London Calling: A Darker Shade of Magic Review

Blurb for A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody… Continue reading London Calling: A Darker Shade of Magic Review

“The importance of his public ends”

“[T]he besetting sin of a philanthropist, it appears to me, is apt to be a moral obliquity. His sense of honor ceases to be the sense of other honorable men. At some point of his course...he is tempted to palter with the right, and can scarcely forbear persuading himself that the importance of his public… Continue reading “The importance of his public ends”

La Mouette: Review of Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier

My sister read this book before I did, and from what she told me I was expecting fluff with a blush of adventure: more or less what it promises in the first chapter, in which the mood is set for “ye olden tale of romance.” I wasn’t expecting to be quite so gutted by existential… Continue reading La Mouette: Review of Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier

Stop Plotting Your Life Like You’re Plotting Your Novel (or alternately: Start Plotting Your Life Like You’re Plotting Your Novel)

I am not an outliner or plotter when it comes to my writing. I usually start with a pretty vague idea, or perhaps one scene or detail that is specific, and then just start writing and see where it goes... Which can be a problem when it’s translated to life.

‘Blowing in the wind’

Dying was nothing and he had no picture of it nor fear of it in his mind. But living was a field of grain blowing in the wind on the side of a hill. Living was a hawk in the sky. Living was an earthen jar of water in the dust of the threshing with… Continue reading ‘Blowing in the wind’

‘Even the best of us’

We are all, even the best of us, egotists and self-deceivers, and without a little comfortable make-believe to clothe us we should freeze in the outer winds. Richard Hannay in The Three Hostages The Three Hostages by John Buchan, Starbooks Classics, 2013, ebook. This reminds me of the Emperor’s new clothes. While usually the Emperor… Continue reading ‘Even the best of us’

You’re Waiting For a Train: Neverworld Wake Review

This book is a whole mood... There was something just off and dream-like about the whole scenario that attempting to describe much of the experience would be really difficult to do without constantly likening or comparing it to something more tangible.

‘Have you lived always’

Have you lived always with your heart and half your mind far away?The Children of Húrin The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien Apparently at least half my mind is far away on the regular, but it came back this evening to remind me to post this, quite literally at the eleventh hour. It’s not… Continue reading ‘Have you lived always’

The Liar’s Recommendation: A Most Mysterious Case and Other Works

Well, I'm back with a Tuesday (barely) book review after getting creative with my schedule for two weeks. I finished several books in the interval though, which I'm going to try and get reviews out for. First up, a book I began last October and have been intermittently slogging away at since: A Most Mysterious… Continue reading The Liar’s Recommendation: A Most Mysterious Case and Other Works