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octavia_cade's Reviews (2.64k)
I liked this, but not as much as most of the rest of the series. In fact, it reminds me in that way of volume six, but for entirely different reasons. I find the most appealing part of this series to be the slice-of-life historical and cultural aspects, which allow me to be educated and entertained at the same time. Volume six, which also got three stars from me, was almost entirely focused on battle. It was very action oriented, and so that part of the story that appealed to me most was kind of pushed to the side a little. The same thing happens here, with Pariya and Umar's developing courtship. There's so much focus on this: both prospective bride and groom spend a lot of panels blushing and trying to make awkward conversation, and while this focus is sweet and appealing, it's also pretty universal. Those awkward conversations could be had by any courting couple ever, and while so much of this series depends on being able to empathise with the characters and find common ground with them, I'd really rather see more of the food preparation of the time, or the different types of embroidery stitches used, for instance.
I don't come across many fantasy westerns, so this was an interesting find on the local library shelves! The attraction for me, though, I have to say, lies mostly in the artwork, which is spectacular. I think it can get a little muddled in the action scenes, as there are a few frames where I can't actually tell what's going on, but for the most part the colours and the aesthetics are just really appealing. The story is compelling too, if at times a little too violent for my tastes. But each comic's opening, with a sort of conversational vignette between a butterfly and a walking, talking rabbit skeleton, really hit the attractive-weird button for me. I do like weird shit in my stories, and that was weird.
Three and a half stars, rounding up to four.
Three and a half stars, rounding up to four.
I've had this tiny little chapbook on my Kindle for ages; I think I first got it back when I was doing my PhD, and flipping through various nature writing collections. It is as appealingly weird as I remember. Basically, it does what it says on the tin. Tortoises contains six (fairly long) poems about, you guessed it, tortoises. Unless he's just bullshitting, Lawrence had a family of them living in his garden, and he seems thoroughly fascinated by them. He especially seems fascinated with tortoise sex, and let's be honest this is about what you'd expect from him. The female tortoise is very large, the male is very small, and it's all as awkward as you think and yet strangely entertaining, which is probably why he was watching them in the first place.
Not that I'm one to talk. If tortoises were fucking in my garden I'd probably watch them too, though I don't know that I'd go so far as to put the experience into verse.
Not that I'm one to talk. If tortoises were fucking in my garden I'd probably watch them too, though I don't know that I'd go so far as to put the experience into verse.
I enjoyed this so much I devoured it in a single sitting! I blame the prose. It's so smooth and easy to read that the whole thing just slips gently down... why can't more books have this lovely finish?! I liked that it's a very gentle story too, with an estranged sister coming back to her siblings, and to the woman who was once her best friend, and healing her relationships with them. Magic helps her to do it, but it's mostly the willingness to try that's the key here.
There's also a magpie called Rufus. He's awesome, and I've never said that about a magpie before.
There's also a magpie called Rufus. He's awesome, and I've never said that about a magpie before.
I was really looking forward to this, and it's an enjoyable read: full of ghosts and fungus and creepy Gothic goodness. I've skimmed through some of the other reviews and a few people said they thought the first half was a bit too slow, and I don't agree at all. To me, Gothic horror stories are pretty much characterised by a eerie, undermining sense that builds and builds over time, and that's what happens here. The creep factor is present from very early on, and it doesn't need fast-paced shocks front-loaded in the text to be disturbing.
I think, too, that part of the - I want to say distraction, but it's not the right word - sleight of hand that helps to keep this eerie atmosphere building in the background has to do with the main character. Noemí feels very modern, very relatable, and she's got an appealing voice, and the flippancy with which she conducts herself (often a cover for something deeper) is used really successfully by Moreno-Garcia. The contrast between that flippant tone and the expectation of those Gothic horror elements combines to keep the reader off-balance, which is absolutely the right approach for a book like this, I think. I just wish, in the climactic scenes, that my liking for Noemí didn't suddenly plummet with every dumb decision she made. Honestly, if ever I'm forced to be in a horror movie with someone from that family, I'm taking Catalina with me, because she at least doesn't hesitate at crucial moments. Why, Noemí, why do you not make sure your attempted rapist is really dead? Why do you wait to go for the gun? And why, for the love of God why, does it take you so damn long to figure out what to do with your lamp? You've had a lighter all this time! You could have ended this weird, creepy shit days ago!
It was very good of you to come to rescue your cousin. You are a kind and clever young woman, but honestly. Towards the end I was continually shaking my head in disbelief and rooting entirely for Catalina, who should have all the weapons, as clearly she's the only one here prepared to use them. Other than Mrs. Danvers, of course.
I think, too, that part of the - I want to say distraction, but it's not the right word - sleight of hand that helps to keep this eerie atmosphere building in the background has to do with the main character. Noemí feels very modern, very relatable, and she's got an appealing voice, and the flippancy with which she conducts herself (often a cover for something deeper) is used really successfully by Moreno-Garcia. The contrast between that flippant tone and the expectation of those Gothic horror elements combines to keep the reader off-balance, which is absolutely the right approach for a book like this, I think. I just wish, in the climactic scenes, that my liking for Noemí didn't suddenly plummet with every dumb decision she made. Honestly, if ever I'm forced to be in a horror movie with someone from that family, I'm taking Catalina with me, because she at least doesn't hesitate at crucial moments. Why, Noemí, why do you not make sure your attempted rapist is really dead? Why do you wait to go for the gun? And why, for the love of God why, does it take you so damn long to figure out what to do with your lamp? You've had a lighter all this time! You could have ended this weird, creepy shit days ago!
