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arbieroo

Arbie's Unoriginally Titled Book Blog

It's a blog! Mainly of book reviews.

Currently reading

Station Zero
Philip Reeve
Progress: 220/282 pages
The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
Ursula K. Le Guin, Charles Vess
Progress: 749/997 pages
The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry
Robert Chandler
The Uncertain Land and Other Poems
Patrick O'Brian
Progress: 8/160 pages
The Heptameron (Penguin Classics)
Marguerite de Navarre
Progress: 152/544 pages
The Poems and Plays of John Masefield
John Masefield
Progress: 78/534 pages
Poems Selected
Emily Dickinson, Ted Hughes
Progress: 4/50 pages
Selected Poems
U A Fanthorpe
Progress: 18/160 pages
The Penguin Book of Scottish Verse
Mick Imlah, Robert Crawford
Hainish Novels & Stories, Vol. 2
Ursula K. Le Guin
Progress: 133/789 pages

Resurrection, Derek Landy

Resurrection - Derek Landy

This entry in the series is the most serious in tone so far, with a depressed and guilt ridden Valkyrie trying to come to terms with the events of the previous book. She's 24 at this point and inevitably we get introduced to a younger protagonist (14) because that's the Law or something; kids' books must have at least one protagonist under 20. The newbie is the Chosen One's brother. This seems like a very deliberate counter-casting to Valkyrie and a bazillion other destined heroes, with a view to saying that "ordinary" people (i.e. the young readers) can be heroes, too, or at least acheive their dreams. Additionally, we have Never, a non-binary kid referred to by "he" or "she" apparently at the author's whim, who looks like at least being a side-kick, if not a true protagonist.

 

People looking for the continuous quipathon of the early books will be disappointed but this is a good set-up for a new and more sophisticated long term adventure in the world of the Skeleton Detective.