Book review | September 2017

September wasn’t a great reading month for me. I only read 3 books. I had a lot of teaching to do and I felt knackered after those days. The fact that the books I read were so-so and not the more engaging stories ever, also make it harder to read more. So this was a mediocre reading month with mediocre books, but I’m going to share them with you nonetheless.  

Natasha Pulley – The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Maggie Stiefvater – The Raven Boys
Maggie Stiefvater – The Dream Thieves

Maggie Stiefvater – The Raven Boys

Blue Sargent despises Raven Boys: anyone going to Henrietta’s all boys school Aglionby. Living in a house with psychics without being psychic herself, Blue finds herself with one special characteristic. She amplifies any psychic reading, making her the ideal candidate for her mother, aunts and cousins when they do their business. One night, she sees her first ghost and it just so happens to be a Raven Boy. When she meets that same boy just a few days later at her job at Nino’s she finds herself sucked into the world of dead Welsh kings, mystery and magic.

Of course I read this because there was hype about this. I started watching Booktube around the time the last book in this series came around, so I naturally wanted to read it. It was a great read for most of the book, but there were parts that I found slow and a little bit weird. The whole psychic premise put me off at first, but in the end it’s just a ploy to explain the weirdness of Blue’s home situation. There was a lull in the middle plot wise, but it picked up right at the end, which is what made me enjoy this in the end. I like a good mix of mystery and magic and that’s what this book gave me.

Maggie Stiefvater – The Dream Thieves

After Ronan’s confession that he isn’t just an angry teenager following his father’s death, Blue and her Raven Boys continue their search for Glendower. But that has become quite complicated as something is messing with the leylines. When Cabeswater suddenly disappears and a notorious hit man comes to town to find the Greywaren, it doesn’t take long until the tale enfolds into ever mysterious ways.

Because I ended up liking the first book in the series so much, I decided to power on through to the second one. Alas, this book was bad. It has all the flaws of the first book, but where that in the end, redeemed itself, this just didn’t. Plotwise there were too many conveniences to help our heroes along and the underlying love triangle was obnoxious and badly played out. Characters felt like completely different people compared to the first book, while they were supposed to be the same people and it was just a drag to read.

Natasha Pulley – The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Thaniel Steepleton is a clerk in the Home Office, but once dreamt of being a pianist. One day he arrives home to find a mysterious watch in his apartment. It happens to be none other than a warning sign that saves his live 6 months down the line. That is when he searches for the person who made the watch and from there his life is no longer the way it was before. Because the Watchmaker of Filigree Street is much more than a watchmaker. That he is a Japanese baron for starters is only part of the mystery.

Drawn in by the cover when I saw this in a bookstore, I knew I wanted to read this. Set in Victorian London, with magic and steampunk elements but also a great deal of history, this sounded like it would be right up my street. And it was. For the most part. Why I didn’t love this? Because this book lacked a logical plot. I felt myself become disinterested about halfway through when I no longer knew where the book was going. It has a lot of interesting elements, but when brought together it doesn’t hit the mark. Rather the book remains consisting of interesting elements, but it just doesn’t gel well together.

What books have you been reading?