Review: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Warbreaker
Brandon Sanderson
Gollancz
2009, 652p
Purchased personal copy

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

For a while now I’ve been wanting to get into reading Brandon Sanderson because I think that his books are ones I’ll enjoy, I just wasn’t sure where to start because he has quite an extensive backlist. I saw someone start with this one as it’s stand alone and apparently a good place to dip a toe in, so to speak and Sanderson himself recommends starting with this one if you enjoy a bit of romance as well. I wouldn’t exactly say it’s got a lot of romance but it is there.

I enjoyed this a lot. I read most of it on two plane journeys and it’s quite a chunky book, 650 pages so it was a good book to have for 2x2hr plane rides! I liked the world building and the characters and the plot definitely took me by surprise a couple times. This definitely made me actually kind of wish it was a series – the ending made me really want more of two characters in particular. It’s set in the same world apparently, as other books so maybe I’ll see them again? Not sure. I’ll have to begin my journey through the other books and see!

This is set in a place where a former royal family have been ousted from the land they once ruled and they now reside in a remote place that is still important because it has control of the trade routes. In their former ruling place, God touched people now rule instead. War has been kind of brewing for years and in an attempt to keep the peace, it’s been agreed to wed a princess of royal blood to the current God King. Tying the two together should help ensure that any sign of rebellion of the ousted royal family is quelled and the God King won’t move on his wife’s family either. It’s supposed to be a perfect plan, until the King in exile sends his youngest daughter to wed the God King, instead of his eldest, throwing everything into disarray. His eldest daughter is so distraught that her younger sister has to go in her place that she runs away to the city to find and rescue her sister from this arranged marriage that she had no time to prepare for. Siri, the youngest sister, is a bit wild, she was always the “spare” – her eldest sister was to be for the God King, the middle one became a monk and dedicated herself to a life of service and that left Siri much to her own devices. She’s not the perfectly well brought up, educated wife those who orchestrated the deal and who serve the God King, thought he would be getting. Siri is much different and it doesn’t take her long to realise that the God King is not really what he seems and that this marriage might have just set both of them up to fail. War is coming anyway, unless they can stop it.

Woven into the story of Siri and the God King is also that of her eldest sister Vivenna, who should’ve married the God King. She is trying to rescue Siri and ends up caught up in a rebellion plot. She wants to work hard to prevent a war – the area her family rule over now is small, they are under resourced and probably would be crushed in any fighting. But Vivenna has a lot to learn about the truth – the truth about the magic her family has always feared and shunned, the truth about the war and who wants it and who is behind it and the truth about who she can trust (and who she can’t).

I quite liked Siri stumbling through her marriage with the God King and realising certain things but the story I really enjoyed in this was Vivenna’s. She goes through a lot in this book and comes out the other side of it in the most remarkable way. She’s been raised as this perfect princess, the one that has been shaped to marry the God King, provide the next heir and basically unite the two kingdoms into a cohesive unit that will no longer carry the treat of war. She’s been schooled in politics and manners and basically every single thing that she’d need to be this perfect wife, with all this responsibility. It doesn’t pan out that way and she ends up going through some of the worst parts of society, she’s betrayed, kidnapped, almost killed so many times. She has to face the fear she has of the magic that lives in this world, that her family shuns and is forcibly inserted into a powerful position with that magic. She also meets a man that is morally ambiguous and mysterious and has to decide whether or not she can trust him. Vivenna had the most fascinating story and I want more. More about her and more about Vasher. I ended up really liking them together, they were very different and because of that, they complimented each other in so many ways. Also there’s a murderous sword in this that talks and it’s far funnier than it really should be.

I found this a solid introduction into Sanderson – despite the length there was never a time when I was bored even though there are definitely times when the story is quieter. The character development was good and the world building excellent as well.

8/10

Book #111 of 2024

Warbreaker is one of my 24 in 2024 books! It’s the 8th book read for the challenge so far….I’m catching up a little on this one. I’m still behind but I think I’ve already read more books from this challenge than I read from the entirety of my 23 in 2023, so….progress, right?

