Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. In this post I will continue my End Of The Year Series with the second part of my most disappointing books of 2022. Let’s begin:
12. A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong
I am avid reader of mythology and history. Combine the two, and it is probably a book that I will read. When I read this book several years ago, I really liked it. But this time, I found that it was too biased on Mesopotamian and Hebrew mythology (not that I have anything against Mesopotamian and Hebrew mythology, I do not.) It’s just that I was hoping she’d mention other myths as well; like Greek, Norse, or Aztec myths, and she does not. I also found that her theory on the origin of myth was rather simplistic.
13. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict
This book is an anthropological study of Japanese culture, and it is a very interesting read. However, ultimately it was not what I was expecting and I was a little disappointed by it. By saying this, I don’t want to reduce the merit of Ruth Benedict’s work though. It’s just that in the introduction, the author says that she was asked to study the Japanese and their culture in an effort to understand their behavior during WWII, but she doesn’t elaborate on how her work, at the end of the book, helped the Allies (if it ever did) defeat the Japanese.
14. Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins
This book was published in 2021, and it is the most recent published work that recounts Greek myths to modern readers. In this one, the myths are retold from the loom of the most famous weavers in Greek mythology, among them Helen of Troy and Penelope. And I liked this. The author tries to give women their deserved spot in mythology, Nonetheless, this book ended up being a disappointment because I did not like how she recounted the myths themselves. In trying to put women and weaving in center stage (which is an original concept), the myths are retold in a rather disjointed and scrambled manner.
15. What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
I read this book for one of my book clubs, and I admit that I did not like it. I just ended up thinking that the time the author invested in answering all of these questions (enough questions to make a book or two out of it) with a valid scientific answer was ultimately a waste of time, because the questions themselves are just hypothetical. I mean, why would you want to answer them in the first place? I guess it all comes down to different people’s interests, and I could tell that he knew what he was talking about (the physics behind it particularly) but most of it just passed me by. Sorry, but I did not like this book.
16. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
This book is a classic and it is perhaps one of the most widely known books that recount Greek myths. And I liked how the author retells those myths, but I did not like how she does not extricate herself from the narrative and has an opinion about each classical author she borrows the myths from; she is especially harsh on Ovid (though he is a Roman author, not Greek) and often says that she is using him as her main source to retell some of the myths because she has no other choice. I understand not liking an author, but I don’t appreciate being told time and again every time she starts a new chapter. Other than that though I liked this retelling more than Greek Myths: A New Retelling by Charlotte Higgins.
17. The Lost Stradivarius by John Meade Falkner
A classic within the horror genre, I feel that this book lost its way in the end. It begins by retelling us, through letters, that the main character, John Maltravers, becomes obsessed with the Gagliarda in the Aeropagita, written by Graziani, after he notices that whenever he plays this piece on the violin a mysterious presence enters his room.
Particularly, I thought that the book started out very well. But once John finds the lost Stradivarius, the book focuses primarily on how the instrument makes John change and ultimately perish. But we never actually get to be in John’s head and experience firsthand the violin’s innate evil as well as the protagonist’s psychological warfare. We’re only witnesses to the changes he experiences, just as Sophia is, and remain outsiders concerning the related events throughout the entire novella.
18. The Faceless Mage by Kenley Davidson
I feel like this book could’ve been better, and I am a little saddened that it is one of my most disappointing reads of the year. Let’s start with the positive though. I liked the magic system. The main character is a mirror mage though she doesn’t know it at the time (similar to but not quite like the Faceless Men of Game of Thrones, who change faces to kill their marks) and is forced to take the princess of Farhall’s place in Garimore to find out what the king of Garimore’s intentions when he proposes an alliance with Farhall. The thing is the author never really explains how the magic system works and the whole plot falls short. I think that if we had been told a little bit more of the magic system and both the protagonists’ backstory (why Leisa’s family abandoned her in Farhall and how the Raven came to become the king of Garimore’s prisoner), the story would have been better. Something else that she doesn’t really go into is why the King of Garimore hates mages, and I think that that too would have been a good addition to the story and plot. Instead, we’re left hanging with all these storylines that are still open by the end of the book (and I get that she does this to continue the story in other books) but I would have appreciated some closure somewhere (and a little romance too, since the protagonists haven’t even gotten together yet by the end of book.) I also didn’t like that the book’s climax, Leisa freeing Kyrion from his magical bonds and prison, was rather dull.
19. The Unseen Heir by Kenley Davidson
This book picks up right after the previous one ended, but sadly it too wasn’t a favorite for me. At this point, the protagonists have escaped Garimore and Leisa is returning to Farhall to finish her mission while Kyrion is on his way back home. However, he still doesn’t have all his magic, and Leisa promises to come back and break the bonds holding it back. But instead, the King of Farhall puts her under house arrest and Kyrion has to go Farhall and save her. And in turn, he too gets captured…
By this point the protagonists had been captured (and escaped) so many times, I was starting to lose count and it seemed like that was the only thing going on in the story. After they escape (again), they travel to Kyrion’s home and things aren’t all that great there either. The traveling took a huge chunk of the book, and honestly I thought that it was rather pointless since not much happens. Yes, some things happen, but not much.
Like its predecessor, I think that this book had potential and that it could’ve been so much better. But unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. The protagonists only get together at the very end, and that felt like an afterthought. Like the author said, “oh yeah, they get together and now Leisa is the queen of the night elves.” Considering that this is supposed to be a fantasy romance, I felt like I was cheated out of the romance.
20. The Keepers Trilogy by David Dalglish
As you guys can attest, I read the first book of this trilogy, Soul Keeper, many times before continuing with Books 2 and 3. And I liked it well enough to continue on with the series. Unfortunately, the following two books were not good. I didn’t like where the author decided to go with this series (especially with Adria; I thought she was insufferable by the end of the series) and I didn’t like how he ended the story. I don’t think I’ll read any more books by this author, which is a shame because I was interested in another one of his series and now I don’t think I’ll ever pick it up.
21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffner
This book was a disappointment all around because none of the things I was interested in were really developed in the story. The romance happens in the background, we never get to see the literary society meet and discuss a book, and the post-war setting isn’t really touch upon. This book could’ve been so much better.
That is everything for today. Thank you for reading. In my next post I will be posting my favorite reads of 2022.
