Two For the Price of One

Tonight I have decided to put together two reviews and make it just one post. See both books that I want to review are by the same author. And since I am trying to keep things fresh and new I am combining the two. Sounds a little strange I know because they are two different books, different stories so how can the two be combined? I guess we will just have to discover that together. 

Book One Title: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Version: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780743298025
Published: September 12, 2006
Publisher: Atria

Book Two Title: Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story
Author: Diane Setterfield
Version: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781476711959
Published: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books


First and foremost I would like to state that I think Diane Setterfield is a great writer. I find that her writing is addicting in all the best ways. Once you start reading you can't seem to stop, you can't stop reading, can't stop thinking about it and it is all consuming and amazing. The great thing too about these two books is how they differ from each other. There is a hole that authors can sometimes fall into, where book after book feels the same, same basic story, same character traits and after awhile it becomes boring. With Ms. Setterfield, so far, each book has a unique flavor to it. 

"The Thirteenth Tale" is a book about books, about the love of books so of course I was intensely interested from the start. Margaret Lea lives in an antiquarian bookshop with her father and mother. From a very early age Margaret was fascinated by the world of books and reading. Her father, a simple quiet lover of books, encouraged this. Her mother was distant and sad and never really seemed to respond to Margaret. As Margaret grew up she became endlessly fascinated with the stories of people and the lives they led. Biographies became not only her passion but her livelihood. One day she receives a letter from a very famous and very private mystery writer, Vida Winter. Although Margaret has never met this woman, in fact she has never even read her books, Ms. Winter requests that Margaret comes to her and writes her biography. Surprised but intrigued Margaret decides to meet with Ms. Winter. Her curiosity heightens even more after reading her books, and Margaret goes to meet Ms. Winter. As her story starts unfolding Margaret finds herself drawn into a world of darkness, hopelessness and twins. Above all she finds herself drawn into the story about twins, a story that touches the very core of her own.

"Bellman & Black" is a story about a man who as a young boy killed a rook with a catapult. Frightened by what he has done William Bellman pushes the memory as far into the recesses of his mind as possible and locks it away for good. As he grows up he becomes the best loved young man in town. He is friendly, hardworking, handsome, and well trusted by all. Since he is related to the Bellmans that own the Bellman mill he learns the business. As he learns it, and quickly masters it he suffers the loss of his mother, his uncle and his cousin in quick succession. Using his grief to fuel his work, he becomes the head of the mill and starts taking it to all new heights. He eventually gets married and has kids and his life seems to be going perfectly. When two of his kids and then his wife die he throws funeral after funeral for them. At each funeral a strange man appears, a man all dressed in black, a man that is never there when William goes to look for him. One night, drunk and alone William stumbles to his wife's grave where who should be there but the strange man himself. This man proposes an idea to William, an idea that sparks an empire, an empire of death called 'Bellman & Black.'

Both books are well written, well put together and utterly mysterious. Diane Setterfield has a mystical voice that comes out beautifully in both books, a voice that from the very first line of 'The Thirteenth Tale' captured me. Her writing is magical and in each book I found myself unable to tear myself away. For a debut novel 'The Thirteenth Tale' was perfectly written and 'Bellman & Black' followed it masterfully. Ms. Setterfield has an incredible talent and I really look forward to seeing what else she brings to the world of literature. 

Now as for stories 'The Thirteenth Tale' was truly amazing. Of course I went into it knowing that I would like it because it was about books and the love and respect of books. But when I really started getting into the book and the story within it I found myself loving every detail of the story. It was up and down and elegant and gruesome and I loved every second of it. It took me in directions that I was shocked at and there were times when I actually had no idea what was going on at all but I was so into the story that I kind of liked not knowing what was happening. It was incredible. 

With 'Bellman & Black' the story was good. I found myself confused a lot of the time about who was who and what was going on but not in the same way as with her first book. It's full title is 'Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story' and I found myself confused as to why. Even now after reading it and letting the story sit for awhile I have no idea what it was actually about. Where was the ghost story? What was the book actually about? I found myself being confused by it and even at the end I stayed confused. The story was just good enough to keep me interested all the way through and of course the writing made up for it. It just didn't wow me as much as 'The Thirteenth Tale' did. But it was still a good story. 

