As some of you may know, I placed a new Kobo Aura on preorder, and I’m wondering if some of you are experiencing the same issues I’m having. It took me several attempts to place the order, which I simply put down to attempting to preorder just an hour or so after it was made available. However, that is not the only issue I’ve experienced. I have received no confirmation from Kobo at all regarding my order – I had to contact them several times just to confirm that the order had in fact been received and to find out its status. Sadly, judging from the forums I follow, I’m not the only one experiencing these issues. I don’t know about you, but when I place an item on preorder and the site says shipping from September 11th, I expect to receive the item on or around September 11th. Perhaps that’s just my conditioning from Amazon and Apple. From my latest contact with Kobo today I can expect to receive it in 10-14 days. The Kobo website is still showing “preorder” for Kobo Auras, yet when you click on it it says “***Pre-Orders begin shipping on September 11, 2013. Your…
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is the story of, well, a golem and a jinni who find themselves in turn of the century New York. Recently awoken/liberated respectively they must find their feet in and adapt to the New World while avoiding threats which could destroy them. First of all, I would like to say just how much I loved this story. I loved the characters, the narrative, the setting. What I found rather interesting was the fact that, had the golem and the jinni been just ordinary immigrants instead of supernatural creatures, 80% of the story could have remained unchanged. It is much more a story of new immigrants to the States adapting to their new lives and country and friendships formed than a fantastical tale of the supernatural. That is not to say that the element of the fantastical did not add an extra layer of depth to the tale, but it is well grounded in reality. What I liked The characters. All the characters were beautifully written, from our two protagonists down to “Ice Cream Salah.” Due to circumstances beyond their control, the golem and the jinni find themselves alone in turn of the…
As some of you may know, I placed a new Kobo Aura on preorder, and I’m wondering if some of you are experiencing the same issues I’m having. It took me several attempts to place the order, which I simply put down to attempting to preorder just an hour or so after it was made available. However, that is not the only issue I’ve experienced. I have received no confirmation from Kobo at all regarding my order – I had to contact them several times just to confirm that the order had in fact been received and to find out its status. Sadly, judging from the forums I follow, I’m not the only one experiencing these issues. I don’t know about you, but when I place an item on preorder and the site says shipping from September 11th, I expect to receive the item on or around September 11th. Perhaps that’s just my conditioning from Amazon and Apple. From my latest contact with Kobo today I can expect to receive it in 10-14 days. The Kobo website is still showing “preorder” for Kobo Auras, yet when you click on it it says “***Pre-Orders begin shipping on September 11, 2013. Your…
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker is the story of, well, a golem and a jinni who find themselves in turn of the century New York. Recently awoken/liberated respectively they must find their feet in and adapt to the New World while avoiding threats which could destroy them. First of all, I would like to say just how much I loved this story. I loved the characters, the narrative, the setting. What I found rather interesting was the fact that, had the golem and the jinni been just ordinary immigrants instead of supernatural creatures, 80% of the story could have remained unchanged. It is much more a story of new immigrants to the States adapting to their new lives and country and friendships formed than a fantastical tale of the supernatural. That is not to say that the element of the fantastical did not add an extra layer of depth to the tale, but it is well grounded in reality. What I liked The characters. All the characters were beautifully written, from our two protagonists down to “Ice Cream Salah.” Due to circumstances beyond their control, the golem and the jinni find themselves alone in turn of the…
This week I read A Cat Called Dog by Jem Vanston which I received free to review from Netgalley. It is a sweet tale of a young cat who was raised by dogs and therefore thinks and acts in a more doglike fashion. He is taken under the wing of a more mature cat named George, and together with George and his friends he must save George’ s mistress from disaster. The book is exactly what it claims to be; a light, fluffy tale which passed a couple of pleasant hours. Cat and dog lovers will certainly recognise some of the behavioural traits mentioned in the book. It is funny and engaging, but classic literature it is not. I gave A Cat Called Dog three and a half stars out of five. The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J. Maas Genres: Epic Fantasy Format: eBook Pages: 416Amazon • Kobo • iTunes I was not familiar with Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, and this novella seemed an excellent way to get started as it was less than a dollar on Amazon. I really enjoyed what I read, and I will certainly be reading more of her work….
