brief book update

Having kept Netflix an extra month after finishing season two of Shadow and Bone, I am slightly embarrassed to report that I watched… basically nothing else. I have a to-watch list on the platform, and a google doc somewhere around here with more things to watch! But apparently I don’t make time to watch stuff unless I really want to watch it.

At least not at this time of year. And with my current schedule. *takes a deep breath*

But I have read some books. There’s an interesting tetralogy or quartet - whatever you prefer, I like both terms - by Jacquelyn Benson. The London Charismatics series features a young woman with visions of the future, a touch-sensitive seer of the past, and several other unusual powers. Starting in 1913 London, the series eventually moves through and beyond World War I.

I liked the female lead, Lily, and her prickly nature. The slow-build romance took the right amount of storyline–not always front-and-center, but still a part of Lily’s evolution in the books.

a few spoilery observations

The weakest point for me, and it’s a big one, is Lily’s relationship with Sam. The author doesn’t build a solid enough foundation in book one to justify what we see between them later.

However, the rest of the story makes up for it. I like the prose, the characters are distinct and well-realized, and the world-building as a whole deserves a solid grade.

I tried reading Matrix, by Lauren Groff. It’s a historical novel about 12th century poet Marie de France and her time as an abbess*. The prose initially intrigued me, but then repelled me. What’s with this no quotation mark style?! I got so frustrated reading it that I gave up. Punctuation such as quotation marks helps with reading comprehension, at least for me.

*Marie de France may or may not have been the Abbess of Shaftesbury. There’s a lot of speculation about her identity; we simply don’t know.