Review: As The River Rises by Fiona McArthur

As The River Rises
Fiona McArthur
Penguin Books AUS
2024, 352p
Gifted via Secret Santa in my online book club

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Dr Hannah Rogan, a GP from outback Queensland, is in hiding from an emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend. When a visit to her friend Gracie in Featherwood sparks the idea to move there and open a medical practice for the town, Hannah finds the fresh start she needs. The town has rebuilt after devastating fires and its growing population is desperate for her calm presence and expertise.

Her first patient is the son of the tight-lipped, attractive Jude, from the mysterious closed community upriver. Jude has a troubled past he doesn’t talk about, but now he’s helping others to turn their lives around. The last thing Jude needs is to fall for the new doctor in town but his son’s illness means they’ll be spending a lot of time together.

The rain starts, and doesn’t stop. The creeks fill, the river bursts and soon the residents of Featherwood are at risk of losing everything they’ve rebuilt. As the floodwaters rise, so do emotions and everyone must pull together to save lives and salvage whatever they can.

From the bestselling author of The Opal Miner’s Daughter comes this suspenseful tale of love, redemption and finding your path when you feel surrounded.

Fiona McArthur is one of my favourite authors and a new book from her is such a treat. I have to admit, I am a bit behind with this one – it was actually gifted to me by my Secret Santa in a Christmas gift exchange and I put it on my 24 in 2024 as a ‘cheat’ book: one that I knew I would absolutely read! Fiona McArthur is going to be at the retreat I am going to this month so I figured it was time to read this one, especially as she has a new book coming out soon as well.

If you’ve read The Farmer’s Friend then the setting of this one will be very familiar. We are returning to Featherwood in rural northern New South Wales with a familiar cast of supporting characters and two new main characters. Hannah is Gracie’s friend and a chance visit leads her to move to Featherwood to open a GP office. The town desperately needs one and Hannah has a steady stream of patients from the very beginning. One of her first patients is the young son of a mysterious man named Jude who lives on a property out of town. No one seems to know much about him but that doesn’t stop the rumours flying. Hannah is fleeing an abusive relationship and the last thing she needs is the be drawn in by the mysterious man but…..she can’t help it. There’s something there. She just has to hope that her instincts aren’t leading her wrong.

It was such a delight to be back here, reconnecting with characters like Gracie and Jed, Nell, Mavis and her grandson Archie. In the previous book, the community was facing the threat and aftermath of bushfires and now it’s the complete opposite, with pouring rain that is in danger of bringing terrible floods instead. Parts of the country have been really hammered by natural weather phenomenon lately and it honestly doesn’t feel uncommon to go from one extreme to the other.

The way Fiona McArthur writes the weather is so……incredibly evocative, there are some truly terrifying moments in this book. I’ve never lived through a flood although the area I grew up has flooded once or twice since I left. I’ve lived through bushfires and evacuation and being sent home early but I’ve never lived anywhere when there was genuine threat of a terrifying flood. However I’ve watched so many documentaries and news reports especially on places like Lismore, that flooded multiple times in recent years. I felt like reading this book really captured the experience of not just the awful, devastating weather event, where people who lost their homes in a fire face losing them again in a flood, but also the ways in which communities come together to help in the face of such adversity. Everyone in this book pitches in in some way or another, be it housing those that have been forced to flee, search and rescue, providing food and meals and comfort, helping to provide medical care, helping move stock and belongings to higher ground. You see examples of this in real life scenarios all the time and this book encapsulates that human spirit and connection so well.

I really enjoyed the romance. Jude was my sort of hero and I found his backstory really interesting. I liked the contrast between him and Hannah and I also loved his relationship with his son. Also what Jude was doing on his farm would make a great book all on its own. I understood Hannah’s conflicted feelings though as Jude is a bit reticent and standoffish and given her history with her previous boyfriend, you can see why she’d want to know more about him, to be wary of falling for the aloof one on the gated property. Small towns are always rife with rumours, especially about people who don’t seem to conform to the norm and there’s definitely been a few thoughts about what Jude might be up to. Leo, his son, is a great kid and he and Archie make a great little dynamic duo.

This book gave me all the emotions! It’s so heartwarming, I love the community but it also really made me fear for certain people and not going to lie, I definitely teared up twice.

A must read.

