The good, the bad, and the ugly: Bring Down the Sun by Judith Tarr

Clickbait summary: Horny priestess marries King of Macedonia, has magic.

The good

• About a historically intriguing woman, Olympias (Alexander the Great's mother) 
• The setting! (Ancient Greece, 4th Century BCE)
• Main character has a clear goal she is determined to reach (but she reaches it too easily to mane an interesting plot)
• Ancient Greek girls usually have extreme levels of chastity, so it was a nice change to read about one with a sex drive (however, I think it could've been toned down a notch in place of a stronger plot) 
• Just the right level of description, enough to get a rough idea of the visuals, not so much as to be overwhelming and boring
• Strong female characters in a patriarchal society, and especially this quote:

"I know what I want," she said. "I do my best to take it."

"You should have been a man," he said.

"Why would I want that?"

She had taken him aback. "A man is - A woman-"

"Ask yourself," she said, "why a woman has to be weak to make a man feel strong. Are men so weak that women's strength is a threat to them?"

The bad

• Lust = love; lust - therefore love - at first sight
• Strange writing style with some weird phrases and sentences that don't quite make sense
• The magical elements don't work for me (I don't like mixing my historical fiction with my fantasy, but that's just me)
• Unlikeable, underdeveloped main character (unlikeable characters don't have to be underdeveloped, they're allowed some positive personality traits, and an interesting past)
• All the name-changing is confusing

The ugly

• SNAKES!!!
• Hints of bestiality 

Conclusion

• While I disliked many aspects of this book, overall I liked it
• Would recommend to adult (or older teen, as it's not sophisticated but is sexually explicit) readers who like magic and historical fiction

The summary

Alexander the Great ruled the greatest Empire of the ancient world, but he was ruled by his mother, called Olympias. There are as many legends about this powerful Queen as there are of her famous son, and the stories began long before she even met Philip of Macedon.

Priestess of the Great Goddess, daughter of ruling house of Epiros, witch, and familiar of Serpents...she was a figure of mystery, fascination and fear even during her own lifetime. Author Judith Tarr uses the legends to weave an intensely romantic fantasy novel set in ancient Greece and Macedon.

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Top Ten Random Facts About Me

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Ten Facts About Me. 

1. I'm in my first year of university, studying Communications

2. I'm left-handed

3. My favourite picture book is Weslandia by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

4. I own a million notebooks, both used and unused (the writer's curse)

5. My personality type is ESTJ

6. My favourite historical figure is Cleopatra VII, followed by Alexander the Great

7. My favourite colour is red

8. I don't like poetry but I love Sappho

9. My favourite film is The Brothers Grimm (2005)

10. I want to write for television 

Tell me about your lovely selves! What are 3 interesting random facts about you?

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Top Ten Reasons I Love Xena: Warrior Princess

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Ten Reasons I Love X. I thought and thought about what I was going to do, and finally decided on one of my two favourite TV programmes, the 90s cult classic Xena: Warrior Princess. 

 For those who don't know (gasp!) it's about Xena (Lucy Lawless), a warrior woman who kicks arse around Ancient Greece and the rest of the known world with her gal pal Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), a bard and Amazon princess/queen. It's an American show filmed in New Zealand, but most of characters speak with - or try to speak with - American accents, which can be both distracting and hilarious. Physics does not exist in this show.

Okay, now you know the basics, here are just ten of the things I love most about this show.

1. It's so absurd and even the creators didn't take it seriously. The humour, the AU episodes, the WHOOSHes... Ridiculousness will rule the show!

Nigel interviewing Gabrielle and Xena in an actual episode

2. It has two of the best female villains ever. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

                 

Callisto                             Alti

3. Women everywhere! This is possibly the most feminist TV show, even today, not just because of all the lady warriors, but because it's about inner strength as well. They don't shy away from female relationships, either, which is pretty special.

 

Gabrielle and Xena fight together

4. It's set mostly in Ancient Greece and includes a lot of Greek mythology, including the gods (my favourite is Aphrodite, but Ares is the star) but they also travel to Britannia, Rome, Egypt, India,  China, Japan, North Africa...

