fuss was about. Boy, was I disappointed.
The problems I had with the book don't have anything to do with being prudish about sex, but it feels as though it's difficult to criticise the book without giving that impression. To be honest, the sex in this book is quite bland and inoffensive (certainly not as outrageous as some of the hype suggests), and the truth is that the book just isn't well-written enough for it to feel truly involving or exciting.
That's not a knock against the success of the book. Most people buy books for entertainment, after all, and this kind of steamy romance novel doesn't necessarily need to be brilliantly written for people to enjoy it. But if you want a book that really makes you care about the characters and feel some kind of connection to the story, this isn't going to do the job.
Another aspect of the book that I found distracting was its similarity to another popular franchise, the Twilight saga. Many people don't realise that Fifty Shades of Grey started out as Twilight fan-fiction (ie. made-up stories written by fans about the Twilight characters), and even though the names of the characters have been changed, it's really obvious that the lead characters of Fifty Shades of Grey are based on the main characters in the Twilight series. In fact, once you realise who they're based on, it's difficult for you to think of them as anyone else, which really takes you out of the story.
As for Fifty Shades of Grey being a pro-feminist book, I'm afraid I have to disagree there too. It seems to me that most of the story involves a woman submitting to the desires of a man, which might be what some women want to read about, but which is hardly the most empowering or fulfilling fantasy that I could think of. There isn't the kind of even-handedness or equal back-and-forth that you'd expect when it comes to a well-written romantic relationship, and I didn't feel any connection to the love story or any willingness for the romance to succeed.
In the end, Fifty Shades of Grey is probably more interesting for what it represents than for what it is. I'm all in favour of more openness about women reading erotica, and I think it's good that a series of books along those lines has become popular enough to become a mainstream success. I just wish people were getting worked up about a better book than this. -
Among Thieves: A Tale of the Kin (Tale of the Kin 1)
Matt Brew24 July 2012
Among Thieves Review
Fantasy has taken a drastic turn from its roots, heros that are whiter than white and always fight for a noble cause are gone. The clear morality scale where good and evil are spelled so simply you'd think the reader were a two year old have vanished. With the emergence of authors like Brent Weeks & Brandon Sanderson onto the fantasy scene the genre has turned to a more complex, darker and grittier nature, where heroes are no longer so black and white; which in my opinion is a change for the better after far too many cliche & predictable narratives. Hulick's Among Thieves falls firmly into this new category, with the start throwing you into the action with a graphic torture scene and not stopping throughout the entire book.
The story revolves around Drothe: a nose in the underworld of the city of Ildrecca, part of the "Kin" the nickname for the criminal organisation throughout the land; hence the series' name "a tale of Kin." He reports information about the shiftiest characters of the underworld to his boss: an "upright man" in the underworld. Drothe's work is often unpleasant involving torture, sword fights and magical battles. Understandably Drothe is not very popular in the underworld, having to hire a group of mercenaries to protect his flat above the apothecary where he lives. However he has managed to obtain a network of informants and has managed a feat that few do: to survive.
Drothe is sent back into the poorest and most degraded part of the city: Ten Ways. Someone has been making moves against Drothe's boss' territory and so he has has been sent to investigate. This soon leads him down a path that shows conspiracies and someone trying to make a move to destroy all the crime bosses in the Kin and take control for themselves. However last time there was a war in the criminal underworld the Empire waded in and murdered all those responsible brutally, so what could be a possible motive? Drothe delves deeper into this mystery which quickly turns into quite possibly his last...
The language used throughout is varied and complex, providing an intellectually satisfying read. The grammar on the whole is good and the fast pacing is excellent, with such a rich world of fantasy to dive into that is described so well giving such a real feeling to the world a few grammatical errors can be forgiven. Hulick's fencing experience is very clear throughout with the accurate and intense description of sword play, this further enhances the realism of the novel and improves it's quality.
