Books read in the second half of November
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Children's book. Morrigan Crow is officially a cursed child, to blame - or, at least, blamed for - everything bad that happens in her city. She is doomed to die at midnight on the last day of the current Age, which arrives on her eleventh birthday. As her dreadful father and step-mother talk openly about how wonderful life will be after her death, along comes a colourful man called Jupiter North, who helps Morrigan escape to the magical city of Nevermoor, where he sponsors her as a candidate for the prestigious Wundrous Society. But entry is hotly contested, and to get in, Morrigan must undergo four difficult tests. All the other candidates have a Knack - an amazing gift or talent - but Morrigan is fairly sure that she is at worst cursed, and at best, entirely ordinary. Meanwhile, there is alarming talk about the return of the dreaded Wundersmith…
I enjoyed this. Everyone's comparing it to Harry Potter, but I got something of a Diana Wynne Jones vibe at first, though some later parts felt a bit Roald Dahlish with its parade of eccentrics and all the quirky, magical details of the world. The trials of the title are all over fairly quickly, with weeks, even months, between them, so there's a certain episodic lack of focus to the plot at times. But, still, I did enjoy it - not perhaps quite as much as I'd thought I would from the opening chapters, but quite a lot. As the title suggests, there will be a sequel. I will definitely be reading it.
Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell
YA fantasy. Sequel to Spellslinger, which I read and reviewed in May. This is set in a desert, mixing an Arabian sort of vibe with the Wild West. Kellen, the narrator, is now an outlaw, but is proving as rubbish at outlawry as he was at magic. While travelling with his mentor and a talking squirrel-cat with attitude, he meets a blindfolded girl who isn't blind. This leads to Revelations and an advancement of the as yet unfinished ongoing plot, of dark deeds and dark magics and betrayals and skullduggery.
Although I'd already managed to forget many of the details of the first book - how can I forget books so quickly? - I enjoyed this. There's a chatty sense of humour to the first person narrative voice which makes it very readable. Plus, I like the squirrel-cat.
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
As the result of two periods of rapid rises a few generations ago, sea levels in 2140 are 50 feet higher than they are now. Obviously the challenges of such a rise have been immense, but in cities like New York, life has settled down into a new normal. This is not really post-Apocalyptic literature, but a story of daily life in an altered world, with particular emphasis on the intertidal zone - the large part of Manhattan that is now legally classed as "seashore." The book follows a collection of characters who all live in the same building. It's triggered by the disappearance of a couple of computer whizzes, and brings in sunken treasure, property law, stock market bubbles and a hurricane, althought it hasn't really got that much a plot, as such, so it's quite hard to describe.
I liked the world-building, but got increasingly bored as the book went on. It really is several hundred pages too long, I felt. Although it focuses on all these different characters, most of them never felt that fleshed out. The author also has a very clear axe to grind about unregulated capitalism, which rather took over from any attempt to have an actual plot. So, all in all, the world-building was great, but it's a shame the author didn't have any actual plot to put into it. Could make an interesting setting for a roleplaying game, though…
Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
First book in a long fantasy series, The Shadow of the Apt, about races of humans who all have an affiliation to - and some similarities with - a type of insect. I've been well over a week on this book, and still not finished it. This is mostly because I've been really tired lately - too many big birthday dinners and late nights - which has seriously reduced my reading time, given that most of my reading is done in bed after waking up bright and early in the morning. Had I found the book more gripping, I expect I'd have read it faster, despite the tiredness, though. I don't dislike it, though, and am as yet undecided about whether to carry on with the rest of the series. It's a LONG series, after all. On the other hand, there's a certain comfort to be derived from having a long series on the go, since you know where your next book is coming from, and don't have to agonise over what to read next. So, anyway, I'll say more next month, when I - finally - finish this book.