thefussyreader's reviews
494 reviews

This book got off to a promise start and would have been a strong 4 stars if it had only reached its fullest potential. This is one of those books that has everything going for it except the execution. It could have been so, so fantastic judging by the synopsis alone, but unfortunately it felt somewhat slow. It didn't have a big enough impact quick enough.

Setting
Washington DC during the 1920's. I do enjoy a good 20's story, especially if it involves gangs *cough-Peaky Blinders-cough* (can you tell I'm a big fan? ;p)

The 20's was such an extravagant and indulgent time (Gatsby? What Gatsby?) and simply divine to read about. This book doesn't focus a whole lot on the time period and the feel of the 20's is lost a little, unfortunately. It lacks the ostentatiousness of the 20's, which could have created such an outrageous, sordid, delicious atmosphere.

Characters
Joan wasn't particularly remarkable, but she had motives, which is more than most YA heroines have. Her only goal is to provide for her family and see that the rent payments of their cabin are made each month. She harbours a morbid secret and a guilty conscious, giving another dimension to her character.

I perhaps found it all a little too convenient that, considering she was the least skilled sorcerer there having never practiced magic before, that suddenly she was the most powerful sorcerer in the whole story. I get that she practiced a lot, but a few months of practice shouldn't surely make much difference when all the other sorcerers were older and had years of experience behind them.

Alex was actually my least favourite character. He also had plenty of reasons to be doing the things that he was doing, but somehow he felt a little two-dimensional. I don't know what it was about him, but I really didn't take to him all that much, and never understood him as Joan's romantic interest.

I know Gunn was the bad guy, but I really liked him. Not even sorry.

Plot
This had such an interesting plot line. Marketed as Peaky Blinders meets the Night Circus, I was naturally drawn in (mostly by the Peaky Blinders part) I love anything involving gangs, antiheroes and unreliable narrators so I went into this expecting those things.

Set in DC in the 20's during Americas prohibition in an alternative world where alcohol is legal but magic isn't. Instead of moonshine, we have sorcerer's shine, an illegal drink brewed by sorcerers that gets the drinker high.
Joan is a powerful sorcerer but doesn't realise it, so when gangster Harrison Gunn approaches her financially struggling family with the offer of great fortune in exchange for great magic, she volunteers herself to travel to DC with him to prove herself worthy of working in his illegal magic haven, the Red Den.

Enter Alex, also a talented sorcerer and under-cover cop planted within the gang to bring down the organisation (getting real Peaky Blinders feels here) It's there that he meets Joan, and the romance dwarfs the main storyline.

This is one of those stories that didn't necessarily need a romance but has one anyway. In some cases the romance aspect adds to and builds on the storyline, however in this case I feel like the romance is actually holding the story back from reaching its full potential.
Imagine if Alex wasn't in this book; it makes me giddy just considering it. If this was purely about Joan working for Gunn's gang, getting over her head and then fighting back, I probably would have given it 5 stars. It would have given her room to grow as a character and give the story and overall dark, grittier vibe. Alex's character does nothing but suffocate Joan's and makes her appear needy. I know this is my cynical side talking, I just don't like when a romance overwhelms a great story.

This book absolutely held my full attention until about halfway through. The story was great, the pacing great, Gunn was a fascinating mystery. But then everything thing seemed to slow to a stop. Not much happened for far too long and the story started to get a little stale.

Something I really enjoyed was the gang politics. I would have liked to have seen more of that. Joan getting involved in Gunn's shine operations earlier would have been a good move, allowing us more time to explore the prospects and dangers of what she was really involved in, creating tension.

One thing I can say, I found the plot very creative, original and interesting.

Writing Style
The writing style in general was fine. I had no issue with the writing. It was actually very good. I did, however, get confused at times which chapter was which. So let me explain . . .

It's written in present tense first person (the direct opposite of what I prefer but I can deal totally deal with that). The chapters alternate between Joan and Alex, getting both their stories, but the problem was for me, I'd be reading an Alex chapter thinking it was a Joan chapter. They both read in the same way.

I strongly believe that if you're going to write in first person dual-perspective, each character needs their own voice, otherwise they become indistinguishable from each other, causing mix-ups.
Other than these mix-ups, I enjoyed the writing style.

Final Impression
I enjoyed this book, but I still stand by what I said earlier: This could have been so much better if it focused a little less on the romance. This is possibly one of those books where the idea is better than the content, but a solid 3 stars nonetheless.

I'm so glad I continued with this series. This is possibly the best one in the trilogy. I really enjoyed the first, was disappointed by the second, and then it took me forever to pick up the third. But, bugger me, what a book.

