Posted by Sari
Category 22: A book with a non-human main character: C.J. Cherryh: Conspirator (Foreigner 10)
I told you I binge-read lots of this series in last winter. This one fits the category as in addition to Bren Cameron's point of view we also get that of Caijeri, son of the Atevi leader who has been trusted to Bren's care. Caijeri is an adventurous teenager, has spent two years in space with humans and is finding it difficult to readjust to life on Atevi homeworld, especially as his father has just defeated a coup, and he is being watched extra-carefully.
I would, perhaps, wanted the Atevi perspective to be a little stranger, now Caijeri's age and his experience make him more like a mediating character than truly alien. But this was otherwise an OK part of the series, though I think at this point I was getting a bit glassy-eyed and beginning to have trouble differentiating one book from another.
Category 23: A novel which has won Kuvastaja Prize: Anni Nupponen: Nainen ja kuningas
A healer falls in love with a king in a fantasy land where roles are strictly defined, and which is at war. The men are away fighting for long stretches of time, and the the war is beginning to take its toll on the civilian population.
You should know by know how picky I am with Finnish fiction, so when I say this was better than I expected, that is actually a big thing. Again, we have the first person narrative which I - as you know by now - am not a fan of. Here there was the added problem, that the narrator could never articulate why she fell for the king, who was an asshole, especially as king's best friend was there as a potential romantic interest and seemed like a decent guy. The story of war an its effects on home front was interesting, and even if the ending was clearly coming, it was effective. But I found the chcaracters apart from Eelis one dimentional, and Eelis herself I personally found annoying. There was effort, and originality, and the language was thoughtfully crafted, but in the end it just fell flat for me.
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot
The geeky tea! The classic tea. The tea I grew up with: the only tea-drinker in the family - my grandmother - drank it. This is Twinings loose leaf Earl Grey. I love Earl Grey, the bergamot gives it a very distinctive flavour. You can intensify the citrus with a twist of lemon. Temperature 95 or over, steep for few minutes.
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