The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the thread where you can submit reviews for the Best Review contest. The thread is open for submissions and will close at Midnight EST on February 17, 2018. Voting will start the next day and run until the end of the GR day on February 28. The person whose review gets the most votes will get to design a 20 point task for the Spring Challenge.

To be eligible for this task opportunity you must have achieved at least 100 points on the Readerboard by midnight Eastern Time on February 16, 2018.

Just a reminder that each person can only submit one review - but you can make edits to your review up until the end. The review does not have to be any particular length and doesn't have to be a positive one (i.e. you can choose to review a book you didn't like).
Please include your Readerboard Name.

PLEASE DO NOT comment on people's reviews in this thread - this is for submissions only - you will be able to comment when voting begins.

SPOILER ALERT!- These reviews may include spoilers.

The Gospel of Loki, Joanne Harris

Reviewed by Trish (trishhartuk)

It’s Norse mythology, Jim, but not as we know it.

I think it’s fair to say that general interest in Norse mythology among the everyday public, rather than just academics, has significantly increased in the last decade thanks to the Marvel Thor movies. I know they encouraged me to finally read both The Prose Eddaand The Poetic Edda (of which I’ll admit I preferred the Prose one), so I could actually find out about the real mythology.

The biggest trend from the more general appeal of the myths in general, appears to be the spate of fiction based around the trickster god, Loki (played so well in the MCU by Tom Hiddleston), the great Norse anti-hero, but not necessarily a villain.

However, Joanne Harris, who is much better known for Chocolat, was ahead of the game with her first Norse-mythology based story, a post-Ragnarok young-adult book called Runemarks, back in 2007, in which “Lucky” is a significant character. That was followed by Runelight in November 2011.

The Gospel of Loki (2014), is set against the same background as her two earlier Norse tales, with Order and Chaos as the fundamentals of existence, and magic powered by runes carried by the individual gods (albeit it pre-Ragnarok, not post-). However, this time, Harris goes back to the source, and revisits many of the stories from the Eddas, but from Loki’s point of view.

The premise she uses is that Odin realised he needed someone to deal with those jobs that he couldn’t be seen to do, and therefore he summoned Loki out of Chaos to become his “fixer”. The result is an entertaining romp through Norse mythology, which starts relatively light-hearted, but gets successively darker as the pieces which will ultimately lead to Ragnarok start moving into place.

Despite the tone, the Chaos/Order twist, and the identity of the narrator, the myths she includes are pretty faithful retellings of the source material, and, in its way, it’s actually not a bad stand-alone primer for anyone interested in the subject.

I enjoyed this when it first came out, but I enjoyed it more rereading it this challenge, in preparation for the release of The Testament of Loki, which is due out in March, and apparently makes the bridge between the “Gospel” and the earlier Runemarks stories. Five stars.

Chris MD

Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh

Have you ever thoroughly enjoyed a book while you were reading it, but once it you finished it you stopped and thought, "Wait a minute . . ."?

I have always liked stories about families in relatively small towns and how they change over the years. Bakerton is the company town for the Baker coal mines in western Pennsylvania. People live in company-owned homes and shop in the company-owned store. Some (unmarried) women might work in the company-owned dressmaking factory, but all the men work in the company-owned mines—until their backs or their lungs give out.

The Novak family is slightly unusual in that the husband, Stan, is Polish and his wife, Rose, is Italian. In the 1930s, this amounts to a mixed marriage in a town with clear demarcation lines for Swedes, Poles, Italians, and Irish. They have five children, the last a surprise baby born 10 years after the others.

The story opens in 1942, on the day 52-year-old Stan drops dead of a heart attack. For the rest of the book we follow the children, Georgie, Dorothy, Joyce, Sandy, and Lucy and their mother through the coming decades. Georgie has gotten to see the world during his time in the Navy, and that gives him cold feet when it comes to marrying his sweetheart back home. Dorothy takes a wartime job as an office girl in Washington, DC, something she is totally unprepared for. Joyce is the brain and backbone of the family who joins the Air Force after the war and learns how hard it is for a woman to get ahead no matter how qualified she is. Sandy has no direction in life, and Lucy would much prefer to stay home and eat her mother's cooking.

I loved the characters and I cared about them. But I finally came to realize that they had no depth. It would have been one thing if Dorothy's emotional fragility was the outlier in the family, but it becomes plain that each child has pretty deep emotional scars that aren't well explained. Dorothy's eventual relationship with Angie seems totally out of character. We never understand why Joyce's relationship with Ed is so cold. She's the one character I really wanted to love and yet I felt myself increasingly angry with her. Sandy is a complete enigma and seems to serve almost no purpose in the book. There are lots of hints about his later life, but none are resolved. The author seems to build up Lucy's animosity toward Joyce, foreshadowing some kind of showdown that never happens.

The story seems more to peter out than it does to end - much in the way life in coal mining communities petered out all across the country. It just doesn't make for a satisfying ending to a book.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Reviewed by Readerboard Name: Michelle in Alaska.

How’s life? Do you ever feel like something is missing? Do you lie awake at night feeling as though you’re living a monotonous day-to-day routine? Have you considered that maybe your life would be so much better if only people fought with swords more often? Wore kilts and called you a “wee lassie”? Tried you for being a witch? Made love potions from dried horse dung? Boy, do I have the book for you.

