A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet", in Swords and Dark Magic, edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan I'm not typically a YA reader and choose these books very selectively, instead preferring middle grade fiction which I found to be more endearing and to contain less aggravating tropes. What I do like about a well-written YA is that it's usually fun, fast-paced and easy to read as there will always be times for books that fit these criteria. This book was a great choice for me after finishing some heavy emotional reads. It definitely fit what I was looking for with the added fun factor of two of my favourite things - books and bookshops. A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet'" (from Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan) He also wasn’t supposed to be able to be surprised by someone like the young woman who had burst into the room, an X-Acto craft knife in her trembling hands. She was neither tall nor short, and moved with a muscular grace that suggested she might be a martial artist or a dancer, though her Clash T-shirt under dark blue overalls, oxblood Doc Martens, and her buzzed-short dyed blond hair suggested more of a punk musician or the like. There are a great many inspirations driving this book, more than I even know myself, I suspect. One of the things I wanted to do was to marry two kinds of books that I love: thrillers and fantasy. I wanted to get some of the sensibility of Sixties and Seventies thrillers by Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes and others; with the kind of fantasy where the mythical world underpins the contemporary world, and they occasionally mix, but it all feels very real, as is superbly done in the children’s fantasies by Susan Cooper and Alan Garner, among others. Why did you decide to set the book in the Eighties?

After reading the absolutely abysmally plotted and paced Angel Mage, I was walking into this one with some trepidation. I love classic Garth Nix, in that I love Sabriel and the original Abhorsen trilogy, but I haven't been able to find as much joy in any of his other works. Although, now that the world is created, I could see this being the first entry in a fun, light-hearted series. We shall see. All that said, this is not a "heavy" read. It's one of those books you'll find yourself staying up late to finish—and not regretting that choice the next morning. A raven cawed from the rooftop. Susan waved to it. There were ravens in her dream as well, but bigger ones. Much larger than any that actually existed, and they talked as well, though she couldn’t remember what they said. She always remembered the beginning of the dream best; it got confused after the brook creature.Hmm? Oh, I forget. London. Yes, of course you must go. When I was eighteen I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. But I insist on postcards. You must send me postcards. Trafalgar Square…” Está ambientado en el año 1983 en un Londres algo alternativo y se mezcla la magia con la realidad: fantasía urbana. Como me pasó con "Magia Angelical", creo que el mundo que ha creado da para más de una historia: ofrece una sensación amplia, como si temporalmente ya hubiera estado y estará en un futuro. Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, to the sound of the Salvation Army band outside playing 'Hail the Conquering Hero Comes' or possibly 'Roll Out the Barrel'. Garth left Melbourne at an early age for Canberra (the federal capital) and stayed there till he was nineteen, when he left to drive around the UK in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter. DNF at 30%. It feels like such a slog that I'm not interested in pushing through. Based on the premise I should have loved this book, but it's a lot like The Starless Sea- really wonderful idea but terrible execution. It's weird and not in an enjoyable or humorous way.

Pediculus humanus capitis. A louse,” replied the young man, who was reloading his revolver, hitching up his waistcoat to take rounds from a canvas bullet belt. “Made bigger, obviously. We really have to go. Name’s Merlin, by the bye.” Anywho, this was very similar to many of his other works, but I loved the call-outs to books, and the love of books and the magic system of this one.Before Susan begins her first semester at a prestigious art school, she heads to London early to earn some extra money and search for information about her father. Although her mother could certainly provide details, she’s inexplicably vague (there’s a hand-wavy “drugs in the 60s” line, which is a surprising line to find). This brief interaction sets the tone of the entire book: it follows fantasy convention in the general absence of supervising adults (adults can be present, but from a distance), bills (rent? meals?), and legal implications while setting it in a modern age with guns, helicopters and listening devices. Susan smiled, thinking about what all this meant. Her subconscious hard at work fantasizing, fueled by too many fantasy novels and a childhood diet of Susan Cooper, Tolkien, and C. S. Lewis. The brook creature and the huge ravens and the earth lizard should all make up a nightmare, but the dream wasn’t frightening. Quite the reverse, in fact. She always felt strangely comforted after she had the dream. This was a rough one for me to get through, which I am really upset to say because the concept is great. I pictured it being like The Librarians, which I LOVED! But it was nothing like it at all. I read this on the strength of the title alone and I am very glad I did. It was funny, it was clever, and it was totally entertaining. Susan waited for Jassmine to continue, but her mother’s voice trailed off and she was staring at the wall, whatever thought had been about to emerge lost somewhere along the way.