Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Dead Until Dark is a quick read if you want something quirky and full of the mundane alongside the paranormal. It's also most definitely in the Paranormal Romance category - I would not call this Urban Fantasy at all. It's really like chick-lit with vampires and a serial killer. Even though it's called a mystery, no one is really figuring anything out about the murders. They just keep piling up (which at least kept things a bit interesting). Otherwise, the plot consists mainly of Sookie working at the bar, Sookie getting dressed and putting on make-up, and Sookie getting to know her new vampire boyfriend. It is a humorous Southern small-town vignette with some zany paranormal thrown in, and I thought it was fun (well, except for the clothes and make-up, which I just kind of skipped over).

BTW, I can't believe Stephenie Meyer really never read this before writing Twilight. Almost immediately after meeting Bill (the vampire), I was having déjà vu. Twilight is way sappier and has even less plot, and is absorbed with YA concerns like high school, but totally feels like fan fiction for this. There are so many echoes of one in the other, down to the fact that vampires have a glow and old-fashioned manners and are trying to live peacefully among humans. Sookie even has mind-reading abilities!

This book has humor, though, and the romance is more mature. Sookie has qualms about her boyfriend's methods of survival and his ethics, and she is not obsessed with him. The romance is OK - there's not a whole lot of tension there. I actually found myself more interested in Sam as a love interest and I don't normally go for the 3rd string guy in a love triangle.

Now all this isn't to say I didn't enjoy the book. I actually really did. There was enough other stuff in there for me not to feel like it was 'just a romance.' I was in the mood for something romantic and silly and quick, and the combination of Southern humor, vampires, gruesome murder, and romance was fun. But I might have gotten impatient if I were in a different mood. The chick-lit feel is not something I can go for very often. I do think I'll read the sequel when I know I'm in the mood for this kind of humor again. I'd put it in the same category as a Meg Cabot book - it had the same light-hearted appeal.

Hood - Stephen R. Lawhead

Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



This just did not interest me at all. I kept skimming and skimming, waiting to get sucked in and it just wasn't happening. Then I thought I'd try something else for a while and come back to it, but I don't have any interest in returning to it at all. It could completely just be me and my mood at the moment, but I feel no regret leaving it. Glad I only borrowed it from the library!

Cinder - Marissa Meyer

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wow, Cinder might just be the most original fairytale retelling I’ve ever read. Translated into a dystopic future, with Cinder a cyborg mechanic, I am amazed at how well the tale was weaved into the story of a future world riddled with plague, prejudice against cyborgs, and earth-wide threat from a Lunar power. Getting all that to work with a Cinderella theme that includes all of the important bits - hats off to Meyer’s imagination. I’m impressed.

I do have to temper my ravings due to the bleakness that pervades the book. It’s something that often comes with a Dystopia, and it’s appropriate, but I still can’t ever bring myself to completely ‘enjoy’ something dark and hopeless feeling. So the rating is for my level of enjoyment while experiencing the book - and doesn’t match up to my brain’s appreciation of the cleverness and interest in the story that I still have in spite of the bleakness. That’s saying a lot. So is the fact that I want to move onto the sequel right away… I’m so glad I waited a while to pick this one up because of the cliffhanger ending. I only hope the sequel is as good.

The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Days after finishing The Way of Kings, I still wasn't sure how to rate it or review it, but now I finally have a few thoughts put together. So here goes.

The fact that I didn't put the book down and instantly proclaim my awe gave me pause. Usually I rate a book 5 stars when it grabs me and doesn't let go, when I lose sleep over it, or when it moves into the realm of irrational emotion that overshadows all flaws. I didn't have this feeling about The Way of Kings. However, it lingered with me for several days afterwards, and I had trouble finding something else to hold my interest. That only happens with 5 star books. So for now I'm settling on 5 stars, although it's a bit of a wishy-washy rating.

This may be one of the most epic-feeling epics I've ever read. There is the overwhelming sense that this book is only a long beginning to a hugely epic tale, one that is going to span 10 novels and be extremely vast and sprawling. The first book has only barely scratched the surface with its 1000 pages! And after 1000 pages of introduction, I do feel that I am ready for more.

The world feels very vast and old, and the magic system is very well developed (of course - this is Sanderson we're talking about!), but it is still very limited in scope for such a long book. The story so far takes place in mainly three locations with three main characters. So the world feels vast and detailed, but we don't actually get to see a clear picture of all of it yet.

Let me talk about the characters, since building them is the main focus of this book. First the most minor (in this installment), Shallan. I really struggled to like her, since her motives were less than pure, and I didn't want her to succeed at all. Thankfully, this changed by the end of the book, and now I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with her story. But there were times when I was impatient to get back to the other two main characters because I liked them much better, and they were closer to the action.

Dalinar, I really liked. He is a high prince commanding an army in a pointless war, and he's also uncle / advisor to the young king whose power is shaky a few years after his father was assassinated. Dalinar is having embarrassing visions, and - also incredibly embarrassing for his sons - he is finding purpose in honorable ideals that go beyond blood lust in battle and the petty squabbling of the other high princes. His parts are full of internal conflict and philosophical ideals that pit him against his contemporaries, who think he's going crazy and/or soft (they are seen as kind of the same thing).

I loved the scenes where Dalinar proved them all wrong. He had a couple of the really great action scenes, and I loved where his story ended up.

I do have to say, his visions were kind of confusing at times, adding to the 'where is this going?' feeling. They showed a lot of history, which was good for world-building, but I feel as if a second reading would make things a lot more clear now that I know where it's headed.

But by far, the best character is Kaladin. He is a slave, formerly a soldier and a surgeon (we get to see his former life through flashbacks). At the beginning it's really difficult to read about him because of his treatment and the despair and hopelessness of his situation. Every time you think he's at the bottom, he goes lower. Normally I don't enjoy reading things full of despair and bleakness, so for a while I didn't like his story. But thankfully it doesn't continue that way for the whole book. Kaladin finds a way to drag himself out of the seemingly bottomless pit of hell. Bit by bit, his story gains hope, and his were some of the most awesome action scenes in the entire book. This is a character who is transformed and who he becomes is amazing.

So I enjoyed two out of three main characters, and was mesmerized by the world - but not to the point of losing sleep. I never had a problem putting it down. At times I wondered what it was all getting at when there was just lots of character building and only spurts of action. But the feeling of it still pervaded me. I enjoyed being in the world and missed it when I finished.

This reminds me of my feelings when reading Tad Williams’ Dragonbone Chair. That's another one with a very slow building world with lots of character development and not a lot of action at first. That series became one of my favorite epic fantasies because of the feeling of just being in it, savoring it. That's how I feel about The Way of Kings. It is subtle, but it has me.

I am very much looking forward to the next book, now that I understand the world and am ready to learn more about it. I'm glad I started the series instead of waiting for more books to be released. The first one ends in a place that I'm happy with for now, and with such huge books, I actually don't mind taking a break between them. I think this is a series I can savor over years instead of gorging them down all at once.

