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The Peculiar Adventures of John Loveheart, Esq. #1
The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath
1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.
John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr. Fingers, the demon lord of the underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree.
Now Mr Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart has been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down...
John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr. Fingers, the demon lord of the underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree.
Now Mr Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart has been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down...
325 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2015
34 people are currently reading
4756 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 308 reviews
December 31, 2015
A very dark and unique fairy tale for adults told in an interesting mosaic kind of narrative. Highly imaginative and filled with sense of wonder.
I think this is one of that stories where the journey itself is the aim of the telling. We follow a bunch of characters, everyone of them talking in first person. The very short chapters aren't presented in chronological order, so the reader needs to stay on top of the dates to put together the whole colorful picture of this tale.
Some of the characters and scenes are really crazy, so you get the feeling of reading a dream or hallucination. The victorian setting is very fitting for the story and the atmosphere is really great.
Fans of adult fairy tales or authors like Neil Gaiman and Catheryne M. Valente will most likely find a story worth their time. I'll definitely return to Ishbelle Bee's world soon, as the second part of her series (all titles can be read as standalones afaik) is already availaable.
I think this is one of that stories where the journey itself is the aim of the telling. We follow a bunch of characters, everyone of them talking in first person. The very short chapters aren't presented in chronological order, so the reader needs to stay on top of the dates to put together the whole colorful picture of this tale.
Some of the characters and scenes are really crazy, so you get the feeling of reading a dream or hallucination. The victorian setting is very fitting for the story and the atmosphere is really great.
Fans of adult fairy tales or authors like Neil Gaiman and Catheryne M. Valente will most likely find a story worth their time. I'll definitely return to Ishbelle Bee's world soon, as the second part of her series (all titles can be read as standalones afaik) is already availaable.
August 11, 2016
Часовници отмерват лудостта... тик-так, тик-так:
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/m...
Не ми се иска да ви разкривам излишно от сюжета, на задната корица е казано достатъчно. Фингърс иска власт и вечен живот, Мирър е ключът към тях, а Лъвхарт трябва да му я доведе. Но нещата далеч не са толкова прости – Мирър не е просто момиченце, в миналото ѝ се крие тайната на побъркания ѝ дядо и един огромен часовник, а едни други тиктакащи механизми командват животите на чудовища в човешки облик. За мен романът се доближава по сюрреалистичната си природа до “Алиса в страната на чудесата” на Луис Карол, но навярно повече връзки ще бъдат правени с макабрените романи на Нийл Геймън, примерно “Океанът в края на пътя”. Елена Павлова го казва най-добре: “Историята е удивителна, защото е пълна с оригинални и прекрасно разработени елементи, като същевременно стъпва на стабилната почва на приказки, старовремски и градски легенди, които надгражда, все едно е луксозна кутия с бонбони. Изработката е удивителна, понеже авторката е успяла да постигне невъзможното: всеки един герой да си има ясно различим “глас”, стил и начин на мислене – смяната на гледните точки е направо зашеметяващо пиршество за ума – и тези гласове се променят с развитието на героите в книгата…”
CIELA Books
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/m...
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/m...
Не ми се иска да ви разкривам излишно от сюжета, на задната корица е казано достатъчно. Фингърс иска власт и вечен живот, Мирър е ключът към тях, а Лъвхарт трябва да му я доведе. Но нещата далеч не са толкова прости – Мирър не е просто момиченце, в миналото ѝ се крие тайната на побъркания ѝ дядо и един огромен часовник, а едни други тиктакащи механизми командват животите на чудовища в човешки облик. За мен романът се доближава по сюрреалистичната си природа до “Алиса в страната на чудесата” на Луис Карол, но навярно повече връзки ще бъдат правени с макабрените романи на Нийл Геймън, примерно “Океанът в края на пътя”. Елена Павлова го казва най-добре: “Историята е удивителна, защото е пълна с оригинални и прекрасно разработени елементи, като същевременно стъпва на стабилната почва на приказки, старовремски и градски легенди, които надгражда, все едно е луксозна кутия с бонбони. Изработката е удивителна, понеже авторката е успяла да постигне невъзможното: всеки един герой да си има ясно различим “глас”, стил и начин на мислене – смяната на гледните точки е направо зашеметяващо пиршество за ума – и тези гласове се променят с развитието на героите в книгата…”
CIELA Books
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/m...
August 29, 2016
2 или 2,5 звезди... мислех си за три, но няма да е честно спрямо Пенумбра.
Книгата е изключително симпатична, както и гледана чисто визуално, така и като четиво. Обладана е от призраци, Смърт, часовници и убийци, това е безспорно. Но също така е и адски хаотична и разбъркана. Според мен дори името й е малко грешно. Аз поне научих за Мирър и Голиат повече от героите около тях, отколкото от самите тях... а и всъщност не научих кой знае колко. Що се отнася до мистерията на часовника - това да, друго не. Лъвхарт и Тъмбълти са достойните имена за името на книгата. Те бяха основните персонажи, поне според мен, а и първият наистина е много забавен... и не се е родил проклет xD
Мрачна, черна и готическа, достойна за образа, който всички си изграждаме за Викторианска Англия. Никога няма да стане достатъчно добър филм, освен ако сценарият не е на някой, писал го под наркотична зависимост, иначе няма да успее да изработи всички връзки. Героите постоянно се сменят, всеки говори за себе си, но някак си отделно от другите... това е един от проблемите, които открих. Не е ли по-добре героите да градят някаква връзка помежду си? Не беше достатъчно силна... Все едно не четеш една книга, а десет, които нямат никаква връзка помежду си, освен кървавата и брутална атмосфера. Скачаш от света на Алиса в света на Шерлок Холмс и между другото ходиш на гости на старите детски приказки, примесени с Подземното царство. Мирър и Голиат бяха толкова далечни всъщност, да не забравя да добавя, че накрая дори не разбрах как Мирър се превърна в... какво точно, я пак?
Това, което мен лично ме подразни още, бяха имената, понеже те си имат култови значения и щеше да ми е по-лесно, ако бяха преведени основно, не под линия... но аз съм фен на българския превод на Робин Хоб и може би болката ми идва от това. Все едно Копривка да се нарича Нетъл, или както беше точно на английски, и аз все да се чудя какво беше туй растение.
Леко ме дразнеха сравненията с плодове, цветове и прочие, които изобилстваха навсякъде. Не знам защо, но просто беше така.
С изключение на тези неща, книжката е приятна. Глътва се за ден-два, но не бих я отбелязала като тийнейджърска. Макар че, ще кажат някои, "в днешно време децата вече не се плашат от толкова кървища".
Книгата е изключително симпатична, както и гледана чисто визуално, така и като четиво. Обладана е от призраци, Смърт, часовници и убийци, това е безспорно. Но също така е и адски хаотична и разбъркана. Според мен дори името й е малко грешно. Аз поне научих за Мирър и Голиат повече от героите около тях, отколкото от самите тях... а и всъщност не научих кой знае колко. Що се отнася до мистерията на часовника - това да, друго не. Лъвхарт и Тъмбълти са достойните имена за името на книгата. Те бяха основните персонажи, поне според мен, а и първият наистина е много забавен... и не се е родил проклет xD
Мрачна, черна и готическа, достойна за образа, който всички си изграждаме за Викторианска Англия. Никога няма да стане достатъчно добър филм, освен ако сценарият не е на някой, писал го под наркотична зависимост, иначе няма да успее да изработи всички връзки. Героите постоянно се сменят, всеки говори за себе си, но някак си отделно от другите... това е един от проблемите, които открих. Не е ли по-добре героите да градят някаква връзка помежду си? Не беше достатъчно силна... Все едно не четеш една книга, а десет, които нямат никаква връзка помежду си, освен кървавата и брутална атмосфера. Скачаш от света на Алиса в света на Шерлок Холмс и между другото ходиш на гости на старите детски приказки, примесени с Подземното царство. Мирър и Голиат бяха толкова далечни всъщност, да не забравя да добавя, че накрая дори не разбрах как Мирър се превърна в... какво точно, я пак?
Това, което мен лично ме подразни още, бяха имената, понеже те си имат култови значения и щеше да ми е по-лесно, ако бяха преведени основно, не под линия... но аз съм фен на българския превод на Робин Хоб и може би болката ми идва от това. Все едно Копривка да се нарича Нетъл, или както беше точно на английски, и аз все да се чудя какво беше туй растение.
Леко ме дразнеха сравненията с плодове, цветове и прочие, които изобилстваха навсякъде. Не знам защо, но просто беше така.
С изключение на тези неща, книжката е приятна. Глътва се за ден-два, но не бих я отбелязала като тийнейджърска. Макар че, ще кажат някои, "в днешно време децата вече не се плашат от толкова кървища".
May 2, 2016
This books is a bit of a disaster. It starts off well enough, and it kept me turning the pages for quite a while, but the issues with this book far outweigh any positives.
Here's an enumeration of just some of the issues:
-Spelling errors: normally a few mistakes are entirely forgivable - no author or editor is perfect - but the number of typos in this book was simply annoying.
-Unnecessary font stylization: Bee often bolds letters or changes the font size mid-sentence, but I found that it never had the atmospheric effect I hoped it would at the beginning. Instead, it came off as redundant and a touch pretentious at times.
-Clumsy, mixed metaphors: Bee has some really nice imagery in her writing, but she also tends to combine metaphors so that the image becomes muddled or sometimes contradictory. One line (which I don't remember verbatim, I apologize) describes something as, "blue like suicide," or something to that effect. In the right construction, that simile could totally work, but it definitely didn't when I read it.
-An uncomfortable romance:
-Uninspired use of faery tales and myths: Bee draws on a few stories, like The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Snow White and the Persephone abduction myth, but she rarely makes them her own in any way or attempts anything new with them. There was some cognitive dissonance for me, reading stories I know very well being used in a way that made them seem as if Bee were taking credit for them.
-Superficial character development: I realized partway through that, even though many of the characters were entertaining, I knew very little about the majority of them beyond the frivolity on the page. For instance, when Mr Tumbletee's obsessions with teeth is about to be explained - something I was curious about as soon as it was mentioned - the character (author) admits they have no idea why Tumbletee's drawn to teeth. They just are. It was rathe frustrating, and this sort of surface exploration happened the majority of the time.
-Who is this book about, even? The title presumes it would be about Mirror and Goliath, and for a while it is. But the series title highlights Loveheart as our main protagonist. Bee jumps from character to character, which was not only very confusing at times, it diluted the focus of the story. I received a lot of backstory on very minor characters, space that could have been used to develop the main characters more.
These, and many other things, made me groan as I was reading. It's a pity because Bee has some really cool ideas that receive such little attention. I also really enjoyed Loveheart and Death as characters and wanted to know much more about them. I could have read an entire book that explored these two characters properly, but that is, sadly, not what this book was about.
I won't be reading the next book in this series, despite it having as beautiful and enticing a cover as this one does.
Here's an enumeration of just some of the issues:
-Spelling errors: normally a few mistakes are entirely forgivable - no author or editor is perfect - but the number of typos in this book was simply annoying.
-Unnecessary font stylization: Bee often bolds letters or changes the font size mid-sentence, but I found that it never had the atmospheric effect I hoped it would at the beginning. Instead, it came off as redundant and a touch pretentious at times.
-Clumsy, mixed metaphors: Bee has some really nice imagery in her writing, but she also tends to combine metaphors so that the image becomes muddled or sometimes contradictory. One line (which I don't remember verbatim, I apologize) describes something as, "blue like suicide," or something to that effect. In the right construction, that simile could totally work, but it definitely didn't when I read it.
-An uncomfortable romance:
-Uninspired use of faery tales and myths: Bee draws on a few stories, like The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Snow White and the Persephone abduction myth, but she rarely makes them her own in any way or attempts anything new with them. There was some cognitive dissonance for me, reading stories I know very well being used in a way that made them seem as if Bee were taking credit for them.
-Superficial character development: I realized partway through that, even though many of the characters were entertaining, I knew very little about the majority of them beyond the frivolity on the page. For instance, when Mr Tumbletee's obsessions with teeth is about to be explained - something I was curious about as soon as it was mentioned - the character (author) admits they have no idea why Tumbletee's drawn to teeth. They just are. It was rathe frustrating, and this sort of surface exploration happened the majority of the time.
-Who is this book about, even? The title presumes it would be about Mirror and Goliath, and for a while it is. But the series title highlights Loveheart as our main protagonist. Bee jumps from character to character, which was not only very confusing at times, it diluted the focus of the story. I received a lot of backstory on very minor characters, space that could have been used to develop the main characters more.
These, and many other things, made me groan as I was reading. It's a pity because Bee has some really cool ideas that receive such little attention. I also really enjoyed Loveheart and Death as characters and wanted to know much more about them. I could have read an entire book that explored these two characters properly, but that is, sadly, not what this book was about.
I won't be reading the next book in this series, despite it having as beautiful and enticing a cover as this one does.
August 17, 2016
Наистина искам да й дам много повече звезди на тази книга. Наистина!
С толкова голям кеф и ентусиазъм отидох в книжарницата да си взема тази книжка още в деня, когато я пуснаха. Все пак, вижте й заглавието! Звучи толкова оригинално и мистериозно. Вижте й корицата! Тя е произведение на изкуството, моите адмирации към художника. Прочете описанието! Звучи ви просто невероятно, нали? Точно като микс от Нийл Геймън и Луис Карол! Бих казала и щипка Шерлок Холмс.
Да, ама не! Имах такива големи очаквания, но всичките до едно ми се разбиха, за мое огромно съжаление. Наистина много исках да обикна тази книга.
Имаше прекалено много неща, които ме издразниха. Първо, едно 60% от книгата въобще не се разказваше за Мирър и Голиат. Моля?!?! Нали те са главните герои, нали на корицата пише, че е тяхната удивителна история?
Второ, имаше безумно много гледни точки на почти всички герои в книгата, а те не бяха хич малко! Като похват е интересно, съгласна съм, ама не искам да знам за вътрешната борба на всеки герой, който се пръква само за няколко сцени така или иначе. Искам да знам за Мирър, за бога!!!
Последно, самата книга беше прекалено хаотична. Връщахме се страшно много пъти в миналато, после скачахме в настоящето, после пак. Абе, много объркана работа. Най-фрапиращото за мен обаче беше, когато някъде към 1/3 от книгата осъзнах, че тя всъщност няма главен сюжет. Вече завършена, аз все още не проумявам каква беше главната линия в нея и целта й.
Поне има хубава корица, ако не друго. Браво на Сиела, че са решили да я запазят.
С толкова голям кеф и ентусиазъм отидох в книжарницата да си взема тази книжка още в деня, когато я пуснаха. Все пак, вижте й заглавието! Звучи толкова оригинално и мистериозно. Вижте й корицата! Тя е произведение на изкуството, моите адмирации към художника. Прочете описанието! Звучи ви просто невероятно, нали? Точно като микс от Нийл Геймън и Луис Карол! Бих казала и щипка Шерлок Холмс.
Да, ама не! Имах такива големи очаквания, но всичките до едно ми се разбиха, за мое огромно съжаление. Наистина много исках да обикна тази книга.
Имаше прекалено много неща, които ме издразниха. Първо, едно 60% от книгата въобще не се разказваше за Мирър и Голиат. Моля?!?! Нали те са главните герои, нали на корицата пише, че е тяхната удивителна история?
Второ, имаше безумно много гледни точки на почти всички герои в книгата, а те не бяха хич малко! Като похват е интересно, съгласна съм, ама не искам да знам за вътрешната борба на всеки герой, който се пръква само за няколко сцени така или иначе. Искам да знам за Мирър, за бога!!!
Последно, самата книга беше прекалено хаотична. Връщахме се страшно много пъти в миналато, после скачахме в настоящето, после пак. Абе, много объркана работа. Най-фрапиращото за мен обаче беше, когато някъде към 1/3 от книгата осъзнах, че тя всъщност няма главен сюжет. Вече завършена, аз все още не проумявам каква беше главната линия в нея и целта й.
Поне има хубава корица, ако не друго. Браво на Сиела, че са решили да я запазят.
June 5, 2015
Review copy
A world of spiritualists, a murderer who kills children and transfers their souls into clockwork pieces of art, a shape-shifting guardian, a possible look at the root of the Jack the Ripper legend, and I still had a difficult time embracing The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath.
Maybe it was the way the story was told piecemeal in a series of vignettes through a wide variety of first person narratives rather than with a single voice. At times it seemed disconnected. At first it almost seemed like a children's fairy tale, but before long we see the incredible darkness beneath the surface. That I liked
I'm not saying The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath is without merit. The characters are well developed and quite varied and even the most ruthless among them isn't without a tender moment or two. It's just that I wished there was more of a cohesiveness throughout.
Although a part of a series, The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath, stands well enough on its own and is available now both in paperback and e-book formats from Angry Robot Books.
I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to recommending this one. I liked it, but not enough to say others should read it, but then your mileage may vary.
A world of spiritualists, a murderer who kills children and transfers their souls into clockwork pieces of art, a shape-shifting guardian, a possible look at the root of the Jack the Ripper legend, and I still had a difficult time embracing The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath.
Maybe it was the way the story was told piecemeal in a series of vignettes through a wide variety of first person narratives rather than with a single voice. At times it seemed disconnected. At first it almost seemed like a children's fairy tale, but before long we see the incredible darkness beneath the surface. That I liked
I'm not saying The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath is without merit. The characters are well developed and quite varied and even the most ruthless among them isn't without a tender moment or two. It's just that I wished there was more of a cohesiveness throughout.
Although a part of a series, The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath, stands well enough on its own and is available now both in paperback and e-book formats from Angry Robot Books.
I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to recommending this one. I liked it, but not enough to say others should read it, but then your mileage may vary.
August 7, 2016
Изключително приятна изненада се оказа тази книга!
"Обичам сърца, много интересно нещо е сърцето, а и много вкусно."