9/10

Book #108 2024

As The River Rises is one of my 24 in 2024 books. It’s the 7th book read so far for this challenge.

Review: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Tom Lake
Ann Patchett
Bloomsbury
2023, 309p
Stolen from my husband’s TBR pile

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

I really enjoyed this.

It’s weird to be reading pandemic fiction. Like, we recently passed the 4 year mark of the declaration of a pandemic and on one hand, it honestly feels like so long ago and on the other, it feels like yesterday and how has it been four years already?

In this story, Lara is in her late 50s and lives with her husband on a fruit orchard in Michigan. It’s cherry season and her three daughters have all returned to the family home for a lockdown – one lives on the farm anyway in a separate dwelling and she is the one that will be taking it over one day. All in their 20s, at least one of the others was in college and is now learning in a long distance manner. The third daughter wants to be an actress but I honestly can’t remember if she was still in college or had finished. All of them are putting in backbreaking levels of labour over the cherry picking season because they are unable to hire the amount of workers they normally would, because of the pandemic. There are mentions of social distancing, waving to neighbours, leaving things on porches, etc so you are well entrenched in the time frame but at the same time, it’s not a book about the pandemic. It’s merely a book that takes place within it.

To pass the time whilst picking (the types of cherries currently ready have to be hand picked) the three girls have asked Lara to tell them the story of when she was an actress some thirty plus years ago and had a relationship with a man named Peter Duke (known mostly just as Duke) who was also in the same play, who went on to become a very, very famous actor. It seems like the girls have known that their mother and this man had a relationship for a while in the distant past but not the details. Now they’re older, Lara agrees to tell the story. It’s obvious at least one of the daughters had some really strong thoughts about the relationship and it caused a lot of friction in their relationship – some friction that still remains to this day. Lara knows in telling the story she can’t sugar coat some of it and it may change their thoughts and opinions and everyone will have to deal with the fallout of that.

The story is told in a back and forth fashion, dipping back in time to the parts Lara is telling and you experience it as Lara did, at the time. It starts when she is a teenager in high school and a local play that is being put on. Lara watches the auditions but has no intention of actually auditioning herself….until she watches and realises that she’d do it differently. From there, she plays the same role several times over the ensuing years, it’s her way of playing that particular role that makes her. She also films a movie but that is delayed a long time in being released. When playing the role for the third or fourth time, that’s when she meets the man who would go on to be a very famous actor. Think like, award winning level of famous.

The way in which Lara tells the story is engrossing, there are reveals that work really well, particularly the reveal of her husband and how she met him and how they ended up together. There’s also the fact that her daughters, one in particular, must come to terms with the story as Lara is telling it, rather than the story she seems to have created herself. I have to say, I did find the daughters trying at times, particularly one of them, who seems to want to hear the story but their version of the story rather than Lara’s. There’s a lot of tiptoeing around possibly hurting her feelings and her attitude at times, felt odd for someone who was in her mid-20s. The flashbacks to when she was a teenager were diabolical.

I feel like this would make a great movie. The audiobook was narrated by Meryl Streep and I could definitely see an actress of her calibre playing an older Lara, telling the story to her three daughters. The backdrop of a cherry farm would make a fantastic setting, too. The way in which the story centres around acting and a play and dips back and forth would work well visually. I’m not familiar with the play (Our Town, which is apparently, an American classic). I did some research on it after finishing the book and….maybe it’s an acquired taste?

Either way, I really enjoyed this. Would recommend.

8/10

Book #79 of 2024

Tom Lake was on my 24 in 2024 list! It’s the 6th book read so far.

Thoughts On: The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama

The Light We Carry
Michelle Obama
Penguin Viking
2022, 336p
Purchased personal copy

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Her life. Her learnings. Her toolkit to live boldly.

How do we build enduring and honest relationships?
How can we discover strength and community inside our differences?
What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much?

Michelle Obama believes that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress.

In The Light We Carry, the former First Lady shares her practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world. A mother, daughter, spouse and friend, she shares fresh stories, her insightful reflections on change and the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” With her trademark humour, candour, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.

The Light We Carry will inspire readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.