Ares and Aphrodite

5. It's anachronism central! Gabrielle meets Homer one episode after she and Xena meet Helen of Troy, which is ten years after Xena meets Julius Caesar; Xena invents CPR and the kite, she and Gabrielle get crucified and get sent to hell and heaven and meet archangels... There is a very long list of historical inaccuracies, and it's brilliant because it's not meant to be accurate.

Ancient Greek underwear??

6. The "subtext", or as I call it, "text".

7. The same actors are recycled into different roles. Spot The Karl Urban is a favourite game that Xenites like to play.

 

Karl Urban as Julius Caesar, Cupid, Mael, and Kor

8. One of the main themes is tolerance: of different cultures, religions, world views, personalities, genders (there is a very progressive episode in which Xena kisses a transgender character, whose actor (also transgender) was actually HIV positive, to show the audience that you can't contract HIV from kissing someone who has it), etc.

 9. There's a musical episode! (Actually there's two, but the second one is terrible.)

 10. And of course, Xena and Gabrielle's relationship. They are the most married of couples you can conceive of. They have the closest friendship and the deepest love. I saw someone refer to them as the "mothership", on account of the show being very influential on general fandom. One of my favourite things about this show is that it's about a positive loving relationship between two women, back in the 90s! No wonder it's so important to millions of wlw around the world.

 I could very easily add ten more things I love about this show, but I'll stick with the prescribed number. 

What are your feelings? Nostalgia? Overwhelming fannish feels? Have I convinced any poor souls who aren't familiar with the show to watch it? Will you watch the reboot?

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Top Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Ten Books I Feel Differently About After Time Has Passed. Click the book covers to go to the Goodreads links.

1. The Color Purple by Alice Walker ↑

I studied this for English last year and I didn't really enjoy it while I read it, but afterwards I really appreciated the themes and symbolism and what-have-you. 

2. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller ↓

This is still one of my favourite books, but seeing other people's criticisms of a) how Patroclus was characterised and b) how Thetis (one of few female characters) was essentially demonised made me think a little less of it.

3. The Selection by Kiera Cass ↓

What was I thinking, honestly?! How did a dystopian version of The Bachelor appeal to me AT ALL????

4. Inheritance by Malinda Lo ↑

I didn't like this book as much as the first one because at the time I was uncomfortable with the idea of polyamory. Now, though, I'd like to read it again with a more open mind on that subject.

5. Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray ↓

I actually dropped my Goodreads rating on this one, due to being very unhappy with the characterisation of Augustus and Livia after I'd learnt a bit more about them.

6. Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block ↑

This book is based on The Odyssey and has a transgender love interest. I really should read it again to appreciate it more.

7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams ↑

When I read it, I just thought it was weird and didn't understand the humour. After watching the film and reading the next few books, I get it now. 

8. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl ↓

I didn't love it at the time, but now I just think of this book and roll my eyes. It's so clichéd and pointless.

9. Matched by Ally Condie ↓

 Yawn. I hadn't read much dystopian fiction when I read this, so it was vaguely interesting and original at the time. Now I've read more of the genre? Pfft.

10. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland ↑

I can't believe I only gave this 3 stars! It's about a Victorian lesbian and being locked up in a mental asylum! Not to mention the cover is gorgeous! Dear younger self, you don't know what you were missing.

What about you? Do you share the same opinions? Do you have other books you think differently of, now that time has passed?

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Top Ten Bookish Events in a Bookworm's* Life

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Top Ten Bookworm Delights. 

*bookworm = me

1. Finishing a book. 

As a student, finishing a book, no matter how much you enjoyed or disliked it, is a huge achievement that gives you a great amount of satisfaction.

2. Receiving a gift voucher for a bookshop. 

Not only does the person giving you the voucher know that you love reading, but they know better than to try and choose a book for you. It means a lot. 

3. Finishing a series that has a satisfying conclusion.

Need I say more?

