C J Sansom, Lamentation

C J Sansom's Tudor mystery series always end up on the best sellers list when they come. They are both popular, and well received by critiques and he is highly regarded as an author of historical fiction. Can't help but think he gets more respect that authors of the genre as he as in man in a category dominated by women... but that's a whole other argument and this is meant to be a review post.

The Plot:   The sixth book in the series, Matthew Shardlake lawyer/investigator returns to unravel plots and intrigues of the Tudor royal court. Henry VIII is dying, and is concerned about his legacy, and religious tensions threaten civil harmony. Catholics, Reformers, Anabaptist and Lollards are all Christians, but their differences regarding the holy communion are leading to unrest, charges of heresy and murder. Catherine Parr, the wife of the king, has had a potential inflammatory and heretical memoir stolen, Lamentations of a Sinner, so she calls on her long-term friend Shardlake to retrieve it, before it is made public.

Rating: 3.5/5    

Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

As this was the winner of the Man Booker prize this year, I'm sure it'll be on many people's Christmas lists. Although, I've only just started to read my way through the shortlist, I'm not convinced this would have been the winner for me.

The Plot: The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, was built by Japan during WWII using forced labour. Approximately 180,000 Asian civilians and 60,000 allied Prisoners of War worked on the railway. Hundreds of thousands of people died, due to starvation, and the brutal regime of the camps.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is the account of a fictional Australian army doctor, Dorriago Evans, and his life before, during and after his experience on the Death Railway. Dorriago struggles to save the lives of the men under his care, as is forced by his captors to select the POWs to work on the railway each day. Throughout he is haunted by the memory of Amy, the wife of his uncle, who he had an affair with.

The novel is non-liner, showing the long reaching consequences of trauma, and the importance of happier memories in difficult circumstances.

Rating: 3.5/5
Full review after the jump:-

Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

As far as I'm aware I've read all of Sarah Water's books, and I've enjoyed every single one. It's no secret I love a bit of historical fiction, even though it's often trashy, Water's novels tend to be a classier affair.

The Plot: 1922, London. Widowed Mrs Wray and her daughter, Frances, are forced to take in lodgers because of financial difficulty. Lillian and Leonard Barber, members of the 'clerk class', begin to unsettle Frances' mundane routine. They bring excitement, unexpected friendship and remind Frances of her scandalous past. Dangerous loyalties and secrets will cause disturbances beyond the walls of the respectable Champion Hill house.

Rating:  4/5
* minor spoilers warning*
full review under the cut

James Dashner- The Maze Runner

Recently released at the cinema, and billed as the new Hunger Games, I thought I should give The Maze Runner a chance. I discovered that the comparisons to The Hunger Games (a book and film series I adore) are totally inaccurate. The Maze Runner has a similar set up, a group of young adults trapped in a deadly arena, but it is a much poorer book than Hunger Games.

The Plot: Thomas wakes up disoriented, with no memories in the middle of the Glade. The Glade is populated by a community of teenage boys, surrounded by an ever-shifting maze. Mechanical creatures called Grievers roam the maze, killing anyone who finds themselves still in the maze after sundown. Each month a new boy arrives in the maze through the 'box'. The day after Thomas' arrival comes another unexpected newcomer- a girl. She holds in her hand a note that reads 'She's the last one EVER'. The appearance of the girl is a catalysis for change, and the boys increase their efforts to escape the maze, before it can claim more lives.  

Rating: 1.5/5 

*spoilers warning* 

Emma Healey, Elizabeth is Missing

Elizabeth is Missing, début novel from Emma Healey left me with a heavy feeling in my heart, but it deserves all the hype

The Plot: Maud is suffering from dementia, she writes notes to herself to remember not to cook, not to leave the house and not to buy more tinned peaches. Her memory is splintered, and time is non-liner. She often relives the disappearance of her beloved sister, Sukey. Now her friend, Elizabeth, is also missing. Maud is desperate to piece together the fragments, find Elizabeth and solve the historic disappearance of her sister.  

Rating: 5/5

full review

Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Another fantasy review for you today, The Name of the Wind. I promise this'll be the last one (for a little while) so if these isn't a genre that interests you don't worry, I've been reading a variety of other things as well.

The Plot: Kvothe is masquerading  as an unremarkable innkeeper, but his origins are a lot more eventful. When his parents are murdered Kvothe is left destitute, scrambling for survival on the streets of the city, but he still harbours ambitions to attend the prestigious university. Providing he can pass the entrance examination and scrape together the tuition fee, the university offers to teach him the magical disciplines of Sympathy, Alchemy, Artifice and Naming. This if the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicals, which recalls Kvothe's early life as he tell his story to a scribe. 

