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mermaidsirennikita · 7 years ago

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April 2018 Book Roundup

In April, I read silly books and I read books that were deadly (literally) serious. It’s possible that the most well-written book I read was Madeline Miller’s Circe, which I loved and found much more satisfying than Song of Achilles. But the most enjoyable book? It was Laura Thalassa’s Pestilence, the romance novel about a girl, an apocalypse, and a sexy horseman who spreads disease. What more could you want?

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa. 4/5. When the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse show up, all technology fails, sending the world into chaos. Then they disappear. Five years later, Pestilence has reappeared, and wherever he goes a plague kills everyone in his path. Sara, an ex-firefighter, has been sent to kill him. When that fails? She becomes his prisoner--with Pestilence claiming that he’s keeping her alive to make her suffer. Of course, that’s not what’s really going on, and yes, this is a full-blown romance novel. It’s also one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read all year thus far. Sara and Pestilence’s romance is ridiculous, engrossing, hilarious, and yes, pretty sexy. One thing I loved about this book is that while Pestilence is in his very nature a conqueror and pretty much a living plague--he’s also very boyish and inexperienced and the book makes that inexperience very sexy. Because Sara’s experienced. Sara is sarcastic, foul-mouthed, and pretty sexual; and very rarely do you come across a romance novel that lacks a serious alpha male. Like, yes, Pestilence has his dominant moments, but overall he’s more like... sorta hapless. I mean, spoiler alert, they have sex, what a shocker, and when Sara is annoyed that he’s not being more chill about it he’s like “I GAVE YOU MY ESSENCE SARA~~~~”. It’s one of those books. I loved it.

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon. 3/5. Anna Anderson was famous for pretending to be famous--after an attempted suicide, she claimed to be Anastasia Romanov, and was so convincing that people who met and were related to the grand duchess backed her. “I Was Anastasia” explores Anna’s life--backwards. Meanwhile, the story of Anastasia Romanov is told moving forward. Somewhere, they meet in the middle, as does the truth. In a basic way, this is a good historical fiction novel. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel. The thing is that if you know anything about Anastasia, you know about Anna; there aren’t any twists to be had. What kept this from being a four-star read, aside from the fact that it was a bit expected, was one thing concerning the grand duchesses that is pretty debatable from what I understand, and--I’m not sure it was necessary. But if you’re into the Romanovs, you may want to check this out.

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer. 4/5. A collection of write-ups on female serial killers. What sets this book apart is that, aside from Erszebet Bathory and Nannie Doss (as well as the Benders, vaguely) I really hadn’t heard about most of these women. Telfer steered clear of discussing extremely obvious women like Aileen Wuornos, instead focusing on cases that largely took place before the second half of the twentieth century, with one murderess dating back to the thirteenth century. Of course, this means that there was often more speculation and less hard evidence, but for most of these women I think there was a pretty good case to be made that SOMETHING was going on, even if it wasn’t as salacious as some might believe. And Telfer doesn’t just stick to typical American and European women, either--she touches about the Egyptian sisters Raya and Sakina, famous for killing a remarkable number of women, and Oum El-Hassen, a Moroccan murderess whose motives remain a mystery to this day. More than a profiling of these individuals, however, I’d call this book an analysis of how we interpret female serial killers culturally. Why don’t we take them as seriously as we do male serial killers? Why do paint them, often, as more sexual than truly frightening? Telfer doesn’t shy away from the gory details and while you might feel some empathy for these women, she doesn’t hesitate to report that some were very likely psychopaths, with no remorse--but then, that doesn’t take away from the fact that some were poor, some were abused, and some didn’t really see any better options for themselves. The Angel Makers of Nagyrev--not one murderess but a group of Hungarian village women who, over fifteen years, killed around 300 people for a variety of reasons--were particularly interesting and kind of heartbreaking. Highly recommend.

Tangerine by Christine Mangan. 2/5. In 1956, Alice goes to Tangiers with her new husband--a man she barely knows--John. Haunted by an event that happened while she was at school--an event she barely remembers--Alice struggles with anxiety and paranoia, and can’t adjust to the strange world of Morocco. However, her past catches up to her in the form of Lucy, her old school friend. This is essentially a 40s/50s film noir/psychological thriller movie a la Hitchcock in book form. Unfortunately, while I feel it would have worked as a movie of that style and era, the writing wasn’t attention-grabbing. Pretty, but a bit dull. I couldn’t tell much of a difference between the voices of Lucy and Alice, though they alternated, and the “twist”... I don’t need a twist in my thrillers--a real one, that is--but if there is going to be one it should be decent. This was fairly pedestrian. A missed opportunity, especially painful because the authorb describes Morocco so well.

