Review: The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks
William Morrow and Company
Publication Date: January 25th, 2022
Paperback. 560 pages.

About The Good Wife of Bath:

"In the middle ages, a famous poet told a story that mocked a strong woman. It became a literary classic. But what if the woman in question had a chance to tell her own version? 

England, 1364: When married off at aged twelve to an elderly farmer, brazen redheaded Eleanor quickly realizes it won't matter what she says or does, God is not on her side--or any poor woman's for that matter. But then again, Eleanor was born under the joint signs of Venus and Mars, making her both a lover and a fighter. 

Aided by a head for business (and a surprisingly kind husband), Eleanor manages to turn her first marriage into success, and she rises through society from a cast-off farm girl to a woman of fortune who becomes a trusted friend of the social-climbing poet Geoffrey Chaucer. But more marriages follow--some happy, some not--several pilgrimages, many lovers, murder, mayhem, and many turns of fortune's wheel as Eleanor pursues the one thing that all women want: control of their own lives."

The Good Wife of Bath is a truly remarkable historical fiction story following the fictional life of The Wife of Bath herself from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Although it will likely enhance the reading experience, I do not think it is at all necessary to have read The Canterbury Tales in order to enjoy this book. I absolutely adored this book and would easily consider it a favorite. This is a genuinely absorbing tale full of ups and downs. My heart was filled with joy at many different moments, as well as completely broken at far too many moments as well. 

The Good Wife of Bath begins following the life of Eleanor at the age of twelve when she is first married off to an older tenant former at the age of twelve. From this point, we follow Eleanor through the years and through her marriages to a small array of very different men, all of whom bring something new to Eleanor's life, whether for better or worse. This story follows Eleanor through the many events in her life, from her rise to success as a businesswoman (of sorts) and close friendship with Geoffrey Chaucer, to her pilgrimages and attempts to wrest control of her own life. 

Eleanor has easily because one of my favorite protagonists. She headstrong, intelligent, and always up for something new and stimulating to do. She's also one of the strongest women I've come across. From the age of twelve when she is first married off, to her later years after she's been through multiple marriage and hardships, Eleanor somehow always manages to maintain a sense of determination and (as much as I hate to use the word 'plucky' sometimes) sheer pluckiness that makes her a consistent force to be reckoned with. 

I can't say enough how much I loved following Eleanor throughout her life. Things aren't always that happy to read about, but they are so full of the realities of life and the struggles and hope that come with that. Some of the biggest themes of The Good Wife of Bath are around Eleanor autonomy and how her life seems to constantly be controlled by men–and her trying to figure out how she can run her own life while under the restraints of said men. Watching Eleanor navigate her life while married to such a wide variety of different men was fascinating and surprisingly mesmerizing as well. Although only a twelve year girl at the start, she shows her ability to be observant and learn from the world and people around her quickly, and through this we see her adapt better to her environments and learn how to best communicate with any variety of person she meets, whether a future husband, a neighbor, or someone business-related. She shows her worth as having a shrewd eye for business with her first marriage, and this leads to many different paths later in life for her, both good and bad. She learns the difference between love, lust, and duty, and makes some truly wonderful and close friends along the way. 

I read the The Good Wife of Bath in audiobook format narrated by Fran Burgoyne and it was phenomenal. It's very clear that Burgoyne put a lot of care into capturing the voice of Eleanor, and she does so excellently. I think being able to exhibit Eleanor's personality throughout her life is ac challenging task due to how much she grows and changes and all the difficult times she goes through, and I really loved how Burgoyne captured so much of the emotion and change over the course of the story. Whether you're a seasoned audiobook listener or just getting into it, you cannot go wrong with the quality and narrative excellence of The Good Wife of Bath. 

Lastly, I wanted to add that Karen Brooks has a wonderful author's note at the end of this book that covers many of her choices and thoughts on the historical period and how shoe chose to write the story as she did. For instance, she explains thoroughly why she chose to stick to historical accuracy and begin the story with her main character, a young girl of twelve, marry an old man and include everything that comes with that. She is never explicit or writes for shock factor, but rather writes for what is accurate for the story. Brooks also includes an excellent list of books used for her research for further reading if you find yourself wondering more about the time period. 

Overall, it's an easy five stars from me for The Good Wife of Bath! This is a not a book that I'll be forgetting about anytime soon. 

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Audiobook Review: The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
Tor Books
Publication Date: May 25th, 2021
Hardcover. 416 pages.

