Review: Storm Front

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Storm Front is a solid start to a series. There's lots and lots of action - almost more than I could take at some points. Harry Dresden has a few really, really bad days in this book. His life is in danger from many fronts - demons, vampires, magical councils, mysterious unknown powerful wizards, and human cops and gangsters. He's all alone in dealing with it, and he's broke to top it all off. He's injured often, and he barely scrapes by with some sliver of luck that he manages to hang onto by his fingernails.

It's exciting, it's calamitous, and I'm exhausted from reading it. I've heard that the series gets better at about book 4, and I am interested enough to stick with it. I just hope Harry has some downtime in the next one!




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Review: The Thief

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The Thief starts out deceptively simple. Gen is dragged out of prison so that he can steal something for the king. A good part of what follows is his journey to the place where the theft needs to take place, under the enforcement of a court advisor and his companions. The only change in focus is the telling of myth-like stories of the gods around the campfires. This portion of the story seemed a bit slow, and for a while I wondered if this was really it. It was almost too simple, with only the one plot-line. But it turns out this is merely putting pieces in place for later.

As they get closer to the location for the theft, it gets more interesting. Then we get to see Gen's attempts at thievery, and it's lots of fun. The action picks up, and there are some real surprises, none of which I will give away. As everything came together, I realized that nothing was so simple as I had thought. It's always wonderful to have that feeling at the end of a book. I'm looking forward to the next one!



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Review: The Ambassador's Mission

The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

 **Caution! Spoilers if you haven't read the Black Magician Trilogy!

 I was really disappointed in this. I've loved Canavan's previous work - she's one of my favorite authors! But something went wrong here. It was just so incredibly boring. There's not enough that's new, but instead a lot of time is spent explaining how things have changed from 20 years ago, or rediscovering the past that has already been explored in the Magician's Apprentice. I think Canavan would have been better off building a whole new world with new conflicts and magic rather than re-hashing a world and characters that I already know and love.

What is new is the character of Lorkin, but I really can't tell you much about him. I don't feel that he is well-defined enough, although I hope that improves in the next books. There is so much reminiscing about the past by return characters that we don't get a clear enough sense of the present and why we should care about it.

I mainly just felt nostalgic for the days of the Ichani invasion, and felt like I was having sumi with my old friends from the war, chatting about how times have changed and feeling sad that they haven't turned out better after all that effort. I can't believe I'm writing this - I had such hopes for this sequel!

There are really two distinct plots in the book. One is Lorkin's adventures in Sachaka. Apparently he wants to find old magic for some reason, but I don't really feel his excitement or know why it's important enough to him to risk his life going there. He just seems to want a grown-up adventure and a chance to prove himself. The unasked-for adventures that he gets should be a lot more exciting, but the gripping, engaging aspect of the previous books is missing.

The other plot sticks with Cery and Sonea in their separate spheres in Imardin. It's sort of a murder mystery, but it's hard to care because you're mainly getting the characters' inner dialogue on what's changed in the last 20 years, or speculating about how a situation could go 3 different ways. And there's not nearly enough magic to help make up for it - what there is is just incidental, like opening and closing doors, and some levitation. I think I've made my point by now - it just really dragged.

Can I also say that Sonea being an overprotective mother is not what I want to read about? That's the main addition to her character in this, other than the fact that she's been stuck in the same restrictions for the last 20 years. She really needs to move on from the past and find a way to gain the trust of the Guild so she can do more than work in the hospices. I expect (hope) that what happens in the rest of the trilogy gives her a way to do that, and to let her son be an adult. In other words, I'll have to go ahead and read the rest of the trilogy and hope it gets better. It's too late to turn back now.

Honestly, what's missing is the one person who can't make an encore appearance. No wonder it's so lackluster - all of the true mystery and the reason for everyone's existence is gone. The best character EVER leaves a gaping hole.

I am now more upset than ever that The High Lord ended the way it did. It could have had a way happier ending, everything resolved to some degree and - finished. Complete. I could have been so happy. Why? Why?

I WANT MY OLD BLACK MAGICIAN BACK!!!!



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Review: Enna Burning

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Enna Burning really is all about fire. Much of it is dark, as fire magic is hard to control and Enna is struggling with this in the midst of a war. The depressing part of the book doesn't last forever, though, and I ended up enjoying the post-war resolution well enough to give it 4 stars.

Isi from The Goose Girl is still involved, and not just as a distant figure that you hardly remember. Enna's friendship with her is one of the best aspects of the book. The magic of both wind and fire get plenty of attention, and I enjoyed how they figure it all out together.



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Review: Scarlet

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Scarlet tells a tale of Robin Hood from the point of view of Will Scarlet, who in this case happens to be a girl and a thief. I really enjoyed the twist. It was easy to get into, a fun read with plenty of the adventure you would expect from Robin Hood. And the twist only added to it while staying mostly true to the most recognizable aspects of the legend, I believe.

There a couple of things that got in the way of my enjoyment. For some reason, the author chose to write in first person using a dialect that I found jarring. Here's an example: "It were like the road we walked near every day were gone." It wouldn't have bothered me so much had the dialect stayed within actual dialogue, but it was that way through all of the narration. I got used to it after a while, but every now and then it still jarred me out of the story.

The other part that bothered me was the focus on Scarlet refusing to eat. She was basically anorexic for a lot of it, and it was never dealt with enough to satisfy me that she improved. This is perhaps not the greatest example of how to deal with life's problems to be offering to a young adult audience.