A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



So I was really liking this, and thinking how well the BBC Sherlock is done, and then right after the reveal we didn't get Holmes' explanation for how he got there. Instead it went off on a huge flashback to America, showing what led up to the crime. I kept wondering if someone had pasted the wrong book into my public domain download! I didn't really care for the detour. Which is probably why I've never seen it in any adaptations.

Starcrossed - Elizabeth C. Bunce

StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Starcrossed started out really, really slowly. It took half the book to set it up. The first 200 pages were 2 stars, and I almost quit a couple of times. The last 200 pages were 4 stars, so I'm going with 3 overall. It took a lot of patience to get through that first half, especially as I really struggled to like the main character, Digger, and it was just... boring. Nothing much happened, even when Digger was using her skills. A thief should not be boring!

But once Digger started to clue into what was going on, and started to change, I began to feel I could root for her. That's when the action and discoveries about what was going on started to come together as well, making for a much more interesting second half.

There is absolutely no romance in this high fantasy - so far - and not a lot of adventure either. There's a little bit of magic, but it doesn't make much of an appearance until later in the book. So what there is, is a lot of political intrigue, but you're in the dark about it for quite a while. You know that Digger is working for the wrong side, whatever side that is, and that you don't want her to succeed.

Digger is a thief who actually acts like a thief, and is ignorant about anything beyond her own survival. She does not have any trouble betraying those who have helped her because her vision is so narrow. She does start to think about further reaching consequences of her actions at some point. And finally she steps up and becomes the kind of heroine I want to read about.

By the end, I found myself wanting to read the sequel, which is surprising for a book that I almost didn't finish. I don't plan to read it until there's some resolution on the final book in the trilogy being published, though. The publisher dropped this series, and I've heard there's quite a cliffhanger at the end of book two. This book ended with things open, but not hanging. I'll stop here for now, but it's a shame. I hope the third book gets published some day, or that the author will consider self-publishing to give some closure to her readers.

The First Confessor - Terry Goodkind

The First Confessor by Terry Goodkind

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Gosh, this was awful. I was really hoping it wouldn't be, but it just was. It is actually possible to do this review in one word: repetitive. But that seems too weak. If I could have two words, I’d add te-di-ous. But those words are not going to be enough. I need to rant.

Wow, this could really have used a vigorous editor. It seems like Goodkind believes we need to hear everything three times in a row to comprehend it, and that we forget what we just learned after 10 pages. At 500 pages, I skimmed at least 200 of unnecessary repetition and redundant phrases that were repeated too many times. Conversations and thoughts were explained over and over again. Concepts I had just absorbed were re-introduced in the very next paragraph so that I wondered if I was re-reading portions.

See how that just tripled my word count? Did your eyes start to glaze over with complete boredom? It almost became comical to note how many times the same information was repeated as I was skimming for anything that held a whiff of action or plot or any character actually being interesting.

Somewhere in there, there was a story I wanted to read, and towards the end it did begin to emerge. I was interested in the making of the Sword of Truth, and the first Confessor, and in the last 100 pages something actually happened with them. There are some other old familiars in there - references to the Boxes of Orden, the Temple of the Winds, the Sliph, and the world of the dead. But they are only talked about, not experienced like they would have been in the original series.

I had to trudge through so much extra exposition and junk dialog to get to the story, and the story was just not up to old standards. I honestly found it hard to imagine that the writing could be worse. I was bored out of my mind, and frustrated that just when I would start to get into it, I’d have to read/skim a couple of pages of repetition. Argh. It went way beyond the preachy exposition that he was fond of in the original series, and which I was able to ignore for the most part. The writing was just bad. It's the worst I've read in years and I'm amazed that I finished it. I feel as if I need to go re-read The Wizard’s First Rule to wash the memory of this away.


Nov 15, 2014:

Trying to decide whether to give a 2nd star or not. Maybe by the time I've written my review.

Urban Shaman - C.E. Murphy

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Urban Shaman is the first in an urban fantasy series that may not stack up too well against ‘the greats’ of UF, but is entertaining none-the-less. And the series is finished, which is a plus. One thing it is not is Paranormal Romance. There is the slightest inkling of the beginning of interest between two characters, but that’s it. So if you’re looking for a UF series sort of in the middling range of quality that is not exclusively romance, this could be for you. (Although I can't speak for the rest of the series yet.)

The world has an interesting blend of Celtic and Native American mythology - again a refreshing change. I’m not sure this combination is completely pulled off, but it was definitely an interesting one.

Joanne is - sort of - a cop. She thinks more like a mechanic, and is a skeptic who is forced in a bloody way to come to grips with a world of myths and Shamanic powers. There is a very mystical feeling to the whole thing, with dream walking, near death experiences, healings, and spirit guides. At times the shifts between worlds were disorienting, and I had no clue what was going on in the beginning. Neither did Joanne, though, so I figured it out while she did.

Although Joanne is a cop, as the murders pile up, they are not solved in a true detective fashion, but through trips to the spirit world. I was a little disappointed because I was hoping for a good mystery with actual investigations.

I liked some of the supporting characters and hope they stick around in future installments. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything with a senior-aged ex-football player cabbie for a side-kick before. It actually created another dimension that I really enjoyed and added some humor to the mix.

I enjoyed reading this well enough to be wishing I could get back to it while I was at work. It definitely has some unique aspects to it, whether they work well or not. I’m looking forward to seeing if things come together more smoothly in the sequel, and for once I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the romance develops because it’s so subtle - just enough to pique my interest.

Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer

Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



3.5 Stars, for now rounded up. This ended on a 4 star note, but took a while to get there. The beginning was slow, and conversations were boring in places. It didn't even arrive in Bath until about page 60, which is where things finally started to move forward. What kept me reading was the opening scene, which hooked me on one relationship after only one exchange between the two. Once I was interested in what would happen between them, the anticipation kept me waiting and hoping for the entire book. I love how Heyer manages to do that.

The main hero and heroine are both extremely tempestuous, possibly even unlikeable at times, and lose their tempers constantly, especially with each other. They somehow have remained friends even after she jilted him a few years ago - so they have history and you feel it right away. What saves them is their ability to laugh in the middle of an argument, and the fact that they don't hold a grudge. I do wish that the hero had been present more often, since the scenes with him were the best, and kept the whole thing going.

Basically all the other characters are insipid and wishy-washy (on purpose), which adds to the boring parts during the first half. But that's only the setup. It starts to get interesting once everyone's love lives get all tangled up, with everyone falling in love or getting engaged to the wrong person. The ending was exactly what I was hoping for, and worth the wait. This was another good Heyer, even if you have to skim some of the society details and wade through a slow beginning.

Brightly Woven - Alexandra Bracken

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Brightly Woven was an OK YA fantasy. Too light on the world-building, and unfortunately heavy on the teen attitudes and fit-throwing. There was some interesting magic, and hints at an interesting world, but it was vague in many places. There were times when I thought something exciting was going to happen (like seeing a dragon defeated!) but then it was barely referred to. Instead we got Sydelle sewing, or waiting in a cabin, or being safely placed on a hill during all the interesting action.

