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juushikaTitle: Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World Book 1)
Author: Rebecca Roanhorse
Published: Saga Press, 2018
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 150 of 295
Total Page Count: 268,135
Text Number: 869
Read Because: reading more Native authors, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Maggie, with a remarkable aptitude for killing, hunts a monster and its creator through the Native territories of post-apocalyptic America. DNF at 50%—which isn't to say that this is bad. There's significant potential in it, particularly in the world: Native culture & mythology combine beautifully with the climate change post-apocalypse; it's bitter, vindicating, but not entirely without hope. The mythology creates an interesting magic system. But the dystopia grinds on me, likewise the protagonist's self-doubting inner monologue, likewise the pacing. A better book for a different reader, but it's not what I'm looking for right now.
Title: Witch Week (Chrestomanci Book 3)
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrator: Gerard Doyle
Published: Recorded Books, 2005 (1982)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 268,425
Text Number: 870
Read Because: continuing the series, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A boarding school class falls into chaos when a student is accused of being a witch. Wynne has a great eye for small details and large consequences. The characterization is humane, critical, and innately humorous; the interaction between magics and the mundane is creative and, again, quite funny—a necessary balance against the darker setting and social dynamics. It's the end with which I argue. The meta-narrative concept remains compelling, and the climax has good logic and scale, but the trend away from magic isn't emotionally satisfying to an audience that 1) is probably here for the magic and 2) may be of the age or mindframe to project onto characters who are discovering and forgiving their own magical tendencies. I liked this a lot; I still didn't love it as much as Charmed Life, but it came closer. I think I'd enjoy it more upon reread.
Title: Witchmark (Witchmark Book 1)
Author: C.L. Polk
Published: Tor, 2018
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 268,695
Text Number: 871
Read Because: reviewed bymrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A doctor is petitioned by a murder victim to investigate crimes being committed against witches. The first half of this frankly did not sell me; it is, and feels like, a debut, particularly in the pacing and unremarkable first person narrative. But it won me in the second half. Nothing is surprising, but the tropyness and steady build of investment pay off, particularly in the charming secondary world setting and the central romance. The social commentary can be heavy handed, but it's also cathartic; there's something satisfying about an exploration of the way that societies depend on and reinforce discrimination and exploitation which manages to offer a not complicated but wish-fulfilling solution.
Title: The Changeling
Author: Victor LaValle
Narrator: Victor LaValle
Published: Books on Tape, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 440
Total Page Count: 269,135
Text Number: 872
Read Because: reading more by the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A young father's world is turned upside down by the death of his son. That’s somewhat a spoiler, given it comes so late in the book, but it's also the central premise—which speaks to the pacing. The slow drift from the normal anxieties of early parenthood into the nightmare landscape of tragedy and supernatural elements requires a gradual build in order to be effective, but these aren't anxieties that interest me, and the pacing, exacerbated by the transparent and terse narrative voice, is tedious. The racial and economic tensions I find more effective, and the book's second half is significantly less mundane—bizarre, almost incoherent, a little pedantic, but more interesting. I'm the wrong audience for this, and my disinterest in the themes turns erstwhile strengths into weaknesses; I'm not sure how to appraise its more objective merit.
Author: Rebecca Roanhorse
Published: Saga Press, 2018
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 150 of 295
Total Page Count: 268,135
Text Number: 869
Read Because: reading more Native authors, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Maggie, with a remarkable aptitude for killing, hunts a monster and its creator through the Native territories of post-apocalyptic America. DNF at 50%—which isn't to say that this is bad. There's significant potential in it, particularly in the world: Native culture & mythology combine beautifully with the climate change post-apocalypse; it's bitter, vindicating, but not entirely without hope. The mythology creates an interesting magic system. But the dystopia grinds on me, likewise the protagonist's self-doubting inner monologue, likewise the pacing. A better book for a different reader, but it's not what I'm looking for right now.
Title: Witch Week (Chrestomanci Book 3)
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Narrator: Gerard Doyle
Published: Recorded Books, 2005 (1982)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 290
Total Page Count: 268,425
Text Number: 870
Read Because: continuing the series, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A boarding school class falls into chaos when a student is accused of being a witch. Wynne has a great eye for small details and large consequences. The characterization is humane, critical, and innately humorous; the interaction between magics and the mundane is creative and, again, quite funny—a necessary balance against the darker setting and social dynamics. It's the end with which I argue. The meta-narrative concept remains compelling, and the climax has good logic and scale, but the trend away from magic isn't emotionally satisfying to an audience that 1) is probably here for the magic and 2) may be of the age or mindframe to project onto characters who are discovering and forgiving their own magical tendencies. I liked this a lot; I still didn't love it as much as Charmed Life, but it came closer. I think I'd enjoy it more upon reread.
Title: Witchmark (Witchmark Book 1)
Author: C.L. Polk
Published: Tor, 2018
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 268,695
Text Number: 871
Read Because: reviewed by
mrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: A doctor is petitioned by a murder victim to investigate crimes being committed against witches. The first half of this frankly did not sell me; it is, and feels like, a debut, particularly in the pacing and unremarkable first person narrative. But it won me in the second half. Nothing is surprising, but the tropyness and steady build of investment pay off, particularly in the charming secondary world setting and the central romance. The social commentary can be heavy handed, but it's also cathartic; there's something satisfying about an exploration of the way that societies depend on and reinforce discrimination and exploitation which manages to offer a not complicated but wish-fulfilling solution.
Title: The Changeling
Author: Victor LaValle
Narrator: Victor LaValle
Published: Books on Tape, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 440
Total Page Count: 269,135
Text Number: 872
Read Because: reading more by the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A young father's world is turned upside down by the death of his son. That’s somewhat a spoiler, given it comes so late in the book, but it's also the central premise—which speaks to the pacing. The slow drift from the normal anxieties of early parenthood into the nightmare landscape of tragedy and supernatural elements requires a gradual build in order to be effective, but these aren't anxieties that interest me, and the pacing, exacerbated by the transparent and terse narrative voice, is tedious. The racial and economic tensions I find more effective, and the book's second half is significantly less mundane—bizarre, almost incoherent, a little pedantic, but more interesting. I'm the wrong audience for this, and my disinterest in the themes turns erstwhile strengths into weaknesses; I'm not sure how to appraise its more objective merit.
