#neil gaiman ... i've read his short stories? and a book. or few. i can't really remember.

[takerfoxx]

The Sandman, Bonus Episode, "Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope," First Impressions!

Well, this was a nice surprise!

Well, okay, not really that much of a surprise for me, as it dropped before I started the show, but even still!

See, one of the problems facing any adaptation of The Sandman is that there are a number of standalone stories, ones that range from being deeply connected to the plot to having no connection at all, but were just cool ideas that Neil Gaiman had. And honestly, I wasn't sure if we were going to get any of them. Like, this is still an expensive show, so why spend the money on an experimental tangent?

Well, apparently Gaiman and the rest of the crew went, "How about I do anyway?" And now here we have an episode comprising two of the short stories from Dream Country, Sandman's third volume and first short story collection.

Calliop actually does make a lot of sense to include, as it is tied to the plot in that introduces the fact that Morpheus was once married and had a son, while also further exploring how his imprisonment changed him. But Dream of a Thousand Cats is a real surprise, as it has nothing to do with the plot at all! Dream is barely in it at all! Like, it's cool, it's creative, it stands out in the mind and makes you think, but it's not what one would call essential to the story.

But they did it anyway, and for that I am thankful. And it's animated as well, which is really cool, and it also continues the original Sandman's comic of constantly switching up the art style. Granted, the Garfield-styled thought-speak was a little jarring. I know it's how they "talked" in the comics, but on screen it's a bit odd. But it wasn't that big of a problem, and it was still cool to see.

That being said, I honestly don't have a lot to say about it, as it's basically a totally faithful adaptation of the story. If you've read Dream of a Thousand Cats, then it gives you exactly that. Though it was neat to see the voice cast comprised of not only many of Gaiman's frequent collaborators, but also the man himself, voicing the dead crow. How appropriate.

But Calliope! Oh, I have a lot to say about this one! And for once, it's actually about the story itself instead of how it stands as an adaptation. Again, it's very faithful. There's been a few things changed. For one, Ric is much more hesitant before forcing himself on Calliope, and we don't actually see the deed itself (thank God), though the chilling shot of the blood mark on his cheek when he finally start writing is still very disturbing and makes it clear exactly what happened.

But other than a few tweaks here and there, it's still a very faithful adaptation of the story. So why am I going to discuss this story on a thematic level when I didn't do the same for the others?

Because this story does click with me in a way that the others don't, and seeing it realized on screen really spoke to me.

See, this is Stephen King-esque case of Writers Writing about Writers Writing. Richard Madoc is a writer struggling through massive writer's block. He had one success, and now everyone expects him to follow it up, from his fans to his agent to the publishers to himself. And he doesn't have any ideas! He can't get the story going! It's driving him mad! And so, out of desperation, he does a terrible thing.

Maybe it's because I'm only just coming off of a really bad case of writer's block myself, but it really did hit me. That part where he's staring at a blank screen while also doomscrolling what other people are saying about him, while wincing at every message asking when the next book is? I've been there. I'm not a published author, but I've still been there, over and over again. Only this week I've had several people reach out wondering when I'm going to update a story I wasn't even working on.

However, there is a huge "but" in here.

And that is, desperate or not, Richard still abuses Calliope. He still imprisons her for his own selfish desires. He still takes advantage of her. He still dehumanizes her. He still violates her. And he never gives her back her freedom. In many ways, he's the dark reflection of William Shakespeare, who also sought supernatural forces to get over his own shortcomings as a writer. But Will simply made a pact with those forces, like Calliope said Richard should. Richard forced the matter.

Calliope is shown to be a real person, not just some abstract idea. She tells this plainly to Richard, makes it clear that she isn't just some resource to be used, that her gifts are gifts, not something to be taken by force. She's had a life. She's been in love. She's been in pain. And that was taken from her. And despite all the years he had her locked up, Richard never bothered to find out the smallest thing about her. He didn't even know that she had a child.

