Siege & Storm - Leigh Bardugo

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have this flaw, and know I'm not alone because there are plenty of us suckers who love the bad boys. I really, really want the intriguing bad guy to turn out not so bad. To have the option to be evil, but have a noble core.

There's something wrong with me when a bad guy perpetrates unforgivable wrongs, and yet I can overlook it and continue to hope he will turn around and prove to be redeemable. And continue to wish the actual, already-noble good guy out of the way.

I don't learn... I'm still hoping for book 3...

Walk on Earth a Stranger - Rae Carson

Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Walk on Earth a Stranger is excellent YA historical fiction with a bare dusting of fantasy and a hint of potential future romance.

Carson really brought the wagon trail alive. Actually, so much alive that I am only rating it 3 stars even though it's really well done. There was too much death, too much grim and gritty detail, too much reality about the attitudes of the time as well as the physical hardships. Too much for me, anyway. I'm thankful it's YA, and there are some even darker things it didn't explore.

But I care about the characters who survived, so I'm tempted to read the next book. It might be worth suffering through more of this vivid reality to see what happens to them.

The Shock of Night - Patrick W. Carr

The Shock of Night by Patrick W. Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With dark books like this, it's the ending that determines whether I rate up or down. The key element I need is hope. Without it, my imagination can't expel the sense of doom and gloom when I return to real life.

This book was dark enough that I'm struggling with it today. I was upset about some of the character losses, as well as the narrowing path that Willet is being forced down. I probably won't continue the series because I'm afraid of how much worse it can get and who else will die before it gets better, assuming it ever does. Reading reviews for book two, it looks like hopelessness continues to be a key element. Grim, gritty, dark... these are all key words that don't bode well for me.

If you don't have the same issues, this is an absorbing medieval-ish fantasy with an interesting magic system, characters that are easy to know and love, and a mystery to solve. It's a good story, but the tone is much darker than in the more traditional fantasy by Carr that I enjoyed (A Cast of Stones). Too dark for me, I think.

Although marketed as Christian Fantasy, I haven't found this or any of Carr's other work to be obviously Christian. I'm sure the themes and inspirations are grounded there, but he's not hitting you over the head with it. Most obvious is the lack of gore (but not violence) and other adult content that is common in other dark fantasies, which I don't mind at all.

Jane, Unlimited - Kristin Cashore

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really admire authors who can pull off more than one genre. It takes talent to manage a completely different tone and voice. Kristin Cashore has done that here, and done it well. She has written a slightly bizarre postmodern story that is worlds apart from the Graceling series. I honestly couldn't tell this was the same author.

It starts out as a contemporary story set on an island off the coast of New York. Jane runs into an old friend, who invites her to the island for a gala that's being thrown by her enormously wealthy family. Jane, who has been at loose ends since her aunt died, accepts the invitation.

Where the story diverges from a normal contemporary novel is when we start seeing the same couple of days play out in different ways. The story changes depending on which decision Jane makes at a single point. Each choice results in a wildly different version of her life, ranging from the more ordinary to the paranormal and bizarre.

Each version gives the reader a new layer of understanding of what's happening in the house far beyond what Jane actually gets to see for herself. It also gives you a sense of how a small decision can alter your life. It may even make you wonder if multiverses really are out there, created by every decision you've ever made.

It ended up being a rich story, but also just plain weird at times. Strange, yet captivating. I have never enjoyed postmodern fragmentation before. It's usually not my thing. I could have done without a couple of the weirder turns Jane's life took, but I can still appreciate the overall effect, and I did mostly enjoy reading this.

I'm still trying to decide which version of Jane's life I would pick for her. Too bad she can't have everything. Or maybe she can, since it's all versions of her who are living out different lives in the multiverse?

The Tudor Secret - C.W. Gortner

The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First things first, this is not a mystery. For some reason I thought it was, but it's really just Historical Fiction. It covers a period of about 3 weeks, and the huge leaps in character growth during that time are quite unbelievable. Our main character starts out a naive, bumbling country boy who picks up on court intrigue and gains maturity with startling swiftness, in a matter of days. Definitely some suspension of disbelief is needed.

However, I found it a quick, light read, especially for a historical fiction set in the Tudor period. Things are not as fleshed out as they could be, but I liked the main character and a couple of the minor ones too. I might even choose to read more about them at some point.

In the Ruins - Kate Elliott

In the Ruins by Kate Elliott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the Ruins was definitely a transition book. The cataclysm took place at the end of the last book, and now what? Now the face of the world has changed, and so have allegiances. Power vacuums must be filled, and broken empires must band together or take advantage of the chaos.

Ultimately, this was a large-scale moving of chess pieces into place for the coming confrontation over what the world will look like. Whose religious vision will win out? The fanatics, the heretics? Which empire will be the strongest? Will people find peace or continue to slaughter each other over ancient grudges and differences?

Owl and the Japanese Circus - Kristi Charish

Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was refreshing to read an Urban Fantasy that wasn't a mystery, but rather an archeological adventure. Even more refreshing was a heroine who, although not inclined to think before acting or speaking, does learn from mistakes and begins listening when her friends ask her not to rush in without a plan. There's also a vampire-hunting cat that offers some comic relief, and a bit of romance where the two involved actually speak to each other like mature adults when they're upset... so all around refreshing.

To Defy a King - Elizabeth Chadwick

To Defy A King by Elizabeth Chadwick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars. I didn't like this as much as the others in the series, partly because there were so many characters that I didn't like - it's during King John's reign, so I guess you have to expect some of that. Chadwick got me feeling angry about lots of characters - King John, of course, and his nephew, Ida's son, but also Roger Bigod, who really disappointed me. I thought he was made of better stuff after quite liking him in For the King's Favor. Now that I look back, I realize there were hints in that book of who he would become.

I also felt Mahelt's frustration at her powerlessness in the face of men, her isolation from her family, and her struggles to meet the very different expectations of her marriage family. I liked that she didn't give up in spite of everything, and didn't lose her spirit. Not for lack of being squashed! It was realistic for her time, but I don't have to like it.

The other reason I didn't like this as much is that Mahelt's viewpoint was really limited. She wasn't able to take as active a role in the Bigod family as her mother did in the Marshal household. Much of the real action took place either by messenger, or in her husband Hugh's point of view, which was still peripheral. I'm glad I had read The Scarlet Lion because the central events were more directly explored there from William Marshal's point of view.

Season of Storms - Susanna Kearsley

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a bit different from Kearsley's other books, but I still enjoyed it once it got going. I could tell it's one of her earlier works. The past timeline doesn't mesh with the modern one very much. It's not well developed at all, but is presented just through occasional flashbacks. These answer questions for the reader rather than driving towards something that needs to be discovered in the present.

The mystery and all the drama are in the modern time, so this reads more like a contemporary romance (but light on the romance) with a bit of a ghost story. It doesn't really seem to matter what happened to the other actress 70 years ago. It seems like just a backdrop or a side note.

Fans looking for Kearsley's distinctive flavor may find yourselves disappointed unless you alter your expectations beforehand.

A Lady of Spirit - Shelley Adina

A Lady of Spirit: A steampunk adventure novel by Shelley Adina
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is another installment that's missing the energy of the initial series with Claire as the main character. I honestly wish we just had more of Claire's adventures instead of jumping to Lizzie and Maggie. The portions that show her point of view are still my favorites, and there aren't enough of them.

There was so much setup to this one, much more to do with Maggie trying to fit into her determined place in society than anything else. With a couple of grandparents refusing to acknowledge her because she wasn't legitimate, this was a drag. There was also a distinct lack of adventure or steampunk until at least 60%. (Reference title.) Not cool. Luckily it did kick in, though, and when it did, it was fun, reminding me of why I am reading the series in the first place. It was enough to salvage a 3 star rating. Now if only it had started out that way.

A Lady of Resources - Shelley Adina

A Lady of Resources by Shelley Adina
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked A Lady of Resources, but I struggled a bit with Claire not being the main character anymore. Sure, I liked the Mopsies as side characters, but it was a lot different with them being center stage. Even though they had potential to be interesting as former thieves, they really weren't. Lizzie, the main POV in this one, was too focused on wanting to pretend to be a lady to allow time for antics. She was also kind of a brat. I think by the end I warmed up to the change, and to Lizzie, but it's a much more reluctant feeling than with the original story arc, which I simply inhaled.

Due to the passing of time and shift in POV, there was a lot of time spent on re-setting the stage. I found it a bit slow (again, unlike the original books). There was also less Steampunk engineering and less adventure, and I missed both. But since the action picked up towards the end, now I do find myself wanting to read the sequel. I'm hopeful that it will keep the pace now that we've been reintroduced to the characters.

