Rosie's Reading Room

He also has another technothriller, Neon Fever Dream, coming out August 4th which you might enjoy.

I wrote an article.  :D  

Remember when I used to review books?  I still do that...

John Matthews starts off with the claim that Gawain was originally the champion of the Goddess. I could accept this as an extension of Gawain's connection to the various realms of Faery, and his obvious otherworldly connections, so I was interested to read the book. Unfortunately he lost me almost immediately when he started presenting evidence - from stories about other knights. It's true that there is some confusion over names and spelling in many of the old texts, but there's usually at least a family resemblance. When He started trying to convince me that adventures attributed to Lancelot were actually Gawain originally, I started getting skeptical. He rarely backs up his claims with any textual evidence, instead relying on increasingly hypothetical situations that stray farther and farther from the Arthurian canon. In many places he bases an argument on a story he guesses must have existed at some point but was lost to time or was never written down. That's just... not how scholarship works. There were a few interesting tidbits about the Grail Quest, which was also the only time Matthews actually started backing up arguments with primary sources, but most of the first two thirds of the book was just speculation as he tried really hard to fit the stories to his theory. Gawain was often associated with damsels, with powerful queens and sorceresses, and with courtesy to ladies, and he could easily have written a book about Gawain and the Goddess from this perspective. Gawain is the knight with perhaps the clearest non-Christian roots, and has often been associated with the realms of faery and of death, and also with solar gods, as his strength waxes and wanes with the sun. The assertion that Gawain was associated with the Goddess is not totally outrageous, though it is a bit of a stretch. John Matthews, however, did not argue his case convincingly. 

Latest for Fantasy-Faction, and let me tell you, this one is GOOD.  Holly Black, you fairy tale genius.

I've said it before and I will continue saying it forever - Patricia McKillip writes the best magic. It is organic and inexplicable, it comes from the stones and the wind, speaks through music and across time, and no one, including most of her characters, knows why it works. I love that. This book is a perfect example of her strange, arbitrary magic. In a side note unrelated to McKillip's gorgeous writing, Kinuko Craft's covers are so beautiful I want to frame them. They evoke McKillip's dreamy style perfectly. They are my favourite covers to any book ever.

As usual Patricia McKillip sets me adrift in a sea of dreaming magic. It's obvious this book was early in her career as a writer, but it's still good. It's a little more opaque than some of her others, and I would have liked slightly more clarity to the plot. I felt a bit lost occasionally. Still, her magic is so beautifully conceived and written that I don't even care.

As usual, Tammy dives right into a tough subject, dealing with strange magics, war, and torture. Her world is beautiful and deadly, with war magic placed side-by-side with mischievous painted gods who make rude gestures at people when they're not looking. I'm glad she chose to write this book and expand the Circle world a little further. I'll always love Tortall, but the Circle books are special. The world is better developed, there's more diversity and the magic system is much more interesting. I can't wait for Tris to go to Lightsbridge!

Latest review over on Fantasy-Faction.  I quite liked this one, despite a few gripes.

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Pumpkin darlings!  I have neglected you for so long.  I am a flake of the highest order.  Here is my latest review over at Fantasy-Faction, as a holdover until the next time I manage to write you something witty and sparkling to make you read literature.

I also enjoyed William Ritter’s use of classical myth and legend.  Several interesting supernatural creatures appear and they can all be found in actual folklore from various parts of the world.  I identified the killer the first time he appeared, but I didn’t figure out what he was until Miss Rook did, which was lovely.  The writing was solid, the characters were fun, and I liked that the supernatural elements were local.  I’ve been reading too much global apocalyptic literature, so a nice, local detective story was refreshing.  All in all a fun, fluffy read, perfect for a lazy afternoon with a cup of tea and maybe a sword-parasol on standby, just in case.

Here's my latest review over at Fantasy-Faction!  A charming Victorian romp through the Canadian wilderness on a giant train with sasquatches, a circus, some dastardly villains, a hidden treasure, and... Oscar Wilde?  Read on my literary gremlins!