Review: Terms & Conditions

Terms & Conditions by Robert Glancy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Source: paperback copy won from Bloomsbury (UK & ANZ) via Goodreads First Reads

I must first admit that I read this book over 3 months ago… ‘twas the last book I read just before I drowned into the hell of nausea (pregnancy induced) so most of what I remembered of this book is tainted by a slight sick feeling in my stomach. oh, the joys of pregnancy!

You probably didn’t read my terms and conditions today, when you bought something off the internet and clicked ‘Agree’; or when you signed blind some contract giving away your rights, your life, a pound of your flesh.
My masterpiece is the work I did on the modern insurance policy. I wrote it fresh out of law school when my brilliance was still radiant. Its genius lies in the fact that it’s unbearably dull. Few can read it all the way through and none ever get to the small print.

And so, I was determined to read ALL small prints (ie. footnotes) that were scattered throughout this book. I must say that whilst it was quite entertaining to begin with, at 90+% of the book, I was struggling to not skip the footnotes. I work in the insurance industry so I understood (mostly) the protagonist’s perspective on the finesse of terms & conditions. And yet, that doesn’t mean that I read ALL the fine prints before I sign away my soul… however, am proud to say that I read all these footnotes!

The novel began with a very brief introduction of Frank Shaw, main protagonist from whose perspective this story is told. The story began as he opened his eyes on the hospital bed following an accident from which he lost his memories. Thus we embarked on an adventure with Frank as he rediscovers himself.

There are a lot of challenges in recovering oneself from the abyss of lost memories; not only doubts of the truth behind his own memories but also the truth of what others are telling you relative to their behaviours towards you. There were many confusions, veiled truths, and subtle nudges pointing to the right exit.

I would recommend a clear mind in reading this novel as the jumps between time periods, memories and stories are mostly quite sudden and the lines are quite blurry. I found the ending to be amusingly ironic after all the mockery made of terms & conditions. Frank is a nice guy but he won’t necessarily finish last.

Thank you, Bloomsbury (UK & ANZ), for providing copy of book via Goodreads. My sincere apologies for delay in writing this review

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Review: Dance of Shadows

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Source: Courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing and The Reading Room – get your own copy from The Book Depository

In my adolescent years, growing up in Asia, manga was very popular. I devoured many series though my most favourite would have been Sailor Moon. I remember the wait for the publication of the first book then the next and so on and so forth. One other type I would voraciously hunt down are any ballet related manga. I probably would have read all the Mari-Chan’s series and fell in love more and more with ballet. The lines of drawing ballerina gracefully in mid-flight, each character’s love of ballet and determination to succeed –what can’t you love about these series?!

I just love love love this cover of Dance of Shadows –beautiful colours which gave an impression of movement. The blurb falls along the line of a ballet manga and I couldn’t resist. It was a pretty easy read despite struggling with ballet jargons (I know some but not all) and whilst I know the theory, sometimes, it’s just hard to imagine the movement they’re supposed to do. Knowing ballet and ballet terms would definitely help in understanding the characters’ struggles in their ballet class and goals.

Whilst Vanessa was likeable enough, Blaine was the character which made this book for me. He’s Caucasian-Japanese in descent, bread in Texas and bat for the other team. He might be a bit flamboyant and at time, stereotypical, but you can only be stereotypical up to a point with a Texan-Japanese boy. Most of all, he made me laugh! I always fall for guys who make me laugh…

[Blaine] “Or I could settle for a Russian dance. They’re so severe. I love it. I wouldn’t even care if he spoke no English whatsoever. As long as he made sweet, sweet love to me while feeding me caviar, and then helped me play with my set of Matryoshka dolls.” He paused. “Not that I have any Matryoshka dools.”

Vanessa and the girls continued staring at him. “The how would you communicate?” Elly asked quizzically.

“Darling,” Blaine said, leaning forward and batting his eyelashes. “The language of love requires no words. Haven’t you seen The Little Mermaid?”

The story was a little slow for me until maybe the last 100 pages when the pace picked up and things progressed in a tremendous whirl. It began with Vanessa’s arrival at a most prestigious ballet academy though it was foreshadowed by her missing elder sister. The story was slow as we follow Vanessa in fitting into school-life and discovering a mystery surrounding the school. The foreshadowing is there, bits of darkness lurked around but after pushing through 2/3 of the book, I found the resolution quite a bit exciting. All the time I was reading, I could so see it in my head in something like

This story is not in any way light-hearted though much darkness (and slowness) was pierced by chuckle-worthy humour [see Blaine above]. Whilst the ending isn’t a cliff-hanger per se, it is well set up for the next book which I look forward to!

Thank you Bloomsbury and The Reading Room for the privilege to read and review this book

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