Five Broken Blades, Mai Corland

Five Broken Blades, Mai Corland

(aka Meredith Ireland, author of subadult books)

fantasy

copyright 2024

read July 2024

rated 2/10: unreadably bad

Do not read this book.

I've had another look at the book. As far as I can see -- there is no hint that this story is "to be continued".

Half a page of trigger warnings -- but no warning that this is not a complete book.

In the final few pages: the assassination fails. It was all a trick set up by King Joon.Aeri is the King's daughter. The Five are forced, by Joon, to go and steal the golden ring from Euyn's evil sister. It seems to be an impossible mission, They are given just five weeks -- or, one more book.

And that book is due to be published in January 2025. I doubt that it will conclude anything.

What a crock.

Oh, yes, I seem to have provided some unannounced spoilers. So what. It's a rip-off by the publishers, readers are already cheated, what's a few more spoilers.

So... Ty and Sora grow to love each other and successfully have sex, despite her poisons. Ty ends the book in the dungeons. Aeri and Royo are in love, Joon disapproves. Mikhail and Euyn have always been in loveEuyn is illegitimate so not a real member of the royal dynasty. Mikhail's beloved foster father  is held hostage by Joon. Oh, and no-one else seems to know that Aeri is a successful thief because she has a magic trinket which allows her to stop time for everyone else.

Do not read this book. Which is a pity -- with an honest publisher I would have rated it nine. As it is, this book is *&%$# annoying.

Unreadable.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

===

We know that the nature of genius is to provide idiots with ideas twenty years later... Louis Aragon

..Dying for you to Read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

Yellowface, Rebecca A F Kuang

ellowface

by Rebecca A F Kuang

horror

copyright 2023

part read July 2024

rated 4/10: bad but could be read

First, that rating: The book is well-written. Just so unpleasant that I could not, or would not, read it.

It starts with a death. Not a problem, the death is advertised on the cover and that death then drives the entire plot.

I was expecting a quick death off screen. Instead, it's a particularly nasty and slow death. Perhaps that's necessary for the plot. What I know is, I read on but was not enjoying it.

Then the plot thickens and the main character does something nasty. To someone who does not deserve it. Absolutely unforgiveable. My feelings shifted from, not enjoying to actively disliking. I skimmed over  most of the book. Even skimming, it was unpleasant. highlighting the nastiness of the world.

I read enough of the final chapters to find out who dun it. Not that it helped, I had skipped over any prior mention of the "villain". Not that I cared.

I did discover that the framing story was quite clever.

I'm fairly certain that the theme of this book is racial prejudice. white v yellow, yellow v white.

Then in the Acknowledgements the author writes that the book is, in part, a horror story and I thought, she's right.

Forget the "dark humour" in the blurb. This is a book with a message -- a message which is unreadable because it is wrapped in rather unpleasant everyday largely psychological horror.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Happiness is wanting what you already have
   

Dream Park, Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

Dream Park

by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

science fiction

copyright 1983

read in July 2024

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is fantasy -- based on scientific marvels. You know, it all seems like magic.

As I read it I thought, What a load of rubbish.

Yet there is a thread of logic to the plot, there is a crime to be solved.

The book's action is two authors having a lot of fun. Imagining "what if" -- and drifting well off into fantasy.

The characters are stock-standard fictional Americans. Fighting monsters and pausing for picnic, pizza, beer, sex and skinny-dipping. With some interpersonal upsets along the way.

Having fought off the monsters, the final pages get back to solving the crime. Though by now, with more than thirty major characters, I'm so confused that I don't really care who dun it.

The final denouement comes with a message about consequences and responsibility. Which is where I accepted that the central plot did have some logic and relevance.

Finally, after reading the authors' afterword, my impression shifted from only readable to, a good author's attempt to write for a more modern, 1980s. audience

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

===

We know that the nature of genius is to provide idiots with ideas twenty years later... Louis Aragon

..Dying for you to Read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com

Tales of the Celestial Kingdom / Sue Lynn Tan

Tales of the Celestial Kingdom

by Sue Lynn Tan, 

fantasy

copyright 2024

barely read in July 2024

unrated

The back cover clearly states that this is a collection of stories to go with a duology.

So far so good.

If you read and enjoyed the other two books then this book may be for you.

