Sadly, I wasn't charmed by this one. I was particularly disappointed to find that the striking title and cover illustration had practically no relatioSadly, I wasn't charmed by this one. I was particularly disappointed to find that the striking title and cover illustration had practically no relationship to the contents of the book -- there were no poems to explore the theme of Einstein or of cats; the interior illustrations were single-color sketches. I did enjoy the author's notes placed just after each poem, but the poems themselves felt off to me. And I'm very uncertain as to how the intended post-literate child audience is going to relate to types of lettuce and plays on Usain Bolt's name.
I agree with another reviewer: these poems are definitely goofy. Best recommended for very young children who seem predisposed to such goofiness, and I agree with another reviewer: these poems are definitely goofy. Best recommended for very young children who seem predisposed to such goofiness, and for parents to read aloud rather than for the child to read themselves.
Straightforward, introductory text. I know practically nothing of ninjas, and so the information was all new to me and uniformly fascinating. I preferStraightforward, introductory text. I know practically nothing of ninjas, and so the information was all new to me and uniformly fascinating. I preferred the history of the ninja clans over the strength exercises (which I didn't try to do) and weapons techniques. It would have been happier if there had been more extensive reference list (citations in this were completely lacking) as well as some recommended titles for further reading, but as it was this seemed like an easily accessible work for persons casually interested in the subject material. I could see it being particularly helpful as a preliminary resource for writers.
However, I'm knocking a star off my rating due to the stated list price of this book -- Amazon prices it at about $6, currently on sale for $4. This book is 28 pages long, or 22 pages if you don't count the title page, author bio, contents, etc. That's not a six-dollar book. That's a 99-cent short story.
Favorite typo, from the copyright notice:
"No part of this book may me reproduced" [p. 4, ISBN unknown]
I was predisposed to be charmed by these stories. Look at the cover artwork with the tiny princess having tea with the dragon! Look at all the story tI was predisposed to be charmed by these stories. Look at the cover artwork with the tiny princess having tea with the dragon! Look at all the story titles about grumpy dragons and precious things! The stories themselves feel traditional and modern all at the same time, and Price's hand on the writing is sure and smooth and fun.
Five-year-old me would have demanded this book be read to her every night at bedtime.
Ten-year-old me would have pulled this out concurrently with volumes of Brothers Grimm and other folklores and sincerely try to read all of them at the same time.
Seventeen-year-old me would have stumbled upon this while reorganizing her bookshelves with a Huh, I remember this. and spent the next 30 minutes rereading it without a trace of shame.
Sadly, disappointing. The heroine read like a Mary Sue caricature and there was never a shred of explanation as to why the hero was so taken with her.Sadly, disappointing. The heroine read like a Mary Sue caricature and there was never a shred of explanation as to why the hero was so taken with her. The horror aspects began and ended with the demon hero character; I never found any part of the novel chilling,* or even mildly thrilling, although one or two parts of it were rather gory.
* Unless you count the speed at which the characters' relationship progressed.
I had quite high hopes for this one -- Rich Hautala is a new author to me but has a solid bibliography and reputation in horror and speculative fiction. And it's worth pointing out that The Demon's Wife is a posthumous publication. For all I know, Hautala had this book finalized and completely edited well before his untimely passing, but I suspect that was not the case here and I'm rather regretful I didn't start reading him with any other of his published works instead.
Best recommended for the horror-fond YA crowd. DNF at the 50% mark. Two stars.
I very much enjoy fairy tales and retellings and I'm fairly well-read in them, but despite George MacDonald being one of the classic names in that genI very much enjoy fairy tales and retellings and I'm fairly well-read in them, but despite George MacDonald being one of the classic names in that genre, I'd never read anything by him. His writings are openly acknowledged as having influenced the work of many authors I admire — C.S. Lewis, E. Nesbit, Madeline L'Engle, G.K. Chesterston, Mark Twain, et al. — so when I realized that Project Gutenberg has several of his out-of-copyright publications up for free access, I downloaded them once and prepped my ereader for some serious reading.
Unfortunately, all in all, I really would have rather left MacDonald entirely unread. He seems to be an author far too fond of his own voice. I found his fairy stories to be ponderous moral tales, which I'm sure are fine if you like that sort of stuff: I don't. The gender and race relations made me cringe, and the introduction of Chinese buffoon characters 'Hum-Drum' and 'Kopy-Keck' nearly made me stop reading then and there. In the entirely of "The Light Princess," I found one single passage I enjoyed:
The forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this they have the advantage of the princesses, who are forced to marry before they have a bit of fun. I wish our princesses got lost in a forest sometimes. [p. 15-16]
The character names in "The Giant's Heart" stopped me dead as well: 'Tricksy-Wee' and 'Buffy-Bob,' seriously? "The Golden Key" was better, but I didn't like the creepy, directly stated plot point that eating sentient fish was perfectly okay because the fish turn into angels afterward.
