octavia_cade's Reviews (2.64k)

A readable, enjoyable addition to the Dracula body of books, but it does wander quite a bit. I enjoyed the atmosphere of it, but didn't really care about any of the characters - the protagonist, especially, is very dry (and not in a humorous way).

I also absolutely do not understand why either master vampire allowed said protagonist to go constantly wandering off. It was an invitation to hide things and screw them over and of course he did. They'd both have got their wives if they'd had any of the sense a centuries-old creature should have. It's winning via villain-stupidity, in the end, and atmosphere can only do so much to counter that.

Rincewind was never my favourite, although he really begins to grow on me here - he's funnier than I remembered. This little story (it's about half the size of normal Discworld books) tells of three wishes gone bad. As they always do, to be fair. It's certainly competent, though for me it lacks the flair of a lot of Pratchett's work.

Well, poetry has certainly changed over the years, hasn't it? This anthology is nearly all male, and nearly all the poems are very old (granted, the first edition was published many years ago). And some of them - many, frankly - are not to my more modern tastes. Over-written, saccharine, as purple as very purple things, it was such a chore to get through some of them (Thomas Gray, I'm looking at you) that when I turned a page to find something enjoyable I was profoundly delighted.

In summary: they might be famous, but not all of them are good.

At last my Pratchett reread comes to the only Discworld mini-series that rivals the Witches - that of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Or should I say the only character... It's not the Witches that I love, it's Granny Weatherwax. Similarly Vimes, who is the only character in Discworld that matches Granny for depth and complexity. It's not fully realised in Guards!, of course, but one can see it on the horizon.

Also doing well in this book is the Patrician. His speech to Vimes about how there's no good and evil, only varying shades of evil, is what pushes this book into four star territory for me. Vimes is the most cynical of the Discworld characters, and simultaneously the most idealistic, I think. The first time I read these books I might have said Carrot, but as the books go on it becomes clear - to me at least - that Carrot knows what he is and what he can do, and uses that knowledge ruthlessly. He can be idealistic because the universe wraps around him. Vimes is idealistic almost out of spite towards the things that hurt. That takes more effort, I think.

I'm not really a mystery fan, and I haven't read any Christie before, but she takes up so much shelf space at the local library that I thought I had to give her a go.

It was actually quite enjoyable. I didn't suspect the end, which was nice - even if I did get a bit muddled in the little details. (I'm more of a theme and language girl myself.) I suspect that's what most mysteries boil down to, little details, so I'll have to pay more attention in future. What I liked most was actually the character of Poirot - I got far more of a sense of him as a person than I did of the actual narrator, and considering that the book was told in the first person I'm not quite sure if that's a success for the author or not.

Still. I think I'll try another of hers in future.

The final volume of one of my favourites ever, though I've only read most of the appendices once and never will again (the calendar and writing/spelling sections are the cure for insomnia if ever there was one).

Beautifully written, with lots of lovely sections - Eowyn and the Witch-King, the ride of the Rohirrim, the Houses of Healing. I think it's my favourite part of LOTR, mostly because of the writing but also because underneath it all it's just so sad. The good guys win, but winning is insufficient - the Elves still leave, Arwen is still permanently separated from her family, Lothlorien fades and Frodo never heals. Everything they all give up and it's still not enough. Yet it's still a fundamentally hopeful story, and I get something new out of it every time I read it. Can't really ask for more than that.

Mixed feelings about this. I very much enjoyed the title character, but the narrator, Cas, I found extremely unlikable. He's like one of those terrible urban fantasy protagonists (they're not only found in UF, of course, but that's where a goodly proportion of them seem to reside) who's convinced he's got no ties to other people because he's so dangerous and cool, when really he's just an arse no-one wants (or should want) to hang out with.

Really, he seems to view everyone around him with condescension and contempt. Typical for a teen, I know, and as the book went on I began to understand that his horrible personality is really a consequence of PTSD resulting from that staple of YA that is Daddy Issues, but still. I can understand it, but I still find him annoying, though he did get a little bit - a very little bit - better towards the end.

I enjoyed this, even if I did find it a little frustrating. The best parts - certainly the most emotionally resonant, I thought - were those with Death. I would have preferred more time with him and less spent on the wizards, who are good enough as comic relief but not nearly as compelling.

A distinctly average Discworld outing, really only notable for the introduction of Detritus the troll, soon-to-be member of the City Watch and one of my eventual favourites though he's not much to write home about here.

It's clever, as Pratchett always is, but I think what this book lacks for me - in comparison to many of the other Discworld books - is some sort of emotional centre. In that sense, it's closer to the early Rincewind books than it is to the witches or the City Watch or the Tiffany Aching books. That is, it's clever but I don't care - not about the characters, not about Holy Wood, not about the thousand elephants.

Fast-paced tale of spirits and revenge. And set in Taupo, which is nice - I'm relatively familiar with it, and it's always good to see a NZ location in speculative fiction.

There are some lovely creepy images here, it's as much horror as fantasy I reckon. That being said, the characterisation is wafer thin. Read it for action and creepiness and location instead.