Megan Chance's Blog, page 23
February 26, 2014
February 15, 2014
Book Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly BlackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read the original story that this novel is based on, and while it wasn't my favorite story in the collection, it was somehow the one I didn't forget. Now, to see how Black has taken it and shaped it into a novel is just ... Wow. Dark and brutal and unflinching at the same time it's absolutely beautiful. Holly Black is always good at making the unreal real, so you really feel the terror and the danger inherent in the situations the characters find themselves in. She does that here as well, to great effect. This is a story about what happens when the world falls apart and you are caught in the middle of it. It's about decisions that have truly life changing consequences. It's a love story and a coming of age story, with emotionally complex characters. It's twisty and heartbreaking and impossible to look away from, but the true brilliance here is how Black creates something new without recreating or changing vampire mythology. This is not the same old, same old, and it is a fine, fine thing. Read it.
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Book Review: The Abominable
The Abominable by Dan SimmonsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've liked Simmons before and was looking forward to this story about an attempted Mt. Everest summit in the 1920s. The problem was that it took at least 300 pages before the story got going. Before that, we got to read about the intricacies of mountain climbing, including descriptions of technique and equipment that was so detailed that my eyes began to glaze over. Unfortunately, much of the book is lost in this kind of minutiae. However, I did like the characters, and when the tension began to ratchet it was very tense indeed. Some nice plot twists involving Hitler and Nazism, and when Simmons actually gets his characters on the mountains, the effects of high altitude, along with the struggle to survive, was really interesting. What Simmons has always done well is using setting to build tension and create conflict, and that was here too. There just wasn't enough of it, and often it was drowned in climbing detail. But still ... if you're into climbing and/or fascinated by the discussion of what boot to wear, then plunge in. I preferred his book The Terror.
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February 13, 2014
Speaking Tonight!
Tonight, I'll be speaking at Pacific Northwest Writers Association's monthly meeting. The subject is Creating Setting. Here's all the info you need: PNWA Meeting
February 12, 2014
New at the Authors' Blog
New blog today up at Author Magazine Online.
http://authormagazineonline.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/on-living-life-twice/
http://authormagazineonline.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/on-living-life-twice/
February 9, 2014
Purposeless moaning
Just to update: my illustrious and brilliant critique partner, Kristin Hannah, managed to nail everything I'd been feeling about the new manuscript (and ignoring, and hoping I was wrong), and the upshot is: start over, my friend. Which is what I'll be doing as soon as I finish editing the second book in the Fianna trilogy, which just hit my desk on Thursday.
On the good news front: I just saw the cover art for The Shadows, and ... oh my! Beautiful and perfect! I should be posting a final cover for it shortly. So ... stay tuned.
Also, this week (Thursday, February 13th), I'll be speaking at the monthly meeting of Pacific Northwest Writers Association on Description and Setting (please don't tell Kristin, who would be ROFL if she found out, given how many times she wrote: "need description here" on the new ms. Really, I do much better on later drafts. Sometimes, I just have to remember my own advice. :))
It is snowing.
On the good news front: I just saw the cover art for The Shadows, and ... oh my! Beautiful and perfect! I should be posting a final cover for it shortly. So ... stay tuned.
Also, this week (Thursday, February 13th), I'll be speaking at the monthly meeting of Pacific Northwest Writers Association on Description and Setting (please don't tell Kristin, who would be ROFL if she found out, given how many times she wrote: "need description here" on the new ms. Really, I do much better on later drafts. Sometimes, I just have to remember my own advice. :))
It is snowing.
January 31, 2014
Cover reveal for Inamorata!
And ... here it is, the final cover for Inamorata (July 8, 2014, Lake Union Press). I am completely in love with it.
January 27, 2014
Book Review: Wake
Wake by Elizabeth KnoxMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Knox, but I am not a huge fan of horror, which is how this book is categorized. So I admit I hesitated in picking it up. But eventually, my wish to be lost in her voice again won out. The story concerns 14 survivors (as well as a mysterious man in black) of a strange, plague-like incident, and though there are some horrific elements, Wake is really about how these people come together to create a community, the relationships they form with each other, and how hope and despair change the landscape. The book starts with a bang, but it wasn't until about a third of the way in that I realized I was completely hooked, and by then it had a truly insidious emotional pull. Added to this are some cool twists as Knox plays with the vagaries of time and space and emotional truth, as well as the mystery of worlds beyond our own. When I was finished, I thought about it for days. Complex, layered, fascinating and poignant.
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Bone River Kindle Deal Europe
Bone River is a Kindle Daily deal today in Kindle stores throughout Europe (UK, Germany and France). The link to the UK store is here.