The book is a stupendously good read, the action is non-stop and all is provided from a fresh first person perspective allowing a much deeper insight into the character of Drothe. Through magical duels using various forms of "glimmer" or shaking down an informant. Drothe is witty & original, and being so provides another layer to the novel that makes it an even better read and brings a newer lighter element to this darker grittier genre of fantasy. Despite him performing acts of torture violence and clearly acting like one of the cliche "bad guys" he inevitably has the reader rooting for him, it is an interesting juxtaposition to the traditional fantasy perspective.
With a scruffy, dual-wielding looking character cover art and an introduction from Brent Weeks, the reader could be excused for thinking this is your average teenage escapism - roguish heroism with a sarcastic but likeable protagonist. However Among Thieves is more Locke Lamora than Night Angel. It is a cunning and well-scripted action-adventure with a surprisingly complex character at its heart. I expected guilty pleasure and found genuine entertainment. -
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy)
Matt Brew29 June 2012
The Way of Shadows- Book Review
Brent weeks' first novel is a dark and gruesome tale of a medieval-set land ruled over by various lords and kings all with their own agenda. Full of potential Weeks' tells the story of young street rat Azoth, poorer than poor in the land of Cenaria, and his growth into a highly skilled & magical assassin; with a narrative spanning over a decade it provides a compellingly cliche fantasy read; albeit with it's flaws.
The novel is not afraid to showcase the ugly truths of life, going in depth with topics of murder, betrayal and sex often in every relatively short chapter. Weeks writes with an abrupt, detached manner and accepts these events as a give in which gives this book it's shock factor; it's what sets it apart from the crowd and it does it well.
Azoth is taken under the wing of master "wetboy" (a master assassin capable of using magic, I also thought it was a strange name,) Durzo Blint. After proving himself we see Azoth grow into his assassin persona of Kylar Stern; his training spans the majority of the book and shows the gruelling, separated and calculated life of an assassin; an angle rarely seen. Kylar grows into a skilled assassin, however to truly become a "wetboy" he must master the use of magic. However it would appear he is unable too due to some biological fault and so to access his magical abilities he would need to use a ka'kari. A small magical sphere capable of fixing the biological fault, however ka'kari are extremely rare and also coveted by Kylar's master Durzo Blint; it turns out to be a thrilling race to the death for possession.
Blint develops into an excellent character through the novel with depth and humour in unexpected ways and an ultimate sense of "badass" that will easily make him popular with the reader. He shows signs of an OCD nature, locking and unlocking doors four times before closing them or chewing cloves of Garlic, that make him memorable. His involvement with other principal character: Momma K, the leader of all the prostitutes in the land and a former one herself, and her sister brings us pity for Durzo and shows the conflicting emotions one must deal with if they have decided to cut themselves off from all emotions completely. Momma K is also an excellent character in my opinion: she is painted in an almost motherly way but with a tougher streak and we see inside the mind of a prostitute; giving us her reasons and motivations and showing us the true power of the mind. She is truly more intellectual than anyone would think: and is involved in a dramatic twist at the end which I thought was brilliant. Our narrator: Kylar, develops well but never quite achieves the same feeling as Durzo: he always remains the student and Blint the master; providing several references to the Star Wars franchise I might add. We can relate to Kylar through his regret of separation and through his love of Elene or "Doll Girl" as was her street name. It gives him a more human side and shows how him and Durzo are similar and yet clash so drastically; providing the overall tension between the pair that leaks through the entire book. Besides these three not many characters are well fleshed out, there are several others in the narrative but their purpose is often mute when it comes to advancing the main story and so they often appear as more of a nuisance to the reader than an interesting distraction. Indeed the extreme multitude of characters leads to confusion rather than enjoyment.
Despite the compelling narrative, besides it's overall cliche nature, the writing does have it's flaws. Structure and punctuation for one thing are often off the mark, confusing and frustrating any reader and detaching you from any sense of the drama. Side stories that pop up only every 100 or so pages and leave you scratching your head in confusion half of the time as you try to remember the circumstances. It drags you away from the main story and serves as a chore. Their purpose is to provide a cliffhanger for the main story however they are not executed well enough to have this effect; showing the amateurish quality of this writer.This is also true of how every character with more than two lines of dialogue will have a point of view, this makes the storytelling muddled with several perspectives sometimes in quick succession.
