fred_mouse

Icefall by Stephanie Gunn (ebook, Twelfth Planet press)

When this opened with uninteresting-to-me commentary on mountains and mountain climbing, I persisted, because I know Gunn's work, and I knew she would have a point to it.

And oh, was it worth it. Amazing depth of world-building, from the real details of mountain climbing, through the hard sf aspects of humans in space, to the subtleties of a religion that didn't feel like a rebadged Christianity. Fascinating protagonist, well rounded other characters. A slowly developing plot that managed to both make obvious where the story would end, and it make sense to keep reading. And beautiful, effortless seeming prose that never, ever, distracted from the detail that was presented.

At times heartbreaking, and others uplifting, this story of two mountain climbers and the lives they live together and apart is well worth it. 5/5

content notes: death of minor/unnamed characters, death of major character, PTSD

On a whim I picked up the first 'Princess in Black' storybook -- an early readers chapter book that does a great job of merging superhero and princess tropes in a whimsical storyline and bright shiny pictures. I really loved it. It took me about 15-20 minutes to read the whole thing, and I was fascinated the whole way through.

This one is actually to be a gift for a family friend, but I failed to avoid the temptation before giving it away, and I'm so glad I did. Recommended for the young princesses (of whatever sex/gender) in everyone's lives. 5/5

Let me start by saying that while, in general, I Don't Like Fantasy, I will listen to friends when they recommend something as being 'that little bit different', something that they think that I will enjoy. And, in that vein, I accepted that it would be worth my while reading The Aware by Glenda Larke.

The first thing that I dislike about generic fantasy is that if there are strong female characters, I fail the suspension of disbelief test. This book manages to have strong and believable female (main) characters while working within a somewhat feudal world setting. And while there is a sub-text of romance, which there often is in the fantasy with main female characters that I've read previously, it is kept firmly under the carpet, and not allowed to take over any of the storyline. Yes, the affection that the various characters feel for each other affects the way the story goes, but at no point do any of the characters do something motivated by love or lust that make me groan 'no you stupid bint, think about yourself first'. I like this!

Another aspect of fantasy that I dislike, that Larke has managed to do in a way that I have enjoyed is the 'ethnographic' style - presenting it as the research of someone distant from the action. Both the first person narrative, and the interspersed letters from the ethnographer worked, individually and in their interaction.

A third aspect of (more epic) fantasy that bugs me is the sheer effort of keeping track of the cast of characters. In this book, despite there being a fair number of characters, keeping the narrative to two viewpoints very much helped my ability to keep track, and increased my enjoyment. I suspect that there is also some very clever writing happening that is cueing which chacters is involved, rather that requiring detailed exposition (of which there is some, scattered through, but mostly for the filling in of backstory) every time someone appears on the scene.

I was going to write a more detailed review of the story, but instead, I've decided to go off and start book 2, as I'm interested to see where it goes. From the teasers (within the story, not one of those horrible 'read the first chapter of book two here....' nuisances) I'm expecting it to be from the point of view of one of the more minor characters from the first book, but it is supposed to be following the same section of the history, so I have high hopes!