Review of H.L.Oldie's "Puppeteer"

The authors have created a very intricate and detailed world, which earns them points, of course. But to dump it all from the get-go unto an unsuspecting reader... I had a problem with that. Too many "new" terms, too many "new" ideas, too many "new" concepts to process. More than 50% of the book is written in the lingo of that imaginary world (so you need to learn a new language, get your masters in a made-up astronomy-cosmology-etc. sciences and get acquainted with all the new races while trying to enjoy a book... no easy feat). And too much of the nauseating, overabundant detail littering the novel doesn't have anything to do with the story; it's just there, because it was created by the writers.

The story is interesting and the concept is quite new (points again), which is so refreshing (and the reason why I will continue reading this series), but I constantly wanted to tell the authors the famous Chekhov lines: "Remove everything that has no relevance to the story."

2 stars. 

Review of Dina Rubina's "White Dove of Cordova"

I cannot even explain or describe how much I like Rubina’s language, her style, her metaphors and the way she plays with words… How she blends them, mixes, tosses them around… How she weaves the gossamer fabric of her narrative. It’s obvious that she is not afraid to use the most unlikely combinations of words and she does so masterfully.

While reading “The White Dove of Cordova”, I kept remembering J. K. Rowling’s “Casual Vacancy”, because both books had such strength and power of words. Both authors made me want to reread passages and smile at their absolute beauty. However!... while “Casual Vacancy” was also a masterpiece as a story - “White Dove” lost me in the end. Not that I didn’t understand it, but rather it lost me as its fan. Up until the last 8-10 pages the book had me in its claws, I couldn’t wait to see how the story plays out, couldn’t put the book down, but the ending was so incongruent with the rest of the book’s mood, was so botched and rushed… I love being surprised and taken in a different direction, than the one I anticipated, but I wasn’t surprised, only annoyed. I can see how the author wanted to make a loop and conclude the “inner story” where it began, but she didn’t think it through.  Like in Jack London’s “Martin Eden”s case, I thought the protagonist went out of its character without any precedent, as if he was forced into certain actions, because he had to fit some already-made-up storyline.

Still… I don’t want to take away a star for the last 10 pages, and since I truly enjoyed the beautiful, superb language – a wobbly 5 star rating.