The Strange Maid by Tessa Gratton, narrated by Cynthia Holloway
Showing posts with label tessa gratton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tessa gratton. Show all posts
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Audio Book Review: Strange Maid
I received this from my library through the Overdrive program/app and holy cow that was the least intuitive app I have ever used and I cannot believe that people actually think this is a good program. I had to use a separate app for my computer and phone, unsure if they synced since I didn't want to even try it out after all the hassle it had already taken, and the program didn't even save my place when I stopped for the day. A third of the time I would open it up and it would start playing where I left off but I couldn't figure out the rhyme or reason for why it saved my place sometimes and not others (it's not because of the bookmark function). The book was also split up into ten sections for downloading/accessing but these sections didn't necessarily line up with chapter breaks, as would be logical and there seemed to be enough free space in the last section to allow for shuffling, left me wondering why this app was even designed this way if it wasn't either logical or elegant, one or the other I could understand but not neither!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
My favorite books of 2013
I'm sure some people looked at that title and wondered if I got the date wrong, nope! Since I get so many books from libraries it takes a little while for me to get to everything and, since last December the list of books from 2013 I wanted to read was greater than the list of those which I had, I decided to revisit the idea halfway through 2014. I'm actually not done posting all my reviews of 2013 books yet, who knows if I'll ever be done, but all of the ones on this list I have reviewed previously so let's get started! Oh and, unsurprisingly, not only is this a short list but it's also all YA, I really am trying to read more broadly but I'm having a hard time finding adult fiction that simply entertains me as much as YA that's not straight-up non-fiction.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Book Review: The Lost Sun
Quick order of business, due to trying watching all the fall anime shows at once in order to get that round-up out I'm switching the order of the tv series and anime reviews this week to give myself an extra day, glad that this week I can choose just which series I want to watch on which days now.
In any case, this is another book curotisy of Random Buzzers, haven't gotten one from them in a while, and it was funny since I entered, forgot about it, when to Otakon and thought "oh huh, guess I didn't win, damn I wanted that book." Which of course means that according to the laws of humor that the book was lying on my bed for me when I got back that weekend, hurray!
The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton
So originally I was going to say about the cover was along the lines of "it might be just me but there's something a little off here, I think it's the semi-transparent face against the woods that's not working" when I remembered, Soren isn't white! I don't recall the exact passages from the book but he's either black or biracial (and dark enough to not pass for white) and, well, that's not what you think when you look at this cover. So I suppose there's a bit of white-washing going on, lovely, haven't come across that in a little while.
Summary: Sorin Bearskin's father was a berserker, a warrior devoted to Odin and prone to fits of battle frenzy, and that's what he'll be as well, destined and doomed by his genetics. Soren fights this all the time but when he meets Astrid, the daughter of a powerful seer and a budding one in her own right, who not only needs his powers but doesn't fear them he finds himself going on a road-trip like quest with her to find a dead god and set the world back to rights.
The Good: What initially drew me to this book was the setting and it is quite meticulously done, it never feels like Gratton has merely replaced one part of our modern lives with something medieval (like, replacing phones with something magical) but rather like she spent a lot of time thinking about how much a different culture would have shaped this nation (so instead of court cases sometimes people get into ritual all out duels which is rather cool actually). Some of this pops up in the main conflict as well since instead of centering the story around some of the better known Norse mythological figures (Thor, Odin, Loki, etc) the story revolves around the disappearance of Baldur and I'm always baffled why he doesn't pop up more often in modern takes on Norse myths (considering that, if I recall correctly, his death helps trigger/triggered/will trigger Ragnarok) and appreciate that.* So for any fans of Norse mythology who are a bit tired of just seeing retellings such as the Marvel movies (or perhaps you aren't tired of those and just want me) then give this a shot, I'm looking forward to the next books just to see what happens next with the setting.