In his success, with the desperation no longer hanging over him, we see what kind of man he really is. He is arrogant, self-absorbed, and self-righteous. He's angry with the woman whom he's violating when she doesn't share his celebration. And let me just say, despite all the criticism this show has taken from being too "woke," it does not pull its punches in calling out performative progressivism. Richard calls himself a feminist, despite actively dehumanizing a woman. He insists on diverse casts and crew, despite, again, violating a real person for his own needs. We've seen several artists who were once upheld as paragons of progressivism come falling down when their hypocrisies were laid bare (*cough*WHEDON*cough*). And while I know that scene was written and filmed before her own fall from grace, that namedrop of Rowling ended up being incredibly appropriate, even if it was by accident.

Everyone here turns in a masterful performance. Arthur Darvill really does capture that quiet desperation and that insufferable hypocrisy that someone like Richard Madoc would embody with eerie perfection. The exhausted resentment and resignation coming from Calliope is plainly evident in Louise Hooper's performance. And Tom Sturridge as Dream continues to be absolutely perfect, where here we get to see his quiet, righteous wrath, and it is terrifying.

Calliope's final note about never forgiving what Richard did to her but still needing to forgive what the man did to her was interesting. Forgiveness is sometimes sloppily handled in fiction, often demanded when it's not warranted. So I like that she made it clear that she will never forgive what Richard did to her, and nor should she, but she also decides to let go of her anger toward him so she can move on. People might debate if that's really the right message here, but I'm glad that they made the distinction.

And we also see how Dream has changed, becoming more compassionate and empathetic thanks to his ordeal. This will definitely be tested come Season of Mists, as his worst moment comes back to haunt him. But until then, I am loving this.

Hey, I know we're not getting Elemental Girl's story, but how about Midsummer Night's Dream? That one's kind of important!

#the sandman #neil gaiman #dream of the endless #calliope #richard madoc #louise hooper #arthur darvill #tom sturridge #dream of a thousand cats/calliope #netflix #review

[alstroemeriadissonance]

hi! I love your work sm, and I would like to ask which writers inspire you (fanfic or published, or maybe even on tumblr too)?? i hope you have a great day lovely !!! ♥️♥️♥️

Oh boy I'm torn if I'm gonna let this be a long post. I love reading, though sadly I can't read as much as I used to anymore since work and stuff but here goes:

For the published folk:

Neil Gaiman - This guy had inspired a lot of writers, iirc. I got into Sandman when I was still too young to be included in its target market but it was so magical, yet at the same time so grounded in real life that it's easy to slip into his stories. I remember thinking yeah, if I were to write fantasy I'd like to write stuff that he does, mostly urban fantasy.

Haruki Murakami - Japanese magical realism is a helluva thing. Reading one Murakami book is like walking empty urban streets at 3 am, when all is wet after a recent rain and everything's quiet except for the distant sounds of traffic....ah, take the chance to read one of his novels if you could! After Dark and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World are my recos.

Terry Pratchett - I'm not sure if his wonderful Discworld series touched my writing style, specifically dry humor (I'd like to think so, at least) but it sure did inspire imagination. His books are also probably the only out and out political/social commentary that I can tolerate in my reading.

For easy, actiony reading I pick up a few Japanese (translated) light novels from time to time, most notable are Nisioisin's Zaregoto and Katanagatari, and Ryogo Narita's DRRR.

For fanfic folk:

To be honest I only started really delving into fanfic at September 2021 and yes, Tears of Themis is the only thing I write about. And yes, sussy Vyn. Only Vyn. Eheh.

So I only have a few fanfic writers who caught my eye over the short time I've spent with this fandom so far. You can find them in my AO3 bookmarks here

Special mention to the Vyntober series, this wonderful, well-written series that convinced me to continue Vynposting and well...here I am =D

Thanks for this fun ask!!

#ask #ask response #writing

[cielsosinfel]

For once I'm cross-posting a Dreamwidth post here lol. I wrote way too much about the one and only book I finished so far this year, so tossing it into the reading log tag.

CW: non-descript discussions of sexual assault and antisemitism (both separate from one another)

The last book I finished was an anthology of fairy-tell reimaginings: Black Heart, Ivory Bones, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Avon Books, 2000). This was actually a random used bookstore find- I was once again looking for anthologies with Tanith Lee short stories, and there happened to be three different ones edited by these two authors- this book; another book in the same series called Black Swan, White Raven, and an anthology of fantasy erotica titled Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers. I really lucked out in all of these having Tanith Lee in them, and some other authors I'm interested in. I haven't started the other two yet, though. (I also just a few days ago found ANOTHER book in this fairy tale series, Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears at the same bookstore... would have missed it if I hadn't asked the clerk to check their Tanith Lee stock lmao.)

