Author: TheMarquessMagpie Page 1 of 6

Up-and-Under, for the third time

On May 9, 2023

In Beyond Mother Goose, Dungeons & Bookdragons, Reviews

If you are into snack-sized fantasy novellas, you will probably have heard of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. And if you are into that, let me tell you that her middle grade fantasy is just as lovely. I recently read the third one in the Up-and-Under series, so let’s have a look.

When we meet Avery and Zib, they also meet each other for the first time. Neatness meets wildness, a sense of duty meets a yearning for adventure. Due to a burst pipe, both have to take a different route to school and find themselves climbing over a wall into another world altogether – the Up-and-Under. It is a world filled with talking trees, drowned girls and ones who can burst into a murder of crows.

On their quest to find their way back home, they follow the improbable road through different smaller kingdoms named after the elements. The first book mainly takes place in the woods, representing Earth. The second book takes place on a pirate queen’s ship on the Saltwise Sea.

In the third book, their winding path home takes them to the land of Air and its cruel ruler, the Queen of Swords. To escape without being turned into her latest monsters, they have to rely on her son Jack Daw. Once again, the writing style is wonderfully whimsical. It is one of those books that are meant to be mainly read by children, but it is just as fun as an adult. Over time, Avery, Zib and their companions really take up a space in your heart.

The fourth and last book should be out later this year, and I’m sure it will be a great conclusion as Avery and Zib cross into the land of Fire.

4/5 Magpies, all of them

Tress of the Emerald Sea

By TheMarquessMagpie

On May 3, 2023

In A Game of Tropes, Buddyreads, Dungeons & Bookdragons, Reviews

If you are at least somewhat interested in current and upcoming SFF books, you for sure have heard of Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter campaign last year.

The first book to kick off the Year of Sanderson is Tress of the Emerald Sea. And let me tell you, it has been well worth the wait. First of all, it is probably the most gorgous book on my shelves. The print edition is a premium hardcover with foil inlays, coloured illustrations and chapter titles.

We read it as a buddyread on The StoryGraph – if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s a really cool feature. All of us basically flew through the chapters.

The narrator is Hoid, a recurring character from Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, and his witty tone is just perfect. Little tidbits and references make you want to read everything Cosmere-related.

The story itself has all the usual YA elements – a whimsical girl setting out on a rescue mission, discovering her talents and growing throughout the whole journey. Talking animal sidekicks. Sorceresses and pirates. The cliches are there. Except…. well, except everything?

Tress is the character a younger me would have loved – and older me still does. She is not only the hero of her own story, but a sensible and pragmatic one. She does things your usual YA heroine just does not do, she – gasp – pauses to think! This book is written so well that your usual YA stock should go stand in a corner and be ashamed.

On top of that, this book is highly quotable. I could have written something down from almost every page. Probably my favourite one:

One might say worries are the only things you can make heavier simply by thinking about them.
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

I would have loved this book to get me through a lockdown. Stuck in a reading slump? Read it. Bad day at work? Read it. Need escapism? You know what to do. Just let me warn you that this will lead to a severe book hangover.

5/5… all the Magpies!

The Lady Duck Of Doom agrees wholeheartedly with everything the Marquess has written. This is the YA hero my 15 year old me would have loved. A girl who actually uses her brain, instead of being described as “thoughtful and intelligent” and then rushing into everything based on assumption and pure emotions.

Hoid, our narrator, delivers the story with so many unbearably good quotes about life, the universe and everything that I am considering buying an extra copy and re-reading it with a highlighter to get all the good ones. It will probably need more than one highlighter I think. The humour of our narrator reminds me a bit of Good Omens by Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and the afterword revealed it was indeed an inspiration.

I don’t know if it is possible for Brandon Sanderson to top this with the other three books lined up for this year. Next up is a non-Cosmere novel, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that. The book hangover should be over by then.

ALL/5 Duckies

TheRightHonourableHarpyEagle doesn’t have a lot to add to what my fellow flock-mates already wrote. If you have ever wondered what might have happened had Goldman’s Buttercup gone looking for Westley, you should read this novel. Tress of the Emerald Sea is the one book that redeems the YA genre for me. It outclasses all other YA books I have ever read.