The story is set in Cenaria City, the capital of Cenaria, located in the land of Midcyru; this geographical set up is one clear reference to Lord of the Rings in my opinion which again shows off the amateurish nature of the writing. Cenaria City is split into two halves: the Warrens and the East Side. The Warrens are infested with brothels, beggars, murderers and prostitutes. They are the place of Azoth's origin andnhood many mysteries that are not alparnt at first glance. The East Side however, though still infested with crime, is where the richer middle and upper class live. Cenaria is ruled in a Monarchy, using a traditional medieval system. However, the Sa'Kage hold the true power rather than the king. The Sa'Kage (Lords of the Shadows), are a mob-like organization that organise murder, prostitution and control the black market through Cenaria: they are very powerful and seek to control everything possible; they even have control of our mysterious Durzo Blint.To the north of Cenaria is another land called Khalidor. Khalidor is a powerful empire ruled by the tyrannical Godking, serving as the baddest of the bad we are taught to fear him from page 1. The Godking seeks to use the might of through it's powerful warriors and gifted mages, where their magic takes the visual impact of black swirling tribal tattoos all over their skin, to rule all of Midcyru; and the Khalidor army is merciless in its pursuits.
Overall this book is an excellent concept with a truly gripping narrative, however it does have several flaws which drag it down: a lack of coherent structure and punctuation make for an often confusing read that will lead to severe frustration. Along with the multiple side characters that seem to serve no purpose other than to merely annoy as they are never properly explored and only crop every 100 pages or so. However despite these flaws the ideas are mainly compelling with such an abrupt and detailed nature it brings shock to the table; and when that happens you know your onto a winner. This is certainly not the best book in the world, but it is a good book. I would recommend reading it. -
Danni17 June 2012
Elizabeth I ruled England for 45 years and was the last of the Tudor monarchs. She ascended the throne after the death of her Catholic sister Queen Mary who burned thousands of heretics at the stake and led the country to the 'reformed faith' to become one of the most popular monarchs in history.
The book begins in 1536 with three year old Elizabeth declared a bastard after the execution of mother, Anne Boleyn, and facing her young life away from her father's court. She is raised by a loyal household including her governess Kat Astley who becomes one of the most important people in Elizabeth's young life. At aged 10, Elizabeth is invited back to court by her father and his new wife Kathryn Parr with whom she bonds and becomes close to as her father's health deteriorates.
After her father's death Elizabeth is delighted to be invited to live with Kathryn Parr at Chelsea but finds she is attracted to Kathryn's new husband Tom Seymour. Their inappropriate behaviour does not go unnoticed, especially by Kat who tries her best to put an end to it and also by Queen Katherine who does not want to acknowledge that it might be going too far. Weir, who up until this point has stuck to historical fact creates a story around this speculation which adds some drama to the novel.
After her younger brother Edward's premature death, Elizabeth's sister Mary ascends the throne. It is the most difficult time of her life as she and her household are questioned for months over a plot which has been uncovered to overthrow the new Queen and to instate Elizabeth as Queen of England. I liked the way that Weir tackles the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary and their rivalry, yet always maintaining that they loved and trusted each other. Their religious differences are always at the centre of the book and the death of Lady Jane Grey reveals how strongly Mary feels about her Catholic faith.
A lot of people compare Weir to Philippa Gregory who writes in a similar genre. I have read a lot of Gregory's books and have enjoyed them all but feel that Weir's books have more depth and are more historically accurate. I love the way Weir has brought Elizabeth to life and given her a personality and opinions and the book has added to my knowledge of the period. I actually enjoyed both of Alison Weir's other novels more than this one, however this doesn't stop me giving The Lady Elizabeth 4 stars out of 5. -
Alex Grear03 June 2012
What if you could live your last day over and over again? Could you make it perfect? Samantha Kingston wakes every morning, the day after a car accident claims her life and has the opportunity to live the day over and over.