So, about this anthology:

The Tanith Lee short story in Black Heart, Ivory Bones is the first story in the anthology, and a reimagining of Rapunzel- a prince, who is putting off returning from campaign, because he does not want to return to his father who is coping with grief by obsessively fixating on heroic tales and legends, meets a girl living at the foot of a ruined tower in the middle of the woods. I didn't like this very much at all, to be honest, though there's one passage from the king I like. But one thing that stood out to me is another example of a pattern I've noticed in Lee's books: women- usually women who have already been raped- being able to just tell if a man is a potential rapist or not; men asking women if they aren't worried he's a rapist, only for the woman to tell him they would know and he doesn't have the look of one.

It's a trend I've seen throughout multiple of her novels and short stories at this point. The idea that all women can tell, based on a man's appearance and the way he carries himself and speaks, whether he will rape her. Even her most aggressive or stoic heroes have some innate quality of their being or their appearance that tells women he's safe, as far as sexual assault goes. And there's a lot to unpack there, a lot of long-existing societal biases that it just kind of reaffirms (because certainly there is a very long history of people thinking rapists and other sexually violent individuals have a certain "look" to them.) But I was also thinking about what a power fantasy this is, in a way- to be able to look at a man and know at a glance that he is safe, trustworthy, that you can desire him and know him desiring you back is not a risk. Especially as a survivor of sexual assault! What a superpower that would be.

But yeah, so that's the Tanith Lee story, mostly unremarkable. A lot of this anthology didn't stand out to me, tbh. Neil Gaiman has a short poem in it that I thought was pretty awful lmao. There's a lesbian retelling of the Red Dancing Shoes fairy tale, "The Red Boots" by Leah Cutter, that I liked- the prose is snappy and I thought the author used it to get across the energy of country dancing very well! I liked that there's no Happily Ever After resolution either- despite all the possibilities the protagonist has at her fingertips, with this dance-loving woman who is like her and mutually into her, in a place so hostile and lonely for women like them, she still can't stop treating dance as a competition she has to win. And so she will never be free of her shoes, and she'll never be able to settle down into a life of shared peace, bliss and love.

The last story that stood out to me was "The Golem" by Severna Park. The book opens to a pogrom decimating a shtetl in historical Poland, and the main character, an older woman named Judith, watching her husband Motle, the rabbi of the village, be gunned down by Christians. The shtetl is massacred, and Judith escapes into the woods with two other older women, Nekomeh and Moireh. They're reeling from the trauma they just witnessed, the grief, and the danger of being caught and killed, so decide to band together to try to make it to Leva, another much larger Jewish village outside Cracow. Judith has a dream the first time she sleeps following the massacre, where her husband tells her to make a golem to keep herself safe. What she forms out of the mud is a golem that takes on the exact appearance of her and Motle's long-dead daughter, Reva.

This is a short story but it packs in so much- surviving great violence and loss and yet not being allowed any reprieve before you're go go going to avoid even more violence and loss; the bonds between women who face misogyny, patriarchyt and violence both from within and without their communities and culture; the grief of a wife and of a mother who needs to learn to embrace and let go; the need for violence in defense vs violence as revenge and whether it would really make you better, improve your situation. I thought this was a very good piece of writing.

I really liked the ending:

"With her thumb Judith drew a trembling diagonal next to the Met and added short vertical strokes at the top and at the bottom.

Aleph. Mem. Tav.

She took a step and stumbled where the bank went soft. She fell to her hands and knees where the golem had vanished, tried to get up and stopped.

Spring flowers burst from the fertile dirt between her fingers. They pressed themselves up in green buds from under her knees. They sprouted around her feet, blooming in the sunset, dense and fragrant, trembling in the evening breeze.

Judith made herself stand. If the very earth had risen for her against its will, perhaps there was a place in the shadow of Cracow's walls where an old woman could seed the ground with new things. Not revenge. Not fear. Maybe not even peace, but she could do something.

