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thecaptainsquarters
Ahoy there me mateys! I am assuming that most of me crew has heard of Anne McCaffrey. I read a lot of her work when I was a younger lass. So when I was perusing some used books that be for sale, I snagged a copy of this short novel. I had never heard of it and it has a funny looking cat like creature on the cover. The edition I picked up was published by Tor in 1987. It is a hardback and part of its appeal were the 50 black and white illustrations by Ned Dameron.
It is an odd little snippet of a story. Lady Caissa is the body-heir for her father. Her father helps rule the planet of Demeathorn. As body-heir, Caissa owes him strict obedience - especially in the matter of producing the next heir. But when her father proposes his pick of suitor, Caissa is appalled at how inappropriate the choice is and wonders what scheme her father is participating in now. So she decides to find out. Will she be a dutiful daughter or will she revolt?
Part of that scheme involves the coelura. I don't even know how to describe them. After reading this book, I still be completely confused as to what one is. They certainly don't look like the cat creature from the cover. The illustrations don't really do them justice. It was perplexing.
The illustrations, while super fun, were rather odd. Sometimes they seemed to match an element of the story. Sometimes I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to portray. They were not always placed near the section of the book being described. In fact, often they were scattered in seemingly random order.
I enjoyed this novel but ended up being mostly confused. As McCaffrey's writing is usually crystal clear and rich in detail, this seemed unusual. But instead of being frustrated, I still very much enjoyed the odd experience and the puzzle of it. I can't recommend the story, such as it was, but I am glad I own this particular book and will certainly revisit it in the future.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
It is an odd little snippet of a story. Lady Caissa is the body-heir for her father. Her father helps rule the planet of Demeathorn. As body-heir, Caissa owes him strict obedience - especially in the matter of producing the next heir. But when her father proposes his pick of suitor, Caissa is appalled at how inappropriate the choice is and wonders what scheme her father is participating in now. So she decides to find out. Will she be a dutiful daughter or will she revolt?
Part of that scheme involves the coelura. I don't even know how to describe them. After reading this book, I still be completely confused as to what one is. They certainly don't look like the cat creature from the cover. The illustrations don't really do them justice. It was perplexing.
The illustrations, while super fun, were rather odd. Sometimes they seemed to match an element of the story. Sometimes I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to portray. They were not always placed near the section of the book being described. In fact, often they were scattered in seemingly random order.
I enjoyed this novel but ended up being mostly confused. As McCaffrey's writing is usually crystal clear and rich in detail, this seemed unusual. But instead of being frustrated, I still very much enjoyed the odd experience and the puzzle of it. I can't recommend the story, such as it was, but I am glad I own this particular book and will certainly revisit it in the future.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
It's time to abandon ship, me mateys! Me first one of the year. This author has written marvelous things like the enchanted forest chronicles (adored them all!) and sorcery and cecelia (cute and fun!). I had always wanted to read her Lyra series and finally tracked down an omnibus of the first three books in the series. To say I was excited is an understatement. And then the time finally came to immerse meself in this new world. I was expecting great things.
I got grumpitude. Basically, I found this book to be immensely cliché and boring. I find it hard to believe that these books were written by the same author. To be fair, I thought the beginning had promise.
It starts out with a merchant caravan arriving back home after a long journey. Maurin is a member of the caravan. He has been invited by a noble, Har, to visit the family estate. When he gets there, he meets Alethia, Har's sister, who is intelligent and good with daggers. There is a hint that Maurin quickly develops a crush on Har's sister even though he laughs good-naturedly at himself due to the immense difference in their stations. Things ensue and Alethia is kidnapped. Har and Maurin set out to get her back. Yup. I was on board with that. In fact I was good up until page 29 when Alethia escapes her captors.
After page 29, the characters involved expanded exponentially. Additions to the characters included: a minstrel, dwarfish-creatures, elvish-creatures, magicians, evil shadow people, etc. Alethia goes from being somewhat awesome to lacking initiative and being led around like a puppet. Oh, add in that she is the chosen one and a special snowflake at that. And the reasons for the evil people and the politics and the warfare were just ugh.
But I kept reading hoping for genius to emerge. I made it to page 111 of 174. I had put the book down at the preparing for a battle part to get some shut eye. Then when came time to finish the last bit, I kept picking it back up, rereading the same three paragraphs and putting it back down. The last attempt to pick it resulting in an actual feeling of dread and so I abandoned ship.
If only it contained the stories of just Maurin and Har trying to rescue Alethia with her contributing to her own escape! I will not be reading the rest of the series. I will stick to rereadin' me favourites by the author instead.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
I got grumpitude. Basically, I found this book to be immensely cliché and boring. I find it hard to believe that these books were written by the same author. To be fair, I thought the beginning had promise.