I love Michelle Obama – well, I love both the Obamas. I think I’d read their grocery list. I’ve read both Becoming and A Promised Land. I have read A Promised Land in print and listened to parts of it on audio as well as listened to an entire other Barack Obama memoir, Dreams From My Father on audio as well. I bought this when it first came out, but as is the way with some of my books, it did sit on my shelf for about a year until I plucked it out to include it in my 24 Books in 2024 challenge. It would probably be a good one to have on audio as well as both Obamas are excellent and personable speakers and authors narrating their own work is most often, highly enjoyable.

This was written in the shadow of the covid-19 pandemic, when Barack and Michelle Obama were holed up in their Washington D.C. home with their two college-aged daughters. For an obviously busy person, who has probably been busy her whole life, this down period was a time of reflection for Michelle Obama and as she admits, also a time of worry and anxiety.

Some of this encompasses the tools she uses when she does have those feelings – insecurities, anxieties, fears. A way of visualising and compartmentalising the problem, learning to not just deal with the fear but accept it and acknowledge it. Look, you could look at it as “what does Michelle Obama have to be worried about, she’s a highly successful woman, the first Black First Lady, her own multiple successful careers behind her in law and public health and various other things” but I actually found it highly validating to read. Like if Michelle Obama does have fears and worries, the same as mine in some ways (thinking of her children, the future, her appearance etc) then it makes my own fears and anxieties feel okay and understandable. She talks openly and frankly about knowing that Barack running for President would open their life up to scrutiny and that for her, the scrutiny would encompass her looks and her dress, her style, her ambitions, her very persona. Must avoid being ‘the angry Black woman stereotype’ (there’s a definitely a headline or two referenced where she was described as exactly that). As a Black woman and the first Black First Lady, Obama acknowledges that the standards set for her would be different, the level of judgement would be different, that she could do the same thing as countless First Ladies before her and it would be perceived differently.

One of the things I appreciated the most in this book was the talk of her relationship with those who were and are, closest to her. Firstly her parents – her father had MS and always gave her the advice “You fall. You get up. You carry on.” There’s also her mother, who taught her and her brother to be independent – both of their children were encouraged to aim high (Michelle also laughably talks about the high school careers counsellor who told her she shouldn’t apply to Princeton, because she wasn’t Princeton material. I’m unsure if it was because she was Black, I suspect so, but Obama did graduate from Princeton and then also Harvard law, and it’s a little thing that sticks in her. As she mentioend, that person probably never thought of Michelle Robinson, as she was then, ever again. But Michelle certainly thought of her many times) and achieve the best. When Barack Obama was declared President, Michelle’s mother moved to the White House with them, to help look after their two daughters and just generally provide support. She was often a blunt and frank interview, something for the Press to frantically publish. But despite her no nonsense manner and frank statements, it was obvious a woman who deeply loved her family and was willing to give up her own life and put it on hold, to help them in their new roles. Likewise I got the feeling that Michelle and her brother Craig were close when I read Becoming and that’s only reiterated here. As we all do, Michelle also talks about her expectations vs reality in meeting Barack’s family on her inaugural trip to Hawaii and managing those expectations. About how Barack’s family was different to hers and the ways in which she adjusted to that. And then of course it talks about her relationship with her husband, the ways in which they strengthen and support each other (and the little ways in which they annoy each other too, nothing is perfect!).

I really enjoyed this glimpse into her thoughts and feelings – the fears and anxieties she’d faced, her ways of dealing with them. Her thoughts on the pandemic and the regime that followed her husband’s. And most of all, those relationships that had shaped her life: her parents and brother, her friends (I forgot to mention this earlier but she does have a very large portion devoted to her friends and what they mean to her and how she’s gathered them throughout her life and how they help each other), her husband and her children. She writes in such an intimate and personable way, it’s very relatable even though probably the only thing Michelle Obama and I have in common is that we are both married women with children! This would definitely make a great audio listen, it feels very intimate and confiding but at the same time, very broad and far reaching.

8/10

Book #58 of 2024

I included The Light We Carry in my 24 in 2024 reading challenge! It’s the 5th book read so far for the challenge.

