The Wolf and the Water by Josie Jaffrey – Book Review

Book: 
The Wolf and the Water

(Book 1 of the Deluge series)

Author: Josie Jaffrey

Publication date: 8 October 2020

ASIN: B08DXXPNS1

Synopsis:

Some secrets are worth killing for…

The ancient city of Kepos sits in an isolated valley, cut off from the outside world by a towering wall. Behind it, the souls of the dead clamour for release. Or so the priesthood says.

Kala has never had any reason to doubt their word – until her father dies in suspicious circumstances that implicate the city's high priest. She's determined to investigate, but she has a more immediate problem: the laws of the city require her mother to remarry straight away.

Kala's new stepfather is a monster, but his son Leon is something altogether more dangerous: kind.

With her family fractured and the investigation putting her life in danger, the last thing Kala needs is romance. She would rather ignore Leon entirely, however difficult he makes it. But when she learns the truth of what really clamours behind the wall at the end of the valley, she faces a choice: share what she knows and jeopardise her escape, or abandon him to his fate along with the rest of the city.

If she doesn't move fast, then no one will make it out of the valley alive.

 

Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

The Wolf and the Water by Josie Jaffrey is the first book in the Deluge series and my first read for Jaffrey.

I originally signed up to review this book as part of a blog tour with TheWriteReads, however, I opted out of the tour because the book left me with a lot of mixed feelings.

One of the things that make The Wolf and the Water interesting is the mythology behind the setting, supposedly Greek mythology. However, it's this mythology and rules governing the characters that create lots of confusion in the novel.

I struggled at the beginning, middle, and ending. There were parts that I liked but the hierarchy of the 10 tribes and how they mingled with the 'religious' sector of their society was confusing.

The chapters in The Wolf and the Water are divided based on the names of the 10 tribes of Kepos, which makes them super long chapters to read.

I liked the main character Kala. I also loved how Jaffrey made her a character with a disability, something I've rarely seen in literature, old or contemporary.

Kala's disability followed a plague that killed many people but spared her. However, the disability makes people shun her and mistreat her. Few are kind to her about it. The society looks at her as a 'cripple' and deems it necessary that she be killed because of her disability.

The Wolf and the Water is full of political intrigue not to mention lots of injustice towards women. We even see this injustice from other women. It's probably this that negatively affects Kala's confidence, while also making her a strong character.

"They were now nothing more than commodities in a household that would only survive by the grace of her mother's remarriage."

I also liked Leon, who is Kala's stepfather's son. He is kind, funny, and not in the least deterred by Kala's disability. Kala, on the other hand, sort of mistreats him at first because she doesn't know or understand his intentions. His grandfather practically insulted her right after her father died.

The Wolf and the Water is narrated in the third person, mainly from Kala's view point; although we occasionally get others' views like Leon.

'"Is he that bad?"

Kala's impressions of Nikos had not been favourable, but she was surprised that his son would share her dislike.'

Only when I finished The Wolf and the Water did I realize that Kala's mother, though an absent character was a strong one. She made many sacrifices but wasn't really 'there' for Kala or the reader.

Kala is also a feminist and I loved her character, her thoughts, sarcasm, and in some cases, her retorts, like when she was talking to her mother about her new brute of a husband, Nikos:

"Enough? You're handing him the title of Glauks and you think you should be grateful to him?"

One of the things I struggled with in The Wolf and the Water were some of the descriptions, especially the part about the other side of the wall. I just couldn't imagine it.

Also the parts about the other world and how some people from Kepos were in cahoots about what surrounds Kepos were very confusing for me.

Overall, I found that The Wolf and the Water partially intriguing; I moved well in the first four chapters although I was at a complete loss for what was going on. But the confusion, unclear settings, and the feel of the novel just weren't enough.

I finished this book because of Kala and my curiosity. Kala didn't fail but my curiosity wasn't satiated at the end.

Overall rating for The Wolf and the Water by Josie Jaffrey: 2.5 stars.

Note: I got a free Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of The Wolf and the Water by Josie Jaffrey in exchange for an honest review. This did not in any way impact my review.

 

Arrival by Henry Bassett – Book Review

Book: Arrival

(The Black Bear Brotherhood Book 1)

Author: Henry Basset

Number of pages: 35

Publication date: 1 March 2020

 

Synopsis:

A bear, known only as Caver, recounts when his planet was covered in nature and not yet tainted by human touch.

The book has many strong aspects that make the reader think. However, there are some downsides as well.

Arrival by Henry Bassett is a nine-chapter novella about a world of bears that gets invaded by humans.

Since then, humans have branched out from another world and enveloped his planet.

The differences between the two species result in an atmosphere of fear which rips apart the old way of life and enforces the creation of an apparently more civilized one.

However, how much will be lost in the process?

 

Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

Arrival is narrated from the first person perspective of Caver, a bear in a world inhabited by bears only – or at least that is what it appears to be because we don't see other animals except the fish that bears hunt and eat.