About The Blacktongue Thief:

"Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. 

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark. 

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants. 

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford."

I've heard people talking about The Blacktongue Thief ever since it came out last year and had been interested in it, but found myself hesitant because of some of the comments I'd heard about it being a bit meandering and compared to Kings of the Wyld, which can sometimes not hit quite right with me. Still, when I saw the audiobook on sale a while back I figured it was a great opportunity to try it. The Blacktongue Thief's audiobook was so fun, and after listening to it I can that I think this was one of those books where I really don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much reading a physical copy, but the audiobook was so well done and fit the tone of the book so perfectly that I read through it in no time. 

This story follows Kinch Na Shannack, a trained thief who seems to get himself into a bit of trouble. When Kinch tries to find new marks to help himself out of debt, he ends up running into a woman named Galva, and this is where things really start to take off as they embark on quite an adventure together. Along the way, we come across countless new characters, settings, beasts–it's almost impossible to really get bored of anything in this book because there is always something new coming along. Kinch's rather snarky personality worked perfectly for me and I had more than a few chuckles while reading this book. He knows when to be serious (not often) and always has something to say, whether it's welcome or not. The best thing about Kinch's personality, in my opinion, is that he's not only witty in a humorous way, but also a clever way to where he knows how to handle different people and situations. He may not always seem like the most capable person, but he really is an intelligent person who I wouldn't necessarily hate having on my side. 

The audiobook is narrated by Christopher Buehlman himself, and I'll admit that I was a little hesitant when I first started the book due to his choice to use a heavy Irish accent, which I knew would either become extremely annoying or extremely endearing pretty quickly–and fortunately it grew on me and was perfect for the story. He did a perfect job of capturing the sort of casual, down-to-earth tone of his protagonist narrator. I have no doubt that this accent choice will annoy a lot of potential readers, so I'm glad it ended up working out for me! There are also quite a few moments where there is some singing in this book, such a tavern/bard-like singing, and those are actually sung to us. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but it worked out. 

This was a book that I could just sit back and enjoy, there was nothing overly intense that I had to focus on that made me ever hesitate to put this book on. Some books I find myself hesitating slightly to listen to if they are a bit darker or heavy, when sometimes I just need a break from that. The Blacktongue Thief was an adventure with a huge variety of characters that had some great action scenes, some great dialogue, and a truly fun story. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and I love that. Don't get me wrong– The Blacktongue Thief is more than just fun and actually handles a wide variety of themes and ideas in its own irreverent way, but it was never overbearing or felt heavy-handed. 

Now, as I've made clear, from an entertainment standpoint this book is a five star read, and that might be enough for some, but I do have a few issues with the story itself. For one, I do agree with the comments I've heard about it being a bit meandering, as I did at times find the plot somewhat buried by what felt like extended or more random scenes. For all that, it's a pretty fast-paced story and I was surprised by how quickly it moved. I felt as though I didn't always fully get to immerse myself in certain aspects of the book before it would move on or jump to something else. The plus side is that everything was so entertaining that I was able to still have a good time with this book regardless of those issues, which I think would have bothered me far more if I were reading the physical copy, so take from that what you will. I also very much feel that if you are someone who does not connect with Kinch's humor by the 30-40% mark, you probably won't after that. It took me a little while, but if it hadn't grown on me I probably would not have enjoyed this book much nearly as much as I did. 

Overall, I've given The Blacktongue Thief 4.25 stars! I wasn't sure what to rate this since it was mainly the audiobook that I enjoyed, but it is one that I would absolutely recommend anyone to try out because if you like it, you're going to have a lot of fun. 

*I received a copy of The Blacktongue Thief courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Mini Audiobook Reviews: Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden & The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

 

 

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Narrated by Darrell Dennis
HarperAudio
Publication Date: August 25th, 2020 

Audio: 8 hours, 17 minutes | Hardcover: 336 pages

About Winter Counts:

"Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop.

 

They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost."

Last year I finally took a stab at getting more into audiobooks, something that I've always wanted to do but often find myself unable to focus on listening because I'd far too distracted with my own thoughts. I've finally been able to have some luck with books, and my latest read was Winter Counts, which was by far my favorite audiobook experience thus far. 

