quillnqueer's reviews
417 reviews

Frontier by Grace Curtis

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

2.0

I'm really glad I read this author's second book first, because this book was a bit of a mess, and I would have taken much longer to get to Floating Hotel, which was easily a five star read. This story feels much more meandering and unsure of itself, with moments that feel almost painfully slow, but with an ending so rushed I was slightly confused as to what was happening.

Following a traveller, looking for her lover across a desert wasteland, this introduces us to the different characters who she meets by switching the POV over to them, and we see her through their eyes, young and old. Sometimes, the story will then switch over to traveller. Confusingly, it would often switch to her POV too.

Much like Floating Hotel, we slowly piece together the story as the chapters progress, but unlike Floating Hotel, I have absolutely no clue why we couldn't have found out what happened right at the beginning of the story. When we did get the answers in the end, I still wasn't sure what happened. I was truly just confused for most of this book to be honest.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

adventurous tense medium-paced

5.0

This is my favourite of all the Narnia books, because it tells us the story of how Narnia started, and has so many references that lead to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, especially the wardrobe itself and the lamp post that Lucy finds.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

I put off reading this series for quite literally years, because the blurb was so promising that if it had been bad I would have been devastated. I finally bit the bullet this week, and this is everything I wanted and more, like a Miss Peregrine meets Narnia meets House Of Hollow mash up, and I wanted the book to be longer before I'd even finished the first chapter.

I felt this story introduced us to the house and the characters who had found themselves there really well, explaining the different worlds they had found themselves in before ending up back on earth in a way I understood easily. And this kept the pace up and my attention by brutally killing off multiple characters by the end of the story.

I did guess the culprit, but solving the mystery didn't feel as important as getting the reader to know the characters. I loved all of them, and the final pages had me wondering what on earth was happening next and where this story was going to go. I'm not reading the blurbs too far ahead, but now I've read the blurb for book 2, I love the choice of POV switch.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

adventurous sad medium-paced

5.0

Yes the insane Jesus references, but I would be chilling in Mr Tumnus' place with a fat cup of tea while they're busy being dramatic.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

5.0

 The Starless Sea is a strange book, with stories on stories layered together to paint a warped history of a world beyond doors. You have to pay attention in order to piece it together, but I found that this made for a really rewarding re-read. The only thing that let me down was the weak ending, I wanted something a little more satisfying.

Zachary Ezra Rawlins finds a mysterious book at a library and opens it to find out that it's about him. His hunt for the meaning behind this book and the secret society it's connected to is the strongest part of the story, as he travels to wild parties and finally finds himself tumbling into the world of The Starless Sea, at the end of it's days.

One thing I would really love is not a sequel, but a prequel. We're constantly given glimpses of the world at it's height, rumours of wild parties, vistors leaving traces of themselves behind and it seems the world was a sanctuary back then. I wanted to travel back to those days so badly, and I hope Erin revisits this world one day. 

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

dark emotional fast-paced

5.0

I love that this series seems to be following it's own path, taking us where it thinks we need to go and shunning conventional series rules. After the reveal about Jack and Jill at the end of the first book, instead of continuing the story, this book instead takes us back to their past, and shows us the world they tumbled into as children.

This pulls from Frankenstein and Dracula (although those names are not used), as Jack chooses to become the Doctor's apprentice, working hard and enjoying a simple life in the village, while Jill becomes one of the most feared of Dracula's potential brides, her obsession with him driving her beyond the brink of madness to try and please him. 

Much like the first book, by the end of the story I didn't want to leave the main character, this time Jack. There's numerous characters now that I want to see in future books, and I'm hoping that as the stories are pieced together, I'll finally get closure for my favourite characters. I love the unpredictability of this series.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

adventurous medium-paced

3.0

I struggled with this book when I was younger and reading the Narnia series, largely because it's incredibly boring. As an adult, I was equally bored, but at least I read faster now. Bringing us away from the Pevensie family for the first time, The Horse And His Boy brings us over the desert lands connected to Narnia, and we meet Shasta.

This is a harder read than the other books, because while I can excuse the heavy Christian themes of the first two, you cannoy excuse the blatant racism here. The Calormenes are depicted as a wild, brutal, barbaric people while the Narnians are seen as worldly, wise, and educated. There's a constant feeling of Lewis poking fun at Middle Eastern people.

I don't remember the full plot of the Narnia series too well, but I expect to see Shasta again in the future, either in person or by mention. We're told his life story at the end of the book, so I'm unsure if we'll see him in person or by name only.

Vivian Versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

This was a wildly unique story about a girl whose parents have joined one of the American Christian Cults that believe in the rapture and end of days, and how she copes when this seems to happen, leaving her and her friends alone to cope in a world descending into chaos. This storyline coupled with strong characters that I quickly loved made this such a memorable read.

Vivian is a little messy, and I liked that. Raised to be obedient, she quickly bands together with her friend Harp, but chooses to leave them to move in with her grandparents, a choice she regrets and has to deal with when she chooses to go find Harp. Vivian's character really develops over the course of the story, and she becomes a strong, resilient character in a believeable way.

I think the ending did let this story down a little, with the reveals being a little too ridiculous for my liking. While they did make sense, I think I wanted a different answer as to what was happening. There was a moment that was truly devastating, but retracted it a few pages later. I think that moment should have been kept, as it made the story stronger.

The Things We Leave Behind by Clare Furniss

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

A potential picture of future Britain in the aftermath of a right wing political victory, this could almost be classed as Dystopia, but I felt that we're just one step away from this actually happening, making it feel chillingly contemporary. Recounting attempting to escape London to her Grandfather's with her little sister Billie, Clem tells us of her search to find home.

The start and ending of this story are gripping, but I will admit the middle is quite slow. When I reached the ending chapters though, with Clem making her jouney to Edinburgh and revealing the secrets she'd hidden, I was devastated for her, and almost wanted to go back to that slower pace of life she'd found at her Grandfather's, although temporary.

This is a such a terrifyingly realistic novel, and it's definitely left it's mark. Although this is a sad story, overall it's about hope, and the story makes sure to leave us with some. While Clem's journey across Britain will stay with you, her final words of reflection will too, as she finds lost loved ones and prepares for her future in a changed world.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book wasn't fully on my radar until I saw an Interview with Susanna, and she mentioned that she was influenced by Narnia. There was enough clues that I gathered throughout the book to guess that this book is actually a sequel to The Magician's Nephew, which may be my favourite and most read book in the Chronicles Of Narnia series.

I was not too familiar with the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (thanks Google) until I finished the book and started looking at his work. Incredibly, the depictions I had in my head of Piranesi's House in the book matched the original Piranesi's art perfectly, which just goes to show how good Susanna is at creating this strange world of roaring tides, buried secrets and ever-watchful statues.

I was so comfortable with the character, Piranesi. It felt very much like I was walking with an old friend, who was showing me around his house and his favourite statues, telling me where to stand as the tides rushed in. Despite the vastness of the house and the secrets that are unburied, Piranesi's voice and the revelations he goes through is what really stuck with me when I closed the final pages.