Reviews and Comments

Alexander

Alexander@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 6 months ago

@A_W_M@troet.cafe

This link opens in a pop-up window

Robin Hobb: Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy) (Paperback, 1996, Voyager)

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow …

review of Assassin's Apprentice

it was a painfully slow start of the story and some of the plot lines didn't pay off. but in the end a surprisingly interesting world and captivating book.

Phyllis Cocker: Unheil im Zeichen des Krebses (Paperback, german language, Martin Kelter Verlag, Hamburg)

review of "Unheil im Zeichen des Krebses"

that's what pulp is for (i guess): quite a good story wrapped in generic presentation. the mood is wildly swinging and the characters unstable or i would have enjoyed it a bit more. the last part even borrows the 'schnodderdeutsch' of 'die zwei' (the persuaders).

Hallie Rubenhold: The Five (Hardcover, 2019, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never …

being a longtime fan of the Holmes stories, I'm being amazed how much this text adds grim reality background

review 'Goddess'

tough choice how to rate and review this book: the life of Julie d’Aubigny is so fascinating that i would state, you really should read the book, no matter what. and the way in which Gardiner evokes the 17th century france is also convincing, less explaining, more atmosphere and anecdotes. so what's to dislike: i can't stand the attitute of the heroine, it's simple. one part of the book is Julie telling her own life on her deathbed to a priest. i'm aware, she is exceptional and to motivate and kind of explain her to the reader you want to give her a torn but free-minded character. but all i hear is an artist oscillating between self pity and hubris.

Hanns Heinz Ewers: Das Grauen (Hardcover, German language, 1922, G. Müller)

review 'Das Grauen'

this one needs a big warning because of it's antisemitic and racist stories (and you have to add the casual mentioning of pedophiliac acts)! mind you there a eleven stories and most of them are no more than what you might expect from a writer in the first years of the twentieth century (although the edition is from 1922, the stories were written before the great war). but two of them are far worse then the zeitgeist might had demanded.

die tomatensauce (the tomato sauce): sadly enough it's nothing about creepy spice but blood lust, surprisingly gory die herzen der könige (the hearts of the kings): lengthy story about how the french kings literally added to arts das weiße mädchen (the white girl): i would say a decadent (in the Huysman-sense) tableau about lust, but with less art (than huysman) das feenland (the land of faeries): the same, but …

first impression: as in almost every kind of literature so is in christian epics to apply show-don't tell. stop feeding me the hymns and praises and tell the story already, use the scenes to bring your point. 'til now a rather hard read