Review: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman (@EmApocalyptic)

Between Two Thorns is the first book in Emma Newman’s Split Worlds series, an urban fantasy set largely between modern day Britain (Mundanus) and it’s fairy realm reflection (the Nether). This first book follows Cat, a young woman from the Nether who is trying to hide from her family in Mundanus. All she wants is a normal human life, to fall in love with a boy of her choosing, to find a job she loves and to be an independent woman. None of that is normal in the Nether, where women are treated as inferior to the men, pretty things to be paraded in support of their husbands. Pretty things to produce the next generation of men. When Cat is forced to return to her family she fears things will become unbearable, but with sinister plots and interventions from the Fae Lords themselves, things might become more interesting than she can handle.

There are books that you pick up from the library or a bookshop on a whim, thinking ‘yeah, this looks ok, I’ll try that’. There are books that friends recommend that you dutifully read. There are books that feel like old friends because you have already read the whole back catalogue by that author. Then, every once in a while, there are books that, for no apparent reason, excite you even before you’ve opened their pristine pages and read the first sentence.

Between Two Thorns falls into the last category. I don’t remember where I first heard about it but almost from the start I knew it was a book I wanted to read. I love urban fantasy and this sounded like just my cup of tea. Then I heard about it again and wanted to read it even more. Then I encountered the author on twitter (there’s a whole separate post about twitter in the pipeline) and if it was possible I wanted to read it *even more*. It sounds nuts, but some books just grab you from the beginning and refuse to let go until you read them.

I was setting myself up for a big disappointment because I’d really looked forward to this one, but thankfully it delivered in every way. The settings were believable in the Mundanus sections and slightly twisted in the Nether sections, with the third realm, Exilium (home to the Fae Lords and Ladies), completely surreal. Just as they all should be.

The characters were brilliant. As a twenty-something female myself, Cat was an easy character to empathise with. I could imagine the frustration I’d feel if my family were forcing me into a life I didn’t want and I could feel her pain at having to leave a loved one behind because it was the right thing to do. She wasn’t perfect and at times she got whiny, but these moments of self-pity and anger just made her into a more rounded character. At times I felt sorry for the man her family intended her to marry, but mostly I thought he was probably doing ok for himself!

Max was entirely different. He is an arbiter, a man with his soul detached to prevent emotional attachments from interfering with his job as, effectively, a policeman for the Nether. Uncorruptable, unemotional and with strict protocols to follow, he should be a very difficult character to like, but he wasn’t. His world is turned upside down and he soldiers on admirably. With a gargoyle for a sidekick there are certainly surreal moments and this added humour to situations that might otherwise have been bleak.

I can tell you the exact point in the book at which I knew I loved it. That point was the first appearance of Lord Poppy. With his pitch black eyes and his whimsical yet menacing ideas he made my skin crawl and I was almost disappointed that he didn’t feature more prominently. I say *almost* disappointed because I think that with the darkest characters a little goes a long way and that sinister darkness can be easily lost if they become too familiar.

Yes the plot was good too – sometimes I forget to talk about plot when I think it is the setting that makes it magical. It isn’t that the plot was lacking, I just get a bit lost in these fantasy worlds! Ok, so the plot of Between Two Thorns is in essence a mystery, with a dash of magic, suspense and intrigue combining with just a touch of romance, polictics and feminism to freshen it up a bit. There has been a kidnapping in the Nether, and there will be all kinds of hell to pay if the kidnapper cannot be found and held accountable for their actions. Max is responsible for finding the culprits but might need an insider’s help – nobody speaks to the arbiters unless absolutely forced, which makes investigating rather difficult. It was satisfyingly worked through and the parts that are left unsolved will encourage you to seek out the next book when it is released later this year (paperback release due 6th June in the UK, with book three due in October).

It really was everything I’d hoped for and it was wonderful to have a strong female lead in a good urban fantasy. There are probably others out there but the best ones I’ve read have definitely focused on male protagonists (see series by Jim Butcher, Ben Aaronovitch, Benedict Jacka etc.).

I finished Between Two Thorns about a fortnight ago and while I’ve been wanting to review it, I also wanted to take the time to look at some of the other stuff that Emma Newman has put out there (and is continuing to promote) to go along with it. First and foremost is the series of 54 short stories set in the Split Worlds universe. These were released in the year leading up to the publication of Between Two Thorns by Angry Robot Books (incidentally that’s definitely a publisher worth following as they release some of the most interesting books out there). Now, I didn’t find them before I read Between Two Thorns, and I’m not sure I would have wanted to – I like to come fresh to a new world and then dip into it later if I can. So I signed up for the weekly delivery of a short story and have just received the seventh in my inbox today.

I read the first four and was treated to little snippets of otherworldly goings on, hints at something not quite mundane in seemingly ordinary events. They would have been a great teaser to the novel and I’ve been enjoying them while I wait for the second book. After reading the first four stories, I discovered that there were also audio versions so I made a cup of tea and sat back to listen to the next few. They’re read by a British female (I’m guessing this is Emma Newman herself but can’t seem to find it mentioned anywhere) and are quite lovely to listen to. Perfect bedtime stories! I’m going to try to ration myself to one a week when the emails come but I can’t guarantee I’ll not be tempted to dip in at other times too…

One of the themes in Between Two Thorns is the timeless concept of being granted three wishes. At the moment Emma Newman is running a page on her site where people submit three wishes and then hopefully some of them will be made possible by fellow wishers. I’m still working on mine (everyone knows it is important to carefully consider the consequences of three wishes) but if you have your three wishes in mind or might be able to help someone out then go and check it out.

