Review: From Seed to Strawberry

From Seed to Strawberry by Mari C Schuh
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

A very skewed perspective on the strawberry's life cycle. The book is supposed to trace it from a seed, but there are no seeds in there. Turns out, strawberries can grow from seeds, but gardeners plant seedlings. Seedlings, apparently, appear out of nowhere. And the cycle ends with eating. So where the next generation of strawberries comes from is not entirely clear.

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Review: Heartless

Heartless by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For once a book has left me speechless. So this review will be very, very short. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, it sets the stage for it, taking the world created by Lewis Carroll and explaining how it all came to be. And even though Heartless is tragic and painfull, it is very much in the spirit of the Alice.

I found only one slip that keeps bothering me in this book. Chapter 52 looks like an afterthought, something to explain the whole character of Hatta tucked at the end. Besides, it doesn't quite checks out.

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Review: The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life

The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I guess I'm simply not the target audience for this book, but I can't imagine who is. The dust cover says that the author "wants to open Americans' eyes to how much better things can be". It started really well and totally relatable. When on page 153 I read that living in the United States was like living in the past, I laughed out loud. This is exactly how it feels for me! It doesn't take a person from progressive Nordic countries to see anachronisms in the US. But then that book went on and on about the same points in almost the same words. This repetitiveness made me feel quite relieved, when I discovered that the last hundred pages or so are bibliography and notes and the book itself is finally over. It probably takes awhile to instill a new idea into the reader's mind, but there were few ideas new to me there. Besides, I don't see how the target audience, the Americans, would appreciate the effort. As much as the author obviously tried to sugar the pill, many will (and already were, judging by some reviews) be insulted. And even if they are not, even if they would like to implement those ideas, they practically powerless to do so. Besides, even if they could, they wouldn't. The political events of this year showed exactly how much and in what direction people here want to change their country. I wonder what the author thinks of all that happened right after she published her book.

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Review: All Bets Are Off

All Bets Are Off by Marguerite Labbe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a really good read, going for a solid 4 stars from me, which is rare for something of this genre. Right up to the point where too-real-life emotions appeared on the pages. I don't think there is a place for grief and pain in a romantic (read 'porn') book.

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Review: The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales

The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales by Dominik Parisien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book just for one story, the very last one in the book, by Naomi Novik. And it certainly didn't dissapoint. But there is a reason why I don't like collections of short stories. How do I rate the whole collection? Based on the best story? Does the most fantastic one make up for all the rubbish, making the book worth buying? Or maybe based on the worst story? Then all my ratings of such collections would reflect my dislike of them. Or maybe an average? Or a median?

I was reading strictly one story a day, leaving the one I anticipated more to be the last (so I at least tried to be objective) and rating right away. Here's what I got:

In the Desert Like a Bone by Seanan McGuire
1 star
Just plain boring. I didn't appreciate that version of the Red Riding Hood at all. The writing is also as non-captivating as possible.

Underground by Karin Tidbeck
2 stars
Just marginally better than the first story.

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious by Daryl Gregory
3 stars
This one at least was fun. What was that the author smoked?

The Super Ultra Duchess of Fedora Forest by Charlie Jane Anders
4 stars
Definitely better than the original, despite the sickly-sweet ending.

Familiaris by Genevieve Valentine
1 star
What was that? Sounded like a hormone-induced ranting of a woman suffering from a post partum syndrome.

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
5 stars
I really liked this mix of two fairy tales and the two princess saving each other. It's not the old story of a princess being a thing, a prize. It's also not a less old interpretation with a princess saving herself (and the world in the process, because ignorance is great, right?). It's something else completely. This is a story, where two princesses stop being princess, start thinking and loving, and become people.

Badgirl, the Deadman, and The Wheel of Fortune by Catherynne M. Valente
1 star
no, just no.

Penny for a Match, Mister? by Garth Nix
4 stars
An ok story that looked very good after the previous one.

Some Wait by Stephen Graham Jones
3 stars
This story was looking for a solid 4, or even 5, from me. Unfortunately, the ending was quite off key and very dissapointing.

The Thousand Eyes by Jeffrey Ford
2 stars
It seems I read everything in there in one book or another, couldn't find any new ideas or interpretations, but the writing was ok.

Giants in the Sky by Max Gladstone
3 stars
A rather trivial sci-fi spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk.

The Briar and the Rose by Marjorie Liu
5 stars
I can say that I really liked this one. The idea, the retelling angle, the writing, the characters, it all fits.

The Other Thea by Theodora Goss
4 stars
Trivial in some parts, enjoyable in others. Too focused on the happy ending. Provides a sollution to real life problems that can't work, because it's too simple. Some pretty un-ethical things are considered ok. Could end much more interesting.

When I Lay Frozen by Margo Lanagan
1 star
For once, this story is noticebly worse than the original. It's basically Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina with added author's fascination with sexual relationships. For some reason it looks like for her it's something secretely desirable, but seemingly shocking. The result is far from elegant. The note at the end said that she wanted to give some agency to a poor manipulated creature, but I don't buy it.

Pearl by Aliette de Bodard
5 stars
I didn't read the original, Dã Tràng and the Pearl, a Vietnamese folktale, but this tiny little space opera was really good.

The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle by Sofia Samatar
1 star
Pompous, verbose and empty.

Reflected by Kat Howard
3 stars
An ok story, though not exactly a retelling of the Snow Queen.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik,
5 stars
I expected it to be good, but I never expected it to be that good. The writing is impeccable. The story is mesmerizing, spinning away by the canons of the genre and being something new entirely at the same time. I so can see it as a full length novel! There is a rumor that it's going to be one. Can't wait!!

On hindsight, all other 5 stars I gave to stories in this book are not the same 5 stars as I give the Spinning Silver. This story is way above any competition from the rest of them. So what should I give the book? There were more 1s than I expected and the average is only 2.9. Maybe 3 is a good rating for a book, if 5 out of 18 stories got only 1 star. But it's not fair to Naomi Novik!

My favorite line from this book (guess which story it's from) sounds like something I should have heard before, but an extensive search didn't yield anything, so I have to assume it's original:
"A power claimed and challenged and thrice carried out is true; the proving makes it so."

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Review: The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales

The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales by Dominik Parisien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked up this book just for one story, the very last one in the book, by Naomi Novik. And it certainly didn't dissapoint. But there is a reason why I don't like collections of short stories. How do I rate the whole collection? Based on the best story? Does the most fantastic one make up for all the rubbish, making the book worth buying? Or maybe based on the worst story? Then all my ratings of such collections would reflect my dislike of them. Or maybe an average? Or a median?