Setting
Set in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse. I've come to love this world and regard it in much the way I do Middle-Earth and Westeros, like it's a real world that begs to be explored. I would absolutely adore Leigh to write more books in this world. I feel like she hasn't even scratched the surface of what she can do and where she can go with this remarkable universe she's created. The world (fictional or otherwise) is her lobster.

Characters
I'd like to say a big congratulation to the author for making me care about every character. Between the last two books, I struggled to connect to any of them. The only two I really liked were Nikolai and the Darkling. (Yes, I like the Darkling. No I won't apologise. The Darkling is fucking amazing)

I had always found Alina whiny, a bit bratty, often reckless. She wasn't a particularly good decision maker. And as for Mal, well, I simply didn't care either way about Mal.
Somehow Leigh Bardugo has utterly changed my opinion on everyone

Alina was strong, brave, resourceful, willing to explore all options, sacrifice her own wants and wishes based on what is best for Ravka. She was likeable, she really was. Sensible and rational. (Love me a rational heroine)

Mal also redeemed himself. He was less the moody, brooding, confrontational love interest that always puts his foot in it. He was completely reasonable. He knew what was at stake and what was expected of him and he was more than ready to deliver.
Both he and Alina better reflected the depth of their situation, acting like strong, resilient adults rather than love-struck hormonal teenagers who care more about their libido than the fate of an entire country.

I also cared and worried about their entire crew, Genya, David, Zoya (what a girl), Harshaw and Oncat, Tolya, Tamar, Nadia. Even as minor characters, they just really felt like they'd come together for not only the main characters, but the story as well. Perfectly developed.

As for Nikolai and the Darkling, I still love their guts, and that will never change.
Nikolai seriously needs his own spin-off series; preferably involving Nina from the Six of Crows duology. (please)

Plot
The fantasy version of Russia, here called Ravka is once again a war torn country as the Darkling seeks to gain control. The only one powerful enough to stop him is Alina. Alliances have been scattered and enemies are everywhere. Nikolai has been forced to flee the palace a strike back at the Darkling in secrecy however he can. Alina is hidden away deep underground, surrounded by devote followers while she recovers from her previous skirmish with the Darkling.

She wasn't strong enough to beat him then, and she knows the only way she can is with the final amplifier, the Firebird. When her strength is recovered, she goes on a journey across Ravka in search of this legendary bird that can give her the power to defeat the Darkling. But when she discovers the truth behind the mysterious and ancient work of Morozova, she'll wish she hadn't.

The plot is pretty fast-paced. The beginning bit in the White Cathedral dragged a little for me, but only because I was desperate to see some Nikolai and Darkling (swoon), but despite that, I was utterly sucked into this story and I'm feeling pretty deflated it's over now.

Writing Style
The writing feels like a step up. Not as good as the writing in Six of Crows, but that is superior writing and it's hard to compare anything to that. And as Leigh wrote the Grisha trilogy before Six of Crows, it's understandable.

Leigh Bardugo is a damn good story teller. It's engaging, it's exciting and it's so easy to get lost in the flow of her words. Descriptions are immersive and expertly placed, so the story never feels silted up with prose, but you can still visualise every location with beautiful clarity.
Job well done.

Final Impression
Really enjoyed this, and the ending was a surprise to me. Having read the Six of Crows duology before reading Ruin and Rising, I believed I had spoiled this ending for myself, but had fully accepted how I thought it would end. So when it didn't end the way I thought, I was shocked and thrilled.

A perfect ending that's left me feeling oddly both satisfied and hungry for more.
We really, really, really need more Grisha books. Please keep 'em coming, Leigh.

I haven't seen the film adaptation for this, so I went into it without any preconceived expectations or judgements. I do know certain things were changed in the film and that pissed off a lot of fans.
I enjoyed this book. Was it incredible? Not particularly. But was it a fun little adventure with an engaging and original plot? Yeah, sure it was.

Setting
Set simultaneously in modern day and the 1940's. This is such a cool concept, that Jacob can jump between the different times. In the world of the peculiar children, it is forever 3rd September, each day resetting itself and replaying the day's events over and over. The children can do whatever they want. It doesn't matter because the loop will reset and the village people won't remember a thing the next day.

Characters
This has a great cast of characters. Emma was feisty and ballsy and I like that in female characters. Millard was probably my favourite. I don't know why, or what it was about him exactly, I just really took a liking to him.

Jacob was probably the most difficult one for me to like, if I'm honest. There were times when he came across as rude, and I don't like rude. I also found him annoyingly bratty in the beginning. He's a born rich kid who'll never have to work a day in his life, but moans like buggery cause his parents make in work for the family company (which he'll be running one day) and all he spends his days doing is trying to get fired (which will never happen cause it's a family business)

Poor little Jacob, precious little Jacob. Give me a break. Perhaps his parents made him work in the shop to teach him the value of hard work and actually earning money, not to mention taking responsibility and acting like an adult. Just saying . .

