Micro review 6 (2024)

 

Paws & Portals by Ellie Warren (Curiosity Killed the Bookworm)

Sometimes what you need to read is a gentle, fun book that takes you right away from the real world and that is just what Paws & Portals  did for me this past (very) wet weekend.

This is a book set in a world which feels familiar - it is a reasonably technically advanced and (on the surface)  a tolerant society, all be it one where the power is drawn from ambient magic and no one quite understands how...

Then things start going wrong and Daisy, along with intern Lima, are sent out of the city into Ruhann where the Ratatoskr (the squirrel like race pictured on the cover) live and have noticed that the natural world is falling out of balance.

The book is a cosy fantasy (despite the inclusion of werewolves and vampires) with a very well conceived quest forming much of the plot. 

The book can be read as a metaphor for how we are reliant on technology that we don't understand, how we are ruining the environment, and how we have more in common with people who aren't quite like us than we have differences but at its heart it is just a cracking magical adventure story.

There's very gentle hints at romance in the story, but again the messages contained here are also very gentle - this isn't an addition to the new wave of 'spicy romance/fantasy' novels.

Last year I was recommended the T K Kingfisher book The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - another fun fantasy book that I didn't expect to love as much a I did, and I think Paws & Portals is this year's surprise summer read. 

I really hope that Ellie does write more in this world as I want to know what happens next to these characters but that is because I loved them so much and not because the book was left on a cliff hanger.

Time Flies

 

I really didn't mean for two months to go by without a blog post, this time my excuse is a travel adventure and then reading books in a very advance stage so that I can't talk about them yet!

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I had a wonderful time in Texas at the beginning of April when we went to see the total eclipse. Sadly the cloud rolled in with seconds to go and while we didn't get those fabulous views of totality we did experience the pitch darkness in the middle of the day *and* we were based on a vineyard in the heart of Texan Hill Country and got to try some of their wines while surrounded by swallowtail butterflies.

Since we got back I've been reading for a couple of projects and as these books aren't published for a while I can't really talk about them, however there are four that I really think every one should add to their readings lists:

• The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable (15th August)
• The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier (12th September)
• Berlin Duet by S W Perry (1st August)
• Broken Threads by Mishal Husain (6th June)

The first three are historical fiction, and the first two are set in Venice, and the final one is a biography of Husain's family and a tale of India pre/post partition.

All of them were brilliant reads and stand a good chance of being on my 'best of the year' lists in December.

Now I'm caught up with these I can concentrate on my library reservations and a few of the books I've bought recently so hopefully there will be some more reviews coming soon. But please don't hold your breath - there's so much to read that I forget to blog!