Book Reviews: Angelica, Shinn; Wasteland, Block; Wylding Hall, Hand; The Edge of Worlds, Wells

3-star doldrums, aka "I need to be reading a lot to stay occupied, but that means I'm reading easier things and/or sequels and, regardless, all off my feelings have crawled under the house to die so the only reaction I'm capable of is 'eh it was okay I guess.'"


Title: Angelica (Samaria Book 4)
Author: Sharon Shinn
Published: Ace, 2004 (2003)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 530
Total Page Count: 277,905
Text Number: 901
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In Samaria's past, strange and deadly attacks by outsiders occur just before the appointment of a new Archangel. I'm ashamed of myself for not anticipating the worldbuilding which occurs here—it's a logical choice, and suits a prequel since it expands the worldbuilding but doesn't progress reveals in the overarching plot. The romance takes a backseat, both to that element and to the secondary character of Miriam, whose impetuous personality and strong character arc are significantly more interesting than the tiresome poor communication of the central couple. I keep coming back to this series for the combination of interesting backdrop and engaging—if limited, tropey, and heteronormative—character dynamics; this has the same format but reshuffles its elements, and while that makes it less compulsively readable, it's also a productive change.


Title: Wasteland
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Published: HarperCollins, 2009 (2003)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 278,065
Text Number: 902
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A tragedy occurs in the relationship between unusually close siblings. Block's style is an good fit for this content—her sympathetic gaze; her compelling, dreamlike Californian atmosphere littered with evocative details. I'm not convinced that the headhopping and brutally short chapters are as effective, but they create a well-rounded view of the protagonist. But my joy and complaints are here particularly arbitrary: I am trash for this trope, and rarely find it disappointing, so this is no exception. But I'm tired to death of reveals that ( spoiler )

it still feels like a cop-out, still alleviates too much of the tension which drives these narratives. So I have complaints, but still enjoyed this—and if you enjoy the same trope, odds are you will too.


Title: Wylding Hall
Author: Elizabeth Hand
Published: Open Road Media, 2015
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 278,225
Text Number: 903
Read Because: fan of the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A young, up-and-coming folk band goes on an artist's retreat to a distant English estate. It's delivered through retrospective interviews which provide many and frequently successful opportunities to build suspense, but which rely on PoV-hopping which is less than successful if only because I could never tell some of the characters apart—the book is too short, the characters too indistinct, their voices identical. But the atmosphere is superb; the images evocative and haunting. This book is very Handca marriage of precise, grungy cultural details to an enchanting Bordertown-esque atmosphere to the promise of something threatening, numinous, and strange; it's a delight, and, as always, she does it well.


Title: The Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura Book 6)
Author: Martha Wells
Published: Night Shade Books, 2016
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 445
Total Page Count: 278,670
Text Number: 904
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Moon's colony makes an ocean expedition to investigate ruins discovered by groundling researchers. Unlike other novels in this series, this is half of a story, continuing in the next (and, I believe, final) book. As such it ends with something of a cliffhanger, and the overarching plot is pushed to the beginning and end while the middle gives over to the sort of exploration/survival setpiece common to the series. I appreciate the intent of a bigger finale, but I'm not convinced this structure is a good approach, despite that Wells handles the component parts well. But I enjoy the cast, as always, particularly Moon and his intimates (although I wish the deviations from his PoV contributed more than just plot developments, since it's the tight adherence to his viewpoint which has made his characterization so strong). Given it's half of a finale, I wanted to like this more—but it about lines up with my appreciation of the previous books: it's fine.

BPAL Reviews: DL & Red Carnations, Zoe and the Goat, Two Old Men, Horn of Plenty, Mead Moon

DEAD LEAVES AND RED CARNATIONS (LE, Halloweenie 2018: Pile of Leaves)
In vial: What it says on the tin: dead leaves and carnations, spicy and vegetal and lovely.
On me: Carnation as it goes on, so distinctive, spicy and gently sweet and very red, with an undercurrent of dead leaves. Some of the carnation dies back during drydown, and this becomes a smoothly balanced blend: spicy red carnation, gently sweet and almost hot, against a drier, wider, more bitter, more vegetal and earthy base of dead leaves. It's simultaneously deceptively complicated and seamlessly united; a lovely blend. But throw and wear length are both pretty limited.
Verdict: I love this. The only reasons I didn't get a bottle are because of the limited throw & longevity, and because I have a lot of very good carnation scents already. Of them, this is closest to the Spanish Red Carnation single note, but replaces that carnation's freshness and greenery with the richer, earthier scent of dead leaves.