So, I liked it well enough. It was a fast read, at least mildly entertaining most of the time. I'm just not as entranced as I was with the original series.

Off to Be the Wizard - Scott Meyer

Off to Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Off to Be the Wizard has an interesting concept that I really liked. The world is a huge computer program (no one knows it), and Martin discovers a file that controls the world that he can hack and give himself all kinds of money and powers. That was really cool.

He does start out making a fool of himself over it at first, but I liked it a lot more once Martin met a few other people and started training on how to manipulate reality properly. There are a couple of side characters that I really liked, and eventually there's a bad guy situation that needs to be sorted out, which steps the last half of the book up a bit. And I was even entertained by the humor, some of the time. So generally, I liked it. It was fun.

But a couple of books I've read lately have led me to the realization that straight humor and I don't have a very good relationship. I get tired. I get bored. I want some depth and seriousness so that the humor catches me off guard and lightens the whole mood. I prefer irony to poop falling out of the sky onto a statue (nope, no laughs from me on the toilet humor, sorry).

I've discovered that I like a side dish of humor, but get sick of it when it's a three course meal. So I wished there was something more to this, and there really wasn't. But if you enjoy this kind of comedy, you might really like it.

The Curse of the Pharaohs - Elizabeth Peters

The Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this less than the first book in the series, partly because a lot of it was so similar to that book. An archaeological dig is in peril due to local superstitions about a curse, exacerbated by disappearances, ghostly sightings and deaths. If I hadn't just read the first book last month, I might have liked it better.

I also missed some of the cast from the first book. Walter and Evelyn were absent, and there were no new characters who balanced the intensity of Amelia and Emerson (which is needed, I think) or that I really cared about. There was lots of shouting and arguing, all very humorously, but I wished there was more about the excavation and less of the people. I was actually thankful when Amelia used her parasol on one of the characters!

Now to the mystery. Amelia is sure she knows who is behind all the dead bodies, but we don't get many clues along the way, and don't know what she's thinking until all is revealed. There were enough possible culprits that I really had no idea who it was until the end, but I didn't feel like I had enough information to figure it out, so the mystery was a bit lacking. It was more like a suspense novel with an abundance of 'calm in the face of calamity' and witty conversation along the way.

All that said, I still found Amelia and Emerson entertaining, even if they are a bit over the top. And the 19th Century Egyptian archaeology setting is fun. I think I just need to wait longer between installments so that I don't mind the recycled elements. That, and expect the mystery to be solved for me by mysterious logic and intuition behind the scenes because it's more about Amelia being right than the mystery itself.

The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Set in contemporary Venice (around the time of both answering machines and cell phones), this is not exactly what I expected, which was a historical fantasy with lighthearted, adventurous thieving in it. What I got was a more realistic tale of runaways and orphans trying to make it in a contemporary city. Still, bonus points for Venice!

There was a little bit of thieving, but it was more desperate, the group of kids scraping by while living in an abandoned movie theater. It was sad, but heartwarming as well because of the friendships that they found. It honestly took me a while to warm up to it, until the second half when the focus shifted away from their sparse lives and into more of an adventure - what I'd been expecting in the first place.

There's a little bit of magic to it towards the end, enough to shake things up. There's payback that doesn't end up being malicious, and wishes coming true that end up not being quite what was hoped for. That made a bittersweet ending for some of the characters, and an arguably happy one for others, whether they deserved it or not. I like how it wasn't all black and white.

One drawback for me is that it was told in a very juvenile tone - it's definitely for middle grade readers. That, and some of the word choices in the translation didn't fit and were distracting (for example, "darn it" was used a lot). I'd probably give it 2 stars, given how much I don't usually enjoy contemporary, realistic stories. But it was good for its target age group, and I probably would have loved it when I was younger, so I'm bumping it up a star.

Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer

Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sprig Muslin was just OK most of the way through. I can see why this is one of the more obscure Heyer Regencies. The hero and heroine are apart for most of the time, the hero off chasing after a capricious (and annoying) girl, trying to keep her out of trouble. That got a bit old, even though there were entertaining parts of it. I liked it better once the heroine entered the picture again, with not much left in the book. The relationship didn't get much development time!

