Time to Review the Evidence - Prince of Shadows

Title: Prince of Shadows
Author: Rachel Caine
Genre: YA, Historical fiction, Romance

A few starting notes:

A historically-set piece of YA from Rachel Caine (author of the Morganville vampire series) which had me intrigued but weary before reading. Could it live up to the strength of its premise?


Premise:

Ok, so we've all heard of Romeo and Juliet - those doomed Shakespearean lovers from fair Verona. This takes the original play and runs with it, focussing on characters who see relatively little or no stage time in the Shakespearean version - Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, and Rosaline (here made a cousin to Juliet to make the plot more fitting.) Benvolio has secrets of his own, stalking the night as the infamous thief the Prince of Shadows, and despite his best efforts, developing a bit of a thing for Rosaline Capulet. And then a curse starts to set in and things get interesting!

Best bits:

The paranormal aspects of this are never overdone - subtle and in-keeping with both the plot and the tone of the novel. It's not overt, and hits just the right note. 

The writing flows well (I know it sounds like a bit of a standard review phrase but good quality writing really should be acknowledged,) and Caine imbues the whole book with the passion of both her own plot and the original play. Her Verona has a dream-like feel to it - a world of extremes filled with beauty and horror - and we stay very firmly in the period setting of swords and nobles.

The characters are vivid, their pains and pleasures believable, and Benvolio (our eloquent narrator for the majority of the novel) is charming enough to keep you reading - which of course is an excellent quality to have in a narrator.

Not so great bits:

Caine's attempts to incorporate Shakespearean language and dialogue occasionally jar the reader - this isn't her fault exactly, it's just that Shakespeare's tone is so different from her own voice that it's sometimes noticeable when she's tried to force a merger of the two.

I also didn't find the character of the Montague grandmother all that believable - are you telling me that this world you've tried to convince is so chauvinistic allows a shrivelled and spiteful old matriarch to tell lords what to do? Maybe it's a personal thing, but, although she certainly moved the plot along, she annoyed the hell out of me.

Verdict:

A couple of minus points aside, this kept me engaged and lived up to its promise - I love things that look into other character's points of view and this managed to follow through where a weaker writer may have floundered and failed. I thoroughly enjoyed it - and it wasn't too smushy and kissy kissy either, making it all the more believable. Anyone who enjoys well-written young adult fiction could do worse than to give this a go.

World Book Day

Hey everyone, today's World Book Day and as far as I'm concerned any excuse for us to celebrate books and reading in general is a genuinely awesomeful thing. Not to mention the brilliant work it does to encourage the kidlets to read. Their website is pretty awesome, and contains trailers for YA books such as the one below for Opal Plumstead by Jacqueline Wilson (enjoy!)

Being Bookish

You know you're a reading addict when...

...your book piles look like a treacherously cunning game of Jenga.

...you volunteer as tribute.

...you can't walk past a stall of second-hand books without your head craning to look, with or without your permission.

...you want to finish the book but you don't want to finish the book.

...when you close a book you keep judging how much is left by where the bookmark is.

...there's no such thing as too many books!

Time to Review the Evidence: Traitors of the Tower

As promised, here's my review of Alison Weir's Traitors of the Tower. I'm still trying to work out the best, most useful, and most refreshing ways to review books on this blog so please have patience and let me know what you like!

Title: Traitors of the Tower
Author: Alison Weir
Genre: Non-fiction
Series: Quick Reads




A few starting notes:

This is a short and interesting book by the historian Alison Weir. It's part of the Quick Reads series - an excellent series funded in part by literacy charities, skills agencies and the Welsh Assembly via Basic Skills Cymru. This series is worthy of being praised to the hilt - short, easily digested books by top authors on a variety of subjects. This is an affordable series (though I borrowed mine from the library) at the incredibly reasonable price of about £1.99 per book. Appropriate for the reluctant and the avid reader alike.

Premise:

This is a work of non-fiction focussing on 'traitors' who have been executed in the tower of London (does what it says on the tin!) It's set into chapters, with each chapter really being a standalone piece in its own right, as each deals with an individual 'traitor.' It's set out chronologically (in time order of deaths.)

Best bits:

The length means that this is a book you can stick into your lunch-breaks or train-journeys. The way the structure works with the different chapters means that you can read a chapter and then have a ready made break to the next one. The way Quick Reads describe their series is as a shot - and I think that's pretty accurate: short, distilled, enjoyable.

The author is knowledgeable; Alison Weir knows her stuff, and writes confidently, slimming down her normally intensely detailed writing into its core components to give an overall impression of the events.

The whole of the book is planted firmly in the Tudor period (which Weir knows well,) which is as popular and interesting as ever. What's so good about this book however is that not only does it include the big names (Anne Boleyn; Katherine Howard,) but it also includes names which are a little less well known (Lady Jane Grey; Margaret Pole,) which means there's plenty to interest you.

Not so great bits:

Sometimes the writing seems a touch forced - as if the slimming down purpose has caused it to lose some of its sheen, this is only occasional but is noticeable in some parts.

There's no debating the details here - now, I don't mind this, but some history buffs wouldn't be so thrilled. I think it fits the series though, so it's really not too much of a minus point.