I could tell it was a debut novel. So many aspects could have been filled out more. Also, this is currently a standalone novel but feels somewhat unfinished. I'm not sure if it's just that gaps were left, but I could see there being a sequel someday.

I also found the character development - and thus the romance - to be kind of spotty and the shifts in opinion awkward. Sydelle was a judgmental brat for a long time. She took reluctance to leave home past the point of believability. I felt like she was angry for no good reason, and blindly hated North for taking her away when he actually rescued her. Then I missed the part where she changed, because suddenly she wasn't that person anymore.

All that said, once I managed to get into the flow of it, the story did keep my interest. Otherwise it would have been 2 stars.

Review: Magnificent Devices

Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Another great adventure, this time with a lot of airship time and a change of scenery to an alternate Old West. A supposedly simple trip to Canada went wrong in every possible way. What a ride!

The only thing is, I'm not sure what I think of the Texican Territories as the setting in this one. I think I ended up liking it OK, but I did miss London. And then the ending seemed a little too easy - dramatic, yes, but I would have liked to see Claire mastermind her way out of yet another impossible bind instead of it just happening to her.



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Review: Lady of Devices

Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Lady of Devices is the first pure Steampunk I've ventured into. I've read some that were also historical fantasy or paranormal, but I was afraid I wouldn't like the scientific aspects of steam and gadgets on their own quite as much. But I'm really loving this series. It's a lot of fun, and the technology isn't dry at all. You mainly just have to be willing to suspend disbelief about this alternate Victorian world because Claire's escapades are so outlandish. She's a fantastic heroine, full of spunk and ingenuity, and unconventional ways out of complete disaster. I'm already half way through book three, I'm having such a blast reading these.



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Review: Sojourn (Updated)

Sojourn by Jana Oliver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Alternate Victorian historical mystery with time travel and shape shifters, and Jack the Ripper on top. This was exactly my cup of tea. It did start out feeling like a bit of a mish-mash at some points, but I ended up really enjoying it and the whole series. All of these elements came together better and better as the overall story developed, although it might not be apparent yet by the end of the first book.

In this book, there are three mysteries including the Ripper plot. The paranormal and science fiction elements add just a little more flavor to it as well. There's a tiny hint of possible romance to come, but nothing really developed. This is not a historical romance in disguise, for which I was thankful.

I enjoyed the complexity of the plot compared to many time travel novels I've read where the traveler just pops in and out of other times but the main story is in the present. This one really dwells in Victorian London with all its atmosphere and very real danger to a lone woman investigating murders on the streets of London, rousing the suspicion of the law while she's at it. Jacynda can't avoid getting embroiled in events and lives of the time. And she can't be sure if one of her new friends is the killer she's after.

I like how this doesn't avoid the question of how she inevitably changes history just by being there and interacting with people. And then there's the question of who is purposely messing with history from her own time. I also like that the future time period is not our present, but is far in our future as well. It made for two interesting settings, whenever we did see the future.

This was lots of fun - and I liked the sequels even better, as the time travel aspect gets more involved and the implications more complicated later on.



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Review: Secondhand Charm

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Secondhand Charm is quite a unique fantasy with a fairytale sort of feel. It’s not a retelling, which I enjoyed because it was fresh and new, but still with the feeling of a fairytale. I read it all in one sitting, and was pleasantly surprised by the turns it took. There’s a bit of romance, very mild, and not the focus of the story. I found it a very enjoyable YA fantasy that stands alone and doesn’t feel teenagery. I’d recommend it to any fairytale fantasy reader. Well, unless you really hate snakes.



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Review: The Hawk and His Boy

The Hawk and His Boy by Christopher Bunn

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



About 75 pages in, I decided to call this one good. It's just not holding my attention, and jumps all over the place to all these different characters, none of whom I care about yet. I keep waiting for it to actually get back to Jute, who at least was interesting in the beginning, but he's hardly made an appearance since. I know the bad guy better than him already.

Like another reviewer said, every chapter felt like another part of the introduction. It may have been my mood, but I didn't feel like waiting around for 300 pages of introduction to get to book 2, where maybe the adventure would begin.

Anyway, I found myself skimming and decided not to waste my time on it anymore. Then I looked and realized it was one of my free books, so I don't feel so bad dropping it.



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Review: Emerald Green

Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was another fast and entertaining read, but Gwen kept crying all the time, and the ending kind of fizzled out. On top of that, the romance is hard to swallow - undying love in less than a week! And the entire trilogy takes place in only two weeks. I tried to ignore these things, but they would crop up and distract me. Not bad for YA, but it definitely feels like YA.



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Review: Cold Fire

Cold Fire by Kate Elliott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I said about Cold Magic that it somehow got under my skin in spite of the very heavy world building at the start. Now it has gone from being under my skin to being a world that I am dreamily living in and don’t want to leave. The atmosphere is fantastic, the writing beautiful at times, the sense of place rich and layered. Regardless of characters and plot, being in the world is a feeling to savor.

This book takes us out of the frigid north that is still ruled by princes and mages into the Antilles, where a sort of democracy exists, and where you can almost smell the ocean and taste the fruit. The world building is done with a much lighter hand, expanding your view at just the right pace. Issues of independence, slavery, democracy, women’s rights, class, power, magic and fate - all are interwoven with an immediacy that makes a spellbinding tale. I love how complex the world gets with the growing unrest in multiple nations and the spirit world on top of that. It keeps me from getting bored and keeps me wondering how it’s all going to tie together. Let me just say it was worth the effort the first book took to get into.

And the plot itself is such an adventure! The action starts immediately, and takes completely unexpected turns, keeping me on edge. You know when you read a book that annoys you in some ways, frustrates you in others, and yet you are completely into it and enjoying being in it, and it wins you over by the end? That's this book. It’s an elusive feeling, hard to describe exactly why it grabs you when it may not grab someone else. I’m happy just to enjoy the fact and not over-think it.

One thing I’m really coming to appreciate about this series is the complexity of the characters. They are all flawed, sometimes making stupid decisions, or decisions they believe are right but end up being poor choices once they have more of the facts. Sometimes they’re just plain immature and regret it later. Everyone has their own agenda, not necessarily good or bad, but their goals are not all the same, and there are betrayals, small and large. No one is trustworthy all the time, but most of them are likable some of the time.

I should mention that there is romance, more in this book than in the first. But it’s not the whole story, and I’m enjoying this aspect of the series as well (once Catherine stops being stupid, that is). I’m amazed at how much I ended up liking Vai. He was such a pompous, arrogant, cold prick in the first book, but turns out being much more than he seems. When I found out more about him my opinion did a complete turnaround. Now I’m attached to both him and Catherine, and I’m afraid of what they’re going to have to go through in the last book. Whatever happens, I’m going to try not to rush through it.



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Review: A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Many books for children are still magical for adults reading them without the benefit of nostalgia, but this was not one of those for me. Honestly, I found it simplistic and moralistic, and was surprised to find there was much more talking than anything else. I expected more adventure, more action, but everything that actually happens is through philosophizing. I thought it was kind of boring. Talk about bashing kids over the head with how they are supposed to behave in the guise of Science Fiction!

