Margo Lanagan - Tender Morsels

I was astonished to discover that Tender Morsels was actually meant to be a YA fiction book. Personally, I think this book is far more suited to an adult audience, not only because of its dark content but also because of the writing style. The prose used in the book is an earthy kind of language (if that makes any sense!), which reflects the setting of the story well but can be a little hard to follow, especially with the constantly switching viewpoints. The adult themes of this book are also quite disturbing, what with incest and rape just part of the narrative. The author never really delves into graphic details but certainly enough for readers to understand some of the horrifying traumas the character goes through. I was quite excited to borrow this book from the library as it was highly recommended by Neil Gaiman, who is one of my favourite authors, and it also had mainly positive reviews on Amazon. I must say that I am actually quite disappointed and a little glad that I didn't purchase it to read. My main issue with the book is the changing viewpoints, which I feel didn't serve much purpose for Tender Morsels. I think I would have enjoyed the story much more if the novel focused on Liga and her daughters and their journey back into the real world. For example, I don't think some of the parts that featured the bear-men were all that necessary; in fact, I found them quite tedious and I would skip over those bits. Also, who was Wolf? I would have liked to know more about his relationship with Branza but in the end, he remained a dream and fantasy. It's an interesting read, but not one that I think I will revisit nor recommend to others.

Neil Gaiman - American Gods

This is the fifth novel that I've read by Neil Gaiman. I really enjoyed it but I liked Neverwhere more. I think this was partly due to my own limited knowledge of the gods that were featured in the book so it made it a little difficult for me to fully appreciate how far the gods had fallen. Also, while I enjoyed the short stories that were scattered throughout the book, I'm not sure what purpose they served. I kept expecting the gods/characters that were featured to show up in the main plot somewhere but it didn't happen. Maybe I missed them, I'm not sure, but without the connection to the main story, they felt like distractions to me. Overall, I still think this was a cool book and I will definitely purchase another copy to add to my Neil Gaiman collection. I think I will have to brush up on my mythology before I read this one again to fully appreciate the tale that Gaiman has weaved here. He is a magnificent storyteller and I look forward to revisiting this one and reading his other works.

Philip Pullman - The Amber Spyglass

Read on 28 December 2007:
I read the first two in the series, His Dark Materials, from bookrings on BookCrossing, which really had me absorbed. I couldn't wait for the third book to arrive so I borrowed a copy from the library. Boy, what a letdown after investing all that time into this series!

I am so disappointed with the ending for The Amber Spyglass. Okay, so I'm hardwired for happy endings, but surely Will and Lyra could stay together?! I don't get why there could only be ONE window left open. Yes, yes, it messes with the Dust or whatever, but it took gabizillion of those windows to screw everything up, it hardly seems like having TWO windows would throw all of the universes back into utter chaos. Personally, I thought it was a lame ending because it just "fit" to do the tragic-lovers thing. Also, it doesn't feel finished, which makes me feel kinda cheated, because as much as I would love to read more, what I want even more is a proper conclusion. This still feels very open-ended, and after some googling, I find out there are companion novels to be published to wrap up the unfinished storylines. That is so annyoing, the story should have been wrapped up properly from the start! It was a thrilling read but major points off for the cop-out ending. URGH!