The narrator, Darrell Dennis, was perfect for the part and his voice could not have been a better match for the protagonist. He has a very calm, easy mannered method of speaking and I found that his voice wasn't too deep (really deep male voices often cause me to tune them out more often for some reason??) and was riveting in its own unique way. I am really interested in looking up more books that Dennis has narrated (and in fact he's narrated two books I've already read!) because I found his voice so compelling and easy to follow.

I believe this was the author's debut book, but I am certainly going to be keeping my eye out for more work from him. We follow the sole perspective of Virgil Wounded Horse as he continues his day to day life on the Rosebud reservation trying to take care of his nephew and make the reservation a better place to the extent that he can as the local enforcer. I really liked Virgil's casual and matter-of-fact manner of telling his story, and I especially liked watching his character develop over the course of the story in a variety of different ways. His passion and love for his nephew, Nathan, was also a great driving point for his motivations in this book and I liked watching how they interacted and handled different obstacles thrown their way (and trust me, there were a lot!). I also really appreciated how much the author focused on highlighting the Lakota culture and common issues faced by those living both on and off the reservation in ways that felt natural to the story. This is both an entertaining story as well as an educational one, and I highly recommend it to people looking to learn about new experiences.

As a quick last note, I didn't realize this was marketed as a thriller until after I finished it and read some reviews that were disappointed that it wasn't more... thriller-y. It definitely didn't read as a thriller to me for most of the story. There are certainly moments that are a bit high intensity and there is somewhat of a mystery aspect to the general story, but the writing itself feels much more like a regular literary/general fiction novel. I really loved this story as it was, but if you are hoping for a thriller, just keep that in mind. 

Overall, it was five stars from me for Winter Counts!

Buy the book: Amazon | IndieBound | Audible

 

 

 

 

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Narrated by Quyen Ngo
Dreamscape Media, LLC
Publication Date: August 25th, 2020 

Audio: 10 hours, 44 minutes | Hardcover: 342 pages

About The Mountains Sing:

"With the epic sweep of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and the lyrical beauty of Vaddey Ratner’s In the Shadow of the Banyan, The Mountains Sing tells an enveloping, multigenerational tale of the Tran family, set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam War. Tran Dieu Lan, who was born in 1920, was forced to flee her family farm with her six children during the Land Reform as the Communist government rose in the North. Years later in Hà Noi, her young granddaughter, Hương, comes of age as her parents and uncles head off down the Ho Chí Minh Trail to fight in a conflict that will tear not just her beloved country but her family apart.

 

Vivid, gripping, and steeped in the language and traditions of Viet Nam, The Mountains Sing brings to life the human costs of this conflict from the point of view of the Vietnamese people themselves, while showing us the true power of kindness and hope. This is celebrated Vietnamese poet Nguyen Phan Que Mai’s first novel in English."

This was such an incredibly beautiful, heartbreaking, tragic, and ultimately hopeful story. 

The narrator, Quyen Ngo, was absolutely perfect for this story and created incredibly unique and authentic voices for each character. Her acting was truly exceptional and I felt the emotion behind all of her words and storytelling. Her narrative felt almost lyrical in quality at many times, which I think was a mixture of the author's beautiful and poetic prose mixed with Ngo's eloquent manner of telling this story.

 

We follow two perspectives, that of Trần Diệu Lan and Hương, grandmother and granddaughter, respectively. I loved getting to experience this story through both perspectives because we got a glimpse into two very different life stories that had very similar themes and elements at their core. Both narratives were filled with their own forms of tragedy, though they manifested in different ways. The grandmother's perspectives take us back, starting in the 1920s in Vietnam, and the granddaughter's allows us to be in the 'present' narrative that stretches through the 1970s, spanning the French and Japanese occupations of Vietnam through the Vietnam war. I learned so much about Vietnam's history and I am so inspired to learn even more about it and the experiences people went through and continue to go through as a result. This is a difficult book to read and there were more than a few parts that left me feel absolutely devastated for the characters, but also know how accurate this was of reality for many people.

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's writing was stunning and kept me absolutely riveted the entire time. The author has such an eloquent and beautiful way of telling this raw, intense story in a way that allowed me to fully connect with the characters and develop a deep respect for them. I read this before Winter Counts, and before that one (which I also really loved),  this was the most riveting audiobook I'd listened to yet. I definitely plan to look for more books from Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai in the future and more audiobooks featuring Quyen Ngo as the narrator.

Overall, once again... it's five stars from me!

 

 

Buy the book: Amazon | IndieBound | Audible

Review: The Trials of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #2) by M.R. Carey

The Trials of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #2) by M.R. Carey
Orbit
Publication Date: September 17th, 2020
Paperback. 445 pages.