All in all the books were well done and I am so glad that I read them. I'm already looking forward to the next book by Diane Setterfield because she is such an amazing writer. It's been a long time that I have found a new writer that is truly unique and talented. It is an exciting thing finding a new author to be this excited about. I hope that you, my readers, find a way to pick up one of Diane Setterfield's books because I think that they will sweep you away and make you fall in love with reading all over again. I tip my tiny hat five out of five times to 'The Thirteenth Tale' and only three and a half times out of five for 'Bellman & Black.' I highly recommend both of them though simply because her writing is just that good!      

The Magician's Assistant-Ann Patchett

Book Title: The Magician's Assistant
Author: Ann Patchett
Version: ebook
ISBN: 9780547548791
Published: September 17th, 2004
First Published: October 1st, 1997
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Fiction

Background: I have a funny and rather incredible story about Ann Patchett, well about her books anyway. When I was growing up my dad and I didn't always have enough money to get me new books. I had a voracious appetite at the time for books, as we all know that appetite has only grown, but at the time I didn't work at a bookstore where I got a big discount so we couldn't always buy new books. Anyway when that happened my dad would lend me books from his library and there were times that I was very receptive to them, like when he lent me 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden and 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. And there were times when I resisted his suggestions, like when he suggested his favorite book 'Moby Dick' which is something that I still to this day hesitate over (sorry dad, I just don't think I am ready for it yet). 

In the spirit of this, one day my dad reached up and pulled down this really beautiful light blue book called 'Run' by Ann Patchett, someone I had never read before, saying he thought that I might like it. The book jacket intrigued me, the book took place over a twenty-four hour period and was about a family in New England and a single accident that changes their whole lives. I loved it, I read it quickly and enjoyed every moment of it. Years later when I discovered goodreads.com and was trying to remember every book I had ever read I remembered a book about two brothers in Boston, with a blue cover and that there was something about fish. A couple more years went by with the vague memory nagging at me until one day, a very slow boring day at Barnes & Noble, I had, had enough. I went online and starting doing a search for a blue book set in Boston having to do with brothers and fish. And sure enough I found it, 'Run' by Ann Patchett. 

About a year later I was looking at the under $5 nook books online and saw 'The Magician's Assistant' for only about $2.99. I thought to myself 'I really enjoyed 'Run' I bet that this one is going to be just as good.' So I went ahead and bought it. It took a few months for me to actually pick it up to read it, but I finally finished it a few days ago. 

Synopsis: Sabine has just been widowed and is trying to figure out a way to continue living. Her life seems to be falling apart now that she no longer has the love of her life, Parsifal, around to take care of. Nor does she have Phan, Parsifal's partner around, all she has left is a giant lonely house filled with memories and a rabbit named Rabbit. These days she spends most of her days in bed dreaming of a life that is lost.

One day she gets a call from Parsifal's lawyer saying that he has to talk to Sabine in person. Some secret from his past that now has to be revealed. She finds out that Parsifal has been lying to her about his family for years. Parsifal told her that his parents had died years ago but in reality his mom and sisters live in Nebraska. The lawyer tells Sabine that it is up to her if she wants to have any contact with them. At first she decides she is just too mad at the lies and decides she doesn't want to know any more. And then one day she gets a call from a woman named Dot Fetters, Parsifal's mother, saying that her and her youngest daughter Bertie are planning a trip to LA and want to meet her.

When Sabine decides to go ahead and meet Parsifal's family she begins a journey that takes her into the heart of Parsifal's life before Sabine, before LA, before everything that made him Parsifal. It's a journey that takes her to Nebraska in the middle of winter where she meets the rest of his family, a sister named Kitty, her two sons, Kitty's husband, Howard (who turns out to be a jerk) and Bertie's fiancée. What Sabine finds there is a sort of family of her own, one she felt she had missed. What they find in Sabine is a savior, one that they didn't even realize they needed. The longer she stays the more secrets come out, and the more the family comes to rely on her. And Sabine has to decide whether she is willing to stay and live in the house that Parsifal grew up in or go back to LA and move on with her life.

Review: I went into this book expecting something great because I remembered liking 'Run' so much. I was hugely disappointed in this though. The story was rather ridiculous and I really, really did not like Sabine! She annoyed me the whole book which is a huge flaw when it comes to a main character. I read it all the way through so that I could review it but it was not a fun read.

