Books I read in April

Neverdark by C.S. EinfeldQuite honestly I don't see how this book has 4 1/2 stars on amazon.com. It is horrible. For a princess that is supposed to be escaping and hiding Fiera sure likes to announce her name and title to every creature she meets on her adventure. The story is very crude and childish. I can't honestly believe that anyone would pay $2.99 for the book. Luckily I got it for free.


Photographs & Phantoms (The Gaslight Chronicles Book 2) by Cindy Spencer Pape
This is the second book in the Gaslight Chronicles by Cindy Spencer Pape is a free Kindle. I would actually call this more romance than steampunk. It is romance, steampunk lite with a hint of magic on the side. It is a good series if you just want a hint of steampunk and magic, or if you need something to read and introduce steampunk to yourself. Most of the books in the series are novellas, 20,000-50,000 words, but I think two or three of them are novel length, the longest is 76,000 words. The main characters change in each book. Even though these are primarily romance novels I think they are well done, the romance isn't garish. The story flowed well for me, and I will be buying the next book in the series.


Forbidden Quest by Alaina Stanford
The basic plot idea of this story is an interesting idea, but that aside this is a horrible free Kindle book. Nicole is such a horrible, unsympathetic character that it is impossible to believe that she can suddenly change her personality halfway into the story. There are more books in this series, but I won't be buying any more.


Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School Book 1) by Gail Carriger
I actually started a different book before reading this one, but I needed a bit of a break from horrible books. This is a reread for me, I have enjoyed the series very much, but I have to admit that sometimes the othering of the character Soap aka Phineas B. Crow. I believe there are supposed to be four books total, the third book Waistcoats & Weaponry (Finishing School Series Book 3) comes out November 4, 2014.


Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School Series Book 2) by Gail Carriger
Well, Lord Mercer calls Soap a racial slur in this book and nobody rebukes him for it, that is a bit disappointing. I couldn't find the exact spot, but this website backs me up. Still an enjoyable series overall.


The Parasol Protectorate Boxed Set
I don't normally buy boxed sets, especially not kindle ones, but I got this after selling all of my physical books when I knew we were moving to England.


Soulless
Now, don't get me wrong, I love this author and I love this series, but the amount of self-deprecating the main character, Alexia, goes through is nauseating. I know that this is supposed to be the character's flaw, but I wonder what effect it might have on young girls who have read Ms. Carriger's young adult series, Finishing School, especially ones that may have the same physical traits as the ones that Alexia self-deprecates over; big nose, tan, busty and over-weight.

Changeless
Unfortunately at the beginning of chapter nine Lord Maccon describes Alexia, his wife, as "some exotic gypsy." Why is this a problem? Exotic is often used to describe East Asian women, it others them, meaning that it normalizes white people. I believe that this webpage can explain why gypsy is a slur better than I can.

Blameless
Blameless honestly this book just makes me want to eat pesto, but I can't, 'cause Jasmine is allergic to pine nuts, maybe while she is at school

If you want to read better reviews than my own about Ms. Carriger's books I think Fangs for the Fantasy have some very good ones, they delve into LGBQT problems with the books, which I do not understand enough to be able to speak out about them. Here are the links:

Parasol Protectorate
Soulless
Changeless
Blameless
Heartless
Timeless

Finishing School
Etiquette & Espionage
Curtsies & Conspiracies

I think the reviewer of the books agrees with me that these issues aside, the books are delightful, I just wish that Ms. Carriger would take the issues into consideration when she writes. I would also suggest that she look at the tumblr pages of Medieval POC. Why? Because European history has been white-washed. POC (people of color) have always been in Europe, and the idea that meeting someone who is POC or a POC descendant is rare actually alters history. Because steampunk is already alternate history I think that out of seven books only having one person of color, Soap, is disappointing.

I would go ahead and recommend these books, especially if you already like and enjoy steampunk as cosplay or reading steampunk as fiction.


Books read so far: 9 1/2 January plus 11 1/4 February plus 8 March plus 8 in April equals 36 3/4 books so far this year. Work and school has slowed me down a little bit.

Currently watching:참 좋은 시절 (Wonderful Days)

Currently reading:

Heartless (Parasol Protectorate Series Book 4) by Gail Carriger
I will continue to reread and finish the series again before moving back to reading more free Kindle books.

Swagbucks it is how I make money for amazon gift cards!
I made $5 in Amazon.com gift cards for the month of April. I've been busy with school and work.