It's also not really about time travel so much as travel to other worlds. The worlds were interesting and sometimes creepy, as were some of the characters they met there. I liked Mrs. Whatsit and her companions. They were entertaining.

But the main characters were basically just led around and told to 'go there' without being given any idea what to do there, and then the final solution was a moral lesson. Not surprising for the time it was written, I suppose, but I expected more... something. Excitement. Action. Fun.

The main character is whiny in a stamp-your-foot kind of way. She's constantly throwing fits and lashing out because she doesn't understand things. And although she dutifully learns her lesson by the end, I found her annoying.

Would I have liked this if I read it when I was a kid? Maybe. But I don't think it would have lived up to the adventures of The Magic Faraway Tree.



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Review: Ruby Red

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Ruby Red is the first in a YA time travel trilogy that is really more of a contemporary paranormal set in London, and otherwise similar to other YA paranormals in tone (high school, parents/family, mean girl, quirky best friend, etc.).

It's also very short - only 200 pages - so it really just felt like a setup. I was frustrated at the end, realizing I'd just read an introduction and would have to read the next book to get anywhere with it. But I decided to continue on since this one was so short and fast to read, and it didn't drag even though not much has happened yet.

It is definitely YA-ish in tone and depth. It's not very sophisticated, and has a lot to do with mean family members and other stuck up people (ones I'm seriously hoping get what's coming to them), and Gwyneth trying to find out the truth about a world that has been hidden from her for her whole life. Now she's suddenly part of it but they are still not telling her anything.

The time travel parts are regrettably few and short, although the concept is interesting (they talk about it quite a bit, but don't actually do it much). I hope there will be more time spent in other time periods in the next book.

There's a bit of romance, too, but it came out of nowhere, so I wasn't that convinced. I think it probably should have waited until later in the series but they had to make something happen in the first book. Oh well. At least it was a fast read, and kept me somewhat entertained for an evening. My hopes are all on book two for some real development in all areas.



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Review: Cold Magic

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Cold Magic is an alternate history fantasy, but unlike any I’ve read before. It takes place in England in the 1800s - I think, since there isn’t really an England or a Victoria as far I can tell. Some aspects of both Regency and Victorian society are there, including an alternate Industrial Revolution. All of Europe is still frozen in an extended ice age. There are mage houses and princes in conflict with serving classes and technology, and there is just a tiny bit of steampunkishness to it - there’s an airship, but that’s about it so far.

There are still Romans running around and Latin is still a spoken language, although their empire was defeated about 800 years earlier. There are also Carthaginians who have become a clan of spies, and a Napolean-like liberator who is imprisoned on an island. A version of America is hinted at - oh, and there are trolls! Trolls are apparently sentient descendants of another species that didn’t die out, just as there are still wooly rhinos in this world. It is fascinating, and also cold. You can really feel the cold.

Honestly, the world-building was one of the worst info dumps I’ve read in a long while even though the world is an imaginative one. I had to concentrate so hard for the first half to try to absorb all of the altered names and altered countries, wars, history, etc. It was almost harder having slightly familiar events than a completely new world would have been because my mind was trying to translate everything and register all the changes. And it was mostly conveyed through conversations. It was rough, but there was just enough atmosphere and interest in the main character to keep me ploughing through it, and I was glad I stuck with it in the end.

Once things started really happening, I kept being surprised by the turns events took. My expectations were constantly challenged as the story went off in new directions and unexpected adventures. I also started to put together how the world - and magic - worked in real situations and what parts of the history were important for understanding the immediate story.

I don’t know how, but once the plot started moving, this world got under my skin and I found myself wanting to get back to it while I was at work, and wanting to pick up the sequel without taking a break. Strange. It's not easy to get into and is not without its faults once you do, but I do recommend it if you enjoy a bit of a challenge, as well as alternate history / steampunk sort of fantasies.

If only the world-building had been less like being buried under a mountain of foreign terms! This is why I'm struggling with a rating, because I think I would give the story itself 4 stars, but the massive info dump is dragging it down. It was way more work to get into than it needed to be. 3 stars it is.

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Initial Review 9/27/2014:

I'm going to have to think about this one for a while. I ended up liking it, but have no idea how to describe it or even rate it right now.



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Review: Poison Princess

 

Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poison Princess is the first of a trilogy (update - the series ended up being many more books than three), with the last book coming out in January. It starts out with every YA Paranormal cliche in the book. 

Evie is a popular cheerleader with a football player boyfriend, trying to decide if she should sleep with him or lose him (the romance is definitely more on the mature end). She has a female best friend that she texts while watching their favorite tv show, and an overprotective mother. Enter mysterious bad boy on a motorbike who ends up being her reluctant partner in history, and the stage is set! 

Thankfully it doesn't continue this way. The paranormal aspect is that Evie has terrifying visions and has spent the summer in an institution being brainwashed and drugged out of them. She's trying to get back to her normal life, but now that she's home, the visions are getting worse. And, intriguingly, growing things seem to respond to her. 

 If you're about to turn away from this book based on the high school romance description, stop for a minute. The first hundred pages show this familiar scene, but this is not just a Paranormal Romance, it's a Dystopia. Everything changes in a flash. The beginning is there to show you what is lost when the apocalypse hits. The rest of the book is dark, violent, and full of confusion, desperation, and death. And yes, romance as well. 

 After the apocalypse, Evie remains soft and naive, and frustrating at times. She still fights the visions and doesn't want to learn what they show her. She can't take care of herself and doesn't really try to learn. However, she does start to change by the end. Romance is a big part of it, but although physical attraction is there from the start, it's more about the changing perceptions of two very different people, which I liked. And there is more to the story than that. Evie is trying to figure out what she is and what role she's supposed to play. It's clear from her visions that she has a role because of powers she doesn't understand, and that there are others like her out there, the Arcana. 

It's the search for answers and the dangers of the new world that drive the plot. I think if you can get through the highschool-ish start, this is a really good intro novel. It kept me reading until late at night. The idea of the Arcana is interesting, and Evie begins to grow a spine towards the end, finally exploring the strength of her powers. I'm looking forward to seeing what she becomes - hopefully a force to be reckoned with. It was just starting to really get going at the end, with enough of those answers and a nice cliffhanger to make me want to pick up the next book. My hope is that book 2 keeps ramping up the tension and action. We'll see what happens.

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Review: Rules of Murder

Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I was able to ignore the gushing faith references and get into sorting out the clues most of the time - until the mystery was solved by prayer. If it wasn't an ebook I would have thrown it.



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Review: God Is an Englishman

God Is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



God is an Englishman is historical fiction written in the 1970s about the Victorian era. I’ve always had a soft spot for this era, and only turned to historical fiction once I grew tired of re-reading my favorite classics of the period. Finally, I've found something that satisfies what I’ve been searching for ever since, something that goes beyond an individual or two who happen to be living in a Victorian setting.