It was very good of you to come to rescue your cousin. You are a kind and clever young woman, but honestly. Towards the end I was continually shaking my head in disbelief and rooting entirely for Catalina, who should have all the weapons, as clearly she's the only one here prepared to use them. Other than Mrs. Danvers, of course.
I know I've said it before, but the art in this series is amazing. This volume, it's particularly focused on animals, as Karluk spends the winter with his brother in law, learning how to train and hunt with hawks. The detail on the illustrations is just incredible, and the hawks especially are rendered so beautifully.
I've seen a few reviews of the later volumes of A Bride's Story that are a little critical because they say the story itself is floundering, and making little forward progress. In one sense they're right - though I don't care at all, I'd read this no matter what - but in another I wonder if it's just not a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose here. These stories are as much about daily life - bread-making, embroidery, hunting, taking care of horses - as they are about the romances, and really, that's the appeal of them for me. I enjoy the romance bits, but I'm here for the history and culture. They're wonderful books, and I love them.
I've seen a few reviews of the later volumes of A Bride's Story that are a little critical because they say the story itself is floundering, and making little forward progress. In one sense they're right - though I don't care at all, I'd read this no matter what - but in another I wonder if it's just not a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose here. These stories are as much about daily life - bread-making, embroidery, hunting, taking care of horses - as they are about the romances, and really, that's the appeal of them for me. I enjoy the romance bits, but I'm here for the history and culture. They're wonderful books, and I love them.
This is a story about an ecosystem - based on a real event, apparently. By accident, a family of wolves leaves the small island where they live. As apex predators, their presence had been keeping the island ecosystem in balance, but without the wolf family, the deer population increases. They eat more food, and there's less for rabbits and mice, and less too for the owls that feed on these small herbivores. All the creatures on the island begin to starve, until the wolves are able to return to the island and ecological balance is restored.
It's attractively illustrated, but the real strength here is the science it conveys. Would be a great book for teaching kids about basic ecology and conservation science!
It's attractively illustrated, but the real strength here is the science it conveys. Would be a great book for teaching kids about basic ecology and conservation science!
I remember having Heidi as a child, though for the life of my I can't recall which edition. I've flipped my way through some of the hundreds listed by Goodreads, but none of them look familiar. A surprising amount of them have a yellow-haired child on the cover, though, which is odd as the book is very clear about her having black hair. It makes me wonder what instigated the change to blonde, because that's how I remembered Heidi, all these years later, so somehow the change seems to have stuck.
Anyway, it's a nice little story. Peter's a total shit, but his mother and grandmother are fairly awful to him, always preferring another child and thinking theirs is not that great. (I mean he isn't, but still. Maybe if they pretended a little more often that their son and grandson wasn't a crushing disappointment then he wouldn't be such a brat.) Heidi herself is frankly too good to be true, but then that's par for the course for pretty much the whole book - it's layered over with such a golden glow of idealism that it's pretty much just removed from reality. I like that nearly everyone is well-meaning and kind, but the idealism of rural peasant life gets to be a little much. Strip away the sappy picture of Heidi growing strong and healthy off the odd glass of goat's milk and nearly nothing else, that life seems like it would be hard and cold and hungry.
Anyway, it's a nice little story. Peter's a total shit, but his mother and grandmother are fairly awful to him, always preferring another child and thinking theirs is not that great. (I mean he isn't, but still. Maybe if they pretended a little more often that their son and grandson wasn't a crushing disappointment then he wouldn't be such a brat.) Heidi herself is frankly too good to be true, but then that's par for the course for pretty much the whole book - it's layered over with such a golden glow of idealism that it's pretty much just removed from reality. I like that nearly everyone is well-meaning and kind, but the idealism of rural peasant life gets to be a little much. Strip away the sappy picture of Heidi growing strong and healthy off the odd glass of goat's milk and nearly nothing else, that life seems like it would be hard and cold and hungry.
Stop the presses, I've finally found a Lovecraft story I like! It's not overladen with purple prose, and its protagonists aren't hysterical ninnies who I desperately want to slap, so that's something. Instead, there's actual restraint going on here - especially regarding what happens to the wife in the attic - and it makes the whole thing all the more effective. Honestly, the more the focus shifts from the alien stuff to what's happening to the local ecosystem, the creepier the whole thing is. The light show at the end doesn't make me turn a hair, but the slow seeping strangeness of the vegetation, the fear of the animals, and the slow descent of a family into madness is genuinely compelling. Slow being the operative word here. There's none of this rapid onset of insanity that we got in "Rats in the Walls," a turn of events that just made me roll my eyes. It's a gradual degeneration, made worse by the fact that the family really tries to get help and is constantly dismissed as credulous yokels. It was just very well done.
I'm ignoring the dodgy bits about the strange colour and unusual spectrographic lines because Lovecraft was likely doing his best to understand the science he knew at the time. He can't honestly be judged for that. I judge him for plenty else already.
I'm ignoring the dodgy bits about the strange colour and unusual spectrographic lines because Lovecraft was likely doing his best to understand the science he knew at the time. He can't honestly be judged for that. I judge him for plenty else already.
The story continues, and this time it's almost entirely focused on Mr. Smith and Talas, after the two of them meet again in Ankara. Nothing much happens, exactly, if you don't count their engagement - there's actually more focus on the contemporary methods of photography than their relationship - but as always, the art is outstanding. Despite what I said in my review of volume ten, though, where I defended the lack of focus on plot in favour of the slice-of-life nature of this manga... this one was really kind of plotless. I mean, for the first time I'm beginning to see the point of the people who comment that, beautiful as this is, nothing is actually happening. As Mr. Smith and Talas retrace their footsteps, however, in future volumes, I'm hoping that the return journey will show some actual progression in the lives of the people we've seen along the trip.