"Обичам сърца, много интересно нещо е сърцето, а и много вкусно."
August 2, 2016
4.5/5
OH MY GOSH!
I would describe this as a mix of 'The Book Thief' and 'Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children' with a little bit of American Horror Story.
The story was unique and exciting, it was super fast-paste and I flew through it; definitely one of the best and most addicting books I've read this year!
OH MY GOSH!
I would describe this as a mix of 'The Book Thief' and 'Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children' with a little bit of American Horror Story.
The story was unique and exciting, it was super fast-paste and I flew through it; definitely one of the best and most addicting books I've read this year!
October 13, 2017
Final : 3.85
Es un cuento de fantasía oscura para adultos, si, en efecto se nota, sin embargo, está bien mezclada con una novela policiaca de época. Lo sé, suena muy extraño. En lo personal, es la ventaja y la desventaja de este libro, principalmente porque te llevarás una sorpresa, la narrativa me pareció buena, pero no excepcional para hablar de cuentos, para eso se necesita mucho encanto y precisión, pero lo hizo muy bien.
Lo mejor del libro, los personajes principales, Mirror y el peculiar Goliath sin duda son personajes de cuentos, pero de esos que no olvidas, lo malo es que comparten protagonismo con el investigador, mucho protagonismo para el sin ser el protagonista XD.
Este libro lo había dejado porque se me hizo pesado, las conversaciones no las comprendía del todo y las descripciones de época se me complicaban un poco, nada malo del libro, culpa mía, concretamente mi nivel de Inglés 😂, estoy mejorando, poco a poco XD.
Es un cuento de fantasía oscura para adultos, si, en efecto se nota, sin embargo, está bien mezclada con una novela policiaca de época. Lo sé, suena muy extraño. En lo personal, es la ventaja y la desventaja de este libro, principalmente porque te llevarás una sorpresa, la narrativa me pareció buena, pero no excepcional para hablar de cuentos, para eso se necesita mucho encanto y precisión, pero lo hizo muy bien.
Lo mejor del libro, los personajes principales, Mirror y el peculiar Goliath sin duda son personajes de cuentos, pero de esos que no olvidas, lo malo es que comparten protagonismo con el investigador, mucho protagonismo para el sin ser el protagonista XD.
Este libro lo había dejado porque se me hizo pesado, las conversaciones no las comprendía del todo y las descripciones de época se me complicaban un poco, nada malo del libro, culpa mía, concretamente mi nivel de Inglés 😂, estoy mejorando, poco a poco XD.
August 20, 2016
I didn't want to rate this book so low. I love the cover and the story is really extraordinary and good but there are so many things that I didn't like that I have no other option but to give it 1 star.
Up to one point the story is very good and I enjoyed it but then, after the 100th page of my copy everything started to go down.
The book begins with Mirror's POV and then suddenly there is everybody's POV but Mirror's and it seems as if this is not a book about her and her protector but about everybody else.
There is nothing more that I despise in a book but multiple POVs especially when you have to figure out whose POV it is on your own. I really don't like these kind of books. I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE, I want to know what's happening with my main characters because...you know, they are the MAIN characters after all.
There is a time when the bad ones capture Mirror and from then on it is no more Mirror and Goliath it's John Loveheart and every fucking bad person who've bought a watch with a soul in it. I don't care about them, I want to see Mirror and Goliath. Despite the fact that she became from 6-year-old to god-knows-how-older, their story is still the main for me and you can't just fuck it and start talking about John Fucking Loveheart -_-
It's The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath after all.
If you begin with just one POV, stick with it. The purpose of only one is to maintain the mystery and let the reader figure it out on their own and not tell it all via different people. Or at least include everybody else in the summary. Yeah, I know that the series is, apparently, about John but well...please, authors, at least stick with your title or.. you know, CHANGE it.
And when you choose one time, stick with it as well!
I really hate flashbacks in every 3 pages it looks as if the author couldn't choose which year she wanted to use- 1887 or 1888. She is constantly jumping through time, flashbacks and everything.
Not to mention that the only good thing about the book is the idea and the cover, everything else is just fucked up. As if she was in a hurry to finish it and be done with it.
That actually explains all of the plot holes and unanswered questions she left. Hasn't Bee heard of... I don't know, beta readers? Editors? Feedback? Anything?
Apparently not.
This is supposed to be an adult horror? My everyday life is horrifying in comparison.
Up to one point the story is very good and I enjoyed it but then, after the 100th page of my copy everything started to go down.
The book begins with Mirror's POV and then suddenly there is everybody's POV but Mirror's and it seems as if this is not a book about her and her protector but about everybody else.
There is nothing more that I despise in a book but multiple POVs especially when you have to figure out whose POV it is on your own. I really don't like these kind of books. I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE, I want to know what's happening with my main characters because...you know, they are the MAIN characters after all.
There is a time when the bad ones capture Mirror and from then on it is no more Mirror and Goliath it's John Loveheart and every fucking bad person who've bought a watch with a soul in it. I don't care about them, I want to see Mirror and Goliath. Despite the fact that she became from 6-year-old to god-knows-how-older, their story is still the main for me and you can't just fuck it and start talking about John Fucking Loveheart -_-
It's The Singular and Extraordinary Tale of Mirror and Goliath after all.
If you begin with just one POV, stick with it. The purpose of only one is to maintain the mystery and let the reader figure it out on their own and not tell it all via different people. Or at least include everybody else in the summary. Yeah, I know that the series is, apparently, about John but well...please, authors, at least stick with your title or.. you know, CHANGE it.
And when you choose one time, stick with it as well!
I really hate flashbacks in every 3 pages it looks as if the author couldn't choose which year she wanted to use- 1887 or 1888. She is constantly jumping through time, flashbacks and everything.
Not to mention that the only good thing about the book is the idea and the cover, everything else is just fucked up. As if she was in a hurry to finish it and be done with it.
That actually explains all of the plot holes and unanswered questions she left. Hasn't Bee heard of... I don't know, beta readers? Editors? Feedback? Anything?
Apparently not.
This is supposed to be an adult horror? My everyday life is horrifying in comparison.
September 21, 2021
Шеметна фентъзи история, която звучи като приказка, но всъщност е изпълнена с много кръв, насилие, ужаси и необичайни герои. Въображението на авторката не знае граници, а действието се развива във викторианска Англия с готическа атмосфера.
Трудно е да преразкажа историята, но в общи линии Голиат спасява малко момиченце, затворено в часовник. Двамата придобиват неочаквани способности и пътуват по света, за да разберат какво се е случило с тях. Подгонени са от господаря на Подземния свят, който иска да се сдобие със силата на Мирър. Лъвхарт, отгледан от него и превърнат в убиец, вижда нещо необикновено в момиченцето и решава да ѝ помогне. Той е доста необичаен герой и към края се усетих, че го харесвам, въпреки всичко. Междувременно авторката успя да вкара доста герои в едва 240 страници.
Колкото и да ми хареса изказът на Ишбел Бий, както и сравненията ѝ, от които настръхваш, все пак не мога да кажа категорично, че книгата ми е харесала. Много разхвърляна и неподредена. Всъщност, все едно я четох отзад напред. Ако можеше тук въображението на авторката да се впрегне в подреден и ясен текст, щеше се получи много добро произведение.
„Мисля, че само това е важно на този свят. Няма значение какво си, стига да обичаш и да си обичан.“
„Небето в Египет е златно и розово и имат много богове. Небето в Англия е сиво и бледосиньо и казват, че тук има само един Бог, но преди е имало повече. Те изчезнали, погълнати в разкази. Оставили само думи след себе си.“
За атмосферата в книгата:
„Чайки крякат като вещици, а луната над нас е с формата на сърп. Хората тук се скитат като призраци, сиво върху сиво.“
„Денят е малко по-светъл. Цветята цъфтят с мъничко повече цвят.“
„Казвам се Лъвхарт и не съм се родил проклет.“
„Лудостта е просто дума.“
Трудно е да преразкажа историята, но в общи линии Голиат спасява малко момиченце, затворено в часовник. Двамата придобиват неочаквани способности и пътуват по света, за да разберат какво се е случило с тях. Подгонени са от господаря на Подземния свят, който иска да се сдобие със силата на Мирър. Лъвхарт, отгледан от него и превърнат в убиец, вижда нещо необикновено в момиченцето и решава да ѝ помогне. Той е доста необичаен герой и към края се усетих, че го харесвам, въпреки всичко. Междувременно авторката успя да вкара доста герои в едва 240 страници.
Колкото и да ми хареса изказът на Ишбел Бий, както и сравненията ѝ, от които настръхваш, все пак не мога да кажа категорично, че книгата ми е харесала. Много разхвърляна и неподредена. Всъщност, все едно я четох отзад напред. Ако можеше тук въображението на авторката да се впрегне в подреден и ясен текст, щеше се получи много добро произведение.
