Jan Needle (1943–2023)

Can't rate. Would've loved this as a child, esp. because it would hold up well to being reread (by a child). But now, well, I just am so frustrated. I never felt like I knew any of the characters; they're not real, they're just their roles. This book is more world-building than everything else it could be all together, which is just too imbalanced. And Sandry was developed even less than the others.

Still, there is lots to love. The rules of magic. The place where the children are learning show more their things. The adult characters. The details like Briar choosing his name and then we realize that he's apprenticing himself to Rosethorn (get it?).

There is a little too much emphasis on the one character for being fat and wearing spectacles, and on another for being black - I'm not even sure what the "normal" characters look like. Attempts to be inclusive that backfire like this annoy me.

If I didn't have a to-read list longer than my projected lifespan I might continue the series. But I do, so I won't.

So, overall, I dunno... if it's on your to-read list, don't take if off just because I wasn't enchanted. If it's not, don't add it. :shrug: show less

This surprised the hell out of me. I'm not sure if I liked it, but it certainly got a reaction out of me. It was one of the most subtle character studies I've read. The main character is so vile (even for me) that I almost didn't finish the book, and I certainly didn't see how there could be a series with that character. Not only that, but its a slaughterhouse, don't get attached to any of the characters. I appreciate an author willing to bump people off.

My high school best friend and I watched Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula dozens of times. (Yes, we realized that Gary Oldman was pure camp and Keanu was horribly miscast, but still...) Somewhere in there, I read this original novel, the novelization of the movie, and various books about Vlad the Impaler. So the general plot of the novel was very familiar, but the details were hazy.

For a Victorian era horror novel, it's aged fairly well. The blood transfusion bits are laughable, and show more I couldn't stop seeing vampirism as a metaphor for rape. It all seems much less romantic than it did when I was a teen. (As do many things. ::sigh::) But in retrospect (not having watched the movie for at least 20 years), I think Coppola may have actually improved it. At least he provided some motivation for Dracula and gave him a more satisfying, dramatic death. show less

A lovely tale, even if you're not familiar with Kenneth Graham's Wind in the Willows (WITW). Needle weaves her tapestry with some threads from WITW, and it works quite well.