5/5 Harpy Eagles – actually, it should be 6/5 Harpy Eagles, because see above.

New Year, Old TBR

By TheMarquessMagpie

On January 2, 2023

In A Day in the Life of a Bookdragon

Let me start off by saying this: I’m really glad 2022 is done. Sure, great things happened, but most of all it felt really draining. One thing that didn’t change is the fact that there are books to keep the mood up.

2022 was the first year I didn’t set a specific book count reading goal, and it was really liberating. Did I still check out the total amount of books read again and again? Sure. But I didn’t feel pressured to finish each book just so it can count towards the yearly goal. I know it’s stupid to feel pressured in this way, but my inner overachiever works that way. So, 2023 does not get a reading goal either.

To look back on last year’s books, here are some categories:

Best surprise: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, I’ll probably gush about it for another year
Late to the party: the first Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. The year of Sanderson started yesterday, so it was about damn time to tackle some of his books on my TBR
Best audio: The Kaiju Preservetion Society by John Scalzi,you can’t go wrong with an audiobook read by Wil Wheaton
All the feels: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The mountains are out to kill you: The Beckoning Silence by Joe Simpson
WTF, IS THIS A JOKE: Blind / Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Maybe it was due to the German translation, but this one disappointed me so much that I’m still angry

As for 2023, I only planned buddyreads so far. TheLadyDuckOfDoom mentioned some of them here. The whole Sceptre triad will also read the Year of Sanderson books, and we have our eyes on The Witch King by Martha Wells.

Now I’m off checking reading challenge prompts I’ll never fulfill, because it doesn’t hurt to dream.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

By TheMarquessMagpie

On December 27, 2022

In Reviews

… creeps in this petty pace from day to day. Do you also have Hamilton‘s Take a Break stuck in your head already? No? Macbeth, you say? Oh. Definitely the song for me.

This wonderful book by Gabrielle Zevin is about Sam and Sadie, two friends starting a gaming company. The story spans thirty years full of success, fame, joy, hurt, love and loss.

Yes, it is about the games they develop, and they are described in an absolutely impressive way. You really want to play them in real live.

But the real strength of the book lies in the characters. They are complex, and flawed. They are allowed to make mistakes. Even the avatars in their games feel alive. You get to know them so intimately that you want to sit them down for a stern talking to. The side characters shine just as bright (or dark).

It is a top notch characterization of sometimes very difficult friendship dynamics and how both sides can experience the same situation differently. You just feel a lot. Really. It‘s one of these books that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster and you‘ll be glad it did.

5/5 Magpies

A Practical Guide to Conquering the World

By TheMarquessMagpie

On December 26, 2022

In Dungeons & Bookdragons, Hidden Gems, Reviews

K.J. Parker is one of the a-bit-under-the-radar authors we at Sceptical Reading have grown to like quite a bit. And in A Practical Guide to Conquering the World, his mix of humour and cleverness works its charm again.

It is the third and final instalment in Parker’s The Siege trilogy and follows Felix, a translator stuck in another country while his home is conquered.

But what would a Siege book be, without an outsider / unlikely hero saving not only his own, but everyone‘s bacon? And that‘s exactly what happens. Again. But let me tell you, the formula does not get old. This time, the whole world is the playing field. It really makes you appreciate the power translators may wield.

4/5 Magpies – a solid piece of fun

Of Heroines and Yellow Jackets

By TheMarquessMagpie

On November 14, 2022

In Freezer Books, Reviews

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth has (of course) been sitting on my shelf forever. The virtual one, at least. Let‘s call it an e-reader-lurker. I started it when heading out for a vacation, because for me that‘s always a good opportunity to tackle some books that have been on my radar for a longer time. And in this case I think my vacation mood made me overlook a lot of things that would have had me bailing otherwise. This is a big “I liked it, and yet…“

The book is told in two alternating timelines. One is set in 1902, when two students of the Brookhants boarding school for girls share not only a passion for the memoirs of young writer Mary MacLane, but also for each other. Named after a quote from Mary‘s book, they form the “Plain Bad Heroine Society“. They are found dead in the orchard of the school, killed by a swarm of yellow jackets. More deaths will follow them.

