26.09.26
Pym's debut novel is really a pilot for her more successful later ones. Dated and staid as it is, there are glimpses of Pym's wicked humour and sharp characterisation.
Showing posts with label humour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humour. Show all posts
Ravenous Beasts / Savage Daemons - Lauretta Hignett
10.09.26 / 12.09.26
Just as crazy and confused and surprisingly feminist as the first two in the series but just as much fun, especially the last book, which went off in all sorts of unexpected directions.
Vicious Creatures / Fractured Gods - Lauretta Hignett
04.09.26 / 06.09.26
More dark fantasy fun, this one even more violent than usual. There was, however, just as much need for a proper proofread (e.g. using 'little' five times in one paragraph and the constant focus on a particularly 'masculine jawline') but Hignett's irrepressible heroines and wry humour mean she is one of the few authors for whom I can overlook her lack of editing.
The Vacationers - Emma Straub
28.08.26
The wry observational characterisation almost made it not matter that there wasn't much plot or that the characters would be mostly unbearable if they were real. What did matter was the lack of believability, whether that was fact checking (I'm starting to wonder whether New York time actually is ahead of Europe, it comes up so often) and the weirdnesses placed only to help the story along (why would you make your young adult, who has just graduated high school, take Spanish lessons on vacation?). Not as insightful as it's no doubt supposed to be.
Immortal Death / Immortal Life - Lauretta Hignett
57%
18.07.26I'm reviewing these two books together because the whole series might as well have been a single, continuous story, and there's not much to tell them apart anyway. Because it's fun, fairly feminist, vivid (if with slightly stereotyped characters) and has a not-entirely-predictable storyline, I'll overlook the lack of editing in places, and how some parts didn't really make sense.
Immortal World - Lauretta Hignett
58%
12.07.26This was slightly messier than the previous book in the series and could have done with a slightly more thorough edit at times but was still good violent fun with some deeper messages in amongst the craziness.
Immortal Games - Lauretta Hignett
60%
09.07.26Since I have free Kindle Unlimited again, I couldn't resist returning to Lauretta Hignett's urban (well, smalltown) fantasy world. I was right about the first in the series just acting as a springboard as this was much better. The humour is balanced with a fair helping of violence, darkness and angst, along with strong character development.
Murder by Design - Lee Goldberg
21.05.26
Like the designs in the story, great idea, poorly executed.
The Grapples of Wrath - Alice Bell
17.03.26
I enjoy Alice Bell's idiosyncratic and effervescent style of storytelling so much that I was uncharacteristically willing to pay more than 99p for the ebook. Yet the little asides and esoteric cultural references, and even the relentless Britishness of it all, quickly become confusing and, ultimately, irritating, to the extent that this reads like a parody of her previous books. Another novel that would have benefited from another edit and proofread before publishing.
The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal - Jodi Taylor
10.11.25
Perhaps it's my own fault for reading the original story of characters I didn't know from a series I haven't read but it was supposed to be standalone and, well, funny and exciting, but instead it felt like an in-joke that hadn't been explained with a very ragged plot. And it would have been much more interesting if they hadn't (spoiler) fallen in love at the end.
(This novel gets incredibly high ratings on Amazon and Goodreads but I've tried and failed to get on with Taylor's books before so clearly everyone else is wrong.)
Sometimes People Die - Simon Stephenson
64%
22.07.25
This was almost a murder-mystery-fantasy, such was the world-building of the life of a '90s junior doctor fighting addiction. Both very funny and profound (often at the same time), the detached tone worked well with the descriptions of an underfunded hospital and the unnamed narrator's weakening grasp on a rather dystopian reality. The end was a bit silly, though.
Foils and Fury (series) - Lauretta Hignett
63%
13.04.25
Four books comprising:
- Oops I Ate a Vengeance Demon
- Dancing with the Vengeance Demon
- Dating with the Vengeance Demon
- Dying for My Vengeance Demon
A fun, feisty, feminist fantasy series that I read n about 5 days. A pretty biting political commentary too, marred only by a few jarring typos.
The Wedding People - Alison Espach
14.03.25
Despite the terrible cover and misleading but actually perfect title, this is as much proper literary fiction as it is a rom com - in more ways than one, as the main character relates everything to classic novels. A reflection on what makes a worthwhile life, it was the sharp observations that made it so good, rendering the characters real and relatable, even when they behaved badly.
Friday's Child - Georgette Heyer
06.01.25
New year, old favourites. This was a middling-to-good Heyer. The dialogue in particular was a masterclass - every character had a distinct way of speaking that reflected their personality and the effect was reliably entertaining. Yet the novel was overlong and portrayed gender-based behaviours that are discomforting to a modern reader (the hero occasionally resorts to what we'd regard as domestic violence) - although, as usual, the hints at gay characters were sympathetic.
The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune
29.12.24
The three Klune books I've read this year (see also The Extraordinaries and Wolfsong) are different in many ways - but all are gently humorous queer fantasies emphasising the power of found families. Which is, of course, a lovely message, but this particular story was rather like being bludgeoned with a rubber kitten - sweet and annoying at the same time.
Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson
17.12.24
This was a 'by numbers' Christmas cash-in (literally - the structure was based on an Advent calendar) that was almost self-aware enough, in the usual Stevenson style, to pull off. But not quite - it lacked the passion to be anything other than a gimmicky read - although I liked the determined portrayal of the festive Australian summer.
Starter Villain - John Scalzi
11.12.24
Talking cats! Comedy villains! What a shame the premise was better than the execution. It just all seemed so half-hearted - it needed more action, more conflict, more coherent plot, more character development, more humour - and less pointless paragraphs of nothing. And how disappointing (spoiler) that the main character gave up villainy before he even got started.
Funny Story - Emily Henry
This was indeed quite a funny story in places, but painfully contrived in others. Although it had a little depth, it did follow the usual romcom formula, which made the 80%-through 'all is lost' scenes feel forced when the main character suddenly had a personality transplant. But it was well written and did a good job on behalf of North Michigan tourism.
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson
58%
21.10.24
Fair play to Stevenson for tackling that difficult 'second in the series' with so much meta energy. His decision to continue with the trademark self-referential elements livened up the old 'murder on a train' cliche, but the characters and plot were still too confusing and I don't think I'll remember much about it.
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