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rotheche's reviews
38 reviews
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
If you've read and loved Liane Moriarty's previous books, you'll probably go for this one too. She has a very distinctive voice and style that's pretty consistent throughout all her novels, in much the same way that Caroline Lee is a consistent narrator for Moriarty audiobooks. So, no surprises.
It's a slow burn of a novel and, at 500 pages there's certainly room for that. It took me a while to get into the groove with it, which I think has to do with the way characters are introduced: the 'Death Lady' is described for quite a long passage by everything she isn't, for example, and there's what feels like a cast of thousands of passengers that it takes a while to get to grips with. For me in the end, I kept having to think of them as 'the bride' or 'the overworked guy' and it was fortunate that the text isn't subtle with those reminders to help anchor readers amongst all those people.
Moriarty's books have one thing in common with thriller novels — conservation of characters and details. In thrillers, it means the inconsequential person or detail is going to turn out to be consequential after all, and that's the case with Here One Moment as well; if you think a throwaway line is just that, you're wrong, it will come back into play in the last third or quarter of the book, guarantee it. In one way, you can admire the craft; in another, it undermines the ability to get lost in the story — or at least it does for me — because you're always trying to weave the inconsequential into the web, caught in the craft instead of the story.
Or maybe that's just me, I don't know.
Overall, though, enjoyable and it picked up pace as it went on.
Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik
I'm a huge Naomi Novik fan — mostly due to Temeraire. There are two dragon-related stories here — one detailing the origin of the whole shebang, back in Roman times when Caesar was having some issues in Gaul, and the other a nice little bit of universe-crossing between Temeraire and Pride and Prejudice.
There are two other familiarities in a Scholomance short story and an earlier version of Spinning Silver, when it was a short story rather than a novel.
While I enjoyed these — Vici, the origin story of the dragon corps, in particular was fun — I'm also very grateful for the standalone content. In particular, The Long Way Round, the last story in the collection, looks like it's the promised 'sneak peek' at the next series, and I'll now be keeping an eye out for that. The premise is a woman and her younger brother attempting to sail across The Empty — the big sea nobody has ever crossed — initially in an attempt to foil another island's chokehold on trading but then for...other reasons (i.e. wizard did it. It's always a damned wizard). Tess is a great character and her relationships with her community are still only at sketch stage, but the lines are vital enough that you can see it pretty clearly. And they voyage of the Blue, a ship designed for long-distance sailng by her brother, is compelling. As is the society itself — Tess's home island is governed by lords who seem at first glance very far distant — but as the tale progresses, we learn more of the lords and their wizards, where they came from and how they manage their affairs and so on. The other islands are likewise sketches at this stage but, again, they feel real enough and I'm guessing lords, wizards and islands alike will be fleshed out plenty in the novel(s).
There are two other familiarities in a Scholomance short story and an earlier version of Spinning Silver, when it was a short story rather than a novel.
While I enjoyed these — Vici, the origin story of the dragon corps, in particular was fun — I'm also very grateful for the standalone content. In particular, The Long Way Round, the last story in the collection, looks like it's the promised 'sneak peek' at the next series, and I'll now be keeping an eye out for that. The premise is a woman and her younger brother attempting to sail across The Empty — the big sea nobody has ever crossed — initially in an attempt to foil another island's chokehold on trading but then for...other reasons (i.e. wizard did it. It's always a damned wizard). Tess is a great character and her relationships with her community are still only at sketch stage, but the lines are vital enough that you can see it pretty clearly. And they voyage of the Blue, a ship designed for long-distance sailng by her brother, is compelling. As is the society itself — Tess's home island is governed by lords who seem at first glance very far distant — but as the tale progresses, we learn more of the lords and their wizards, where they came from and how they manage their affairs and so on. The other islands are likewise sketches at this stage but, again, they feel real enough and I'm guessing lords, wizards and islands alike will be fleshed out plenty in the novel(s).
Seven is another favourite. I've seen this one before, in Unfettered III. I won't normally guess at an author's intent or anythign but this felt a lot like ruminating on how much you give to your art — do you really have to suffer to be a great artist? Can great art come from practicality? Who can create great art, who gets to keep the gate?
Something about Seven Years From Home reminds me of Mary Gentle's Golden Witchbreed — they're not the same, truly, but they both give the same sense of being in a truly alien culture, and ruminations on what bringing in the larger outside society means to the smaller one.
Overall I enjoyed Buried Deep and Other Stories. The stories have pretty good reach across genres and Novik's writing is always rich with detail without being overloaded.
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
5.0
Short, and very definitely sweet in usual T Kingfisher style, turning Sleeping Beauty on its head.