LRRC Week 17
I know I commented on this last week but I absolutely cannot believe that it's the first of May today. I know we're all experiencing the fact that time has gone totally wonky and that it's incredibly weird and nothing is normal and that these aren't new observations.
#33: THE SILENCE OF BONES by June Hur
Let me start off by saying that I read very little historical fiction, and mostly picked this up because people I know have been really excited about it. I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it, even though there wasn't any magic or space battles.
It's a mystery, which I do generally enjoy, but for me that wasn't really the main takeaway. This book is set in the Joseon Dynasty of Korean history, which I know very little about (I don't know much about pre-modern history of Korea just generally, to be honest), so this was a really fascinating opportunity to dive directly into that history.
In fact, as soon as I was finished the book, I went and read up on a bunch of the actual historical context because I was so interested in it and wanted to know more about the time period the book took place in. I think the author made a good call in focusing in on what is generally a small story happening in the midst of all this, informed by the context but not made or broken by it.
I can't say that I ever got super invested in the mystery itself, but I liked the characters involved well enough and their dynamics were interesting. I felt like parts of it seemed a little bit anti-climactic, but the ending itself was satisfying and a good wrap-up to the story.
#34: IN VERITAS by C.J. Lavigne
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review! (Speaking of which, if you'd like to send me an ARC at any time I am happy to review them! Send me an email or a DM on twitter.)
First of all, I thought it was really fun to read an urban fantasy set in Ottawa. It's a pretty rare occurrence for me, and I found it fun to know exactly where things were happening and to be able to picture things much more vividly. So that was cool!
I found that the book started a little slowly. Probably the first 50-100 pages, I wasn't especially latching onto the story - I'm not entirely sure if that was due to me being distracted (pandemic-related stress is sometimes doing bad things to my ability to concentrate) or not. It could've been a style thing, as well - at first it did remind me a little bit of "A History of Glitter And Blood" which I reviewed........sometime in the last year, and did not enjoy.
Anyway, after that, though, I did genuinely get invested in the story and the characters. In particular, I thought the character of Colin was really interesting, and that Verity made for an interesting and unusual protagonist. Once I had a good grasp on the characters, I did want to keep reading, and I warmed up to the style quite a bit as well, which was good.
By the end of the book, I was having a really good time reading, and I was surprisingly emotionally affected by certain aspects of the climax. When I started reading, I didn't expect to get so caught up, which was a really pleasant surprise. I did find a few aspects of character motivation to be a bit confusing at times, but again, that may just be because my attention span is a little shot at the moment.
All in all, I was really satisfied by this book, and I had a good time!
NEXT WEEK'S AGENDA:
#35: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
#36: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon