Category: Fantasy

Perfect read for Samhain!

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A little while ago, I was given «The Last Witch in Edinburgh», written by, Marielle Thompson by NetGalley for an honest review, and I finished reading it this morning.

A hand holding an e-reader showing the book The Last Witch in Edinburgh. In the background is a rock covered in red leaves.
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2024

This story is set in alternative Edinburgh in 1824. Nellie Duncan lives with her drunk of a father, and a little brother she’s trying to take care of. Her mother passed away while giving birth, and she’s lost her post as a maid in a rich family’s home after the man of the house couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The lady of the house blames Nellie, and doesn’t just make her leave her post, but also makes sure Nellie doesn’t get a post anywhere else.

She then finds the Rae Women’s Apothecary, where women can come for teas and potions for their problems. It doesn’t take long before Nellie too works at the shop, and is taught the Cailleach.

Being a woman is a dangerous thing, though, and they live in fear that they can be the next victim of the gallows, hanged for witchcraft. Despite of this, Nellie embrace her newfound community, and also develops feelings for the strong and fierce Jean.

Nellie soon learns that the Cailleach has an ancient enemy. A diety that wants to strip the Cailleach for all the power, and wipe out all her witches, and create a world full of patriarchal violence and destruction.

This is a very feminist story, and I must advice you to check out the trigger warnings for it should you need them. I absolutely loved it, and I would love to read more from this author at some point.

Book Review: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, written by Moniquill Blackgoose

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To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, written by Moniquill Blackgoose, was given to me by NetGalley for an honest review. This is the first book in the Nampeshiweisit series, and was first published in May 2023.

A Kobo e-reader being held in a hand over a wooden balcony floor. A hint of a black dress with small green flowers. On the e-reader is the cover of the book To Shape a Dragon's Breath.
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2024

Anequs lives on the island Masquapaug, a remote island where the Anglish conquerors of her land seldom visits. One day she finds a dragon egg. The egg hatches, and the baby dragon bonds with Anequs, and she becomes a Nampeshiweisits (someone who has a special relationship with a dragon). Her people are delighted, as it has been a very long time since the had any dragons or Nampeshiweisits.

Unfortunately, the Anglish has a very different idea of how dragons should be kept and how dragoneers should be schooled, and Anequs is sent to the mainland to attend a school to learn how to shape a dragon’s breath and become a dragoneers.

It is not easy for Anequs to attend an Anglish school. She knows that if she doesn’t manage to meet the Anglish’s requirements, her dragon will be killed. She is determined to learn what she needs to be able to keep her dragon alive.

I absolutely loved this book. Anequs is a strong character, and I fell in love with her. The language was absolutely beautiful, and I adored how lyrical and poetic it was.

I think the book’s themes are important, like basic human rights. In the Anglish world we see things that can easily be taken for granted in a modern Nordic country, like the right to be LGBTQIAP+, being illegal. Just to mention one thing. Things that are still relevant in many parts of the world today. Also, it touches on how we as white Europeans have treated indigenous people. Not just in North America, but also here in Europe.

For me it was a bonus that I am familiar with Nordic myths and lore, as I recognised it in the book. That being said, it is absolutely not a requirement to know them.

It should be noted that To Shape a Dragon’s Breath comes with a few trigger warnings. If you need them, make sure to check them out.

Fortnight Frights 2020

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The booktuber and blogger The Artisan Geek hosted a readathon called Fortnight Frights during the last two weeks of October. Even though I had planty of things to do, I decided that I wanted to take part in it.

The fist thing I was, was picking the books I wanted to read. Here’s my video where I talked about the books I was planning on reading for the readathon:

As you can see in my reading vlog, my “To Be Read” (or TBR) list went through the window. But at least something exciting happened (which can be seen towards the end of the video):

Do you ever take part in readathons? Do you think it’s fun?

September Challenge – how did it go?

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As I wrote earlier, I set myself a challenge to read more books in Norwegian. So, how did my challenge go? How many books in Norwegian did I manage to read?

1. Hålke, written by Helene Uri

I was fortunate enough to win a ARC of Helene Uri’s new book, Hålke. It was published early in September, and is a book on an elderly couple who early in January don’t get to leave their flat due to it being icy outside. With only a little food to get by on, and the coffee running out, we get to know this elderly people. What’s their marriage built on? Why do they still keep together after over 40 years, in spite of unfaithfulness (her) and violence (him)? It was a really interesting read, and I really enjoyed it.

2. Odinsbarn, written by Siri Pettersen

This was actually a reread. I first read Odinsbarn (meaning Odin’s Child in English) shortly after it came out, and it’s the first book in the Ravneringene (meaning “The Raven Rings”) trilogy. I love this trilogy, and thought Odinsbarn was even better the second time around.

3. Et norsk hus, written by Vigdis Hjorth

This was my first book Vigdis Hjorth, and I borrowed it from the library’s ebook app. I enjoyed reading about this middle aged textile artist who rented out a part of her house to a Polish family and the conflict between them. And even though this lady is a weird woman with many faults, I grew to love her… I am definitely going to read more books by her!

4. Forbannet, written by Tonje Tornes

This was the second book in the Kire series, and it has been a while since I read hulder, the first book in the series. I am loving this series, and I liked the second book even more than the first – it’s darker and there’s more magic! I can’t wait for the third book, even though I have no idea when it will be published.

So, I ended up with four Norwegian books in September, which wasn’t so bad. I also read On Writing by Stephen King, which is also a very good read. I think my conclusion is that this challenge was good for me, even though one of the books was a reread. I will try to read even more Norwegian books, and am hoping to get some more read this year.

Did you succeed with your September challenge?

A pile with some of the books mentioned in the post.
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2016

Octocon 2015

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9 – 11 October I attended Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention. It was helt in the Camden Court Hotel in Dublin, and stated Friday afternoon, and ended Sunday afternoon. Guests of Honour were Emma Newman and Maura McHugh, but there were several other guests as well.

The convention was kicked off with the opening ceremony, where chairperson Gareth Kavanagh wished us welcome and introduced the Guests of Honour. I had an opening after the opening ceremony, where corrigancj and I headed for dinner. My first panel wasn’t until 20, the Bodily Autonomy in YA panel, which I found very interesting.

There were actually several LGBTQIP+ themes panels for Octocon 2015, which I was very happy about, and I attended several of them. Though I attended several really good panels through the week end, my convention highlights were the Guest of Honour interview with Emma Newman, and the Tea and Jeopardy live show.

Emma Newman at the Guest of Honour interview
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2015

The Guest of Honour interview with Emma Newman (who’s one of my favourite authors), was a warm and personal interview. I think Janet O’Sullivan did a great job, and there was tea and much laughter.

The Tea and Jeopardy live show was based on the Hugo Nominated Podcast of Emma Newman and Peter Newman. Being a fan of the podcast (I must admit I’m still a bit bummed it didn’t win the Hugo’s), I was thrilled to attend the show. I was offered cake by Latimer when entering the tea lair, but I politely declined. Author C.E. Murphy was Emma Newman’s guest for this episode, and it was muc fun. I laughed so much! I missed the chickens, though, but I totally understand they couldn’t be brought to Ireland…

Emma Newman and Latimer at the tea lair of Octocon 2015
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2015

The only problem I had with the convention, was the inside jokes at some panels (not all), that went right above my head. I am not familiar with everything Irish, and there were moments there were things I didn’t understand.

All-in-all I enjoyed my week end, and it was nice to meet up with some convention friends that I know from EasterCon and/or Twitter again. Will I come back to Octocon next year? Only time will show…

EasterCon 2015: Dysprosium

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I signed up for this year’s EasterCon at last year’s EasterCon, and was very excited to go. Dysprosium was held at ParkInn by Raddison at Heathrow, so getting there would be the easiest convention for me to get to, with a lot of flights to choose from.

This year’s guests of honour were Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Herr Döktor, and Caroline Mullan. The only guest of honour I had heard of was Seanan McGuire, simply because she was also a guest of honour at last year’s EuroCon in Dublin. To me, it’s not the guests of honour that are the important thing, though, but the fact that EasterCon gather a lot of fans from pretty much all over Europe. That’s pretty fun, in my opinion.

There were a lot of interesting panels and talks this year, but one can’t go to them all. I chose to attend a handfull, as well as being a lot more social than I have been previous years. All good. The panels I attended were all good, even though I had to leave The Unseen London panel halfway through, as I had a splitting headache, and needed painkillers, water and a nap. I siply couldn’t focus, and was sad not to being able to listen to such an interesting topic.

I find it hard to pick a favourite panel or talk this year. I really enjoyed the Guest of Honour interview with Herr Dötor. I am incredible fascinated by how he’s able to make the cool art. He had some pieces exhibited at the art show, and they were magnificent.

Lady Elsie being hugged by Herr Döktor, both sitting behind a table with a white cloth and microphones.
Herr Döktor was inerviewed by Lady Elsie.
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2015

Other than a lot of geeky stuff, there were lots of geeky people. This being my third EasterCon meant I knew more people this time around than two years ago, when I attended my first EasterCon, and Twitter helps too. I have probably been more social over the EasterCon week end than I have been in years. All good, though. There were great chats. Great company. And I had in general an excellent time.

The 2015 Hugo Awards – The Short List

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So, the shortlist of the 2015 Hugo Awards was just announced, and I am, for the first time ever, eligible to vote. I forgot about nominating, but I have every intention to give my vote.

I am very much looking forward to read Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie, as I loved Ancillary Justice. However, there are books I will not read and not vote for, and that are the sad/rabid puppy selection. The reason for this? Well, the explanation I was given on Twitter says it all:

2015-04-04-twitter

Correction from @ClaireRousseau
Claire Rousseau has in the comments asked me to add the following correction:
Vox Day put up a post on his site in which he called NK Jemisin, who is a woman of colour, a “half-savage”. Because his blog was syndicated to SFWA social media, the post was tweeted from the official SFWA twitter. NK Jemisin put in an official complaint in accordance to the SFWA harassment policy that ultimately resulted in Vox Day’s SFWA membership being revoked.

Here is wikipedia for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Beale#Conflict_with_the_SFWA

So, I will read the following novels:
Ancillary Sword, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK)
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (Tor Books)

As for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, I have already seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and really should watch Edge of Tomorrow as well.

I think it’s really sad when some people think things like the sad/rabid puppies thing is all right. After all, it will backfire on the works listed, no matter how great they are.

All shortlisted nominations can be found HERE.

Photo: Hidden in a Book © 2015
The 2014 Hugo Awards winner, Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie.
Photo: Hidden in a Book © 2015

EDIT 05 April 2015:
I edited this post after The Puppy-Free Hugo Award Voter’s Guide was brought to my attention. I will not read any of the short stories, and have therefore deleted the section of short stories to read.

It’s Monday, what are you reading?

Mittens and Sunglasses

Photo: Hidden in a Book © 2015
Photo: Hidden in a Book © 2015
They say it’s the golden age for Norwegian fantasy. I’m not sure it’s true, but more Norwegian fantasy has been published the last few years. I’m currently reading Bian Shen by Torbjørn Øverland Amundsen that was published a couple of years ago, and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s concept is different from anything I have read before, and I am curious on how it continues…

So, what are you currently reading?