4. Loving a book that you bought with your own money.

Buying books is risky, so it's always great when there's a positive outcome.

5. Getting helpful writing advice from an author.

Whether it's addressed to you personally, or to the crowd at an author appearance, the result is the same - you will take that advice and use it.

6. Finding a really cheap copy of a book you really wanted to own or at least read.

An unexpected delight. (When I say "really cheap", I mean $3 or less.)

7. Finding a book on the library shelf that you'd given up on looking for.

Sometimes, enough is enough and it seems to be fated that you'll never read that book. But finding the book at last is exciting!

8. Rating a book 5 stars.

A rare event indeed, and one to treasure for the next year or two until the next time it occurs.

9. Understanding a pop culture reference in a novel.

Especially if I know the referenced material very well. Because yay, the characters are aware of their own setting!

10. Understanding a Classical reference in a novel.

Two years of Classics (the study of Ancient Greece and Rome) in high school has its benefits! And it's nice to know that plenty of other people know Classics well enough to make these references.

What about you guys? Do you share the same bookworm delights? Do you have any others?

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The good, the bad, and the ugly: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1) by Robin LaFevers

Finished reading on: 20 April 2016

Clickbait summary: Misandrist in Medieval Brittany joins cult that kills men, falls in love with man.

The Good

• The red dress on the cover 
• The weapons (main character Ismae is an assassin, so she's got a couple)
• Medieval setting and all it entails (dresses, castles, mistresses, court politics, etc etc)
• Believable worldbuilding 
• Realistic and sympathetic portrayal of women for the setting
• Interesting, or rather, intriguing politics! I never used to care for the political aspects in fiction, but recently I've found myself getting into it.
• Theme of loyalty  
• Decent characters (not brilliant, but better than average, I think)
• Good writing  
• A real page-turner 
• Language slightly old-fashioned to match setting

The Bad

• Is this a feminist story or not? I don't know! In some ways, yes; in others, no.
• Would've liked to see more of Ismae's gal pals Annith and Sybella (apparently the next two books in the series are about them, which is great, but I can't cope with more assassins falling in love)
• A bit long at 550 pages 
• Misleading summary - Ismae doesn't fall in love with a man she's meant to kill, she gets orders to kill the man she loves, and it's not as big a plot point as it sounds. 
• [Spoiler] Healing by sex?! Soooo convenient.

The Ugly

• Low-born girl falls in love with nobleman. Really? AGAIN?!
• Why the romance? Why? They could've just been friends or allies! (I need my romances to grow over a couple of books, if they have to exist at all, because I find it super boring once the characters are properly together. That's just me, though.)
• I thought the protagonist had been set up as a man-hating lesbian assassin... and then she fell in love with a guy. (Where are all the medieval wlw? Not in this book, apparently. I'm going to have to write the wlw assassin historical fiction myself.)
• Okay, clearly my main problems with this book are the romance and the lack of diversity. The rest was pretty good.

The Summary

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

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Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) by Morgan Rhodes

Did not finish at 52 pages

I picked this up at my mum's library and thought it looked really cool. The start was so strong I thought it would be a great read, my first fantasy in quite a while. I was wrong.

The good

• Nice cover and title made me pick it up
• Strong start and intriguing prologue - who wouldn't want to keep reading a book whose first line is She'd never killed before tonight?
• Super cool character names in the cast lists: Cleo/Cleiona, Eirene, Sabina, Mira, etc.

The bad

• Character descriptions I seriously don't care about
• Costume descriptions I seriously don't care about

The ugly

• Plain bad writing. E.g.:

  Cleo despised politics mainly because she didn't understand them. But then, she didn't have to. Emilia was the heir to their father's throne. She would be the next queen, not Cleo. (Pg 51)

   Yep. That's the paragraph.
• Telling instead of showing - e.g. we are told on pg 11 that Aron is keeping Cleo's secret. On pg 52 we are still being reminded (again, through telling, not showing) of the existence of this secret we know nothing about.
• When hiding a character's identity as a plot device, it should be subtle, right? Not in-your-face eye-roll-worthy there's-no-believable-need-to-hide-her-identity-in-this-scene.
• Incest. As soon as I picked up the incestuous vibe I wanted to run away from the book screaming. (I can handle icky things - guys, I'll remind you yet again that I'm a Spartacus fan - but incest is not one of them.) However, I held on for another few chapters, only to put it down again for good. I therefore don't know if this aspect gets any less gross or not.
• And that's only the beginning. I looked up Goodreads reviews of this book, and other people have pointed out the bad worldbuilding and character development. I didn't even get that far into the book to notice, but I'm sure I would've found the same issues if I'd forced myself to keep reading.