Rating: 3.8/ 5 (I liked it slightly more that The Blade Itself , but not quite as much as Assassin's Apprentice

Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself

I'm still on a fantasy kick at the moment (read my review of Robin Hobb The Assassin's Apprentice here) and ordered a whole bunch from my local library after reading some samples (see my mini-review of fantasy samples here).

The Plot: Logan Ninefinger, renown warrior of the north has become separated from his comrades, who believe him dead. He is found by a wizard's apprentice and taken to meet the great Bayaz himself. Together they form an alliance against the king of the North. Inquisitor Glokta, himself crippled in the dungeons of the Gurkul Emperor, now tortures and investigates treason in the Union. Captain Jezal, arrogant and wealthy seeks glory in the fencing circle. A war is brewing between the North, the Union and Gurkul. Conspiracies, treachery and death are coming to the three countries and Logan, Bayaz, Glokta and Jezal all have a part to play.

Rating: 3.5/5

Audrey Magee, The Undertaking

There has been a lot of buzz about The Undertaking, it was the winner of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Luckily, it lives up to the hype, it is a very powerful novel about the second world war.

The Plot: Desperate for a respite from the Eastern Front, Peter Faber, a German solider agrees to arranged marriage with a woman he has never met, Katharina Spinell. Although their marriage begins awkwardly, they soon develop an unexpected sexual chemistry and depth of feeling for each other. Their brief 3 week honeymoon must sustain them whilst Peter confronts the horrors of Stalingrad. Katharina, encouraged by her delusional parents, aligns her interests to the Nazi party, but as the regime begins to crumble she begins to regret her decision.

 
Rating: 5/5
Trigger warning: rape, violence, war, anti-Semitism, Nazi ideology, starvation

M.R.C Kasasian, The Mangle Street Murders

The Mangle Street Murders was kindly recommended to me by Tiziana. I'm really grateful for her suggestion, as it turned out to be a really good read, set in  one of my favourite eras, the late 19th Century. 

The Plot: Sidney Grice, priggish and pompous, is a 'personal' detective, well-known for solving grisly cases. His ward, March Middleton, recently bereaved and new to London, is determined to assist Grice in his investigation, despite his objections. A young woman has been found stabbed over forty times in her own sitting room, her husband, William Ashby, stands accused of her murder. Grace Dillinger is convinced of her son-in-law's innocence and pleads with Grice to discover the real killer.

Rating: 3.5

Claire King, The Night Rainbow

The Night Rainbow by Claire King is the sort of book your mum might read (though to be honest I tried to pass this on to mine, and she rejected it). It's all about mother/daughter and sibling relationships and childhood. Though there is family strife, and grief over the death of a beloved husband/father, it's a gentle kind of book, full of simple childish pleasures, and is devoid any explosive drama or abrupt occurrence.   

The Plot: Five-year-old Pea and her younger sister Margot play in the sweltering heat of rural France. Their mother spends her days in bed, worn down by pregnancy and paralysed by sadness over the death of her husband. When Pea meets Claude in the meadow, she wonders if he can cure her mother's unhappiness and become her new papa, but Claude has a secret sadness of his own.

Rating: 3.4/5
Full review (as always) under the cut:-

Toni Morrison, Beloved

Beloved is a ghost story, as well as a story about slavery, which at first may sound a bit odd but actually works really well.

Toni Morrison is highly regarded as an author, though personally I've found her a bit hit and miss- loved Jazz, couldn't understand the fuss about Mercy.

The Plot: Inspired by the true story of Margaret Garner, Beloved is set in the US during the time of slavery and after its abolition. Sethe, a runaway slave, kills her daughter and attempts to kill her other three children when men arrive to return her to Sweet Home plantation. she would rather they be dead than live in slavery. The ghost of her dead daughter haunts the family, until one day a young woman calling herself Beloved arrives on her doorstep.

Rating: 4/5

Full review under the cut:-

Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Yay more feminist literature! I  was shocked to see that so far this year my reading list has been many male, to rectify this, this month (with the exception of two books) every novel I've read has been written by a woman.

I first read The Robber Bride years ago, so though I could remember the gist, the ending was a nice surprise. I don't think I can say it enough, I adore Margaret Atwood, without fail her novels are full of wit and insight.

The Plot: As three woman share a companionable lunch, an old enemy comes back from the dead. Zenia, beautiful, capricious and utterly merciless was thought to have been killed in a bombing, she is however very much alive. Having once already destroyed the lives of Tony, Charis and Roz, Zenia proves she's lost none of her venom and capacity to harm.

Rating: ««««« (5/5)

Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death

Just realised that so far I've only reviewed two books this months, that's a pretty poor show for a book reviewing blog.

