Month: February 2023

Thoughts on NOCTURNE

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I faltered a little with my writing last week, but it’s just because I’m lazy. Otherwise, things are good here. It’s the last Wednesday of February already, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I felt like reading something in the fantasy vein, so after some searching, I decided to try out Nocturne by Alyssa Wees. It was released by Del Rey Books yesterday (February 21st). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for granting me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

Gorgeous cover.

Nocturne follows Grace Dragotta as she rises to the challenges of becoming prima ballerina at a small Chicago company during the Great Depression. It’s been her dream since she was little, her escape from a hard life, but when she finds herself practically sold to a mysterious patron, she realizes the world is much bigger than she ever dared to dream. But is it a dream or just another nightmare that she’s entered?

The plot. It’s basically a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but with throwbacks as far as Hades and Persephone. Grace is sold to the Beast (Master) who whisks her off to the land of the dead in a bizarre attempt to woo her. Things go wrong when Sleep starts meddling for his own foolish and selfish reasons. It gets a little complicated, but that’s okay. My biggest complaint with the plot is how easily Grace is persuaded to do what she does to Death. The whole time, she’s cautious and wary and does her best not to fall for any bullshit, but a two second conversation with a dude she knows is sus makes her act like an idiot. I found that a little annoying.

Characters. They were all a little flat. Not even Grace grew or changed very much. Death and Sleep didn’t have enough page time to really be explored. The bestie and the Mistress were static as well, but interesting in their own ways. But, if I’m being honest, I didn’t really expect much from them from the very beginning. Have you ever started a book and just known the characters weren’t going to learn anything? This is one of those books.

I usually save the writing for last, but it’s really the whole reason I picked up this book. The description and cover make it seem like it’s going to be poetic and lyrical and pretty. It is after a while, but it takes a few chapters to get into a groove. It’s not exactly what I was hoping for, but there are some nice phrases and musical bits. I admit that I looked at other reviews before I wrote this and one of the big complaints people have is that the prose is too purple. It’s overwritten. Well, it’s supposed to be. And for the most part, it’s lovely.

Last, the pacing is off. The beginning is super slow and a bit too firmly rooted in the real world, so when the fantasy elements enter into things, it’s jarring. But once I got past the real world and settled into the fantasy, I found that my desire to keep reading finally kicked in. From then on, I found it to be enjoyable despite the things it was lacking.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Nocturne for what it was. I was compelled to keep reading after things got interesting. But it’s not something I will ever read or think about again and that’s okay. Some books are just like that.

starstarstarstar outlinestar outline

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. My initial rating was 4, but the more I thought about it, the more issues I had with it. It’s an okay book and if you’re into fairytales, it’s worth checking out. I don’t recommend it with zeal, but I don’t think it’s something to avoid either.

Who Do You Love?

~ shawnaborman ~ 7 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are okay. I’m managing to write and read and all of that fun stuff. It’s been a little hard, but I’m doing it. The writing is fine, it’s just the forcing myself to do it that’s hard. For some reason, I still struggle with opening the document in a timely manner and finishing early. Instead, I procrastinate until 6, 6:30, then get annoyed when I’m not done until 8, 8:30. It’s a vicious cycle. Oh well. Anyway, as I’m typing this, it’s Valentine’s Day! That basically just means it’s Tuesday since I don’t celebrate. But, I thought I would use it as an excuse to remind some people that I love them!

1. Dad! It’s us against the world. I love and appreciate you.

2. Mardi. It counts. She’s a four-legged people.

3. The Minion. I tolerate you so much. Love to the family, though!

4. Lil sis (art is hers). You deserve all the glomps.

5. Danielle. Miss your face!

Short post is short, but that’s okay. These are my peoples. I love them.

Unpopular Opinions: KPS

~ shawnaborman ~ 4 Comments

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing? Things here are okay. The ice went away. I didn’t do any creative writing last week because I was lazy and meh. I’m writing this post a little early (it’s currently Saturday the 4th and, if I don’t finish it tonight, I probably will tomorrow) so that I can go to a doctor appointment with Dad on Tuesday (the 7th) if I want to. Anyway, I don’t have anything to ramble about, but the book I’m reading for fun is disappointing me, so I thought I could complain about it. This is not a review, just a rant. That being said, so many people recommended The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi to me. And it definitely sounds like something that would be right up my alley. You had me at kaiju. But I’m only a third of the way through and struggling with it.

The first thing I noticed about the book was that it tries way too hard to be funny. And it’s really not. I mean, I’m all for fluffy and fun and punny. You know this about me. But not everything has to be a joke. It’s a book. Even fluff should have a little depth… not much, but a tad. It definitely shouldn’t be a bunch of mediocre jokes strung together in the shape of a story. And the “I lift things” joke? It was cute the first couple of times. Remember, I’m only a third of the way through a pretty short book and we’re up to like the 50th time. It’s just sad now.

And the thing that I’m beginning to notice now is that there’s no real plot yet. Again, I’m a third of the way through. I should be able to see where the story is headed. Don’t get me wrong. Things are happening and backstory is being revealed, but there’s no cohesive plot yet. Not even a hint of one. Just some random events that don’t really form any bigger structure. I’m hoping that changes soon. Sometimes beginnings are a bit rambling until there’s this “Hey! There’s the story!” moment. I believe those beginnings should be edited more, but they happen. Fingers crossed a story shows up soon.

Also, the description is on the weak side. I fully admit that I’m not a visual thinker at all (I think in sounds and words, not pictures), so it’s more difficult for me to “see” things that aren’t either based in reality or described fully. Vague descriptions of mountains with tentacles don’t really help me, so it’s not as engaging for me as it could be. Even the human stuff has very little detail so far. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’d rather things be vague instead of 10 pages describing trees. But still, it’s super thin description all around.

I’m going to keep reading because I like the premise and it still has room to get better, but I’m not holding my breath. Plus, it takes a lot of hatred for me to put a book down. I’m nowhere near that point yet. If it gets better by Tuesday, I’ll add a PS to let you know. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and questions here or on my social media pages!

PS! (February 7th, 62% through) Hey! There’s a plot. Kind of. Maybe. Okay, there’s potential for a couple of big plotlines, but if the one was going to happen, it should’ve been introduced way back in the beginning. The other one I could’ve made believe had been hinted at, but it feels like it’s probably not happening. Mostly, this book reads like a series of vignettes cobbled together to make a maybe-story. It’s not bad, just disappointing. Everything else I said still stands.

BooHoo

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this chilly first of February? I’m okay. I broke my writing streak on the 30th because who wants to write when it’s freezing and gloomy and you could be watching TV instead? I don’t even want to be writing this, but I am. But I proved to myself I could stick to a writing schedule if I wanted, so I’ll probably go back to my usual schedule next week (4 days of 1,000+ words, the blog day, and two days off a week). I haven’t decided about the rest of this week yet. But we’re here to finish off the number thing. This week’s prompt was chosen by Scotty, who sometimes stalks the blog. We’ve covered 13 (you can find the prompt list there), 7, 2, 8, 3, 10, 6, 14, and 11. And today, the prompt is “Tell me which book has made you cry more than any other book has.” This is a weirdly hard question.

I don’t remember being super emotional about books (or anything) when I was younger, mostly because I didn’t like explaining why I was crying if I got caught and would usually piss off whoever caught me because I would be like “it’s nothing” and apparently that was the worst possible answer. It was weird. I was weird. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a sympathetic crier, especially if it’s a dude. TV, books, movies, whatever. If a character cries, I get misty. If a character I really like cries, I flat out cry too. I hate it. It was much more preferable when nothing affected me. I’m basically growing up to be a girl and nobody wants that (yes, I know that joke was sexist and I’m all for healthy emotional responses in both men and women, just not myself). Anyway, all this is to say that it was probably a book I read in the last ten years, but I’ll be damned if I can remember which one.

I’ve spent far too much time thinking about this one since it was chosen and I’m still coming up blank. Even with manga. The closest I can come to an answer is a Facebook post from August 13, 2017: “Might’ve spent three hours finishing reading a book today. There were probably tears. Strong, manly tears. Definitely not an ugly cry. Okay, maybe a little ugly.” It was about The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. I don’t even remember why it made me ugly cry. But apparently it did. That’s probably why it still ranks among my favorites. So, since it was Facebook worthy, I’m just going to make believe this is the answer.

And this is going to be a short post because I can’t think of any other books to ramble about. Anime, though. Definitely Fullmetal Alchemist. There are two particularly traumatic scenes that get me every time. If you’ve seen it, you know what they are. Anyway, what books made you cry? As always, feel free to leave your comments or questions here or on my social media pages!

Bonus pic of our icy backyard: