Wulf's Book Reviews

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree My rating: 5 of 5 stars » After twenty-two years of adventuring, Viv had reached her limit of blood and mud and bullshit. An orc’s life was strength and violence and a sudden, sharp end—but she’d be damned if she’d let hers finish that way. It was time for something new. « Thus begins the story of Viv, a former orc swordswoman who retires from adventuring and opens a coffee shop, the eponymous “Legends & Lattes”, in the town of Thune. She makes friends with various fantasy creatures and faces challenges from a local crime boss and a former colleague who wants to steal her magical treasure. Rarely was a moniker, “High fantasy, low stakes” in this case, more apt because we’re not off on a conventional fantasy adventure. Much more important in this entertaining and heartwarming novel are the relationships Viv and her friends build: In Thune, Viv is part of a small minority and doesn’t care about outward appearances and societal expec...

The Silent Quarry by Cheryl Rees-Price My rating: 4 of 5 stars I became aware of “ The Silent Quarry ” by Cheryl Rees-Price through the review of my Goodreads friend Barry . If Barry rates a mystery, police procedural or thriller highly, chances are high I’m also going to enjoy it. I was intrigued by the novel's premise of a woman, Gwen Thomas, who survived a brutal attack as a teenager that killed her friend, but lost her memory of the event. When she starts to remember what happened, she becomes a target again. Tempted by Barry and having been looking for the next good read, I basically pounced upon it and finished it in a few hours as it’s a bit on the short side of novels. I immediately related to DI Winter Meadows, a perceptive but reclusive detective (my wife calls me a hermit…), who tries to find the identity of the attacker before it’s too late. Beyond Meadows’ professional interest he’s further motivated by his teenage-crush on Gwen and the mutual metaphoric...

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was looking for a quick, easy, purely entertaining read and that’s what I got with “ The Bodyguard ” by Katherine Center - mostly. Pretty much for the entire first quarter of the novel, Hannah is supposed to be a tough, no-nonsense, bristly and business-like woman who is used to being in control. In fact, I read her more as a wooden, cliched character who seemed to have few redeeming qualities: She’s not tough but basically always on the run from herself and her emotions. She’s not bristly and business-like but acts rashly and impulsively… » And that’s when, despite everything I had just decided about how getting myself to London would be the answer to all my problems, I said, “You know what? I quit.” « … while at the same time allows her boss to just walk over her… » I’m not sure anybody even heard me—except for Glenn, who brushed that declaration off with a glance, like I was an annoying insect. “You’re never...

Visible Amazement by Gale Zoe Garnett My rating: 5 of 5 stars With a meagre 95 ratings and 16 reviews on Goodreads, “ Visible Amazement ” by Gale Zoe Garnett can probably safely be called an “insider tip” or “Geheimtipp” in my native German. It might also be due to the somewhat problematic subject matter… So, to get it out of the way immediately: Roanne tells everyone she’s just turning 16 whereas, in fact, she is 14 and Pascal with whom she proceeds to have a sexual relationship is 42. This is in many ways, a significant and, yes, troubling aspect of the novel that raises important questions about consent, power dynamics, and the sexualisation of young girls. The portrayal of the relationship between Roanne and Pascal is done carefully and in a complex and nuanced way, exploring the emotional and psychological dynamics at play. At this point, you should choose: You can follow me and choose not to render judgement. I will neither condemn nor condone this relationship whi...

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi My rating: 5 of 5 stars Earlier this year, I read the first part of Marjane Satrapi's memoirs, the graphic novel “ Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood ”. Now, I felt, was a good time to revisit her story that in this second part begins with her difficult years in Austria. In Vienna, Marjane feels isolated: Her experiences living in Vienna as a young adult highlight the challenges of being a foreigner in a new and unfamiliar culture. Marjane's struggles with language, cultural norms, and social expectations make her feel like an outsider. Her experiences in Vienna also highlight the cultural differences between Iran and the West, and the challenges of navigating those differences as a young person. Marjane’s rebellious streak and her desire to fit in with her Western peers often clash with her Iranian upbringing and cultural values, leading to feelings of confusion and isolation. Considering she lived there d...

Close Her Eyes by Lisa Regan My rating: 5 of 5 stars In this latest instalment in Lisa Regan's Detective-Josie-Quinn series , Josie is called to the body of a young woman. She soon starts to discover links to past crimes, a wealthy family in a small town not far from her native Denton and even to Anya Feist, the local pathologist with whom Josie had already formed a fledgling friendship. As in most of Regan’s books in this series, one of the team plays a big part in the mystery and in this novel it’s the afore-mentioned pathologist who has a complicated past… Also in line with most of these police procedurals, the plot is very engaging: I found myself reading at pretty much every opportunity and it was with a heavy heart that I had to return to my other responsibilities. At many times, this book was a total page turner, exciting, thrilling and suspenseful. Whereas in a few previous novels in this series, there were problems with pacing or keeping things interesting, ...

If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot My rating: 5 of 5 stars As a rule, I never re-read books. To me, it seems like a waste of precious reading time. There are exceptions to every rule, though, and the books by James Herriot are one of those. I mostly read them as in-between books: When I’ve finished a book and cannot review it right away as I usually would, I open a Herriot and am right back in his beloved Yorkshire Dales. " If Only They Could Talk " is the first of a series of books that are essentially memoirs of Herriot's experiences as a young veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales, beginning in the 1930s. It is a heartwarming and humorous account of his encounters with animals and their owners, as well as his struggles to establish himself as a veterinarian in a rural community. Herriot's love for both animals and people shines through in his writing. He has a great empathy for both his animal patients and their owners, and he portrays them with w...