I was reading strictly one story a day, leaving the one I anticipated more to be the last (so I at least tried to be objective) and rating right away. Here's what I got:

In the Desert Like a Bone by Seanan McGuire
1 star
Just plain boring. I didn't appreciate that version of the Red Riding Hood at all. The writing is also as non-captivating as possible.

Underground by Karin Tidbeck
2 stars
Just marginally better than the first story.

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious by Daryl Gregory
3 stars
This one at least was fun. What was that the author smoked?

The Super Ultra Duchess of Fedora Forest by Charlie Jane Anders
4 stars
Definitely better than the original, despite the sickly-sweet ending.

Familiaris by Genevieve Valentine
1 star
What was that? Sounded like a hormone-induced ranting of a woman suffering from a post partum syndrome.

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
5 stars
I really liked this mix of two fairy tales and the two princess saving each other. It's not the old story of a princess being a thing, a prize. It's also not a less old interpretation with a princess saving herself (and the world in the process, because ignorance is great, right?). It's something else completely. This is a story, where two princesses stop being princess, start thinking and loving, and become people.

Badgirl, the Deadman, and The Wheel of Fortune by Catherynne M. Valente
1 star
no, just no.

Penny for a Match, Mister? by Garth Nix
4 stars
An ok story that looked very good after the previous one.

Some Wait by Stephen Graham Jones
3 stars
This story was looking for a solid 4, or even 5, from me. Unfortunately, the ending was quite off key and very dissapointing.

The Thousand Eyes by Jeffrey Ford
2 stars
It seems I read everything in there in one book or another, couldn't find any new ideas or interpretations, but the writing was ok.

Giants in the Sky by Max Gladstone
3 stars
A rather trivial sci-fi spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk.

The Briar and the Rose by Marjorie Liu
5 stars
I can say that I really liked this one. The idea, the retelling angle, the writing, the characters, it all fits.

The Other Thea by Theodora Goss
4 stars
Trivial in some parts, enjoyable in others. Too focused on the happy ending. Provides a sollution to real life problems that can't work, because it's too simple. Some pretty un-ethical things are considered ok. Could end much more interesting.

When I Lay Frozen by Margo Lanagan
1 star
For once, this story is noticebly worse than the original. It's basically Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina with added author's fascination with sexual relationships. For some reason it looks like for her it's something secretely desirable, but seemingly shocking. The result is far from elegant. The note at the end said that she wanted to give some agency to a poor manipulated creature, but I don't buy it.

Pearl by Aliette de Bodard
5 stars
I didn't read the original, Dã Tràng and the Pearl, a Vietnamese folktale, but this tiny little space opera was really good.

The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle by Sofia Samatar
1 star
Pompous, verbose and empty.

Reflected by Kat Howard
3 stars
An ok story, though not exactly a retelling of the Snow Queen.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik,
5 stars
I expected it to be good, but I never expected it to be that good. The writing is impeccable. The story is mesmerizing, spinning away by the canons of the genre and being something new entirely at the same time. I so can see it as a full length novel! There is a rumor that it's going to be one. Can't wait!!

On hindsight, all other 5 stars I gave to stories in this book are not the same 5 stars as I give the Spinning Silver. This story is way above any competition from the rest of them. So what should I give the book? There were more 1s than I expected and the average is only 2.9. Maybe 3 is a good rating for a book, if 5 out of 18 stories got only 1 star. But it's not fair to Naomi Novik!

My favorite line from this book (guess which story it's from) sounds like something I should have heard before, but an extensive search didn't yield anything, so I have to assume it's original:
"A power claimed and challenged and thrice carried out is true; the proving makes it so."

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Review: The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales

The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales by Dominik Parisien
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I picked up this book just for one story, the very last one in the book, by Naomi Novik. And it certainly didn't dissapoint. But there is a reason why I don't like collections of short stories. How do I rate the whole collection? Based on the best story? Does the most fantastic one make up for all the rubbish, making the book worth buying? Or maybe based on the worst story? Then all my ratings of such collections would reflect my dislike of them. Or maybe an average? Or a median?

I was reading strictly one story a day, leaving the one I anticipated more to be the last (so I at least tried to be objective) and rating right away. Here's what I got:

In the Desert Like a Bone by Seanan McGuire
1 star
Just plain boring. I didn't appreciate that version of the Red Riding Hood at all. The writing is also as non-captivating as possible.

Underground by Karin Tidbeck
2 stars
Just marginally better than the first story.

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious by Daryl Gregory
3 stars
This one at least was fun. What was that the author smoked?

The Super Ultra Duchess of Fedora Forest by Charlie Jane Anders
4 stars
Definitely better than the original, despite the sickly-sweet ending.

Familiaris by Genevieve Valentine
1 star
What was that? Sounded like a hormone-induced ranting of a woman suffering from a post partum syndrome.

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar
5 stars
I really liked this mix of two fairy tales and the two princess saving each other. It's not the old story of a princess being a thing, a prize. It's also not a less old interpretation with a princess saving herself (and the world in the process, because ignorance is great, right?). It's something else completely. This is a story, where two princesses stop being princess, start thinking and loving, and become people.

Badgirl, the Deadman, and The Wheel of Fortune by Catherynne M. Valente
1 star
no, just no.

Penny for a Match, Mister? by Garth Nix
4 stars
An ok story that looked very good after the previous one.

Some Wait by Stephen Graham Jones
3 stars
This story was looking for a solid 4, or even 5, from me. Unfortunately, the ending was quite off key and very dissapointing.

The Thousand Eyes by Jeffrey Ford
2 stars
It seems I read everything in there in one book or another, couldn't find any new ideas or interpretations, but the writing was ok.

Giants in the Sky by Max Gladstone
3 stars
A rather trivial sci-fi spin on the Jack and the Beanstalk.

The Briar and the Rose by Marjorie Liu
5 stars
I can say that I really liked this one. The idea, the retelling angle, the writing, the characters, it all fits.

The Other Thea by Theodora Goss
4 stars
Trivial in some parts, enjoyable in others. Too focused on the happy ending. Provides a sollution to real life problems that can't work, because it's too simple. Some pretty un-ethical things are considered ok. Could end much more interesting.

When I Lay Frozen by Margo Lanagan
1 star
For once, this story is noticebly worse than the original. It's basically Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina with added author's fascination with sexual relationships. For some reason it looks like for her it's something secretely desirable, but seemingly shocking. The result is far from elegant. The note at the end said that she wanted to give some agency to a poor manipulated creature, but I don't buy it.

Pearl by Aliette de Bodard
5 stars
I didn't read the original, Dã Tràng and the Pearl, a Vietnamese folktale, but this tiny little space opera was really good.

