Here’s what I read between mid November and early February:

The Danger of Desire by Elizabeth Essex – This sensual regency era historical had its share of historical inaccuracies but the endearing heroine and hot love scenes made it worth reading. Review here. B-

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – My husband and I tried to read this historical fantasy novel set during the Napoleonic Wars. The book is deliberately written in the style of a regency era book, for example using “shewed” in place of “showed.” The writing style is lovely, and the narration filled with wry asides like “They were gentleman-magicians, which is to say they never harmed any one by magic—nor ever done any one the slightest good.”

I was initially charmed and thought I was going to love this book, but the problem was that very little happened in the section we read. For a fantasy novel, there isn’t very much magic (not usually a complaint for me), and not much eventfulness of plot to make up for it. Nor is Norrell, the main character, sympathetic or likable. The book is over eight hundred kindle pages long, and since it takes more than 130 of these for Jonathan Strange, one of the two title characters, to appear, by that point I didn’t have the patience to wait for the much hinted at conflict between Strange and Norrell to materialize. 155 pages in, we quit. DNF.

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The Plumed Bonnet by Mary Balogh – I’ve been reading a lot of Balogh’s older traditional regencies and this is one of the better ones. It had a terrific beginning, a pretty good but less compelling middle and a wonderful ending. I loved the hero, and while I had a doubt or two about the heroine, I thought it was so interesting that her resentfulness stemmed from having been done a kindness she could not possibly repay. Review here. B+

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How the Marquess was Won by Julie Anne Long – I had high hopes for this one since I’ve loved some of Long’s books but the hero and heroine’s feelings deepened so much so soon after one meeting in which some repartee was exchanged and I couldn’t buy into that level of emotion. Before someone pipes up to say they fell in love at first sight, I will say I know that love at first sight exists, and I have bought intense, immediate feelings in books before. But I didn’t find it convincing here, and as a result I didn’t feel invested in the relationship and the couple. There were more minor flaws, too, as well as strengths like Long’s lovely writing style and amusing humor, but ultimately, I felt this was one of her weaker books. Review here. C/C+

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Ghost in the Machine by Barbara J. Hancock – This 88 page post apocalyptic romance novella was a wonderful surprise – different from most romances I read, eerie, haunting and romantic. I don’t have much negative to say about it aside from mentioning that it wasn’t always clear what was going on in the world, technology wise, and the ending was a touch too happy to match the story. Review here. High B+

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Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey – My husband and I read this together and we came close to quitting in the first third due to myriad issues detailed in my review. Good thing we didn’t, though, because the story improved considerably after the one third point. I can’t say I adored this book like so many readers but neither did I dislike it intensely like others. I am the rare reader who averages out the disappointing first third with the strong latter two thirds to come up with a C+/B- (I gave it a B- when I reviewed it, but in hindsight I think the grade should have been a touch lower).

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Graceling by Kristin Cashore — What a suspenseful, breathtaking, emotional read. This was another one I read with my husband. Jia reviewed this YA fantasy back in 2008. While I agree with her criticism of the villain’s one-dimensional nature and the resulting lack of complexity to the external conflict, I disagree with regard to the heroine. Where Jia felt that her killing Grace (power) was the only thing that made Katsa interesting, I was actually touched by the sense of isolation Katsa experienced as a result of being feared.

I also thought that Katsa began the book so out of touch with her own emotions as to almost be stunted (one reason she read younger than 18) and while this annoyed me at first, her growth in this area over the story’s course ultimately made me really root for her. Like Jia, I loved the romance between Katsa and Po, which hung on the issues of independence/interdependence/dependence. But in my case I also adored the survival story in the middle of the book which involves a secondary character. This was a wonderful book. B+/A-

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Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel– I recently reviewed this Regency set historical. My main criticism was that I didn’t feel there was much conflict to the story (either internal or external). The heroine’s protestations that she couldn’t fall in love again and the hero’s intention to eventually get engaged to someone else felt like mere lip service. The story was less than fully compelling, but whenever I picked up the book I enjoyed it because the characters were so endearing and the writing was beautiful. Review here. B-

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Angelfall by Susan Ee – What a disappointment this was, though on the bright side, I only paid 99 cents for it. This book has been selling well and earning raves so I thought it would be a good one to read with my husband. It started out quite promising but both of us were ultimately disappointed. Angelfall is certainly competently written, with a fair amount of action, so that even though we were tempted to quit reading partway, we kept reading to see what would happen next.