All in all, it was an enjoyable take on an old legend, with a little bit of romance and a lot of knife throwing. Recommended in spite of these minor complaints.



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Review: Edenbrooke

Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Edenbrooke is absolutely delightful. I wish more publishers out there would pick up romance stories like this, without the prerequisite sex scenes. There is none of that here, and instead we are treated to a romance that focuses much more on the emotions of the characters and how they fall in love. So it's a love story, not just a romance. In my experience, those are quite hard to find.

For those of you who aren't big into any kind of romance you'll want to steer clear of this. There is not much to it at all besides that very sweet love story. There's not much complexity, and some of the plot is typical romance-style (one character was overly dense at times). But if you do enjoy a good romance, especially if you prefer the more emotional than physical type, it is beautifully written and full of tension. I gobbled it up in one evening, and it was absolutely sigh-worthy.

This is definitely reminiscent of a few Georgette Heyer novels that I've read - I'm thinking Sylvester and Regency Buck, just a little. But it was its own story and its own style, and since those are two of my favorite Heyer novels, it can't be bad that I was reminded of them in some way.



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Review: Rise of Empire

Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




I have to say, this installment is far more epic than the first book of the series, and therefore also a little heavier. Although I really enjoyed the light feel of The Crown Conspiracy, I am glad that it's broadening into something deeper. This series is really taking me by surprise and fast becoming a favorite.

Although the epic-ness does make it heavier, I still really don't feel that this series is too depressing, at least so far. All fantasy needs some darkness. What makes the difference for me is when there are also beautiful or meaningful moments that lighten the tone, giving you a break instead of dragging you through the mud every single step of the way. In this series, the humor and the friendships that develop serve that purpose. I feel like this is a more traditional style fantasy in that way, and it's such a pleasant change from some of the other recent fantasy that's all blood and guts and despair and the world is full of gray and dust and now I just want to die.

Ok, moving on.


Nyphron Rising - 5 Stars

I really enjoyed Nyphron Rising as much as (or more than?) The Crown Conspiracy. I loved that Royce and Hadrian are traveling again, this time with Arista instead of her brother. I loved that there's more of the underworld. I loved that it's not all just action - the characters are not static, just responding to events. They are thinking and changing. Especially Arista. She really comes into her own in this book. She finds her worth and a purpose and steps out of her sheltered princess world. It's not all peaches and cream, and she does a lot of growing.

There's not much more I can say without giving away the plot. All I can say is that it has many aspects of good epic fantasy that I can be relied upon to enjoy whenever I see them cast in a new way. Characters find themselves in impossible situations and I have no idea how they're going to get out, and then of course there's that twist at the end that I didn't see coming at all - a trademark of Mr. Sullivan's, I am coming to believe.

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Emerald Storm - 4.5 stars

I didn't enjoy The Emerald Storm quite as much as Nyphron Rising. I'm talking a hair's difference here - it was yet again completely different in setting, and I didn't like the new locations quite as much. It also seemed like not as much actually happened in this one, apart from Royce & Hadrian's mission, which goes along quite standardly.

My description is so blasé that you'll be thinking I didn't like it, but once again it's hard to describe without giving too much away. Suffice it to say that when I reached the end of this book, I thought I knew what was going on, and then something happened that turned everything on its head so that I had to re-evaluate everything that had gone before. Just when I think it's getting predictable, this series surprises me. I love that. It's so rare.



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Review: Sheepfarmer's Daughter

Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Sheepfarmer's Daughter follows Paks as she runs away from home to join a mercenary company and learns how to fight and take on more responsibilities as a soldier. This first book in the trilogy follows her through 6 months of training and the first two years of campaigns, and it is very heavily focused on camp life, and details that would be important to a simple soldier.

The author takes the viewpoint of Paks very literally - we learn what she is learning as she is learning it. As her understanding of her world broadens, so do her observations of it, and our picture begins to open up. As a result, our view of the rest of the world starts out very limited. This is very well done, but at times is also frustrating - I want to know what's going on! But I decided to sit back and take in the smaller picture for a while. It's quite a difference from most fantasy that I read, which is usually more on the epic scale right from the start. The main focus here is on one military company and specifically on one person's experience within that.

At times it did drag a little, and it was so detailed that I wondered if it was really going anywhere or if it was just reveling in the moment. But just when I was starting to get bored with the details, things picked up. For the most part I enjoyed the very detailed accounts and the slow development of Paks' experience and confidence as a soldier. There was not much magic until closer to the end, and that would normally bother me. But as the approach is to let us discover the world as Paks discovers it, I found I unexpectedly enjoyed the fresh outlook. The extra details of a larger world and magic that started to creep in towards the end were tantalizing, and I am looking forward to the next book, where I believe the view should widen significantly.



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Review: Out of Time: A Time Travel Mystery

Out of Time: A Time Travel Mystery by Monique Martin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Based on the description, I expected to find Out of Time a combination of time travel and historical mystery with a bit of romance. It is true that these elements are present, but really what I found myself reading was a fairly generic romance that could have taken place anywhere, anytime, with some time travel and mystery thrown in, but not sufficiently developed.

The story starts out in the present, with a professor of the occult and his assistant finding themselves unexpectedly launched back to the 1920s. They have to figure out how to survive in the past, but once they do, the story completely stalls as the focus shifts almost completely to the romance. Not much else happens until close to the end, when the conflict finally escalates just in time to bring about a cool time-travel twist to the ending - the sort of thing I'd been waiting for all along, and the reason why I gave this 3 stars instead of 2. If only there had been more of that throughout, I would have been happier.



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