The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle by Sofia Samatar
1 star
Pompous, verbose and empty.

Reflected by Kat Howard
3 stars
An ok story, though not exactly a retelling of the Snow Queen.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik,
5 stars
I expected it to be good, but I never expected it to be that good. The writing is impeccable. The story is mesmerizing, spinning away by the canons of the genre and being something new entirely at the same time. I so can see it as a full length novel! There is a rumor that it's going to be one. Can't wait!!

On hindsight, all other 5 stars I gave to stories in this book are not the same 5 stars as I give the Spinning Silver. This story is way above any competition from the rest of them. So what should I give the book? There were more 1s than I expected and the average is only 2.9. Maybe 3 is a good rating for a book, if 5 out of 18 stories got only 1 star. But it's not fair to Naomi Novik!

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Review: Deathless

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It seems a fashionable trend to re-tell Slavic fairy tales. Deathless is not a first book I read exploting them, though judging by the publication date, it was written sometime in the beginning of this literary fashion. And I must admit it's not the worst version.

From the first page I had a feeling that the author really did her homework, having a Russian husband probably helped a lot. The number of transliterated Russian words is rather questionable. I myself had a good laugh at them, but I'm not sure a person unfamiliar with the language can appreciate them much; they certainly add something to the tale, but only if you can trace the meaning behind them. The meaning is more or less explained along the way, but then the reader is left with the necessity to remember which word is which, so that level of the story is the first in line to be skipped.

The translations of Russian poetry are rather liberal, changing words for the story's sake, and at the same time still ugly. I don't know if there are better translations out there, but the author could at least try to keep the rhyme. Or, if nothing else, the rhythm.

As I said, I had thought that the author did a very good job in studying the culture. Right up to the page 63. On which Pushkin is called Aleksey. It somehow broke the spell. After that the transliterated Russian words became annoying; tradional elements of fairy tales, like three-fold repetitions, looked foreign; stereotypes seemed to pile up out of control (of course Russian fairies, and all Russians for that matter, drink vodka as water and nothing else, right?)

The poet's name is not the only overlooked mistake in the text. There were some gender-changing kings of water and strange-looking birds, but most of them were easy to forgive.

And then comes the Siege of Leningrad... There is probably a way to turn that pain and that fear into a story, a fairy tale to pass on. But that book is not that way.

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Review: What Remains

What Remains by Garrett Leigh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That was the first book by this author I read and probably the last. The last because I liked it so much I don't want to learn all her books are the same :) It was a very refreshing experience. Most of the authors in the genre I read are from the US, so the language and perspective here are new to me. Besides, the author really did her homework and the characters that came from different places do sound differently.

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Review: Biscuit Goes to School

Biscuit Goes to School by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Ehm. This book's rating is 4.17? I know a lot of much better books with ratings not nearly that good. Anyway, the story bored both me and my kid. The pictures are sweet, but the text that goes along is disappointing at best. I'm pretty sure that vocabulary of a book marked 'shared reading' can go beyond ten words.

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Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure how many stars to give this book, three or four, but after reading about the author and his account of creating the story, settled on joining 130,000 people on GR.

The idea to wind a story around a collection of vintage pictures is interesting and fresh. And at first I really liked the book, like the first third, before anything 'supernatural' started to happen. After that point, (view spoiler)[after our hero goes to 1940 and finds the peculiar children living there (hide spoiler)], I had a distinct impression that it was written by another person. The first part is light, but gripping, while after that the writing abruptly becomes sloppy and boring. The world-building is limping; the author goes to great length explaining how this peculiar world works, but there are so, so many details that don't fit, it's amazing.

The author also didn't bother to do his homework. I can't be sure, as a non-native English speaker, but there are several slips, when supposedly European kids from the WW I time use words, such as skivvies, marked as Americanisms in dictionaries. The stunning display of flashlight fish the kids see also doesn't quite make sense. It struck me as odd, so I went to Wikipedia of course and looked up species that are called 'flashlight fish'. Naturally, most of them are deep-water fish that don't live in the Atlantic. There are two that can be found in the Atlantic, but one of them is deep-water dweller and the other is 'epipelagic to mesopelagic', which translates to 90-820 meters, that besides comes to 'shallower depths during daylight' (the scene happens at night). A bit deep for snorkeling, isn't it? Also, the author presumably thinks that human eyes consist of whites and pupils, nothing else.

The thing that bothers me most is the unique peculiar gift of the main character to see something that appeared in the universe a hundred years ago. Did those 'special' peculiars passed as 'normals' before that? How many other peculiars live with a gift not yet called upon?

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Review: The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep

The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Scrolling down the book's page on Goodreads I found that first several reviews start with a word 'creepy', and I totally agree! This 'new way of getting children to sleep' consists of reading incredibly boring stories with repetitive phrases meant to hypnotize the kid. The foreword says that if it didn't work the first time, just read it again. Great, just read an incredibly boring story several times and, bingo, the kid is asleep!

In my world, the bed time is the time for imagination, for interesting stories, for some time together, for reflecting on the day, and many other things, but definetely not for... that. I don't know a good word to describe what this book is supposed to do. There is no meaningful story in it, to think about and to compare with, no interesting pictures, nothing at all. If you say 'sleep, sleep, sleep...' long enough, it would have the same effect.

Sometimes, very rarely, I need my kid to go to sleep faster, but even then I wouldn't read this. I'd choose some authobiography or other non-fiction, boring for the kid, but interesting for me. Works every time. By the way, this 'new way of getting children to sleep' doesn't work. I honestly tried!

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Review: Vampire Knight, Vol. 2

Vampire Knight, Vol. 2 by Matsuri Hino
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It seems that the drawing is even worse than in the first volume. Besides, nothing actually happened in this volume, which is frustrating. Hence, one star.

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Review: Понедельник начинается в субботу

Понедельник начинается в субботу by Arkady Strugatsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my all-times favorites that I read and re-read (I can remember at least ten occasions). This particular session was special, because my husband was reading it aloud. And as soon as we reached the end, we started again. And then read again, selected parts.

The mix of surrealism and straightforward realism, irony and self-irony, fondness and disillusionment is amazing and breathtaking. This book shows the atmosphere among Soviet Union -> Russian scientists so accurately, as if it's a mirror. And it makes me feel both nostalgic and apprehensive, because it of course shows both good and bad sides, and also that they are the same. The things we love are pretty horrible, if we think about them long enough, but in most cases they are what they are. It's just the paradigm, the universe we live in. And the mirror to look in.