I have not read the others, so I don't know the characters. Nor the background. Nor anything else that would make me want to read more.

I started reading -- and very quickly found that I was not interested.

If you read the book, let me know what you think of it.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Never / Hastings, Jessa

Never,

by Jessa (aka Jessica Rachel) Hastings)

copyright 2023

barely started July 2024

fantasy, romance

not rated

I read a few pages and thought, I'm not ready for this. So stopped.

But I did skip towards the end, where I read a scene where, apparently, the heroine has just been forcibly abducted.

So are you? she asks.

The abductor replies, I'm The Collector but my friends call me Jim.

Well hello Jim... 

What! The heroine is already friends with her abductor?

Perhaps I misread it, or misremember it, but that is when I had had enough.

I suspect that this is a book of complex emotions and conflicted loves. All based on a rip-off of a famous book. You may enjoy it... let me know.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Binti:home / Nnedi Okorafor

Binti:home

(Binti #2)

by Nnedi Okorafor

subadult, fantasy

copyright 2017

read in July 2024

rated 5/10: readable if there's nothing else

This is fantasy set in a seemingly science fiction universe

planets, aliens, space travel but the "science" is fantasy. Nothing wrong with that, it is imaginative and very entertaining. Not to be understood. But what it does is clear enough.

Actually, I really like the spaceship  that is going to Earth in order to... give birth :-)

There are multi generational hatreds, superstitions, narrow minds. Well presented and, unfortunately, believable.

Then we discover (spoiler alert) that the primitive tribe at the foot of the totem pole is... keeper and user of ancient secrets and amazing alien technology.

Then the heroine gets access to the high tech and... end of book.

This is one chapter of a continuing saga. It should never have been published without a, to be continued, warning.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

Frogkisser / Garth Nix

Frogkisser

by Garth Nix

copyright 2017

part read July 2024

subadult, fantasy

 rated 5/ 10: readable but only if there's nothing else

I often enjoy "young adult" novels. Even some children's books. But not this one.

The author uses every fairytale trope, nice idea. Except that his characters are constantly referencing and expecting the standard stuff to occur.

The central character is a princess. She seems destined to learn all about becoming a good ruler... after a lot of heavy moralising to the reader.

So far she at least means well. She is loyal and supportive to her rather boring fellow-questers.

Then the princess meets a stupid princess-eating giant, tricks him, trips him. All according to fairytale rules.

As he trips, the giant breaks his hip. And the learning to be good princess just leaves him... leaves him screaming in agony.

Neither the princess nor the author see anything wrong with this.

I give it a few more rather tedious chapters, still no help for the giant, then I stop reading.

Would children know the referenced tropes? An adult would not care.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood
   

when the Moon Hatched, Sarah A. Parker

when the Moon Hatched, 

(Moonfall #1)

by Sarah A. Parker

copyright 2024

read in June 2024

fantasy, chicklit

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Well worth reading but yes, there are "trigger warnings". The book is violent. Nasty things happen, even to nice people. Yet the writing is not nasty, not restrained, either. Brutal things just happen. Described but not in salacious detail.

So, the story:

There are two points where I almost gave up reading. A few chapters in, I feared that this book would be a series of cruel disasters, wIth the heroine dragged ever further into pain and misery. Then she escaped, to a more normal level of fantasy suffering.

Then, several chapters from the end, I was expecting a grand reveal but... no. No new information, just page after page of very explicit sex.

Speaking of which, the sex is (I think), written for the female reader.

Oh, and the men are all built like mountains with muscles like boulders. They dress in leather and metal -- and the hero can cook. The heroine is well-rounded, with large breasts... but takes a long time to confirm the chicklit genre by dressing in a beautiful but revealing dress. Which is, incidentally, provided by the hero.

Much of the plot is driven by the heroine's dark secret, or fear, which she refuses to reveal to anyone who could (a) help or (b) be killed by it. Idiot woman but, understandable.

The best part of this book is the world. A complex world, well described with some detail and much just mentioned, with enough detail for the reader to complete the image. Fascinating, fantastic, unEarthly but never to be doubted.

The book ends with one major thread well and truly wrapped up. There is a discovery which leads into the next book. And a character who is left almost but not quite hanging on a cliff. I would have liked a more conclusive ending but... it is definitely an end. An end which encourages a return for book two.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===


Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood