Tansy Rayner RobertsRezensionen

This is a very cute fairy tale retelling that turns a lot of things on their heads. I enjoyed the story a lot. Unfortunately, the storytelling style didn't work as well for me, so that hindered the enjoyment. (So I'm guessing, based on this story and the notes about it, that I'm not a fan of Wodehouse's style.) Still, it's a cute and queer story that bends a lot of genre conventions and was a fun, fast read.½

I follow Tansy Rayner Roberts' book updates (via her newsletter and her Patreon), so when I saw the posts talking about a Kickstarter for a book with time traveling cats, I knew I had to back it. I ended up backing at a decently high level, which got me copies of all 3 book formats (paperback, digital, and audio) and yet after reading what Tansy (and other readers) had to say about the audiobook I knew that was the format I wanted to read this in. And I'm glad I did! Ciaran Saward is a new-to-me narrator, but did such a wonderful job with this book.

To start with: the basic plot is that cats can both speak and time travel. They can bring humans with them when they travel, but without a cat, humans are stuck moving through time the usual way. At the start of this book, the time travelers get a clue about the location of the time traveler they previously lost in time, and decide to mount a rescue mission to get her back.

Of course, things go wrong and get complicated, and the result is a romp through time as our cast jumps here and there trying to save everyone without getting in more trouble. (Spoiler: trouble finds them. Of course.) It's a lot of fun to see different time periods through the lens of travelers from our future, and the humor throughout was tons of fun.

While I would say that this is meant to be a book for adults, due to the age of the protagonists (all out of college) and some of the subject matter (mostly around grief and betrayal) it could easily be read by young adults. Younger children could also read it as well and enjoy it a lot, though I would recommend that an adult read it along with them to help with some of the more adult themes or references.

I had a ton of fun with this book, though, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who thinks it sounds remotely interesting. I'd also suggest the audiobook; while Tansy's print books are good, the audio steps this one up a notch and makes it even better. Regardless of what book sites may say, this was marketed on Kickstarter as a standalone, and it definitely works as one. (I'm unclear if series plans have been added now that the book is published, or if it is going to remain a standalone.)

I helped kickstart this but at the time I could only afford the e-book and because I am a bear of very little brain I kept forgetting to download it (and when I remembered, the tablet battery was flat). So I was glad to be able to snaffle a print copy off Tansy at Continuum this year.

It's GREAT and it's QUEER and there's NON-BINARY REP and it's about a WRITER (well, she's one of the main POV characters) and there's THEATRICAL SHENANIGANS and I yummed it down on my commute today and now I want to reread the main trilogy plus like a whole bunch more of these novellas because it's such a strikingly well-built universe and the characters feel so real and just *grabby hands*.

I read this and I want Tansy to sit down and write me a million Delta and Bounty stories, and stories about all their friends, and basically just TANSY GIMME MORE MOCKLORE.

I was waiting for all three of the Creature Court trilogy to come out before I read them because I am a dreadful whinger about things that are to be continued ([a:Mira Grant|3153776|Mira Grant|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282493757p2/3153776.jpg], I am looking at you, but in a very fond way). Finally all three were out and I could devour them. But I was depressed and down when I opened [b:Power and Majesty|8305689|Power and Majesty (Creature Court trilogy #1)|Tansy Rayner Roberts|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1274854501s/8305689.jpg|13154710], so I was afraid I wasn't going to enjoy the books as much as I might.

Boy, was I wrong.

Tansy has created an incredible world that is indeed filled with power and majesty in this trilogy. I couldn't read it fast enough. I was constantly going 'oh my gods' as the twists and turns popped up, and I loved how I as the reader was dumped into the middle of everything just as the lead characters were thrown unexpectedly into the reality of the night world that the daylight world rarely sees. Usually when I'm depressed I can't manage anything above the level of a Baby-sitter's Club book (I'm more likely to be lying in bed not reading at all), but these books were just so well realised that they pulled me up out of the darkness and helped me get through the black patch I was going through.

I especially liked Tansy's treatment of queer characters. For one thing, they existed! And it wasn't weird! It was so good to see characters ranging across the sexual spectrum, especially the inclusion of bisexual characters.

I'd recommend this trilogy to anyone who likes their fantasy darker than usual; there are more layers here than just the good guys and the bad guys, and it can be hard to tell who's on whose side. If you like strong, well fleshed out characters, you'll appreciate the hard work Tansy has put in. And if you like plots that are filled with more intrigue and twists than Labyrinth, then this is for you.

My ebook has a cover saying it is book one of Belladonna U. But the book itself is a series of very short stories about the same main group of college students with (or without) magic. Most of the characters were pretty cool, but unfortunately they didn't really do much development. Events were a bit bizarre (magic) but the core group of friends somehow had each other's backs. I won't seek out more from this author because the characters were so static.

Short but entertaining. Despite the fact that it is largely about gaining a husband, the young ladies are strong-willed and look for ways to improve their lot within the confines of society, or sometimes a little outside of it.

I think this is my favourite of the Teacup Isles stories so far, possibly because the romance element was far less driven by Regency Romance tropes (at least those ones that are pre-marriage). And yes, I get that this is fantasy regency, and I like a lot of what Roberts does with the tropes, but the romances are the less interesting parts of this series for me.

Lots of fascinating details, we get to find out what happened to one of the young women from book 1, and letters are used to convey a significant amount of background that gave depth to the story.

I was surprised by how difficult I found it to focus on this book -- normally Tansy's stories grab around my brain and don't let go, but I put this down repeatedly with frustration at what was going on. It's a novella, so I wasn't expecting a complex plot, but so much of it felt either like set dressing or set up for later works. Fortunately for me, I have book two (it's arrival was what prompted me to read this one, which I had been hoarding 'for later').

The prose is, unsurprisingly, beautiful and beguiling. The characters are fabulously realised, varied, and fascinating. The world-building shows through the cracks a bit much, hence my comment about set dressing / set up. And the plot felt like the prologue for something much bigger. It shouldn't have felt too thin, but somehow there wasn't enough of it to hold the story up, despite there being two main threads that come together in an unsurprising twist (I'm not entirely sure that there was meant to be a surprise; to some extent I think Tansy telegraphed several of the plots points with finesse).

Overall: solid fantasy, for those who like classically streamlined plots½

This is is about Juno, now the Duchess of Storm.

She hasn’t seen any ghosts since her marriage, but when she drops her wedding ring, she discovers it must have been spelled to keep ghosts at bay. Suddenly, her late mother-in-law is trying to take over the house, and her first husband is demanding that Juno solve his murder. With her current husband away on a secret mission for the queen, Juno sets out to resolve these problems.

This is compelling and amusing, but darker than the others in the series -- or maybe it’s that as a usual rule, ghost stories aren’t my sort of thing. However, I enjoyed the twists and the dramatic developments and the way the different pieces of the narrative fitted together.

When in doubt, tea.

Liesl travels to father’s villa on the Isle of Bath to deliver a message to her stepmother. She discovers a house full of bohemian artists, a strange lack of servants and an even stranger lack of evidence of the house being cleaned by magic.

This is amusing, and it felt like it was exactly the length it needed to be.

This was not a Bath she recognised from regular childhood visits to the other side of the island: all the spa resorts and theatres and delightful amusements around every corner. No, this was all moors and cliffs and chilly isolation.
What had her father been thinking? [...]
“I’m not here to solve a mystery,” she said aloud, causing Amie to give her a startled look.
She must start as she meant to go on.
And that, Liesl decided as she passed the care of her hired horse over to a helpful passing stable lad, included not wondering at all why exactly it was that this particular villa, purchased by her father upon his second marriage, was so very difficult to reach.
She had read enough mystery novels to know exactly where that sort of question led.

½

Very cute and silly short story turning the Christmas Carol "The 12 Days of Christmas" into a witchy Halloween version... and highlighting some of the ridiculousness of the gifts in the song. This would have been fun to read closer to Halloween (when it was published) but it's equally fun to read right around Christmas! Very amusing.

This is a cute short story about a library full of dragons, and how the librarians deal with said dragons. It’s short and cute, and I got it as part of the author’s Patreon rewards. (If you like her work, she sends out a LOT of stories via Patreon.)

This continues to be a lovely somewhat tongue in cheek Gaslamp fantasy series (regency? I'm not so sure on my faux historical genres). I love that we got to learn more about Juno, somewhat unintentional Duchess of Storm, about different types of magic, and about family mysteries.

