Review: Legacy of the Claw

Legacy of the Claw by C.R. Grey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Fantastic! I like this world with humans bonded for life with some creature or other. It's so novel and refreshing... Wait. Ah, yes, there was that strange story with humans and their daemons, which makes much more sense technically, but who cares. And there is that lost king with regrettable memory gaps... Anyway, this story about yet another prophesied chosen one, who behaves stupidly at every turn and destined to save the world, is so interesting. I'm still not sure what role Harry Potter, I mean Bailey Walker with his White Tiger (should be all capital letters probably) must play in this power struggle for the throne, but it will undoubtedly be clear later on. After all, there is not much else in the story, other than the power struggle between an unmistakable evil and a thoughtful good. At least the characters themselves are hinted at, as well as some friendship between them.
Overall, it was a marginally enjoyable read, more or less typical for a nothing special middle grade novel.

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Review: Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales

Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

5 stars - Dragons at Crumbling Castle - Love this one!
3 stars - Hercules the Tortoise - Poor snake.
3 stars - The Great Speck - Pratchett overdose on this one.
5 stars - Hunt the Snorry - Let's go hunt the Snorry!
1 star - Tales of the Carpet People - Way too long and way overboard with satire.
3 stars - Doc the Caveman.
4 stars - The Big Race.
2 stars - Another Tale of the Carpet People.
4 star - The Great Egg-Dancing Championship.
4 stars - Edwo, the Boring Knight.
5 stars - The 59A Bus Goes Back in Time - Buses and time-travel! And I got a chance to introduce the little one to Romans, knights, Merlin, and giant dragonflies. He knew all about dinosaurs of course.
4 stars - An Abominable Snowman
5 stars - The Blackbury Monster - Poor little monster!
5 stars - Father Christmas Goes to Work.

Annnnd since the average is 3.78, the overall raiting from me is 4 stars. But I'm now overdosed with Pratchett, so keeping the dosage manageable, the next book will be next year.

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Review: City of Ashes

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Looking at other reviews it seems I'm not the only one, who would prefer to see more of Alec and Magnus, instead of teenage-style boring Clary and Jace. At least some scenes from their perspective, please?

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Review: Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet

Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet by Daisy Dunn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I think the author misjudged her audience. This book is not a "vivid narrative" it claims to be. It is very well researched, interesting, somewhat controversial, but definitely not vivid. Paragraphs feel disjointed from one another. The narrative behaves more like a solid than a liquid, and a living solid at that: it jumps like a cricket from one paragraph to the next, instead of flowing seamlessly as I would expect it. The whole biography resembles a workbook, with a lot of extensive notes. And there is also a decisive lack of original Latin poems. I know, the interested reader is supposed to go out there and find them. But it would be really nice to at least have a few examples, even if only to see first-hand the rhythm the author talks about.

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Review: The Fantastic Flying Journey

The Fantastic Flying Journey by Gerald Durrell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a very good first encounter with Gerald Durrell for my little one. For me it felt like a condensed, toddler-friendly version of all Durrell's adventures in one book. I would appreciate more details on the flying house itself (but I'm a big fan of exploring tiny little nooks) and an illustrator who actually saw at least some of it. I mean, Graham Percy was obviously trying, following the text and all that, but when you draw ancient pine forest as a Christmas tree farm, you know something has gone wrong.

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Review: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves by Anonymous
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Thousand and One Nights is one of the important and influential piece of cultural heritage. And I believe that acquaintance of young readers with this book plays an important role in personal development. Despite all the violence in this story, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, I don't remember it being traumatic all those years ago, so I decided that a children's edition should be a good choice for my son's first encounter with it. But my, I was wrong. And not because of the violence. All the violence is still there, while the story itself changed quite a lot to my surprise. So no, I didn't like this particular version.

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Review: The Mystery Boxes

The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Indeed, escape is never an option.

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