six going on seven

Read quite a few books this month but...nothing too spectacular unfortunately. Had a lot of 'non fiction books with lots of pictures' going on though.

June Book Reviews

The Rook (Daniel O'Malley)

8.5/10 This book, settings-wise, is kind of similar to "The Atrocity Archives", a book if you recall, is a book I absolutely hated. Both books are about an administrator in a secret organization responsible with dealing with supernatural threats who uncover a deep conspiracy. So while I was intrigued by the premise, I was also a little on guard. Luckily, I need not have worried. This was a great page-turner of a book. Despite the long page count, I went through it in no time at all. I loved reading about the organization, the various paranormal happenings, and getting to the bottom of the mystery. Most of all, I really liked the characters. The protagonist is a woman who wakes up with no memory, with only letters written to her from herself as a guide. As the story went on I found myself actually missing the author of the letters, who effectively 'died' when her memories and personality was erased. I really liked this take on amnesia, as well as the new protagonist finding her new self. Still, there were a couple of parts where I felt the male authorship behind the female protagonist, but it wasn't too bad. A lot of exposition also comes from the letters, which while having a logical reason to do so and is usually interesting to read, is still just straight up infodump. It's literally the blandest way to present information. It's really a test of the story that I still enjoyed reading through everything. A really fun urban fantasy story with a good pace and enjoyable protagonist.

Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery (David Attenborough)

6.5/10 This would make a neat gift for someone who's into natural history but otherwise is a pretty boring book. I didn't feel engaged at all reading about the lives of the several artists/scientists involved, which felt more Wikipedia entry than anything. I was disappointed that the majority of the book wasn't actually written by David Attenborough but instead a separate author for the different people featured. There were notes on the flora and fauna that were the subjects of the many natural history art pieces that were by Attenborough and these were probably my favorite parts. I would've loved so more of these notes, which were really just Fun Facts About Nature but really made me feel like I could hear Attenborough's iconic voiceovers. It also helped to give a little life to the subjects themselves and even a little to the artists that would've otherwise have just been well made but meaningless pictures. The only person I bothered to remember was Maria Merian who in her 50s went off to Surinam with her daughter as her only companion just to look at butterflies. She is the originator of the quote that gave the book its title "many amazing rare things which have never been seen before" and is, surprise surprise, the only female naturalist in the book.

Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics (Jason Porath)

6.5/10 This would make a neat gift for someone who is in the teens and tweens but otherwise is a pretty shallow book. I hope you've noticed the similarities between the start of this review and the one above it. Both books are good books with their merits, but I am not the audience for them. This book is pretty clearly targeted towards younger readers, it has a cartoon-ish art style and a casual, more juvenile style of humor, both of which I didn't really like. To its credit, a good chunk of the book features historical female figures that I haven't heard of previously. I had mixed feelings on including myths and folklore together with actual historical figures but it was nice to read about. The entries I suppose are more introductions than anything so you can do more research on the ones that interest you but unfortunately none of them actually made me interested enough to do so. I would've preferred something closer to Broad Strokes, where the subjects are limited as to expand more on their lives and treated with a more personal passion rather than an overall broader 'feminist' tone. Still the scope of this book and its more progressive view on the more mature and moral ambiguity of some of its subjects make it a pretty good book for readers that aren't me.

 A Gathering of Shadows (V. E. Schawb)

4.5/10 OOF. Alright I didn't like this sequel. The first book was such a solid, well-rounded fantasy and this was? What was even the point of this? I got to about half way through the book and I was like wow this is so slow to get started! Then I got to two-thirds through the book and I'm like is this ever going to get started? Then I got to the final chapter and I'm like okay clearly nothing is ever going to happen. Nothing happened other than introducing one new character and just some introspective character studies. It had some plot with White London that went nowhere for most of the book. I felt like this could've been condensed into a couple of chapters - Lila is good at magic, Alucard is the prince's love interest, Kell wants to be free - a couple of points that could've been communicated through a couple scenes, not an entire book. Plus there was a lot more emphasis on love interests in this book. I liked the hint of something between Lila and Kell in the first book but in this book they don't meet for a good 80% of the book but instead spent it thinking about each other like?? I didn't feel like it was that deep! All the great worldbuilding and magic system from the first one was nothing more than fluff. I'm still gonna read the last book but I fully feel like this one could've been skipped.