Admittedly, Outlander is not a book I would ever have picked up of my own accord to read. Indeed, it came to me as a recommendation, and after watching the first four or so episodes of the show, I decided I would need to do the proper thing and read the book before continuing. And now I impart my impressions unto you, reading enthusiast.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In terms of genres, Outlander has 49, give or take. If you’re an avid romance fan, don’t forget your deodorant. If you prefer a more science-fiction or fantasy feel, deal. How about historical fiction? You’re in good hands. Espionage thriller? Why not? Travel guide? For sure. Medical drama? You’re on. Feminist? Well, kind of.

In short, Outlander is the tale of a WW2 combat nurse who, while spending her second honeymoon with her husband, is mystically transported into 18th century clan-laden-and-war-torn Scotland. From there, she is reluctantly adopted by Clan MacKenzie, being subjected to and witness of some fascinating and unconscionable traditions and experiences. Naturally, she’s forced to marry for her safety and is wed to the charming, handsome, fierce – and virgin – Jamie Fraser. Cue several life-threatening situations, a handful of matrimonial disputes, arguably some domestic violence, one too many sex scenes, and plenty of beautiful imagery, and suddenly you’ve traipsed through 850 pages of wonder.

THE PROS

Diana Gabaldon has created a hauntingly beautiful and surreal story that will please, infuriate, challenge and impact you. The depth of this book is expansive, in a literary sense and, at 850 pages, a physical one, as well. For those who love to learn, as I do, you will be undoubtedly satisfied with the volume of research that went into this book. Gabaldon covers every corner; she seemingly effortlessly weaves together various historical aspects (clan wars, Jacobitism, medicine) and skillfully imposes these challenges onto and into her characters, who behave and speak in a believable way and fold fluently into the story to create, truly, a universe. No character is perfect; all are flawed. Some you will hate a lot, others you will only hate a little. Claire is not a perfect heroine, and thank goodness for that. What better way to detach you from a story than a literary character who is better than you in every way?

THE CONS

This story is so mesmerizing in its language, style, characters, setting, drama, and history. Yet, there is at least a handful of parts of the book – some 50+ pages long – that will lead you to believe they are relevant in some way to the overall development to the plot but ultimately are not. With this being said, I believe this story could have captivated just as many minds and throbbed just as many hearts in 550 pages as in 850 pages.

The bottom line is that you should read this book. Ye dinnae ken what I be haverin’ about until ye do, ye wee Sassenach lassie.

Reviewed by: Siobhan

Strong Signal by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

I have... A lot of thoughts about this book. And since I'm on holiday I have the time (and spoons) to write them down. Hurrah!

Positives:

Disability rep! Romance is probably the genre hardest on itself about providing good and comprehensive representation, and I am glad for it. Kai's social anxiety was really well drawn and relatable, and I loved how it wasn't just waved away because of lurve. I have anxiety myself, and to see a character like me getting to do stuff and have a happy ending meant a hell of a lot.

The characters! I loved both of them to bits. Kai is an internet celebrity who has, as mentioned above, social anxiety. He's adorable, realistically flawed and deserves every good thing he gets. Garrett is a mechanic, a soldier and a gamer. And... I will be honest, he's a lot like my fiance and so of course I adored him. XD He's wonderfully protective, a bit of a grump and so willing to try with the anxiety that I honestly welled up a few times.

The main relationship! I loved how it built relatively slowly, I loved how sweet they were together and I just really loved how well they matched each other. Garrett helps Kai with his anxiety so much, and Kai seems to help Garrett chill out a lot. They make each other happy, and it's glorious to see.

The epistolary element! Like, I'm not sure if that's the correct term here because literally no letters are exchanged... But about half the book is them emailing, G-chatting and texting each other. It made me realise that epistolary is a big narrative kink for me, and I'm grateful for that.

Negatives/ehhhhh bits:

So titled because I feel a bit bad just saying negatives, because I REALLY liked this book, but I still had problems with it that I kinda need to state?

Anyway!

The sex sometimes seemed a bit unrealistic. I mean, I don't have those physical parts so I may be completely wrong here... But there were at least two moments in the book where I was completely snapped out of the flow of the scene and left sitting there wondering if what they were doing was actually possible. Can any person's spine bend like that? Even if it can, won't a hospital be needed afterwards?

The relationship was sometimes a bit too saccharine for my taste. Generally it's fine, but I did end up rolling my eyes a few times. You've known each other a month, guys, as great as that stage is you can go five seconds without swooning about how perfect you are for each other.

The pacing was a bit... Off. Like, at the beginning I thought the big plot driving issue was going to be one thing. And then it faded away around the 10% mark! So then I thought it was going to be another thing. And then that was resolved suddenly around the 30% mark! And then I thought it was yet another thing... And to save on redundancy there were about four or five big plot driving issues in this one book, each one of which could've carried a whole book on their own. It was a bit hard to get my footing at times as a result.

The ending. The final big plot driving issue comes in pretty much at the 75% mark, and feels super rushed as a result. I'm trying to avoid spoilers, so basically all I can say is that one of the protagonists seems to suddenly develop a new motivation pretty much out of nowhere and this ends up being slightly awkward. It also ends up making the relationship feel slightly unequal, and so while I still read the end beaming like a loon I ALSO was a bit more uncomfortable than I like being at the end of a romance novel.

This was still a great book, I feel very comfortable giving it four stars and will definitely be picking up the next one at some point, but I did have some problems with it and hope that they don't carry through to the rest of the series.

(Just to end on a positive note, though, OMG RED PANDA MENTIONS! This book made me remember that red pandas exist, and I am very glad that it made me spend a good hour or so thinking about them. <3)