Review of 'The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp' by Sarra Manning

I love retellings of older stories: give me '10 Things I Hate About You' to watch, or 'Circe' to read any day of the week. The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp is a modern retelling of Vanity Fair. Looking back, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I'd read Vanity Fair in the first place, and could come into this book as something building upon the original story, but I just found it a bit ... lacking?

Becky Sharp's just *almost* won Big Brother, and now she's out of the BB House she's determined to build upon her fledgling fame. An orphan, the only person she has as 'family' is a woman called Babs who's determined to squeeze as much money out of her as possible. Becky stays friends with the winner of Big Brother, a girl named Amanda who was (unlike Becky) born into a very rich family. The whole story is about Becky's attempts to woo rich men into marriage (or at least a roof over her head and some presents thrown into the mix) and climb as high as possible on the social ladder.

I really couldn't gt on board with this book. I'm not sure if it's because I haven't read Vanity Fair or if it's because I have some kind of need to like the main character of a book, but this was a 1 star read for me. I felt as though the plot didn't really add up - it was more of a series of events in Becky's life that just didn't flow together, and the whole thing seemed disjointed. The moments of tension didn't hit the spot with me because I felt so apathetic towards the characters that I didn't really care if things went downhill for them.

This isn't one I'd really recommend unless you've read Vanity Fair, as hopefully knowing the storyline for that might fill in some of the plot holes of this book.

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Review of 'A Storm of Swords Part 2: Blood and Gold' by George R R Martin

2020 is going to be the year I finish reading the Game of Thrones series. Probably. But I'm feeling pretty determined to get through it after starting back in 2018. This is the fourth volume, the second part of the third book in the series. It's probably the most action packed of the books so far, and if you're a fan of the TV show, there are some massive scenes from it that all fit into this book.

This book mostly revolves around marriage, betrayal and revenge. After Robb Stark betrays the Freys by marrying a woman he falls in love with, breaking his engagement to one of the members of their family, they propose a marriage between his uncle and one of the many Frey daughters. This leads to the Red Wedding, where things don't quite go to plan for the Starks. Margaery and Joffrey Lannister are married, another wedding that tragedy strikes. Across the water, Daenerys is on a mission to free slaves and allow them to join the army she is amassing.

It's hard to ever go into much detail on the plot for these books because each one just has so much crammed in. Part 1 of A Storm of Swords really set the political background for a lot of the drama in this, and it really felt packed full of shocking scenes without making them seem forced, as the narrative had been leading up to them for a long time.

I'm very excited to read the fourth book in the series now, which I managed to find in a charity shop a few weeks ago!

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Review of 'Attachments' by Rainbow Rowell

After reading Fangirl and Eleanor and Park, I figured this would be another of Rainbow Rowell's books that I liked but didn't love. A comfort read that I could whizz through and maybe this time it'd be one I really liked. But I just couldn't get on board this time around.

Attachments is about an IT guy called Lincoln whose job it is to look through emails that his work's system flags as being inappropriate (i.e. not work related) and check if they were correctly flagged. However, when he keeps needing to check Jennifer and Beth's emails because they've been flagged, he doesn't report them as he ought to. Instead, reading their emails to each other becomes his favourite part of his job. It's a distraction, but it all seems fine until Lincoln realises he really does have feelings for Beth, and he has no way of knowing who she is in person.

I really struggled with the message this book sends. The plot is centred around reading someone's private emails without their knowledge. Yes, the women shouldn't have been sending them at work, but there's also something insidious about the fact that Lincoln uses the private information he's gleaned to make himself as appealing to Beth as possible when he meets her. The issue beyond that is that there's no blame or shame attributed to him for what he's doing, and this is a book that's aimed at teens. Just an FYI - eavesdropping or spying in any form, digital or otherwise isn't the way forward in trying to hook up with someone. It's manipulative and puts things in an unfair power balance when they can't know anything about you in return.

I gave this a one star because the whole plot was centred around this creep - I didn't warm to him at all as a character, and I didn't want the romance to work (which makes it pretty hard to enjoy a romance novel!).

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Review of 'The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes' by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is one of those characters that has captured the English imagination for over a century in a way few others have, lining the walls of popular culture alongside the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein and Oliver Twist (all similarly eponymous characters).

I read my first Sherlock Holmes book in 2018, and if I'm being honest, I didn't expect to enjoy it. But, I loved it. Conan Doyle's books make for a comforting read, something you can curl up under a blanket with and not have to invest masses of time and energy into. This was the perfect read for a bit of a slump I was having where I just needed a little soul-soothing.

As with all the Sherlock Holmes books, this is comprised of a number of short stories all told by his best friend/assistant Dr Watson. Holmes is a man clearly admired both by the police and his friend, but always keeps his cards very close to his chest. Thus, the reader is forced to guess 'whodunnit' along with Watson as Holmes keeps him in the dark most often right up to the great reveal. 

This book also has the first story in it that I've encountered with Moriarty, and if you're a fan of the TV show, he's almost just as diabolical in this. It's the first time Sherlock is truly tested, and through Watson's eyes we see the battles with Moriarty turn into an all-encompassing obsessive disaster for Holmes.

I loved reading this. If you enjoy things like Agatha Christie's novels, or just want a crime book without *too* much drama, this is a great read.

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Review of 'A Storm of Swords Part 1: Steel and Snow' by George R R Martin

Last year was the year I really tried to get fully into the Game of Thrones series and honestly I'm pretty proud of having made my way through three of the volumes (two of the books - A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords) because these things are HEFTY. A Storm of Swords is split into two because together they'd come to over 1200 pages. This first book, although it has a fair amount of action in it, really sets up a lot of the big scenes for part two.

The book is told from the point of view of ten different narrators, switching between them as the story develops. We start off just before the Battle of Blackwater (which is where the previous book in the series finishes off). Tensions are increasing: Jamie Lannister is being held captive by Catelyn Stark and the Tullys, King's Landing is trying to rebuild itself in the midst of fractions in the Lannister family, the Red Lady has an ever-increasing hold over Stannis Baratheon, and Jon Snow is becoming truly a member of the Wildlings. 

As the book develops, Catelyn sets Jaime free in the hope that it will help her see her children again, whilst things take a turn for the worse for the Starks when Robb reneges on a marriage alliance to a supporting faction and marries for love instead. Arya's recognised for being a Stark and loses her anonymity as a wild 'boy', instead gaining a hefty target on her back worth a lot of gold. Over the sea, Daenerys is building her army and meets the Unsullied.

This is such a massive tome that it's really hard to summarise quickly without either giving everything away or ranting on forever. However, just writing this post has made me remember just how much I loved reading the series - maybe 2020 will be the year I finally complete it? The book really delves into the heart the stories of some of my favourite characters: we see Tyrion recover from the battle of Blackwater and how this changes him, and some of the scenes between Daenerys and the owners of the Unsullied are incredible.

This is for sure a 5 star read for me. If you're a fan of high fantasy, or want to push the boat out with some big books this year, I'd really recommend this. 

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Review of 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' by Stuart Turton

I spent a whole lot of time on twitter last year thinking that this book and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo were just one book and everyone was raving about the same thing. Turns out a lot of people loved both of them so Evelyn Hugo is going on my TBR for 2020.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hugo has been one of the hardest books I've read this year to get my head around. In essence, the unnamed main character wakes up each morning in a different person's body, tasked with finding out who killed Evelyn Hardcastle at a party at her parents' estate. He will replay each day over and over again until he finds out who killed her. Each host has a different personality, which the narrator assumes a little of when he's in their body.

The whole book was so intricate and so well done - you were not only trying to work out who killed Evelyn, and how, but also what exactly was going on in this weird purgatory. There's always someone chasing the narrator down to try and kill him, a woman called Anna who seems to be helping him (but can't be trusted) and a person wearing a plague doctor mask who seems to be at the helm of the mystery. 

It was a pretty convoluted read, and definitely one that you need to pay all your attention to rather than dipping in and out of, but it was one of my favourite things I read all year; when all the plot strands came together it was really masterful.

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Review of 'Thus Bad Begins' by Javier Marias

It feels like forever since I've sat down to write a book review, and it seems that despite promising myself I'd use December to catch up on the massively mounting pile of reviews I haven't written, *checks notes* this is the first one I've actually done this month. So it's clearly going well. 

Thus Bad Begins was a bit of a weird one to try and place, in my opinion. Reading it, I imagined it was written in the mid-twentieth century, or earlier, but it was actually published in 2014. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just had a much more classic vibe, so I was shocked when I realised how recently the book was written. 

Set in the 1980s, the main character Juan de Vere is the assistant of a prominent film director, Eduardo Muriel. He lives in Muriel's house and observes the breakdown in Muriel's marriage to his wife Beatriz. He's witness to Eduardo's coldness in his behaviour to her, her weeping and their arguments. At the same time, he's convinced that Dr Van Vechten, who often visits the house, is cruel to women and starts to follow him to investigate his life. 

This was a much longer book than I expected it to be, and in all honesty not masses happened in it in comparison to its length. However, it was incredibly well written. This was a kindle read for me, so I only read it before bed each night, but it took a couple of months to finish. I didn't lose interest in it, or forget what happened as I was reading, which often happens if a book takes so long to get through. I really wanted to know what the issues that Beatriz had that were hinted at, and to discover what was happening with van Vechten.

This is one of, if not the, most sensitive and astute book that I've read that deals with mental health issues that isn't a YA read. It discusses depression and suicide in a way that's neither brash or flippant or even patronising. These are part of the characters' lives and form a natural part of the narrative. It looks at manipulation, deceit and gendered power relations in a really strong way. I've given it four stars because, despite its length, it was a well-written, insightful read.

I would recommend this if you like books like 'Love in the Time of Cholera' or are interested in reading a book by a Spanish author.

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