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kyatic's reviews
920 reviews
The Table of Less Valued Knights by Marie Phillips
5.0
This book is one of those books that I really wish I hadn't read, because now that I've read it, I'll never again have the experience of reading it for the first time. I don't recall laughing out loud at a book quite as much as I did whilst reading this one. Thank god I never read it in public. I'd be dragged away.
The characters are excellent creations, there's thinly veiled discussion of feminism and LGBT issues, the dialogue is some of the wittiest I've read outside of a Douglas Adams novel, and the whole thing has a particularly filmic quality - I seem to recall that Marie Phillips used to work in television, and that really does show in her writing. I found myself imagining quite a few scenes as though they were on screen. If only!
Honestly, just an A+ book.
The characters are excellent creations, there's thinly veiled discussion of feminism and LGBT issues, the dialogue is some of the wittiest I've read outside of a Douglas Adams novel, and the whole thing has a particularly filmic quality - I seem to recall that Marie Phillips used to work in television, and that really does show in her writing. I found myself imagining quite a few scenes as though they were on screen. If only!
Honestly, just an A+ book.
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
5.0
Well. This book was different and weird and immersive and worthwhile. By that, I mean that it took about 30 pages before I could read it without referring to the glossary every 6 words or so to try and remember what the heck a 'scucca' was, and I'm glad I persevered. At times, I thought I wouldn't. I gave up on The Great Gatsby, for god's sake, so my track record for continuing with books that I find tricky or dull is not exactly glowing. Something about this one made me break my habit of giving up quickly. That has to say something.
In terms of plot, it was very similar to Maria McCann's As Meat Loves Salt (one of my all time faves): unreliable, deranged narrator with a slowly revealed terrible past; meticulously researched history which bleeds into the protagonist's mindset; a climactic betrayal and reckoning amongst friends and established enemies; a background of war and political turbulence in England; and even the protagonist and his relationship with his wife was very similar. It still felt like a very different book due to the narrative technique, and although I think it'll be tricky to definitively separate the two books in my mind, I absolutely consider this as a genuinely impressive book on its own merit. I almost wish I hadn't read As Meat Loves Salt so that I could appreciate The Wake without constantly comparing the two, and it takes a great book to make me wish I hadn't read one of my favourites.
You should read this one if you like historical fiction, books that you need to make an effort with, unreliable narrators, and experimental literature. Or a book which spells 'such' as 'succ', because that's just a wonder in and of itself, isn't it?
In terms of plot, it was very similar to Maria McCann's As Meat Loves Salt (one of my all time faves): unreliable, deranged narrator with a slowly revealed terrible past; meticulously researched history which bleeds into the protagonist's mindset; a climactic betrayal and reckoning amongst friends and established enemies; a background of war and political turbulence in England; and even the protagonist and his relationship with his wife was very similar. It still felt like a very different book due to the narrative technique, and although I think it'll be tricky to definitively separate the two books in my mind, I absolutely consider this as a genuinely impressive book on its own merit. I almost wish I hadn't read As Meat Loves Salt so that I could appreciate The Wake without constantly comparing the two, and it takes a great book to make me wish I hadn't read one of my favourites.
You should read this one if you like historical fiction, books that you need to make an effort with, unreliable narrators, and experimental literature. Or a book which spells 'such' as 'succ', because that's just a wonder in and of itself, isn't it?