And this time, she could not find it in herself to be afraid."

So that's the only book I've finished since 2024 started, and even then I kind of skimmed short stories that I knew I wouldn't be into. I'm still working through Lee's Kill The Dead (more like still working through health problems that have made doing anything very difficult), and I also started Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Heart Reader a day ago- I'm already halfway through, it's a very fast read, and I have a lot of thoughts about it that I've kinda posted elsewhere lol.

I've also been speeding through Final Fantasy IV DS. I keep meaning to post about it here but then I forget, I'm just so exhausted. I haven't played it in a couple days actually. It's one of those games I never had the patience to play as a kid, the SNES version at least. If we ever had the DS version I don't remember it, but I remember thinking the SNES version was suuuuuper frustrating to play lol so I didn't bother... But I'm enjoying the DS version a lot! It's definitely very frustrating with the boss battles, that octomammoth fucked me up. I'm enjoying Cecil's character arc, and I'm eagerly awaiting Rydia, Rosa and Edward coming back to my party. I'm enjoying the homoeroticism of Cecil and Kain's friendship turning into a horrific violent antagonistic mess- Kain going from standing up for Cecil and risking angering the Baron to argue for Cecil's sake, to Kain fighting with Golbez to be the one to kill Cecil... Also the whole mind control thing with Golbez is super hot, though I wonder how much of it is totally mind control and how much of it is Kain willingly going along with Golbez because of Rosa, it feels kinda unclear in latter cutscenes. But yes, the characters are fun, the localization script is very fun, the art style is endearing, and the game play is fun once you get into the rhythm of it. (I am also hardcore following this guide to make things much easier on myself lmao.)

Maybe I'll try to put down my impressions when it is not 12am and I'm not running on extremely little sleep.

#reading log #oh theres also some ff4 thoughts at the end there but barely i just dump all my ff4 thoughts on discord tbh #mine poste

[they-handed-me-the-moon]

hi! My brother is absolutely obsessed with the works of Tolkien, so I keep meaning to read his works. Personally, my favorite genre is horror. I grew up reading the books of Joseph Delaney, Lemony Snicket, and Shel Silverstein. Anything weird I loved. I was, and continue to be, considered very uncool by my peers. The neat thing now is that the weird kids who go to the library will tell me things that as a former weird kid I love to know like ghost stories or facts about axolotls.

When I’m not reading something spooky, it’s most likely a comic book or graphic novel. I am proud to say, however, only half of the books I read were comics/graphic novels this year lol

I’m fond of Neil Gaiman, Ira Levin, Oscar Wilde, and Sherman Alexie. Right now, I’m on a nonfiction kick.

Do you have any holiday/seasonal plans you’re looking forward to?

Tolkien really does have a lot going for him! I won't talk your ear off about him since I gather you get plenty of that from your brother, but if you want to dip a toe into his work in without diving right into Middle Earth, I've always loved his short story The Smith of Wooten Major. It's hard to describe—it's got this dreamlike quality to it where I can never seem to recall the story in detail even though I've read it many times, and somehow I love that about it? Like one of those stories where someone travels to another world and when they come back it's like their mind can't reconcile it with their 'regular' life, so they can only grasp at it in images and feelings and memories that escape even as they come.

Oh, neat!! I can definitely relate to being an odd kid growing up and connecting in particular with kids who are rather outside of the box, but I confess horror is the genre in which I am most poorly versed. I was a proper scardy-cat as a child when it came to stories, and I still refuse to sit down to any films that lean too far into horror. I've opened the door a crack to horror books though, and have developed a slight fascination with haunted house stories—not ones where there's a ghost in the house, but ones where the house itself is the 'living' haunted entity. I read House of Leaves and had somewhat mixed feelings about it, but I loved the ways he played around with the text and narration, and I didn't really know how I felt about The Haunting of Hill House when I finished it a few years back, but to this day I think about it all the time, and I think I love it. Do you have any recommendations in that vein for someone relatively ignorant of the genre?

I've read some Gaiman—I love Good Omens, and I really like Coraline—and Wilde is fantastic! I just recently reread The Importance of Being Earnest with my partner. I'm not familiar with Ira Levin or Sherman Alexie, though—do you have any particular favorites of their work?