Review: A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles

A Gentleman In Moscow
Amor Towles
Windmill
2016, 462p
Read from my husband’s TBR

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: On 21 June 1922 Count Alexander Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt – is escorted out of the Kremlin, across Red Square and through the elegant revolving doors of the Hotel Metropol.

But instead of being taken to his usual suite, he is led to an attic room with a window the size of a chessboard. Deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, the Count has been sentenced to house arrest indefinitely.

While Russia undergoes decades of tumultuous upheaval, the Count, stripped of the trappings that defined his life, is forced to question what makes us who we are. And with the assistance of a glamorous actress, a cantankerous chef and a very serious child, Rostov unexpectedly discovers a new understanding of both pleasure and purpose.

The first prompt I pulled from my TBR Jar this year was ‘A book set in or featuring Russia’ which gave me some pause because I wasn’t sure I had anything set in Russia. But then I remembered that my husband was given a copy of this book for his birthday last year and it was perfect. I have heard really good things about this author so I was keen to read it.

A Gentleman In Moscow begins in early 1920s Russia, in the wake of the first world war and the overthrowing of the Royal family and rise of the Bolsheviks. Count Alexander Rostov was brought up in wealth and privilege and in 1922 he’s hauled before a Bolshevik court and questioned about a poem published under his name. He’s deemed to be an “unrepentant” aristocrat but for reasons it’s determined he should not be killed. Instead he’ll be confined for the term of his life to the Hotel Metropol in Moscow, where he was currently living before being hauled in and questioned. But not in the opulent, multi-room suite he had been occupying. Instead he’s removed to the 6th floor and the former servants quarters, a tiny room with a tiny window. He’s only allowed to take some of his belongings, the rest are put in storage in the basement of the hotel but the Count does the best he can to make his new lodgings comfortable.

He must stay within the confines of the hotel – he’s assured he’ll be shot if he steps foot outside of it. Apart from that, his life honestly….continues on much as it had before the judgement was passed. He is delivered the same breakfast each day, he takes his other meals in one of the hotel dining facilities. He drinks in the bar, he chats to the staff, he keeps a weekly hair appointment and takes his clothes for mending to the hotel seamstress. Meeting a 9yo named Nina who is also staying in the hotel opens his eyes to a whole new world as Nina (who for reasons unknown is in possession of a master key) takes him places he’s never seen inside the hotel.

Orphaned as a child, the Count’s guardian was a Grand Duke and he and his sister were also raised by their grandmother. He often reminisces on times gone by, particularly those featuring his sister Helena. In an early part of the book, it’s made clear that the Count intends to “depart this world” on a certain date, however he’s interrupted whilst attempting to do so and his life takes another course. It changes again when years into the future, the Count has a young child left in her care. It’s supposed to be temporary but I feel like many people probably disappeared in Russia during this time and it soon becomes obvious that the Count will be raising this child, along with the help of several of the hotel’s key staff.

I really enjoyed this. It did take me a while to get into it – the first 100p I felt like I was learning a lot about the time and the setting and the mannerisms of various people but after that, I got into the groove. I felt like it was very charming, it had this grand old hotel as pretty much the only setting. A real homage to a different time, when I guess as wealthy people, taking such a suite kind of permanently, would not have been so unusual. Dining out every single meal. Having anything you could want or need at your beck and call. The Count is incredibly wealthy, he obviously has to be in order to have this lifestyle and he’s lived his life a certain way up until now and he’s not really going to let a little thing like confinement to the attic stop him. He dresses each day, keeps his weekly hair appointments, he’s a gentleman. He likes things to be a certain way, he appreciates good service and those that know how to make people feel taken care of. When one of the restaurants in the hotel hires a new waiter who doesn’t live up to the Counts high standards, he’s not afraid to let him know. This waiter ends up being a ‘friend’ of the Party and so continues to progress through the ranks, much to the Count’s chagrin. He and several of the others enjoy thwarting this man or getting around his rules or regulations, often in humorous fashion.

Despite his privileged upbringing, the Count isn’t a snob and cultivates a close group within the hotel that’s almost like a family, especially after it becomes clear that he’ll be raising Sofia, the young girl, for the long term. He knows he’ll need help (by now the Count also has his own role within the hotel) in order to continue to fulfil his duties and Sofia will also need people in her life that are not him. She’ll need to be educated, she’ll need women she can talk to. The Count regularly finds himself outplayed or confounded by Sofia, and it’s clear when he takes custody of her that he’s deeply out of his depth and doesn’t know what to do with a small child. A bachelor probably in his forties…? ish? when she comes to live at the hotel, the Count has to adjust and learn as he goes along.