It starts out with a merchant caravan arriving back home after a long journey. Maurin is a member of the caravan. He has been invited by a noble, Har, to visit the family estate. When he gets there, he meets Alethia, Har's sister, who is intelligent and good with daggers. There is a hint that Maurin quickly develops a crush on Har's sister even though he laughs good-naturedly at himself due to the immense difference in their stations. Things ensue and Alethia is kidnapped. Har and Maurin set out to get her back. Yup. I was on board with that. In fact I was good up until page 29 when Alethia escapes her captors.
After page 29, the characters involved expanded exponentially. Additions to the characters included: a minstrel, dwarfish-creatures, elvish-creatures, magicians, evil shadow people, etc. Alethia goes from being somewhat awesome to lacking initiative and being led around like a puppet. Oh, add in that she is the chosen one and a special snowflake at that. And the reasons for the evil people and the politics and the warfare were just ugh.
But I kept reading hoping for genius to emerge. I made it to page 111 of 174. I had put the book down at the preparing for a battle part to get some shut eye. Then when came time to finish the last bit, I kept picking it back up, rereading the same three paragraphs and putting it back down. The last attempt to pick it resulting in an actual feeling of dread and so I abandoned ship.
If only it contained the stories of just Maurin and Har trying to rescue Alethia with her contributing to her own escape! I will not be reading the rest of the series. I will stick to rereadin' me favourites by the author instead.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there me mateys! While drawin' up me lists of 2016 for me log, I realized a curious thing - out of 134 books read, not a single one was a re-read. In me enthusiasm of discovery and taking suggestions from me crew, I did not revisit a single old port for plunder! And part of what I love about readin' is re-visitin' old friends. So I decided to remedy that and thus created me new category where I take a second look at a previously enjoyed novel and give me crew me second reflections, as it were, upon visitin' it again . . .
So I am not a huge audio book person. In fact the only story I previously listened to was the dispatcher which I "read" and reviewed with me first mate. Now I know that I said I preferred readin' books rather than listening to them (still true) but some circumstances led me to listening to the witches via audiobook. So basically I have been having long days where I am doing monotonous things like inventorying the hold, reviewing the accounts, and supervising the swabbin' of the deck. None of these tasks involves a ton of brain power. So frankly I get a bit bored. Usually I listen to and sing sea shanties. But even that had lost its luster. So I thought why not listen to an audio book. I had time constraints and knew that I couldn't listen to something new that might distract me. So I decided to listen to an old favourite children's book due to the length and because I would already be familiar with the story. Thus the witches because I had a copy readily available.
I loved Dahl's books as a young lass and consider many of them favourites. Like me commandeered little princess tale, me copy of the witches was filched at some point and so I hadn't read this one since that incident. I absolutely loved revisiting this tale.
This is the story of a small boy whose encounter with witches forever changes his life. Now ye may think of witches as scary women with warts and green skin and long pointy black hats. The truth is that in disguise, they look like perfectly nice ordinary young women, and they have a plot to get rid of all children in England for good. Unless one small boy with the help of his Norwegian grandmother can save the day!
I certainly missed Quentin Blake's illustrations but thought overall that narrator Miranda Richardson did a fairly good job with the characters. The only issue that I had was her portrayal of the head witch. The head witch rolls the letter r and turns the letter w into a v. Many of these lines were unintelligible at times. But overall I thought that the story was just as wonderful as I remembered. I may try this audio book thing again.
Side note: the first mate told me there was a movie of the witches with Anjelica Huston as the head witch. I watched the 1990 trailer and my goodness does it depart from the book. I think I shall skip it.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
So I am not a huge audio book person. In fact the only story I previously listened to was the dispatcher which I "read" and reviewed with me first mate. Now I know that I said I preferred readin' books rather than listening to them (still true) but some circumstances led me to listening to the witches via audiobook. So basically I have been having long days where I am doing monotonous things like inventorying the hold, reviewing the accounts, and supervising the swabbin' of the deck. None of these tasks involves a ton of brain power. So frankly I get a bit bored. Usually I listen to and sing sea shanties. But even that had lost its luster. So I thought why not listen to an audio book. I had time constraints and knew that I couldn't listen to something new that might distract me. So I decided to listen to an old favourite children's book due to the length and because I would already be familiar with the story. Thus the witches because I had a copy readily available.
I loved Dahl's books as a young lass and consider many of them favourites. Like me commandeered little princess tale, me copy of the witches was filched at some point and so I hadn't read this one since that incident. I absolutely loved revisiting this tale.
