Navigating Solutions and Darkness

Written June 4, 2017, at Feminist Quill Title: The Fiery Heart Author:  Richelle Mead Year of Publication:  2013 Series: Bloodlines #: 4 Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.41 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  4 Spoiler Alert Plot Description:  As Sydney's sister Zoe is assigned as her partner on the Palm Springs assignment, Sydney finds her instinct to bond with her sister warring with her need to keep her new relationship with Adrian a secret. She continues to work towards finding a magical means of breaking the bond of compulsion used by the Alchemists on all their agents, and must keep from making any mistakes that might end with her sent back to Alchemist 're-education'. Although Mead meant for this series to have two narrators from the start, The Fiery Heart  is the first book to actually implement that plan. The first chapter takes place from Adrian's POV, and the POVs alternate between the two protagonists after that. For someone who'...

Written January 13, 2016, posted on Feminist Quill Title: The Indigo Spell Author:  Richelle Mead Year of Publication:  2013 Series: Bloodlines #: 3 Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.43 Goodreads Rating (Mine): 4 Spoiler Warning Plot Description:  Having kissed Adrian once, Sydney is now struggling with the realization that she might perhaps return his feelings, even as she continues to follow up on leads that hint towards corruption within her organization, the Alchemists. She also finds herself in danger thanks to a mysterious serial killer witch who is tracking down young magic users and draining them of life and power. The Indigo Spell  begins on a hilarious note: This wasn't the first time I'd been pulled out of bed for a crucial mission. It was, however, the first time I'd been subjected to such a personal line of questioning. "Are you a virgin?" "Huh?" I rubbed my sleepy eyes, just in case this was all some sort of bizarre dream t...

Crossposted from  Feminist Quill , written January 8, 2016. Title: The Golden Lily Author:  Richelle Mead Year of Publication:  2012 Series: Bloodlines ( Series sequel to the  Vampire Academy series) #: 2 Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.37 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  3.5 Spoilers... and all that. Plot Description:  In the course of her new assignment protecting Jill Mastrano at Palm Springs, Sydney Sage gains new insight into the working of her organization - the Alchemists, about rogue vampire hunters who call themselves grandiose and cultish names, and even goes on a couple dates. Oh, and there's like, fighting and stuff at the end. Anyway, the progress of Sydney and Adrian's relationship in  Golden Lily  is wonderful to watch. They start looking out for each other, thinking about each other's mood, doing little things to cheer the other person up. They went from strangers to friends in  Bloodlines,  and  Golden L...

Posted on Feminist Quill , on December 19, 2015 Title: Bloodlines Author:  Richelle Mead Year of Publication:  2011 Series: Bloodlines ( Series sequel to the  Vampire Academy series) #:  1 Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.22 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  3 Insert the Usual and Mandatory Spoiler Warning Here Plot Description:  In this series sequel to Mead's  Vampire Academy  series, we revisit the world of dhampirs and Moroi - and the much overlooked human component of this world, the Alchemists. We're following the continued story of Sydney Sage, a minor but favourite VA  character who made her first appearance in  Blood Promise , the fourth book of that series. We're also following complete fan favourite Adrian Ivashkov, who, broken hearted and looking for meaning in life, is drawn to Sydney as the two of them work on a new assignment together. I have to admit, when I first heard of the idea of Adrian and Sydney gettin...

I adore Jessica Jones. The show and the character. In my opinion, it is hands down the best show in the entire Defenders universe. My TV tastes aren't usually shared by those in my immediate social circle - I have only to mention The Vampire Diaries,  for instance, for the eye rolling to start. This is partly because the women I'm friends with have no great interest in the fantasy/ sci-fi genres, and the friends I have that like fantasy/ sci-fi all seem to be men. As a result, men who like sci-fi now are, to me, the most infuriating species of all time. They will happily tick off their favourite shows - Supernatural (no women characters, except for when Jody Mills turns up) and  Stranger Things (aka this one girl is so much powerful than everything else so the ration of roughly 2:1 ratio is totes cool) are common faves. It's supremely rare to find a guy that has even heard of Once Upon A Time , let alone one who counts it among his faves. TVD  and Teen Wolf are scof...