I just found myself deeply invested in this and all of the characters. I loved the insular setting, this grand old hotel of a bygone era. And even though you don’t get any of the surrounding areas as such, as the Count can’t leave and walk around the streets of Moscow, you get a more subtle indication of the country’s upheaval and change, the rise of the Party and the shifting landscape.

I’ll definitely be reading more of Amor Towles in the future. I really enjoyed the way he told the story.

8/10

Book #15 of 2024

This is the 3rd book read that counts to my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge for 2024, hosted by Marg @ The Intrepid Reader.

I also put A Gentleman In Moscow on my 24 in 2024 books I wanted to read and it’s also the 3rd book I’ve read from this challenge so far. I’m off to a flying start in this challenge!

Review: China by Edward Rutherfurd

China
Edward Rutherfurd
Hodder & Stoughton
2021, 764p
Purchased personal copy

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of readers with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: An Epic Novel, Rutherfurd takes readers into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom.

The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao’s Cultural Revolution and up to the present day.

Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history. Along the way, in his signature style, Rutherfurd provides a deeply researched portrait of Chinese history and society, its ancient traditions and great upheavals, and China’s emergence as a rising global power. As always, we are treated to romance and adventure, heroines and scoundrels, grinding struggle and incredible fortunes.

China: An Epic Novel brings to life the rich terrain of this vast and constantly evolving country.

From Shanghai to Nanking to the Great Wall, Rutherfurd chronicles the turbulent rise and fall of empires as the colonial West meets the opulent and complex East in a dramatic struggle between cultures and people.

Extraordinarily researched and majestically told, Edward Rutherfurd paints a thrilling portrait of one of the most singular and remarkable countries in the world.

I did this as a loose buddy read with my friend Theresa from Theresa Smith Writes, something we’ve been planning since we both realised we had this book. It’s taken a little while for us to both have the time to devote to this behemoth but we got there!

This is a sprawling look at a portion of China’s history, told through the lens of several characters, some of them Chinese, some of them not. It focuses mostly on the Opium Wars but also features several other points in history such as the Boxer Rebellion.

I don’t know a lot about China. In fact to be honest, that’s probably an understatement. I know pretty much nothing about Chinese history, be it ancient or modern although I was passably familiar with the Opium wars, which were touched on in a university class I did recently and also in a couple of other books I’ve read. It’s a great indication of Britain’s colonial arrogance. In a topic of many instances, this might be one of the best examples.

This isn’t written by a Chinese person and it shows, so honestly I wouldn’t recommend it as something that you take as a great source on either this or any portion of Chinese history. It’s a fictional telling of several real events and although it references real people and the like, the author has created his own characters to insert into the story in order to have eyes and ears in certain places at certain times. For a while it was a bit hard to link the points of view together as we jumped from one to another but it all does start to knit together and you see the ways in which the different characters interact and come across each other at various points in the story or how they showcase different perspectives on the same happening.

I read a review that suggested this portrayed the British as sympathetic during the Opium Wars but I have to admit, I didn’t find it so? I mean in the chapters from the perspective of the British, you can feel the assurance and arrogance that they’re in the right, that they should be able to sell opium to whoever the heck they want, no matter Chinese feelings on the matter and why should they, as the British Empire, be subject to the whims and rules of this nation that they clearly feel is beneath them. I honestly didn’t feel the need to side with Britain at all really, it’s hard to sit back in 2024 and be like well, yes, what’s wrong with just wanting to make a bit of money selling opium? Even without knowing what it was doing to the Chinese workforce, expecting a country to completely be able to ride roughshod over the laws and rules of another on their own soil seems a stretch. And as a person who comes from a country that was also colonised by the British and the damage of what they did during that colonisation is still felt to this day, it’s not difficult to see the British as the antagonists, wanting to profit off something they know is dangerous and addictive but being of the opinion that ‘oh well, that’s their problem if they allow themselves to get addicted’. They wanted tea from China, but didn’t really want to pay for it – selling the opium allowed them to buy tea without really having to reach into their own coffers. And when China tried measures to restrict or prohibit the trade, the British response was to basically annihilate them. And then demand restitutions.

I found most of the viewpoints really interesting and I would say I learned some things from this book even though they’re things that I do take with a grain of salt. I don’t know enough obviously, to know if the points of view from the Chinese characters and the lifestyle or culture portrayed is accurate at all. But it was certainly an enjoyable read for me, albeit one that I take on board as knowing is dealing with a country’s history that the author himself is not from, which is always something to know.

I would say that for edging close to 800p, I really only felt that one chapter in this dragged (it’s broken up into I think, like 18 chapters, most of which aren’t very long) and I did feel like I had to push through that one. The rest of the time I found it quite easy to get invested and sink into the story and there were times when I was quite disappointed to find out we were ending time with a particular main character to move onto someone else.

Edward Rutherfurd has written other books similar to this one about other places and I’d be interested in reading those too, because I think he writes an engrossing story.

7/10

Book #13 of 2023

China is the 2nd book read towards my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024 (hosted by Marg from The Intrepid Reader) goal of 15 books.

It’s also the 2nd book completed from my 24 in 2024 challenge.

Review: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

The Bodyguard
Katherine Center
Orion
2023, 302p
Received as a Christmas gift

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: She’s got his back. He’s got her heart. They’ve got a secret. What could possibly go wrong?

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with her bare hands. But the truth is, she’s an elite bodyguard and she’s just been hired to protect a superstar actor from his stalker.

Jack Stapleton’s a Hollywood heartthrob – captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, rising out of the waves in clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity.

When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah – against her will and her better judgment – finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover.

Protecting Jack should be easy. But protecting her own heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done…

I really, really enjoyed this.

I thought it had just the right amount of humour and balanced it out with some family issues (for both characters) really well. I liked both the main characters and got super invested.

Hannah is a protection agent – bodyguard. Despite her small stature, she’s one of the best at her job. She’s not the sort of bodyguard you hire when you want everyone to know you have a bodyguard. She’s excellent at blending in, at looking like she belongs and most people tend to assume she’s the Nanny or assistant of the client, the person she’s assigned to protect. Hannah can kill you in multiple ways but she feels that if you get close enough for her to need to demonstrate it, she’s failing already. Her job is to remove threats before they even become threats – to assess a situation, make a move before anything can even be obvious to the client.

After a personal tragedy and her boyfriend dumping her, the boss of her agency decides Hannah will be the main agent in protecting Jack – a big Hollywood actor who kind of dropped off the radar a couple of years ago after the death of his brother. Jack’s mother is sick, which has brought him back to Texas to see her and Jack has what is probably described as a minor stalker. A lady who breeds corgis and enjoys knitting him sweaters. But no one is taking any chances, especially as Jack’s mother is unwell and Jack is adamant that she not be worried about anything, so it’ll be Hannah’s job to shadow Jack. And this time, being assumed to be the Nanny isn’t going to work as Jack doesn’t have kids. To allow her unfettered access to the family, Hannah will be posing as Jack’s girlfriend.

Jack is like a Chris Hemsworth sort, he made a big action movie a few years ago, he’s made some rom coms and a few others. He’s very good looking and intimidating and Hannah does occasionally have trouble around him but he’s also one of those ‘nice boys made good’. He’s a big name actor with a big name public ‘girlfriend’ but he doesn’t really have that persona in private. He’s definitely against the idea of a bodyguard (the scene where he meets Hannah and queries if she can even protect him is hilarious) but he also definitely seems to need not just physical support but emotional support in terms of dealing with his family. Hannah becomes that for him when his mother insists they stay at the house whilst she is recovering. Jack’s brother is the only one not happy to see him – it’s clear that there’s a lot of tension and unresolved issues over the death of their other brother and that Jack is square in the blame for it.