The (extraordinarily long) summary:

In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

It's the eve of war.... Choose your side.

Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct.

Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people's revolution centuries in the making.

Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.

Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realise that the heart can be more lethal than the sword....   

(Don't) add it on Goodreads

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Top Ten Songs I Wish Were Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is music and books. This could be challenging, but let's go!

1. Girls Like Girls - Hayley Kiyoko

Watch the music video and tell me this wouldn't make a cute LGBTQ novel.

2. Castle - Halsey

I'm imagining an epic fantasy with medieval elements, and a cold, kickarse female protagonist.

3. Bad Girls - M.I.A.

EPIC. BADARSERY. Do I even need to explain?

4. Wonderland - Natalia Kills

Possibly an urban fantasy with a dark twist.

5. LDN - Lily Allen

I love reading books set in London, but they seem to romanticise the place. This song doesn't.

6. Empire - Shakira

Either historical fiction or space opera, I can't choose which I'd prefer to read more!

7. Bitch Better Have My Money - Rihanna

The music video is fantastic, but imagine how a book would complement it...

8. Fly - Nicki Minaj feat. Rihanna

The book I'm picturing for this song is nothing like the video. I'm thinking more of an epic fantasy series than a dystopian novel.

9. Willing To Die - Gin Wigmore feat.Suffa, Logic

I love the whole aesthetic for this video, so how cool would it be as a book? Revenge is sweet, yeah?

10. My Vietnam - P!nk

We've all read books exactly like this theoretical one, so what's one more?

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Curses & Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Finished reading on: 16 February 2016

I'm experimenting with review styles, so let's see how this goes. Tell me what you think of this format.

The good

• Gorgeous cover
• Great for young Classics nerds and fans of Spartacus (and therefore me) – Gladiators! Roman women! Pompeii!
• Satisfied my need to read more things set in Ancient Rome
• Cool use of Latin (which I largely understood, thanks to Spartacus)
• Decent writing
• Historically accurate - the author clearly knows her stuff without showing off too much; includes interesting author’s notes about the setting
• Learnt some new things, such as curse tablets, and that Pompeii wasn’t always a Roman town (Sulla took it from the Etruscans in 80BCE)
• Basically, the setting is the best aspect of the book

The bad

• The protagonists (Tag and Lucia) are tolerable, unlike a lot of YA characters, but I preferred Quintus, a main character who gets forgotten about, because I love arsehole characters
• Written in the third person but the POV changes are unnecessarily marked
• Having only two POVs (Tag's and Lucia's) is limiting, and I would’ve liked to read a least a chapter from each of Quintus and Cornelia’s perspectives
• Repetitive likening of Tag’s good looks to Apollo's

The ugly

• Plot based on the romance (booooring!)
• More gladiator and running-from-volcanic-eruption action needed (not at the same time; that drove me nuts about the 2014 film Pompeii)
• Ending so disappointing it knocked a whole star off my rating (I was all set to give it four stars)
• A whole lot of characters' fates forgotten due to limited POVs - what about Cornelia, Quintus, and the gladiators and slaves?

The romance

• Childhood friends suddenly fall in love
• Would’ve liked to see the first move between Lucia and Tag at least another 50 pages later on (I prefer slow burn). However, I did appreciate Lucia considering the difference between love and lust this early on.
• Love triangle avoided due to an unrequited love I’m proud to say I saw from the very start (although I had moments of doubt where I was wondering if my slash goggles were making me see things that weren’t there). The suggested solution for the trio's dilemma was on my mind since then, too.

