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Retreat Reading
Jul. 30th, 2024 03:08 pmI got a lot of reading done while on retreat last week (I don't actually work that hard when I'm on retreat, but I also spent a lot of time hanging around in airports or stuck on trains).
Raven's Ruin by JA Andrews:
This is the second in the Keeper's Origins trilogy and I listened to the audiobook, which is read by one of my favourite narrators. It followed on pretty much directly from the end of the first one, with Sable forced to work for the Dragon Prioress, while trying to figure out a way to stop the Kalesh invasion. We got to see a lot more of the Phoenix Prioress, whom I loved, but a lot less of the acting troupe and Pern the Kobold, which was a shame. All the meetings and negotiations and wandering about got a bit tedious, but it definitely picked up a lot in the second half. The development of the romance felt more natural and more engaging in this book, and that were a few interesting twists at the end that suggest the third instalment should be pretty good. The quotes from the peddlar's history at the start of each section felt like rather strong spoilers, though - and overall, this had the sense of being very much a middle book in a much longer story that's going to ramp up a lot more later on. Enjoyable, though, and I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi:
I picked this up in a charity shop the day before going on holiday, looking for something chunky I could read while away, but that I wouldn't need to think about too much - and it was absolutely perfect!
It follows multiple characters who are all involved in a multi-car accident on the M4 one August - showing why they were that at that moment, how the preceding few weeks led up to what actually happened, and then following them in the months after the accident.
Most of the characters were extremely flawed, and a lot of them were rather unlikeable, though that changed in both directions for several of them over the course of the novel. The whole thing was extremely well constructed, building up all the different pieces in a masterful way, and I particularly liked how the various connections developed between different characters after the accident.
Some of it was a bit unbelievable and got somewhat moreso towards the end, but that was fine.
There was a small amount of diversity but it was rather overdone, I felt - plus, there was also a lot of misogyny and female objectification, even from the nicer male characters (and some of the women), which surprised me.
It was all very messy and real - I wasn't wholly satisfied with the ending of all the different plotlines, but that's only to be expected in this large a novel.
Overall, it was big but not difficult, involving but not emotive, clever but not demanding.
In other circumstances, I might have been disappointed by my lack of emotional engagement with it - but it was absolutely spot on for what I wanted for my trip!
From Iz With Love by Angela D'Egville:
I had the very great pleasure of meeting the author of this book on retreat, and she very kindly gifted me with a copy. I read it in pretty much one sitting, over the course of my journey home, and really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful story, clearly very personal and heartfelt, following Victoria finding her way back to herself after walking away from a long and complex relationship. It felt very authentic, though perhaps not having a particularly traditional story arc.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater:
This was recommended to me by several of the Book-Tubers I follow and I was looking forward to an entertaining listen - but wasn't wholly satisfied with the experience.
The book follows Dora, who loses half her soul to a faerie lord at a young age and grows up in Regency England without the wherewithal to adhere to the social customs of the time.
I liked Dora as a character, though her subdued emotions did mean the book itself felt somewhat remote at times - and the level of emotion she did feel seemed to fluctuate over the course of the book rather inconsistently.
I also liked a lot of the other characters, and I thought the development of the romance was well done.
The plot didn't feel very cohesive, however, and the climax was quite abrupt after a long build-up.
One of my concerns about where things might end up was initially allayed, but then apparently switched around at the very end, which left me feeling a bit cheated.
Fun overall, but not involving enough to make me keen to read the others in the series.
Raven's Ruin by JA Andrews:
This is the second in the Keeper's Origins trilogy and I listened to the audiobook, which is read by one of my favourite narrators. It followed on pretty much directly from the end of the first one, with Sable forced to work for the Dragon Prioress, while trying to figure out a way to stop the Kalesh invasion. We got to see a lot more of the Phoenix Prioress, whom I loved, but a lot less of the acting troupe and Pern the Kobold, which was a shame. All the meetings and negotiations and wandering about got a bit tedious, but it definitely picked up a lot in the second half. The development of the romance felt more natural and more engaging in this book, and that were a few interesting twists at the end that suggest the third instalment should be pretty good. The quotes from the peddlar's history at the start of each section felt like rather strong spoilers, though - and overall, this had the sense of being very much a middle book in a much longer story that's going to ramp up a lot more later on. Enjoyable, though, and I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi:
I picked this up in a charity shop the day before going on holiday, looking for something chunky I could read while away, but that I wouldn't need to think about too much - and it was absolutely perfect!
It follows multiple characters who are all involved in a multi-car accident on the M4 one August - showing why they were that at that moment, how the preceding few weeks led up to what actually happened, and then following them in the months after the accident.
Most of the characters were extremely flawed, and a lot of them were rather unlikeable, though that changed in both directions for several of them over the course of the novel. The whole thing was extremely well constructed, building up all the different pieces in a masterful way, and I particularly liked how the various connections developed between different characters after the accident.
Some of it was a bit unbelievable and got somewhat moreso towards the end, but that was fine.
There was a small amount of diversity but it was rather overdone, I felt - plus, there was also a lot of misogyny and female objectification, even from the nicer male characters (and some of the women), which surprised me.
It was all very messy and real - I wasn't wholly satisfied with the ending of all the different plotlines, but that's only to be expected in this large a novel.
Overall, it was big but not difficult, involving but not emotive, clever but not demanding.
In other circumstances, I might have been disappointed by my lack of emotional engagement with it - but it was absolutely spot on for what I wanted for my trip!
From Iz With Love by Angela D'Egville:
I had the very great pleasure of meeting the author of this book on retreat, and she very kindly gifted me with a copy. I read it in pretty much one sitting, over the course of my journey home, and really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful story, clearly very personal and heartfelt, following Victoria finding her way back to herself after walking away from a long and complex relationship. It felt very authentic, though perhaps not having a particularly traditional story arc.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater:
This was recommended to me by several of the Book-Tubers I follow and I was looking forward to an entertaining listen - but wasn't wholly satisfied with the experience.
The book follows Dora, who loses half her soul to a faerie lord at a young age and grows up in Regency England without the wherewithal to adhere to the social customs of the time.
I liked Dora as a character, though her subdued emotions did mean the book itself felt somewhat remote at times - and the level of emotion she did feel seemed to fluctuate over the course of the book rather inconsistently.
I also liked a lot of the other characters, and I thought the development of the romance was well done.
The plot didn't feel very cohesive, however, and the climax was quite abrupt after a long build-up.
One of my concerns about where things might end up was initially allayed, but then apparently switched around at the very end, which left me feeling a bit cheated.
Fun overall, but not involving enough to make me keen to read the others in the series.