The other timeline is set in the present day. Author Merritt Emmons has written a book about the events of 1902, and a horror movie adaptation is in the works. After a rather bumpy start, she forms a bond with actresses Harper Harper and Audrey Wells. But during production, talk about the curse of Brookhants gets louder and louder, and in the end it gets hard for them to distinguish truth from rumor and show effects.

Let‘s start with the positive things. The writing style was quirky and engaging, and I liked the omniscient narrator a lot. The use of footnotes made everything feel quite plausible. When starting it, I had the giddy feeling that I’d probably like it a lot. Introducing the different timelines had a lot of potential, and yet…

And yet I don‘t think the book delivered on that potential. I didn‘t notice it on my e-reader at first, but in print this book has over 600 pages. It is really long, yet the end felt rushed and didn‘t tie everything together in a satisfying way. The plot(s) moved along very slow, so it was hard to get a sense of building tension. Also, what little there was, just fizzled out at the end.

While it is classified as horror, it didn‘t really feel like it. Again, probably because it didn‘t grab me that much with its slow speed. There are a few gross scenes, and if you are already a bit nervous around wasps you may be more so after it.

3/5 Magpies

Nettle & Bone

By TheMarquessMagpie

On October 24, 2022

In Dungeons & Bookdragons, Reviews

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Well actually, kind of a bird…. It‘s the MarquessMagpie crawling out of her hole to finally write a review again.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher started out as my bedtime e-book, but grabbed me enough that it got promoted to my “main book“ pretty quickly. I think I picked it up after hearing about it on All the Books.

I would say it‘s a fairytale for people who are sick of them. Let me show you the ingredients that make this story special:

The princess: Marra is not sweet 16, but 30 and not the least interested in marrying. Instead, she‘s great at needlework and out for revenge.
The prince: Well, he‘s not the charming kind at all. He married both of Marra‘s sisters, killed the first one and abuses the second one. So of course we set out to kill him.
The gravewitch: While being a weapon all by herself, she‘s got a demon chicken and she‘s not afraid to use it.
The fairy godmother: She‘s better at cursing than at blessing, but she‘s doing her best.
The bone dog: A story is always better with an animal sidekick, so who cares if he rattles a bit.
The lumberjack-type love interest they pick up along the way: I already forgot his name. Gladly, the story centers on Marra‘s quest and the group dynamics.

The timeline was a bit confusing at first, but straightened out once the gang got together. At it‘s core, it‘s a revenge quest story with some adventures along the way. What worked really well for me was Kingfisher‘s clever and snarky writing style and great group dynamics.

4/5 Magpies

High Fantasy, Low Stakes and a Lot of Heart

By TheMarquessMagpie

On May 6, 2022

In Dungeons & Bookdragons, Hidden Gems, Reviews

Sometimes, a book jumps into your way at just the right time. I‘ve read about Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree on Goodreads, and decided to try it to get me out of a reading slump. Gladly, I loved everything about it.

It‘s about an orc called Viv, and she‘s had enough of the adventurer life. She‘s worn out, and her back hurts. So after one last job retrieving a fabled artifact, she moves to Thune to open up a coffee shop.

She quickly gathers a lovely cast of characters around her, including:

Cal, a hob carpenter / handyman who helps her renovating
Tandri, a succubus who supports her as a barista (and also in general)
Thimble, a rattkin who turns out to be an amazing baker

Also, there‘s an epic direcat strolling around and protecting the premises.

Let me just say that everything about this book is lovely. There is a strong found family vibe, as Viv is building a new home against all odds. This story gave me all the warm fuzzy feelings.

Keep cinnamon rolls and coffee on hand when you are diving in, though.

5/5 Magpies

The First Law Buddyread

By TheMarquessMagpie

On April 6, 2022

In Dungeons & Bookdragons, Reviews

Say one thing for TheLadyDuckOfDoom and TheMarquessMagpie, say they enjoy the hell out of a well-written epic fantasy series. And Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series was just that.

We read the first three books as buddyreads, which really takes a lot of determination if you want to pace yourself.