This is different. It takes account of the sweeping social and economic turmoil of the Industrial Revolution while bringing individuals to life and capturing the energy of the age in a way that I haven’t felt since Dickens or Gaskell. But yet it has a tone and style completely its own, easy to read, and more direct in dealing with issues of intimacy in marriage or women’s roles, for example, than you get in the classics. (Don’t expect it to read just like a Dickens novel).

This first volume in the trilogy follows Adam Swann as he decides to leave the army and start a business back home. It may not sound very exciting, but I was surprised to find the details of Adam’s startup, from idea to fledgling to success, with ups and downs along the way, to be quite fascinating. Most historical novels focusing on the 1800s stick to the upper classes, and you wouldn’t even know the Industrial Revolution was going on at the same time. But here you get a very interesting picture of England, both urban and rural, with cotton mills and railroads taking over everything and changing the face of the country. You can feel the shifting energy and the clash of old and new. All of this is seen through the eyes of Adam as he puts his flexible mind to the question of how to succeed in the middle of it all while maintaining human dignity and avoiding exploitation. It’s an invigorating tale full of industry, hope, daunting challenges, and perseverance.

Although the business may seem to be the primary focus, Adam’s personal development is the true story. He learns, grows, and changes significantly as he is affected by people he deals with in his public and private lives, as well as external events that impact him.

He marries early on, and the story of his marriage is set alongside the story of his business. The marriage feels real with a full range of affection and distance, knowing and misunderstanding, trials, difficulties and surprises, and learning about the true nature of love. It manages to deal with these variations without growing cynical or using the struggles as an excuse to veer off into infidelity. Instead, they are opportunities for growth and increased understanding.

Aside from Adam, there are also two very capable women in the story who develop and grow significantly throughout the book. One is Adam’s wife, Henrietta. She starts out naive and shallow but with a spark of intelligence waiting to be coaxed into flame. She gradually blossoms and discovers depths and strength you wouldn’t expect, and I ended up actually respecting her.

The other one is Edith, a woman who works beside the men in Adam’s business and takes a special role in Adam’s development as well. Both of these women manage to break out of the mold of their rightful place in society, at least for a while, and I really loved how indispensable they became to Adam and his success. But the story does remain realistic enough that they end up back in the home, a quiet strength behind the men. This is not to say that the men aren't strong too. I liked that the men and women are essentially well-matched in strength and intelligence although their roles end up being traditional.

There are other less important characters as well. Adam’s handpicked managers each get a bit of the spotlight, and their stories add another dimension. I believe they are important in giving you a real feel for the time and place, adding geographical variety as well as interesting personalities. I have to admit that I skimmed some of these sections, though, because I wanted to get back to the main story and the details got a bit much for me at times. Still, they added an extra bit of flavor that I think was important looking back at the whole.

Essentially, this was really well done historical fiction. I cared about the characters, and I was not bored by historical details (mostly). At some points I wondered where it was going - there’s not much predictability in the sudden turns a man’s life can take - but overall there was momentum and motion and purpose, and satisfying change in the characters.

I’m still trying to decide if I want to read the second book. I really liked how this one ended, and sometimes it’s better to leave things alone. But as I find myself thinking about Adam and his family and his network, I am tempted to read on.



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Review: The Warrior's Apprentice

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I would have rated this 4 stars except for a hiccup about 3/4 of the way through that had me wondering why I was reading something that turned more sad than I expected, and devolved into disgusting descriptions of an illness that I really didn't want to be imagining.

Otherwise, it was a fun adventure. I wondered how in the world Miles was going to fulfill all of his promises built on lies that got out of hand, and I enjoyed seeing his intelligence and insight finding ways to pull it all together. I'm looking forward to reading more of his adventures. Cautiously, though, since this is the 2nd of 4 books by Bujold that I've read that features sordid attention to medical detail. In my squeamishness, this is TMI for me, and tends to become the thing I remember most about a book - which is a shame, but I can't help it.



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Review: Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wow, this ended up being actually different. It started out with a girl walking to school being harassed by a beautiful boy she broke up with earlier, and I thought, oh no, here we go. But then it went off and became something entirely its own. It didn't stay at school for long, thank goodness, and the romance situation was not what you might expect with that beginning.

Instead, we get a world full of intriguing mythology, dark magic, an endless, hateful war between angels and chimaera, and a romance of a completely different sort. By the halfway mark, I didn't feel like I was reading YA at all, but like I was in a different universe.

The narrative is a bit disjointed at one point, like two stories were stitched together. When Karou finally discovers who she is and what it's all about, the story takes a huge detour, showing it all at once. It's not an info dump, but it's a completely different story line right in the middle of everything.

This is the point where the book gets really good, but it took me a while to adjust to it. Everything I thought I knew gets turned on its head, and this is where I came to care about what was happening to the entire world, both sides of the conflict, and all of the characters I met at the beginning. This is where things started to matter, and it really grabbed me.

Then how it ended - heartbreaking! I'm glad the next book is already out so I can find out what happens after that cliffhanger. I feel as if it's only just begun.



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Review: Stories of the Raksura: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud

Stories of the Raksura: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud by Martha Wells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



First of all, for those of you who already know these gems that are the Raksura and love them, I found both novellas to be complex and surprisingly satisfying for their shorter length. They sucked me right back into the world, and I really loved them. There are also two short stories included, which were a fun bonus when I wasn't ready to let go yet, but they were too short for me. I just can’t be satisfied with such tiny snippets, but the novellas did feel complete enough to be filling little bites.

Now, if you are a Fantasy fan at all and you haven’t read the original trilogy yet, go do that right away! It starts with The Cloud Roads. I highly recommend the whole series. It is unlike anything else I've read, one of the most imaginative worlds I've experienced, and deserves so much more attention. If there’s one series that I believe more people need at least to try, it’s this one. It’s so different from any typical Fantasy that I have a hard time describing it. It's truly a breath of fresh air.

I really love the world of the Raksura - the individuals, their culture and even their mannerisms. When the trilogy ended, I was so sad to leave them all behind. But Wells apparently agrees with me that there is plenty of room for more, and delivered these new novellas to read. I'm desperately hoping there will be many more, including - dare I? - more full length novels. But for now, I am happy.

The first novella, The Falling World, takes place about six months after the end of the trilogy, so we get to see all of our old friends again. The scrape they get into has plenty of danger and suspense packed into it, as well as details of a more settled court life and politics between courts.

The second novella, The Tale of Indigo and Cloud, is a prequel that takes us back to the story of what happened when Indigo stole Cloud. This one focuses more on tense court politics, and we get to see the Reaches back when they were more populated and the courts were stronger. I was afraid I wouldn’t be as interested because it was all new characters (except for one surprise cameo appearance), but I loved it just as much.

So, if you haven’t read the original trilogy yet, start there, and then be thankful that you have some more crumbs to eat when you’re finished because these novellas are fantastic as well. I wanted to read slower so I could stay in the world for a while, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next lot.

~~~~

Sept 8, 2014:

I really loved these novellas and I'm sad to be finished with Raksura stories again. Review to come.

