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    Essays

    Essays

    George Orwell

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    The articles collected in George Orwell's Essays illuminate the life and work of one of the most...

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Olive (1 KP) rated The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock in Books

Jan 27, 2018  
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
Imogen Hermes Gowar | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Stunning prose (2 more)
Enjoyable plot
Interesting characters
It ended. (0 more)
This is the best book I've read in months, it immediately made my list of favorites on Goodreads and I'm sure that I'm starting to annoy people with my raving about this book.

Visually the book is a stunner and one you can definitely judge by its cover. It's rare to find a historical fantasy where the fantasy aspect takes more of a backseat. I love both genres but this was a perfect balance between the two. The Regency London setting rather than Medieval or Victorian was really refreshing as was the use of mermaids rather than vampires/werewolves/zombies/magic. I've read a few reviews where people complain that the mermaids are prolific enough considering the title but I think this is only the case if you enter it anticipating the focus to be mermaids. It's definitely a consistent theme from start to finish but it doesn't take center stage until the very end. If you go in expecting mermaids galore, you might be a little disappointed.

A lot of historical fiction written after the time it portrays attempts to emulate the formal language of the time and usually with cringe-worthy results. This book is an exception. The prose is lightly reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel and beautifully descriptive but not overly so. The plot isn't one you can guess from the first page and while you can make educated guesses, the journey there is full of delightful twists and turns.

Really though I cannot say enough about this book. The only word that seems to come close is 'sumptuous'. It's the sort of book you can easily reread because the enjoyment doesn't hinge on shocking plot twists or mystery and suspense. It was a sheer joy to read and I dreaded the ending from the very first chapter. I almost never reread books but this is one I actually look forward to rereading.
  
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ClareR (6054 KP) rated The Book of Joan in Books

Dec 13, 2017  
The Book of Joan
The Book of Joan
Lidia Yuknavitch | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Gender Studies, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really wanted to love this. The storyline is right up my street: fantasy, dystopian, science fiction. It ticks all my favourite genre boxes. I liked it, but I didn't love it. As the story went on, I found that the time jumps just seemed to confuse me. How could the biological changes happen so quickly? Surely they would have had to have happened at least in utero, if not over generations? But it all seemed pretty 'immediate'. This is fiction, I know, and an author should be allowed to manipulate a timeline however they want to. I just felt a little lost! I loved the characters Joan and Christine: particularly Joan's 'superpowers' and connection to the Earth. The prose was beautiful to read in places and really descriptive. Also the poem at the end makes me curious to see if Yuknavitch will write more poetry, or indeed, whether she already has. I'd read it!