Christmas dress modeled
I’m finally starting to get photos of the little girls in their dresses. Hopefully my mom will send me a picture of my niece and nephew soon. The gecko dress will probably be a while in coming since that’s a complicated situation. Below is the second Supergirl dress and the butterfly dress.
Sharon Shinn: Summers at Castle Auburn
I have read plenty of books by Sharon Shinn including all of the so far published novels of the Twelve Houses series, all but perhaps the last one or two of the Samaria series (angels on another planet) tried to read but couldn’t get very far, Wrapt in Crystal, and I just realized that I have read a young adult novel by her, The Truth-Teller’s Tale. I have enjoyed most of them very much. So when presented with a $40 gift card to Borders and not having any particular book in mind that I wanted to purchase, I took a stroll down the sci-fi/fantasy aisle and came across another of her novels that I had previously been unaware of. Summers at Castle Auburn was wonderful.
Coriel, Corie to her friends, is the illegitimate daughter of a nobelman who died when Corie was six or seven (don’t really remember). Her uncle strikes a bargain with her grandmother, so Corie can spend the summers with her half-sister Elisandra at Castle Auburn. Elisandra is betrothed to Prince Bryan who will ascend to the thrown on his 21st birthday. Corie along with every other young woman living in the castle is secretly in love with the Prince. He is handsome and dashing, but a spoiled brat. His impending ascension to the throne has the realm political turmoil. Civil war could start if such a spoiled and dangerous man is on the throne because the viceroys do not trust him.
Kent, the next in line to the throne, would make a much better king. On an expedition with her uncle, Bryan, and Kent to hunt aliora, fey creatures prized for their beauty, compassion, and intelligence as slaves, Corie meets Roderick a castle guard. These two men are played as potential love interests for Corie from the beginning, but Corie is too young to see it. She knows her place is not at the castle with aristocrats but with her grandmother where she is an apprentice to learn witchcraft. Witchcraft is nothing more than herb lore to treat disease and injury, but a witch can also create potions for other purposes.
The book is lovely, you grow up with Corie and begin to understand the world in which she lives through her ever growing understanding. Through her you come to understand that Bryan is not the perfect paragon that she has painted him in her youth, that her sister Elisandra is capable of anything, that her beloved uncle is in fact a slave trader responsible for the enslavement of over thirty aliora, and that although her presence at the castle is for the purpose of finding Corie a husband, she would not allow herself to be bartered off like livestock. The world around her is filled with political intrigue and injustice and it is only when her eyes are opened that she sees the idyllic Castle Auburn for what it really is.
I give this book four and 1/2 stars. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a well told story that can be contained in a single volume. The ending was little too pat, but that can be easily overlooked. There were a few awkward moments story wise and/or dialog wise, but overall the book was wonderful.
Cry Wolf
I finished Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs yesterday. This is a spinoff book from the Mercy Thompson series and the first in the Alpha and Omega series. It features characters first introduced in the novella On the Prowl which I did not know when I picked this one up. I could not shake the feeling that I was missing a whole story here, until I discovered it was a short story I had missed. I tend to ignore the compilation books these stories normally appear in. I think I know enough from the introduction not to worry about tracking it down.
In any case, this was a book that I lost a great deal of sleep over. I could not put the darn thing down! A bit after midnight Monday night, I decided I needed to sleep more than I needed to know what happened next. The main character, Anna, is a bit of a wimp but only because she’d endured three years of torture before being rescued by Charles, the Marrock’s (head werewolf of all the packs in America) second child and enforcer (read assasin). Anna will probably come into her own as a character in the next book, but this particular book reads like a romance novel. The story is more interesting than the characters and you’re only waiting until they finally figure out that they are madly in love. I personally enjoyed the Mercy Thompson books a whole lot more. Mercy is a tough cookie, but she knows how to ask for and take help. The men in her life aren’t cowed by the chip on her shoulder.
Anna comes across as way too fragile. By the end of the book, however, she has come to accept herself and her power. As an Omega werewolf, she has all the need to protect of an Alpha wolf but none of the violent or aggressive behavior. She can calm the beast within and grant peace to the werewolves around her. This special power is essential to keeping the Marrock from becoming something worse than a rogue werewolf. When she finally accepts who and what she is, she rescues them all from the clutches of Mariposa, a two hundred year old witch responsible for the torture and death of Asil’s, a much older werewolf bent on suicide living with the Marrock’s immediate pack waiting for the Marrock to decide when he will finally kill him, mate.
I would recommend this book to fans of Ms. Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series if only to visit with some of the other characters in that world and fans of urban fantasy romance.
For an excerpt, click here.
Better cascade scarf photos
I realized the picture I had posted for the aqua cascade scarf did not do the scarf justice. Below is one shot I took this morning before work. The other photo apparently did not upload properly.
Cascade Scarf in aqua
I made a cascade scarf from this pattern in gorgeous aqua. It is only the third one one I’ve attempted! The first one was with this dreadful acrylic yarn that feels terrible to the touch. I wanted it to be a gift, a sort of thank you, but it was just too awful the way it was. I bought yarn to finish it anyway, and another skien for a second one as another late Christmas gift. I ran out of yarn once again, and decidedly finally that I couldn’t give anyone that awful material from the first scarf. I went to a yarn store in the Ravenna area since my husband was getting a haircut in Wallingford. My first visit in an honest to goodness yarn shop, Acorn Street Yarn Shop. I bought this lovely wool, acrylic mix in aqua which was just a dream to work with. Anyway, I am working on my fourth cascade scarf which is actually the second one all over again. I’m hoping I can try another hook and ten fewer chain stitches to see if I can make the one skien make it for one full scarf. I’m enjoying making this pattern. The aqua scarf is just beautiful. I hope my co-worker will like it anyhow.
Peter S. Beagle
I had written in a previous entry that I had read the Innkeeper’s Song but I was mistaken. I had read Unicorn Sonata and was confusing that in my head with Tamsin. I have remedied that now by reading Innkeeper’s Song. I just finished reading just now. I had made several attempts at reading this particular book without much success. I can’t be sure what turned me off the first time. Perhaps it was simply Tikat’s suffering that I could not bear. After reading Folk of the Air, I feel less sympathy for Tikat. I find that Peter S. Beagle’s characters are seldom wholly likable. They all have their attitudes, their humanity if you will. Tikat’s stubbornness is admirable at first blush, but after a while it is abrasive, painful. Lukassa, the object of Tikat’s obsession, is a sympathetic character. You feel for her confusion, having only just been raised from the dead. Lal is impressive, the lone wolf adventurer. You find her pride to be annoying fairly early. I think Rosseth is the only one who you like early on and continue to like all the way to the end, when we learn his true name. Even Nyateneri/Soukyen you admire but grow tired of. I think Last Unicorn was the same way, I just don’t remember. Either way I enjoyed this story much more than Folk of the Air.
I wish I could remember whether I read Tamsin before I sold it. I can’t be sure.
I do enjoy Beagle’s work. I recently looked up his book list on Wikipedia. I had no idea how prolific a writer he is/was(?). I am now on the prowl for A Fine and Private Place. Hopefully I’ll find a cheap used copy or borrow it from the library. I realize I haven’t offered much by way of story synopsis or review, but it is difficult to gather your thoughts while tapping away at my husband’s iTouch with one finger. Perhaps later I’ll muster an actual review!
