Buit
Wat een drama, werken bij Hebban. Ten eerste is het werk en moet ik schrijven over boeken, echt heel zwaar, lastig en moeilijk. Ten tweede is de inspiratie genadeloos. Zet je een kekke listmania voor de te verschijnen Engelstalige boeken van februari in elkaar, dan stijgt je wensenlijstje met minstens een handvol titels. Lees je recensies van collega's en ons recensententeam, idem. Gelukkig las ik dit: 'So stop beating yourself up for buying too many books or for having a to-read list that you could never get through in three lifetimes. All those books you haven't read are indeed a sign of your ignorance. But if you know how ignorant you are, you're way ahead of the vast majority of other people.'
En om die reden stel ik, ignorant en wel, aan u voor, de boekenbuit van deze week:
Buit
Melissa Caruso - The Tethered Mage
In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce, and those born with power are strictly controlled - taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that could threaten the entire empire.
Het pocketje kwam binnen en ik schrok. Ken ik die kaft niet? Shit, heb ik dat boek al? Na de opgravingen van februari 2018 in de boekbergen zal ik het weten. Het zal niet het eerste boek zijn dat ik dubbel kocht en ook niet het laatste.
Melissa Albert - The Hazel Wood
Ha, wat grappig, ik start met twee Melissa's.
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set.
Maggie Stiefvater - All the Crooked Saints
Omdat alles van Stiefvater goed is.
Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars. At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo. They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.
Rosamund Young - The secret life of cows
Ik ben dol op beesten en niet op mijn bord. Dat maakt dit boek een enigszins dubbele keuze, want zoals mijn collega Lindy schreef in haar recensie van de Nederlandse vertaling:
'Hoe mooi die verhalen ook zijn – wie geniet er nu niet van de capriolen van jonge kalfjes of de behulpzame moederinstincten van adoptiekoeienmoeders -, en hoe lovenswaardig de ‘methode’ van Young ook is, voor vegetarische of veganistische lezers zullen sommige opmerkingen alsnog weerstand oproepen. Want uiteindelijk zijn al deze dieren, waar Young zo liefdevol over praat, bestemd voor de slacht.'
Het boek is een pleidooi voor de biologische boer en tegen de bio-industrie. En dat is goed, heel goed, maar voor een vegan gaan er dan nog steeds te veel beesten dood (want dood moeten ze allemaal voor dat stukje 'diervriendelijk' vlees). Maar toch wil ik het graag lezen.
Basma Abdel Aziz - The Queue
Ha, eindelijk even geen YA's of koeienboeken, een uit het Arabisch vertaald boek over levenslang in de rij staan. Ik weet dat dat soms zo voelt in de supermarkt of elders, maar na dit boek klaag je daar niet meer over.
In a surreal but familiar vision of modern-day Egypt, a centralized authority known as the Gate has risen to power in the aftermath of the Disgraceful Events, a failed popular uprising. Citizens are required to obtain permission from the Gate in order to take care of even the most basic of their daily affairs, yet the Gate never opens, and the queue in front of it grows longer.
Citizens from all walks of life mix and wait in the sun: a revolutionary journalist, a sheikh, a poor woman concerned for her daughter's health, and even the brother of a security officer killed in clashes with protestors. Among them is Yehia, a man who was shot during the Events and is waiting for permission from the Gate to remove a bullet that remains lodged in his pelvis. Yehia's health steadily declines, yet at every turn officials refuse to assist him, actively denying the very existence of the bullet.
Ultimately it is Tarek, the principled doctor tending to Yehia's case, who must decide whether to follow protocol as he has always done or to disobey the law and risk his career to operate on Yehia and save his life.
Written with dark, subtle humor, The Queue describes the sinister nature of authoritarianism and illuminates the way that absolute authority manipulates information, mobilizes others in service to it, and fails to uphold the rights of even those faithful to it.
Het boek Joan van Lidia Yuknavitch
Dit is het enige boek in de stapel dat ik niet gekocht heb. Lebowski Publishers geeft scifi uit tegenwoordig, klassiekers, maar ook nieuwe titels en daar is deze 'dystopische hervertelling' er eentje van. Ik heb de Engelse editie al, maar waar is dan weer even de goede vraag.
In de nabije toekomst hebben wereldoorlogen de aarde veranderd in een permanent slagveld. De overlevende mensen zijn sekse- en haarloze wezens geworden die verhalen schrijven op hun spierwitte huid. De bloeddorstige Jean de Men grijpt de macht en onderwerpt iedereen aan zijn ijzeren tucht. Een groep rebellen komt in opstand, aangevuurd door het lied van de kind-strijder Joan. Joans verhaal en haar unieke gave zullen het lot van de wereld voor altijd veranderen.
Marissa Meyer - Renegades
Ik ben een beetje teleurgesteld in mijzelf, wat een boel Yaffie's (Young Adult Fantasy). Ik val er vaak voor, maar de leeservaring is vrijwel nooit meer vervullend genoeg om er blij van te worden. Ik ben écht te oud voor Young Adult. Blijkbaar kan dat toch. Voor een leesdip of luie leesronde, pak ik ze toch nog vaak op. En ik wil graag weten wat er gaande is in fantasyland, dus ook wat YA's betreft.
The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies - humans with extraordinary abilities - who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone...except the villains they once overthrew. Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice - and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.
Stuart Turton - The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
Dit was een van de titels uit de Engelstalige negentien van februari. Het is te maf, te apart, te weird om links te laten liggen.