The series starts of with The Blade Itself, in which our illustrous cast of characters is introduced and assembled. Here are some of them:

Logen Ningefingers, also called the Bloody-Nine: a humble northman haunted by his past. In Lady Duck’s estimation, he also suffers from dissociative identity disorder.
Sand dan Glokta, a once praised fencer, for his looks as well as his skill, he was tortured and turned into a cripple when he got captured in war. Now he serves as a torturer and investigator for the Inquisition, which is more of a police institution than religious undertaking in the Kingdom.
Jezal dan Luthar, the rich kid, totally loathesome. What an ass.
The Dogman, a named man from the north, famed for his sense of smell. It feels unlikely, but he really grows on you.
Ferro Maljinn, a former slave, runs on revenge plots alone. She is a force to be reckoned with.
Collem West, an army Major stepping up when things get difficult and dangerous. Don’t worry, he has his faults.
Bayaz, First of the Magi, always with a trick up his sleeve. You never know what’s up with that cheating bastard.

We spent most of the first book getting a glimpse into the lives of these characters. It‘s mainly a setup book and not a ton of stuff happens. But don‘t think that it gets boring for even a bit – we at least follow Glokta uncovering a conspiracy, after all.

Instead of suffering from a case of middle book syndrome, Before They Are Hanged turned out to be a roadtrip book. There are some very interesting character developments, and we get to know the cast a lot better. The brewing conflicts are foreshadowed very reasonably and you smell a war coming. In the 10th anniversary edition, the author’s note tells us that Abercrombie is incredibly proud of this book, and Lady Duck seconds this opinion. The middle book syndrome is expertly circumnavigated, and she laughed at the end of it.

In The Last Argument of Kings, the world is at war. New kings are crowned and need to grow into their roles very quickly. Although, do they really? There’s fighting, blood, and even more fighting. The “backwards” Northmen play quite a big part in the turn of events. The ending leaves some threads dangling, but intentionally so. The books play so well on the common epic fantasy genres, and denying the readers full closure is just another of Abercrombies tricks. Or maybe he planned more books set in this universe all along.

Overall, the series mostly deals with what it means to wield power. Who can be trusted with it? What does having a title really mean? Isn’t everybody (except one… ) just pretending to know what they’re doing and hoping for the best? Another recurring theme twists the fantasy trope of redemption arcs: sometimes, as hard as people try to be better, sometimes they can not.

The writing style was a real treat:

so many unexpected moments of comic relief…
… but still grim and bloody
it changes a bit with the characters (The recurring “Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers…”, “dead body found at the docks” is a recurring imagined newspaper headline in Glokta’s head after he gets into trouble)
some predictable plot twists and turns, but the execution is still great.

The characters feel very real. You see the bad side of every one of them. Not all of them are likeable, but all of them are captivating. I never thought I would root for a crippled torturer, but go Glokta go! Prepare yourself for some very difficult and sad death scenes – but also for a burst of joy when one absolutely loathsome character meets a very satisfying end. While the books are quite “dude-heavy”, the female characters also shine. They are morally grey, scheming and far from your classic damsel in distress.

So, I guess I really need to read all Abercrombie books now. Don’t worry, the next one (Best Served Cold) is already waiting on my shelf. Lady Duck insert: not on my shelves, oh noes. We will need to change that asap (which means summer or later, book buying ban be damned)

5/5 Birdies for each of them – still alive, still alive

Better Skip in Case of Emergency

By TheMarquessMagpie

On March 25, 2022

In Reviews

I found Daniela Krien’s Love in Case of Emergency (or Die Liebe im Ernstfall in the original German version) at a book flea market, picked it up for 1€ and felt incredibly lucky.

Well, let’s say that I’m happy I didn’t pay more. It’s not a bad book, not really. I just didn’t care at all for the characters. The book consists of five interconnected stories about different women. I do not need every character to be likeable, but at least one out of five POVs would have helped a lot.

The thing that stayed with me most was the feeling that everyone was cheating on everyone else. Not my favourite kind of plot, to say the least. I probably expected a more empowering kind of book. It could have been an interesting look at difficult topic and the strength it takes to overcome challenges, instead it just left a somehow toxic taste in my mouth as we see five women that are hurt or defined by either the absence or the presence of men.

2/5 Magpies – at least it was a quick read