„Мисля, че само това е важно на този свят. Няма значение какво си, стига да обичаш и да си обичан.“
„Небето в Египет е златно и розово и имат много богове. Небето в Англия е сиво и бледосиньо и казват, че тук има само един Бог, но преди е имало повече. Те изчезнали, погълнати в разкази. Оставили само думи след себе си.“
За атмосферата в книгата:
„Чайки крякат като вещици, а луната над нас е с формата на сърп. Хората тук се скитат като призраци, сиво върху сиво.“
„Денят е малко по-светъл. Цветята цъфтят с мъничко повече цвят.“
„Казвам се Лъвхарт и не съм се родил проклет.“
„Лудостта е просто дума.“
July 30, 2016
Тази книга е едно прекрасно и чудато очарование.
"Удивителната и изключителна приказка за Мирър и Голиат" е шантава история на малко момиче, което е заключено от дядоа си в голям и магически часовник, но е спасено от огромния и добър полицай Голиат, който й става верен спътник. След това се оказва, че Мирър е придобила огромна магическа сила, а всяка такава сила, естествено, е обект на чужд ламтеж и претенция. Така започва преследването.
В хода на действие ще се срещнете с всякакви откачалки, които искрено, ама искрен ще ви изненадат с действията си. Защото светът, в който ви отвежда тази книга, не е като нищо друго, което сте виждали. Той е колоритен, динамичен, свеж, забавен и пристрастяващ.
Докато четях се усмихвах пак и пак. Всичко в тази история ми хареса, освен това, че свърши прекалено бързо и че наличието на толкова герои малко отстрани фокуса от Мирър и Голиат. Но искрено я препоръчвам на всеки, който се смята за човек с богато въображение и чувство за хумор.
"Удивителната и изключителна приказка за Мирър и Голиат" е шантава история на малко момиче, което е заключено от дядоа си в голям и магически часовник, но е спасено от огромния и добър полицай Голиат, който й става верен спътник. След това се оказва, че Мирър е придобила огромна магическа сила, а всяка такава сила, естествено, е обект на чужд ламтеж и претенция. Така започва преследването.
В хода на действие ще се срещнете с всякакви откачалки, които искрено, ама искрен ще ви изненадат с действията си. Защото светът, в който ви отвежда тази книга, не е като нищо друго, което сте виждали. Той е колоритен, динамичен, свеж, забавен и пристрастяващ.
Докато четях се усмихвах пак и пак. Всичко в тази история ми хареса, освен това, че свърши прекалено бързо и че наличието на толкова герои малко отстрани фокуса от Мирър и Голиат. Но искрено я препоръчвам на всеки, който се смята за човек с богато въображение и чувство за хумор.
November 19, 2017
Доста шантава книжка с усукана като спирала история. Единственият минус - малко по-претенциозно написана, отколкото ми се нрави - едни метафори, едни заигравки с времената - сегашно/минало и пр, и пр. Но пък - глави хвърчат на килограм, разбираме и кой е Джак Изкормвача, та финална оценка - 4 звезди!!!
July 18, 2017
WTF did I just read? Definitely not for the faint of heart, quite whimsical actually, and the gore, oh, the gore! To be honest, I'm slightly saddened that it wasn't published as an audio book, because its fragmented structure fell even more apart during my tired, sleepy-eyed reading of the book late at night. It gave me some rather intriguing dreams though... 3,5 stars.
April 28, 2015
(I got an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
Hmmm. A hard one to rate. I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. Maybe 3.5 stars / between "I liked it" and "I really liked it"?
The setting, characters and writing had a twisted fairy tale-like quality, rather close to what I'd expect from authors I love (like Neil Gaiman). Victorian England, for starters, with a dash of the Egyptian craze. An Egyptian princess whose soul may have travelled to another human vessel via a clock. A clockmaker who makes very specific implements using inhuman means. A group of young boys raised by the Lord of the Underworld, all ending up twisted in various ways. People fighting against death and aging, going against time, ready to whatever it takes to prolong their own lives. All this against the backdrop of the Ripper murders, which are given a different take her.
I liked that the story went in a roundabout way. As I usually say in such cases, it's both a good and a bad thing. Good for readers like me who enjoy it when a novel doesn't necessarily follow its characters chronologically, because it's like a puzzle and it's amusing (at first, it's not so obvious why this or that character becomes the focus, but then those subplots gradually tie together). Bad, because if you don't have a lot of time to focus on the story, it's easy to feel lost after a while. After all, we aren't always able to read a book in one or two sittings only... So, I enjoyed trying to piece things together, but I'll also admit that it wasn't very easy at times, as I'd somewhat lose my train of thoughts about the novel as soon as something else popped up.
Mr Lovehart was one strange, mad fellow. And the kind of persona that tends to grow on me: crazy, clearly evil in many ways, yet with a heroic bastard streak that went well with his killing antics. And eccentric clothes. Somehow, it just worked.
I also really liked the relationship between Mirror and Goliath, fierce protector as he was. Just like White and to a certain extent Walnut, he provided a strong, honest counterpoint against the depravity of other characters. I'm not so fond of the ending and of what it implied when it came to Mirror and Goliath, though, considering that she "grew up" pretty fast, but that nothing is said about her mental growth. Especially as she wrote her letter, it felt like she was still quite a child in her mind, and so it made things rather... weird, to say the least.
The same goes for Pomegranate's story, that didn't tie as well with the other characters'. Or maybe that was just me. Maybe I happened to read her chapters at a moment when I wasn't focused enough. (See above.) And there were moments when I felt that the characters in general ween't so well-defined, that they would've deserved more fleshing out.
I'd still recommend this novel to readers in search of whimsical settings and characters, with magical realism and enchanting prose.
Hmmm. A hard one to rate. I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would. Maybe 3.5 stars / between "I liked it" and "I really liked it"?
The setting, characters and writing had a twisted fairy tale-like quality, rather close to what I'd expect from authors I love (like Neil Gaiman). Victorian England, for starters, with a dash of the Egyptian craze. An Egyptian princess whose soul may have travelled to another human vessel via a clock. A clockmaker who makes very specific implements using inhuman means. A group of young boys raised by the Lord of the Underworld, all ending up twisted in various ways. People fighting against death and aging, going against time, ready to whatever it takes to prolong their own lives. All this against the backdrop of the Ripper murders, which are given a different take her.
I liked that the story went in a roundabout way. As I usually say in such cases, it's both a good and a bad thing. Good for readers like me who enjoy it when a novel doesn't necessarily follow its characters chronologically, because it's like a puzzle and it's amusing (at first, it's not so obvious why this or that character becomes the focus, but then those subplots gradually tie together). Bad, because if you don't have a lot of time to focus on the story, it's easy to feel lost after a while. After all, we aren't always able to read a book in one or two sittings only... So, I enjoyed trying to piece things together, but I'll also admit that it wasn't very easy at times, as I'd somewhat lose my train of thoughts about the novel as soon as something else popped up.
Mr Lovehart was one strange, mad fellow. And the kind of persona that tends to grow on me: crazy, clearly evil in many ways, yet with a heroic bastard streak that went well with his killing antics. And eccentric clothes. Somehow, it just worked.
I also really liked the relationship between Mirror and Goliath, fierce protector as he was. Just like White and to a certain extent Walnut, he provided a strong, honest counterpoint against the depravity of other characters. I'm not so fond of the ending and of what it implied when it came to Mirror and Goliath, though, considering that she "grew up" pretty fast, but that nothing is said about her mental growth. Especially as she wrote her letter, it felt like she was still quite a child in her mind, and so it made things rather... weird, to say the least.
The same goes for Pomegranate's story, that didn't tie as well with the other characters'. Or maybe that was just me. Maybe I happened to read her chapters at a moment when I wasn't focused enough. (See above.) And there were moments when I felt that the characters in general ween't so well-defined, that they would've deserved more fleshing out.
I'd still recommend this novel to readers in search of whimsical settings and characters, with magical realism and enchanting prose.
Read
August 11, 2016Започнах да "дебна" излизането на тази книга, още от момента, в който беше обявено, че ще излиза на български. Пожелах я в мига, щом видях корицата. Когато се добрах да нея, измести куп други планирани четива, които бяха по-напред в списъка.
Нека започна от самото заглавие. То описва с абсолютна точност това, което очаква читателя. Една невероятна приказка, но от страшните, които сега звучат още по-стряскащи, защото плашещото идва не от страшни зверове, зли магьосници или странни създания, а от обикновени предмети - красиви стенни часовници - и красиви насекоми - калинките, които като деца всички сме обичали.
Историята на Мирър и Голиат е безумна, ужасна, прекрасна. Пълна с препратки, някои - явни, други - не чак толкова - към гръцката митология и древноегипетската история, към вярването, че един предмет може да има душа, или че нечия душа може да бъде вградена в него. Интересна е и идеята на Ишбел Бий да нарече закрилника на Мирър именно Голиат - като онзи, библейския. Само че този Голиат не е злонамерен и лош. Макар и грамаден като съименника си, той е добър и грижовен, и поне за мен, един от най-симпатичните образи в тази книга.
Трудно ми е да определя жанра на книгата. Вероятно в основата си би трябвало да бъде определена като фентъзи, но в нея има и откровени крими елементи, както и споменаване на на реално съществували личности със зловеща слава. Изобщо, в тази книга Лондон от края на 80-те години на 19 в. е едно много... интересно и смразяващо място, където понякога дори часовниците не са това, което изглеждат.