Although I’m picky about which novels I finish, I’ve never been a particularly “analytical” reader. I’ve read each Discworld book as it was released (so you can no doubt guess my vintage). The later ones were thought-provoking beyond simple entertainment, which may explain why they’re so re-readable.

This collection of essays raised issues I hadn’t actively considered regarding the portrayal and role of women in Discworld. I liked seeing how his style matured, and the added nuance and layering of later books.

The essays are short and easy to follow. I’d say they make a good starting point for further, in-depth reading. (Like Twoflower, I may have a tendency to read about things rather than simply experiencing them.)

I really enjoyed this second book in the Sparks & Philtres series, but it is definitely a second book in a series. There are definite book-plot-arc moments, but there are also plenty of series-plot-arc moments. And while the book plot is more-or-less resolved in this one, the series arc definitely is not, going so far as to end on a cliffhanger. (The cliffhanger isn't super tense, but it is certainly there. The book ends on more of a pause than an ending.)

As with book one, I think the characters were my favorite parts of this book. I especially liked a couple of the new side characters, though it was also good to see the returning main characters. The bonus short story at the end featuring the Device brothers' origin story was especially great.½

How can you not love a book which has chapter titles like "In Which Miss Wednesday is Snubbed By a House"? This was a comfort read, despite it being a completely new story. I'm looking forward to the sequel coming out in April.

This is definitely a look at an alternate Victorian England where fairies and magic were a part of the world, but there are enough name changes that it took me a little while to realize that it was actually an alternate version of our world and not a similar-but-different world (the way that the author's Teacup Magic books are similar-but-different). I enjoyed the book without the alternate world aspect playing a role at all; I was enjoying the story purely for the characters and story itself. It's not an entirely fluff story—there are deeper themes here if you choose to read into them. Themes of family and what makes up "family;" themes of debt and honor; themes of duty and equality. But those themes are woven into a fun romp of a fairy story, and the whole makes for a thoroughly enjoyable novella.½

This is a fun installment of the Teacup Magic series, and it was nice to see Juno's perspective in this one. I like Juno more as a protagonist than I thought I would; she wasn't my favorite of the characters when she was a side character, but I suppose part of that is seeing her through others' eyes. I have to say, though, the plot in this one felt more developed than in several other books in the series. (The ones featuring Mneme feel more like character studies, while this one has a stronger plot steering the ship, so to speak.) I'm really curious to read the next book and see what Metis is like as a protagonist.

This book is the 5th in the series, but if you don't mind some minor series spoilers you can read this one without having read the others that came before it.½

Charming and well-written!

This is a really cute fantasy holiday novella! The specific details of the fantasy part are hinted at in the beginning, and I enjoyed figuring out what I could of the town's mystery before we got the official explanation just before the main conflict. (I was only right in a few of the more obvious specifics.) It appears that this is a standalone story, though I'd happily read more in this world if I discover that it's part of a series.½

This fantasy of manners novella is a fun series starter. It’s all very silly and fluffy. But, thankfully, it lacks the obtrusive plot-mandated stupid character behaviour that cosy stories so often have (ymmv, of course, and it’s a matter of taste what kind of character blind spots a reader will tolerate).

The author effectively combines a Regency-type setting with “modern/enlightened” elements without jarring anachronisms. One aspect I particularly liked was how so many different characters contributed towards the end, rather than just the two main ones (sorry, being vague here to avoid spoilers).

I dare say other reviews will have compared this book to Sorcery and Cecelia. It’s a fair comparison in terms of tone. Since Tea and Sympathetic Magis is a novella, it’s not nearly as complex: so possibly a better introduction to the genre?

This was even better than Tea and Sympathetic Magic! Mneme is in Town, visiting Juno and Henry, being socially notorious, and spearheading a campaign about portal travel for women. There are political maneuverings! Spies! High manners! And, of course, tea and hedgehogs. This was so fun and I really hope there will be a book 3 in this series. I love it!

Very intriguing... I'll have to pick up Musketeer Space now. Especially with that ending!

I will admit I have not read The Three Musketeers but may take a crack at it, since I enjoyed Joyeux so much.

I've had this for years and finally got around to reading it. And now I want to read all the Mocklore books. Fun!

Tansy Rayner Robert's story is a solid 4 stars and I would love more stories in this world.

Robert Shearman's story is a 1.5 stars.