I can't speak for MacDonald's other publications, but The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories was to me an example of Victorian literature at its worst. I need to go off and reread Wee Free Men as a palate clenser. Two stars.
Quote pulled from unknown edition. Three stories made up this edition: "The Light Princess," "The Giant's Heart", and "The Golden Key."
Radford is a capable writer. Her stories are imaginative and well crafted. And I genuinely don’t like any of them. I read about five of the stories inRadford is a capable writer. Her stories are imaginative and well crafted. And I genuinely don’t like any of them. I read about five of the stories in this collection, and maybe two others from a previous anthology, and I actively disliked each one. The stories she tells just aren’t ones I want to hear. INYIM. YMMV. DNF. Two stars....more
Oh, ha ha, this was excellent. The stories are brilliantly creative along the one solid theme, and I really like the illustrations that accompanied evOh, ha ha, this was excellent. The stories are brilliantly creative along the one solid theme, and I really like the illustrations that accompanied every story. (I’d say I was charmed by the surprise of finding them here – I hadn’t realized there were to be illustrations at all – but ‘charmed’ isn’t a word that gracefully accompanies an anthology of this theme.) I finished it practically in one sitting. Five stars.
I’ve followed Wheaton’s blog off and on for years, certainly long enough to know he is both a geek and a cool guy. I enjoyed reading his biography. BuI’ve followed Wheaton’s blog off and on for years, certainly long enough to know he is both a geek and a cool guy. I enjoyed reading his biography. But I have to admit, it left me a little wanting.
Textually, I rather wish Wheaton had gone into more detail regarding his family. I liked reading about his wife and children – his wife in particular sounds like an awesome person – but there’s little background information given on their relationships. I would have liked to have learned about their courtship, about how Wheaton moved passed being the guy dating his kids’ mother to becoming their father, about the wife’s evil ex, who was mentioned repeatedly, but those stories were never told. Wheaton talked at length about his experience with Star Trek, which I found fascinating, and about his work to be an active actor, which I found somewhat less so. Part of my disappointment is probably a factor in timing – this was published in 2004, and I think I started reading Wheaton’s blog somewhat later than that. His writing here isn’t always as polished as I’m used to reading, particularly in the excerpts from his very early blog entries, which were terrible. And I guess Galaxy Quest film came out sometime after 2004?† That would have been great to read about and would have really fit well with the themes of this memoir. And it felt really odd to hear Wheaton enthuse about the Nemesis film: He talks it up so much here, but I’m pretty sure I remember that film being universally panned.
† Nope, that film came out in 1999. Huh.
Formatively, I had issues with the ecopy I read. There are mentions in text of artwork by John Kovalic, but no artwork was in the version I read. Apparently there was another edition I could have bought instead? So glad I learn that at this late in the game. And my Sony Reader had a terrible time reading this – there was tremendous lag turning pages at times and twice the pages refused to turn at all; I had to pull up the page-count bar and key in the next sequential page because tapping the Next button or swiping the screen did nothing. I have not ever seen that error before (or since, as I’m about five books beyond reading this now).
On the pro side, I had been delighted to find this had an introduction by Neil Gaiman. What an unexpected pleasure!
I hadn't enjoyed the one other Stross novel I read, but the premise to this sounds so good. How can I resist?I hadn't enjoyed the one other Stross novel I read, but the premise to this sounds so good. How can I resist?...more
Lyrical and dreamy, but rather bland. Heavily didactic; lacking heart. The characters seemed blown about by the plot rather than driving it. The religLyrical and dreamy, but rather bland. Heavily didactic; lacking heart. The characters seemed blown about by the plot rather than driving it. The religious elements were gently and respectably handled, but the sheer amount of them set my teeth on edge.
I sincerely wanted to like this story, but I'm afraid it bored me. DNF. Two stars. Some flavors of Canterbury Tales, The Last Unicorn, and Pigs Don't Fly, but none of the humor. Another reader might have been a better match.
I’m feeling a little mixed on this one. Frankly, any book that uses the phrase ‘O.M.G.’ within the first twenty pages in a non-ironic manner and by a I’m feeling a little mixed on this one. Frankly, any book that uses the phrase ‘O.M.G.’ within the first twenty pages in a non-ironic manner and by a character who has aged well outside of highschool is not worth my time, but I found this plot pretty gripping. The world set-up is really vivid and caught my attention from the first page.