I mean no disrespect to Ms. Patchett of course but this was not a well put together book. The writing wasn't all that bad, it wasn't great but it was passible. She is a talented writer but her talent seems to have been lost in the terrible story. There were moments of beauty throughout but not enough to make it a beautiful book. Maybe part of it had to do with my high expectations of her and what she had given me with 'Run,' but I was disappointed overall.

Like I said previously the story was stupid. Well let me rephrase, I felt that the story was stupid. A woman who fell in love with a gay man and then felt betrayed when he didn't love her back and felt as if he had lied specifically to her about his past. The only reason she went back to Nebraska was so she could be in the room that Parsifal grew up in. Because she was entitled to all of his life, and everything that he did when he was growing up. It was stupid and annoying and I found myself truly hating Sabine and wanted her to get a major reality check. The rest of the characters were monochromatic and hidden behind the annoyingness that was Sabine.

All in all it was a bad book, well for me anyway. I just didn't like any of it and I'm a little turned off of Ann Patchett. Maybe someday I'll pick up another one of her books and be wowed once more, like I was all those years ago when I first picked up 'Run.' I tip my tiny hat only once to 'The Magician's Assistant,' and that only because I have belief in the greatness that it could have been.

The Bone Season-Samantha Shannon

Book Title: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Version: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781408836422
Published: August 20th, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction

I read this book right when I got back from vacation because my good friend, fellow blogger, and author Sidney McEntyre highly recommended it after reading it on the vacation. In fact it turned out that all my friends at work were either just finishing it, in the middle, or just starting it and so I thought that since I was hearing such good things I might as well jump on the bandwagon and read it too. It turned out to be a really good choice. I was taken on a ride starting from the very first pages to the crazy climax and I found myself unable to stop reading or thinking about it the whole time. 

'The Bone Season' is one of those books that I can't really tell you that much about without spoiling things and so I will give you the short synopsis from the very reliable goodreads.com! "It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.

Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives."

I tend to ramble when I really like a book and I didn't want to spoil anything for my readers that might want to read it so instead I will just ramble on about how much I liked it thereby keeping an air of mystery and intrigue about the actual plot. 

This was Samantha Shannon's debut novel and I thought that it was a truly great debut! It was well written with a really great voice that kept me captivated the whole book. Ms. Shannon had a really beautiful way of describing the surroundings, the characters, the emotions all of it that was the perfect blend of poetry and prose. I'm excited to see how she keeps growing as a writer, because I think that we can expect nothing but truly incredible things from her. 

Although the story was entertaining and kept me guessing and wanting more I felt that there were elements that felt familiar. I know that I will be in the minority on this but I felt vibes of 'Hunger Games' in the story. Now this is not a bad thing at all because I really liked the Hunger Games books! And I think that it was a simple thing of debut novel jitters that made Ms. Shannon take the idea of 'The Hunger Games' and shape it into her story. I know this all sounds pretty harsh but I mean no disrespect to Ms. Shannon or 'The Bone Season' but the stories are similar in nature and I tell it like it is. Now this is not to say that I disliked the story at all or that it didn't interest me it was in fact the opposite. I loved the story and it was different enough that I couldn't wait to see what turn it would take next. It is all around a really great story that stayed with me even after it was over. 

The characters were absolutely wonderful, they were depicted fantastically and each one of them were unique and so deliciously imperfect. Paige, the main character, was so well rendered and real that she had me rooting for her the whole time. Even the 'bad guys' were so well done that I truly hated every one of them. Which is exactly what you are supposed to feel towards the bad guys in a book. Samantha Shannon has quite a way with drawing her characters, she is so great at it that each time I went back into the book, I fell in love with and hated the characters each and every time! 

All in all this was a great read, one that kept me up late and kept me fully distracted during lunch breaks. Whenever I opened the book I fell into it in such a way that everything else got blocked out. It enveloped me and became my whole world. That is the mark of a truly excellent book, when it totally takes you over and fills every one of your senses. I tip my tiny hat four times for Ms. Shannon's debut novel 'The Bone Season.' I am really looking forward to the next book in her absolutely exciting series!