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Review: Vampire Knight, Vol. 1

Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 by Matsuri Hino
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I'm probably not the target audience for the book, but still I thought it would be so much better. First, I don't much appreciate the author's drawing style. Most characters look exactly (and I mean it, exactly) the same with the exception of hair style, which is not always 100% consistent. The drawings themselves are lacking in details and pretty basic. And the plot... The plot is moving ever so slooowly...

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Review: Hell Cop

Hell Cop by Astrid Amara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's not a secret that most of the M/M "erotica" (which is just a nice word for "porn" in this context) is written mostly by women and for women. And Hell Cop is no exception. It's also wide known that women tend to get attached to characters they read about. I enjoyed the first part of the book, Next of Kin, about Jay and Brian, but when I turned the page and saw Michael Gold adjusting his pack I closed the book with an intension to never open it again. And that was back in December, in other words 10 months ago. I did eventually find it among my Kindle books and gave it a second chance. That's when I discovered that, though the three chapters are written by three different authors and about three different couples, the universe is the same down to details, the style is same, as well as character types and sexual fantasies. I wouldn't know it's three authors if not told. All in all, it's a solid example of the genre, even if the erotic part is a little mundane and not exciting enough.
Surprisingly, the second book in the series is the same threesome, but I doubt I'll be reading it - books about problems in relationships are very rarely good and never as good as those romantic accounts of falling in love.

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Review: Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World's Most Famous Human Fossils

Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World's Most Famous Human Fossils by Lydia Pyne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I won a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaways and was so looking forward to read it! Since I got it before the publication day, I made sure to clear enough days in reading "schedule" so I could post my review the day the book was officially out. Turned out I didn't set aside enough time, this reading took me more than a month instead of a usual week for 200-300 pages.

I was anticipating eagerly. Science and scientists desperately need that popularization element. We all need books that explain current research, make it a part of the paradigm the society lives in, inspire people to ask questions and seek answers. Unfortunately, lame attempts at all these things hurt the science more than no attempts at all.

My disenchantment started with a feeling that I'm reading a scientific paper - as if I don't read enough of them - and not a good paper at that. The same style, the same jumping thoughts and sloppy writing characteristic of bad papers that nobody wants to read, but everyone in the field has to, because (ten different reasons here). After page 25, where "the stereoscope expanded [research possibilities] in the same way that telescopes and microscopes expanded the visual possibilities for other sciences centuries before", my reading slowed down significantly. Because no, it didn't. The CT scan expanded possibilities for paleoanthropology the same way microscopes did, not stereoscopes. Could the author really not see the difference? How? Why? Should I read it?

By the end of chapter One, I resorted to highlighting, which I never do with books, only with papers. The last three pages of this chapter in my advanced copy was a jumble of several sentences repeated over and over again (at least 4 times) in different order. Very surprised, I decided to wait for the release date and continued reading the hard cover. At least this mess at the end of the Old Man chapter was fixed, which is a huge relief.

The part I liked best was a heroic saga "Australopithecus" by Dr. Walet Rose on the page 104. It is simply the best part of the book. Can you imagine my disappointment, when the reference given at the end turned out to be "Raymond Dart Archive", which basically means that there is no way I can read the whole saga?

I have lots of remarks about the content of this book, thanks to "scientific paper mode" of reading - I kept notes, highlighted, and wrote on margins, but each one of them is small and insignificant, untill you see them all together. The overall conclusion is depressing. What was it? A dissertation published as a book? It's written in worst possible way for the genre. The author gives bits and pieces. The moment writing turns into a story and becomes interesting, she changes the topic and keeps jumping the whole book. She doesn't give any conclusions, just piles up little facts in a way that suggests she waits for the reader to make the "right" conclusion, the one she has in mind. But the piled facts are too small to be interesting and the whole pile is not comprehensive enough to draw any conclusions. They are just hanging there, a messy pile of facts.

I'm very upset after reading this book, but give it three stars nevertheless, for the effort of popularizing paleoanthropology.

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Review: The Hobbit (Graphic Novel): An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic

The Hobbit (Graphic Novel): An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As much as I love The Hobbit, this is not a good version of it. I chose to read it aloud to my son, thinking that it would be a great way to introduce the classic to him, but alas. The adapters apparently are as fond of the Tolkien's masterpiece as I am, and it made them cling to every word. As a result, there are far too many words for a graphic novel, and they are far too small and difficult to read, and out of proportion with the pictures. The pictures themselves are reasonably good, though not spectacular. Overall, I expected much more from a graphic novel based on The Hobbit.

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Review: Ellie's Fun Day at the Farm

Ellie's Fun Day at the Farm by Marci Fair
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received an advanced copy of this book from the author to review. But there is a catch - I never asked for it. The accompaning letter said that I "had previously won one of the Ellie books in a Goodreads giveaway". Yes, I did, the very first one. And I made sure to never enter giveaways of these books again. Just so I wouldn't have to write negative reviews. That's an excellent, textbook example of bad marketing! I did win a book in this series before, but did I give it a lot of stars? Did they bother to check?

The letter further prompted me to post a review on Amazon before the publication day, because they "could really use 50+ 5 star reviews". I wouldn't give a book like that five stars even in a good mood, but after reading it I was thoroughly annoyed. So here we go, two stars. At least I do it after the publication day.

As for the book itself, this fifth book is much better than the first one. I can see considerably more effort (and more photoshop skills :) ) put into its creation. It's also a bit more interesting for kids, with some activities and word-play. Still, the language is primitive and there is nothing in there that not in an average autumn-themed "let's go to the farm" picture book. Plus there is a picture of a hen labelled 'rooster'. In normal circumstances, I would check it out of the library, read it once, and give it three stars. even though I know that encouraging kid's creativity is really important, and the fact that a twelve-year old girl can publish books is amazing.

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Review: The Unfriendly Dragon

The Unfriendly Dragon by Brae Wyckoff
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Well, I actually bought into the colorful descriptions and positive reviews on GR. To think that I asked our library to buy a copy! But they did buy it :(
The book opens with a presentation of the hero, who is an "Ordakian" and "is very similar to a small human, but with really hairy feet". Does it sound familiar? So he with another "ordakian" and a dwarf goes on an adventure, without any mention of the original author or books anywhere (but there are several pages of "reviews", quite fantastic, and an "all rights reserved" statement).
Unfortunately, the heroes are the only thing that Mr. Wyckoff plagiarised. The content is very primitive in all respects: words, syntax, and ideas. I wouldn't recommend even for very young readers, after four it's simply out of the question.