As for the holidays, I'm currently in Sweden staying with my partner 😊 Here the big family celebration is on Christmas Eve, so we got back from that not long ago. It was a lovely time, including lots of coffee, good food, a visit from Tomta (something of mash-up between Santa and gnome folklore), a few new Swedish words to add to my vocabulary, and an adventure in the dark with the littlest ones. Here the Christmas season stretches beyond Christmas Day, so between and and New Year there will be lots more smaller family gatherings, usually for fika—afternoon coffee with sweets (traditionally seven, although that number is usually held to only on special occasions these days).

Do you have any holiday plans you're still especially looking forward to, and/or fun holiday adventures you've had already?

#srs #srs2020

[somerabbitholes]

hi! i love ur blog so so much it’s literally the most aesthetic thing ever! i was just wondering if you could please recommend some books to help me get out of a reading slump? any genre i don’t mind! thank you so much and have a blessed day 🤍

hi! thank you so much <33

when i'm in a slump, i generally read fantasy, or essays, or short stories, and here are a few of my favourites that have gotten me out of slumps —

essays:

pop song by larissa pham: semi-memoir, essays on art, intimacy, love; i'm halfway through this, and it has been lovely. i can't wait to finish it and go back and look at all the parts i highlighted

the end of the end of the earth by jonathan franzen: about the end of times, climate change, how we deal with it, how we can deal with it, also a dash of personal essays, they're all excellent; my favourites include the one on 9/11, 'why birds matter', 'missing', the eponymous one, and 'xing ped'

intimations by zadie smith: six essays, short ones, on living in early pandemic 2020; they feel very warm and comforting because they're full of all the anxieties that marked the beginnings of last year

the anthropocene reviewed by john green: essays on the human planet; very wholesome; a relatively quick read, they're short ones

the book of indian journeys by dom moraes (editor): it's an anthology of writings on traveling in india, i like for the collection of authors it brings together, you should look it up

if you feel like fantasy/urban fantasy/scifi:

the licanius trilogy by james islington: i read this early last year, and i was obsessed; starts as a chosen one story about this boy who has augur abilities, but it becomes so much more; very sleek time-travel/loop situations; also looks at free will, choice, destiny

good omens by neil gaiman, sir terry pratchett: this is one of the funniest and the most wholesome-est books i've read; follows an angel and a demon working together to stop the apocalypse; they both share one brain cell between them, and i love them for that; also check gaiman's coraline (be warned, it is creepy); and pratchett's small gods

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by douglas adams: this is the first part, and i would totally recommend them all; it starts with the earth being demolished to make space for an intergalactic highway, only one human escapes, he hitches a ride on a spaceship nearby; utter chaos of a book (affectionate), also very funny

the immortalists by chloe benjamin: follows four siblings who discover the exact dates of their death, and then takes a look at their lives one by one; has interesting things to say about destiny and choice

an absolutely remarkable thing by hank green: about april, who becomes famous overnight after "discovering" an alien installation in new york; it's science fiction, and a really fun read; about human cooperation (or lack thereof), the internet, and the nature of our communication; also the sequel, a beautifully foolish endeavour, is amazing pandemic reading

more than this by patrick ness: a boy drowns to death and finds himself in what he thinks is obviously hell, but things get complicated as time passes; YA scifi, pretty fast-paced

and a few assorted ones:

the lonely city by olivia laing: has there been a time i haven't recommended this? absolutely not. it's about artists who explored art as a means of negotiating isolation and loneliness; blends memoir and art appreciation; very poetic

the dublin murder squad series by tana french also got me out of a slump this year; they're very addictive crime fiction; six books and i thoroughly enjoyed them all; my favourites are the likeness and broken harbour

a man called ove by fredrik backman: follows an old man who has a very meticulously planned schedule, and who is generally grumpy; you're slowly introduced to his past, and it's just a very wholesome story; great if you want light reading

the uncommon reader by alan bennett: it speculates on what would happen if the queen (of england) made a hobby out of reading; it's a day's read, only 50-odd pages, and it's pure fun

the blue umbrella by ruskin bond: another short one, under 200 pages; about a girl who stumbles across a japanese umbrella, and about how her village receives the exoticism of the umbrella; a very fine story

round ireland with a fridge by tony hawks: it's a travelogue, where hawks takes a trip around the perimeter of ireland with a small fridge after losing a bet; it's absurd and engaging, and wild that this really happened

i hope you find something you like!

