March 2016 Books

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Enchanting. Absolutely beautiful language, in the clearest, purest form. Not one extraneous word...somehow this author managed to find verbs that described actions, feelings and appearance all in one. I wish I had that talent.

The story is great, character arcs believable and rewarding. I'd read again, just for the language TBH. As with most "becoming strong" stories, I cringed at the mousey, fearful girl the MC starts out as. Don't have any sympathy for wimps. Fortunately, the beautiful prose carries you through and you start seeing some chutzpah =)

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Underwhelming. Don't understand the hype. Didn't feel like there was anything original--all the hot fiction trends of the last 5 years seemed recycled here. There were no surprise twists, you could guess what came next. Would not recommend, would not read again.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Saving qualities = details on food tasting and poisons.

Damning qualities = (view spoiler)[ flashbacks ad nauseum in the first few chapters. Just spell it out and spare the reader! Was disappointed to realize it was yet another tyrannical-government-overthrow-dictatorship-setting. Tired of those. Also, why does the protagonist always have to be the long-lost untapped genius of immense magical power? And really—the magical makes-you-vulnerable-to-mental-attack substance is... chocolate? Good grief.

I wasn't impressed by the romance. This character has had a traumatic history of torture, systemic abuse, and then falls in love with a cruel, dangerous, unpredictable killer who, at that point, has not shown any admirable qualities other than intelligence and a strong work ethic. Codependency, much? Ugh. And their inevitable love scene in the estate dungeon of her former abuser—really?

Knocked out, rescued. Poisoned, rescued. Nearly killed, rescued. The fact that the character has a wry moment of self-realization re: how many times she wakes up in bed without knowing how she got there, doesn't make it any less ridiculous. (hide spoiler)]

I kept skimming, hoping that something would improve, but it only got more preposterous. Such a disappointment! I've been waiting for weeks on the library waiting list for this book, and have heard such good things, but I'm now stymied by the hype. Either I'm missing something, or this book is missing a lot.

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it. The POV voices were a lot more contemporary than I'd expected from the unique premise. Probably wouldn't read again, didn't have enough heart connection to draw me. Not inspired to read the next in series. While the "singing into being" concept was Narnia-like and beautiful, for some reason I found Aza & Dai's "connection" a little hokey. Maybe 10 years ago I would have disagreed =)

All that aside, I'm a big fan of authors taking truth out of history and telling a tale. Worth the read.

See all my Goodreads reviews