Posts Tagged: Historical

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood

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A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica SpotswoodA Tyranny of Petticoats by Jessica Spotswood
Published by Candlewick Press on March 8th, 2016
Genres: Historical, YA
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From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.

Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They're making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

I don’t usually read anthologies and I find it even harder to review them because there are so many stories and so many different feelings about the stories.

But, A Tyranny of Petticoats did say it was about badass girls and who doesn’t want to read stories about badass girls? If you don’t you have come to the wrong place so toodooloo. It was nice knowing you.

So, I read the stories. I didn’t love all of them yet here I am, reviewing the anthology as a whole. The thing is, whether or not I loved every single story is beside the point. What makes this anthology special is the diversity in it. I think historical fiction has a tendency to privilege white voices over other voices just because that is the way history is told and I love that this anthology didn’t do that. We got a multitude of voices spanning over two centuries and all of these voices have one thing in common: badass women.

Not all of the stories are memorable and some of them, I spaced out while reading, but as a whole, this anthology stands strong. There are many big name authors involved but I would say that authors who aren’t as big shined out to me in this anthology. Through this anthology, I discovered authors that had previously been unknown to me and now my to-be-read pile is bigger.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this anthology because of the diversity of characters and diversity in story-telling.

Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Posted by on 01/20/2016 • 9 Comments

Passenger AKA the much awaited, highly anticipated time travel romance. I had hoped it would be everything I wanted, I had hoped I would swoon and die because cuteness, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Passenger was by no means a bad book, I just had a hard time relating to the character and getting behind the romance (which is kind of a big deal given that it is a time-travel romance.)

Etta is really my biggest problem with the book. It isn’t that she is fundamentally flawed, I just couldn’t get behind her as a character. Her privilege, growing up the way she did and in the century she did, is so blatant and her ignorance of it really bothered me. Being with Nicholas did make her realize that she was…

Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

Posted by on 12/23/2015 • 14 Comments

I am a bookworm (hopefully there are no doubts about that) so a book that featured an evil library definitely got my attention. Ink and Bone also had a lot of hype surrounding it and some of my most-trusted peeps loved it. When I finally dove in, I was expecting my mind to be blown and it wasn’t necessarily blown but there is just something about this book. It’s really really slow but it is also really fucking amazing.

If you love fascinating villains, this book is for you. The Library is the villain here. The library essentially controls the world so there is definite dystopic quality to this book but don’t be turned off by that if dystopias aren’t your thing. The library isn’t some mindlessly evil villain….

Review: A Drop of Night by Stefan Bachmann

Posted by on 12/20/2015 • 5 Comments

A Drop of Night actually proved to be a pretty interesting book.

If you like a bit of everything in speculative fiction, then this book might just strike your fancy. It definitely has some drama, history, mystery, and a whole lot of science fiction and thriller, and I daresay that the book was able to mesh them well. Even though there were so many elements altogether, it never felt muddled or out of place or all over the place. And to be honest with you, for a book of this kind, that’s rare.

Do take note – it’s not perfect. But it did try and it tried really well.

What are you to do when you receive a letter – out of nowhere – inviting you to help a team…

Review: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Review: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

Posted by on 08/10/2015 • 3 Comments

This sequel has been a very long wait to read and I had very high expectations going into it. It was a little slow going at first, but it was so good. Even though it was slow, we get all of the characters we love (and maybe don’t love so much) as well as new ones. As with the first one, the descriptiveness was amazing and I loved seeing what everyone has been up to and what the new danger is going to put them through. By the time I was nearing the end of this book I was reading frantically needing to see what would happen. And the end… ahhhhh!! I sure hope the next book doesn’t take as long as this sequel did to come out. I assure…