Sam Kingston is one of the most popular girls at her high school; dating the hottest guy and friends with the funniest, prettiest group of girls. Her popularity has come at an expense. She no longer talks to her childhood best friend, doesn't have a great relationship with her family and most of the school are scared to talk to Sam and her friends. After her accident, she wakes up the next day as if nothing has happened with events occurring exactly as they did the day before. When she finds out that she is not the only person from her school to die that day, she makes a decision to right her previous wrongs and make sure that something good comes of her death.
I know what you're thinking. It sounds like Groundhog Day for teenagers. Maybe it is but the characters are easy to relate to, the story is moving and the relationships are believable, especially the love story which you can really get behind. The book was written with a teenage audience in mind but I'm 27 and could read this over and over! It appeals to the Twilight and The Hunger Games audience but the added draw is that it represents real life situations that teenagers face growing up. That's what makes this book a winner to me. It was something that Amazon recommended to me about a year ago based on some of the other books I had read and I've read it four times since! It's one of those books you never want to finish and for that reason I give it top marks. 5 out of 5 - a must read! -
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Vintage classics)
Dave Wallace30 May 2012
This is like nothing you've ever read before.
There aren't many books about which you could make such a bold statement with such confidence. But Italo Calvino's "If On a Winter's Night a Traveller" is such a unique book - telling such a unique story and structured in such a unique way - that I think I'm on pretty safe ground.
At first glance, the book appears to be a reasonably straightforward affair, telling the tale of a reader who is enjoying a book that he unfortunately finds impossible to finish for a variety of reasons (such as printing errors or missing pages). As he embarks on a quest to seek out a complete version of his book, a convoluted series of mildly farcical events leads him to stumble across a host of other works of literature - as well as throwing him into contact with a woman who soon becomes a partner in his quest, as well as a potential love interest.
But beyond this simple outline, there's something far more special at play here, with the structure of Calvino's novel immediately marking it out as unusual. Each odd-numbered chapter - which describes the story outlined above - is written in the second person, effectively making the reader the protagonist of the book (since all of the events described are happening to 'you'). And every even-numbered chapter is an extract from a book that 'you' are reading as part of your continue your quest to complete the book that 'you' started with - which just so happens to be called "If On a Winter's Night a Traveller"...!
If that sounds a little confusing, then don't let it put you off, as the informal tone of the book and the clear distinctions between sections help the structure of the novel to fall into place almost unnoticeably. However, it's nevertheless incredibly inventive, and filled with postmodern touches - including an entire tangent towards the end of the book which debates the meaning of the second-person (is it really 'you', or just an abstract idea of 'you'?) before beginning an entirely separate second-person segment that temporarily casts 'you' in the role of the book's female protagonist rather than the male.
There's also a lot of fun to be had with Calvino's decision to apply completely different writing styles to the various books that 'you' encounter throughout the story. Not only does this offer a huge amount of variety (providing chapters that parody detective thrillers; kitchen-sink drama; erotica; science-fiction; and historical non-fiction), but it also casts an influence over the overarching story. The plot of each odd-numbered chapter - depicting the "real world" action, remember - is influenced in subtle ways by the tone of the extract that precedes it, meaning that the central story is able to take as many twists and turns as there are different literary styles to explore. In this way, Calvino comments not only on individual genres of writing - demonstrating a real gift for pastiche - but also on the way that literature as a whole affects the reader, ultimately making the point that our real lives are so complex that they simply can't be pigeonholed into a single genre in the way that so much of our reading material is.
I hope this review doesn't put you off the book by making it sound overly high-minded and pretentious, because whilst it's certainly full of innovative, post-modern elements, it's also a hugely fun, farcical and imaginative romp in its own right. However, for those who want to look a little further than the main story, there are plenty of hugely interesting ideas here, in terms of both structure and content. If you love books and you love reading - and if you didn't, why would you be perusing find-book.co.uk in the first place? - you're sure to get a lot out of "If On a Winter's Night a Traveller". -
Matthew Brew25 May 2012
The Kite Runner- Book Review
Firstly let me say that 'The Kite Runner' is one of the most powerfully written & well crafted pieces of fiction I have met to date. This piece of literature literally took over my life for the time I was reading it, delivering drama, horror, tension & laughter on each page. Written by Khaled Hosseini it offers a unique insight into an Afghan life and the dangers and horrors that plague it's streets; it really allows people from the west to realise how much we actually have & take for granted. It was received very well internationally after it's 2003 release: it won the South African Boeke Prize in 2004 and was the first 2005 best seller in the United States. However it was not without it's controversy and indeed the Afghani ministry of Culture banned the film adaption from distribution in Afghanistan.