I tried a sample of Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death back in May, so I've had to wait a fair while to read the whole thing. I bought it has part of my recent splurge.

trigger warning: violence, rape, racism, death, genocide, incest, FGM, slavery

The Plot: Alone in the desert, a woman who has survived the genocide of her village and a horrific rape by an enemy general, gives birth to a girl with hair and skin the colour of sand. She names her child Onyesnwu, 'who fears death'.  Onyesonwu, already ostracised due to the nature of her conception, is further rejected by her community when she  starts to exhibit signs of powerful magic. Able to transform into any animal, travel through the spirit world and even resurrect the dead, Onyesonwu is powerful and dangerous. Her volatile spirit  and gender mean she has the capacity to cause great harm, as well as good.   However,  as the violence between the Nuru and the Okeke escalates a prophecy is made, foretelling of a saviour who will end the war. 

Rating: ««««¶ (4/5) 

Full review and quick glossary under the cut *spoiler warning*:-
(I've included a brief list of terminology, as the novel can get confusing)

science fiction & fantasy kindle samples

I've been reading a lot of science fiction and fantasy recently, (see my mini reviews of previous kindle samples here and here) and a loss of what to read next I downloaded a couple of kindle samples to try. 

Lexicon, Max Barry

Synopsis:  'sticks and stones break bones, words kill'. At an exclusive school students are taught to persuade and manipulate other people using words, the very best will graduate as poets and will have the power to control people's minds. Emily is hustling on the street when she is recruited, under the guidance of Bronte, Lowell and Eliot she becomes the school's most talented pupil. Meanwhile Wil is violently attached in a airport bathroom, he has no recollection of what he is supposed to have done, or who his attackers are. 

My thoughts: The book starts with a Wil been ambushed, and rather like him as I reader I felt thrown into the middle of something I didn't fully understand. My initial reservations about the novel, is that it will be too plot driven, all gun fights and car chases without any depth or character development. That might be a hasty conclusion however, and I would like to read the rest of book. The premise intrigues me, propaganda and rhetoric are powerful tools, that have lead to the deaths of many people, so I think the author is clever to make this concept literal, words as weapons.   

Verdict: want to read, but not worth buying(have already reserved it from the library) 

Annihilation (The Southern Reach Trilogy), Jeff Vander Max 

Synopsis: There have been elven previous expeditions to Area X, an environmental disaster zone monitored by the secretive Southern Reach agency. Each of this expeditions has resulted in fatalities and terrible consequences. The narrator, an unnamed biologist, is part of the twelfth group to investigate Area X, the quarantined area soon begins to affect her and her companions is strange and disturbing ways. 

 My thoughts: My initial reaction was yay! as all the members of the expedition group are female, though I was soon to realise most of them aren't going to last long. The opening is pretty creepy, I'm expecting that there has been some kind of outbreak, or contagion that will physiologically unbalance the group. I also suspect that the Southern Reach send people to Area X as part of human experimentation. I wasn't immediately drawn in, perhaps because I can predict what's going to happen, though of course I could be wrong. 

Verdict: not fussed, either way. There are other books I'd like to read first       

Dawn (Lilith's Brood, book 1), Octavia E. Butler

Synopsis: After the world has been annihilated by nuclear war, and humans are nearly extinct, aliens first make contact. Hoping to save the earth and humanity, the Oankali rescue the people they can and begin to rehabilitate the planet. Lilith is one of the first to be awoken by the Oankali, and she must prepare her fellow humans to survive in a hostile environment. 

My thoughts:  I've been on an Octavia Butler kick recently, Kindred was my top pick last month (see my review here) but this sample didn't really grab me. Going of the strength of her other books though, I think I may have been too quick to judge. I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic books, I'm always interested to see how authors think society will rebuild itself, so that appeals to me. It's just the involvement of aliens that puts me off. 

Verdit: There are other Octavia Butler books I'd like to read first (I bought Seed to Harvest the other day and am waiting for it to arrive)  

The Golem and the Djinni, Helene Wecker 

Synopsis: Chava is a golem, shaped from clay and brought to life by a rabbi, who dabbles in dark magic. When her master, a failed businessman, dies whilst they are travelling, Chava is left purposeless and alone in 19th Century New York. Similarly forlorn is Ahmad, a being of fire, trapped for centuries in a copper flask. Once freed, he is still tethered to the physical world, by a band of iron and must, like Chava, try to survive in a strange, human world. 

My thoughts: I only know a little about golems, so this novel had instant appeal for me, I love learning about different myths. The turn of the twentieth century is also one of my favourite time periods, so that gave the book another tick from me. Though Chava and Ahmad are supernatural beings, there story will have a lot in common with the flood of immigrants that arrived in New York in this time, culture clash and alienation are going to be huge themes in the novel, as both try to navigate their way around the human world. I was immediately invested after reading the sample.

Verdict: desperate to read (plus it's only £1.99 on kindle)