Title: Coyote Woman Author: Carolyn Dunn In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Poetry, Tricksters Dates read: 5th March 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Poem Publisher: Firebird Fantasy Year: 2007 5th sentence, 74th page: no sealing string,
Coyote is normally seen as a man, but this beautiful poem investigates what it would be like if he was a woman.
I’m getting more and more into poetry as time passes. There is just something about the lyricism of the words and the symbolism they often impart. It just works beautifully. And the use of a female coyote in this story was just fantastic. I love that Dunn finds a way to impart the femininity of tricksters and can share this in so few pages.
This poem is beautiful and fun, easy and enthralling. I read
it twice in a row and could go back for thirds so easily. There is just
something quaint, beautiful and fun about it that made me fall in love again
and again and again.
Title: When I’m Armouring My Belly Author: Gemma Files In: Evolve (Nancy Kilpatrick) Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one) My Bookshelves: Vampires Dates read: 20th February 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Edge Year: 2010 5th sentence, 74th page: “Smells like us, specific, ’cause we just got done rubbing ourselves all over him.
Sometimes you want to be a part of something bigger than you. But when it’s vampires doing all kinds of untold things to your body… is it really worth it? Or is it more intriguing to become something far more?
I was a little eh about this story. It wasn’t horrible and stomach
turning like some of the short stories that have come before. But it also wasn’t
the kind of tale that I’ll remember for a long time. Even writing this review
is a little difficult because it is already starting to feel a little faded.
The part of this story that I enjoyed the most was the fact
that the lead was a dhampir. It gave them a whole other level of strength and mystery.
One that I didn’t quite figure out until the end. But then I can’t quite
remember why either…
Title: Wuthering Heights Author: Emily Bronte Series: Word Cloud Classics Rating Out of 5: 2 (Managed to read it… just) My Bookshelves:Classics, Gothic Dates read: 12th – 18th February 2019 Pace: Slow Format: Novel Publisher: Word Cloud Classics Year: 1847 5th sentence, 74th page: “What ails you, Cathy?” he was saying when I entered: “you look as dismal as a drowned whelp.”
Discover a passionate tale of love lost, found, and avenged in Wuthering Heights. Lockwood, a wealthy man from England, rents a house from an eccentric gentleman named Heathcliff, who is the tortured master of Wuthering Heights. Through Lockwood and the housekeeper, Nelly, the story of Heathcliff’s adoption, upbringing, revenge, and love for Catherine is told. The unconventional relationships and complex story structure will keep you turning pages long into the night
Heathcliff is a douche. Total and utter, pain in the bum,
can’t even get into this story kind of douche. There’s a chance that Catherine
might also be a bit of a douche. But I really couldn’t move past my blinding
hatred for Heathcliff to even concentrate on the object of his obsession.
I was kind of disappointed by the utmost douchiness of
Heathcliff. If it wasn’t for him, I would have absolutely loved this book. The
writing style was engaging, the storytelling complex but brilliantly done. There
was a lot of fantastic imagery throughout the half of the story I read (yes, I
hated Heathcliff that much that I only got about halfway through before the
rage became too much). And the themes throughout are just striking. But then it
all comes back to Heathcliff.
This is definitely one of those books that I’m going to try
again in a year or so… it just wasn’t the right time to try and tackle the dark
obsession and douchiness of Heathcliff. But, I can see this being a great read
if I am feeling down and out against the world. Or, more specifically, men and
romance in general…
Title: A Delicate Architecture Author: Catherynne M. Valente In: Troll’s-Eye View (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Fairy tales, Food, Villains Dates read: 27th February 2019 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: Firebird Fantasy Year: 2009 5th sentence, 74th page: He gave me a slice of honeycomb and shooed me into the garden, where raspberries grew along the white gate.
Constanze has always wanted to go to Venice with her father, but when opportunity finally knocks, she finds that not everything is as it seems.
I’ve never really questioned why there was a gingerbread
house in Hansel and Gretel. Or why it seems to be something that is repeated
across fairy tales. After all, it is a really impractical and useless way in
which to make a house. And it kind of seems just… sticky to live in.
Valente was able to give a completely plausible reason for the building of a gingerbread house. And a completely understandable way in which the wicked witch from Hansel and Gretel turned out the way that she did… everything about this story just helped to create a reality in which the well-known fairy tale actually makes sense. After it had first poked the holes in it.