I really liked the way this story built and the way that Jack and Hannah kept finding ways to connect in different ways. Hannah is dumped just at the beginning of this book in a way that made me want to inflict bodily harm and she thinks that Jack is off limits both because of his “relationship” that’s always in the media and because she’s aggressively ordinary. It’s how people describe her, how she blends in. Her ex taps into her insecurities about this, telling her that someone like Jack would never be interested in someone like her. That’s kind of what I like about romances between famous people and regular people. Because despite the fact that Jack is very famous and has made a big name for himself, he’s spent the past two years completely off the grid somewhere remote and it’s clear that when he comes back to Texas, it’s reluctantly and only because his mother is sick. Even though it’s his home turf, he’s uncomfortable being there and it reduces him from the big star to a regular person, the sort of person that Hannah gets to know. Hannah is good at reading people, she has to be for her job but Jack is an actor so she does constantly second guess herself.

The family stuff was done very well – Jack’s family are a shaken up bottle ready to explode and Hannah clearly has a lot of issues from her upbringing, the death of her mother, etc. There’s serious topics underneath the humour and it’s a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. This is the sort of book that makes you laugh out loud, the sort of book that makes you furious on behalf of a character and the sort of book that makes you tear up with emotion. There’s a scene in this that I felt in my soul and I was like what are you doing to me, Katherine Center?

This author has a pretty extensive backlist and I am definitely going to be going back and reading their other books as well as looking forward to The Rom-Commers which is coming out this year.

9/10

Book #10 of 2024

The Bodyguard is on my 24 in 2024 list. It’s the 1st book read for the challenge.

Reading Challenges For 2024 #3: 24 in 2024

So I have attempted this challenge before both in 2022 and 2023. Did I finish it either time? No. Did I come close? Also no. But do I keep doing it, even though the number of books goes up each year, making it harder? Yes. Because I figure any progress in getting books off the TBR shelf is good progress. Some of these books were on last year’s 23 in 2023 and I’ve kept them on because I really do want to read them. Others are new. I tried to mix it up a bit, like in previous years. The rule for my list is that they must be books I currently already have on my shelf in physical form – I don’t count books I am anticipating or anything like that. These are books that I want to clear off my TBR shelf.

1. China by Edward Rutherford. I’m actually reading this in January as a buddy read.
2. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. Some non-fiction and I like Michelle Obama.
3. The Life Swap by Barbara Hannay. An autoread author for me.
4. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare. Very curious about this one.
5. Lola In The Mirror by Trent Dalton. Lots of praise for this one around.
6. The Fraud by Zadie Smith. Read 1 Zadie Smith years ago, always meant to try another.
7. As The River Rises by Fiona McArthur. Also an autoread author for me.
8. The Uncaged Sky by Kylie Moore-Gilbert. This one carries over from 2023.
9. Rule Of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo. This is also a carry over from 2023.
10. Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore. You guessed it: also a carry over from 2023.
11. The Winners by Fredrik Backman. I’m on a roll here, also from 2023.
12. War Of The Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden. Part of another challenge for myself.
13. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I have liked what I’ve read by Patchett before.
14. Hello Beautiful by Ann Neopolitano. This one is also very popular/highly praised.
15. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman. #3 in a series I’m really enjoying.
16. The Empire Of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty. Also from my 2023 list.
17. The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. A reread so I can read the 2nd book.
18. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. From my 2023 list.
19. The Eye Of The World by Robert Jordan. From 2023’s list I think.
20. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Wanted to read this for years.
21. The Bodyguard by Katherine Centre. Reading this in January (TBR Jar prompt).
22. A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles. Also a January TBR Jar prompt.
23. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Will be my first Brando Sando.
24. Betty by Tiffany McDaniel. All I know about this is that it’s apparently brutal.

I think I read only 6 from my 23 in 2023 list but like I said, it’s okay, any progress is progress. However I think I can do better this year, the TBR jar is already helping me. My 2 January prompts that helped were 1. Read a book set in/featuring Russia, which is where A Gentleman In Moscow is going to come in and 2. Read a book from your 24 in 2024 list and I am picking The Bodyguard which was a Christmas gift in my family’s KK. Add in reading China with Theresa as my first buddy read of the year and….by the end of the first month I will hopefully have at least 3 titles checked off this list!

Feeling good about this one…..let’s see how I’m feeling in December LOL.