This is the story of a small boy whose encounter with witches forever changes his life. Now ye may think of witches as scary women with warts and green skin and long pointy black hats. The truth is that in disguise, they look like perfectly nice ordinary young women, and they have a plot to get rid of all children in England for good. Unless one small boy with the help of his Norwegian grandmother can save the day!
I certainly missed Quentin Blake's illustrations but thought overall that narrator Miranda Richardson did a fairly good job with the characters. The only issue that I had was her portrayal of the head witch. The head witch rolls the letter r and turns the letter w into a v. Many of these lines were unintelligible at times. But overall I thought that the story was just as wonderful as I remembered. I may try this audio book thing again.
Side note: the first mate told me there was a movie of the witches with Anjelica Huston as the head witch. I watched the 1990 trailer and my goodness does it depart from the book. I think I shall skip it.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
This is truly wonderfully delightfully oddly bizarre. It is a post-apocalyptic book wherein 95% of the population disappears with no explanation. This becomes known as the Rending. Along with people, portions of buildings and other items simply disappear as well. Thousands of random objects are mixed together in towering Piles that dot the landscape.
In this new world, we are introduced to (and follow) Mira as she and fellow survivors try to make a new life in a settlement called Zion. The novel deals with the current day to day living and then switches into snippets of the past. The main issue appears when the first pregnancy of Zion post-Rending is announced. The settlement is fraught with excitement over the prospect of a new baby. Imagine the surprise when the new baby turns out to be an inanimate object.
So what does this mean? Read the novel and find out. Just be prepared that this is a slow burn, heavily detailed story. I found it fascinating, horrifying, and lyrical all at once. I am very glad I read it and have been thinking about it ever since I finished. It is certainly not a book for everyone, but it was perfect for me.
So lastly . . .
Thank you Bloomsbury USA!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
This is truly wonderfully delightfully oddly bizarre. It is a post-apocalyptic book wherein 95% of the population disappears with no explanation. This becomes known as the Rending. Along with people, portions of buildings and other items simply disappear as well. Thousands of random objects are mixed together in towering Piles that dot the landscape.
In this new world, we are introduced to (and follow) Mira as she and fellow survivors try to make a new life in a settlement called Zion. The novel deals with the current day to day living and then switches into snippets of the past. The main issue appears when the first pregnancy of Zion post-Rending is announced. The settlement is fraught with excitement over the prospect of a new baby. Imagine the surprise when the new baby turns out to be an inanimate object.
So what does this mean? Read the novel and find out. Just be prepared that this is a slow burn, heavily detailed story. I found it fascinating, horrifying, and lyrical all at once. I am very glad I read it and have been thinking about it ever since I finished. It is certainly not a book for everyone, but it was perfect for me.
So lastly . . .
Thank you Bloomsbury USA!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there me mateys! So the last experiment of me listenin’ to an audiobook while doin’ mundane tasks worked. But could the results be repeated? I decided to test the experience a second time. The twist this time? To listen to a book I had never read before ::GASP!!::. But what to pick . . .
Well scrolling through me list of choices, I realized that ’twas no choice at all. Neil Gaiman’s shiny title stood out. I have a wee bit of an obsession and so I gleefully began the tale. When suddenly . . .
I realized that Mr. Neil Gaiman hisself was narratin’. The intensity of the experience escalated. I had no inkling until that exact moment that he was goin’ to read me his own story. Blimey!
The story. The narration. The experience. Absolutely perfect. Hearin’ about a dad’s trip to the store to get milk has never been so fun. In fact one of me crew actually dared to ask what me satisfied smirking grin be about. I just continued to grin like a cheshire cat. Heave Ho and get yerself a copy!
Side note: I will certainly give a gander to this story again. I am slightly curious about both the English and American illustrations. But I likely will just listen to it again. So perfect.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Well scrolling through me list of choices, I realized that ’twas no choice at all. Neil Gaiman’s shiny title stood out. I have a wee bit of an obsession and so I gleefully began the tale. When suddenly . . .
I realized that Mr. Neil Gaiman hisself was narratin’. The intensity of the experience escalated. I had no inkling until that exact moment that he was goin’ to read me his own story. Blimey!
The story. The narration. The experience. Absolutely perfect. Hearin’ about a dad’s trip to the store to get milk has never been so fun. In fact one of me crew actually dared to ask what me satisfied smirking grin be about. I just continued to grin like a cheshire cat. Heave Ho and get yerself a copy!