~~~~

September 2, 2014:

I might have to bump all my other currently-reading books for this tonight. So excited!

~~~~

March 7, 2014:

Wait - a new Raksura book??? This could save 2014.



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Updated Review: The Fairy Godmother

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This is the start to a really fun series - an imaginative take on fairy tales. The setting is an imaginary world with 500 kingdoms, each with a Fairy Godmother assigned to keep the magic of the Tradition in line so that evil doesn't gain a foothold and people get their happy endings. The Tradition is powerful magic that forces people down the paths of fairy tales when their lives begin to show signs of belonging to one of them. For example, in this tale, Elena is being forced into the role of Cinderella. Unfortunately for her, however, there's no prince in her kingdom to complete the tale properly, and Elena has an abundance of magic that could all go wrong. Instead, she gets adopted by the region's Fairy Godmother and becomes her apprentice.

Each book that I've read in this series is unique. The fairy tales are re-imagined, not just retold, and they benefit from a fresh setting within the larger context of a fully developed world and magic system. They are also perfect for when you need something light and fluffy to read with a guaranteed happy ending. There's not a lot of depth, but sometimes books like this are the perfect escape.

Note on content: this first book has a sex scene, but the following books are milder.



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Review: Outlander

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Updated review September 6, 2014:

I was really underwhelmed by Outlander, and actually disliked it at many points. A lot of people really love it, and it’s hailed as one of the great romance novels of all time. But maybe that’s my problem with it. At 750 pages, I expected more than just a romance novel. I’ve read enough romances that this one just seemed like more of the same, nothing special. It certainly didn’t engage my emotions. I watched Clare and Jamie “fall in love” and was not convinced. They had a lot of sex. A lot. A couple of times “wanting" was equated to “loving" and they wanted each other a lot, so maybe that was supposed to be proof of love. But I really just felt like I was observing from afar, not really impressed with either character, and not feeling the love between them. That makes or breaks a romance in my experience.

Another whole topic is the difficulty I had with Clare’s lack of fidelity to her husband in the other time period - and the argument that it doesn’t matter because he hasn’t been born yet. It matters. Just a little admission that she no longer loved him because of their separation during the war, drifting apart, etc., might have helped since it was hinted at in the beginning. But she never actually realizes it. She continues to claim that she loves her husband too. I think it’s fair to say I wasn’t too happy with this aspect of the romance.

So, the romance failed for me. What else was in those 750 pages? Not much, honestly. There were period details - sometimes so many that I wondered what the point was and where it was going, although those were the more interesting aspects of the entire book for me (life in the keep, etc.). This is why I gave the book 2 stars instead of 1.

Aside from that, there was a lot of violence. When Clare wasn’t being expertly handled or disciplined (seriously!) by her man, she was on the verge of being forcibly taken by others. There were cruel men, those with no control over their appetites, and gangs of drunken and beastly men. I lost count of the number of times she was almost raped. I guess Jamie was the only man allowed to be honorable in the time period.

If the danger wasn’t rape, it was something else like a witch hunt or wild wolves. If it wasn’t Clare being almost raped, it was boys and men actually being raped and tortured. The period is depicted as very brutal and uncivilized, which seemed a bit more medieval to me than 18th Century Scotland should have been - but I’m not a historian so I could be wrong. Whatever the case, if Clare wasn’t having sex, she or Jamie were meeting with horrific violence of some sort. And although danger should have made the book more interesting, I found that the story dragged on and on. A romance should not be so long if that’s all there is to sustain the story. 200 pages is about my limit on pure romance. And dark violence isn’t my thing either.

One thing I can say is that I now understand what spawned an entire genre of time-travel romance, and why Scotland seems to feature so prominently in them. I have to say I prefer the others I’ve read, even though they made my eyes roll too. At least they were shorter and skipped the rape and torture.

So, I pushed through because I didn’t want another DNF book this year, and I wanted to see what the hype was all about. I thought maybe I was missing something that would become clear later on. Not so much. I was sooooo thankful when I turned the last page that I could move on to something else. I will not be pursuing any of the sequels (the number of which astonishes me).

August 23, 2014:

I'll try to review this properly later, but for now I'm just glad I managed to finish it.



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Review: Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night by Deanna Raybourn

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



Nooooo! I just read on Raybourn's blog that this is going to be the last of Julia! I'm so sad. I was still hoping for more full-length novels in the future. Curse those publishers for tabling the series. Still, I'm thankful she wrote the novellas to help wrap it up for readers even though she had to publish them ebook only.



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Review: Legacy

Legacy by Cayla Kluver

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This was really terrible. The writing was incredibly tedious and overly descriptive, and the characters were all painfully ridiculous and unlikable. I can't believe it ended how it did - frustrating after persevering to get such a non-ending. But I honestly don't care what happens to any of these people next. If I'd known how it was going to end, I might not have bothered finishing it at all. I wish I could get the hours back.



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Review: Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Ella Enchanted is an entertaining fairy tale retelling of Cinderella, which I'm sure most people know already. I'm not going to say too much about it since it's so well known. The twists on the original tale are well done, and it's not too dark even though Ella goes through some terrible times. I thought the curse was a great way to explain the original magic of the fairy tale.

I had watched the movie version before reading the book, which is always dangerous. It's hard to stay interested if I already know what's going to happen. Thankfully, the book had quite a few differences so I could enjoy it. I do wish I'd been able to read this when I was younger, as it's exactly the kind of tale I would have loved as a kid. As an adult, "I liked it" is as far as I can go.



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Review: The Pirate's Wish

The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The Pirate’s Wish was definitely an improvement on the first book. I discovered at the end that this was actually written as one book and split in two for publishing. I believe it would have helped me to know that at the beginning, and this duology should really be read as one book because not much effort was made to bring closure to the first part.

Overall, I ended up liking the story even though I was frustrated with much of the first book. The second part had a lot more action and real adventure in it. The heroine was still a bit reactive at times, lashing out when she felt hurt, but overall she bothered me less. I am glad I went ahead and finished it even though it’s not going on my favorites shelf or anything. I do think that it could have been published as one book and some of the less active portions from the first book could have been edited out.



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Review: The Assassin's Curse

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



The Assassin's Curse had so much potential! Pirates, assassins, curses, magic... it sounded like a fun adventure. I really thought I would love it, but it ended up being just blah. There is little adventure, little depth to both characters and world, and I didn't care about or even like the two characters.

It was disappointing, but it also went quickly. I was really annoyed when I got to the end and it was a cliffhanger. I mean the sort of cliffhanger where everything just ends midstep without any resolution and you have to read the next book whether you want to or not, just to get an ending. This is a duology, but it should have been a single book. I am annoyed, but now I'm reading the sequel... I guess that strategy works for authors.

I don't even feel like writing full paragraphs about the good and the bad, so I will resort to bullet points.

Things I liked:

• The main characters are not amazingly beautiful (but anyone beautiful is automatically untrustworthy, selfish, mean, or actually bad).
• The pirate woman on the ship. She is a very minor character, but I liked her. Hopefully she will be in the second book more.

Things I didn't like:

• The main character talks in slang all the way through. It bothered me and made her seem immature.
