The Librain……retired

I have only read one book this week, but what a book! American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a huge read and I nearly didn’t finish it. I used to be able to devour long books with no issues at all, but these days my concentration is poor even though I have lots of time available.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Anyway, here is the blurb!

If you are to survive, you must believe.

Shadow Moon has served his time. But hours before his release from prison, his beloved wife is killed in a freak accident. Dazed, he boards a plane home where he meets the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who professes both to know Shadow and to be king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange road trip across the USA, encountering a kaleidoscopic cast of characters along the way. Yet all around them a storm threatens to break.

The war has already begun, an epic struggle for the very soul of America, and Shadow is standing squarely in its path.

I had so much trouble trying to think how to review this. As you will know, if you have being reading these roundup posts, I am not the world’s best reviewer. I cannot write long and profound, or even short and insightful, responses to books. In fact, I must be one of the few librarians without A Level English Literature. So, if you want to read some great reviews, please look on Goodreads or other book sites and blogs!

Here is what I did manage to write:

This is so hard to write as I am struggling to find the words for my response to this book. Gaiman has written some of my favourite works of all time, such as The Sandman graphic novel series. I am also aware that American Gods has won massive acclaim and awards and has also been turned into a TV series. But I found it so hard to read!

I was “lucky” enough to have a copy from the library which turned out to be the extended version and I usually dive into very long books without any hesitation, but this one was daunting. Some parts were very gripping and I enjoyed many of the side stories set in the past or about mythological beings. As a former student of the ancient world, I love reading about the old gods, goddesses and fantastical creatures. Somehow, a lot of this book became a chore to read and I had to battle to get to the end. I am not totally sure why that happened. The characters were interesting, the events often intriguing and exciting, the settings were well-drawn, and the writing was very skilful.

Would I read the book again? I doubt it. Will I watch the TV series? Probably. Would I recommend the book to my friends? Well, some of them have already enjoyed it, so I think so.

I have given the book four stars because I think that it deserves at least that, but equally I could have given it two or even one!

So, make of that what you will!

The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett

I have now changed the pace and am reading the second part of the Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett:  The Desert Spear. My verdict will be given next week.

Until then, Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

📖📚📖📚📖

I have only managed to read one book this week! Mind you, that is not very surprising as the book was very long indeed.

Echo City by Tim Lebbon

Echo City by Tim Lebbon is a kind of science fiction/fantasy/horror mix. Here is the blurb:

Surrounded by a vast, poisonous desert, Echo City is built upon the graveyard of its own past. Most inhabitants believe that their city and its subterranean Echoes are the whole of the world, but there are a few dissenters. Peer Nadawa is a political exile, forced to live with criminals in a ruinous slum. Gorham, once her lover, leads a ragtag band of rebels against the ruling theocracy. Nophel, a servant of that theocracy, dreams of revenge from his perch atop the city’s tallest spire. And beneath the city, a woman called Nadielle conducts macabre experiments in genetic manipulation using a science indistinguishable from sorcery. They believe there is something more beyond the endless desert . . . but what?

It is only when a stranger arrives from out of the wastes that things begin to change. Frail and amnesiac, he holds the key to a new beginning for Echo City—or perhaps to its end, for he is not the only new arrival. From the depths beneath Echo City, something ancient and deadly is rising. Now Peer, Gorham, Nophel, and Nadielle msut test the limits of love and loyalty, courage and compassion, as they struggle to save a city collapsing under the weight of its own history.

I awarded the book three stars, although that might have been rather stingy, and wrote this review:

I would have given this four stars, but the book was far too long! The author paints a picture of an amazing world: a city, built upon level after level of its own past history, full with grotesque creatures and human beings with many flaws. The city exists in a poisonous desert, which means that no one can leave and no one can enter. Except that, one day, someone does enter.

So, the setting of the story is intriguing and I felt hooked by the first few chapters. Then, the journeys around the city made by the main characters started to become more and more tedious and overdone. This book feels like two or three squeezed together into one volume, or one shorter novel which has accrued too much description and should have been edited down. Also, telling the tale from multiple points of view became quite difficult to follow.

But, you know what? Despite these issues I did read the whole book and I did enjoy it. I am not sure who I would recommend it to. Perhaps someone like me with lots of spare time and the ability to keep going to find out what happens in the end.

As a former student of Archaeology, I loved the idea of a city built upon older layers. This reminded me of ancient places such as Troy. In the case of Echo City, these layers, “Echoes”, consist of tall buildings, ruins, parks, fields, trees and so on, covering mile upon mile of an underground world and going deep underneath. So interesting!

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

When I chose this present pile of library books, I picked out several really long ones. My next read is American Gods by Neil Gaiman, so I hope that I can get really hooked into that. I will tell you my thoughts about it next week.

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

📚📖📚📖📚