Indecent by Corrine Sullivan. 3/5. Imogene has always envied the rich kids who went to elite boarding schools. Now a grown woman, she becomes a teacher’s assistant of sorts at a fancy prep school for boys--only to find herself attracted to one of the students. This is not an easy read. If anyone reads it and believes that Imogene’s victim--because horny seventeen year old boy or not, he is that--was the bad person here, nah. I don’t think Sullivan intends it that way at all. Imogene is a study of a predator who became that way through insecurity and arrested development. She thinks like a teenager. She constantly critiques herself--her body, her relative lack of sexual experience. She compares herself to teenage girls, for God’s sake, and is all impressed by a seventeen year old boy’s “experience” and “charisma”. By being in Imogene’s mind... You get how a predator becomes a predator. Some aren’t born that way, and the line between a woman in her early twenties and a boy in his late teens COULD conceivably get blurred--but it’s always the adult’s fault, and this book doesn’t shy away from that. I wouldn’t say it was a fun read, but it was interesting.

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean. 3/5. Malcolm, the Duke of Haven (yes) has a problem. He needs an heir--but to have an heir, he first needs a wife. Actually, he has one; but Seraphina, the title-chaser who “trapped” him into marriage left nearly three years ago. Now she’s shown up asking for a divorce, which isn’t all that easy to get. Malcolm makes her a deal: if she helps choose his next wife, he’ll grant her the divorce. Of course, Malcolm would far rather keep Seraphina around than have her select her replacement... so his real plan is to woo her into staying with him. This was a pleasant, enjoyable read that varied from the typical romance novel in that the hero has done a genuinely bad thing--not just a mildly upsetting thing--and there are very strong problems in the marriage. Malcolm and Sera are both pretty wounded by what they’ve done to each other and one major thing neither one of them could have really helped. The angst was real. And the sex scenes were good--lots of emphasis on female gratification in this one. But parts of the story were kind of like... too much comic relief for a novel with the kind of backstory this one has. I’m not saying it had to be a serious story AT ALL, but Sera has this chorus of sisters and I liked them at first but it become... too much. However, I’d still call it a solid historical romance.

Circe by Madeline Miller. 5/5. Known as the witch who turned Odysseus’s men into pigs before capitulating to his charms and will, Circe is a character who was present for or linked to some of the most interesting parts of Greek mythology. Here she gets her own epic, beginning with her birth as the nymph-goddess daughter of Helios. Eventually exiled to an island, far from the other gods, Circe encounters everything from sailors to fellow witches and kings, and even monsters. This is a literary fantasy, the writing as beautiful as it was in Song of Achilles, but dealing with a story much more dynamic and interesting. Circe is a character who is at times deeply caring while not losing her selfish and destructive streaks. She has reasons for her behavior, but she isn’t declawed in the least. Miller tells the more horrifying parts of her story with taste, and at times, humor; but you never lose the sense of the epic in this novel.

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton. 4/5. As the king of Innis Lear ages, his obsession with the stars and prophecy leave his kingdom in a perilous position. Drawing together his three daughters--the warlike Gaela, manipulative and child-starved Regan, and the favorite, Elia--Lear promises that he will name his heir. But no matter who he chooses, the sisters are prepared to go to war for the crown, and for the fate of Innis Lear. Obviously, this is a retelling of King Lear--Gratton evidently found the initial portrayal of Lear’s daughters lacking, and really takes that to task here. And to be sure, Gaela, Regan, and Elia have far more depths than the women in the original play. But the fact is that I could have done with more of them, and less of the perspective of others. When the story is with the sisters, it’s enthralling. But often, there’s the perspective of Ban, a pivotal character--an embittered bastard with remarkable power--but perhaps not the most compelling voice. Then there’s the fool’s daughter Aefa, Ban’s mother Brona, the sisters’ uncle, and more. Gratton also often delves into the past, revealing plot points but more than that developing the characters. Which is good. None of what is in this book is bad, really, but it’s held back from being as good as it could be by too much of the less important stuff. For example--Gaela and Regan have a very compelling, codependent relationship. Gaela is driven to be king, and Regan has sworn to support her no matter what and have children that will be Gaela’s heirs. The problem being, of course, that despite the fact that she’s the only one of the sisters in a loving relationship, Regan seems incapable of bearing a living child. The differing struggles of Gaela and Regan are amazing, and deserved more pagetime. With that being said, this is a super compelling story, and worth checking out.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara. 4/5. Michelle McNamara, as many know, died in the middle of writing her exhaustive book on the Golden State Killer--a title she coined. Obviously, the killer has since been caught, but he wasn’t when Michelle was researching. The result is a gripping, incredibly well-done book on a monster. It reminds me somewhat of In Cold Blood, but without the closeness to the killer--less sympathy, more drive to find and punish him. McNamara was up front about her own flaws, with the book itself highlighting her obsessive nature. But ultimately, the only thing I can really critique about her work is beyond her control; it is somewhat disjointed, as friends had to piece the book together after she died. However, it’s a remarkable example of true crime lit.

#book roundup #books #book recs

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