Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairy tales. I have certainly read any number of good, moderate and terrible iterations. I have also seen quite a few movie versions. And there is yet another live action remake of the classic Disney telling is set to come out in some near-ish future.

Book cover for K.M. Shea’s Beauty and the Beast. I got this image from the internet, it is not mine.

Today, however, I want to comment on K.M. Shae’s novel simply entitled Beauty and the Beast. Like so many of my other amazon finds, I made the purchase when it was free – as trashy books hurt less to read when you haven’t actually paid for them. In this instance I was pleasantly surprised. It was a good book. It was a good, logical retelling with well-written characters and only a slightly silly ending.

Lots and lots of spoilers to follow – be warned.

The book starts with Beauty, called Elle of course, falling through the stained glass roof of the Beast’s chateau. She badly breaks her leg, thus explaining her presence in the place. It is not long before the reader discovers Elle was supposed to be there in secret. She was never meant to be seen. All too soon, we learn that the Beast is the bastard son of the current King and military advisor to the Heir. Contrary to many conventions the brothers are supposed to support and even like each other.

The castle is filled with cursed staff, their faces covered in part masks and their voices taken away by magic. While they might not have the flare of some animated versions, their presence is a positive in the telling of the story. They actively drive both Elle and the Beast together.

While it is left a little vague to start with, we know that Elle has a strong dislike for the Beast Prince she is co-habitating with. She thinks him selfishly arrogant and thoughtless when it comes to the lives of others. This perspective is changed over the course of the story that shows a Beastly shaped man who cares very deeply for his staff and his family. He has a protective personality.

Little bits of information, tiny twists in the way the story unfolds guides the reader to assume that Elle, with her worrisome secret, is a spy or assassin from another country there to harm the Beast, his household and his family. Thus the big twist at the end, revealing Elle to be one of two elite Rangers sent by the Heir to protect his brother, is both clever and refreshing. Looking back, I can enjoy the development of the relationship under this new light and it works. Yes there were hints to this end, so it was not truly surprising. But it was enjoyably done.

The weakest point for me is the post-assassination ending. When the arrogant Beast Prince, now turned back to human form by the power of love, turns against Elle for lying to him. It seemed a bit of stretch. It seemed even more frustrating when it is revealed that he effectively forced Ranger 78, Elle, into a longer service because she was effective.

Over all, I thought this was a great retelling of an old, familiar tale. For those fond of fairy tales, I would recommend giving this book a try. I have added more of K.M. Shae’s Timeless Fairy Tales series to my wishlist.

Confession, I have been a little lax in my posts. Well, here is a review of a book I read a little while back. The review was written at that time too.

** ** **

That said, I still managed to find time to read a book (or two). Unfortunately, I have not had the good fortune to read anything amazingly good. And much like my last book review, this one was a bit of a long awaited disappointment.

Cover for the book Silver on the Road. Picture borrowed from the internet. Not my own picture.

I found Silver on the Road by chance while pursuing the online bookstore. Fortunately, my home library had a copy. Unfortunately, I had to wait over two weeks upon my return to borrow the book. The fact that it was out, should have meant it was a good read, right? Well, Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman was not terrible, but it was not terribly good either. Just to get it out of the way, I would give Silver on the Road the same rating as Uprooted – a solid 7 out of 10.

Let us start with the positives. Because there were things about this book that I really liked. I liked the Wild West feel of the world. I liked the respect shown the Natives of North America. This was carried through to the magic system, known as Medicine in the Territory. I liked the way the Devil was not mustache twirling in the least. I liked the way the relationship grew between the two main characters into something warm and friendly and not the least romantic. Now I am sure some could read it that way, but considering their age difference, it could just as easily be read as familiar instead. Indeed there were several good things about this book.

Sadly it was weak in the actual writing department. Well, it was either poorly written or I am a complete idiot. It felt like the story arc of the novel was a long time coming. What was only supposed to be a few weeks on the road, felt like months from my perspective. I had a nagging feeling like I was missing something, which became shear irritation when I realized the author just didn’t say anything.