A brilliantly original high concept murder mystery from a fantastic new talent: Gosford Park meets Inception, by way of Agatha Christie. Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden can identify her killer. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different person. And some hosts are most helpful than others...
Lucy Cooke - The unexpected truth about animals
Yep, vanwege beestjes in de titel.
History is full of strange animal stories, invented by the brightest and most influential, from Aristotle to Disney, and they reveal as much about us and the things we believe as they do about the animals they misrepresent.
Michael R. Fletcher - Ghosts of Tomorrow
Vanwege de cover.
In the La Carpio slums of Costa Rica, the scanned mind of an autistic girl named only 88 runs the South American Mafia's business interests. But 88 wants more. She wants freedom. And she has come to see humanity as a threat. She has an answer: ARCHAEIDAE. He died when he was eight. At fourteen, a six-gun slinging, katana-wielding machine of death, he is the deadliest assassin alive.
Two children against the world.
The world is going to need some help.
John Gwynne - A time of dread
The Faithfull and The Fallen-periode heb ik een beetje gemist en ik hou niet van ergens achteraan lezen, dus ik pak mijn kans met dit eerste boek in een nieuwe serie van John Gwynne: Blood & Bone.
The Ben-Elim, a race of warrior angels, once vanquished a mighty demon horde. Now they rule the Banished lands. But their dominion is brutally enforced and their ancient enemy may not be as crushed as they thought.
In the snowbound north, Drem, a trapper, finds mutilated corpses in the forests - a sign of demonic black magic.
In the south, Riv, a young, tempestuous soldier, discovers a deadly rift within the Ben-Elim themselves.
Two individuals with two world-changing secrets. But where will they lead? And what role will Drem and Riv play in the Banished Land's fate? Difficult choices need to be made.
Leigh Bardugo - The Language of Thorns
Mustread, voor iedereen. En zo mooi uitgegeven.
Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, no. 1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. Enter the Grishaverse...
Ursula K. Le Guin - No Time To Spare
Musthave
Folk van Zoe Gilbert
Ik had geen enkele weerstand tegen die cover.
A captivating, magical and haunting debut novel of breathtaking imagination, from the winner of the 2014 Costa Short Story Award Every year they gather, while the girls shoot their arrows and the boys hunt them out. The air is riddled with spiteful shadows - the wounds and fears and furies of a village year. The remote island village of Neverness is a world far from our time and place. The air hangs rich with the coconut-scent of gorse and the salty bite of the sea. Harsh winds scour the rocky coastline. The villagers' lives are inseparable from nature and its enchantments. Verlyn Webbe, born with a wing for an arm, unfurls his feathers in defiance of past shame; Plum is snatched by a water bull and dragged to his lair; little Crab Skerry takes his first run through the gorse-maze; Madden sleepwalks through violent storms, haunted by horses and her father's wishes. As the tales of this island community interweave over the course of a generation, their earthy desires, resentments, idle gossip and painful losses create a staggeringly original world. Crackling with echoes of ancient folklore, but entirely, wonderfully, her own, Zoe Gilbert's Folk is a dark, beautiful and intoxicating debut.
R.A. Salvatore - Child of a Mad God
Na 30.000 Forgotten Realms-boeken over Dark Elf Drizzt start Salvatore aan een nieuwe serie: Coven. Tijd om op de wagen te springen.
When Aoleyn loses her parents, she is left to fend for herself among a tribe of vicious barbarians. Bound by rigid traditions, she dreams of escaping to the world beyond her mountain home.
The only hope for achieving the kind of freedom she searches for is to learn how to wield the mysterious power used by the tribe's coven known as the Song of Usgar. Thankfully, Aoleyn may be the strongest witch to have ever lived, but magic comes at price. Not only has her abilities caught the eye of the brutish warlord that leads the tribe, but the demon of the mountain hunts all who wield the Coven's power, and Aoleyn's talent has made her a beacon in the night.
Anna Smith Spark - The Court of Broken Knives
Een eerste deel van de Empires of Dust-serie.
It is the richest empire the world has ever known, and it is also doomed. Governed by an imposturous emperor, decadence has blinded its inhabitants to their vulnerability. The Yellow Empire is on the verge of invasion--and only one man can see it.
Haunted by prophetic dreams, Orhan has hired a company of soldiers to cross the desert to reach the capital city. Once they enter the palace, they have one mission: kill the emperor, then all those who remain. Only from the ashes can a new empire be built.The company is a group of good, ordinary soldiers for whom this is a mission like any other. But the strange boy Marith who walks among them is no ordinary soldier. Though he is young, ambitious, and impossibly charming, something dark hides in Marith's past--and in his blood.
Phillippe Lechermeier & Rébecca Dautremer - Een bijbel
Omdat ik dol ben op alles wat illustratrice Dautremer uit haar penseel gooit. Het boek is normaal 45,- euro, maar ligt momenteel bij Libris-winkels in de ramsj (!) voor 15,- euro! Pak je kans!
Een Bijbel is een huzarenstuk waar jarenlang aan gewerkt werd. In haar typische stijl toverde topillustratrice Rébecca Dautremer een Adam, Eva en Mozes uit haar penseel zoals je ze nooit eerder zag. Dromerig, sprookjesachtig, boordevol details en vooral adembenemend mooi: haar paginagrote illustraties verrassen telkens opnieuw! Philippe Lechermeier zette de verhalen helemaal naar zijn hand en maakt gebruik van verschillende vormen en stijlen.