The Bad: This could very well be because I read the book in one sitting (not exactly because I wanted to, I was on a long train ride with nothing else to do) but there was something about it that just felt a little off. I truly did enjoy it, don't get me wrong there, but maybe it was how quickly I read the book that made it seem like everything was a bit too easy for the characters. I know why they succeeded when they did, the story makes that a plot point, and ultimately the real struggle in the book isn't Soren and Astrid's quest but rather Soren dealing with his past/future but I still wish that it had been just a little more difficult for them. And, saying this as vaguely as I can to avoid spoilers, I wasn't satisfied with how Soren's story wrapped up, like the rest of the story I felt like in the end it was resolved all too easily which made me wonder if the character's had had some major communication problems which is always a lame reason for a conflict.
So, great setting and world-building but the problems were resolved a little too simply at the end which was a tad frustrating. For that I give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to see what it does next!
*it also means that the title is a really awesome pun but apparently I'm in the minority for actually liking puns and wordplay
In any case, this is another book curotisy of Random Buzzers, haven't gotten one from them in a while, and it was funny since I entered, forgot about it, when to Otakon and thought "oh huh, guess I didn't win, damn I wanted that book." Which of course means that according to the laws of humor that the book was lying on my bed for me when I got back that weekend, hurray!
The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton
So originally I was going to say about the cover was along the lines of "it might be just me but there's something a little off here, I think it's the semi-transparent face against the woods that's not working" when I remembered, Soren isn't white! I don't recall the exact passages from the book but he's either black or biracial (and dark enough to not pass for white) and, well, that's not what you think when you look at this cover. So I suppose there's a bit of white-washing going on, lovely, haven't come across that in a little while.
Summary: Sorin Bearskin's father was a berserker, a warrior devoted to Odin and prone to fits of battle frenzy, and that's what he'll be as well, destined and doomed by his genetics. Soren fights this all the time but when he meets Astrid, the daughter of a powerful seer and a budding one in her own right, who not only needs his powers but doesn't fear them he finds himself going on a road-trip like quest with her to find a dead god and set the world back to rights.
The Good: What initially drew me to this book was the setting and it is quite meticulously done, it never feels like Gratton has merely replaced one part of our modern lives with something medieval (like, replacing phones with something magical) but rather like she spent a lot of time thinking about how much a different culture would have shaped this nation (so instead of court cases sometimes people get into ritual all out duels which is rather cool actually). Some of this pops up in the main conflict as well since instead of centering the story around some of the better known Norse mythological figures (Thor, Odin, Loki, etc) the story revolves around the disappearance of Baldur and I'm always baffled why he doesn't pop up more often in modern takes on Norse myths (considering that, if I recall correctly, his death helps trigger/triggered/will trigger Ragnarok) and appreciate that.* So for any fans of Norse mythology who are a bit tired of just seeing retellings such as the Marvel movies (or perhaps you aren't tired of those and just want me) then give this a shot, I'm looking forward to the next books just to see what happens next with the setting.
The Bad: This could very well be because I read the book in one sitting (not exactly because I wanted to, I was on a long train ride with nothing else to do) but there was something about it that just felt a little off. I truly did enjoy it, don't get me wrong there, but maybe it was how quickly I read the book that made it seem like everything was a bit too easy for the characters. I know why they succeeded when they did, the story makes that a plot point, and ultimately the real struggle in the book isn't Soren and Astrid's quest but rather Soren dealing with his past/future but I still wish that it had been just a little more difficult for them. And, saying this as vaguely as I can to avoid spoilers, I wasn't satisfied with how Soren's story wrapped up, like the rest of the story I felt like in the end it was resolved all too easily which made me wonder if the character's had had some major communication problems which is always a lame reason for a conflict.
So, great setting and world-building but the problems were resolved a little too simply at the end which was a tad frustrating. For that I give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to see what it does next!
*it also means that the title is a really awesome pun but apparently I'm in the minority for actually liking puns and wordplay
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