And then of course there was the ending. Once more it seemed as though the author reached their word count and suddenly realized something needed to happen in order to complete the story. Out of nowhere we have evil Spanish Monk-Magicians sending a curse to wipe out the Territory and then conveniently chasing after that curse to reverse it (well, a different subsection of Monk-Magicians, if I understand properly). It was a good thing this religious men bothered to sully their feet by entering the Devil’s Lands, otherwise, our main characters would never learn what was happening and have a chance to stop it.

The action beats leading up to this inexplicable climax were muddy and confusing. The defeating of the curse was even more muddy and incomplete. The female protagonist recognizes the curse has split into many pieces and the one piece she is currently facing has adapted to its current environment, so she tells it the rules and walks away. I am guessing it is more like a stray puppy that just needed a good scolding and reminder that it is not allowed to eat people. Then with a pat on the head the puppy is left to its own devices, while our heroes walk off – possibly to find and scold more curse-pieces. It was not a strong conclusion.

And before anyone starts in with the argument this was a character driven story, not a plot driven one, I will say yes, I realize that. I also realize that all the revelations the character makes are kept from the reader. For example:

“Understanding filled her, a comprehension so intense that she couldn’t remember not having it a heartbeat before. That was why she had to try to stop Farron, why –

The creature didn’t care whatever revelation she was having.” – page 268; Silver on the Road, 2015

It literally then goes into a fight scene and a poorly described one at that. There are many such instances of characters evolving or things happening that are not revealed to the reader. This is such a cheap and frustrating way to drag out an already plodding story. I was sincerely unimpressed.

As much as I love books with no action (Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourites!), this was a dragged out telling of an imprecise narrative. It was successful in showing how dull and repetitive life on the open road was. It was not successful in building a complete world with interesting and fully developed characters. Yet for all its faults, I have read worse, so I will defend my overall rank of 7/10.

The cover of the book Uprooted by Naomi Novik

So, we have been home for two weeks now – hard to believe. In this time, I have fought the wild weeds over-running the garden, visited with relatives, started watching The International (Dota 2), and read a few books. Truthfully, there are only two worth mentioning and both of them were rather meh in the end.

I was so very excited to read Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I waited almost an entire year to borrow this book from the library. I read the teaser trailer on several different webpages, always looking for the version that included a few more paragraphs than the last.

The author, Naomi Novik, is not knew. I had read the first three books of her Temeraire Series before becoming bored. But this, this new book looked different. It looked exciting, new and yet with the comforting feel of classic fairy tales. I was excited to read it when I picked it up. I was underwhelmed by the end. It wasn’t bad. It was mostly good. It was just … not as engaging as I had hoped.

So, here is the thing. The book starts in the Valley surrounded by the magical and slightly evil Wood. The Valley is protected by a Wizard known as the Dragon, who requires a sacrifice of one village (a young female) once every 10 years. The Sacrifice serves to take care of chose in the Tower where the Wizard lives, then after their period of servitude is give a small fortune and moves out of the Valley to the City. This is all poorly understood by the villagers in the Valley and thus feared. Our story naturally starts with the selection of a new female Sacrifice.

I liked the opening premise the girl chose was not the prettiest or most special (not the one the Dragon was expected to select). I liked the struggles of the main character as she learned more about the mysterious Wizard. I even liked how you learned more about the Wood and its evil minions.

I also liked the fact this was not an old, established fairy tale. There are definite elements from the classics. The opening feels very beauty and the beast. Baba Yaga makes an appearance of sorts later on. There are witches, magic spells, and evils leaking from the wood.

Everything moves along from the beginning in a rather interesting fashion until almost halfway when suddenly our main character is sent off to the City and the entire plot feels like it slides sideways. The ending seemed to come – if not out of nowhere, then it was rushed and a bit forced. It was not the smoothest transition from start to finish.

The Valley had started as an interesting and developing setting. Which was pushed to the side as the Wood came to life. Then the reader was sent to the City, which never felt real to me. It was underdeveloped. The City was home to the Royal Court, a place of politics and intrigue. But our heroine was not savvy in the ways of Court Politics. She never fit into the location and that entire section of book felt like a tacked on side trip that wasted more time than served to develop the key characters.

