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Valentine Grey- Sandi Toksvig

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Valentine Grey Sandi Toksvig Rating: 4/5 The short version: If you stick around to the end, this book makes every second worth it. This review will contain spoilers. I picked up Valentine Grey because of its author. Historical fiction isn’t something I read much of, and I especially didn’t have much of an opinion about the Boer War before I read it. But I know and admire Sandi Toksvig for her honesty, humour and openness, and the book deals with the issues of gender and sexuality- not something I’ve seen a lot of fiction dealing with. I wanted to see what Toksvig’s style was like. It was good- not perfect, because there were issues with pacing at times, but with enough power and skill to make up for its little flaws. The critique of society is built up slowly throughout the book, and no side in the war is presented as morally superior- not even the heroine. As a queer British woman, I recognised so much of our society today in the flawed society of the book, ...
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Favourite Authors Feature #1

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Favourite author feature: #1 Shannon Hale I have been reading books for a very long time. Longer than I can remember. But what I've found is that some authors have stuck in my memory much more vividly than others, and so I wanted to start this series to focus on some of those authors who have made my life to date so much more fun. I'm hoping to post a new part to the feature every six weeks or so. I haven't seen nearly enough people who've read Shannon Hale's books. She specialises in fantasy and fairytale retellings, and her books mostly revolve around women who don't rely on men and support each other as much as possible. These are the types of women young girls can aspire to be. And that's without mentioning the time and commitment she has dedicated to creating multiple fantasy worlds- it's exhausting enough to create a world with its own history, culture, political system etc once, let alone multiple times. Yet each new land feels fresh ...
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A Wizard of Earthsea- review

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A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula LeGuin Rating: 4.5/5 The short version: This isn’t a story for someone looking for escapist fiction, but it is perfect for people who like fantasy which acts as a metaphor. This review will contain spoilers. A Wizard of Earthsea is very different from the fantasy I’m used to reading. There are wizards and dragons and it’s about the journey the protagonist takes, but the way the story is told wasn’t what I was expecting. LeGuin doesn’t go into detail about all the events of Ged’s life, but only focusses on the most important parts. That simplicity puts the focus on Ged’s character and how he develops, and that makes the themes the book explores more compelling. As a young boy, Duny uses simple magic taught to him by his aunt to repel invaders from his home town. This impressive feat draws the attention of Ogion, a magician, who takes him in as his apprentice- and gives him his true name, Ged. He becomes impatient with Ogion’s teachin...
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My Favourite Fantasy Locations

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My Favourite Fantasy Locations Photo by  Artem Beliaikin  on  Unsplash One of my favourite things about reading fantasy fiction is that it revolves around creating entirely new worlds. I'm sure I'm not alone in having wanted to escape to a lot of fantasy worlds while I was a child, and I haven't entirely grown out of that. I have so much admiration for the authors who put time and effort into creating worlds with incredibly detailed landscapes and histories for their worlds, so I thought I'd highlight some of tha fantasy locations I'd most like to visit. 1. Cair Paravel- Narnia Honestly, I'd happily live anywhere in Narnia. I'd live in a cave in Narnia if I could. But the location that's stuck in my mind the most clearly is Cair Paravel. That's partially thanks to the films, but I'm also enchanted by the idea of a castle overlooking the sea and backed up by a forest. It's probably the most romantic location I can imagine, and the ...
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Cold Magic- Kate Elliott

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Cold Magic Kate Elliott Rating: 3.5/5 The short version: The depth of the characters makes up for a very complicated setting. This review will contain spoilers. Before I read Cold Magic, I’d dragged my way through another fantasy book which didn’t really make sense to me. So I picked this up hoping for something I would enjoy a bit more. It took a while for me to get into it, but by the end I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t a masterpiece of fantasy, but it was a good way to spend a few hours. Cold Magic is set in Victorian Europe, on the edge of an industrial revolution, but with the addition of magic and all the complications this brings. Catherine Hassi Barahal, known as Cat, thinks her biggest problems are keeping her and her cousin Bee out of trouble. Then a member of a powerful political family comes and claims an old deal, and Cat is forced to leave her home for a dramatic adventure. The book starts off seeming to go in one direction, Cat trying to fi...
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Favourite Character Feature- March 2018

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Favourite Character Feature March 2018 DEATH. I realise that that's an ominous way to start a blog article, but anyone who's ever read Terry Pratchett will know what I mean instantly. Terry died three years ago this week, so the character I'm highlighting this month is one of his most recognisable and most original.  Okay, so it's not like Death is a new concept. But it is, the way it's portrayed in the Discworld series. Probably the most memorable aspect of the Discworld Death is HIS VOICE . Pratchett points out that i t would be quite unrealistic for a skeleton to be able to speak like a normal person, i.e. using vocal cords, so instead the use of small caps shows that his voice is only heard inside a person's head. That perfectly captures Pratchett's skill at skewering stereotypical depictions of death and separating Death from the rules of the world around him. As a character, Death is no less intriguing. Death doesn't show up f...
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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- Ransom Riggs

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs Rating: 3.5/5 The short version: The use of pictures to supplement the text is inventive, and the mythology created around them is very imaginative. However, certain parts of the plot are neglected or superfluous. This review will contain spoilers. I wasn’t spooked by Miss Peregrine. The consensus amongst reviewers seems to be that this book gives off a moderate horror vibe, partially thanks to the eerie photo on the front cover and others scattered throughout the book. That wasn’t a let-down for me, though. I don’t enjoy scary books, and this worked well as YA fantasy. Miss Peregrine is about a boy named Jacob, who sets out to explore the island where his grandfather grew up after he brutally killed in mysterious circumstances. He begins to realise that contrary to what he’s been taught, the wild stories his grandfather told might have been true. He follows a girl to a strange, old-fashioned house and me...
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