The First Person Narrator…
I used to hate books that were all I I I. Many seemed to be an excuse for lazy writing to me. And some still are, but I no longer turn away the second I see that the story is being told by an “I”, because they can be quite wonderful, in a good author’s hands.
I first noticed Eggshells when it arrived at work, with those hints about changelings and fairy tale echoes. But I didn’t pick it up at the time. It was only more recently when the author was named as winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2018 that I decided I’d give it a go. […]
Murderbot diaries ; 4 I love these books. They just feel so warm and comforting, like a hug, despite the fact that the narrator describes themselves as a murderbot and there are many threats and violent incidents. There’s just something about them that makes them feel cosy. And I really really do NOT mean that […]
The Inheritance trilogy ; book 3 Oh my god, you totally need to read this series. It is so awesome and just plain great. Go read it. Am I overselling it with that? No, no I am not. It is wonderful. Read it. It is the third book in a trilogy, so really I should […]
The Inheritance trilogy ; 2 I pretty much devoured this book. I just couldn’t stop reading once I started; it was awesome. It starts ten years after the events of The hundred thousand kingdoms and deals with some of the fall out from the events in book one. However, if you wanted you could read […]
I have only read parts of The Odyssey; while I know the general story and many of the episodes I would not say that I know the full story. But I did know the name Circe, although I think I had her story confused with Calyspo’s. Not that I knew either all that well. But […]
The Murderbot Diaries ; book 3 This is another book that I’ve had on preorder ever since I knew it was coming out. I loved the first two Murderbot books, The Cloud Roads was pretty damn entertaining too. So I’d count myself as a fan of Martha Wells. Rogue Protocol picks up after the events […]
Published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies ; Issue #225, May 11, 2017 This is a wonderful story. I actually don’t want to say anything at all about it, because I think not knowing any details is best. So that’s all I’m going to say. Just read it, you won’t be disappointed.
First published by Uncanny A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in May 2017. Finley has just been bitten by a vampire. Now he has to deal with becoming a vampire himself, and an unregistered one at that. He certainly didn’t ask to be turned, and most definitely never filled out the proper paperwork. Plus […]
Told from a variety of point of views, and interspersed with flashbacks this book starts off with an affair that turns into an alleged rape. Sophie is married to James, the man accused in this case. Kate is the prosecuting barrister. One believes him guilty and will do everything to secure a conviction. The other […]
Inheritance trilogy ; 1 Okay, so I’m behind the times with this. And yes, I’ve heard so many people talk about N.K. Jemisin in such a positive light that I really should have read her earlier. And y’all were totally right, I loved this book. The blurb makes it sound like a fairly generic epic […]
I added this book to my unwieldy Mount TBR because of Smart Bitches description of it as a stunningly different fantasy that mixes Crimson Peak with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. And then I saw that wonderful cover and had to read it. It’s just wonderful. Unfortunately I just never really clicked with this novel. […]
Based on the true story of Grace Marks, an infamous murderer in Canada in the 1840’s, Atwood’s book uses different narrators to tell the story, as well as interspersing the story with extracts from other works. From poems, fiction, newspapers of the time, and other sources. Although this is based on the real story, Atwood has, of course, fictionalised a great deal of the novel.
The two narrators are Grace herself, who tells her story in the first person, past tense, and Simon Jordan, the doctor investigating her claims of insanity or innocence. His parts are told by a third person narrator, and are in the present tense.