About The Trials of Koli:

"The Trials of Koli is the second novel in M R. Carey’s breathtakingly original Rampart trilogy, set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.

 

Beyond the walls of Koli’s small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli’s been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way for him to redeem himself – by saving what’s left of humankind."

I'm slowly catching up on some series I fell behind on, and The Trials of Koli was one that I had been particularly anticipating, though I also felt a bit nervous going into it. When I first read The Book of Koli, I recall being a bit unsure at the start before being slowly sucked into the story--this time there was no 'warming-up' period and I was immediately captivated once again by this world and the characters that inhabit it. Before diving into this review, just a head's up that there may be minor spoilers for the first book, but there will be no spoilers for this book!

In the first book, we followed only Koli's perspective, but in the sequel we have a new perspective added from Spinner, a girl from Mythen Rood that played a minor role in the previous book as someone that Koli loved. I really appreciated Carey's choice to include this perspective since it allows readers to continue following events that occurr in Mythen Rood after Koli's departure, as well as simply allow readers to get a new perspective and explore a new role from someone living in Mythen Rood. If you've read the first book, then you may recall that Koi's narrative voice is a unique one that has a certain 'uneducated' style to it since the current world setting is one that lacks a lot of the technology and education that once existed. With Spinner's point of view, I was impressed by how well Carey set her voice apart from Koli's and how much more dimension it added to this world to hear from different people. Spinner herself is  a compelling character with such a strong voice and personality that I really grew to admire her and couldn't help but feel captivated by her own journey in this book that is vastly different from Koli's in a lot of ways, but also surprisingly similar in many other ways. 

Koli remains a character that feels oddly relatable in all the best ways. He's rather naive to many things about the world, but he's certainly not stupid and has no problem catching onto things and ideas pretty quickly. Although this was also apparent in the first book, I found his goodhearted nature even more prominent in this book--Koli really is someone with good intentions and who cares about people in general, but circumstances often make it difficult for him to be able to trust people or allow his kindness to take precedence. His first journey into the world outside of Mythen Rood continues in this book, and I found myself enjoying his discoveries--both amazing and tragic--along his journey immensely.

Monono Aware, the Dreamsleeve tech Koli took from Mythen Rood, a girl named Cup, and the healer Ursula (and her Drudge, of course!) accompany Koli on his journey, and I this was such a ragtag sort of group that I couldn't help but love their dynamics. There's a lot of bickering and uncertainty, but also plenty of heart and excitement that was a part of this group. There's also a lot of sadness plaguing this group that emerges in a variety of forms, from anger to distrust and more, and I think this is what really allows us to get to know these characters and for their relationship dynamics to grow and develop in authentic ways that really allowed me to connect with them and care about each one. 

The world-building created in The Book of Koli really gets to expand a lot in this book as we continue to explore what's left of the world outside of Mythen Rood, and these re some of the elements that I was particularly excited about. This is a world leftover from a post-apocalyptic event and the Unfinished War, where the population has been rather decimated and people live in groups scattered throughout what's left. There are cultural changes, major environmental differences that readers discover, and a world in which there are now some rather dangerous trees and other creatures that pose grave threats to inhabitants. I was pleased that we got to learn more about these "choker seeds" that come from the violent trees, as well as more about the trees themselves, as this was something that I felt wasn't developed enough in the first book and left me wanting more--and we finally got more!

One thing that I have really loved about this series so far is Carey's ability to tackle so many prominent themes in ways that feel so natural and fitting to the story. For instance, there are some discussions about Cup being a trans woman that explores the difficulties that accompany this experience, as well as themes of acceptance that go beyond Cup's experience and allows the characters within the book to reflect on things, as well as readers themselves. 

I also read this book switching between the audiobook and the physical book, and I just want to note that the audiobook is truly well-done and I enjoyed it immensely. Theo Solomon and Saffroon Coomber, narrators for Koli's perspective and Spinners, respectively, were excellent in their roles and captured the personalities of each character extremely well. As someone who is new to audiobooks and has always struggled with focus, I was immersed in seconds and found it a highly enjoyable experience.

Overall, I've given The Trials of Koli 4.5 stars! I cannot wait to read the final book in this trilogy, which will be released next week!

 *I received a copy of The Trials of Koli courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*   

Buy the book: Amazon | IndieBound