My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked Infidel better than the first book, possibly because the world and the characters were already established, which helped push the plot along faster and with less distractions (and trips to the dictionary). Maybe also because I got a little less squeamish about all the bug-based technology.
Being a middle book, is it true that the more things seemed to have changed, the more they stay the same. Nyx … (Read more)
Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the book where Melody comes into full as a character and is a great third instalment in the series.
The story is smaller and more familiar than the previous book, even though the plot is once again set in motion by global events (the year without a summer and subsequent famine) and touches upon class issues, prejudice, and political intrigue.
I was glad to see … (Read more)
Il canto della rivolta by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is the book where Katniss doesn’t get to do or decide anything, except wallow in a pit of self-loathing. She spends all her time doing promotional videos and sitting at the edges of the war, hating herself, worrying about Peeta and sending people away. Most of the characters from the previous books barely appear, except possibly to die. Also, at some point the plot suddenly picks … (Read more)
Manoscritto trovato a Saragozza by Jan Potocki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Un romanzo di racconti a scatole cinesi, a metà tra le Mille e una notte e il Decamerone, in cui la vicenda del protagonista è solo il filo narratore tra le storie dei vari personaggi che incontra sul suo cammino, nelle quali a loro volta vengono narrate altre storie che si ricordano e si rincorrono sempre per ripetizione, tematiche e simbologia.
L’unica pecca è che Adelphi ha … (Read more)
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
September is one year older, somewhat less heartless and definitely ready to go back to Fairyland and have a proper Adventure. Things however have changed a lot since she left: magic is leaving Fairyland along with its shadows, all because of Halloween, the Hollow Queen of Fairyland Below – her own shadow.
Once again, it’s up to September to … (Read more)
Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is not-exactly-a-prequel to Snicket’s previous A series of unfortunate events, narrated in first person by Snicket himself and set in his formative years as an apprentice to a secretive organization which we can only presume to be VFD.
Who could it be at this hour? presents itself as an ordinary mystery/detective novel, but followers of the Baudelaires’s misadventures will not be surprised … (Read more)
Un polpo alla gola by Zerocalcare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Prima storia lunga per Calcare dopo il precedente libro ‘a episodi’. Come sempre ben fatto, e risuona particolarmente bene con la generazione di cui fa parte e per cui scrive, ma alla fine della fiera mi sembra che manchi un qualcosa in più. Sarà che alcuni dei temi erano stati già trattati in precedenza, sarà il finale da ‘dietro le quinte’ a cui forse avrei preferito il mistero … (Read more)
Doctor Who: Shada by Gareth Roberts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Three stars veering towards a fourth.
This book is a late novelization of a six-parter story that Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who, but which never got fully filmed because of a strike. Since then Shada has had a troubled history and nearly as many incarnations as the Doctor: bits of it were used in The five Doctors, Adams himself recycled some of his own ideas in Dirk … (Read more)
Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast by Maeve Gilmore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think Maeve Gilmore did a wonderful job with this book. While it certainly lacks Peake’s sense for the grotesque (which anyway felt more at home in Gormenghast than outside of it) it certainly does read like a Gormenghast book and, in particular, is an excellent counterpoint and closure to the part of Titus’ life that started in Titus Alone.
The story of Titus … (Read more)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Titus Alone turns the whole world introduced in Gormenghast on its head: gone is the aloof gothic castle with its quasi-fantasy atmosphere and its days punctuated by rites and tradition, and in its place is a country of squallor and modernity, Bond-like contraptions and sentient machinery, sleek airplanes and smelly cars, menageries of animals and factories populated by identical drones. The only constant is Titus, wandering lost and alone, … (Read more)
