27 Feb 2011

Review: The Habitation of the Blessed

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The Habitation of the Blessed (A Dirge for Prester John, #1)The Habitation of the Blessed by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yet another wonderful read from Catherynne Valente, this time the first volume of a trilogy dedicated to the mythical Prester John, fabled king of the three Indies. Once more Valente recounts the story through the words of many characters: John, the befuddled but not so innocent priest; Hagia, the blemmye and his future wife; Imtithal, the panoti, who told tales to three children in a … (Read more)

22 Jan 2011

I reject your fantasy and substitute my own

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A few months ago someone suggested to me to read Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker, as it was available online for free on his website. The novel was pretty good, nothing to remember in the centuries to come but a nice high-fantasy based about a peculiar magic system and that reads very easily. I liked it enough that I decided to dish out some money to buy his next book, The way of kings, which is now sitting on my … (Read more)

22 Dec 2010

Review: Fair Play

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Fair PlayFair Play by Tove Jansson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A different way of looking at love, through the small and normal things, the little idiosyncrasies, difficulties and compromises of a relationship between two older, temperamental persons. Though at the beginning of the book the relationship between Mari and Jonna might appear strangely detached, it doesn’t take much to understand the complexity and the unseen between the words and to warm up to their rapport.

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20 Dec 2010

Life Flashes By

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Weeks later from when I actually promised I would, here I am writing a review of Life Flashes By, Deirdra Kiai’s latest and possibly most ambitious game to date.

I played it through as soon as it was released and I admit that, even though I liked it, I didn’t feel completely blown out. Since it is a very particular kind of game, I waited until I could play it a second time and see whether the problem was … (Read more)

20 Dec 2010

You should believe in your frakking song

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So, since I don’t watch Glee and I rarely listen to the radio, I found out only the other day that Cee Lo Green’s “Fuck you!” has a pg-13 version under the more subdued title of “Forget you”; they call it a ‘radio edit’ but, where a radio edit is usually edited for length, this one is just edited for language.
I’m not one who usually thinks it’s particularly interesting or challenging to put a ‘fuck’ right there in the … (Read more)

13 Nov 2010

Review: The Summer Book

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The Summer BookThe Summer Book by Tove Jansson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The wonderful story of a small child and her grandmother, living together a long summer on an isolated island, learning to know and adjust to each other. Tove Jansson’s style is, at least in this translation, short and to the point, quite matter of fact, and that oddly contributes to make this collection of short vignettes even more poetic in its simplicity.

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16 Aug 2010

Review: In the Cities of Coin and Spice

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In the Cities of Coin and Spice (The Orphan's Tales, #2)In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It always takes me forever to read through Cat Valente’s books. Maybe because I don’t really ever want them to end.

The second and last volume of the Orphan’s tales is identical in structure to its predecessor but different in its tales: the stories seem to lose their ‘high adventure’ quality to become more personal, intimate, dirtier, and the sense of loss permeates … (Read more)

28 Jun 2010

Review: Fragile Things

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Fragile Things: Short Fictions and WondersFragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Collections are difficult beasts to handle, especially when they bring together material that ranges from the very short to the novella, touching different genres and subgenres, often out of the original context they were written for.
It is easy, when rating such a book on the whole, to base yourself on the parts you didn’t like rather than the bits you liked – and there … (Read more)

15 Jun 2010

Review: In the Night Garden

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In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1)In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stories within stories like matryoshka dolls, intertwined within a complex tapestry. The tales of the titular orphan will bring you into a world of fantasy and wonders, perils and mysteries, witches and wizards, monsters and princes, heroes and sailors, saints and stars. Cat Valente at her best.

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