Книгата има нещо от атмосферата на "Библиотеката на въглен Връх" на Скот Хокинс, нещо от нейната бруталност, макар тук тя да е малко по-прикрита. В определени моменти ми напомни и за трилогията на Робин Джарвис "Танцуващият замък" - който е чел, вероятно ще се досети какво имам предвид.
Нека уточня и още нещо. Въпреки корицата, това не е детска книга. Има моменти, които /меко казано/ биха смутили едно дете, затова вероятно е добре тя се чете от поне 16-17 годишна възраст нагоре.
Преводът на Борислав Стефанов е великолепен. Жив, цветист, разкошен за четене - превод, какъвто тази книга наистина заслужава.
Прочетох с удоволствие тази книга и искрено се надявам да видим на български и другите части. И дано да е скоро!
Нека започна от самото заглавие. То описва с абсолютна точност това, което очаква читателя. Една невероятна приказка, но от страшните, които сега звучат още по-стряскащи, защото плашещото идва не от страшни зверове, зли магьосници или странни създания, а от обикновени предмети - красиви стенни часовници - и красиви насекоми - калинките, които като деца всички сме обичали.
Историята на Мирър и Голиат е безумна, ужасна, прекрасна. Пълна с препратки, някои - явни, други - не чак толкова - към гръцката митология и древноегипетската история, към вярването, че един предмет може да има душа, или че нечия душа може да бъде вградена в него. Интересна е и идеята на Ишбел Бий да нарече закрилника на Мирър именно Голиат - като онзи, библейския. Само че този Голиат не е злонамерен и лош. Макар и грамаден като съименника си, той е добър и грижовен, и поне за мен, един от най-симпатичните образи в тази книга.
Трудно ми е да определя жанра на книгата. Вероятно в основата си би трябвало да бъде определена като фентъзи, но в нея има и откровени крими елементи, както и споменаване на на реално съществували личности със зловеща слава. Изобщо, в тази книга Лондон от края на 80-те години на 19 в. е едно много... интересно и смразяващо място, където понякога дори часовниците не са това, което изглеждат.
Книгата има нещо от атмосферата на "Библиотеката на въглен Връх" на Скот Хокинс, нещо от нейната бруталност, макар тук тя да е малко по-прикрита. В определени моменти ми напомни и за трилогията на Робин Джарвис "Танцуващият замък" - който е чел, вероятно ще се досети какво имам предвид.
Нека уточня и още нещо. Въпреки корицата, това не е детска книга. Има моменти, които /меко казано/ биха смутили едно дете, затова вероятно е добре тя се чете от поне 16-17 годишна възраст нагоре.
Преводът на Борислав Стефанов е великолепен. Жив, цветист, разкошен за четене - превод, какъвто тази книга наистина заслужава.
Прочетох с удоволствие тази книга и искрено се надявам да видим на български и другите части. И дано да е скоро!
October 6, 2016
Приказка от 19-и век с медиуми, часовници и една тайна
(Цялото ревю е тук: https://knijenpetar.wordpress.com/201...)
Не е като да не съм чел странни книги, но точно тази прави особено впечатление. Мисля, че може да мине за тийнейджърска, но с много условности, защото съдържа неща, които спокойно биха смутили някой по-стриктен родител. Е, с очите си съм виждал хлапета да проявяват интерес към неотговарящи за възрастта им книги и никой да не се учудва на това. Така че нека поне тук да не бъда толкова лош и да вместя книгата в съответната категория. Пък и лесно ще я откриете в компанията на модерните тийн книжки.
(Цялото ревю е тук: https://knijenpetar.wordpress.com/201...)
Не е като да не съм чел странни книги, но точно тази прави особено впечатление. Мисля, че може да мине за тийнейджърска, но с много условности, защото съдържа неща, които спокойно биха смутили някой по-стриктен родител. Е, с очите си съм виждал хлапета да проявяват интерес към неотговарящи за възрастта им книги и никой да не се учудва на това. Така че нека поне тук да не бъда толкова лош и да вместя книгата в съответната категория. Пък и лесно ще я откриете в компанията на модерните тийн книжки.
March 26, 2016
I really enjoy books that refuse to be pigeonholed. Here's one with fantasy, horror, science fiction, and steampunk elements. A lot of people who have read this are baffled as how to explain it. Think of Alice in Wonderland overtones with a high body count and creepy, kooky characters and you'll get the general idea. One of the very few books I've read where I thought there were too many points of view and the story layout gets a shade more convoluted than it has to but still a very strong debut effort. It'll be interesting to see how this series evolves.
August 8, 2016
Волю или неволю, всички малко или много съдим книгите по кориците. А корицата на „Удивителната и изключителна приказка за Мирър и Голиат” от Ишбел Бий просто крещи „ПРОЧЕТИ МЕ!!!” ... А вие прочетете ревюто на книгата от "Книжни Криле"!
https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
February 1, 2016
Mirror was trapped in a clock by her grandfather and came out as something more than human. She wanders England with her shape-shifting guardian, Goliath. When they encounter the evil Mr. Fingers and his “son” Mr. Loveheart, they must tread carefully, because Mr. Fingers is after Mirror’s soul.
This book is hard to summarize, because of the threadbare plot and vague, dreamlike (nightmarelike) prose. Had I not been told about this book by a friend and stumbled across it on my own in the bookstore, I’d be lured in by the gorgeous cover art and the seemingly middle-grade premise. The cover and the chapter headers are the best part of this book however.
I broke out the page flags again for this beauty. But I couldn’t have tabbed all my annoyances because then there would have been more tabs than pages. Warning: Rant Approaching!
This book. It’s a polished turd. A glimmering bit of fool’s gold, shimmering like bright faerie lights. But when you pick it up, the plot and characterization crumble to dust in your hands like burnt moth wings. The weak plot, like a newborn deer tottering on fragile stick legs unravels quickly like so much glittering gold thread, spun by Rumpelstiltskin. The characters are cardboard, dull and grey like storm clouds who’ve decided not to storm. The story is a fever dream of bad imagery, vile like demon’s eyes. The genre is a harlequin mask, shining and deadly. But beneath the middle-grade veneer lies a muddle mess of childlike character names, playful and safe like a dandelion, marred by young adult themes, briefly violent like a car crash you didn’t see coming. Marketed as an adult horror novel, but it’s a lie, like the faerie feast happened upon in the faerie forest, where the food turns to ash in your mouth. The ash of the aforementioned burnt moth wings.
Are you tired yet? Good, me too. That’s what it felt like to read this damn book.
The writing is so tortured – it reads like the first draft of some bizarre, overwrought nightmare. It’s a jumble of vague images, like Bee thought up a bunch of one or two liners that sounded cool to her and then she smashed them together into a “story.” I tabbed 6 weird analogies (similes, metaphors, whatever) in the first 4 pages, and those are just the ones that stood out the most. The book includes many “gems” such as:
“…Goliath arrives like a star falling and imprinting the surface of the earth. THUD he has landed. A galactic footprint. The moon a stage light for his materialization onto the Liverpool docks.”
“He deposits us on the docks with a wink and a crooked smile; like a demented midwife, delivers us straight from the sea.”
“…great splodges of water fall into my eyes and Goliath’s beard, disappearing like pearls thrown into a wild forest.”
“London, city of poisoned water, sour milk, fish stink and shit. Blood bubbles and drips down the thighs of her.” This is by far one of the grossest analogies I’ve heard.
Followed by: “He smelled of spermy things.”
“The smell of hot water bottle fur and his great heart beating lull me asleep.” Okay, seriously, what the hell does hot water bottle fur smell like!?
“The darkness spreads out before me like a roll of carpet to stuff Cleopatra in.”
“He smiled, a smile of a thousand cats.”
“I am a nasty thing and mad as scissors.”
Mirror describing Loveheart: “You are stuffed with hearts. They burst out of your eyes, fall to your feet like severed heads. Your guts are red ribbons. Your heart is a rose.”
To add to the ridiculous flow of the story, no color is ever just a color. If it’s green, it’s frog green. Or gold is fairy (which she also spells faerie) gold, twinkling and shimmery. While this doesn’t ordinarily bother me, it’s incredibly annoying when used every time a color is mentioned.
“The sky is the colour of porridge and the sea, a miserable treacle black.”
“It had eyes like magic beans, dark and chocolatey…”
“….for my eyes were black. The colour of dead things.”
“It was big and cool and blue like suicide.” This one really had me like ?_?
When she wasn’t busy filling in the gaps with “tick-tock, tickety-tock, clock!” Bee also had some fun dicking around with fonts and word placement; filling a page with the word bitches, or another with weird heart symbols. Meanwhile, the lack of plot ran rampant and left me wondering what the point of the book was. Halfway through, the main timeline is thrown out the window and we’re taken back in time, forward in time, dragged around through various new character POVs that were sadly indistinguishable from any previous chapters because every character had the same voice.