What I didn’t like? The characters. The point-of-view character was extremely mercurial, and her whiplash moods ranged from weeping hysteria to homicidal rage (with homicide) within a matter of pages. It became irritating very quickly. I didn’t appreciate that she seems poised to enter romantic relationships with three separate men; I have come to abhor the love triangle (pyramid?) story arc presently so popular in urban fantasy, and it’s gone beyond making me eyeroll when I find it in a book – it makes me stop reading. The characters all speak in remarkably crude language, which bored me to the extent I began skipping large swaths of it. I usually require some sort of character hook to invest myself in a story, and I never found that here.
Meister reads as a capable author. I just never really meshed with her writing style, not in this book at least. The one passage that genuinely snagged at my interest was brief, wildly out of tone with the rest of book, and in the voice of a deceased character:
Last night I found a piece of paper in the gutter. It was plastered to the pavement in a mush, its words slowly leeching into the asphalt. I could read it just barely, but I couldn’t save it.
It said: “A grandfather and his grandson were walking through the woods. As they walked, the old man shared wisdom he hoped would guide the boy, even if the child could not yet understand it.
‘Every man,’ he said, ‘has two wolves within him. One is light and one dark. They snarl and bite at each other, roll through the moments of his life, ripping and tearing, fighting for dominance.’
The boy thought about this and asked, ‘Grandfather, which one wins?’
The old man patted the boy’s head and smiled. ‘The one we feed.’”
You know, this rather reads like a Laurell K. Hamilton book, but without the sex. Three stars.
My ecopy of this finished book was provided to me by the publisher through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. Quotes pulled from pp. 26-27 of ISBN 978-1-936564-99-6....more
The stories in this collection are extraordinary, guttural and disturbing. Warrick plays each one to the weird, and the result is completely breathlesThe stories in this collection are extraordinary, guttural and disturbing. Warrick plays each one to the weird, and the result is completely breathless.
Four stars, possibly four and half. I haven't been this excited about a horror collection since finding Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts.
I have an interest in the artists that appeared in this book, and Moore admittedly did a great job of putting them in his pages. All the characters weI have an interest in the artists that appeared in this book, and Moore admittedly did a great job of putting them in his pages. All the characters were vivid and fascinating; Moore researched his details impeccably, and everyone seems alive on his pages.
I have less of an interest in the driving force of the story: the multi-faced muse and her keeper. I can buy the magical blue pigment with time-altering properties. I was slightly enchanted by the stacks of unrevealed masterpiece paintings. But I was really fed-up with the muse and her But I must torment and murder to survive! Except not really. Also, hey, you're special. characterization, and her goal of switching one keeper for another felt so unformed as to seem pointless. The original keeper was the novel's big bad, but the distinction of why he was evil and the equally pragmatic muse wasn't appears largely to be in that she's better at seducing humans. Moore's trademark humor is evident here, but it missed with me more often than it hit. Even the humor I enjoyed became rather repetitious.
The paintings fascinated me. The plot bored me. I would've have been better off reading a history of the time period. This was a definite meh.
Brilliant and lush, rich like nothing I had expected. Nazarian's wordsmithing is beautiful and immersive in the vein of Patricia A. McKillip's. If thiBrilliant and lush, rich like nothing I had expected. Nazarian's wordsmithing is beautiful and immersive in the vein of Patricia A. McKillip's. If this novel has a flaw, it's one of the wordsmithing being stronger than the storytelling. I was completely swept away by the language, and indeed the language rushed me passed several story moments of repetitive scenes and questionable character behaviors. My mind really wanted to pause at those places ((view spoiler)[I particularly wanted to go Wait. What? when Beltain switched his loyalties (hide spoiler)]), but I wanted more to just keep reading and handwaved everything else aside.
Cobweb Bride is marketed as being the first in a projected trilogy. I kind of wonder a bit about that. I think I might have enjoyed the story more if it had been a standalone; I would have liked drowning myself in a single sitting. Perhaps this is a reflection of the fact this project is Kickstarter-funded (link)?
Nazarian is a new author for me. I had been recommended her short-story collection Salt of the Air ages ago but haven't yet gotten myself in the mood read my copy — I feel I'm in the mood now!
The secret adoption/kidnapped baby plot was pretty cool, but I couldn't stand the lead romantic pairing. Having divorced characters fall back in love The secret adoption/kidnapped baby plot was pretty cool, but I couldn't stand the lead romantic pairing. Having divorced characters fall back in love with each other is cool -- it makes a break from traditional romances -- but having the hero announce at the epilogue they don't have to get remarried because he never signed the divorce papers in the first place, oh those long years ago? Not cool. And additionally makes the heroine appear dumb as dirt for never realizing this.
I kind of want a sequel for this, where they deal with being audited by the IRS for years of fraudulent tax statements....more
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