ZOE AND THE GOAT (LE, Halloweenie 2018: Pickman Gallery: Portraits of Genus Capra)
Caramelized patchouli, cream, and thick golden honey.
In vial: Smoky sweet patchouli.
On me: Liquid caramel, in the same vein as liquid smoke—a one-note but profoundly rich, burnt-sugar caramel scent; you wouldn't eat this—you'd put in a drop to flavor something else. Reminds me very much of a less floral Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht (amber, cream accord, white honey, apple blossom, skin musk, caramel, and teak), which either means that I amp caramel or that I'm getting the cream/honey from Zoe and the Goat and just can't pinpoint it. A stable, non-morphing scent; decent throw and wear length.
Verdict: Not at all my thing; it's simultaneously too strong and too simple. But I layered it with Fearful Pleasure (dried orange peels floating in simmering cider, roasted apples, smoldering firewood, chimney smoke, sassafras beer, warm hawthorn wood, and oakmoss) with great results, so I imagine I can use my imp precisely to add a drop of liquid caramel to other scents.

TWO OLD MEN (LE, Lupercalia 2016: Fleurette’s Purple Snails)
Sweet brown leather, cacao absolute, coffee bean absolute, and teakwood.
In bottle: Masculine, cologne-y.
On me: The same, a masculine, cologne-like scent, a little sweet, a little spicy, herbal, airy, aquatic—but mostly just "cologne."
On cloth: Still the same!
Verdict: Is this leather? is it Old Men? I've gotten this scent from BPAL before, not strictly from leather scents but often from their masculine blends. Whatever it is, it amps on me and/or I'm bad it's reading its nuance; regardless, I don't like it.

HORN OF PLENTY (GC, Conjure Bag)
Forces a change of fortune, helps overcome poverty and want, and helps attract prosperity, prestige and earthly bounty.
In vial: Sweet, gently fruity, with a hidden herbal note.
On me: A warm red scent, almost but not quite fruity-floral, certainly dragon's blood resin or DBR-adjacent, with a smooth, sweet cream or honey backdrop. It has a gentle spice, which helps complicate the scent. Distinctly similar to Dragon's Milk(dragon's blood resin and honeyed vanilla), but I find Dragon's Milk to be more intense, more sweet-but-spicy—a little harder to wear, but more interesting. Great longevity, but after a few hours this goes a little stale/sour/grape-like, echoing the cough syrup others have reported.
Verdict: Pretty and wearable enough that I wouldn't be adverse to wearing this for its intended practical use. As a perfume, it's a lesser Dragon's Milk.

MEAD MOON (LE, A Little Lunacy 2008)
Golden mead, fermented with gruit, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, ginger root, sweet-briar, rosemary, and lemon.
In vial: A pale lemony amber with herbs hiding in the background.
On me: Goes on richer, warmer, sweeter. But the herbal elements predominate in drydown: astringent lemon and herbal top notes, a touch of spice and almost-fruity booziness, and a broad backdrop of golden mead.
Verdict: This has the wrong balance for me, reading in almost perfect reverse order of the notes, when what I really wanted was an ornamented, enriched honey.  Not for me, and tbh I ended up washing it off.


I'm gently regretting not getting a bottle of DL & Red Carnations, which I retested to finish off my review, and which I know will fade in another hour, but is right now so lovely. But, FWIW, and to soothe my own troubled soul:

Very Good Carnation Blends (Which I Already Have)
The Ta-Ta (boiled leather, carnation blossom, coffee absolute, and tobacco) dirty dark deep carnation
Morocco (Arabian spices wind through a blend of warm musk, carnation, red sandalwood and cassia) gentle sweet skin-scent-but-better carnation
Masquerade (patchouli, ambergris, carnation and orange blossom) romantic, mysterious, deep, shot through with the spice of carnation
Spanish Red Carnation SN—fresh-cut bright spicy carnation
Hod—if carnation were a sugar cookie, gentle and powdery and soft
Inez (golden amber, vanilla musk, myrrh, cedar, carnation, and red sandalwood) Morocco's sensual elder sister, rich and bodied and spiced

Runner Up
The Caterpillar (heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver) sleepy carnation incense, mercurial and deep