Tag Archives: fantasy

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

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I borrowed a copy of Neil Gaiman‘s The Ocean at the End of the Lane from my local library. It was my book club book this month.

Description from Goodreads:
Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

Review:
I appreciate the way this wrapped around into something satisfyingly circular. I thought it was well written, with a good voice and thoughtful perspective. Seeing a seven-year-old’s perspective on things reconsidered with adult eyes was interesting. For the most part I really enjoyed it. It just felt a little too fantastical and weird at times. Like maybe Gaimen needed to reign himself in a little.

Book Review of Forbidden Blood, by Anna Wineheart

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I received a copy of Forbidden Blood from the author,  Anna Wineheart for the purposes of review.

Description from Goodreads:
Since he killed a vampire eight months ago, Oriel has been on the run. The coven wants him dead, and the feds want his blood to eradicate the vampires. Exhausted, he sneaks into an obscure mansion, rummaging for food. What he doesn’t know: a vampire lives there.

Three centuries ago, a human lover betrayed Seb, selling him to the hunters for some quick gold. When his chef quits, Seb is left hanging… until he finds the thief in his garage. He captures Oriel, only to discover that Oriel needs protection. And the one thing Seb wants? A purpose to his life again.

Oriel sets one condition when Seb hires him: Seb cannot drink his blood. Except Oriel’s blood tempts him from a distance, tempts him in bed. If he tastes it, he’ll be addicted, completely dependent on Oriel. And the hotter Oriel kindles his desire, the harder it is for Seb to stay away.

Review:
This wasn’t necessarily bad if you’re into the whole instant lust, instant love, instant meaningful relationship sort of story. The problem is that I really am not. What’s more, I like a little world building in my vampire stories, even novella length ones, and there isn’t any here.

For me, the problem isn’t that the story is underdeveloped, though it is, the problem is that this particular story has been written again and again and again and again and again. While the idea of a human with addictive blood might be interesting (though I’m sure I’ve come across it already) the idea of an immortal meeting their mate, falling into INSTANT sex (even though one is supposedly in fear of their life) and then instant love, one leaving to protect the other, the one left behind protecting the leaver in some moment of mortality, a sacrifice being made and then them making up and living happily every after, with all challenges magically swept away is just so done, I mean DONE. To call this story predictable is an understatement. I had hoped for a lot more out of it.

The writing and editing were fine.

Book Review of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, by Paul Krueger

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I borrowed a copy of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, by Paul Krueger from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
College grad Bailey Chen has a few demons: no job, no parental support, and a rocky relationship with Zane, the only friend who’s around when she moves back home. But when Zane introduces Bailey to his cadre of monster-fighting bartenders, her demons get a lot more literal. Like, soul-sucking hell-beast literal. Soon, it’s up to Bailey and the ragtag band of magical mixologists to take on whatever—or whoever—is behind the mysterious rash of gruesome deaths in Chicago, and complete the lost recipes of an ancient tome of cocktail lore.

Review:
This was all right. I suppose if I hadn’t gone in with such high hope I wouldn’t have been disappointed. As it was, I liked it but thought I’d love it, which as disappointments go, isn’t too bad.

There were things I absolutely appreciated. The book is effortlessly diverse. By which I mean there is a diverse cast, but I never felt the author was tokenizing anyone for the diversity cookie. But there was a Chinese American main character (who has to deal with back ground fetishizing and people being insensitive to her culture and identity), a strong and important black female character, a disabled gay man, a foreigner and a trans character. And none of them had tragic back stories, died or turned out to be evil. Yay. Admittedly, there was some stereotyping. Like the Chinese American who just happens to be smart, detail oriented and studious, with a love of flash cards and post-it notes, or the overly effusive Canadian. But this was all mostly a yay.

The writing is clean and easily readable, plus it’s quite funny. So, there are some strong positive here. Where my problems started though was with the silly cocktail recipes interspersed at the end of each chapter. They felt gimmicky and really broke up the flow. Then, I just kind of got caught up in the whole cocktails as magic thing. Logistically, I couldn’t figure out how this worked. Did it have to be special liquor? It was inferred at one point that it did, but other times they just seemed to grab what was available. Why didn’t ‘civilian’ cocktails contain magic? If all bartenders and baristas are protectors, why didn’t anyone know about them. And yes, I understood about oblivium (erasing memories), but such a large population wouldn’t stay secret. Then, I couldn’t get past the uselessness of the council. No one could really be that stupid and function. And while I could and did manage to suspend my disbelief, it just got harder and harder to do as the book went on. Plus, the romance felt really shoe-horned in there.

So, while this was an ok read, I didn’t love it.