When I first stumbled across A Shadow Bright and Burning, I passed right over it. After some time though, the hype wore me down, and curiosity got the better of me. I looked up chapter samplers, and was hooked.
SPELLSLINGER by Sebastien de Castell
Spellslinger is a rather quirky book, which I enjoyed very much. A young mage who’s struggling with magic, a traveller passing through who can’t keep her hilarious social commentary to herself, and a snarky talking squirrel cat? This combination was most peculiar, making me laugh and smirk throughout.
THE BIG LIE by Julie Mayhew
Set in Nazi England, 2012–2014, The Big Lie is premised on one question: What if the Nazis had won World War II? With this in mind, The Big Lie is a speculative work of alternative history. While nobody can say for sure how things would’ve turned out, I think the world that Julie Mayhew imagined is a rather plausible outcome. She evidently did her research and wove together the fascist ideals and lifestyles of the 1940s with contemporary ones.
THE XX FACTOR by Alison Wolf
Prior to this review, I never did post any non-fiction reviews. I confined myself to fiction on the blog but since I read all sorts of books, I feel that my reviews should reflect that. After all, celebrating the love for books shouldn’t be confined to any particular genre. With that, here’s to the first non-fiction book review on Word Revel!
BEAUTY QUEENS by Libba Bray
One thing to be said about Beauty Queens is that it’s way over the top. As much as many have referred to the book as satire, I think it got lost in trying too hard to be funny. Some events were just so ludicrous, they were too far removed from social commentary. Maybe it’s because of that that I was hard pressed to enjoy Beauty Queens. “Give it a chance. Things will get better after a while,” I kept thinking. Things didn’t get better—at least not in my opinion.
