I’m well behind my target to read 40 books this year (nothing new there)… If you were wondering, I’ve read 26 so far… And with only 2 months left, not looking likely. 

But still, taking my role of reviewer quite seriously, so, here are a couple of reviews, courtesy of Netgalley:

Sorcerer to the Crown – Zen Cho

  
The marketing blurb for “Sorcerer to the Crown: reads for fans of Susanna Clarke. I enjoyed the book, I really did… but it comes nowhere near “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell”, probably one of my favourite novels of all time. So… expectations set too high… doomed to fall short. This reads more like Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, but with magicians instead of dragon riders. 

The world setting was well thought, the story interesting and compelling, but ultimately, the author strives more for style than substance, focussed a bit too much on capturing the Gregorian speech and customs which Clarke handled so well, and losing out on much needed character building and story development. Still enjoyable, but one can’t help but feel it could’ve been so much more. 

3.5 out of 5
Sleeping Giants – Sylvain Neuvel

  
This book is not out for a while, but got a well advanced copy courtesy of Netgalley. It’s described as “World War Z meets The Martian”… again another case of mismarketing, I’m afraid. Book was okay, a story of the discover of an old giant robot buried across the world, and the race to build it, understand it and use it., told mostly through interviews, logs and journals. That’s all I can say really… some interesting sequences and developments, but wasn’t that exciting, or compelling… just okay. 

3 out of 5.