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mischievous_monkey's review
2.0
The main character is interesting and I enjoy the detail of some of her observations. She is also arrogant and condescending.
This book’s storyline is told in alternating chapters which are set in different times and places. It reads like two separate books that were squashed into one without benefit of a common narrative. I found myself skipping the Atlanta section and only reading the Seattle portion of the story.
This book’s storyline is told in alternating chapters which are set in different times and places. It reads like two separate books that were squashed into one without benefit of a common narrative. I found myself skipping the Atlanta section and only reading the Seattle portion of the story.
vkshiro's review
2.0
I was disappointed by the third and final book of the Aud series. The format of alternating between the main story taking place in Seattle and the self defense class in Atlanta just didn't work.
Seattle was the better of the two stories but was still plagued with the "I'm completely and totally devoted to a person I just met" that happened in the first book of the series.
The self defense class "story" didn't even feel like a story--more like a book on self defense (that may or may not be accurate). There were too many characters, especially since none of them were interesting and most were annoying. What happened at the end was fairly obvious from early on.
I'm not sure why Griffith changed the format for the last book...but it just didn't work. I'd give it a 2 out of 5 but that's only because I already knew the characters. As a stand-alone book, it'd only get one star.
Seattle was the better of the two stories but was still plagued with the "I'm completely and totally devoted to a person I just met" that happened in the first book of the series.
The self defense class "story" didn't even feel like a story--more like a book on self defense (that may or may not be accurate). There were too many characters, especially since none of them were interesting and most were annoying. What happened at the end was fairly obvious from early on.
I'm not sure why Griffith changed the format for the last book...but it just didn't work. I'd give it a 2 out of 5 but that's only because I already knew the characters. As a stand-alone book, it'd only get one star.
coops456's review
5.0
Aud Torvingen first appeared in [b:The Blue Place|180206|The Blue Place (Aud Torvingen, #1)|Nicola Griffith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391277848l/180206._SY75_.jpg|6404864] and [b:Stay|156925|Stay (Aud Torvingen #2)|Nicola Griffith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1392182354l/156925._SY75_.jpg|6437599], but Always can be read as a standalone novel, although you might not appreciate the character development here.
For me this is the strongest of the three works. Griffith interleaves real-time chapters set in Seattle with flashback chapters in Atlanta some months earlier, where Aud had taught a beginners' self-defence class. It is immediately implied that something terrible happened in Atlanta and as we follow the self-defence lessons a feeling of dread grows.
Apart from anything else, it really made me think about fear and personal safety, and these things will stay with me.
For me this is the strongest of the three works. Griffith interleaves real-time chapters set in Seattle with flashback chapters in Atlanta some months earlier, where Aud had taught a beginners' self-defence class. It is immediately implied that something terrible happened in Atlanta and as we follow the self-defence lessons a feeling of dread grows.
Apart from anything else, it really made me think about fear and personal safety, and these things will stay with me.
storytimed's review
4.0
I love Aud Torvingen so much. Here we have a butch, Norwegian private detective who gets to go about taking joy in the strength of her body and having tragic and complicated love affairs! Also, I want to date her. The best thing about the Aud Torvingen series is its mindfulness, expressed in a way that is almost antithetical to the modern treat-yourself conception but there all the same: Aud is intensely present in her body and in her perception of the world. Here we get to see some of the definitions of her philosophy in the segments where she teaches a self-defense class, which I really liked, even though (and perhaps because) it did take us out of the main plotline.
The main plotline, unfortunately, is just a little weaker and less emotionally resonant than the otherwise unrelated self-defense vignettes. There is some good stuff there: a little bit about Aud's ironclad perceptions getting challenged, a new love interest (caterer/stunt double is not a career combination I have ever conceived of, but it really hits the wish fulfillment category). Part of it is that Aud is not as grounded in Seattle as she was in Atlanta. She doesn't have a history there, or a support system, which strips back all her community and leaves only the 2000s equivalent of AirSpace, the sterile high-class hotels and fancy restaurants of the very wealthy. Another is that the plot is significantly lower-stakes for Aud: she's in it mostly to... clear off a film crew on one of her properties so she can, what, do something with it? She doesn't really care about the property. She doesn't really care about the crew. She does, after a while, begin to care about Kick, the aforementioned love interest, but there it's not a very emotionally resonant plotline for much of the novel.
However: any time spent with Aud is a good time. She's just a fantastic protagonist, which makes me excuse some of the wish-fulfillment excess of preternatural competence and fabulous wealth. Sometimes it's enough to just sink into my butch lesbian crimefighter fantasy and Griffith's beautiful prose.
The main plotline, unfortunately, is just a little weaker and less emotionally resonant than the otherwise unrelated self-defense vignettes. There is some good stuff there: a little bit about Aud's ironclad perceptions getting challenged, a new love interest (caterer/stunt double is not a career combination I have ever conceived of, but it really hits the wish fulfillment category). Part of it is that Aud is not as grounded in Seattle as she was in Atlanta. She doesn't have a history there, or a support system, which strips back all her community and leaves only the 2000s equivalent of AirSpace, the sterile high-class hotels and fancy restaurants of the very wealthy. Another is that the plot is significantly lower-stakes for Aud: she's in it mostly to... clear off a film crew on one of her properties so she can, what, do something with it? She doesn't really care about the property. She doesn't really care about the crew. She does, after a while, begin to care about Kick, the aforementioned love interest, but there it's not a very emotionally resonant plotline for much of the novel.
However: any time spent with Aud is a good time. She's just a fantastic protagonist, which makes me excuse some of the wish-fulfillment excess of preternatural competence and fabulous wealth. Sometimes it's enough to just sink into my butch lesbian crimefighter fantasy and Griffith's beautiful prose.
kory_is's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wordnerdy's review
3.0
I think this was part of a series I've never read, b/c there were lots of references to people that never actually showed up in the story. Anyway, it's about some rich ex-cop woman who goes to Seattle to investigate some weirdness with real estate holdings and has to deal with the weird goings-on at a movie set. It's categorized as a mystery but the tension level was really low. Meanwhile, the protagonist is flashing back to a self-defense course she taught (the author used to teach self-defense--thoguh I think the method I learned for eye-gouging is more efficient than hers) and the problems it caused. The protagonist was likable enough but this may have been a little too formulaic for me (lots of falling in love at the drop of a hat with a local caterer). B.
ajcousins's review
4.0
Not *quite as brilliant as the first two Aud Torvingen novels, this was still a great read. Two plot lines alternate chapters, one following a flashback of Aud's teaching a women's self defense class, with bloody results, and the other following her visit to Seattle, where sabotage, attempted murder, Norwegian family values and the magic of film-making all mix together in a gorgeous mess. If you like six foot tall, cropped hair, Norwegian ex-cop lesbians who can kick the shit out of you and then carve you an oak rocking chair, you'll love Aud. ;)
hissingpotatoes's review
4.0
There was a bit of a different, looser feel to this book compared to the first two, possibly because it was written so many years after them. But I absolutely love Aud and Dornan's friendship and the lessons of the self-defense class throughout the book. Griffith's to-the-point writing intermixed with beautiful nature descriptions continued to amaze.
cheriekg's review
2.0
What a sad way to end this series. Not that the end was sad, but that this slow, broken-up, meandering story really brought down what had been taut, compelling reads. I sometimes dreaded the violence of Aud, but it turns out that Aud without violence is...kinda boring and whiny.