Book Review: The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss

The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think I must have spent less than ten hours altogether reading this novel, and that in a single day. It has been a while since I finished a book that quickly. Then again, I do my fastest reading when travelling and today I spent approximately six hours sitting in a car. That accounts for most of the novel.

What to say of the story itself? I liked it a great deal, and although there were some twists I saw coming long beforehand, the form those twists took was unexpected. The narrative is in first person and past tense, which is never the easiest thing to pull off but fits this particular story splendidly. Lucifer Box is conceited as anything — and it is very difficult not to adore him. His relationship with Charlie Jackpot is marvellous, and I hope it remains as wonderful in the sequels. Yes, I will be getting my hands on those sooner or later!

I admit that I expected much from a book written by Mark Gatiss. I was not disappointed.

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Book Review: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish Goodreads supported half-stars in its rating system. For me, this book wasn't quite a four but still slightly more than a three. Oh, well.

More than a decade has passed since I last read this novel, and I have the sneaking suspicion that I did so in Finnish. (I only started being picky about translations sometime after HP 5 came out. Read that in English, have endeavoured to do so ever since — when the original is in English, obviously.) Thus, my memories of the story were vague at best.

What struck me most was how very unlikeable Lessa is for much of the book. She has her reasons, certainly, and many of the entirely frustrating things she does are, in the end, quite understandable. Nevertheless, this realisation threw me off balance for a while. It's a bit discomfiting when you find yourself unable to like the main character. Then again, that is probably one of the strengths of this novel; McCaffrey manages to make the reader sympathise with someone whom, for a good stretch, you feel like throttling.

Honestly, I'm much more fond of F'lar and F'nor.

The lore discovered throughout the story is revealed at a good pace, not too slow and not too fast. No awkward infodumps here! Also absent are overly detailed character descriptions. Clothing and appearances are described, yes, but those parts feel much more organic than they often do. It's a skill many writers should spend time honing.

I'm glad I reacquainted myself with this series, and quite look forward to reading more of it.

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It's Summer, But That Doesn't Mean Holidays

*wink*

I don't have a summer job; nay, I have not been so fortunate. There is, however, an exam taking place in August that needs to be studied for, and a home essay for English Grammar 2. Furthermore...the tiny little detail that I only received a 2 on my BA thesis. The grade ought to be at least a 3 for me to feel anywhere near comfortable, and not only because I am so self-critical—it's also because in order to continue on to do an MA I need an average grade of 3 or higher in Intermediate Studies, and with such a low grade on my thesis, it's looking unlikely. Had I started at the university a couple of years later than I did, it would also have been a requirement to have at least a 3 for the thesis in addition to the aforementioned average. Fun, aye?

Honestly, when I received the e-mail containing my thesis supervisor's comments and the final grade, I was crushed. As in, started crying uncontrollably, that sort of thing. You don't need to hear about that, though. It took a few moments, but I calmed down and am now resolved to do what needs done.

Thus, some of my time before September shall be spent furiously revising the thesis. I mentioned in my previous entry that I might post the whole thing here, but until it has been significantly improved, that will not be happening. I'm sure you'll survive.

As usual, I'm in Helsinki for much of the summer, staying in my old room at my folks' place. There's a fairly long-winded project underway to clean it, and has been for a while now. My current task is to re-organise the bookshelf. After that, I think I'm going to attack the desk area.

It's not all work, though: I get to be with Laura, to attend Helsinki Pride and Ropecon, aaaaand to... GO TO PARIS WITH MY MUM! We're planning to travel pretty much right after Ropecon, in the junction of July and August, and we'll be there for about a week. I'll have to brush up on the little French I've managed to learn thus far, but that won't be too much trouble. Really looking forward to it.

There you have it, a general sort of summer update. I'll try to blog once or twice a week from now on, but no promises!