As much as I loved this story, it also made me feel kind of
sad. The father betrays and then forgets his daughter. She is left unloved, unremembered
and just completely stranded. All so he can regain the fame and fortune that he
once had.
Title: Battle of the Heroes Author: Kate Forsyth Series: The Impossible Quest #5 Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Adventure, Australian authors, Easy reading, Medieval fantasy Dates read: 20th February 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Scholastic Press Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: They were smelling here and there, their acute sense of smell blunted by the stench of bat droppings.
Do not lose faith. Remember the words of the story, remember the words of the spell…
Quinn, Sebastian, Elanor and Tom have defeated the black witch Githa and found the last crucial piece of the prophecy – the sea-serpent’s scale. But time is running out. Back now at Wolfhaven, they search desperately through the castle crypts for the sleeping heroes who they hope will save them all… before the dark moon rises and they lose everything.
This is a great ending to a really fantastic series. It ties
up all of the lose ends and follows the same level of cuteness that I’ve loved
throughout the rest of the storyline. Yet, where most of the finales I’ve read have
involved a lot of exposition to tie up all of the lose ends, this ending doesn’t.
The vast majority of this story is taken up by the battle.
Battles are hectic, chaotic beasts. Forsyth is able to describe this perfectly by continuously jumping between her four leads. You never get a full sense of what is happening to them and follow an incredibly jumpy timeline. Which of course adds to the stress and wonder at what’s happening and makes it far more difficult to put down the book. Every time I think that I’m getting a handle on what is happening to one character, it jumps to another.
The four heroes that have been the goal throughout the
entire story are finally revived, but they’re barely viewed throughout. Which works
well. Although the adults are supposed to be the “heroes” it is the four
children that the story revolves around that are truly important. And the parts
that they accomplish throughout the final fight which really help to win the
day.
I love this final book, and I loved this whole series. It is
just so easy, cute and fun. And a great reminder that different types of people
are able to save the day, no matter what form they take, and how old they are.
The Horror Writers Association Presents Blood Lite…a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue-in-cheek wit to temper the jagged edge.
Charlaine Harris reveals the dark side of going green, when a quartet of die-hard environmentalists hosts a fundraiser with a gory twist in An Evening with Al Gore…
In an all-new Dresden Files story from Jim Butcher, when it comes to tracking deadly paranormal doings, there’s no such thing as a Harry’s Day Off for the Chicago P.D.’s wizard detective, Harry Dresden…
Sherrilyn Kenyon turns a cubicle-dwelling MBA with no life into a demon-fighting seraph with one hell of an afterlife in Where Angels Fear to Tread. NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology.
Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong’s The Ungrateful Dead.
So let the blood flow and laughter reign – because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!
I’m kind of on the fence about this collection. Some of the
stories in this were brilliant. Some downright weird. But all were enjoyable. Just
not memorable. This is the kind of collection you read for a good, light laugh
and something that isn’t going to make you think and linger in your mind’s eye
after you’ve finished the story.
Although this hasn’t been my favourite collection of short
stories that I’ve digested in recent times, it also wasn’t one that I ever
considered stopping. I know that a collection or novel is truly horrible when I
just can’t seem to pick it up and get through it. Yet I didn’t feel that way
with this. I just didn’t want to completely bury my nose in these stories
either. The best description I can think of for this series is easy. Easy
reading. Easy to forget. But easy to spend some humorous time with.
Title: The Drowned Kingdom Author: Kate Forsyth Series: The Impossible Quest #4 Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Adventure, Australian authors, Easy reading, Medieval fantasy Dates read: 18th – 20th February 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Scholastic Press Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: The clap of thunder was so loud it deafened them all, leaving their ears ringing.
I’ve heard of a kingdom that was flooded and drowned… and that is where the sea-serpents live…
Quinn, Sebastian, Elanor and Tom have found a dragon and conquered the dreaded Beast of Blackmoor Bog. Only one item remains on their impossible quest – the scale of a sea-serpent.
Now they must journey to the drowned kingdom, where they will face their deadliest challenge yet. And there they will uncover the truth behind all that has happened… the truth that will change everything.
The Drowned Kingdom pulls together all of the little story threads that have been slowly released throughout the first three books of the series. The interconnectivity of the characters, the plots that span a lifetime. It is all revealed. But not completely. Just tied in well enough that you know the final reveals and the completion of the tapestry which Kate Forsyth has created will be a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
I really enjoy the thematic ties to the four elements
throughout this series – and this one is completely about water (in case you
didn’t get that from the name). Even the moments when they revisit their old
home to see what is happening take place amongst the mist and the moisture. There
is a sense of completely surreal beauty about this story that worked really
well with the water theme and the idea of lost memories and tragic pasts. It
all tied in neatly to the secrets revealed.
Quinn has been my favourite character so far. A foundling,
someone with a bit of mystery to her and a witch. I love that she spends the
entirety of the storyline without shoes on, connecting with nature and spouting
riddles. There’s something about this that I’m in love with – probably the idea
that this is the kind of character that I would have loved to be this way as a
child.
The Clockwork Chickadee is getting a little bored with the Sparrows constant bragging. So, with a little trickery and intelligence, he manages to turn it all on it’s head.
There was quite a bit of jealousy in this short story. Jealousy
of another’s position, but also a little bit of frustration in not accepting
the different benefits that one has. For the chickadee, being constantly on the
ground allows her to see the world from an entirely different perspective from
that of the sparrow who constantly flies.
I was expecting the stuck up sparrow to get a little bit of
come-uppance in this story, but I was kind of shocked about how bad it really
was. And how little the rest of the characters, especially the chickadee. The
chickadee was honestly more than a little creepy with her lust for revenge and complete
acceptance of the way that everything ends…
Title: The Beast of Blackmoor Bog Author: Kate Forsyth Series: The Impossible Quest #3 Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Adventure, Australian authors, Easy reading, Medieval fantasy Dates read: 16th – 17th February 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Scholastic Press Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: Elanor dressed and plaited her long golden-brown hair, then went across to the door.
The dragons are long gone. This beast is something else – something huge and black and hairy…
After escaping the bog-men in the wilds of the Witchwood, Sebastian, Quinn, Elanor and Tom journey south on their impossible quest.
Sebastian and Elanor seek help from Crowthorne Castle, but both allies IandI enemies will reveal themselves. Tom and Quinn venture into the mysterious moors… where a hideous beast lies waiting.
In all of the Kate Forsyth books / series that I’ve read, one of my favourite things has always been the character development. Even in series such as The Impossible Quest, which is aimed at youngsters, as the stories grow, so do the children. And I think that (at least so far) The Beast of Blackmoor Bog shows the most growth. Especially in the two boys.
Where Tom and Sebastian are constantly bickering in the proceeding
storylines, they settle down a lot in this novel. Partly because they aren’t
actually with each other throughout the majority of the story. But even then,
there are a few moments of acknowledgement of the fact that they are friends
and need to stop niggling at each other. From jealous enemies to grudging
respect and friends, they are able to show this a lot throughout the split
storyline in this story.
The structure of the creatures tamed so far in this story reminds
me a lot of the four elements. And I really enjoy the fact that each novel,
whilst incorporating the ensemble, has a slightly larger focus on a different
character.
I might be an adult, but I still loved this story. It’s one
that will stay on my shelf for an easy reread again and again and again.
Title: Sentence Like a Saturday Author: Seanan McGuire In: Mad Hatters and March Hares (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Easy reading, Fantasy, Wordplay Dates read: 18th February 2019 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Tor Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: “- just a little girl.
When a small child travels down the path to Wonderland, they have to swap places… Kitty finds herself in a whole new riddle and body. Once a Cheshire, and now a little girl. So why is a sentence like a Saturday?
This is my second Seanan McGuire short story (the first being The Mathematical Inevitability of Corvids) and it is just as twisted! In a less sick, going to kill someone way. But in a twisting of words and riddling kind of way. After finishing each paragraph I would take a deep breath. Just because the way the sentences stream into one another was so intensely done that I wouldn’t breathe. It almost worked like one whole sentence.
I’ve never been insanely into riddles, yet this story (and
many of the others in this collection) have made me think that there is a need
to ignite this interest. After all, the entire story read like a riddle. And I
couldn’t tear my eyes off of it.
I loved the ending of this tale. It was both sad and sweet.
Perfect and tragic. It certainly bought a tear to my eye as I turned the last
page, and that’s something that I always enjoy and appreciate.