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Review: Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents

Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm pleasantly surprised. It's not just just a book about cute baby animals. And it's not just a book good for learning to read or reading aloud. It's also not simply a picture book with good illustrations. It is a book without obvious mistakes. It's a simple thing to ask for, but I find that most children's books have tons of nonsense. Not this one, both the main story and the details on illustrations are true. The author does indeed know what she writes about.

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Review: Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm actually glad it's over. Such an interesting feeling to finish reading a book and, instead of craving for more, be relieved I could get to the back cover.

The subject is important, even if the main character seems a little to obsessed with it to be real. The writing and proofreading are good, which is more than can be said of most books. And the book made me cry, quite literally, a few times.

I take one star off for literary effects I didn't appreciate. The story alternates between Sarah in 1942 and Julia in 2002, each gets a short few-pages chapter in turn. But Sarah is referred to as "the girl" in her chapters, even though her name is on the cover and the story is narrated from her point of view. It got annoying by page 30, but the name is revealed only on page 124. Forty pages later Sarah's chapters disappear and we are left with Julia. The same name-hiding trick is repeated at the end, which is only one of the ways in which the book makes a full circle and gets a little bit too "round".

I'm not sure I'm glad I read the book. It appears the author assumes that things that are not talked about are forgotten. But there are things I never talk about, and my parents never talked about them with me, which didn't prevent the pain going from one generation to the next. Sometimes pain is too deep for words.

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Review: Anacondas

Anacondas by Elizabeth Raum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is surprisingly good for the genre. I'm impressed for once.

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Review: Ida, Always

Ida, Always by Caron Levis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There is a lot of five- and four-stars review, but not so much is heard from those who didn't like the book. Well, I didn't like it. It says that it's based on a real story of two polar bears in a zoo and was inspired by the great sadness of zoo visitors following the death of one of them, Ida. I guess, the author tryed to turn it around and make a book for children of how to cope with a loss of a loved one. First of all, no matter how touching the story is for adults, I don't think it works that way for children, especially grieving children. Second, for a book about real bears, it's anthropocentric to the extreme. Third, I generally don't like books that try to sell readers false hopes, and Ida, Always does exactly that; instead of providing a way to settle and move on it gives some groundless, ephemeral hopes.

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Review: Big Bug

Big Bug by Henry Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cute book trying to help kids understand relative size and perspective with bright pictures and a few words. It doesn't really work - I doubt anything would work other than going outside and actually seeing the effect - but helps in explanation. Four stars for the effort, there are not enough children's books about things adults take for granted.

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Review: Cicadas

Cicadas by Margaret Hall
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What did I learn from this children's educational book about cicadas? Oh, so much! There is no information in there beyond very basic common knowledge. Cicadas buzz, mate, lay eggs, and live underground until they mature. Really? Who would have thought? I especially liked the first page: "What are cicadas? Cicadas are flying insects with thick bodies." The end.

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Review: Harmony

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The blurb says that it's a book about a desperate family, who turns to the last resort to help their daughter after she is kicked out even from a school for children with special needs. Based on that blurb I was expecting a psychological drama that would explain how the family managed to deal with their situation in the end. Those expectations were completely false. An "unputdownable story" (such a word)? About the strength of love, the bonds of family, and how you survive the unthinkable? Not so much. I had to force myself to read to the end and didn't find there a lot of love or family bonds, just a little pinch here and there. The "unthinkable" is also not all that unthinkable. What is it about? I'm not sure.

Just as promised the book is told from the alternating perspectives of Alexandra and her younger daughter Iris; the first tells a tale placed in 2012 of how they ended up in the camp, the latter is in 2013 and about what happened in the camp. There is also a bit of Tilly-chapters in the mix. The characters are.. strange. I don't know if the author has any first-hand experience with special-needs children, but she totally forgot how to be a normal kid. The chapters told from the perspective of the eleven-years-old girl evoke only one emotion. I don't believe it! A pre-teen girl doesn't think like that. I remember myself, I re-read what my friends and I wrote to each other at that age, and it's completely different, the way of thinking and perceiving the world is different. Iris, on the other hand, sounds like an adult, who pretends to be naive and confused.

My second problem with the book is Alexandra. She's supposed to be desperate and lonely, but sounds... empty, for the lack of a better word. The word clicked into place only on page 185, where "everyone seemed to be terribly in love with their children and not the least bit panicky about the empty hours that stretched ahead after class was over". Yes, right, just the thought a young mother of a yet absolutely normal toddler would have. The character is not exactly flat, it's as if its non-existent. The book doesn't show any sides of Alexandra's character. She doesn't have any hobbies, interests, passions. She sends her daughters to school and spends the time "practicing escapism" (Facebook, video games, you name it). An adult who doesn't like.. anything? There is absolutely nothing in her life except for the escapism. I'm not sure I can imagine a life like that, but ok, probably possible.

The incident that was the last straw before the family moves to the ill-fated camp also seems very far-fetched to me. It starts with Tilly and Alexandra in a park, there is a bunch of random kids there on a school trip. Tilly lies on the ground to take a picture of a statue. Alexandra runs there to "save" her girl from humilation, but too late. Kids start to bully and laugh at her. Really? I did exactly that many times in my life. What's wrong with lying on the ground in search of a better shot? Nobody would even notice. So here again, I don't believe it! Think of Stanislavsky.

I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. All in all, I think it's a solid three. Certainly no more than that. My opinion "may or may not be relevant".

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Review: Harry Potter Magic Eye Book: 3D Magical Creatures, Beasts and Beings

Harry Potter Magic Eye Book: 3D Magical Creatures, Beasts and Beings by Magic Eye Inc.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Yet another parasite on Harry Potter's fame. And not very well done. It seems cheap somehow when there are five goblin's heads on a picture and one of them is "3D". It's much more interesting when "magic" images resolve from an abstract pattern, when you don't know before focusing what's it going to be.

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Review: Detective Dinosaur

Detective Dinosaur by James Skofield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Such a sweet little book. There are three stories inside and each one is from somewhere else, but with a dinosaur twist and simple words. I can't even recall where this one originated: "We should call the police!" "We are the police, sir"

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Review: Harry Potter: The Creature Vault: The Creatures and Plants of the Harry Potter Films

Harry Potter: The Creature Vault: The Creatures and Plants of the Harry Potter Films by Jody Revenson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

For me this book looks like yet another misunderstanding of the intended audience. It's big-sized, published on high quality paper, with an elaborate cover. And contains behind-the-scenes information. The illustrations are good and information is interesting, but who was it all made for? People interested in movie production details probably don't care about the pompous looks of the book. And kids that buy into this "as if from the magic world" cover need a magical book, not a collection of facts. The book was probably intended for both categories, but doesn't property serve either.