Verdict:

This is a great book to fill in those in-between times such as breaks, or waiting at a doctors surgery. It's accessible to those who don't have a lot of time, and those who maybe aren't so confident in reading, while still absorbing and interesting the reader. A job well done by Ms Weir.

Book Haul - #LibraryHaul

I went to the library this morning (Yay!) and picked up this awesome haul, some fiction, some non-fiction, some graphic novels...all combine to make a happy reading addict!

I hauled the following:
Prince of Shadows; Rachel Caine
The Shape Stealer; Lee Carroll
Mr Briggs' Hat; Kate Colquhoun
The Witch's Daughter; Paula Brackston
Traitors of the Tower; Alison Weir
Under the Never Sky; Veronica Rossi

Graphic Novels:
Wolverine: Hunting Season
Genju no Seiza vol. 1
Vermonia 1 Quest for the Silver Tiger

I'm hoping to review some soon - espec. Traitors of the Tower, since it's a Quick Read and I think that that's such a very awesome scheme/series! Happy reading everyone!

Gotta build myself an audience!

Hey guys! I hope you enjoying my weird and wonderful musings on all things reading and book-related, but my mission is to spread the book love as far as I can!!! Watch this space, and if anyone has any ideas then let me know!

Magazines, magazines, magazines!!!

You may not have guessed, but this post is about magazines :P . Yep, magazines - I'm a big fan and my current magazine tbr pile is pretty impressive. This is on account of the fact that a) I'm a reading addict, I have a tendency to buy reading materials; and b) I do magazine swaps.

Magazine swaps, in case you weren't aware, is where you swap your old magazines with someone else's old magazines - it pretty much does what it says on the tin. It's also an eco-friendly way to re-use old magazines before they go to that great big printing house in the sky. You end up with a pretty eclectic mix - I have New Scientist magazine alongside Marie Claire, for example, but that's half the fun! The only problem is, as I tend to buy more magazines than anyone else, I don't tend to get so much in return; still, what I do get I'm thankful for as it spreads my money out a bit more.

My magazines tbr list currently consists of:

• 10-15 issues of New Scientist
• 3 issues of Marie Claire (UK)
• 3-5 issues of BBC Wildlife
• 1 issue of Glamour (UK)
• 1 issue of the Big Issue (well worth buying!)
• 4-5 issues of Vogue (UK)
• 1 issue of Look
• 4-5 issues of Papercraft Essentials
• 3 issues of Empire

Quite enough for me to be getting along with! Be thankful I don't have the time or patience to type out my main tbr list!

Reading addict struck by flu!

Argh, I hate the flu. There's just no relief. It's horrible, and you end up taking painkillers and making very little sense in general. Not that I usually make all that much sense, but yesterday I caught myself thinking "He was always so good at that," with absolutely no idea where that came from or what it was about.

On the plus side, been burying myself in books. I'm reading more slowly than normal though so that I understand what's going on! My brain is all fuzzily!!!

Access to free e-reading

If you've read this blog before, you're probably surprised at the title of this post. E-reading? I thought out friendly neighbourhood Book Lover hated that stuff? It's true that I'm not a fan, but I know that a lot of people are, so I thought I'd clue them in on a couple of my recent discoveries.

If you live in Wales in the UK, then you can have access to free library e-books via the welsh libraries e-books website - if your local library is participating (so that's Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Swansea, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Conwy, Gwynedd, Ynys Mon, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys, RCT, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham libraries) and you have your library card and pin number, you can login. The e-books aren't compatible with K-devices which are sold by Amazon (cannot bring myself to even type that word *shudder*) and they will be automatically returned at the end of your loan period; you can't return them early.

Most libraries in the UK have a similar scheme, so I suggest checking your local library website for availability in your area. Many libraries worldwide, particularly in the USA, also use the OverDrive website, from which you can borrow e-books.

Back to Wales, digital additions of magazines are available via the Welsh libraries' Zinio collection .

I do ask that you try to keep print copies of both books and magazines in mind, there's nothing quite like the magic of the printed word. But I understand the use of digital media to access materials you maybe wouldn't be able to view otherwise - this includes international publications, Welsh language material (which can be more difficult to track down) and textbooks which may be needed for education, college, university, whatever. This way you can borrow it, read the part that is useful to you, and return it automatically, without having to pay out huge sums on a book you may only need once. If you're going to be using the book often, you still may want to invest in a physical copy.

A note on the Goodreads challenge

OK, I'm sure you're all aware of goodreads - and possibly aware of their yearly reading challenge also. This can be a fab way of keeping track of how much you're reading - this year, I've set myself 50 books, and have completed three already (woo! :P ). Please do avoid setting yourself an unrealistically high challenge - you can always go back and put the number up later.

I openly admit to a touch of cheating - well, if Goodreads counts a one page poem as a book who am I to argue? I read it after all. But remember, the point isn't really the number - the point is to read more, enjoy the hell out of it and (hopefully) read a nice wide range of books. Good luck everyone!

Oh crud!

I'm sorry guys, had to deal with a lot lately and got totally distracted and forgot how freaking long its been since I posted - will hopefully change this asap! :)