We are finally told that betrayal caused one ancient woman (of questionable race – magical and perhaps humanoid) to seek revenge thus poisoning the Wood. Only, this seemed to be an explanation tacked on at the climax of the story with very little setup. Why could we not have skipped the whole City and focused on how one angered female could turn a massive forest into a dark and evil place (and then be defeated so easily by one half-trained witch after existing for hundreds of years)?

In conclusion, it was a mediocre to good book, made disappointing through high expectations and a long wait. If you like Naomi Novik’s other books, you will likely enjoy this one. If you are a huge fan of fairy tales then I would mildly suggest trying Uprooted. If you want something with snappy writing and cleaver dialogue, then I wouldn’t bother. This is an atmospheric book with a plodding plot and a main character that spends most of the time explaining and far less time showing.

The first book in the Kingmakers series. I did like the cover.

Arrows of Change and Arrows of Promise are two books in the Kingmakers series by Honor Raconteur. I don’t know if the author has finished writing in this world or whether more books will be coming out. They are both ebooks and I actually spent money on them. Well, I spent money on the first book and got the second for free. However, I did pay more than $5 for the first book – and for me and a digital book that is not inexpensive.

Was it worth it? Well, I am feeling more forgiving now that I have finished the two books. But I would not describe the pair as good. They are not bad either. They are mostly boring. There is nothing offensively bad about the books. The idea is interesting enough, but the execution leaves much to be desired.

The greatest crime committed by the books is that they are flat and effectively lifeless. There is no significant character development. The good characters are all nice, hard-working, honest, upstanding, and righteous. The villains are vague, described as power hungry, violent, mad but mostly they are all in the background like some distant shadowy threat. They are just enough of a threat to unite the heroes and provide mooks for the justified killing.

While I find the concept of a dukedom pulling away from the larger kingdom to become independent an interesting topic, there was no depth to this story. The dukedom was perfectly good, with no flaws. The new King is organizing a modern government with elected positions, with laws made with input from the people and levels of bureaucracy to ensure there can be no tyrannical king. This also arranged haphazardly and seems like the characters are preaching modern morals. It is all presented as obviously good and the best option. But some of the ideas could use some serious scrutiny. Sure it is great that Rape is being treated seriously – but there is no consideration for why people do these horrendous crimes. However, if you ever felt that the death penalty was the best option for murder and rape then you will support this little utopia society quite nicely.

Sadly the daughter has redder than red hair. I could have lived without that cliche.

If however you are looking for some interesting conflict for discussion, don’t read this book. Everything is solved in the best case scenario. They magically work out for the characters. Conflicts are often minor or so big to be un-relatable. Even the premise for the separation of the dukedom from the larger kingdom is presented as something only good people would do and to argue otherwise would show you as evil. As such, there is no interest there, no development.

Further the style of writing, which flips between a father and daughter, is dry. It could be interesting. It could be new and fresh to have your primary leads as a father-daughter pair. But they don’t do anything with this. They characters are nearly the same to be almost interchangeable. They have no personal growth (at least not worth mentioning) and they tend to just tell the reader things. While both are expert archers, they are also good to grasp other tasks (a typical trait of primary protagonists). They are flat, lifeless creatures whose greatest trait is the manner of their speech which is clearly different from the rest of the main characters.

Oh, and there are wizards in this world. Wizards who become partners for this duo of most amazing archers (their skills are those of TV actors in amazingness). Wizards who can do anything with magic – literally anything. It is a terrible magic system as there are not clear constraints on the magic. If you can do it with your hands, wizards can do it faster and with magic. It makes them tired but that is about it. It is a lackluster system.

Could it have been interesting? Absolutely! I think looking at why one group of people would break away from the larger whole would be an interesting topic. Sure they are the underdogs, but you could also look at how that fracture would affect the larger kingdom. You could also look at the rebels as arrogant or greedy from one perspective, and determined and resilient from another perspective. It could make for an interesting story. But you need to look at both the good and the bad.