The narrative of the novel is centred around a young Afghani: Amir & his growth into manhood. It takes the form of a retrospective novel and indeed the first chapter is set in 2001 and then we have a large time jump back to 1975 giving is distorted chronology. This modern setting in the first chapter allows adult Amir to express his feeling of regret & resentment for his actions which gives the novel a dark, bleak feeling from that moment on and was clearly intended to do so. It tells the story of Amir & his father's servant's boy Hassan, Amir is a Pashtun whilst Hassan is a Hazara and at this time there is a clear racial divide & indeed Amir is mocked by a local boy Assef for associating with Hassan and threatens to beat Amir up; however Hassan stands up to him threatening to take his eye out with a slingshot which leads to Assef demanding revenge and ultimately the event the entire novel is focused around.
Hassan is a faithful "kite runner" to Amir where in kite championships he fetches fallen kites as trophies of Amir's work. Amir's struggle to win his father: "Baba's" praise finally ends when he wins the local kite tournament. This provides a unique insight into Afghani culture and the unity felt between the Afghans is evident and even shames our western culture with our division and separation. Upon Hassan's finding of the last defeated kite, an impressive trophy, he encounters Assef who demands the kite; however Hassan refuses defending it for Amir. Assef then performs an act that stirs disgust and which has given the most powerful reaction I have ever had whilst reading: he beats Hassan and then anally rapes him. Amir is witness to the event but has been hiding and did not have the courage to face Assef; but also because if he did stand up for Hassan he may not retrieve the kite, his key for Baba's approval & so chooses Baba over Hassan. The rest of the novel revolves around Amir trying to achieve redemption for his actions and covers three decades. It gives us a picture of war torn Afghanistan and tells of Amir and Baba's flight during the soviet invasion to America. We see Amir grow and even marry in America; however his past continually haunts him. One day an old friend of his father's calls and asks him to come back to Afghanistan; now ruled by the Taliban this also gives us an insight into the Taliban's actions and gives people in the west a new perspective of the Afghani's position. Amir is tasked with finding Hassan's son after discovering that Hassan has been killed by the Taliban defending his old house. Here he also discovers that after all these years Hassan was his half brother. Upon finding Sohrab, Hassan's son, he fights his old foe Assef who is now high up in the Taliban and manages to bring him back to America for a better life & in so achieves his long sought after redemption.
This dark tale explores the importance of the different relationships we experience every day: the bond between a father and son and the desire for a father's approval. The bond between friends shown by Hassan's sycophantic attitude towards Amir. It opens them up and shows them for what they truly are, all their beauty and horror and all from a completely different perspective than a western reader would be used to. The Afghani vocabulary used gives the novel a sense of realism and immersion that I have rarely seen through a book. We see Amir's development from a vulnerable and indeed almost pathetic boy into a man who will stand for what is right, he is not the protagonist of the story because there isn't one. This story is not of heroes and villains but of reality and her cruelty and how to overcome it.
The Kite Runner showcases human life in a new way and shows the rich and the luxurious lives that we really have. Hassan is born with a harelip and has to deal with this for many years, medical treatment is expensive and life is hard. This novel not only tells a story but tells a moral. This is not a moral akin to those from the Grimm Brother's fairy tales. This a relevant and important social moral it teaches us the similarities between us and those of a different race and the stupidity that racism brings. With a film adaptation and several stage ones this message has been spread internationally and people listen. Not only for the riveting and dramatic story but for the truth of it.
Read it. -
Living Language: French 2012 Box: Daily Phrase & Culture Calendar (Living Language (Calendars))
Kate Maughan16 May 2012
Very informative calendar. We have kept all the pages from the last 5 years!