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Review: Glimpses: A Collection of Nightrunner Short Stories

Glimpses: A Collection of Nightrunner Short Stories by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

I guess it is indeed the last glimpse of Nightrunner for me :( I already read the rest of the books and, as far as I know, there are no plans to continue with the series. There were rumors of a movie, but they died off a while ago. So yes, as much as I mourn the fact, Glimpses is an appropriate title in more than one way.

The book is illustrated by fans, and I can't say I appreciate it. I'm not saying that the art is bad, not at all. But it came from 32 different people, and as a result, is all over the place. The perception of Nysander especially varies from artist to artist, I don't recognize him on any of the pictures.

The book contains five stories, but one (By the River) was published earlier on-line and one (The Summer Players) became a part of a later book, so only three were new to me. Of those three, the first two were only ok. Misfit tells the story of Seregil's early adventures in Skala. I think it was supposed to be erotic and exciting, but really fell short of my expectations. The Wild is about Alec's childhood and parents. Amasa is better fleshed out here, but still not all that alive.

The Bond is more or less what I wanted from a book like that, those glimpses of erotic moments that are left out from the main books. Turned out those moments are not the author's forte. Just a glimpse without a taste. All in all the book just returned me to the miserable state of a withdrawal syndrome right when I finally got over it.

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Review: The Wreath Recipe Book: Year-Round Wreaths, Swags, and Other Decorations to Make with Seasonal Branches

The Wreath Recipe Book: Year-Round Wreaths, Swags, and Other Decorations to Make with Seasonal Branches by Alethea Harampolis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are quite a few useful tips in this book, on how to tie elements together, how to keep them fresh, plant choosing, and so on. I would give it five stars only for that, if only most of the designs weren't so ugly. I liked only three of them, but it could be worse - I saw books without a single recipe I liked.

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Review: How Machines Work: Zoo Break!

How Machines Work: Zoo Break! by DK Publishing
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars, so I guess it makes it 3.5, but I'm rounding down anyway.
The premise of the book is stupid, but very funny; the kind of thing that even small kids know is impossible, which makes that much more fun. So we're following attempts of the Sloth and his friend to break free from a zoo. Each of the attempts is more or less well planned, thought trough in respect of technology, and entertaining.

The text is waaay too detailed for my taste. If a kid needs that much detail, a children's book is not a sourse to look up. And if a kid doesn't want those details, why they are there? The text is boring, over-the-head, going at lenghts about things nobody in our family is interested in. If the idea was to develop that technical part of kid's brain, then it failed. To do that you really need to wrap complicated ideas in simple (but not oversimplified of course) and engaging words. This text? It was like reading a manual. I resorted to telling the story in my own words, ignoring the text. Or was it there to educate the parents, so they can spin a tale knowing what's going on?

The props are ingenious! We spent a lot of time catapulting the heroes over the wall. There is only one problem with them - too easy to break. The book won't survive in a library for very long, which is very sad. It wouldn't survive for long even as a house book. But hey, it's a lot of fun at least.


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Review: Star Wars Origami: 36 Amazing Paper-folding Projects from a Galaxy Far, Far Away....

Star Wars Origami: 36 Amazing Paper-folding Projects from a Galaxy Far, Far Away.... by Chris Alexander
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The idea is appealing, but 1) it's not origami sensu stricto; 2) a lot of the projects are ugly; 3) instructions are detailed, but not clear; 4) the book is for ages 9 and up, but a 9 year old would need help, which is a consequence of 3. Overall, not something I'd buy.

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Review: Us

Us by Sarina Bowen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Us is the sequel to the book Him, both of which were born from a collaboration of authors Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. And now, after reading it, I wish there weren't a sequel.

The highlights are shifted in this book, totally getting outside the genre of the first book. While the first one has some drama and fleshed-out characters, it's a hot m/m... let's call it romance. The second book stresses the drama. Though there are some explicit scenes, the book is hardly hot. But such books are usually read for their hotness, right?

But if the authors wanted to write something dramatic and issue-of-the-day, ok, let's focus on the drama. They did a pretty good job building up the tension, the depression, and the desperation; they were at it for almost all the book. And then resolved it all on several pages. Unfortunately, real life usually doesn't work that way. A few words and gestures cannot take away all frustration and depression and make people whole and happy again. So the book fell short of the expectations set in the beginning, especially considering the fact that those expectations were set unnecessary and out-of-the-genre.

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Review: A Court of Mist and Fury

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On the one hand, I enjoyed reading the book to some degree and got through those 600+ pages in less than a week. But the only thing it says is that the book is easy to read and has a lot of local cliffhangers. Like you can't put it down at the end of a chapter, because chapters end in the middle of action. This easiness may be worth four stars. On the other hand, there is all this bad writing and plotting, poor world-building and not-thought-through characters, which drags my rating to three stars. The actual rating I settle to doesn't matter at all, with 30,000+ ratings averaging at 4.77 on Goodreads.

Concerning the writing my main complaint is that the author is very prone to repetitiveness, even more so (or maybe not more, just fresher in my my mind) than in the first book. Just about everything is a "sleight of hand". Characters still flick the invisible dust from their clothing pretty often. The first half of the book is filled with people tasting "ash in the mouth". And in the final battle almost all of the participants at some point "had a sence to look" this way or that, mostly unnerved or nauseated. And those are just examples.

Plotting is... well, it isn't. It just isn't there. Several conflicts are started or fleshed out, but nothing, absolutely nothing is resolved at the end. So here we go, a book about a girl with the posttraumatic syndrome trying to piece herself together. And I don't want to spoil anything to anyone, so... sploiler alert! The fact that Feyre and Tamlin will not live happily ever after was pretty obvious at the end of the first book. He was too impassive, sitting on his ass and not intervening with the process of saving him. The fact that the new hero was to be Rhysand was also quite clear. He did too much Under the Mountain for it to be written off for scheming to his own ends. I was wondering only how the author would deal with the love triangle. How do you make a hero love someone so much it's enough to sacrifice everything for this love and then make this hero love someone else? Easy, as it turns out. And yes, I know that people do fall in love, when someone showed them more kindness than others. And yes, I know that people often change their heart. It happens, all the time. My problem is that "sacrifice all" part. People don't do heroic deeds for a love that's a choice between a small fish and an empty dish. But yeah, sure, Rhys is hotter. Though he somehow turns from a smart, cunning, old High Lord we knew, who makes his own sacrifices and plans, into a simple brute, who makes tactical mistakes and gets distracted by lust. As a summary, the book is a long chewing on several romantic relationship that never gets to resolving anything.