Now, Jacob's dad.

Spoiler

It seemed out of character and all too convenient when he started shouting at Jacob at the end of the book, making his decision to leave an easier one to make. I never got the impression that Jacob had a particularly bad home life.

Let's review the facts: His mum is materialistic; Okay, she's rich, she can afford to be. His dad is a flake and can't seem to finish a single project he starts; but yet again, they're rich, so he can afford to flit about wasting time and daydreaming about birds. But despite these factors, I believed that they loved their son. Their relationship wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it certainly wasn't broken enough for him to completely abandon his life so quickly, uncaring that there's a chance he'll never see them again, and uncaring that his parents will possibly have to live the rest of their lives never knowing what happened to their son. And imagine the guilt his dad will feel the next day when he wakes up and realises Jacob has gone.

Jacob's just a bit of a selfish dick is all.

Plot
It's so hard to find an original storyline these days, but interestingly this is one of those. It was quite refreshing to read a book and not have any idea where it was going or what would happen.

Jacob is an American boy with a badass Polish grandad (this gives me such feels already as I had a Polish grandad) His grandad is the one person he's closet to and the one he admires and adores. Then something happens to his grandad, and it's while Jacob is going through his things that he discovers that all the 'fairy stories' he told him as a boy might be true after all.

In an attempt to glean the truth of those stories, Jacob and his bird-watching dad travel to the Welsh island on which his grandad grew up on during the war. And soon Jacob learns a little more than he bargained for.

I loved the peculiar children and the time loop idea, but exploring that further, I really loved how the children could never leave the time loop, else their real ages would catch up with them and they'd start to grow old. A very creative and interesting twist, that.
I understood everything, except maybe the whole ymbyrne thing. I know they manipulate time and stuff, but I don't get why. Was that explained and I just missed it? Why can ymbryne turn into birds?

Writing Style
The pacing in this book is great. It read so quickly and I never felt bored with it. If it was longer, I might have, but this was a perfect length for the style and pacing it had. Very easy to read without reading too much like a kids book. Some of the words and language used suggests it's aimed at the slightly older side of YA, which is great. I hate when books are dumbed down.
The flow was also great, as was the dialogue and the slang. Being English, I enjoyed the British language used and how Jacob occasionally didn't know what certain phrases meant.
Couldn't fault the writing at all.

A huge part of this book's style is the pictures. When I picked this up in the shop and flicked through, I was immediately intrigued by the creepy black and white photos inserted throughout. I was almost certain this was going to be dark and unusual and jumped it up my TBR cause I was so interested.

Though the pictures are strange and at times a little disturbing and macabre, the book, unfortunately isn't. The pictures make it creepier than it is. Without them, I think the book would be lacking that je ne sais quoi that makes this book so popular and different.
Some pictures fit the story really well, and then others seemed so random that it was almost like the author wrote them into the storyline simply because he liked the photo. This somewhat pulled me from the story a bit, making it feel a little messy and unnecessary. Just because it's a cool photo , that doesn't mean it needs to be written into the story.

Final Impression
This was pretty good. I definitely think I'll give the next one a go. A very easy and fun read which didn't take me long at all. I'm quite interested to see how it continues, but think I would have enjoyed it more if it had that darker, creepier vibe that the photos suggest.

Informative little book with all of Britain's major historical events explained. It's so easy to read and squeeze in a page or two between jobs. Brief and to the point.
This is just what I was looking for. I love history and learning the main and important facts, but sometimes I don't want to get too bogged down in a 400 page history book about a single event. Some topics interest me more than others, and I have plenty of history books on those subjects, so having history in 'bite-sized chunks' is perfect for me. Whether it's a historical event that fascinates me or not, I still want to learn about it and know the facts.

In this book, each event is a page long starting with the Roman Invasion of Britain, and ending with the formation of the United Nations.
I would certainly recommend this to someone who wants to learn but doesn't have time to read it all separately, or someone who is new to non-fiction history and wants a place to start.

So by now it's no secret that Neil Gaiman is a multitalented writer. His voice and style lends itself to any genre he takes on. It seems he has a distinct style of not having a distinct style, and what I basically mean by that is he can write anything and each piece of work will feel diverse and different from his last whilst somehow still maintaining that quintessential Gaiman feel.

Norse Mythology is a prime example of this. It feels like a Gaiman book, but reads like tales and myths from the fireside of a Viking's hall. You feel like you could be sitting there with a horn of mead while a long-bearded Norseman regales you in the rich history and folklore of his country.

Gaiman has perfectly captured the feeling and atmosphere of these stories and this culture. Not every Norse myth has been included, but others that I haven't read before were, so I enjoyed hearing stories unknown to me as well as hearing a different take on the more popular and well known ones.