West (Edith Pattou)

4.5/10 I didn't like it and I didn't hate it. It lost a lot of its appeal for me after the main draw of the first book - the folktale - was left behind for a more traditional fantasy fare. Unfortunately it was pretty bland. I wish that the male hero could've been a little more prominent? It's a request I almost never make but honestly, not sure what the point of having Charles there when he's almost completely ineffectual. Either have him be a side character like in the first one or have him do a lot more than...just be there. I guess the slight angst from the amnesia is alright...Also even the quest that the female protagonist went on this time was just going around in circles. A lot of anti-climatic fights with the villains happen. They go from one locale to the next with no real suspense or intrigue. Such a entirely forgettable book.

The Umbrella Academy (Gerard Way)

4.5/10 This was....interesting. I guess. Honestly, it's not really for me. It's an interesting world, but because it's so out there, being thrown into it with little exposition didn't really help. It jumped all over the place, the characters were barely developed. I had no time to get attached to anybody before stuff happened to them. The plot moved way too quickly. I don't know if that's just the nature of comic books but the Apocalypse Suite felt like a five volume set compressed into one. There was so much happening. I felt like it had a lot of potential, especially with Vanya. Their powers could've used some more demonstration as well. Maybe that's why the Netflix adaptation was so popular? Because the world and set up intrigued me but the pacing was too fast and some of the art style & details put me off. Worth checking out the show maybe? But didn't really like the comic.

Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints from the Catacombs (Paul Koudounaris)

5/10 Who would've thought that a book talking about ancient catacombs and skeletons covered in jewels would be boring? And yet, here we are. It was so hard trying to read this book. It was dry as the corpses it was talking about. Maybe it's because I'm not religious or Catholic, but the way they wrote about the history of these skeletons was so cut and paste. Or maybe it's because I'm not academic enough? Either way it's not really a book for the casual, barely interested reader. Still, the pictures are neat and the skeletons look cool so...there's that.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale (Jane Yolen)

6/10 I've been disappointed by fairy tale retelling compilations time and time again...but I keep coming back. This one was actually pretty okay as things go. Really 'okay' as it had it's ups and downs. I think I actually liked the more original stories more than the ones that were obvious retellings. The usual suspects like Snow White or Little Mermaid or Cinderella, where you could tell immediately which story it was they were using, I didn't like as much. Without a full book to flesh out the characters in their own way, the changes felt cosmetic and shallow. Even with the changes like giving the heroine more agency, ultimately it was still in black and white morality. Rather the ones where the author used elements from lesser known folklore to create a fairy tale of her own were the best. Because the parody wasn't obvious, the writing style she used really shone through as it sounded like a real folk tale, something that could've come straight out of Grimm's own books. My favorites in this style were 'Great Grandfather Dragon's Tale' and 'Godmother Death'. The tone of the book was also all over the place, all of them of varying quality. Some were retellings, some sounded like traditional folk tales, and other's just felt like a regular short story with fantasy elements. 'Mama Gone' was one that I liked but barely felt 'fairy tale' like. There were quite a few Jewish stories which were interesting by themselves, but didn't feel like fairy tales at all. Truly mixed reviews with this one.

Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo)

8/10 A solid action fantasy that's a fun read as long as you don't think about it too hard. It had some really great set-ups, enjoyable scenes, memorable characters and strong story but the devil was in the details. I really liked the characters, but it felt way too weird that they were seventeen-ish. One moment I'd be thinking 'wow they're really cool' then the next moment they'd do something really awkward and I'd be like 'oh right they're like, 17'.  The cognitive dissonance between the more emotional character moments and the more action/plot focused moments really thew me off. I loved reading the latter more, seeing all their skills in action whereas the romances were awkward enough to remind me that I was reading about teenagers. I actually liked the overall set-up more than the actual heist, although there were some character moments in it that I enjoyed as well. There were also other little details like how I felt some of their motives for joining the heist, especially Kaz's, were a little weak, how easy it was to bypass some of the difficulties at the heist and the limits of Grisha powers. Still, as long as I didn't think too hard, it was a great read with good characters and a decent plot.