The blurb

Two star-crossed lovers.
One city on the brink of destruction.
 

Tag is a medical slave, fated to spend the rest of his life healing his master's injured gladiators. But he yearns to fight in the arena himself and win the freedom to live - and love - as he wants.
 

Lucia is the daughter of Tag's owner, doomed by her father's greed to marry a man she doesn't love. But she's determined to follow her heart wherever it leads.
 

Can they find each other before the volcano destroys their whole world?

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Top Ten OTPs

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week is a Valentine's Day themed freebie: Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Valentine's Day Reads (or anti-Valentine's day reads), Top Ten OTPs, Top 10 fictional crushes, top ten great love declarations in fiction, swoony quotes from books, etc. 

I thought and thought about what topic I'd pick for my list, but since I'm not a romantic at all, except when it comes to my ships, I went for the boring but hopefully relevant option. So here are my top ten OTPs, mostly from TV (again). Warning: there is little heterosexuality on this list.

1. Xena & Gabrielle (Xena: Warrior Princess)

I'm a bi girl from New Zealand who was born in the mid-late 90s. No further explanation necessary. My mum saw some pictures of these two on my phone recently and asked if they were a couple. To paraphrase, I said, "Sit down and let me tell you a thing..." 

Yeah... "subtext"...

2. Achilles & Patroclus "Patrochilles"

A love that has lasted millennia. The Iliad is an amazing story, and to anyone who thinks these two were not lovers: their ashes were mixed together! That is not a symbol of friendship! 

BTW, if you haven't already, read The Song of Achilles. Now.

3. Agron & Nasir "Nagron" (Spartacus)

I don't know how to talk about these two without having a massive fangirlish ramble so let's leave it at "they're adorable and hot together". *Spoilers* In a show where everyone dies, they survive. Wise decision, Steven DeKnight. 

Look at these adorkable cuties.

4. Gaia & Lucretia (Spartacus)

 Two beautiful, intelligent, manipulative Roman women. The hair and the costumes alone are shippable. What's brilliant about their relationship (apart from the insanely hot sex scenes *fans self* (it is an R18 show, peoples!)) is that it has a huuuge impact on Lucretia's character development. Because darker versions of characters are always better. 

Insanely hot, I tell you.

5. Piper & Alex (Orange Is the New Black)

A relationship that's totally not healthy but I love it all the same. I just want them to be together, is that too much to ask?

 Why can't they just be happy and together? At the same time.

6. Leia & Han Solo (Star Wars)

Probably my first ship, long before I knew what shipping was. I was attracted by the love-hate relationship, and I still love it every time I watch the original Star Wars trilogy. By the way, I haven't watched The Force Awakens yet, so please no spoilers! 

 Is it just me or does Leia look bored?

7. Joel & Maggie (Northern Exposure) 

Would you look at that, another love-hate relationship! Theirs is classic. They have this tension season after season and it's amazing. Too bad the last season of the show was terrible.

8. Clara Oswald & Jane Austen (Doctor Who)

This one is a little bit of a crack ship, but it has canon foundations! In the ninth series of Doctor Who, Clara has a couple of lines that suggest a romantic relationship with the writer Jane Austen. Cue the headcanons and fanfiction.

Gif source

 The one line that started it all.

9. Jack & Ianto "Janto" (Torchwood)

Over the past few months I've been moving on from this show, but Janto was a huge part of my life for about 18 months and it would be wrong to leave them off this list. Their relationship is Tragic and has too many parallels with Patrochilles to keep a fangirl sane.

Caption that.

10. Alec & Magnus "Malec" (The Mortal Instruments)

Likewise, these two have similarities with Janto. I wish I'd watched Torchwood when I saw Cassandra Clare at the 2011 Readers and Writers Festival, because then I would've asked her if she based Magnus and Alec's relationship on Jack and Ianto's.

This post ended up way longer than expected. That's what happens when you let me get started on my ships. Moral of the story: don't let me do it.

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