I don't usually have high hopes for action thrillers by white male authors. They're bound to involve super-efficient macho male protagonists, female leads whose greatest selling point is their attractiveness to the male leads, and the a plot that is basically all over the place. But, you know, you don't usually care because your flight is late by three hours and you need to kill time. I picked up State of Fear because I was chilling at my aunt's place and my phone was low on charge. I'd very wisely left my charger at my friend's place, so there wasn't anything else I could do except read. And the collection my uncle had left behind was mainly a bunch of atheist propaganda and also action thrillers by white males. *Snore* As I had recently had someone praise The Lost World  to me, I decided to give Michael Crichton a try. (I outgrew Jackie Collins by the time I was 13.) The book wasn't even engaging enough to prompt me to ask my aunt whether I cou...

Crossposted from Feminist Quill , written on September 24, 2015 Title:  The Handmaid's Tale Author:  Margaret Atwood Year of Publication:  1985 Series:  N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.):  3.99   Goodreads Rating (Mine): 5 Plot Description: In a dystopic world ravaged by pollution and sexually transmitted diseases, infertility is the second biggest problem faced by what once used to be the United States of America. The biggest problem is the Religious Right, although they probably don't see it that way. Offred, the eponymous protagonist, is a part of one of the Gileadean empire's greatest schemes to combat infertility - that is to say, the imprisonment of women of child bearing age and their subsequent induction into sex slavery as Handmaids. The Handmaids are surrogates to the infertile wives of rich and powerful (and ever fertile) men deemed worthy of this shot at reproduction. This review falls smack dab in the middle of my reviewing o...

Crossposted from Feminist Quill , written December 18, 2015 Title: Aftertaste Author:  Namita Devidayal Year of Publication:  2011 Series: N/A #: N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 2.96 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  4 Spoiler Alert Might I start off by saying that I  cannot believe this book has a average Goodreads rating of below 3, when  SO MANY terrible books are rated 4 and 5 out of 5 stars? Plot Description:    The powerful matriarch of a wealthy business family (they sell sweets) has suffered a strke, and lies dying.  Aftertaste  is the story of how her children and her children-in-law deal with her impending death, while also fending off personal troubles of their own. In addition to metaphorical interpretations, the title also directly refers to the theme of Indian sweets that runs through the book in the form of the Todarmal's business. The one word I'd use to describe this book is "stark". Stark as in "stark realit...

Crossposted from Feminist Quill ; written August 16, 2015 Note: The movie adaptation, Love Simon, is in theatres. Don't miss out! Title:  Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda Author:  Becky Albertalli Series:  N/A #: N/A Year of Publication: 2015 Goodreads Rating (Avg.): 4.3 Goodreads Rating (Mine): 5 Plot Summary: A slice of life novel told in the first person narrative, centering around Simon Spier, a sixteen year old gay boy who's dealing with coming out, with crushing on a boy he's never met in real life, and the Defaults in our lives. "It's a weirdly subtle conversation. I almost don't realize I'm being blackmailed." This is a great way to start a book. It has all the classic hallmarks of a very good opener, and it sucked me in instantly. A successful first person narrative needs an engaging protagonist who's likable on at least a few levels. Simon is that protagonist, and he's likable on a whole bunch of levels. As a cl...

Written October 5, 2015, published on Feminist Quill Title:  Cloud 9 Minus One Author:  Sangeeta Mall Year of Publication:  2009 Series:  N/A Goodreads Rating (Avg.):  2.9 Goodreads Rating (Mine):  1 !SPOILER ALERT! Plot Description:  The protagonist receives an invitation to the ten year reunion of her post-graduate batch from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and finds that she doesn’t want anything to do with it. Shruthi Narayan still carries emotional baggage from her days at IIMB, and decides to forego the invitation. Or at least, she attempts to do so, until her husband finds out about the invitation and overrules her decision. Her husband is, needless to say, one of those delightful and loving people who nonetheless appear to have great difficulty grasping the notion of respecting their spouse’s opinion regarding matters in her own life (rather than just doing whatever the hell he feels like doing). Shruthi claims her h...