Book Review: Blood and Gold (The Vampire Chronicles, #8) by Anne Rice
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Monday, July 8, 2024
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Book Review: Cash Delgado is Living the Dream by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Book Review: The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon
My first impression upon reading the first few chapters was positive, but unfortunately, as I delved deeper into the story, some of the shine wore off for me. While it's beautifully and brilliantly written, with some turns of phrase that left me downright envious I hadn't come up with them, the characters and plot suffer in comparison. Hellevir, for example, is strangely blank, without much personality. She deals with constant backlash and overcomes obstacle after obstacle, but she never seems to grow much of a backbone, at least not until the very last few chapters of the novel. I suppose that's growth, which I can't condemn, but aside from being forgiving and naive, there's really not much else to her.
Sullivain, on the other hand, is perhaps a bit better. She has hidden depths, at least, much of which centers around not being a very good person. Many other reviewers have a problem with Sullivain, and specifically her romance with Hellevir, but I didn't -- I'm tired of sapphic and women characters always having to be good and boring. People were upset with some of the things she does to Hellevir, but what about Cardan in The Cruel Prince, who readers absolutely adore? He does far worse things to his romantic interest, but strangely enough, no one seems to bat an eye at it. How odd, that a man might be forgiven for things ten times worse than what a woman might do, but she'll be the one who is criticized.
I'm not saying Sullivan and Hellevir's relationship is healthy; it's not. But aren't LGBTQ+ people allowed complexity, depth, and sometimes toxicity in their relationships? I grow weary of always reading "positive" representation, which only means that queer characters are never allowed to do anything wrong, lest they be seen as a negative reflection on the community. So, for the most part, I greatly enjoyed the dance between Hellevir and Sullivain, and being able to feel angry and hurt when they do things that wound one another.
The plotline is strangely boring, despite its rather original and fun concept. The riddles that Hellevir must solve for Death are so conveniently resolved that I felt they were pointless to begin with, and most of the characters and relationships feel like little more than window dressing (and the same can be said for the world-building, which doesn't feel fleshed out). The pacing, though, is what does the most damage to the narrative: nothing feels as if it really happens until around the 70% mark, and it's somewhat agonizing to get to that point, since everything in between is boring and struck me almost as being filler.
The third star is because the ending is pretty great, and suddenly, I found myself wanting to read more. I'll probably pick up the next book in this series (because it will be one), but I'll have some reservations when I do. If the pacing errors and characterization issues aren't fixed, I'm afraid it'll turn many people off. All in all, I think there's so much potential here, but it's hard to give it a higher rating than I did, because the majority of it is just so boring.
Monday, June 3, 2024
In Yáquimo, Santo Domingo, Jacquotte Delahaye works as a shipwright. Although she's not well-known yet, she dreams of bigger things, recognition and perhaps the chance to take to the seas herself, but finds herself constricted by her race, gender, and her selfish, drunkard French father. But when Jacquotte's childhood friendship with the Governor of Yáquimo's nephew forces her to choose between her future and her father, Jacquotte's world quickly descends into chaos, and her chance at freedom is stolen from her by the notorious Captain Blackhand -- a pirate who takes Jacquotte onto his ship as an indentured servant. As Blackhand hatches a dangerous, risky plan to steal Portuguese riches, Jacquotte must rely on her wits and her iron-will to survive, especially as she begins to realize that there may be room for her dream of a captaincy -- and that it will change her life forever.
The setting of this story was what captured me first. Haiti is rich in culture and history, and it was exciting to see a book set there, particularly one that starred a biracial pirate as its heroine. Jacquotte Delahaye is a Haitian legend, and while there is no tangible proof that she actually existed, she has lived on in the imagination of a people who have been through much suffering and tempestuous change. The idea of a book that tells her story from her perspective, and elaborates on her life as a woman of color, is refreshing and exciting. However, I can't say that this was the most enjoyable read for me, nor did I find myself ever truly captivated by what was happening in its pages.
The main issue I struggled with was Cameron's writing style. While I'm not terribly picky over writing, and I can read most anything as long as it's grammatically correct and well edited, this was too dry for me. All of the sentences seem to follow the same rhythm, and they're all short, without much emotion or depth to them. For example, in scenes where something frightening or traumatic is happening, it feels as if we're reading a screenplay rather than a novel -- and we never quite seem to get a real hold on what is going on inside of Jacquotte's mind. She remains strangely elusive throughout, and has no real discernible personality of her own, aside from caring about justice and being hellbent on revenge. Her relationship with Teresa, her romantic interest, is similarly dull, though there are some moments that shine through, like their interactions on Port Royal.
I've complained about this perhaps a hundred times now, but the romance has the same problem I encounter time and time again within books featuring lesbian or bisexual women -- there's no real connection or buildup; they simply fall in love immediately, and even if they have issues to work through (and Teresa and Jacquotte have plenty), it never comes off as having quite the emotional depth or impact it should. I don't know why this is so common, and I know it happens often with heterosexual relationships in media too (instalove is a trope for a reason), but it's as if most writers somehow feel that because these two women have found one another, and they're both interested in other women, they'll instantly connect and fall in love and live happily ever after. It's frustrating, because any complexity that might arise (and again, there is ample opportunity for it here) gets quickly and conveniently swept under the rug.
The rest of the characters all have the same issue. Francisco, Miguel, Blackhand, Mbala -- all of them are written as archetypes, with little else going on beneath the surface. There's attempts at adding depth to them, but it never quite works. On the other hand, everything comes off as just slightly corny and a little too perfect. It's never quite believable that Jacquotte's ragtag crew comes together so easily and is almost immediately fantastic at everything they do, and it's just a little boring, especially because it seems like everyone who likes each other just gets along so well all of the time.
I guess it'd be easiest to say I liked the concept of this book more than its execution. I wanted so badly to love it, but it just wasn't something I found myself able to really dive into. There are positive aspects, like Jacquotte's burgeoning relationship to her own queerness and blackness, and her discovery of herself, but most of it is overshadowed by the writing that tells us everything rather than showing it.
I will be intrigued to see what Cameron writes next, and perhaps most of these issues are merely a debut's tribulations, but The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye was a disappointment for me.
Monday, May 27, 2024