📚torstein📚 rated Thornhedge: 3 stars
![T. Kingfisher: Thornhedge (Hardcover, 2023, Titan Books)](https://bookwyrm-social.sfo3.digitaloceanspaces.com/images/covers/ebe1c5ce-ef88-43ef-8eac-a69d8ddd3f5a.jpeg)
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.
Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she …
Too little time; sleeping when I should be reading and reading when I should sleep. Mostly English language SF/F, but I occasionally read other fare.
What it means when I rate something: ★★★★★ - This moved me in a way that changed my life. ★★★★☆ - I loved it. ★★★☆☆ - It was OK ★★☆☆☆ - Meh, it was entertaining at least ★☆☆☆☆ - Complete trash (if I dislike something, but it is well written I'd rather not give it any rating. The single star is reserved for the real trash).
Note: I have heaps of books imported from another database where the rating used was 1-6 (dice), so some books are rated higher than I would normally. I'll be adjusting stuff as I work my way thru the list of books (once I have fixed the 300 or so books that didn't import automatically :P)
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There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.
Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she …
As always, these adaptations by Tanabe Gō are a delight. In my minds eye I had a fairly fixed image of both Innsmouth and it's inhabitants, but this is now completely supplanted by Tanabe's vision.
My only complain about this Dark Horse edition is that it is too small to bring full justice to Tanabe's art.
You'd think you would be allowed to relax over Christmas, but not in the world of the Thursday Murder Club. …
Centuries in the future, Terrans have established a logging colony & military base named “New Tahiti” on a tree-covered planet …
If you enjoyed Garth Margenghi's Darkplace, the odds are that you'll like this as well. There are times the joke grows thin, but there are also some really well written and truly clever parts in this horror parody. Matthew Holness knows how to write, and somehow he makes Garth Marenghi - the fictional horror writer writing a poorly camouflaged self-insert in a series of horror novellas riffing on horror writing - an almost believable character. Marenghi comes across as a at times brilliant idiot savant (granted, less the savant, more the idiot most of the time), his writing a sort of outsider art, mainly dross, but occasionally high prose. Especially some of the parts where he weaves into Lovecraftian prose shines, but other parts are flat out bad (the end of the Third Half). But it is hard to judge such meta-literature - because I have no problems believing this …
If you enjoyed Garth Margenghi's Darkplace, the odds are that you'll like this as well. There are times the joke grows thin, but there are also some really well written and truly clever parts in this horror parody. Matthew Holness knows how to write, and somehow he makes Garth Marenghi - the fictional horror writer writing a poorly camouflaged self-insert in a series of horror novellas riffing on horror writing - an almost believable character. Marenghi comes across as a at times brilliant idiot savant (granted, less the savant, more the idiot most of the time), his writing a sort of outsider art, mainly dross, but occasionally high prose. Especially some of the parts where he weaves into Lovecraftian prose shines, but other parts are flat out bad (the end of the Third Half). But it is hard to judge such meta-literature - because I have no problems believing this is how Marenghi would write.
In sum; some good parts, some bad, some laugh out loud. It was entertaining, but the Terrortome could have - some what ironically - profited from some tighter editing. But that is also a part of the meta joke.
A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots …
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, …
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Krona and her Regulators survived their encounter with Charbon, the long-dead serial killer who returned to their city, but the …
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Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation …
From international bestseller Samit Basu, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is an exuberant new sci-fi adventure with heart that reads like …
As far as I can find out, this book is self-published by the author. And, to be blunt, this is very evident in the text. I doubt there has been any external editors involved in this book. The story isn't bad per se, but the text is riddled with mistakes, parts with very sloppy writing, inconsistencies - all things a good (or even mid) copy-editor would have noted and helped fix. One example: in the start of the book Ragnor the dragon - in his elven form, Rennyn - enjoys the novelty of the taste of ale, but it is explicitly stated he can't get intoxicated no matter how much he consumes. Later in the book this forgotten, and Rennyn is repeatedly described as being drunk. Another: distances are given in SI units, an unconventional choice given the medieval fantasy setting, and feels very jarring.
This story reads like the …
As far as I can find out, this book is self-published by the author. And, to be blunt, this is very evident in the text. I doubt there has been any external editors involved in this book. The story isn't bad per se, but the text is riddled with mistakes, parts with very sloppy writing, inconsistencies - all things a good (or even mid) copy-editor would have noted and helped fix. One example: in the start of the book Ragnor the dragon - in his elven form, Rennyn - enjoys the novelty of the taste of ale, but it is explicitly stated he can't get intoxicated no matter how much he consumes. Later in the book this forgotten, and Rennyn is repeatedly described as being drunk. Another: distances are given in SI units, an unconventional choice given the medieval fantasy setting, and feels very jarring.
This story reads like the author wrote a fanfic of their favourite table top campaign. Which would go a long way to explain some of the oddities in the story; like the bounty hunter contracts that state how big a party they are scaled for. Or the magic maps which seems to work like a modern sat-nav. Or the way the countryside is absolutely infested with bandits.
All in all, I'm loath to give this book a rating at all - it feels too much reading a first draft. The story has potential, but in dire need of an editor. Judging from Goodreads there are three more volumes planned in this series, hopefully the author will get some assistance polishing them prior to publishing.
Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to her Planetfall universe with a collection of ten short stories set before, during and …
Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A decade-old cold case leads them to …