A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
A Conjuring of Light was going to go one of two ways; either it would live up to the promise of A Darker Shade of Magic or fall into the same traps of cliche and loose plotting that caught its predecessor, A Gathering of Shadows. Disappointingly it was the latter. All of the basic bones of a really good story were there but Schwab seemed to keep getting distracted, adding in chapters from perspectives of characters I frankly didn’t care about and who hadn’t played a major role in earlier books (sorry Emira, it’s way too late for you to try to be interesting), flashing back to events that happened before the series even started and didn’t really have any impact on what was happening in the present (you cannot make me give a shit about Holland and his woobie backstory) and tossing in chunks of political intrigue that distracted from the central plot (all the assassination stuff made no sense). Don’t even get me started on the deus ex machina/fetch quest combo that did eventually save the day but suffice to say if your heroes defeating the bad guy hinges on a random magical item of profoundly hazy origins that we are hearing about for the first time two thirds of the way through the final book in a trilogy, it just feels like lazy plotting. The real thing that ruined this book for me though is the character of Delilah Bard. As much as I hate shitting on a female character and slinging around accusations of Mary Sue Syndrome, I hate characters who exist more or less entirely to say allegedly bad ass quips and do profoundly stupid things due to their seriously overinflated sense of confidence more. Shades of Magic, I gave you a fair shake but you’re definitely not for me.
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Dolly Alderton is an author who I feel like is known for her specific insight into young women and their romantic relationships, so I was intrigued to see that she’d be stepping out of her comfort zone for her latest novel, which is told from the male perspective. Our protagonist is Andy, a struggling stand-up comedian in his early thirties who has just been dumped by Jen, the woman he thought was the love of his life. Thrust out into the cold of singledom, Andy finds himself spiralling into obsession as he tries to understand why Jen broke up with him so suddenly. This book was a witty and empathetic exploration of modern masculinity and the ways in which it can leave men feeling empty and lost without female support. The pathos of Andy’s emotional journey was well-balanced by some truly spectacularly cringeworthy bathos that kept the novel light and readable. I must say though, the last fifth of the book when Jen takes back the mic and gives us some insight into her mindset and why she really broke up with Andy was where the novel was strongest. I love that Alderton branched out to try something new and I think she was definitely successful at capturing the male perspective, but she clearly knows her strengths are in writing what she knows and she is an author who knows women incredibly well.
I’m bracing myself for torches and pitchforks because it seems like everyone on the internet is in love with this book but it is definitely not for me. On the surface, Fourth Wing is a pretty standard romantasy novel starring Violet Sorrengail, a fragile little lady who just wanted to grow up to be a scribe but because her mum wants her to die I guess (?) she’s told she has to go to a school with a very high fatality rate to learn to ride dragons and fight on the front line of a war instead. It’s not just that the central romance is cliched and you can spot the alleged plot twists coming from a mile away (who would have ever guessed she’d fall in love with the incredibly attractive man who she’s been told to stay away from? And that maybe is not all that it seems with the war that senior leadership are constantly lying about?), it’s that the fantasy world-building is just shite. What time period is this meant to be taking place in? There’s no modern medicine but characters refer to indoor plumbing and playgrounds? Can Yarros please take five minutes to give some indication of how this world became the way it was? But maybe I should be careful what I wish for because when exposition did happen, it felt beyond clumsy (though to be fair, who among us hasn’t started reciting the history of our country in stressful situations? I know when I’m faced with a problem the first thing I do is check I can remember who the Prime Minister is and identify Britain’s biggest trading partners!). And what we do know doesn’t make any sense! You’re at war and in desperate need of dragon riders but you won’t stop encouraging all of your dragon riders to kill each other? Even when they’ve done the hard bit and actually been bonded to a dragon? And you’ve potentially invested years in training them? Someone needs to call the leadership of this army and institute a more effective staffing strategy. Last but not least, the dragons. I love me a dragon. No matter what fantasy world you’re living in, dragon’s are always mysterious, powerful and profoundly magical and so I was intrigued by the premise of dragons who are bonded to human riders. But tragically, two things let the dragons in this book down. The first was the fact that our heroine gets not one, but two, bonded dragons because she’s just so gosh darn super special but I felt this really degraded the idea of dragons and their human having a deep and special connection. The second was the way the dragons ‘talked’. As I said, I’m used to dragons being powerful and magical so imagine my disappointment when they finally started speaking in Violet’s head and started making sassy little quips. There was no danger, no sense of awe and the dragons just lost all sense of mystique for me. For me, this book was style over substance, a decent idea with terrible execution, and I will die on this hill.
Boys & Sex does exactly what it says on the tin. Author Peggy Orenstein interviewed hundreds of young men from across the United States to understand their perceptions of masculinity, sex and intimacy. This is a truly eye-opening piece of non-fiction which shines a light on a range of difficult to discuss topics from ‘locker-room banter’ to hook-up culture and consent to pornography to emotional vulnerability. I was amazed at how open and candid Orenstein’s subjects were with her and how eager they were to have these conversations. Overwhelmingly I was left with the feeling that boys were being failed by the conventional assumption that they don’t want to discuss their feelings and only want to have sex with no intimacy attached. These young men were crying out for someone to help them understand their emotional needs in a non-toxic way and my heart went out to them. This book is an incredible advertisement for the importance of sex and relationship education and the better world that we could build if we were just open and honest with young people about sex, love and intimacy. This is a must read for anyone looking to better understand a young man in their life.
Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
Naturally having found Boys & Sex so enlightening, I had to turn to Girls & Sex next to get the full picture. Here as well Orenstein has interviewed young women from across the United States, looking to understand their attitudes to sex and desire. You won’t be surprised to know that the focus here winds up being different to that of the young men, with a strong emphasis on the ways in which young women are sexualised from an early age. What I found most remarkable about this book was the revelation that most women tend to measure how ‘good’ sex is by how much their partner enjoys it and by how desirable they feel rather than whether or not they’re actually experiencing desire or pleasure themselves. A truly stunning number of these girls seemed baffled by the idea that sex should feel good to them and their pleasure should be a priority for their sexual partners. Funnily enough though, this didn’t apply when Orenstein interviewed young queer women! Once again, this book is a compelling argument for young people receiving detailed sex and relationship education that centres on respect for your partner and actual pleasure rather than just the mechanics of putting a condom on a banana. A compelling read for anyone looking to better understand the world of female sexuality – be it your own or that of someone you love.
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
In my quest to read all the Discworld novels in order, I have been waiting with bated breath for the introduction of the witches, my favourite characters in the series. As always, Granny Weatherwax does not disappoint! In Equal Rites, she is a mentor to Esk, a young woman who has accidentally inherited the abilities of a powerful wizard. Now in the Discworld, witchcraft and wizardry are two quite distinct disciplines, with witchcraft focusing on practical applications of magic to the real world and is practiced exclusively by women, and wizardry being much more about the theoretical and intellectual study of magic and is practiced exclusively by men. So naturally, a female wizard is causing quite a lot of problems and confusion. But with Granny Weatherwax to escort her to the Unseen University, the centre of learning for all wizards, how could Esk possibly put a foot wrong? Er quite a lot of ways actually but as ever the joy of Pratchett is the journey rather than the destination and watching him cheerfully skewer both fantasy and gender stereotypes was an absolute pleasure.
Death Valley by Melissa Broder
Melissa Broder novels may not be for everyone but they are definitely for me. If you’re looking for a novel that is simultaneously a profound meditation on grief, sickness and what it means to love and care for someone, a darkly funny psychedelic vision quest through a mystical cactus and a passionate love letter to Best Western and its employees then this is the (only) book for you. Is this book absolute bonkers? Yes. But is it emotionally true and meaningful? Also yes. Surrender to the cactus and go along for the ride.
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
Sometimes you read a description of a novel and you feel like it was written for you so huge thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for giving me an ARC of this book. It takes place in the aftermath of the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily in 412 BCE, when thousands of Athenian soldiers were held captive in the island’s quarries and left to die. Lampo and Gelon are two local men, best friends with not much going for them since the pottery factory they were employed in was destroyed during the war. However, Gelon is a passionate fan of Athenian tragedy and so they spend their days going down to the quarry and offering scraps of food to any Athenian who can recite a few lines of Euripides. Eventually an idea takes shape, why not use the Athenian prisoners to stage a real Athenian tragedy in Sicily? Can hate be put aside for a communal experience of emotion and art? Glorious Exploits is a highly original whirlwind of a novel that deals with themes of war, grief, divinity and slavery while still being hysterically (in the original sense of the word) funny and cathartic. For me it truly captures the essence of ancient tragedy, the devastation and the ecstasy, the hope and the audacity, the knowing how it will end and praying it will end differently. Whether you’re a hardcore Euripides fangirl like me or you’re new to ancient tragedy or you just like a really bloody good story, this is for you.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood is a classic coming of age novel set in 1960s Tokyo. Our protagonist, Toru, a quiet and self-contained university student, is torn between two very different young women. Naoko is the beautiful, troubled and otherworldly girlfriend of his childhood best friend who died by suicide when they were teens. While Toru is passionately devoted to her, her fragile mental health requires to convalesce in a specialised facility that lets her live a life of near perfect tranquility. Although he visits her when he can and writes to her often, he cannot help but be drawn to Midori, a fellow student. Midori is chaotic, loud, brash and dealing with her grief for her recently deceased mother while caring for her extreme ill father and running her family bookstore. While Naoko is like a perfect work of art frozen behind glass, always beautiful but never growing or changing, Midori is real and present and messy. As Toru grows from a child into a man, he must reckon with what it means to truly love someone and to truly live. A gorgeous, ethereal novel that can feel bleak at times but ultimately shines with a passionate lust for life.
Thank you to Netgalley and Fourth estate for this ARC. Teddy is propulsive page-turner about a woman on the edge of reason in 1960s Rome. A Texas socialite with a past shadier than she’s willing to admit to, Teddy is thrilled when she finally meets a man willing to propose. Sure her new husband seems like a bit of a stick in the mud, but his work for the State Department will take her to the glamorous heart of the Eternal City, where she can finally leave her past behind and be the ideal version of herself, a perfect diplomat’s wife. This lasts about five minutes. Desperate to stop her shiny new life shattering into pieces, Teddy must reckon with Russian spies, sleazy politicians and sneaky paparazzi all while keeping up appearances with a husband who she doesn’t know nearly as well as she thought. This is a perfect holiday read that combines the excitement and charm of the Cinecittà with the uneasy tension of a woman trying to cram herself into the narrow box of respectability for women in the 1960s.
Kindled Spirits 