Alexander started reading The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
The story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating results of the …
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27% complete! Alexander has read 11 of 40 books.
The story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating results of the …
In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods are …
The Books of Jacob (Polish: Księgi Jakubowe) is an epic historical novel by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in …
The Books of Jacob (Polish: Księgi Jakubowe) is an epic historical novel by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in …
Après huit ans passés en Inde, et cinq en France, Silki s'est intéressée à la question du racisme ordinaire qu'elle …
Un manuscrito robado de un monasterio; la vieja mansión de piedra de una dinastía de comerciantes marítimos que probablemente esté …
dental treatment 1820 [first day doctor] extracted from me very well the farmost low tooth... a very small portion of the jaw bone came with it [fourth day] good deal of pain from the upper and lower jaw... that side of my face much swelled. [the doctor] ordered 6 leeches to be applied immediately... same evening the leech-woman came...6 leeches thought of gargling with vinegard and water... relieved me exceedingly [fifth day] gargled with vinegard... [doctor] surprised to find me so much better than he expected. said not a word of the gargle.
— The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister, Vol 1 by Anne Lister, Helena Whitbread (Page 143 - 144)
The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather’s …
When this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of …
Goodness gracious, what a read. Let me start by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really strong entry into the trilogy as well as a very good story in and of itself. However what stood out to me the most was its very unique structure. Many aspects of this book were solidly YA. The characters were written very YA, the relationships were extremely YA, and the story beats (girl has to prove herself to get into school against all odds, girl has to prove herself at school against all odds, girl has to prove herself in battle against all odds, etc.) This was most prominent in the first third of the book, to the extent that I was convinced that the book had been mislabeled as 'Adult fantasy'. And it was these aspects of the book that were my least favorite. I felt that …
Goodness gracious, what a read. Let me start by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a really strong entry into the trilogy as well as a very good story in and of itself. However what stood out to me the most was its very unique structure. Many aspects of this book were solidly YA. The characters were written very YA, the relationships were extremely YA, and the story beats (girl has to prove herself to get into school against all odds, girl has to prove herself at school against all odds, girl has to prove herself in battle against all odds, etc.) This was most prominent in the first third of the book, to the extent that I was convinced that the book had been mislabeled as 'Adult fantasy'. And it was these aspects of the book that were my least favorite. I felt that the characters were fairly flat and the story beats were predictable.
But in the last 2/3rds of the book (mainly the last third) the story took a HEAVY dark turn. I mean a near genre shift to hard grimdark. I really commend the author for her incredibly gritty and realistic depiction of the horrors of war because this was extremely brutal. The lighthearted cast of kid characters we grew to know were put through horrific, cruel encounters and completely traumatized, if not graphically slaughtered outright. The main character's "chosen girl" qualities were quickly overshadowed by her poor childlike decisions. But this was not frustrating because she is literally a child making decisions one would expect a child to make. Again, the author expertly crafted a realistic narrative for how children would act in traumatic circumstances. While I never felt that the characters met the level of 'well-developed' the decisions that they made did feel authentic.
The pacing of the story was okay, often times rapidly moving through story points in a few pages, other times lingering on details for just as long. I'd love to see improvements in character development and pacing in the subsequent books, but I'm really excited to continue this story.
A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of …