Reviews and Comments

I quite enjoy Holmes-inspired variations, so I was curious about this one (first of a trilogy) by a new-to-me author.

A House of Mirrors comes across as an introduction to a rather different version of “Mrs Hudson” than most. Nell is in fact young. Presenting herself as a widow serves to cover up at least one mystery from her past. Unsurprisingly, given that her husband was a policeman, her investigations intertwine with Holmes’ work. In parallel, their relationship develops.

I found the plot quite interesting, though perhaps implausibly convoluted. There’s a dual timeline between the present and a few years previously, so we learn about Nell’s previous life.

Although I’m not a big Holmes purist, the personalities/behaviour of named characters differed from canon to such an extent that I felt the book might have worked better without the Holmes connection, and simply as a “Victorian mystery”.

Perhaps because the characters were so different, I didn’t find myself especially invested in them, other than shaking my head at just how much Nell was gaslit or didn’t notice oddities - especially as she was working as a sort of police analyst. The story ends on a hopeful note, and clearly there is more to come.

Overall, an entertaining historical mystery to start off a series.

I haven’t previously read anything by this author and picked up Awakenings as part of a cosy fantasy Storybundle. It’s an introductory novella in what I see is planned as a 9-part series.

We experience the story through the perspective of Horace, who is good-hearted and trying to find eir place in the world (both metaphorically and physically/socially). Although Horace has moments of uncertainty and send-guessing emselves, I liked that e didn’t wallow in continuous angst. E did feel a bit passive in terms of decision making, being more “moved” to act by gut feeling, instinct or someone/something else rather than explicit thought. That can make me feel that the plot rather than character is making the decisions, so to say.

I liked the found family elements and the generally cosy feel. There were also curious dangers to encounter. The language was on the ornate side for my tastes which I felt slowed things down (but see most of my previous reviews for similar thoughts…) Various worldbuilding elements were introduced, which I expect will feature more in the sequels. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more indication what was going on in terms of the wider world. If there were clues presented, but Horace didn’t pick up on them, they were also too subtle for me to see.

Overall, an engaging introduction to a new fantasy series.

I haven’t previously read anything by this author. Although this is the second book in a trilogy, I didn’t have any problem starting here.

Overall, I enjoyed the read. I’m not generally a fan of first person, present tense, but it worked well. Perhaps it’s because the narrator is a goddess (Aphrodite), so she’s allowed to be distant from the immediate action as well as somewhat omniscient. She does use modern colloqualisms, which I found tolerable. The main linguistic item I got twitchy about was the frequent use of “barked”.

Be aware the story is (presumably) not intended to be true to canon. It’s best approached as a re-imagining or extra/interpolation inspired by sources such as The Iliad, The Odyssey and the Oresteia. I liked the intrigue. I especially enjoyed the awkward alliances between parties who you’d normally expect to be at odds with each other. There was a clear sense of Penelope having to make do with what she had.

The characters were distinctive, including ones who are usually overlooked in the canon texts. Through this re-imagining we got to see eg the maids and the suitors through quite a different lens from the conventional. Menelaos remains odious. Helen’s relationship with him and the other Spartans has interesting nuances. Even though the emphasis is on the women (sneaking around under the brutish, oblivious men’s noses), I found Laertes a hoot.

I read Needle and its sequel way back when I was a teenager, but haven’t read any other Hal Clement since. Mission of Gravity has an interesting premise. Since I don’t have much “physics” background, I wasn’t sure how much I’d be able to appreciate the science.

Although the book is short, it took me a couple of weeks to read, on and off, which is very unlike me for books that I don’t abandon. I think it was because the plot (exploration/journey to find a sort-of-McGuffin) was so non-compelling and meandering: really, just a background to explore the science. I wasn’t especially curious about the outcome, nor worried about any of the characters. Both humans and Mesklinites were there to discover explain things to each other. Perils were technical rather than due to clashes of personality or culture.

This novel is essentially a string of thought experiments working through what might happen on such a planet as the author envisages. If you go in with those expectations, you won’t be disappointed.

I enjoyed the early books in both Alpha and Omega and the Mercy Thompson series. But I’ve found myself less enthusiastic about the later ones. Perhaps they suffer from the plot inflation that can creep up in long series: bigger badder monsters! world even more at risk than before! escalating personal drama!

Unfortunately, Wild Sign wasn’t a satisfying read although I did finish it. It felt like it was paying fan service to a selection of prior characters, by having them make cameo appearances (or mentions) and manifest some hitherto-unknown abilities/backstory/motivations etc. Frankly, the whole thing felt jumbled. The plot points felt like recycled ones. And as other reviews have mentioned, why does sexual abuse trauma need to feature so heavily? I shouldn’t be sitting here thinking, “Here we go again. Boooring.”

I picked this book up a few years after it was released rather than straight away, and I don’t see that trend changing.

I’ve read quite a few of Foster’s books over the years. This one has a very similar flavour to his “Journeys of the Catechist” trilogy. The story covers a journey towards a simply defined objective, meeting characters, creatures and cultures along the way. There’s an episodic feel with a mild sense of curiosity about what odd thing will happen next along the pre-ordained path. However, I don’t get much sense of each element building on the previous ones, and the “challenges” could be interchanged or omitted without detriment. Despite quite a lot of gore and guts, there was little tension.

Madrenga doesn’t strike me much as a personality. He’s simply the character who experiences the journey rather passively. He literally grows as the story progresses (as do his companions), but he doesn’t seem to learn from experience. I found myself rolling my eyes more than once. For someone with supposed street smarts from growing up in poverty, he loses his caution far too often and too easily, in a very telegraphed (belaboured by the author) way.

Still, a fun read as long as you don’t expect a thought-provoking tale that will linger.