• The tone is juvenile, but the heroine cusses (our world style) and is 'experienced' sexually.
• The world-building is shallow, just skimming the surface of everything. Again, it should have been an interesting world but felt cardboardish.
• The main character is not very likable. She panics, she lashes out, she doesn’t think. She runs off when she’s bored or thirsty without regard for danger or the curse. She is supposed to be strong, but she's just reckless and doesn't learn from her mistakes.
• The guy, on the other hand, never listens to her or allows her input on what they should do. So I can see why she went off on her own so much. There is no sense of partnership there.
• The curse. The curse is too confining. It makes action impossible for both characters, often physically incapacitating one of them. The story would be so much more interesting if they weren't forced to sit around and stay safe.

So, apparently there's more that I didn't like than I did. I at least hope the sequel will be an improvement, with more of the action and adventure that this one failed to deliver. I hope, since I am being forced to read it, and since this one did end in a place that made the sequel sound like it could be interesting.



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Review: The House of the Four Winds

The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is turning out to be the summer of pirates and girls disguised as boys for me, and The House of Four Winds has plenty of both! (Well, really only one girl.) I felt like this one finally combined all the elements of sea-faring adventure and disguise that I was hoping for in those other books. There’s an unspoiled princess who is not above taking care of herself, and knows how to fight and how to read situations. There are real pirates, mutinous crews, ghost ships and treasures, curses and magic. There’s even a touch of romance - very light and mild, but also sweet. All-in-all it was a satisfying adventure and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. 

I did find the very beginning of the book a bit confusing and slow because of the world-dumping, though. There was too much information for my poor brain to process - so many names of places, kingdoms, important people, references to history, etc., that I just didn’t need to know about. All I needed to know is that this is a world very similar to our own geographically, back in the days of maritime trade and exploration. 

The names are different, but the picture that I was finally able to put together includes a London-type city, a Europe-style continent full of small kingdoms, faraway tropical islands, and lots of ocean in between. But really, the ocean is all that matters because it’s not until the ship sets sail that the real story begins. I loved it from that point on. Luckily there are only a couple chapters to set the stage before the voyage begins, so it didn’t drag on for too long. 

Since the series is called One Dozen Daughters, I’m guessing the next book will focus on one of the sister’s adventures instead of continuing with these characters. It might have nothing to do with seeking a fortune at sea, but whatever the fortune is, I’m looking forward to reading about it.  

**Received free arc for review.

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Review: The Emperor's Soul

The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I've been saving this treat for a time when I really needed a quick shot of Sanderson goodness, and he delivered once again!

It's amazing how satisfying this novella is. Easily as satisfying as a full-length novel, but a tasty snack instead of a three course meal. It takes place mostly in one room, but everything is so fleshed out. The magic system is yet again intriguing, fully developed, and fun. The characters have depth, and the world is surprisingly clear in such a short time. And the story itself is interesting. I was easily invested in the main character after just a few lines.

As usual when finishing a Sanderson book, I'm wishing for more. I'd like to see more written in this area of his worlds with this flavor of magic. That's just the part of me that's always eager for something new from Sanderson, though. This is the first short story or novella I've read that didn't leave me wishing the author had just written a full novel.



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Review: Ice Blue

Ice Blue by Emma Jameson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a contemporary New Scotland Yard procedural mystery in London with some quite gruesome murders and gritty details making this not what I would call a cozy mystery. Involving the elite class, which I didn't realize was still so... elite these days, the mystery was interesting with some good misdirection and a satisfying reveal.

For those who like a bit of romance in their mystery, there is the start of a romance between the 60 year old chief and a detective half his age, which surprisingly didn't seem too weird. There was some insta-love there, and not enough explanation of why the chief is suddenly in love with his subordinate. The romance took a back seat to the mystery, so it didn't take over the entire plot, but it could still be too much for some readers - there was more than a trace of it.

I enjoyed the mystery in spite of the blood and guts, so I'll be checking out the next book in the series for sure.



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Ridiculous - D.L. Carter

Ridiculous by D.L. Carter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ridiculous is the perfect title for this silly book. It is one of the more absurd Regency romances I've read, and I enjoyed it very much since I wasn't trying to take it seriously at all. Life needs silliness at times. That's exactly why I turn to this type of romance for those evenings when I need something humorous and mindless to read.

This one goes out of its way not to be realistic, so you definitely have to be able to suspend disbelief. Some of the plot twists are either completely improbable or extremely convenient for everything to come out right in the end. Keeping that in mind, and the fact that this is purposely sticking its tongue out at the ridiculousness of the norms of the time, it was a lot of fun.

The story is about a poor widow and her daughters who have been thrown on the mercy of a mean uncle who doesn't have any mercy and uses them as free labor. Luckily, he dies a young man, and one of the daughters audaciously decides to steal his identity so that she can provide for her family, who otherwise would end up in the poor houses.

Part of her disguise is to be so silly that people don't scrutinize her too closely. In all her escapades as a man of property, she turns the London season upside down with humor and audacity that are so uncommon in that time period. She also makes friends in high places and one in particular that makes her realize too late that she doesn't want to be a man for the rest of her life. How she gets out of this predicament is very convenient, but entertaining nonetheless.

The main thing I didn't like about this was that the romance was more explicit than I enjoy. It's definitely in the adult category, and I thought it was a shame that the focus was on the physical. The cover had led me to believe it was going to be a more traditional Regency romance, and I didn't see anything in reviews to indicate otherwise. So I'm making sure to mention it here for others.

Oh well. I was still highly entertained for most of it. The lightness, the humor, and the lack of "you lied to me" drama were the high points. You probably need to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, though. This might have irritated me another day.

Review: Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Divergent did not let up for a minute! It was action-packed, and actually had my heart going fast a few times - not a usual experience for me while reading. As a dystopia, it's not overly bleak, and is set in an interesting society. There are problems at both the personal and society levels, and plenty of growth happening for the main character, with changes in the forecast for the society as well. I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to picking up the next one.



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Review: The Scarlet Lion

The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Scarlet Lion, sequel to The Greatest Knight, follows William Marshal and his family now that he is married and a noble landowner rather than just an honorable knight navigating the shark-infested waters of Medieval politics. The political skills he learned as a knight come in handy, but his own life is no longer the only one at stake, and family fortunes change as quickly as kings in this time period.

This book deserves a 5 star rating. It's amazingly written historical fiction - well-researched, accurate as far as what is known about the people and time, and well-imagined as to what is not known. At the same time, it's written in a way that makes me care about the people and what happens to them. I had my heart in my throat with fear for William and his family, and loathed King John for his jealous vindictiveness. He really made my blood boil. And since the story had to stick to history (and I didn't know how it was going to end), I was more afraid for William than I would have been if it was strictly fiction. Imaginations are often not as cruel as reality can be, and I often feared the worst.