The problem that the main characters are stupid and didn’t have a plan for succession shows them as idiotic and creates some strange artificial utopian council where everyone works together to create some mystically appealing rules the populace will adore. It was unrealistic. If you want to look at the work going into building a new kingdom, then set it up as a political story and do justice to the problems involved.

If you want to focus on the amazing skills of your archers, then you might want to tell a different story altogether as this had little opportunity to showcase their skills. That said, it is difficult to explain how amazing an archer is from their perspective and the fight scenes were skimmed over rather than read.

Still, the Kingmakers books weren’t offensive in any regard. They were just lackluster = three stars out of 5 (if I had to put a number on it).

I realize it has been a long time since I have posted anything. It has also been a long time since I have read anything. However, it is Golden Week, here on the other side of the world. And that has afforded me some time to do a little light reading. I also splurged and actually bought a book.

The Air Awakens was written by Elise Kova. It revolves a young woman, Vhalla, who works in the Palace Library until she discovers that she is blessed or cursed with magic. Magic is the ability to manipulate one of the classic four elements. As it turns out, Vhalla possess the extraordinarily rare Affinity for Air. Unfortunately, Vhalla has been raised to fear and hate magic. Compound this with an uncertain relationship with the mighty and terrible Crown Prince and Vhalla’s ordinary and simple life becomes suddenly complicated.

So, what did I think? Well, the book was engaging. I read it one sitting – which is generally a good sign. I did not skip ahead either, another good sign. I liked the story. And I especially liked that it was a story. Yes, this is book one in a series. And there is no doubt when you reach the ending that it is just starting some large war arc.

However, I didn’t feel cheated by the end. Sure, the story was still going and certainly there are threads left dangling to entice the reader (particularly the Bond between Vhalla and the Crown Prince – which the author tries to leave vague). Still, Vhalla did change over the course of the story. Other characters came more into focus. And the world itself developed. While there is still much going on, I feel the book was complete enough.

Parasitic plant in the forest. It has no chlorophyll!

Was this book perfect? Of course not! I confess there were moments when it dragged a little, as it retread old ground. Occasionally it was difficult to relate to Vhalla’s reluctance to join the Tower of Sorcerers. Especially as their lives were clearly not evil and they lived in far better condition that she did as an Apprentice in the Library. A good attempt was made to show the progression of thoughts that bound Vhalla to her old life and how those changed with time. Most authors would have written the story in the first person perspective to cover this concept. I am grateful that Kova did not. It was a nice change not to have to listen to every rambling thought of the main protagonist.

The trail tossed in at the end was certainly forced. Politics should have been introduced earlier, though would have helped to ease this transition. Really, the last third of the book is rather discontinuous with the earlier style. The end portion was obviously written to set up the next books in the series. Where as the first part was more of a character study, the second part was the introduction of politics and obvious villains sent to test the fortitude of the hero.

The other problem I have with the book is the magic. Magic is linked to the very boring four element theory. We learn that mages ‘Awaken’ to their powers as we see Vhalla do. We know that mages need to study to master their skills, again we start to see this process with Vhalla. But just what are the restrictions and limitations. Just what skills does the heroine possess? That is made even less clear by the end of the story when suddenly Vhalla not only accepts that she can do magic, but that she can kill powerful people at a distance. This was not entirely unexpected, but it was a bit awkward. Once again showing the disconnect between the start of the book and its conclusion.

So, the story was not the most original tale. It was written with enough interest and pacing to engage the reader. While it does raise some interesting questions about war and empires, I am not holding my breath for an actual discussion about either one.

I suppose that leaves one other obvious question: will I buy the sequels (as that is the only way to read them)? The answer is a mixed yes and no. Yes, I can see myself buying the next book in the series. But not immediately. I will wait to see if I can get it at a cheaper price. Also, the story is setting a very predictable plot line, so it is not a priority. Still, if you are looking for a fun, light fantasy than this is a good book to try.