(I noticed I wrote hearing instead of reading and decided not to change it. For me, it really did read like I was been told the stories firsthand from an ancient native.)

Most of the stories in here are short so this is an easy one to dip in and out of if you need something quick, and one that doesn't require undivided attention and concentration. It reads quickly too. The writing style itself is basic, nothing to fancy and flowery. If you want prose, choose something else. This book is blunt and to the point, and doesn't waste page space with idle details.

As for the Gods themselves, well, I'd take them with a pinch of salt. They are brave and strong and noble, but also stupid and gullible, and also cruel and selfish. They're a dubious bunch to be sure. They are everything that makes up the human race, and I think that's the point. Here is set of people that are far from human, but more human and more flawed than anyone you could meet.

An easy enjoyable read and a must for anyone interested in the Norse myths.

Jonas Jonasson has a knack for this, he really does. I picked this up having read The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared last year, and absolutely loved it. I was banking on Hitman Ander and the Meaning of it All to be of a similar ilk to the former. And it didn't disappoint in that respect.

Characters
One of the things I love about Jonasson's books is the bizarre cast of characters, all so different yet all accepting of how different they are. I love these ideas he has of a small group of unlikely companions teaming up for some mutually beneficial outcome.

In this case we have Per Persson, the receptionist of a sleazy hotel/former brothel, Johanna Kjellander, a female priest who has no parish and who doesn't actually believe in god, and of course, Hitman Anders, the former hitman who doesn't want to kill people anymore, but who agrees breaking an arm or two for money is quite acceptable.

Each character is morally dubious but still loveable. They are well fleshed out with entire back stories told in detail, but not in a boring a way. Within the first few pages, we learn not only the details of Per Persson's life but how why his life is the way it is, dating back to his grandfather. This may sound like a boring info-dump waiting to happen, but cleverly Jonasson details Per's family history before he's even introduced, and thus we have a fully formed character who we can feel like we know and understand before he's had a chance to even open his mouth.

Johanna and Hitman Anders are also introduced in a similar way. We learn a lot about them almost immediately, yet they never feel rushed or brushed over, and all are well developed throughout the story, growing as people with one another and slowly altering each other's views on the world and the meaning of it all.

Plot
Jonasson has a way of writing snappy, farcical stories like no other author I've read. Hitman Anders, thankfully, is no different. The plot is so fast paced that we reach the main story arc within 70 pages.

Per Persson is the receptionist of a grotty hotel, formerly a brothel. He hates life and he hates the world. Then out the blue a man called Hitman Anders, fresh out of prison for murder, checks in at the Sea Point Hotel. Criminals come and go, leaving money at the reception for the hitman as payment for 'jobs'. Whilst out one afternoon, Per is approached by a suspiciously homeless looking female priest who tries to con ten kroner out of Per in exchange for a badly recited prayer.

Feeling sorry for her, Per takes her back to the hotel and gives her a room. But the priest, Johanna, is as clever as she is unbelieving of god, and when she realises there is a former hitman living in the building and an envelope containing 5,000 kroner with his name on it, she comes up with an unconventional, if not totally ingenious, business idea.

This book is divided into three parts, and each part explores different 'get rich quick' business strategies of Johanna's after the one before doesn't quite go to plan.

This is a Jonas Jonasson novel so, naturally, it contains a large suitcase of money, bad guys chasing the good guys, and a road trip across Sweden.

Writing Style
Jonasson's writing style is distinct. Nowadays I feel it's hard for authors to make their literary voice heard among so many similar voices all staying the same thing. Jonasson, however, need not worry about this. His style is so noticeable and so different to other books that if he were to change his style, I'd be bitterly disappointed, and would probably stop reading.

I'm a lover of character-driven stories, and though these characters were very entertaining, it is absolutely Jonasson's writing style that hooks me and keeps me reading. Comical, farcical, quirky and charming. There is a certain innocence in the way it reads, and despite whatever troubling situation the characters may find themselves in, there's never a sense of panic or urgency or desperation. The story is relaxed throughout and incredibly easy to read. This is also helped by the short chapter length. When the majority of the 71 chapters are three pages long, you can't help but read another, and another . . .

This book likely won't make your heart race with anticipation, but I don't think it's supposed to. Instead, it'll make you laugh, make you think, and warm your heart. The writing is definitely my favourite thing about every Jonas Jonasson book.
And can we just take a moment to appreciate how wonderful and memorable his books titles are?

Final Impression
I love Jonas Jonasson's work. He's become an author whose books I buy regardless of story or setting simply because I know I will enjoy it.

I really liked this book. Did I like it more than The Hundred Year Old Man? No, but it's hard to top a book that quickly became my favourite book of all time.
This book, however, is still very good, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Jonasson's first book.