Scarlet - Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm still liking this series - it still has that unique feel to it, with the cyborgs and sci fi world barely recognizable as our own future. But this was a lot slower to get going than the first book. It was very much one of those build-up to the next book kind of installments.

I do like the addition of the new characters and thought the fairy tale tie-in was well done. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of all the build-up - and to finding out how in the world the next fairy tale fits the story that needs to happen.

Mort - Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So Terry Pratchett is definitely witty and clever, and I do enjoy his asides when I forget I'm searching for a story in the midst of it. The thing is, each of the three Discworld books I've completed so far took me some effort to get into in spite of appreciating the humor. Because the characters remain caricatures as the humor takes center stage. And I actually find it kind of boring.

It's not until late in each book that I started to be interested in what was actually happening. And the characters never quite made it out of caricature status. So I think that I can enjoy Pratchett's humor on a certain level, but I'm always a bit bored until the plot and characters actually start moving and doing something. Once that happens, I end up liking the books overall, and look forward to reading another one - only to be bored at first, wondering why I enjoyed the ones I read before.

And I leave you with that rambling attempt to understand how I both do and don't enjoy the books in this series, and will most likely continue to have this ambivalent experience for several more books in the future just because they end up being fun and clever in the end. They are a bit of a stretch for me, comfort-wise, and not what I would decide to read when I want to be completely absorbed in a book. But I still like them. I think.

The Paper Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The paper magic was really fun, but literally half the book is spent in someone's memories, which started to drag, and didn't seem to serve much of a purpose besides fostering a one-sided infatuation that I didn't care for much.

Then there's the blood magician threat, which an entire force of magicians and police have been fighting - but Ceony doesn't even get questioned seriously about what happened?

Towards the end, I also began to notice an increase in modern concepts and American words and phrases, when this is supposed to be set in London around the turn of the 20th Century. Needless to say, I found it jarring and irritating.

So it sounds like I didn't like this much. But I liked it well enough. The concept of paper magic was really interesting, and I enjoyed all the details of folding. It just had some distracting aspects and was not as developed as I like. I can see why some people are calling it YA even though Ceony is 18 and out of school. There's something too simple about it to be adult. I was hoping for it to be more than it was, that's all. I think I will probably still pick up the sequel at some point.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation - Lauren Willig

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you go into this expecting historical fiction with Napoleonic spy action, you’re likely to be disappointed. I was expecting more of a historical mystery / spy adventure, but soon caught on and was able to adjust and enjoy it for what it is. And what it is, is a fairly typical fluffy Regency Romance, except that it’s set in the French court and does have a dose of spies to make it more interesting. Confirming its status as a Romance series is the fact that the main characters change in each book.

It's also very light on historical accuracy, but that didn't stop me from having fun reading it. It's purposely silly and far-fetched, and I do enjoy silly. So instead of being horrified at the liberties taken with the time period, I found it mostly fun.

There were times when I found it a bit long-winded, though. And I still could have done with less of the romance, especially the sex scenes. I always feel that those scenes are out of place in a Regency novel - they drag something too modern into the historical setting.

There’s also a second story-line set in the present day about a woman who is researching the Pink Carnation for her dissertation. It looks like it will span the sequels as she discovers more about the past. It also looks like there will be a romance in her future. I thought the framing story was OK, but could have done without it. It made the book longer, and I'm not sure I liked being pulled out of the other story for this one. But I think it might grow on me as the series progresses. We’ll see.

I do intend to continue reading when I’m in the mood for something silly, light and fluffy, with a bit of derring-do in the court of Napoleon.

Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Quick thoughts here, since I probably won't bother to do a full review. I liked this better than the first. It was another quick read. There was less slow, Southern charm and humor, less of a chick-lit focus on hair and clothes and working in the bar (although that's still in there).

Instead, there are two mysteries in two locations, and we get more exposure to the worlds of vampires and shape-shifters, and I finally got to know what the fuss about Eric is all about - or at least I'm starting to get it. So far, there are at least three love interests for Sookie, and at this point I believe she's with the wrong guy. Not that Bill isn't... nice, but she has way more of a connection with both Sam and Eric than Bill. Bill is still really generic, other than being super protective.

I'm having fun with this series, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to take things too seriously. Or to anyone who objects to a lot of romantic elements. Sookie is in the midst of multiple romances, that's one thing for sure.