Wednesday, 13 July 2016

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 48/52




Seven books last week!  That's the 7th to the 13th of July.

Jewel is the first in the Lone City series while White Rose is the second.  The Wishing Well is a short story from within the same universe, and House of the Stone is a longer piece which takes place between books 1 and 2.  The final part of the trilogy is due to be published in October.

I rather enjoyed the series, as you might have guessed.  It has a lot in common with The Handmaid's Tale, in that young girls are forced to act as surrogates for wealthy women.  These young girls are selected and taken from the poorest communities based on the presence of 'augeries' - the power to affect colour, shape, and growth.

I've seen the series criticised for its focus on the beauty of the young girls and the luxury of their surroundings.  I don't think that makes the series shallow; they're criticising a society which includes materialism and opulence, like The Hunger GamesAtwood was criticising a different population with some overlapping traits.

I reread The Magician's Nephew, the first/sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia depending on how you count them.  My personal favourite is probably The Horse and His Boy or the two which focus on Prince Caspian's journies; maybe I'll reread the entire series.

I also reread The Basic Eight, one of my favourites, while being tattooed.  It definitely helped with distracting me!

Finally, The Narrow Bed, another reread.  Still a dumb premise but well-told at least.

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