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier My rating: 2 of 5 stars I never learn… Classics and I are incompatible and yet I still hope to come to terms with at least some of them. “ Rebecca ” by Daphne du Maurier was another attempt at just that - and one that failed. The unnamed heroine and narrator meets Maxim de Winter, a widower, agrees to his marriage proposal after a few weeks, and moves with him into his ancestral home Manderley where nothing much happens for a long time. The shadow of Maxim's first wife, the eponymous Rebecca, looms large over their marriage, and the new Mrs. de Winter finds herself constantly compared to her predecessor and struggling to fit in with the household staff and society. Maxim is also very thoughtless and inconsiderate towards the protagonist, especially in the early stages of their marriage. He doesn’t fully open up to the new Mrs. de Winter about his feelings and emotions which leads to misunderstandings and a lack of communication between th...

The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad My rating: 5 of 5 stars During my recent re-read of “ The Hobbit, or There and Back Again ” I remembered that years ago I had bought this “atlas” in order to immerse myself even more fully into Tolkien’s world and to provide my children with maps to the adventures I was reading to them at the time. In this atlas, you’ll find brilliant maps in two colours that are in all aspects very fitting to their source material. You’ll find the maps sorted by ages as well as regional maps, e. g. The Shire, as well as maps relating to the books and, last but not least, thematic maps, e. g. landforms, climate, vegetation and population. It shows that the author is an actual cartographer because Fonstad’s maps feel real - like they were made by observance and not by obviously extensive research. “ The Atlas of Middle-Earth ” is an amazing feat and every Tolkien enthusiast should own a copy! Five out of five stars. View all my reviews...

Junge Frau, am Fenster stehend, Abendlicht, blaues Kleid by Alena Schröder My rating: 5 of 5 stars Die “Junge Frau” ist ein leises und berührendes Buch, ohne jemals ins Sentimentale abzugleiten. Es liest sich schnell, leicht und locker, ohne es an Empathie für seine Protagonistinnen mangeln zu lassen oder das teils tragische Schicksal zu banalisieren. In zwei Erzählungssträngen erzählt Schröder die Geschichte von vier (eigentlich fünf) Frauen einer Familie: Zunächst ist da Senta Köhler, geboren im beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert, die ungewollt von einem “feschen” Fliegerheld des Ersten Weltkriegs, Ulrich, schwanger wird. Senta bekommt das Kind, leidet aber vermutlich an postnatalen Depressionen; die Ehe zerbricht, das Kind, Evelyn, bleibt beim Vater. Senta geht nach Berlin zu ihrer Freundin Lotte. Im Berlin der 20er und 30er Jahre sind Frauen wie Senta und Lotte - selbständig, selbstbewußt und frei vom Antisemitismus der Zeit - eine Seltenheit. Senta heiratet letztlich in Berl...

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey My rating: 4 of 5 stars » All those years I thought that I had been running away from my past I had, in fact, been working my way steadily back to it. « This was not easy to read and even less so to review. In “ Memorial Drive ” Trethewey remembers her childhood, born 1966, in a still very much segregated Gulfport, Mississippi, USA. Her mother black and her father white this clearly was a challenge. Trethewey’s father leaves the family and when her mother meets another man and, ultimately, marries him, things quickly escalate for young Trethewey who is routinely abused by her stepfather, Joel, who also beats his wife and terrorises the entire family. Joel eventually murders his then-ex wife. First and foremost, “Memorial Drive” is about remembering a loving mother and telling her story. When asked about what Trethewey would want to be a key takeaway from reading “Memorial Drive” she answered as follows: “If I w...

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende My rating: 4 of 5 stars For about 30 years I’ve been a fan of Isabel Allende's work , starting with her amazing “ The House of the Spirits ” (highly recommended as an introduction to her work). Allende’s style of magical realism, her strong storytelling and her beautiful prose so far have always managed to capture my heart. " Eva Luna " was no exception to this rule: Allende's writing is lush and evocative, and she creates a vivid sense of place and time. The unnamed South American country in which the novel is set is brought to life with rich detail, from the bustling streets of the city to the quiet beauty of the countryside. Allende's descriptions of the natural world are particularly striking, and she imbues even the most mundane objects with a sense of magic and wonder. The way she weaves in themes of magical realism throughout the novel is truly masterful. Even though the country is never named, it never ceases to fas...

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve actually read this novel quite a few years ago but never published this review at my usual haunts. This is especially sad since “ The Invisible Library ” went on to become one of my favourite fantasy series despite the steampunk elements which I don't really like. Thus, I was a wee bit sceptical: The premise of a secret society of librarians traversing alternate realities to collect rare books seemed almost too fantastical: With Dragons on the order-extremist side of the order/chaos spectrum and the Fae, fantastical creatures of all kinds, on the chaos-extremist side and the afore-mentioned Library somewhere in-between, shady and obsessive humans, this sounded rather… wild! And yet, only shortly after our protagonist, Irene, a resourceful and quick-witted Librarian, embarks on her mission, I was smitten. Assigned to retrieve a unique version of Grimm's Fairy Tales from an alternate London riddle...

My Man Jeeves and Other Early Jeeves Stories by P.G. Wodehouse My rating: 1 of 5 stars Oh, well, I’ve tempted my reading luck with another classic - and didn’t like the experience. " My Man Jeeves and Other Early Jeeves Stories " is a collection of short stories by English humorist P.G. Wodehouse , first published in 1919. That alone should have been a red flag… The book contains eight stories in total, with four featuring Jeeves and four featuring other characters. This is the first and smallest gripe of mine: While Bertie Wooster and Jeeves were mostly tolerable, the other characters felt out of place and their inclusion in this collection mistaken. The stories are set in London and New York City, and they often involve misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and romantic entanglements. Typical “ingredients” for this rather slapstick-y kind of comedy. The stories themselves I found to be disappointing and frustrating. While I can appreciate the clever wordplay...