#book recs #booklr #anonymous #answered #bookstagram #reading list #slump reading

[morphedphaseblog]

The starless sea by Erin Morgenstern

Goodreads version

The introduction

This is just to warn everyone that I'm not a literature student, an English major nor a native English speaker, so I'm sorry in advance if this is a jumbled mess. I tend to ramble a lot but I've really tried to keep this as short as possible. (Short meaning a little bit over two thousand words for one review, I've never written a review this long.) I wrote this for self indulgence and for my lovely book club @readerbookclub

The first impression

This book pleasantly surprised me, it was like a very long dream that you don't want to wake up from. The moment I finished it I wished that I hadn't because I couldn't part from it just yet. It would feel almost like cheating, I wanted the intertwined stories to continue and for me to remain in its trance, lost in the beautiful writing and bizarre world.

I will be the first to admit that when someone says the story is written almost poem-like, in prose, and similar, I will immediately think of meaningless quotes that are there just to look pretty. Characters saying things just to sound deep, frilly writing that leads nowhere, and dragged on descriptions that had no place being that long and boring. Those are the first things I think of when I'm confronted with someone explaining those kinds of books to me, and that's completely my fault. This book was none of that, it was captivating from the first page to the last.

"There is a pirate in the basement. (The pirate is a metaphor but also still a person.) "

I can tell you, when I first read this, on the first goddamn page, I was hooked. This book has a strong bizzare sort of setting, one that almost reminds me of Neil Gaiman, distinctively Neverwhere with its underground society and twisted perceptions of reality, and yet this book stands out on its own as an individual. It's definitely a unique book, one that I'm still hesitant to part from.

The writing

This book has a very unique writing style, one that is extremely consistent throughout the book. There's nothing I hate more than an inconsistent writing style that changes without a reason. The author plays around with words and describes things simply yet poetically. There were only maybe two instances where I thought the writing was a bit pretentious, but ultimately the good outweighs the bad.

I don't know what exactly it is, but I will try and explain through the next few quotes:

"The book is mis-shelved in the fiction section, even though the majority of it is true and the rest is true enough"

(This really gives you the sense of vague foreshadowing in the book, where even though the description tells you sweet sorrows is mostly true you don't realise how true it actually is. I never saw the fact that the characters in that book would be actual people that interact with our main characters. Plus the writing is really pretty)

"It's binding has been cracked a handful of times, once a professor even perused the first few pages and intended to come back to it but forgot about it instead."

(Is it just me but these small detailed descriptions really give you a sense of real world happenings and that the story is really set in the real world. You can imagine people passing their fingers over the spine of the book before glancing around and getting distracted with something else. The professor taking it into his hands and skimming it but ultimately forgetting all about it later, and finally Zachary reading the whole book from top to bottom.)

"His dark hair is grading at the temples, framing a face that would be called handsome if the word rugged or unconventionally were attached to it."

(Now I'm in love with this kind of mental visual, it's fun and it almost plays with your expectations. I just really like small things like these, they immediately make my reading extremely entertaining.)

"Someone in the corner is dressed as a highly recognizable author or, Zachary thinks as he gets a closer look, it might be that highly recognizable author."

(Again as before, this is the kind of writing I like. It plays with your imaginary visuals of what's happening and making them ten times more fun, especially when we confirm a bit later that that had indeed been that highly recognizable author.)

"He walks over bones he mistakes for dust and nothingness he mistakes for bones."

(Yet another example of those fun visuals, I didn't even realise how many of these I had marked until I had to go through them for this review. I just adore this writing style.)

I have so many more of these so here are just a few more to really make this review even longer:

"A portrait of a young man in a coat with a great many buttons but the buttons are all tiny clocks, from the collar to the cuffs, each reading different times."