I was left with many questions, and not in an intriguing manner. Mirror’s abilities or non-human attributes are never really discussed, random characters that have no real impact on the story are given chapters that felt completely irrelevant, readers are never enlightened as to why her grandfather shoved her in a magical clock to begin with or what he hoped to achieve by doing so.
The genre is just as confusing as the plot. For the most part it reads like a middle grade book, especially with character names like Loveheart, Mr. Fingers, Pomegranate (a terrible reimagining of Persephone), Doctor Cherrytree, Mr. Chimes (a clockmaker of course), and Goliath Honey-Flower. The language is pretty basic, until Bee decides things needed to be spiced up and throws in some swearing, or a few quick scenes of violence. Nothing overly graphic, just Loveheart abruptly shooting someone in the face, or lopping off someone’s head with his sword. This would I guess elevate it to a YA book, yet Mirror is only randomly transformed into a 16-year-old halfway through the book (yep) and I don’t know that there’s anything about her that teens could relate too. I thought perhaps her age was accelerated to facilitate some sort of romance with Loveheart, but even that didn’t happen. To top it all off, this book is apparently marketed as adult fiction!? I’m utterly lost…
I don’t even know why I finished this book. I mean, I read it over two days, so it wasn’t a huge timesuck, but really. It’s too early to call it, but I would bet money that this ends up in the number one spot of my Worst Reads of 2016 list.
If I could give this negative stars, I would.
This book is hard to summarize, because of the threadbare plot and vague, dreamlike (nightmarelike) prose. Had I not been told about this book by a friend and stumbled across it on my own in the bookstore, I’d be lured in by the gorgeous cover art and the seemingly middle-grade premise. The cover and the chapter headers are the best part of this book however.
I broke out the page flags again for this beauty. But I couldn’t have tabbed all my annoyances because then there would have been more tabs than pages. Warning: Rant Approaching!
This book. It’s a polished turd. A glimmering bit of fool’s gold, shimmering like bright faerie lights. But when you pick it up, the plot and characterization crumble to dust in your hands like burnt moth wings. The weak plot, like a newborn deer tottering on fragile stick legs unravels quickly like so much glittering gold thread, spun by Rumpelstiltskin. The characters are cardboard, dull and grey like storm clouds who’ve decided not to storm. The story is a fever dream of bad imagery, vile like demon’s eyes. The genre is a harlequin mask, shining and deadly. But beneath the middle-grade veneer lies a muddle mess of childlike character names, playful and safe like a dandelion, marred by young adult themes, briefly violent like a car crash you didn’t see coming. Marketed as an adult horror novel, but it’s a lie, like the faerie feast happened upon in the faerie forest, where the food turns to ash in your mouth. The ash of the aforementioned burnt moth wings.
Are you tired yet? Good, me too. That’s what it felt like to read this damn book.
The writing is so tortured – it reads like the first draft of some bizarre, overwrought nightmare. It’s a jumble of vague images, like Bee thought up a bunch of one or two liners that sounded cool to her and then she smashed them together into a “story.” I tabbed 6 weird analogies (similes, metaphors, whatever) in the first 4 pages, and those are just the ones that stood out the most. The book includes many “gems” such as:
“…Goliath arrives like a star falling and imprinting the surface of the earth. THUD he has landed. A galactic footprint. The moon a stage light for his materialization onto the Liverpool docks.”
“He deposits us on the docks with a wink and a crooked smile; like a demented midwife, delivers us straight from the sea.”
“…great splodges of water fall into my eyes and Goliath’s beard, disappearing like pearls thrown into a wild forest.”
“London, city of poisoned water, sour milk, fish stink and shit. Blood bubbles and drips down the thighs of her.” This is by far one of the grossest analogies I’ve heard.
Followed by: “He smelled of spermy things.”
“The smell of hot water bottle fur and his great heart beating lull me asleep.” Okay, seriously, what the hell does hot water bottle fur smell like!?
“The darkness spreads out before me like a roll of carpet to stuff Cleopatra in.”
“He smiled, a smile of a thousand cats.”
“I am a nasty thing and mad as scissors.”
Mirror describing Loveheart: “You are stuffed with hearts. They burst out of your eyes, fall to your feet like severed heads. Your guts are red ribbons. Your heart is a rose.”
To add to the ridiculous flow of the story, no color is ever just a color. If it’s green, it’s frog green. Or gold is fairy (which she also spells faerie) gold, twinkling and shimmery. While this doesn’t ordinarily bother me, it’s incredibly annoying when used every time a color is mentioned.
“The sky is the colour of porridge and the sea, a miserable treacle black.”
“It had eyes like magic beans, dark and chocolatey…”
“….for my eyes were black. The colour of dead things.”
“It was big and cool and blue like suicide.” This one really had me like ?_?
When she wasn’t busy filling in the gaps with “tick-tock, tickety-tock, clock!” Bee also had some fun dicking around with fonts and word placement; filling a page with the word bitches, or another with weird heart symbols. Meanwhile, the lack of plot ran rampant and left me wondering what the point of the book was. Halfway through, the main timeline is thrown out the window and we’re taken back in time, forward in time, dragged around through various new character POVs that were sadly indistinguishable from any previous chapters because every character had the same voice.
I was left with many questions, and not in an intriguing manner. Mirror’s abilities or non-human attributes are never really discussed, random characters that have no real impact on the story are given chapters that felt completely irrelevant, readers are never enlightened as to why her grandfather shoved her in a magical clock to begin with or what he hoped to achieve by doing so.
The genre is just as confusing as the plot. For the most part it reads like a middle grade book, especially with character names like Loveheart, Mr. Fingers, Pomegranate (a terrible reimagining of Persephone), Doctor Cherrytree, Mr. Chimes (a clockmaker of course), and Goliath Honey-Flower. The language is pretty basic, until Bee decides things needed to be spiced up and throws in some swearing, or a few quick scenes of violence. Nothing overly graphic, just Loveheart abruptly shooting someone in the face, or lopping off someone’s head with his sword. This would I guess elevate it to a YA book, yet Mirror is only randomly transformed into a 16-year-old halfway through the book (yep) and I don’t know that there’s anything about her that teens could relate too. I thought perhaps her age was accelerated to facilitate some sort of romance with Loveheart, but even that didn’t happen. To top it all off, this book is apparently marketed as adult fiction!? I’m utterly lost…
I don’t even know why I finished this book. I mean, I read it over two days, so it wasn’t a huge timesuck, but really. It’s too early to call it, but I would bet money that this ends up in the number one spot of my Worst Reads of 2016 list.
If I could give this negative stars, I would.
December 10, 2017
I rounded up from what should have been 2 and a half stars if Goodreads would have let me.
There were parts of this book that was amaze-ball reading experiences. Perfectly crafted sentences that were like tiny drops of the bestest candy you have ever had melt in your mouth.
Then there were parts that were disjointed, awkward, and felt like a thorn pricking your side when you are hiking in the hills. So much beauty to look at and then all of a sudden...OUCH.
It's a shame. I don't feel like its the author's fault. I mean hell, they wrote a whole book. I feel like the publisher dropped the ball and didn't give it the proper editing that it so richly deserved. With just a bit more attention this could have been a wonderful little book.
Instead, it was just mediocre store-bought jam. Still delicious, but only hinting at what could have been.
There were parts of this book that was amaze-ball reading experiences. Perfectly crafted sentences that were like tiny drops of the bestest candy you have ever had melt in your mouth.
Then there were parts that were disjointed, awkward, and felt like a thorn pricking your side when you are hiking in the hills. So much beauty to look at and then all of a sudden...OUCH.
It's a shame. I don't feel like its the author's fault. I mean hell, they wrote a whole book. I feel like the publisher dropped the ball and didn't give it the proper editing that it so richly deserved. With just a bit more attention this could have been a wonderful little book.
Instead, it was just mediocre store-bought jam. Still delicious, but only hinting at what could have been.
October 3, 2016
Хубава книжка, чалната, искряща и шарена като кълбо змии с проблясващи на слънцето люспи. Каквото и да дръпнеш все ще те ухапе. За мен не е толкова близка до измисления свят на Луис Карол, колкото до мрачните приключения от поредицата "Лемъни Сникет".
Знаех че ще ми допадне, защото винаги ми е била интересна традицията на жестоките приказки, още откакто слушахме лекции по "Морфология на вълшебната приказка", по време на които се получаваха чудесни дискусии защо и как митовете и легендите прерастват в приказки и обратно и че Братя Грим или Шарл Перо далеч не са основоположници на страховтите истории, където има повече смърт и ядене на деца, отколкото в най-касовия филм на ужасите.
"Удивителната и изключителна приказка за Мирър и Голиат" се чете буквално за ден-два, динамична е, на моменти много оригинална и изключително кървава. За съжаление обаче авторката (поне си мисля, че беше авторка) с не по-малко прелестно име от тези на героите си, далеч не се е справила добре с написването на историята. Действието е силно фрагментрано, образите - само скицирани, нивата на внушение на моменти се губят. Струва ми се, че са я споходили накуп много чудесни идеи и тя е решила вместо да ги развие и да им обърне нужното внимание, просто да ги наблъска всичките в една тънка книжка. Жалко, защото има адски много потеницал, който само е загатнат. Четейки отзиви за втората книга от поредицата оставам с впечатление, че и там тези слабости не са преодолени, но въпреки това бих прочела и нея с любопитство. Има време Ишбел Бий да изчисти стила си и да ни дари с още много часовници, огледала, калинки и психопати с нежни сърца.
Корицата заслужава отделно споменаване, защото тя е едно от нещата, които сериозно привлича вниманието към книгата. Рядко се впечатлявам от корици, но тук графиката е чудесна, транслитерацията на шрифта на български - безупречен, а цветовата гама наситено синьо и кралско лилаво, подсилени със златно идеално отговаря на внушението на книгата. Е, може би трябваше някъде да има и червено, предвид литрите кръв, които се леят между страниците, но то е застъпено при корицата на втората част.
П.П. И все не мога да се отърва от убеждението, че Смърт трябва да говори само с главни букви.
Знаех че ще ми допадне, защото винаги ми е била интересна традицията на жестоките приказки, още откакто слушахме лекции по "Морфология на вълшебната приказка", по време на които се получаваха чудесни дискусии защо и как митовете и легендите прерастват в приказки и обратно и че Братя Грим или Шарл Перо далеч не са основоположници на страховтите истории, където има повече смърт и ядене на деца, отколкото в най-касовия филм на ужасите.
"Удивителната и изключителна приказка за Мирър и Голиат" се чете буквално за ден-два, динамична е, на моменти много оригинална и изключително кървава. За съжаление обаче авторката (поне си мисля, че беше авторка) с не по-малко прелестно име от тези на героите си, далеч не се е справила добре с написването на историята. Действието е силно фрагментрано, образите - само скицирани, нивата на внушение на моменти се губят. Струва ми се, че са я споходили накуп много чудесни идеи и тя е решила вместо да ги развие и да им обърне нужното внимание, просто да ги наблъска всичките в една тънка книжка. Жалко, защото има адски много потеницал, който само е загатнат. Четейки отзиви за втората книга от поредицата оставам с впечатление, че и там тези слабости не са преодолени, но въпреки това бих прочела и нея с любопитство. Има време Ишбел Бий да изчисти стила си и да ни дари с още много часовници, огледала, калинки и психопати с нежни сърца.
Корицата заслужава отделно споменаване, защото тя е едно от нещата, които сериозно привлича вниманието към книгата. Рядко се впечатлявам от корици, но тук графиката е чудесна, транслитерацията на шрифта на български - безупречен, а цветовата гама наситено синьо и кралско лилаво, подсилени със златно идеално отговаря на внушението на книгата. Е, може би трябваше някъде да има и червено, предвид литрите кръв, които се леят между страниците, но то е застъпено при корицата на втората част.
П.П. И все не мога да се отърва от убеждението, че Смърт трябва да говори само с главни букви.
October 25, 2019
Decidedly odd hodgepodge of a book with too much going on for its short length. It started out really well, but then went off on too many tangents for my liking. Speaking of which, there was precisely no-one likeable in the whole thing. A disappointment.
May 30, 2017
My first reaction when I finished this: what the fuuuuuuuuck was this.
For real, if there's one thing that this book was, then it's all over the place. The title would make you think that the story is about two characters called Mirror and Goliath. Wrong. It's about nobody at all and at the same time about everybody ever.
The book starts off with some chapters about Mirror and Goliath. I rather disliked these chapters, because it was a boring story trying too hard to be creepy. The simplicity of the writing was the main thing that bothered me, though. Sure, the descriptions were okay sometimes, but eeeaach sentence was formulated the same way. Eeaachh time. It reminded me of how a ten year old would write a story: I go to the bakery. I trip over my laces. I cry. It's like someone's just summing up some events that happened, it isn't attractive writing at all.
But then, the story suddenly stops being about Mirror and Goliath. Which is strange, considering the title. I liked it though, because now the focus was on Loveheart, who is (in my opinion) a lot more interesting than Mirror and/or Goliath. But then it suddenly wasn't about Loveheart anymore. In fact, it wasn't about anyone at all anymore. Random characters were added every ten pages and would then actually disappear again after ten pages. To be fair, 'part three' was compleeetely unnecessary and didn't add anything at all, except a feeling of annoyance at seeing the writer trying and failing to successfully rewrite the Persephone myth and the Jack the Ripper tale.
The overall atmosphere of the book was nice, I guess. I mean, the writer tried. But I feel like it's the same kind of super super annoying writing you see all over Tumblr, using words like 'pomegranate', 'honey', and other cringeworthy words 20 times per page as if they're writing bad poetry or trying to rewrite Deathless or The Secret History (neither of which I liked, lol). The kind of Tumblr writing obsessed with myths like Persephone's, obsessed with stories that are semi-feminist, semi-horror, semi-love story, obsessed with rewriting fairytales in such a cringeworthy way that I just want to throw up.
Another weird thing the writer had going on was bolding some words mid sentence and making them bigger, to make the characters seem extra crazy or whatever. It was just .... cringeworthy to be honest. It made reading this book feel very weird and awkward and I think it would've been better if she'd had let us use our own imagination to emphasize certain words or sentences.
I just felt like so much in this book was unnecessary. The descriptions, the weird fonts, the thousand characters.... It didn't add anything, except lots of confusion. The ending was especially sooo strange, every character suddenly had their own chapter of like four lines to say their last words (words that also made no sense whatsoever) and it was just confusing? It was almost as if they were trying to cover up the cheap deus ex machina that was the real ending. It was genuinly random as fuck.
Somehow I still kind of ended up liking this. Not the ending, though, and definitely not the start, but the parts in the middle were nice enough. Because I do like strange stories, even though this one could've been written much better. But it was interesting and I'm definitely curious enough to buy the sequel.
For real, if there's one thing that this book was, then it's all over the place. The title would make you think that the story is about two characters called Mirror and Goliath. Wrong. It's about nobody at all and at the same time about everybody ever.
The book starts off with some chapters about Mirror and Goliath. I rather disliked these chapters, because it was a boring story trying too hard to be creepy. The simplicity of the writing was the main thing that bothered me, though. Sure, the descriptions were okay sometimes, but eeeaach sentence was formulated the same way. Eeaachh time. It reminded me of how a ten year old would write a story: I go to the bakery. I trip over my laces. I cry. It's like someone's just summing up some events that happened, it isn't attractive writing at all.
But then, the story suddenly stops being about Mirror and Goliath. Which is strange, considering the title. I liked it though, because now the focus was on Loveheart, who is (in my opinion) a lot more interesting than Mirror and/or Goliath. But then it suddenly wasn't about Loveheart anymore. In fact, it wasn't about anyone at all anymore. Random characters were added every ten pages and would then actually disappear again after ten pages. To be fair, 'part three' was compleeetely unnecessary and didn't add anything at all, except a feeling of annoyance at seeing the writer trying and failing to successfully rewrite the Persephone myth and the Jack the Ripper tale.
The overall atmosphere of the book was nice, I guess. I mean, the writer tried. But I feel like it's the same kind of super super annoying writing you see all over Tumblr, using words like 'pomegranate', 'honey', and other cringeworthy words 20 times per page as if they're writing bad poetry or trying to rewrite Deathless or The Secret History (neither of which I liked, lol). The kind of Tumblr writing obsessed with myths like Persephone's, obsessed with stories that are semi-feminist, semi-horror, semi-love story, obsessed with rewriting fairytales in such a cringeworthy way that I just want to throw up.
Another weird thing the writer had going on was bolding some words mid sentence and making them bigger, to make the characters seem extra crazy or whatever. It was just .... cringeworthy to be honest. It made reading this book feel very weird and awkward and I think it would've been better if she'd had let us use our own imagination to emphasize certain words or sentences.
I just felt like so much in this book was unnecessary. The descriptions, the weird fonts, the thousand characters.... It didn't add anything, except lots of confusion. The ending was especially sooo strange, every character suddenly had their own chapter of like four lines to say their last words (words that also made no sense whatsoever) and it was just confusing? It was almost as if they were trying to cover up the cheap deus ex machina that was the real ending. It was genuinly random as fuck.
Somehow I still kind of ended up liking this. Not the ending, though, and definitely not the start, but the parts in the middle were nice enough. Because I do like strange stories, even though this one could've been written much better. But it was interesting and I'm definitely curious enough to buy the sequel.
December 17, 2016
3.5 Stars
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
Read near the end of 2016, but it is certainly a contender for the weirdest book of the year for me. It is difficult to place it somewhere, but if I had to, it would be some kind of adult fairy tale. I really liked the cover.
It starts out rather like a horror tale. Mirror grandfather, being mad, tried to kill her to conserve her soul in a clock. It turns out that a lot of children are disappearing by the hands of a certain cult. But since the story is told from different POVs and not chronologically, it will be of extreme importance to keep your mind with this read.
It certainly was strange. It was very interesting, and I cannot say I've read something similar before, but at times is was borderline absurd and because the story switched so often between many characters (all of which had their own weird stories) some parts of it felt a bit rushed.
