kizzia's reviews
1139 reviews

Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain by Amy Jeffs

dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

This is a marvel of a book. Amy gives fresh life to the oldest tales of Albion while at the same time providing an in depth explanation of where the stories originated from and why she’s reinterpreted them as she has. The black and white illustrations are also beautiful and add another layer of lustre to an already shimmering tome. 

Of the thirty tales in this book I particularly enjoyed Scota - First Queen of Scotland, Dragons under Oxford, Havelok the Dane, and The River Ness Monster. My absolute favourite, however, was Weland the Smith. The further reading list at the end is also a thing of beauty that has increased my ‘to borrow from the library’ list substantially.

If you already love myths and legends you’ll absolutely adore it and if you’ve not read any before then this will be the start of a wonderful new interest. I promise you won’t regret picking it up!

Blossomise by Simon Armitage

hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

5.0

As usual Simon’s poetry holds the heart of the subject on display whilst coming at things from every direction. Add Angela Harding’s stunning illustrations and you have a perfect book.

My favourite of the longer poems was, hands down, The Seasons. However this  haiku, one of eleven scattered through the pages, encapsulates the sense of the collection perfectly:

“Constellations bloom
in orchards of April skies.
The stars blossomise.”

Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being A Witch by Rhianna Pratchett, Gabrielle Kent

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is such a beautiful book, both in terms of Paul Kidby’s illustrations and the love in word form poured onto the pages by Rhianna and Gabrielle. It’s clear that this book was a labour of love, created to honour Terry and the wisdom he imparted by way of his witches. 

It made me laugh, it made me cry a couple of times, and it reflected back to me the soul and centre of why I use the term witch myself. 

I cannot recommend this highly enough. 

The Haven by LJ Ross

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

A quick, competently written, mystery to take your mind off the world for a few hours. 

The Puppet Show by M.W. Craven

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is the third book in Ann Cleeves' Two Rivers series, which is set in Devon with DI Matthew Venn at the helm.

As is always the case with anything Anne writes, The Raging Storm is well written, with an excellently conjured sense of place, and moments of palpable unease that ratchet the tension nicely. Matthew makes a good solid character to build the series around, and I find Jen Rafferty both likeable and very real. 

However Ross May, the third member of Matthew's team, got on my nerves; he doesn't seem to have grown as a character at all since the first book, still hyper competitive, stereotypically misogynistic, and often lacking both empathy and any form of introspection. Combine that with a plot which became increasingly overcomplicated as the story progressed (and a resolution which seemed, to me, slightly unbelievable) and I was left feeling a bit short changed.

That said, I did gallop through it as I wanted to know what happened next and I will certainly read the next book in the series, if another one is written. It just wasn't quite as good as many of Ann's other works. 

The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is the sixth book in the Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw series and, as always with MW Craven's books, I couldn't stop myself devouring it in less than 24 hours.

It is a dark book, with some really distressing themes, yet it tries very hard not to sensationalise them and, for the most part, doesn't. It is well plotted, well paced and Washington Poe remains one of my favourite detectives; well written and compelling. That said in this book I found the rest of the characters flattened in a way that did reduce my enjoyment of it.

I think that flattening is entirely down to the conceit used to tell the story, something that is clearly hinted at in the blurb. Without spoiling anything I can say that the set up is that Poe is literally telling the story to someone else across the pages in real time (rather than the close third person perspective in the midst of the action as the other five are) and conversations in the present - between him and the person he's talking to about what happened - are interspersed with the "telling" where we see what happened entirely from Poe's view point. 

The present day conversations do add an element of reflection on the story that does help mitigate the darkness of the plot and I can see why it was decided to write this particular novel in this way. However, for me, it didn't quite work. I felt cheated out of the depth of friendship between Poe and Tilly we usually see, being somehow more divorced from the proceedings, and this lack was highlighted by one "joke" Poe told about Tilly's behaviour that was repeated several times and wasn't even funny on the first mention.

That's not to say it isn't a good book, because it is, I was captivated. It is just that the mechanism used to tell this story, especially given the way it ended*, made it feel uncomfortably contrived. I'm just hoping that in the next instalment in the series (which I already have on kindle pre-order) reverts to type in terms of the way it is told.

*which was sort of mitigated by the author's note at the end but still.

Steeple Chasing: Around Britain by Church by Peter Ross

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

As always with Peter Ross' books (if you haven't read A Tomb with a View you're missing out) you get far more than the obvious. So while yes, this is a wonderful wander around the ecclesiastical buildings of Britain, it is also a book about history, science, nature and, when you get right down to the underlying theme, what it means to be a human in this world. 
I listened to this via audible, excellently narrated by Peter himself, and I loved every second. In fact this is one of those books that I found so interesting that I intend to get a paperback copy the moment I find one in a bookshop, so that I can re-read with highlighters and pencil at the ready.  

All Teachers Great and Small by Andy Seed
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.

Found the narrator a little condescending and just feel that Gervase Phinn did this sort of book first and far, far better.

Eric by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Rincewind is back in this short, punchy and very funny novella that takes the rip out of Faust, Dante, corporate management in the 1980s, and quite a lot else besides. I think this also owes a huge amount to Terry's love of the Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis (and if you haven't read them, I suggest you get a copy from the library forthwith) as well as being another astute dive into human nature. 

This is, I think, my second favourite of the Rincewind books simply because of how obvious it is just how much fun Terry had writing it.