So I'm rating this 5 stars even though I can't say I enjoyed it. My ratings are usually based on my enjoyment while reading, but this one is in a different category - it is so well written that any emotional discomfort I experienced pales beside my awe at the way Chadwick brought the people and time alive enough to make me feel so terrified for them.

It was a great book, but I was relieved when it released me. History is a scary thing to resurrect, especially the brutal Middle Ages. I can handle the violence of battles where the greatest fear is merely a bloody death, but the political knives being stabbed into the hearts of our heroes and heroines are not for the faint at heart. And yet somehow I know I'll be back for more of Chadwick's works, willingly letting myself be run through the wringer again. They're that good.

(Review updated 7/29/2014)

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Review: Threats of Sky and Sea

Threats of Sky and Sea by Jennifer Ellision

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Often in Fantasy, a humble hero or heroine will have their world turned upside down with a warning to flee some danger that is searching for them, and they get away just in time. But what happens when the warning doesn't come, and the heroine is captured? That’s what happens to Bree in Threats of Sky and Sea, and she is torn away from the humble world that is all she’s known, alienated from her father whom she realizes has lied to her, and thrown into a dangerous world at court under a cruel king. This world is so far beyond anything she’s prepared for, and how she learns to survive is the scope of this first novel. Learn she does, though, and she discovers much more than she bargained for.

Bree finds few friends at court, and most of them are spying on her or are in deeper danger than she is. It is not about political intrigue so much as Bree attempting to keep her head by not angering the capricious king too much, and trying to avoid other non-fatal physical abuse as much as possible (without much success).

I liked the magic system. It's based on the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. If someone is going to be an Elemental, the ability manifests when they turn 16. The king conscripts all who manifest, searching the realm for any who try to escape. So the dangers of court include hostile fire wielders and those who can spy on conversations carried on the wind. That's in addition to a king who is almost mad with power, who is known to send people to their deaths on the slightest whim.

There would have been too much hostility for me to be able to enjoy the book, except there is one character who is solid, honest, and a ray of light in an otherwise dark place. There’s also a tiny bit of a romance to lighten things up. It’s not the focus of the story at all, and at times I actually wished there was a little bit more build-up to it.

The ending did not surprise me, but it was suspenseful and dire, and it has me hoping for much more in the next book.

I normally don’t start new series before I know when they’re going to end. I hate waiting for sequels and have this fear of being left hanging forever in case they don’t get finished. But, I’ve been changing my mind lately and have started several this year. This one looked interesting and was available on NetGalley, so I went for it. And… I’m rewarded with a bit of a cliffhanger! Although it is a logical stopping point, now where is book two when I need it? I am looking forward to seeing what happens next, and how Bree grows into her discoveries. I have a feeling it’s all going to change.

**Received free arc for review.



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Review: The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I'm so glad I'm finished with this book! It had its great moments, but for a 1200 page book, they were too far between. Much of this was a real slog to get through. There are long conversations about who knows what, and it's often overly descriptive to the point of needing to skim to get to the next scene. My mind wandered a lot, and I had to force myself back on track. I even took a break about half way through and read and couple of other books. I feel like I've been reading it forever.

Like I said, it had its moments. The prison and escape, and then the hammer of vengeance falling on the guilty and taking a few others with it - those parts were good. A lot of what came between was boring setup with a lot of new characters whose viewpoints weren't as interesting as the Count's, and whose importance takes a long time to discover. In the meantime, they're going to parties, attending festivals, and dining with friends. Talking, talking, talking of the society of the day.

While we're thrown in with these strangers at parties, the Count becomes this mysterious figure who we only see observed by others looking on events with a strange smile, or mysteriously knowing and anticipating everything everyone does. He becomes an exotic god, not the person we got to know in the prison at all. It's not until near the end that we return to his viewpoint again, and he betrays some human emotion.

I have to admit that the way he orchestrates the fall of his enemies is brilliant - obviously that is why this is such a well-loved classic. But I guess complex revenge isn't enough for me. There are times when the Count put his true friends through hell by withholding information from them that was really cruel for someone who is supposedly not punishing them along with everyone else. Especially at the end, I thought he took it too far, and so the ending was not as satisfying to me as it could have been.

Overall, I found this to be overrated. I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if it was significantly trimmed. My patience didn't come to fruition until the last 200 pages, and right now I'm not sure if it was worth it. I wish I'd found an abridged version to read - or just watched the movie. It is far, far too long for the payoff.

I'm so excited I can read something else now.



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Review: Alias Hook

Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



4.5 Stars. I didn't love this quite as much as some of my other 5 star books, but it was so much better than many that I’ve rated 4 stars. Days after finishing, I'm still looking back and thinking, wow that was good, so I'm going to round up to 5 stars.

Alias Hook was a fantastic re-imagining of Peter Pan. I absolutely loved it. It's not just a retelling or a fleshing out of the original tale, but completely turns the whole legend on its head. Jensen turned everything around in such a believable way. I feel like she thought of everything, the picture was so complete. I felt like I was in Neverland, and this was the true story of Peter Pan. It's so well done, so realistic, and the flipped take on the old story makes so much sense when you're looking at everything from an adult's perspective.

Neverland still feels magical, because it's still a fantastic place full of magic and legends like mermaids, fairies, and pirates. But it also feels real, treacherous and sad, with everything subject to the whim of a cruel boy who can never grow up. I can still see many of the scenes in my head, the world is so lushly described.

The story is told from the perspective of Captain Hook. He is a weary, desperate man under a curse that forces him to play his part as the adult villain in Neverland. He has been killed by Peter many times, but can never die, never find release from this endless childhood and endless parade of children who consider killing him and his men the best kind of sport. Now something in Neverland is finally changing, and Hook may finally have a chance to escape the curse if he can only figure out what the chance is before it's too late.

The idea of how Neverland works, with the Lost Boys and Wendies always changing, but Hook and Peter staying the same, was intriguing. I instantly felt sympathy for this man who may have started out a real pirate and a ruthless rogue, but who never deserved the 200 years of torment that he's endured under Peter Pan's tyranny. The story of how Hook got to Neverland, how his hand was lost, and of all of the losses over the years that gradually wearied him of this game of war and death, appealed to me right away. And I hated Peter immediately too, that ruthless, almost insane goblin of a child. I’m happy to say, I got exactly what I wanted for Hook out of this tale, and actually gained a measure of pity for Peter by the end, rather than just hating him. There’s emotional complexity to it, and it’s not all just black and white like fairy tales and retellings often are.

There is some romance in the book, and there are a couple of more explicit scenes so that I would only recommend this to adults. Those scenes and the romance are probably what bring my rating down from the full 5 stars. I felt that matters turned to the physical too suddenly. I prefer emotional and sweet romances where you see how a couple falls in love rather than them deciding to jump in bed all of the sudden. So that aspect didn’t appeal to me so much. At least the two people involved talked to each other and got to know each other first, and the romance doesn’t take over the story. It does fit as part of the whole, even though it brings a more modern view of relationships into it - a minor complaint that is completely based on my preferences in this area. It’s saying a lot that this one aspect didn’t detract from my appreciation of the book much at all.

Highly recommended, especially to those who enjoy classic tales retold. This one’s a gem!

**Received free arc for review through NetGalley.com. Many thanks to the publisher for a book I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise.



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