"His face is so much more than hair and eye colour, she wonders why books do not describe the curves of noses or the length of the eyelashes. She studies the shape of his lips. Perhaps a face is too complicated to capture in words."

"There are dozens of giant statues. Some figures have animal heads and others have list their heads entirely. They are listed throughout the space in a way that looks so organic that Zachary would not be surprised if they moved, or perhaps they are moving, very, very slowly."

"The figure in the chair is carved from snow and ice. As her gown cascades down around the chair the ripples in the fabric become waves, and within waves there are ships and sailors and sea monsters and then the sea within her gown is lost in the drifting snow."

"Allegra watches him with studied interest from the other end of the table, the way one watches a tiger in a zoo or possibly the way the tiger watches the tourists."

"It sounds strange and empty now, in her head. Rhyme can hear the hum of the past stories though they are low and quiet, the stories always calm once they have been written down whether they are past stories or present stories or future stories.

It is the absence of the high-pitched stories of the future that is the most strange. There is the thrum of what will pass in the next few minutes buzzing in her ears- so faint compared to the tales layered upon tales that she once heard- and then nothing. Then this place will have no more tales to tell." .

(Probably one of my favourites, it really highlights everything I like about this style of writing.)

Another kind of writing style I noticed in the book was an abundance of making things literally feel alive, giving human emotions to objects, personification. I don't come across this too often in other books, and when it happens it isn't repeated as often in that same book,since it tends to get old, but as we have already learned Erin Morgenstern never makes this boring. She plays around with this and never seems to stop, adding another layer to her writing cake. I love how she gives these characteristics to even the smallest of crevices hidden in shadows, something just people wouldn't even think of.

"He takes his torch and explores the shadows, away from the doors and the tent, among jagged crystals and forgotten architecture. He carries the light into places long unfamiliar with illumination that accept it like a half-remembered dream."

"Outside the inn the wind howls, confused by this turn of events. (The wind does not like to be confused. Confusion ruins it's sense of direction and direction is everything to the wind.)"

"The wind howls after him as he leaves in fear of what is to come, but a mortal cannot understand the wishes of the wind no matter how loud it cries and so these final warnings go unheeded."

"If the sword could sigh with relief as it is taken from its scabbard it would, for it has been lost and found so many times before and it knows this time will be the last."

One more thing that caught my eye in the writing was also the composition, where we technically start with in medias Res. We find out by the end of the book that everything that has happened was one big ass story wrapped in stories and overlapped with other stories. So Zachary literally comes in not even in the middle of the story, but at the very end that has been overdue for quite some time. This makes for a very interesting storyline as all the other storylines intertwine into eachother, it makes for an even more interesting read as our MC comes in only when the plot is at its end, tipping over the very edge.

(I also got the feeling that the entire book is almost told through the perspective of the story, if that makes any sense whatsoever. It's almost like the story, that is bound together like the most complicated twister game, is alive and is smiling over our characters smugly waiting for everything to run its course. Like an omnipresent god, that's at least the vibe I got reading the book. )

The world building

Now in my opinion the world building goes hand in hand with the writing in this book. Every detail I mentioned before builds the atmosphere and the base of all the world building in this book. The way the plot is written is written also contributes to the world building, as all the stories overlap and meet at the very end. The looping plot line is actually my number one favourite thing in the entire book.

There isn't that much to say except 'what the hell is going on?' in the best way possible, to the world building, because as confusing as it can be it's amazing to read and I think that it's one of my favourite aspects of the book.

The Characters

Now is time for the weakest part of the book, its characters, who even though I think are amazing, are definitely flatter than everything else in the book.

In my opinion most characters personalities I just can't pinpoint, and even though this personally doesn't take away from my enjoyment too much, I know a lot of people love well defined character personalities.

For some characters I can understand the constant change in character, like Mirabel, whose multiple lifetimes make it so it makes sense why her personalities overlap and make little sense. She constantly felt a bit inconsistent to me, but again I personally didn't think it ruined the book.

The most well developed personalities I could feel were Kat and the keeper, and at times Dorian. Zachary is a weird gray area for me, because even though I loved his character, I can't really tell who he is besides the son of the fortuneteller. I think that most of the character building was sacrificed to make the plot and the world feel alive. As I said before, it feels like the omnipresent god and the world is more developed than any of the characters personalities.