The world-building was just a little bit better than in A Court of Thorns and Roses. Not so many data dumps at least. The puzzling piece was the evolution vs. creation problem. The world was created from the Cauldron, and yet there are allusions to some animalistic instincts that are ancient and responsible for the mating bond. Ms. Maas, just make up your mind. Please. The piece of this world that made laugh out loud was the flying over the "forested steppes" in the mountains. Again, make up your mind. They are either forested or steppes.

On top of everything else, of course, the book ends with cliffhanger, so now I will have to read the next one, because it left with a sense of an unfinished tale. A cheap trick.

As a final note, I really could do without chapter 54. I do believe that an author should assume at least a flicker of intellegence in readers and not chew for them the content of the first book in the light of the second. This self-explaining goes on for pages... And was the cover meant to portray the author?

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Review: Shards of Time

Shards of Time by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first thing you see starting a book is the cover. And for this particular book it's a huge advantage. I didn't check who was the cover artist for all the books in the series, only the first two and the last two, but judging by the style they finally found a suitable artist for the last four installments. And by the last book he (Michael Komarck) reached the perfection. He actually read the book, not just skipped through as the first artist, and did the cover according to the descriptions inside.

The second thing you see, when you open this book, is the map. Or rather maps. There is the usual one, showing us all the lands we know of from this series, but there is also a new one. The whole action in Shards of Time takes place on the Island of Kouros, so we got a map of it. The unusual bit is that this map has a scale, the first scale in the series. So it doesn't take a lot of math skills to measure the island, deduce the scale of the large map, and then remember all those travels by water and by land our heroes did in previous books. I did just that and placed a time estimation to each one according to the distance and the mode of transportation. The amazing thing is IT ALL CHECKS OUT! There are no one-day journies over one-week-worth of distance! I'm in mute admiration.

The book itself is incredebly fast-paced, whirling along from the very first page. I was half-way through the day I finished the previous one, Casket of Souls. Once again, it's more of an adventure, than a political puzzle. The pace doesn't slack for a minute (though I made myself to slow down, trying to savor the book), culminating in a messy battle (only one this time, I guess lesson learnt after The White Road). The battle may be a bit too melodramatic for my taste, and there were a few things that didn't make a lot of sense, logic or event-wise, but on the whole it was an excellent reading.

Now i'm in mourning, because it's the last Nightrunner book.

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Review: Casket of Souls

Casket of Souls by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is book six in the series and the next one is the last. I would probably read the Nightrunner forever, given the chance, but no such luck. So I'm very upset closing this book and starting Shards of Time, but I still can't wait even a minute before starting it.

Seregil and Alec are done with their not-so-perfectly-written adventures in Plenimar and settled in Rhíminee again. Which means the Rhíminee Cat and political plots return in full force. The whole book is a cobweb of machinations of two rival cabal that want different people on the throne, and neither one is acceptable from the Watchers' point of view. All this makes a lot of work for Seregil and Alec, with a lot of burgling, fighting, and trying to piece together what little information they have. Unfortunately, all this doesn't get them anywhere, because a third force wipes out both cabals, so the result looks not entirely satisfactory. Till almost the end I hoped that Seregil would piece together the puzzle and solve it himself, but (and it's the only big disappointment from the book) the author gave him a too-straight-forward a hint, which was a bit more luck than you would expect even with generally lucky Seregil. Only after that prompting bone it all clicked into places and rushed to the end.

And I too rushed to the end, reading without a pause the last third of the book. And now I already started the next one, which is even more exciting, except that it's the last one.

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Review: Centipedes

Centipedes by Margaret C. Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Centipedes are... Centipedes have... Centipedes live... Most centipedes... Some centipedes... Most centipedes... Some centipedes... Centipedes have... Each section... Their front legs... Female centipedes... Some females... Young centipedes... They grow... Centipedes use... Centipedes eat... Centipedes have... They sense...

Those are the first words of every single sentence in the book. You can guess that this book can't boast a great sentence variety. Much less varied than the Wiki page on centipedes. But of course kids would pick it up in a library. Because... Centipedes! At least there are no horrible blurbs scintific-wise. That's why it gets solid three stars.

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Review: Pups to the Rescue!

Pups to the Rescue! by Nickelodeon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The field for the review asks "What do you think?" I prefer not to think about... such things.

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Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More and more often, searching for a new book to read, I swallow the bait of the public opinion and choose a highly praised one. I need to stop, because more and more often I have to start a review with "I don't understand how that can be rated so high". At least this one wasn't as bad as some others I read recently (say Red Rising), so it's fine.

I laughed out loud at the first paragraph. The book starts with the heroine "monitoring the parameters of the thicket for an hour". Yes, I know this word can be used in this context, but should it? Am I reading a SciFi? By the second page I couldn't get rid of the feeling that it's a version of the Game of Thrones. Winter, the Wall, deadly tall creatures... And the heroine and her family didn't bother to store enough food and fire wood for the winter. Really? Either the author has a very vague notion of how it works, or tries to picture Feyre as completely and irrevocably stupid. And then comes the data dump, it goes on and on, for several pages... I don't think a data dump is a good way of world building, but this method is repeated several times in the book; there are at least three clusters at least five pages long each with nothing but data dumps on them.

After that initial "world building" the action starts. Sort of. First it's the Cinderella, then it's the Beauty and the Beast, then it's the Beauty and the Beast with elements of the Cinderella. How clever. And all of it full of... I don't know how to call. Discrepancies? Logical holes in the narrative. Like a daughter of well-off people wasn't taught to read by eleven. Women are still "marriable" after twenty. No language barrier whatsoever after 500 years of separation. Faes requiring more than several hundred years to learn when to keep their mouth shut. And so on.

The most annoying part was repetitive descriptions. The same words and phrases were applied to similar objects and situations over and over again. I lost count how many times somebody flicked the dust from their jackets or gowns, in exact same way. And the end is just cheap.

Was it entertaining? I'd say yes. Is it worth reading? Probably yes. Is it a must read? Definitely no. Though, I admit I'll give the next book a try. It's rated even higher. Here I go again...

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Review: The White Road

The White Road by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As much as I cannot be dragged from the books in this series and anticipate each and every one, I'm sorry to give the White Road only four stars. It seems that between the Shadows Return and the White Road the author changed her mind about a lot of things. This one supposedly picks up where the previous one ended, literally at the same moment. But at the end of the Shadows Return a carriage was sent to bring Alec and his friends from the shore and at the beginning of the White Road he rides to the house and faints in the courtyard. And this is just a little example of the million discrepancies that start from the very first page. There is confusion about horses, dates, history, slave brands, and even the Moon. Though thankfully Lynn Flewelling is not one of the authors, who have absolutely no idea why, when, and how phases of the Moon work, there are still some mistakes there.