I'm glad I already have the second book in the series, with an equally nice cover!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
Read near the end of 2016, but it is certainly a contender for the weirdest book of the year for me. It is difficult to place it somewhere, but if I had to, it would be some kind of adult fairy tale. I really liked the cover.
It starts out rather like a horror tale. Mirror grandfather, being mad, tried to kill her to conserve her soul in a clock. It turns out that a lot of children are disappearing by the hands of a certain cult. But since the story is told from different POVs and not chronologically, it will be of extreme importance to keep your mind with this read.
It certainly was strange. It was very interesting, and I cannot say I've read something similar before, but at times is was borderline absurd and because the story switched so often between many characters (all of which had their own weird stories) some parts of it felt a bit rushed.
I'm glad I already have the second book in the series, with an equally nice cover!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
May 18, 2015
https://koeur.wordpress.com/2015/05/1...
Publisher: Angry Robot
Publishing Date: June 2015
ISBN: 9780857664426
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.6/5
Publisher Description: 1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.
Review: Quite the fantastic read in all ways. Riveting characters that share their own singular voice and world building that takes you to unexpected places. This series will bind you with expectations.
Publisher: Angry Robot
Publishing Date: June 2015
ISBN: 9780857664426
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.6/5
Publisher Description: 1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.
Review: Quite the fantastic read in all ways. Riveting characters that share their own singular voice and world building that takes you to unexpected places. This series will bind you with expectations.
April 22, 2015
Beautiful and dark, haunting and mesmerizing. The prose is beautiful, the atmosphere creepy and delicious. The colourful cast of characters, equally delightful. The plot is strange, richly layered and switching between narrators (all in first person). Definitely has that Victorian charm, found in such books as The Night Circus.
A wonderful read, even if quite an unusual one. SIngular and extraordinary indeed.
A wonderful read, even if quite an unusual one. SIngular and extraordinary indeed.
November 13, 2017
The book is really similar to Alice in Wonderland. It’s weird, unnatural and at first sight it seems as a children’s book. Unfortunately...
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Check the whole review in my blog ! ♥️
https://booksinartbubbles.tumblr.com/...
May 11, 2015
The Singular and Extraordinary tale of Mirror and Goliath with the intriguing tag-line: The peculiar Adventures of John Loveheart, ESQ - from Angry Robot is Ishbelle Bee’s spectacular debut in the speculative fiction world. Just like the peculiar title, the novel itself is a riotous splash of many a familiar fairy tale liberally wrangled with a dash of macabre horror, set during the fag-end of the Victorian Era – An 1880’s London rife with the East-end murders, missing children and magic like blood-red poppies floating in the air. It’s a sort of the author’s love paean to this genre: Bee, the author who loves Victorian Top Hats and Cake Tents incorporates both these elements and a lot more from her favourite era into the novel- beautifully entwining them into a tight little fairy tale of her own. By parts lyrical and scary, it’s a gem of a novel that stands apart from other titles in today’s world. Kudos to Angry Robot for having backed up and brought out this game-changer to us.
The Lord of the Underworld, Death, shape-shifting guardians, soul-thieving monsters, demons who eat children, vexed Scotland Yard detectives, a mysterious and alluring “damsel in distress” heroine and her even more mysterious “sort of” suitor who dabbles in the most outrageous of fashions (ladybirds adorning bright coloured shirts!) – The story of Mirror and her guardian Goliath features all this and much more. The story is spelt out through many different POVs (Some first person, some in third person) and is not a linear unspooling of events – rather it criss-crosses across time and flits across places – From England to Egypt to the Underworld and beyond - knitting individual sections of the story to finally unleash that final masterpiece – like tiny pieces of a rather large unsolved puzzle falling into place.
It’s a bit like downing gulps of the green fairy and jumping from one hallucination to the other. The bizarre fairy tales – that are actually the back stories to both Mirror and John – blend and mesh with each other, crossing paths and twisting reality into some dark chocolate pretzel. Sometimes I got lost but the extremely wondrous prose of Ishbelle kept me hooked on. And of course, the feeling at the back of my head that this was building up to be something seriously wonderful and intriguing. We come across Mr. Fingers, the adoptive parent of John – who is actually the Lord of the Underworld. A vile fellow twisted by his greed and ambition. Deep into the story – where the lines between reality and fairy tale cross each other and disappear, we meet tons of interesting characters: Aunt Eva – lazy as a cat, beautiful as fire and mad as the buzzing of bees, John’s brother – the wicked & mad Tumbletee (Oh the play on Jack the Ripper was simply brilliant!), Sergeant Detective Percival White and his constable and lots more. Each leave an indelible mark on the reader.
But asked to pick a favourite, I think mine would be Goliath. The good-natured extremely loving detective-turned guardian angel for Mirror. His desire to protect his ward and all the follow-up actions that leads to the adventures detailed in this tale has that touch of nobility and goodness. Unsullied by anything worldly. Like pure gold. Mirror forms the perfect “foil” to spin out the fairy tales behind her origin – but apart from being a mouthpiece or POV, I simply didn’t engage with her. Her counter-point in the whole story, Loveheart however, is a much more sympathetic character whom we grow to know and love as the story unfolded.
But as we hurtle towards end of this visually stunning tale – replete with bizarre imagery and mind-boggling mystical acts of magic – one story after the other seemingly not related and yet forming individual pieces of the larger beautiful tapestry – we bemoan the end of something strange and beautiful that you cannot really describe.
Reading this book has been like that. At times vexing and highly confusing, the singular and extraordinary tale of Mirror & Goliath is a stunning kaleidoscope of fairy tales. And I must warn you that it’s not a straightforward retelling. But a very dark twisted re-imagination of some tales we’ve heard and a lot many that we have not. Arresting and eminently readable, this book marks a brilliant beginning to Ishbelle Bee’s writing. I won’t be surprised if some of the big names of Hollywood buy the movie rights to this one. ‘Coz this is the stuff that blurs the line between dreams, reality and fairy tales. And is spun in such an authoritative manner that you cannot help but believe.
The Lord of the Underworld, Death, shape-shifting guardians, soul-thieving monsters, demons who eat children, vexed Scotland Yard detectives, a mysterious and alluring “damsel in distress” heroine and her even more mysterious “sort of” suitor who dabbles in the most outrageous of fashions (ladybirds adorning bright coloured shirts!) – The story of Mirror and her guardian Goliath features all this and much more. The story is spelt out through many different POVs (Some first person, some in third person) and is not a linear unspooling of events – rather it criss-crosses across time and flits across places – From England to Egypt to the Underworld and beyond - knitting individual sections of the story to finally unleash that final masterpiece – like tiny pieces of a rather large unsolved puzzle falling into place.
It’s a bit like downing gulps of the green fairy and jumping from one hallucination to the other. The bizarre fairy tales – that are actually the back stories to both Mirror and John – blend and mesh with each other, crossing paths and twisting reality into some dark chocolate pretzel. Sometimes I got lost but the extremely wondrous prose of Ishbelle kept me hooked on. And of course, the feeling at the back of my head that this was building up to be something seriously wonderful and intriguing. We come across Mr. Fingers, the adoptive parent of John – who is actually the Lord of the Underworld. A vile fellow twisted by his greed and ambition. Deep into the story – where the lines between reality and fairy tale cross each other and disappear, we meet tons of interesting characters: Aunt Eva – lazy as a cat, beautiful as fire and mad as the buzzing of bees, John’s brother – the wicked & mad Tumbletee (Oh the play on Jack the Ripper was simply brilliant!), Sergeant Detective Percival White and his constable and lots more. Each leave an indelible mark on the reader.
But asked to pick a favourite, I think mine would be Goliath. The good-natured extremely loving detective-turned guardian angel for Mirror. His desire to protect his ward and all the follow-up actions that leads to the adventures detailed in this tale has that touch of nobility and goodness. Unsullied by anything worldly. Like pure gold. Mirror forms the perfect “foil” to spin out the fairy tales behind her origin – but apart from being a mouthpiece or POV, I simply didn’t engage with her. Her counter-point in the whole story, Loveheart however, is a much more sympathetic character whom we grow to know and love as the story unfolded.
But as we hurtle towards end of this visually stunning tale – replete with bizarre imagery and mind-boggling mystical acts of magic – one story after the other seemingly not related and yet forming individual pieces of the larger beautiful tapestry – we bemoan the end of something strange and beautiful that you cannot really describe.
Reading this book has been like that. At times vexing and highly confusing, the singular and extraordinary tale of Mirror & Goliath is a stunning kaleidoscope of fairy tales. And I must warn you that it’s not a straightforward retelling. But a very dark twisted re-imagination of some tales we’ve heard and a lot many that we have not. Arresting and eminently readable, this book marks a brilliant beginning to Ishbelle Bee’s writing. I won’t be surprised if some of the big names of Hollywood buy the movie rights to this one. ‘Coz this is the stuff that blurs the line between dreams, reality and fairy tales. And is spun in such an authoritative manner that you cannot help but believe.
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