I usually love marking all 'character moments' where I feel like I can understand what kind of person the character is, their sense of humour, friendship, socializing, thinking and so on. But I found myself marking basically nothing of that kind in this book, just the beautiful descriptions of the world. The story was just more alive than the characters in it.

I liked all the romances even though they all lacked some depth, but the fairytale style writing of the romance definitely made them extremely enjoyable. If it weren't for the fairytale vibe all the romance would have been just flat, and I  wouldn’t be invested at all.

The Conclusion

I wouldn't reccomend this book for everyone, as I think great many people wouldn't be fans of the writing, and so the lack of character depth wouldn't help either and there would be no good to outweigh the bad. I truly think this book is a perfect 4 starts but to me personally it is 5 stars. I am just such a big fan of the looping storyline, I still haven't gotten over that. To finish it all off here are a few extra quotes that I liked:

"No one takes responsibility. Everyone assumes someone else will do it, so no one does."

"It is critical to steep the tests in ignorance to result in uncorrupted responses."

"They all have similar elements, though. All stories do, no matter what form they take. Something was, and then something changed. Change is what a story is, after all."

#books #book review #the starless sea #erin morgenstern #book club #reading #bookblr #bookworm #quotes #goodreads

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2019: August reads

I read a lot and now I'm bulk 'reviewing'... Again... This isn't a complete list of what I read in August, I also read the first 4 books in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time but I want to talk about those separately because they are a new all time favourite!

So this was a good reading month - I got through A LOT, especially when we get into WoT (those books are huge!)

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien - obviously a fantasy classic! And I adore this series more than I can reasonably articulate in a few words. However, I highly recommend if you haven't read the books already, they are incredibly rich and you can't do any better than Tolkien for fantasy epics! I'm taking my time to reread the series because I bought a beautiful set of the books illustrated by Alan Lee, if you're looking for copies I'd highly recommend!

(Covers and a sample of Gandalf and Frodo from Fellowship)

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman - this was the buddy read with my uni friends for August. It was enjoyable but...

UNPOPULAR OPINION WARNING

It was nothing special. I feel Gaiman's writing was slightly off in this one from his usual lyrical quality. I was interested enough to read all the short stories, but I wanted bit more from Gaiman than a brief sketch of each myth he chose to cover. He clearly loves the mythology and this shows throughout. Yet, I feel a lot of the hype around this book came from Gaiman's current popularity (following the success of American Gods and hype for Good Omens) rather than the quality of his work here. Gaiman is a wonderful author and I've adored many of his other books (Stardust remains my favourite standalone fantasy book of all time), just this one didn't hit the mark and I was left disappointed.

Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik (books 4 and 5 in the Temeraire series) - these were both enjoyable and I love the Temeraire series! At this point there isn't much I can say about these books as we're so far into the series. But I continue to adore Temeraire and Laurence, and their relationship! The character development in VoE was particularly stunning and I really enjoyed to see how they and their relationship changed after the events of EoI!

That being said I found the plot of EoI to be a bit slow - I was a bit bored throughout the middle of the book and almost put it down. However, the last quarter exploring the dragons in Africa and THAT plot twist/cliffhanger (if you've read it you know what I'm talking about) really saved it for me and drastically changed the development of this series! I'm excited to see where Laurence and Temeraire end up next, however, I feel their fortunes are not going to get any better any time soon...

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black - as a YA fantasy AND a book centred on fairies (are we calling them fay/fey now? I'm not sure on the correct terminology) this was an unusual pick for me as I'm not a massive fan of the YA genre or fairies. However, I found myself enjoying The Cruel Prince. I have some issues with the romances in this book (none of these relationships are healthy?!) and I found myself disliking a lot of the characters, yet the plot, in typical YA style, was compelling. I sped through the whole book in two sittings and had a lot of fun! It was a quick, lighthearted read, and was a great reak from the epic fantasy I've been consuming recently.

#books of 2019 #lord of the rings #lotr #the two towers #jrr tolkien #neil gaiman #norse mythology #naomi novik #temeraire #empire of ivory #victory of eagles #holly black #the cruel prince