I nearly accomplished my goal of reading all my “required” reads before Goodreads dropped their long lists. (I have only one remaining, my Buzzwordathon book. I hope to read it over Thanksgiving Break.
People often describe this book as Pride and Prejudice on the battlefield with a little magic. (Okay, so they don’t use those exact words but that’s the basic idea.) That’s definitely what you get with this book. (Before I dive further into this review, I have to acknowledge that a large part of my brain is still consumed by the tragedy of the election outcome which significantly colors my experience with reading…and everything else as well to be frank.)
The main character, Emily, lives with her older, married sister, Mary, and younger sister, Alice. Their father recently (in the past year or so) took his own life because of bad business dealings and their mother passed many years before. At the start of the book, their country has been at war for quite a while with a former ally who had killed their king and become a republican regime. Thought no one openly discusses it, Emily’s homeland is clearly losing. They’ve exhausted all volunteers (Mary’s husband was one, still currently serving at the start of the story) drafted every man they could, including the youngest brother, Frederick, and now have started drafting women. Emily now finds herself on the battle front with her brother-in-law, learning the horrific realities that the regime kept quiet for the sake of “morale.” While the story itself does not break new ground, I found myself utterly fascinated by Tchaikovsky’s skill in crafting this narrative. I have read only one other book by him, The City of Last Chances, but I could not help but notice the incredible difference. On top of that, Tchaikovsky writes prolifically including this fantastical novel of manners, gritty, fantasy in The City of Last Chances, and space opera with at least one book involving sentient spiders. (No, I will not be reading that one.) I definitely enjoyed this read, just not quite as much as I had hoped.
Emily X. R. Pan has an incredible way with words, handling the exploration of grief with tenderness and care. I also stand in awe of the way that she uses magical realism to tell this story, weaving it into the narrative effortlessly. Lee, at 16, has just lost her mother to a years long struggle with clinical depression. As part of her grieving process, she believes that her mother has turned into a bird who still communicates with Lee in an
effort to help Lee understand and to bring together broken pieces of her family. I will leave this review here because any words I add will serve only to gunk up the reading experience because my words cannot compare to Pan’s. I highly recommend this book.
It took a little while to get into this book, primarily because of some early morning sleepiness. Once I got into the book, I was hooked. It’s definitely an absurd start with a stuffy professor on his honeymoon to the Tower of Babel, loses track of his wife and ends up enveloped in an increasingly complex world of the tower with entire countries on each level as he searches for his wife. Along the way, he gathers friends and
evolves as a character due to the life and death situations he finds himself thrust into. Even though when I first started reading, I did not find myself engaged enough to continue with the series, by the end I found myself wishing that I could dive right into the sequel, restrained only by myself-imposed Goodreads Choice Awards reading challenge. Speaking of that challenge…since I will be consuming more books than normal in a shorter time frame, those reviews will not go as in depth as I would like. (At the time of writing this particular review, I still have 8 more reviews to write of the books I have read over the past 5 days.)
Wow. I knew from the start that I would hold this book in high respect. (With books of a more serious nature like this one, I purposefully avoid using the word “enjoy.”) I do not recall why I first reserved this audiobook since it has sat on my holds list for at least a couple months but I’m so glad that I followed that recommendation. I chose to read it on the 11th because the audiobook was due back in a few days and I knew that the Goodreads Choice Awards lists would
drop soon. This book is so incredibly profound. The author, Grace Elizabeth Hale tackles a tragic historic lynching case that her own grandfather took part in as the elected sheriff of this small town. At the start of the book, before she dives into the narrative, she addresses the elephant in the room, the reason that she as a white female historian chose to investigate and write about this case. I wish I remembered her exact words but running while listening to the audiobook does not led itself to quote capturing. Basically, Hale says that it is imperative that she as a white woman acknowledge the immense privilege that she carries on the back of the injustice inflicted by her own ancestors. She does not hold back from boldly revealing their racism and bigotry that led to this unjust death and participated in this highly unequal system. I highly recommend this book.
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