This installment is also differs from the others by its uneven pace. The beginning is a bit slow building and not very colorful, while the end is kind of rushed: The heroes jump from one decisive battle to another without so much as a pause.

Judging by the reviews though, the next book is a great improved so yet again I'm left to wait impatiently its arrival.

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Review: The Stonekeeper

The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was looking for interesting graphic novels for my 5-year-old and thought that maybe this one, with almost 30,000 raitings averaging higher than 4, would be a good choise. The art is good, the story is dark, just what the kids want at that stage when they want to be frightened, right? And yes, my kid liked it, so I will have to suffer through at least one more volume, because he wants to know what happened next. Suffer, because the book is marginal at best. The plot is lame, with a number of discrepancies and poor character building. It so doesn't deserve a place among the best graphic novels for children or 500 essential graphic novels.

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Review: Green in Nature

Green in Nature by Martha E.H. Rustad
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I firmly believe that factual mistakes are absolutely unacceptable in picture books. There is no telling what a kid will remember and how hard it will be to squeeze out that rubbish. That is why this book gets one star from me. A green book about the color green may be a good idea. And I understand that the authors and designers probably don't have a lot of education. But just five minutes of googling would save them from calling duckweed algae. And what duckweed! It even has flowers on that unfortunate picture, which is pretty rare, proving to everyone who can see that it's a flowering plant.

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Review: Rosie's Walk

Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cute little book for cute little kids. It was fun to read a book with 32 words on 32 pages (no, not one word per page). The illustrations are also hilarious, even though I don't usually like this style. The unusual side of the book is the lack of descriptions. The few words that are there don't really tell the story, unless you are looking at the pictures. Or rather, they tell the story how it's seen from Rosie's point of view, which doesn't really correspond with what really happened. Thus, a lot is left unsaid, giving space for imagination, word-play and discussion. The downside - it can't be one of the first books a kid tries to read him or herself; since the words and the pictures tell two different stories, it makes it impossible for a beginning reader to focus. But it's a great book for reading together. I wish I learnt about it earlier, when my son was three or four; back then it would be very entertaining and educational for him. Now, that he's five, it's not all that educational, but we still had a lot of fun and a nice discussion.

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Review: The Long Way Down

The Long Way Down by Craig Schaefer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(Review to come. Need some time to think it through. Not even sure about the rating.)

I guess I took enough time to think about the book. It's May now, and I finished it in January. The reason it took me so long to process is I was surprised. I never expected a book of this genre and format to be so good. The most appealing part is the deviation from the usual a-stupid-hero-saves-the-day line. The hero here is not stupid. And he doesn't do one stupid thing after another. He has a goal and with limited information at hand he gives it his best. His opponents are also not stupid, they try hard to succeed. The hero does what he can as good as he can and carries the day, sort of. Only sort of, because nobody can win every battle and, though he achieves the main goal (even if temporarily), he looses several other important things. That's a very refreshing way to write a book and I like it much more than sugary 'happily ever after' without moving a finger. Applause to the author!

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Review: Lost Ocean

Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I received the book for free through Goodreads Giveaways and forgot about it for a long time. Then two things happened. First, I saw the book in a store. Second, I went on Goodreads and discovered that its rating was 4.65, which is well above average. After all that I couldn't resist leaving a negative review. The problem is I didn't expect that the 'advance uncorrected sampler' I asked through giveaways in reality would be a ten-page excerpt. I feel offended. Besides 'magical journey beneath the ways' is a description that fall very far from reality. That promise makes me think of some real creatures to color, while the book is just an assembly of sea-themed patterns.

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Review: Shadows Return

Shadows Return by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are a lot of reviews here pointing out the lack of intrigues and politics in this volume. This is certainly not an epic, like the second book of Nightrunner, nor even a detective, like the first and the third. The beloved characters, Seregil and Alec, are sent on a questionable errand early in the book and most of the rest happens after its failure. They are caught, enslaved, tortured, and are expected to use all their resourcefulness to get out.

I would say this book is not as brilliant as the others in the series, but. For the first time in two years a book kept me up till morning. It wasn't as gripping at the beginning, just an ordinary book, but after 260-300 pages I came to a point when I couldn't put it down. So I had to sacrifice my night rest. It was amazing that the perfect pair of the heroes is not so perfect together. I would have though that their special talimenios bond would safe them from jealousy and uncertainty, but, oh, how wrong I was. This book gives Seregil and Alec a more real feel, they become for the reader something more than a perfect pair of lovers, who know each other thoughts and feelings. The author gave them insecurity in love we all live with.

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Review: In the Night Kitchen

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My first thought after reading it was "What was it?" The second one was "No, wait! What was it?" I picked In the Night Kitchen, because it's listed as a children's classic. Since English is not my native language, I was spared this as a kid, but I thought that maybe my son would be interested. And no, turned out he wasn't.

Most of the reviews of this book on Goodreads mention the character's nudity one way or the other. The book is even called "one of the most controversial books in history" due to those pictures of a naked boy. Is it really what makes a book controversial? Mu son didn't even notice/comment on it, neither did I pay it any particular attention.

What I saw in this book was a surreal story. A boy called Mickey dreamt of cooking a cake and saving the day. Great. It is surreal all right, but not in a good way. A surrealism without any particular meaning. Not especially fun, either. I guess it's in the "best kids' books" list because it was written many years ago and a lot of people who make those lists read it in childhood. But I don't think it's a reason enough.

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Review: The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant

The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I first learnt about this book from Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science or some other book by Richard Dawkins, I don't remember exactly. What I do remember is that he mentioned Babar as something he used to read to his daughter. It sounded like a reason enough to give it a try.

I wish I didn't. My five-year-old is ok with the book, of course, since he can't recognize in it what I can. I guess in 1933, when it was published, a book like that was totally fine for children; just a normal life, wasn't it? Unfortunately, it's totally not ok now. Too much colonial by any standards.

Babar's loving mother is shot, while he is still a kid (a toddler by the feel of it, since he rides on her back at that moment). He wanders in the forest for a few days, during which he apparently matures enough. Without further ado he comes to a city, where he leads a life of a young gigolo for a few years. Then an accident makes him decide to return to the forest, which he does pompously. Meanwhile, the elephant king is conveniently poisoned, and Babar, having learnt the proper ways in the city, becomes a king (making his cousin he met that very day his queen).

The only way it can be read today is assuming it a social satire. Maybe it even have been that from the beginning, it's hard to judge. But satire is not a genre a kid still reading picture books can understand, so it's definitely not suited for children. The book is described by many as a children's classic, but in my view it's more of a relic.



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