The Split Worlds short stories can be found here.

The three wishes page is here.

Emma Newman’s website is here and you can find her on twitter with the following name @EmApocalyptic (one of my favourite twitter names).

Happy reading,

Vinx

Review: My Last Duchess by Daisy Goodwin (@daisygoodwinuk)

My Last Duchess, also published as The American Heiress (in the states I think?),  is a historical romance set in the late 1800s and if you read this blog at all regularly you’ll know that it isn’t exactly my usual read. It was the book group read for May’s meeting and of course I like to make the effort to get through a book group choice. However, an effort wasn’t really required for this because I actually rather enjoyed reading it!

My Last Duchess is the story of Cora Cash, a wealthy American heiress whose domineering mother takes her to England with the hopes of marryying her off to a titled Englishman. Cora is suddenly immersed in a world where the rules are very different to everything she has known, caught in a tangle of strict protocols and procedures. She hopes for love, but can she find that in the cold halls of the English manors?

I don’t want to say too much on what happens because I think part of the joy of this type of novel is guessing what will happen. Will Cora meet the man of her dreams? Is *this* man the one? Will they live happily ever after? Who has secrets? Why is he looking at her like that? I was a bit (ok, very) annoyed when, nearly a hundred pages in I looked at the goodreads page to add it to my reading list and the precis gave away something quite major that hadn’t yet happened. I know it is difficult to write a blurb without giving things away, especially in a book that is more about descriptions than action, but I still think that people need to take a little more care.

Anyway, with that minor rant over, back to the book. I enjoyed reading it, and that’s down to a few things.

It was very well written and the details of the period were great. It had clearly had a lot of work put in to get things right and that made it all feel quite authentic. When a book feels authentic it is much easier to get immersed in the story and setting, and I found it incredibly easy to lose myself in the dusty English manor houses and indulgent American mansions.

The descriptions of the clothes were just divine. Cora has the most incredible wardrobe and the detail in which they were described was breathtaking. I particularly liked the reference to one dress which was so covered in tiny pearls that it sounded like ‘hundreds of tiny fairies walking behind her’ (this is paraphrased as I’ve had to return the book to the library and don’t currently have access to look it up). That kind of description really made me smile and gave me some serious wardrobe envy! I’d love to try on even one or two of the dresses described in this book, all of them were magnificent.

I also enjoyed the characters. Not all of them were nice, but they were all engaging and came complete with back stories to explain their actions and current situations. There was enough tension between them and intrigue in their past to keep the story engaging and some of the snootier characters were very entertaining. I’m glad I didn’t have to go to any of the parties hosted by Cora’s mother or the Double Duchess!

I really enjoyed this diversion into a totally different kind of world. I’d describe it as an easy, though not short, read and would happily read another of Daisy Goodwin’s books. Maybe not a five star book, but definitely an entertaining and eye-opening foray into the lives of the wealthy English and Americans in the late 1800s.

Happy reading,

Vinx

PS. If anyone can tell me why Daisy Goodwin looks so familiar that would be great – I just can’t put my finger on where I’ve seen her before…

 

Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

This is a book that I heard about in various places. Somehow I kept noticing reviews and comments and it managed to worm its way into my consciousness enough that I decided I’d see what it was all about. When I finally investigated, what I found was a storytelling idea that really appealed to me. The author has taken a series of unusual old black and white photos and constructed a story around them. This is a method that could have resulted in a very fragmented series of stories that struggled to hold together, but what emerged was actually a really good story where each photograph added to the reading experience.

The cover gives you some idea of the nature of these pictures with an ethereal looking girl seemingly levitating , but I thought I’d also include the back cover here as it shows a few of the other pictures.

I think the picture of those children dressed in strange clown costumes is probably my favourite in the book, they are really creepy!

So that’s how the book came about, from a series of old photographs. In the story these photographs are shown to the main character, Jacob, by his grandfather, who tells the most fantastical stories about strangely gifted people and horrible monsters. Jacob’s dad dismisses these as fantasies constructed to hide the real horrors of a childhood spent in world war two, but when Jacob’s grandfather dies, Jacob begins to suspect they aren’t just the creations of an old man’s wandering mind. Jacob journeys to the small Welsh island where his grandfather spent the war and there begins to learn the secrets of his grandfather’s past and perhaps the direction of his own future.

As the title suggests, this is a book filled with peculiar children, most of them wonderfully imagined and portrayed with great attention to detail. There is mystery, magic, horror and adventure and it all combines to make a really engaging read. The pictures ‘give it a little something extra’, as  Elle in Legally Blinde might say, and it was a delight to spend time looking through these pictures and trying to imagine where they came from.

I think this is a book aimed at the young adult market but there is enough in there to entertain anyone who enjoys a little of the fantastical. Humourous, dark and poignant at the same time, it’s well worth spending a couple of hours leafing through the pages of this book.

Happy reading,

Vinx