"I no longer remember my original name; Caver is what they call me and it's one of the few words of theirs that I can process."

It's interesting to see how bears would look at the sounds people make, their voice, what they carry and what they are doing.

Bassett shows human voices as "screeching" from a bear's perspective. That said, I felt the word "screech" was over used in Arrival.

Once the humans invade the bear planet, they force the bears into slavery and take over their resources, laying waste to their forests.

"Polar bears, in flying eggs, who have deformed and thinned bodies?"

Arrival somehow reminded me of George Orwell's Animal Farm, though on a much smaller and different scale.

As Caver is given an axe and forced to chop off trees, he picks a tree and is surprised by this idea of "choice."

"I chose this tree, it was my choice; what a strange term for this forced and designated activity."

The "big brother" or rather "watchful government eyes" theme is particularly present in Bassett's Arrival. There are different groups of humans and we see everything from Caver's eyes.  

"It's the uncertainty that prevents me from being truly at ease with the situation."

Arrival alternates between the present state of bear enslavement and some flashbacks for when the humans first arrived.

Overall, I think Arrival has great potential. The ending isn't amazing but the novella can go much farther.

 

Overall rating: 2.5 stars

Note: I received a free copy of Arrival from its author Henry Basset in exchange for an honest review. This did not, in any way, influence my review.

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur - Book Review

I hadn't heard of Rupi Kaur before but when I picked up The Sun and Her Flowers by chance, I discovered she's popular contemporary poet and author. I also learnt that this is her second – and apparently widely anticipated – poetry collection.

That said, when I started reading I felt that there was such a big hype about this book and that I was put off by it.  

The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur is divided into 5 chapters: Wilting, Falling, Rooting, Rising and, Blooming.

I felt that the poems, or rather short quotes first two sections were sappy. I was put off by them and was seriously considering NOT finishing the collection. However, the third section "Rooting" showed a significant change in both the content and level of writing, as if the author had suddenly grown up.

Most of the poems in The Sun and Her Flowers are untitled, a few have the sort-of-title at the end, and every now and then there is one long piece with a title. This makes it quite hard to point out which pieces I liked (which weren't that many).

"love does not look like a person

love is our actions

love is giving all we can

even if it's just the bigger slice of cake

love is understanding"

The above extract is from "what love looks like" one of the longer pieces in Kaur's collection. Another long one is "questions" which ironically has no question marks. It's also long, dull, and sappy, unlike its predecessor.

Another thing about punctuation is that The Sun and Her Flowers has zero punctuation. I know many poets are doing this with their poetry nowadays BUT the problem lies when as a reader I can't tell if the line I'm reading is meant as a thought or question. There were parts when I was utterly lost and only realized that I should have been reading questions not thoughts. The confusion irritated me.

"why are you so unkind to me

my body cries

cause you don't look like them

i tell her"

Many pieces aren't poetic or what I'd describe as poetry; more like quotes. You know those quotes people share on Instagram and Facebook. They're great, just not poetry in my opinion.  I found some of the pieces to be recitable but not poetic, like "home" a long sad piece about a rape.

Starting "Rooting," many poems focus on the themes of maturity, womanhood, being an immigrant and a refugee. Starting this section, we see a major change and development from the previous sections; lots of growing up.

One of the strongest pieces in The Sun and Her Flowers is in "Rooting" and it's called "advice i would've given my mother on her wedding day." This piece is a mixture of short poem-like-pieces and 'bits' in the form of bullet points and advice. The first advice is "you're allowed to say no."

The poem "accent" is one of the stronger pieces in the collection. One of my favorites too.

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There's a lot of experimentation in The Sun and Her Flowers. Some good, some not so much. But that's the normal case with poetry collections. You can't like every piece.

The saddest poem in The Sun and Her Flowers is "female infanticide," which shows women struggles in the course of hundreds of years. I loved the progression. Despite centuries passing, women are still struggling. 10 stars to this one.

Every few poems are accompanied by some artwork, I don't know what this type of art is called but it's not paintings. Also, some pieces are in short paragraphs.

One of the things I disliked about The Sun and Her Flowers, and I'm glad I had an e-book for this not a print one, is that some pieces were just a line. Yes, a page with one line and move on. That's wasted paper if you ask me. I suppose I don't view one-liners as poetry but at least they could have been combined in a single page with *** between each.

Another thing is the flow of the pieces; many aren't what you'd call poetic. They read like prose, including the poem "broken english." It's a great piece but it would have been better off placed in paragraph format than an attempted poem. It also had many words that felt like the Kaur was showing off vocabulary and was distant even though the poem is about her mother.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Rupi Kaur's The Sun and Her Flowers. I was expecting a lot more from it. It's a good read, not amazing. There are powerful poems but there many weak ones. I think the "bestselling status" earned from the first book made many people pick this up.

The book's style reminded me of Amanda Lovelace's poetry collection The Princess Saves Herself in This One. The style being, the short pieces and the titles being the conclusion of the poem.

Overall rating for The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur: 2.5-3 stars.