The biggest problem IMO is that the characters had such a limited emotional range. Raffe in particular was almost a one note character but even Penryn did not display a wide range of feelings. They both felt relatively flat to me as a result. You know it’s bad when a small secondary human character like Dee Dum is more intriguing than the supernatural hero of the story.

The worldbuilding was more interesting than the people, but as Jane notes in her review it didn’t always make sense. There were other things that didn’t make sense, for example, it was strongly implied that Penryn’s mentally ill mother had harmed Penryn’s little sister Paige, which is why Paige was wheelchair bound. If that was so, why wasn’t the mother ever arrested and locked up? These events took place before the angel attacks.

To make matters worse I also felt that Penryn lacked agency, since she spent much of the book following Raffe’s orders. I thought it was ironically symbolic when, in a crucial scene, she is literally paralyzed. Also the book, which starts out dark enough, turns into a full-fledged horror novel at the end, and the disturbing scenes late in the book left me in need of a palate cleanser.

I couldn’t help comparing this book to Ghost in the Machine which has a similar setup (both books have dystopian settings, heroines attempting a hopeless rescue her kidnapped younger sibling, and heroes who aid the rescue, have special powers and may be on the opposite side), but Ghost had a lot more heart. Despite the compelling plot, I can’t grade Angelfall higher than a C-.

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Have you guys read these books, and if so, what did you think of them? And do you ever find yourself more critical of books that many others love, as I did with Angelfall and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?

Related posts:

1. What Janine is Reading, Late Summer/Early Fall 2011
2. What Jia’s Been Reading, Late October/Early November
3. What Jia’s Been Reading, Late August/Early September

As usual, I’m late to the party.   I meant to review your debut YA fantasy when it first came out but for various reasons, I fell behind.   That said, one reason it took me a bit longer than expected is because I had a difficult time getting into the book.   I’m ultimately glad I kept picking this book up again and again to give it another try but I’ll be honest.   That had more to do with the strength of the premise rather than the strength of the writing itself.

But before I go into that, let’s start at the beginning.   Graceling takes place in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world where certain people are gifted with extreme skills called Graces.   You can tell a person is Graced by their eyes — they don’t match colors.   Graces can take many forms.   For example, a person can be Graced with cooking and work as the palace chef, or with mathematical ability and work as the only female accountant in all the kingdoms, and so on and so on.

Our protagonist, Katsa, is Graced with killing.   Of all the possible Graces to have, this is probably the worst.   Graces like horse handling or gardening are harmless and even useful.   Killing, however is untrustworthy at best and dangerous at worst.   And for this reason, she’s forced to become her uncle, King Randa’s personal thug.   Is there a lord refusing to pay his taxes?   Send Katsa to break his arm.   Is there another lord refusing to give one of his daughters in marriage to a borderlord?   Send Katsa to torture him until one of the daughters break and agrees to marriage in order to save her father. As a result, people fear her and spread hateful stories about her that, unfortunately, are true.

Katsa hates her existence, what her uncle makes her do, and that it effectively reduces her to little more than an animal.   In retaliation, she formed the Council, a multi-country network that helps people in need.   In this way she’s able to make up for the wrongs she’s committed on her uncle’s orders.   During one such Council mission, Katsa rescues the elderly father of a neighboring king.   No one knows why he was kidnapped, but the Council intends to find out.   What they learn is worse than they could have ever imagined.