This week I read A Cat Called Dog by Jem Vanston which I received free to review from Netgalley. It is a sweet tale of a young cat who was raised by dogs and therefore thinks and acts in a more doglike fashion. He is taken under the wing of a more mature cat named George, and together with George and his friends he must save George’ s mistress from disaster. The book is exactly what it claims to be; a light, fluffy tale which passed a couple of pleasant hours. Cat and dog lovers will certainly recognise some of the behavioural traits mentioned in the book. It is funny and engaging, but classic literature it is not. I gave A Cat Called Dog three and a half stars out of five. The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J. Maas Genres: Epic Fantasy Format: eBook Pages: 416Amazon • Kobo • iTunes I was not familiar with Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series, and this novella seemed an excellent way to get started as it was less than a dollar on Amazon. I really enjoyed what I read, and I will certainly be reading more of her work….
Clockwork Princess is the third and final book in Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy, following on from Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince. My view of the series was merely consolidated rather than changed by my reading of the finale – Cassandra Clare is excellent and writing characters and worldbuilding, not so great at pacing. What I liked The characters. I adore Tess, Will and Jem and I felt the way their story was developed in this final volume was very well written and very touching. I really felt for all the protagonists in the book. We also get to see the development of Will’s relationship with Jem from their initial meeting through flashbacks. I know some people disliked the epilogue, but personally I loved hearing about what happened to the characters after the ending of the story. I also loved all the secondary characters – Charlotte, Henry, Cecily, the Lightwoods. Writing characters and their interactions is clearly Clare’s real strong point. I enjoyed the fact that certain characters were not necessarily evil, believed they were doing the right thing, but were still major hurdles for our protagonists. The narration. Yet again the trilogy switched narrator. All four narrators did…
Clockwork Princess is the third and final book in Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices trilogy, following on from Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince. My view of the series was merely consolidated rather than changed by my reading of the finale – Cassandra Clare is excellent and writing characters and worldbuilding, not so great at pacing. What I liked The characters. I adore Tess, Will and Jem and I felt the way their story was developed in this final volume was very well written and very touching. I really felt for all the protagonists in the book. We also get to see the development of Will’s relationship with Jem from their initial meeting through flashbacks. I know some people disliked the epilogue, but personally I loved hearing about what happened to the characters after the ending of the story. I also loved all the secondary characters – Charlotte, Henry, Cecily, the Lightwoods. Writing characters and their interactions is clearly Clare’s real strong point. I enjoyed the fact that certain characters were not necessarily evil, believed they were doing the right thing, but were still major hurdles for our protagonists. The narration. Yet again the trilogy switched narrator. All four narrators did…
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott is the first in the Spiritwalker trilogy and tells the story of Cat Hassi Barahal as she comes to terms with the strange new path her life is taking her and the new powers she acquires. Cold Magic has been on my TBR list for some time. I’d picked it up several months back when it was on special offer on Kindle for $1.99, but never got round to reading it. It moved up the list a few weeks ago when I read an intriguing article on the magic system, yet it never quite made it to the top. Finally a couple of weeks ago, Audible released it as an audiobook. This is the first of the books to be released on Audible, so I picked it up to listen to during my nightshifts and it finally made it to the top of the list. I’m very glad it did! What I liked Interesting themes. Elliott explores some interesting themes in this novel. One of the major ones is magic vs technology. The society in which Cat lives is beginning to make progress with industrialisation and this engenders conflict with the powerful Mage Houses, the…
Cold Magic by Kate Elliott is the first in the Spiritwalker trilogy and tells the story of Cat Hassi Barahal as she comes to terms with the strange new path her life is taking her and the new powers she acquires. Cold Magic has been on my TBR list for some time. I’d picked it up several months back when it was on special offer on Kindle for $1.99, but never got round to reading it. It moved up the list a few weeks ago when I read an intriguing article on the magic system, yet it never quite made it to the top. Finally a couple of weeks ago, Audible released it as an audiobook. This is the first of the books to be released on Audible, so I picked it up to listen to during my nightshifts and it finally made it to the top of the list. I’m very glad it did! What I liked Interesting themes. Elliott explores some interesting themes in this novel. One of the major ones is magic vs technology. The society in which Cat lives is beginning to make progress with industrialisation and this engenders conflict with the powerful Mage Houses, the…