Side note: I will certainly give a gander to this story again. I am slightly curious about both the English and American illustrations. But I likely will just listen to it again. So perfect.
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
Ahoy there me mateys! This young adult novel caught me eye because it is written by Holly Black and has a cat on the cover (and in the title!).
I have only previously read two books by Holly Black: 1) the coldest girl in coldtown and 2) zombies vs. unicorns. The coldest girl in coldtown is a young adult vampire book. The zombie book is an anthology of short stories that argues about whether zombies or unicorns are better. I loved both of them and had been meaning to pick up another of her books for ages. So when I read the blurb for this one, I knew this would be the next Holly Black book I would try. I was not disappointed.
This novel is the story of Cassel who comes from a family of curseworkers but can’t perform curses himself. It takes place in our world with the addition of magic. Only magic is against the law. Thus Cassel’s family are a bunch of con-artists. For example, his mother can manipulate emotions. Mom is serving time in jail, his one brother is studying law and working on his mother’s appeal, and his other brother works for the mob.
Cassel is living a life in a boarding school with “normal” people. He feels he is an outsider in both worlds. Plus there is the catch that Cassel murdered his best friend three years ago but doesn’t remember doing so or why. His family covered it up of course. All Cassel wants is to fit in somewhere but his life begins to unravel even further when he begins to sleepwalk and has dreams featuring a white cat . . .
This book was very engaging and completely plot-twisting. I only guessed a couple of minor points. As Cassel learns the truth about his family’s exploits, he begins to come up with a plan to con the con-men. Following Cassel’s investigation was the highlight for me because I had no idea where the story was going. Cassel’s con of the mob was very silly but delightfully so.
A close second were the characterizations. Cassel self-proclaims that he is “not a good person.” He loves to con folk and there is the question of the murder. However as we follow Cassel’s journey, we begin to see that he is very much an unreliable narrator despite himself. It is wonderful. Add in secondary characters like the friends that Cassel makes along the way. There are actually girl and guy friends where there is NO romance. The romance that is in the book is not the main point and only enriches the story. I also loved reading about Cassel’s ridiculous family members. The grandfather in particular is awesome. His brothers and mom not so much. But I do understand in some fashion why Cassel makes the choices he does.
The ending was a cliff-hanging doozy of a plot twist. Normally such things aggravate me. Not this time. It seemed perfectly in line with all the other crazy plot twists and turns. Certainly makes me want to read the rest of the series. Ye might want to check it out.
Also check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
I have only previously read two books by Holly Black: 1) the coldest girl in coldtown and 2) zombies vs. unicorns. The coldest girl in coldtown is a young adult vampire book. The zombie book is an anthology of short stories that argues about whether zombies or unicorns are better. I loved both of them and had been meaning to pick up another of her books for ages. So when I read the blurb for this one, I knew this would be the next Holly Black book I would try. I was not disappointed.
This novel is the story of Cassel who comes from a family of curseworkers but can’t perform curses himself. It takes place in our world with the addition of magic. Only magic is against the law. Thus Cassel’s family are a bunch of con-artists. For example, his mother can manipulate emotions. Mom is serving time in jail, his one brother is studying law and working on his mother’s appeal, and his other brother works for the mob.
Cassel is living a life in a boarding school with “normal” people. He feels he is an outsider in both worlds. Plus there is the catch that Cassel murdered his best friend three years ago but doesn’t remember doing so or why. His family covered it up of course. All Cassel wants is to fit in somewhere but his life begins to unravel even further when he begins to sleepwalk and has dreams featuring a white cat . . .
This book was very engaging and completely plot-twisting. I only guessed a couple of minor points. As Cassel learns the truth about his family’s exploits, he begins to come up with a plan to con the con-men. Following Cassel’s investigation was the highlight for me because I had no idea where the story was going. Cassel’s con of the mob was very silly but delightfully so.
A close second were the characterizations. Cassel self-proclaims that he is “not a good person.” He loves to con folk and there is the question of the murder. However as we follow Cassel’s journey, we begin to see that he is very much an unreliable narrator despite himself. It is wonderful. Add in secondary characters like the friends that Cassel makes along the way. There are actually girl and guy friends where there is NO romance. The romance that is in the book is not the main point and only enriches the story. I also loved reading about Cassel’s ridiculous family members. The grandfather in particular is awesome. His brothers and mom not so much. But I do understand in some fashion why Cassel makes the choices he does.
The ending was a cliff-hanging doozy of a plot twist. Normally such things aggravate me. Not this time. It seemed perfectly in line with all the other crazy plot twists and turns. Certainly makes me want to read the rest of the series. Ye might want to check it out.
Also check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/