As I said, it’s the premise that drew me to this book.   A princess who’s preternaturally good at killing people?   Instead of wearing dresses, attending parties, and enjoying the attentions of courting suitors, she’s forced to become her uncle’s personal heavy?   Sounds exciting and fresh!   Which is was why I was surprised to find the first few chapters slow and hard to get into.   It wasn’t a matter of lack of action or plot. There was plenty of that.   I think it simply boiled down to a lack of tension and an odd blandness to Katsa.   I did warm up to Katsa as the book continued on but I was initially unimpressed despite her formidable abilities.

Part of that is my own fault.   With a premise like this, I did come in with preconceived notions. But I also think the only thing that makes Katsa interesting is her Grace.     Her personality itself is not very memorable.   She hates her uncle’s lackey, but why has she never thought of defying him before? She’s a near unstoppable killing machine. What in the world could he do to stop her if she tried? I know she’s young but given the world and set-up, I didn’t completely buy it that the sixteen-year-old Katsa would never think of walking away. There is an underlying thread dealing with her choosing between becoming the good person she wants to be or becoming the wild animal her uncle views her as, but it was overshadowed by this unexplained gap.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t things to like.   There are.   Katsa’s competence in survival and combat situations is refreshing.     Her interactions with Prince Po are delightful, although I thought the romantic plot had some pacing issues towards the middle of the book.   It just didn’t seem well-integrated with the rest of the plot and given what the two of them were pursuing at the time, I couldn’t help but find it out of place and mistimed.   Even so, I think the burgeoning romance between Katsa and Po, and its inherent conflict (no details here because I think knowing ahead of time detracts from the experience) is the strongest aspect of the book.   So strong in fact that I think it can mask some of the book’s weaker points.

And the biggest weak point for me was the antagonist.   I found his ability very creepy and insidious.   I think if it had been left at that, I would have loved him.   But it wasn’t left at that, and the traits tagged on to him reduced what could have been a brilliant antagonist into a cardboard villain.   What do I mean by “tagged?”   I mean, those identifying actions and traits characters are given to tag them as the hero or the villain.   Many readers here are familiar with villains who indulge in skanky sex.   It’s things like that.

In Graceling, the villain maims, tortures, and kills little animals.   Because as we all know, if you kill animals in a book, you are evil. And he doesn’t stop there. He maims, tortures, and kills children as well.   And perhaps “something more” if the child happens to be a girl. Now he’s Evil with a capital E. In fact, his motivation can be reduced to a single sentence. (Spoilers follow for those readers following on the feed.)

The villain had his father-in-law kidnapped to force his wife to stop protecting their daughter from his “attentions.”

Really?   That strikes me as a lot of trouble to go to, so much so that when I finished the book I flipped back to make sure I didn’t miss some crucial detail.  

I suppose, given the premise, I was expecting less black and white with regards to the presentation of the villain.   Compared to the conflict between Katsa and Po, it was very two-dimensional and disappointing.   There’s nothing necessarily wrong with extreme presentations of good and evil.   I think those kinds of stories have their place and their readers.   But when your protagonist is pretty grey herself, it’s a little disconcerting to realize the antagonist lacks that same nuance. I find calculating, cold villains more compelling than over-the-top evil and insane ones. Towards the end of the book, I actually felt that Graceling‘s antagonist had become a caricature and wasn’t frightening at all. Other readers may, and probably do, feel differently.

Aside from the Graces, the worldbuilding is nothing spectacular.   I’ve seen it countless times before in many a fantasy novel set in pseudo-medieval Europe.   It didn’t bother me here as much as it usually does, probably because of the presence of the Graces and what they mean for the general population, but readers looking for a more unique fantasy setting won’t find it here.   All things considered, after the glow from Katsa and Po’s relationship — which is truly a delight to read about — wore off, this ended up being a B- for me.

My regards,
Jia

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format (Kindle only that I could find).

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: The Chef’s Choice by Kristin Hardy
2. Interview with an Agent, Kristin Nelson
3. REVIEW: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi