Reading Wednesday! On Wednesday!
Sep. 26th, 2018 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhSix of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. A YA heist adventure set in fantasy Europe. But a much more interesting fantasy Europe than one usually reads! The book starts off in a city inspired by early modern Amsterdam so instead of the typical kings and knights, we have black-clothed merchants and canals, cabbage and sausage to eat, guns and indentured servitude to avoid. It's a pretty great, and possibly my favorite element of the whole book. Unfortunately the story eventually takes the characters up to fantasy-Scandinavia, which I felt was a bit less specific and complex.
So, that story: Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker is a seventeen-year-old lieutenant in the Dregs, a streetgang. He's offered the job of a lifetime by one of the merchant rulers of his city: break a man out of the most well-guarded prison in the world, in return for enough money to swim in. Magic exists in this world, but only little magics: enough to change the color of a textile, heal a wound, erase wrinkles. This imprisoned man – a scientist – has invented a drug that can give a magic-user immense powers: to cause earthquakes, fly, kill hundreds at once, give commands that can't be disobeyed. The Merchant Council is worried about what the existence of this drug would do to world stability, and so they want all samples of it destroyed and the scientist put out of reach before any other country can learn how to produce it.
Kaz accepts, despite some misgivings, and – like any good heist story – spends some time assembling his team. We have:
Inej "The Wraith" Ghafa, Kaz's right-hand woman, the city's greatest assassin and thief. Her parents were acrobats, and she uses her early training in climbing and walking silently to criminal ends. She was kidnapped and sold as a slave to a brothel before being rescued by Kaz, which means he has her undying loyalty.
Nina Zenik, a magic-user who can stop people's hearts – though only if she can see them and has her hands free. She's flirtatious and a bit wild and also the team's grifter.
Matthias Helvar, the inside man. He previously worked in the prison they're trying to infiltrate and has only been convinced to betray his former people through a combination of threats and bribes. He's big, he's angry, he's the silent type.
Jesper Fahey, the sharpshooter. He's deeply over his head in gambling debts and can never sit still, and also provides most of the book's comic relief.
Wylan Van Eck, demolitions expert, the rich kid slumming it on the streets. He's innocent and easily shocked.
And off they go, on their quite well-plotted and nicely complex prison break. There's plenty of action scenes, a sprinkling of romance (Kaz and Inej are desperately in love but too traumatized to do much about it, Nina and Matthias have a slap-slap-kiss dynamic going on, and Jesper and Wylan keep up a cute flirtation), some appreciated diversity (beyond the m/m couple, Jesper is black, Inej is Middle Eastern, Kaz uses a cane, Nina is fat, Jesper is probably meant to be read as having ADHD, and Wylan also has a disability, though it's not revealed until a shocking twist at the end).
I did struggle to take seriously the way the book insists that a bunch of seventeen year olds are the "most dangerous", the "most feared", the "most notorious" bunch of the criminals in the world because, like... come on, guys. Come on. There's not even a few dudes in their twenties with scary reputations? Have all the mob bosses who survived into their 40s by wit and strength abruptly retired to the countryside? There's no elderly godfather running things from his plush central office? But I know that's just part of the territory with YA, so it's not quite fair for me to complain.
Despite that quirk, it's a fun, quick-moving book, and it's a heist starring street rats! How could you not be charmed by that? My main complaint is that it ends in a massive cliffhanger, but at least there's only one sequel, so you're not signing yourself up for an endless series.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. A retelling of sixteen Norse myths, in a simple and clear style that gives the book a bit of a feel of a children's edition, though ultimately I think there's too much sex and violence for that. The myths are organized as separate vignettes, like a series of short stories, rather than a single continuous narrative. The focus is mostly though not entirely on Thor and Loki and the stories in which they star. Most of the myths chosen are well-known (Odin and the mead of poetry, Balder's death), though there's also some that appear less frequently in pop culture, or at least American pop culture (how Freyr married Gerd, how Thor tricked a beer cauldron from the giant Hymir). There's definitely a focus on funny stories (Thor dressed as a bride, Loki giving birth to a horse), or at least that's true throughout most of the book. The last few chapters noticeably darken in tone, until the final one tells of Ragnarok.
I think this would make for a good introduction to Norse mythology, but it's not the book for someone looking for a particularly deep or comprehensive take on the topic. I don't think I would have bought the book myself (I was given mine). That said, these retellings make for very pleasant little stories, especially if you take them as brief bites. A good book to keep by your bedside or on your coffee table, to page through when you need a little bit of reading, rather than working straight from cover to cover.
So, that story: Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker is a seventeen-year-old lieutenant in the Dregs, a streetgang. He's offered the job of a lifetime by one of the merchant rulers of his city: break a man out of the most well-guarded prison in the world, in return for enough money to swim in. Magic exists in this world, but only little magics: enough to change the color of a textile, heal a wound, erase wrinkles. This imprisoned man – a scientist – has invented a drug that can give a magic-user immense powers: to cause earthquakes, fly, kill hundreds at once, give commands that can't be disobeyed. The Merchant Council is worried about what the existence of this drug would do to world stability, and so they want all samples of it destroyed and the scientist put out of reach before any other country can learn how to produce it.
Kaz accepts, despite some misgivings, and – like any good heist story – spends some time assembling his team. We have:
Inej "The Wraith" Ghafa, Kaz's right-hand woman, the city's greatest assassin and thief. Her parents were acrobats, and she uses her early training in climbing and walking silently to criminal ends. She was kidnapped and sold as a slave to a brothel before being rescued by Kaz, which means he has her undying loyalty.
Nina Zenik, a magic-user who can stop people's hearts – though only if she can see them and has her hands free. She's flirtatious and a bit wild and also the team's grifter.
Matthias Helvar, the inside man. He previously worked in the prison they're trying to infiltrate and has only been convinced to betray his former people through a combination of threats and bribes. He's big, he's angry, he's the silent type.
Jesper Fahey, the sharpshooter. He's deeply over his head in gambling debts and can never sit still, and also provides most of the book's comic relief.
Wylan Van Eck, demolitions expert, the rich kid slumming it on the streets. He's innocent and easily shocked.
And off they go, on their quite well-plotted and nicely complex prison break. There's plenty of action scenes, a sprinkling of romance (Kaz and Inej are desperately in love but too traumatized to do much about it, Nina and Matthias have a slap-slap-kiss dynamic going on, and Jesper and Wylan keep up a cute flirtation), some appreciated diversity (beyond the m/m couple, Jesper is black, Inej is Middle Eastern, Kaz uses a cane, Nina is fat, Jesper is probably meant to be read as having ADHD, and Wylan also has a disability, though it's not revealed until a shocking twist at the end).
I did struggle to take seriously the way the book insists that a bunch of seventeen year olds are the "most dangerous", the "most feared", the "most notorious" bunch of the criminals in the world because, like... come on, guys. Come on. There's not even a few dudes in their twenties with scary reputations? Have all the mob bosses who survived into their 40s by wit and strength abruptly retired to the countryside? There's no elderly godfather running things from his plush central office? But I know that's just part of the territory with YA, so it's not quite fair for me to complain.
Despite that quirk, it's a fun, quick-moving book, and it's a heist starring street rats! How could you not be charmed by that? My main complaint is that it ends in a massive cliffhanger, but at least there's only one sequel, so you're not signing yourself up for an endless series.
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. A retelling of sixteen Norse myths, in a simple and clear style that gives the book a bit of a feel of a children's edition, though ultimately I think there's too much sex and violence for that. The myths are organized as separate vignettes, like a series of short stories, rather than a single continuous narrative. The focus is mostly though not entirely on Thor and Loki and the stories in which they star. Most of the myths chosen are well-known (Odin and the mead of poetry, Balder's death), though there's also some that appear less frequently in pop culture, or at least American pop culture (how Freyr married Gerd, how Thor tricked a beer cauldron from the giant Hymir). There's definitely a focus on funny stories (Thor dressed as a bride, Loki giving birth to a horse), or at least that's true throughout most of the book. The last few chapters noticeably darken in tone, until the final one tells of Ragnarok.
I think this would make for a good introduction to Norse mythology, but it's not the book for someone looking for a particularly deep or comprehensive take on the topic. I don't think I would have bought the book myself (I was given mine). That said, these retellings make for very pleasant little stories, especially if you take them as brief bites. A good book to keep by your bedside or on your coffee table, to page through when you need a little bit of reading, rather than working straight from cover to cover.
