Crown of Stars: King’s Dragon review
I have to admit I already miss this book. King’s Dragon Volume 1 of Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series, was a pleasure to read. The content is dark, at times brutal, but in every way well written. The story is split into several parts, switching between the two main characters’ plot lines. There were times when the switch was welcome. I did not know how much of Liath’s torture I could take when suddenly I was reading about Alain’s mostly uncomplicated life. He witnesses terrible things, but filled with a sense of right and wrong, his journey is not so terrible.
After three years of slavery at her lowest point, Liath’s fortunes finally begin to change for the better. Filled with fear and ignorance she stumbles her way through a siege, a holy vision, and the death of a prince.
Alain barely escapes certain death at the hands of the Eika who pillage and burn the monastery he had been pledged to since birth. He experiences a vision from the Lady of Battles who in exchange for his vow to follow her, spares his village from the Eika raid. No longer able to fulfill his set path, he is sent to work for Count Lavastine for one year along with several other youths from his village. Overlooked or ignored by everyone else in the household, he overhears many things which allow the reader to learn of the greater world outside the Count’s home. He learns he may be the son of one of the Old Ones, or the bastard son of Count Lavastine himself and not a whore’s son as he had been led to believe.
I am both dreading and looking forward to reading the next volume, Prince of Dogs. I do not know how much depredation I can stand at the moment for the second volume promises to only descend further into darkness. I have a copy sitting at home. Perhaps I will begin tonight or perhaps I shall move on to another novel sitting on my “to read” pile.
Epic fantasy lovers will love the intrigue both political and metaphysical, the three dimensional characters, and the hints of prophecy, magic and an overarching plot in which you only get glimpses of in this installment.
The Sharing Knife: Beguilement Book Review
I’ve been plowing through books the last few weeks since my trip to Portland where I spent the other half of my Borders gift card. Another book I picked up with that card was Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Sharing Knife: Beguilement. I finished it last night, which means I will probably get some actual sleep tonight! I have missed reading a book that is actually a pleasure. I wanted to get back to it as soon as I was done with my TV shows this week.
Fawn, after having sex for the first time, is pregnant and in pique of fear and embarrassment runs away from home. On the way she is kidnapped by mud-men, creatures created from stolen ground and animals shaped into men by malices. She is rescued by Dag, a Lakewalker whose life is dedicated to eradicating malices. Their adventures lead to a fight with the malice, Fawn’s terrible loss, a misensorcelled sharing knife, and their eventual falling in love.
Their falling in love is a problem since it is frowned upon for Lakewalkers to entangle themselves with farmers (not just actual farmers but anyone not a Lakewalker including townsfolk, innkeepers, etc). It is ok to dally with one, but no farmer would ever be welcome at a Lakewalker camp. It is not clear why such relations are forbidden. There are hints given about half-breed children, a difficult military, nomadic lifestyle, and the fact that farmers have no groundsense. Ground is explained pretty much the same way as the force in Star Wars, the energy that exists in all living things. Lakewalkers can actually sense this energy. Some use it to track, others to make, some to heal, but all use it to read other Lakewalkers. They can read emotions, moods, guess at each other’s thoughts, sense each other’s presence when hunting, and even to detect whether a woman is fruitful at any particular time.
I give this a definite two thumbs up. I love fantasy romance, and this one is right up there. You can follow the link from the cover image above to read an excerpt. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy romance, or anyone who would like a new twist on Jedis and the force.
Seraphs – Faith Hunter Review
I finished the second book in the Rogue Mage series, Seraphs by Faith Hunter. I really do enjoy this story, but there is still something bothering me about the book or writing or something. I think part of the problem is characterization. There are roughly seven or so characters other than Thorn. You know a little about all of them, but not enough to form a complete picture. Thorn seems to live too much in her head for the audience to learn more about the characters that she interacts with. I find that irritating honestly.
Another problem is the second gun fight just outside of the pit under the Trine. Seriously, do you have no other way to move the plot? Both books have now ended exactly the same way, Thorn decides to go into the Trine alone, is followed by other characters who then are injured or shot during a gun fight just at the mouth of the entrance, a fierce battle underground and then after nearly or actually dying, waking up in bed recovering from her wounds thanks to the seraph Raziel.
The other problem I’m having is with the scene changes. This installment felt like a bunch of scenes spliced together almost coherently. I say almost because of a few continuity issues. Continuity isn’t usually a huge thing for me. If there is something 200 hundred pages before that wars with something I just read, I don’t usually mind because I’ve already forgotten that part! However, when the very next scene makes no sense after reading the previous scene, well there I have a problem. For example, Thorn has a minor fight with Rupert but a few pages later Thorn is miffed that Rupert didn’t invite her to dinner. What?! Was Rupert supposed to get over whatever made him storm off when she got hungry? Just didn’t make any sense to me.
Again, my assessment of this series is that the concept is awesome, the execution not working out so great. I am reading the third installment, Host right now. Hunter brings up a great deal of questions that I want answered, but I may only stay with the series if this is the last book. Something tells me it isn’t.
Bloodring
I finished Bloodring by Faith Hunter last night. This is the first book of the Rogue Mage series. I was loathe to put it down all week, exhaustion the only thing that forced me to sleep. Last night, since I had no where I needed to be today, I decided I was going to finish it. Needless to say, I liked it, but there is something niggling at me from completely gushing about this book.
Thorn St. Croix is an unregistered neomage, a separate race living after the Apocalypse. The plagues, the arrival of the seraphim, the appearance of demons and Dragons, and the destruction of most of the world. Billions died when the seraphim arrived, but the world did not end. The Most High never appeared. The seraphim refused to affirm any religion which led to holy wars breaking out all over the planet. These holy wars only caused the seraphim to kill more. Any human violence was met with seraphim judgement. Neomages, a race not prophesied, are kept in concentration camps or Enclave. Any unregistered neomage would be captured, tortured, and eventually killed if captured by humans. The seraphim would just return them to Enclave.
Thorn cannot return to Enclave. When she came into her power at age fourteen, she was flooded by the thoughts of all neomages in Enclave. If she stayed, she would go insane. She has lived among humans hiding her nature.
Thorn’s ex-husband is captured by Darkness, a daywalker is stalking her stepdaughter who is pumping the little girl for information about Thorn, and a kylen (a quarter-mage, quarter-seraph, half-human) is investigating Lucas’s disappearance threatens to uncover her secret.
I didn’t feel that Faith Hunter was a great writer, but she definitely tells a good story. I have read a number of “how-to-write” posts in order to figure out how to re-write my two novels. Repeatedly the advice I’ve read is to start your novel as late as possible. I often had the feeling that I had missed a previous novel or the first two or three chapters while reading Bloodring which leads me to believe Hunter was following that advice. Aside from that vague unease that I was missing something, I enjoyed the story. The characters were not irritaing although I was confused by the Ciana’s characterization, (Thorn’s stepdaughter). For most of the beginning, I thought Ciana was a teenager. I was surprised to find she was only seven years old. Thorn was cool as a character but her motivations were difficult to understand. She was constantly messing up, but there was no apparent consequences. The only thing that could explain it, is that she must be under seraphic protection. All I can say is that I will be reading the next two in the series, so I can discover the answers to all my questions.
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.
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!
The Graveyard Book
The first novel by Neil Gaiman that I have read cover to cover, The Graveyard Book, is absolutely wonderful. I read Gaiman’s Journal on a regular basis and have come to love his writing “voice”. That voice was apparent in this his latest published book. Reading about the writing process excited me and made me want to read it. When my husband spotted it at the library about a week ago, I had to bring it home. I read it in a few hours and refused to put it down even though it was after my bed time.
Bod is a curious child, craving knowledge of the world, books, and the metaphysical which is unsurprising considering he was raised by a ghost couple and a vampire, and on occasion taught by a werewolf. He is pursued his entire life by a man named Jack who was responsible for the death of his entire family when he was only a year old.
A darkly humorous coming-of-age novel, often compared to The Jungle Book, this is a must read for both children and adults whether your a fan of Gaiman’s other work or not.
This novel has definitely inspired another story, which I dreamed of last night. I will posting about that later. Perhaps it will be my NaNoWriMo contribution this year instead of a sequel to The Rising.
Lonely Werewolf Girl
I read a review/introduction for Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar on Neil Gaiman’s blog a few weeks ago. I was intrigued after reading an excerpt and promised myself I’d keep an eye out. Well just before we left for Florida, I saw it on a table at Barnes & Noble. I read the back and again was intrigued. I made a mental note to pick it up in Florida, since taxes are alot cheaper there than here in Seattle. I nagged my mom (I did not have a rental car, my husband had it) until she took me to Borders where I had a coupon. Anyway, I bought it and promptly forgot about it. I was there to visit family and knowing myself, decided it best if I left the reading for the plane.
Well, since I couldn’t use my iPod for the first 15 minutes or so on the flight, I decided to break out Werewolf Girl and that was pretty much it for me. I didn’t put the book down again until we were landing at SeaTac four – five hours later.
I enjoyed these characters even though I didn’t actually like any of them. Every single last one was so completely self-absorbed, there was very little to actually like. You just wanted them to win against the brute older brother Sarapen because he was more hateful than the rest, but not by much. Kalix is so overwhelmingly anxious-depressive that I who suffer from the same ailment from time to time could not relate. I have never cut myself to relieve anxiety or intentionally avoided food because I hated eating. Basically, Kalix is at the extreme end of the disorder. Her sister Thrix is cold and is only interested in her fashion design house. Dominil, a Council Member, is cold almost arctic with her white hair and bored expression. Her two older brothers, Sarapen and Markus just want her dead and out of the way. Her mother finds her an annoyance as well as a source of regret. Malveria and Agrivex, fire elementals, were most amusing and kept the book from imploding under it’s own cold, violent and depressive weight.
In between it all is a civil war bubbling between supporters of Sarapen and Markus, a Hunters Guild bent on the destruction of all werewolves, a Croatian hunter with a magical knife that confuses and instantly kills any werewolf it manages to pierce, a conniving fire elemental princess, two college kids who befriend Kalix, and a pair of werewolf twin sisters trying to re-launch their music career.
I can’t say that I liked the writing style much. It was too simple, almost elementary. I love reading YA most of the time. It is when the author writes in that almost condescendingly simple style, that I cannot abide YA. These books should be pushed to the middle reader/chapter books section of the bookstore not in YA, but I’m sure that’s just me. The text was also riddled with typos and misspellings. It appeared I was reading an advanced copy instead of the final draft! There were so many places where I had to re-read certain lines just to find what word was missing or was extra! One or two I can ignore, some just escape the eyes of best editors, but this was insane! There were so many instances where “off” was spelled “of”, I wanted to scream by the end of the book.
I would recommend waiting until it is released in mass market or for a second edition before picking this one up if typos, etc bother you. I enjoyed the many elements in the story, but at times felt it was getting a little long-ish (I have nothing against long books, but filler is terrible!). The characters are unlikable but fascinating. I would give this a three out of five and would recommend it lovers of YA urban fantasy.
The Thirteenth Tale
This is probably the fourth or fifth time that I am reading/listening to The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I have never read a book that many times in such quick succession. There are a few favorites, guilty pleasures really that I’ve read as many if not more, but it’s usually years in between.
This book is absolutely wonderful. A gothic suspense story set in modern times (ambiguously 20th century) in the vein of novels such as Rebecca and Jane Eyre, it is a scintillating read. I began to love Vida Winter and was mostly annoyed and not a little repulsed by Margaret Lea. Vida makes no apologies for being who and what she is. Margaret spends too much time feeling sorry for herself, perharps suffering from clinical depression.
The novel is story within a story. You learn Vida’s life story through her narration punctuated by Margaret’s observations and her own story told in first person. Ms. Setterfield has managed to make you feel as if you were sitting in that library listening to Vida tell the story of the twins Adelaide and Emmeline March and of Angelfield.
My one problem has nothing to do with the novel itself, but with interviews I’ve read of the author. The Thirteenth Tale is Ms. Setterfield’s first fictional work. She has published research in the field of French Literature, but no other works of fiction. Upon producing this masterpiece, she has claimed that she will probably never write another novel. What?! How can you deny the reader any more of your wonderful prose? Give me another gothic suspense, and I will buy it three times over (hardcover, paperback, and audiobook).
Frankly, her refusal to write another novel makes me suspicious. Is she afraid that she will not be able to meet the success of her first novel? Did she even write it herself? There I said it. It is wild speculation and a baseless accusation. It is only the child in me that lashes out for wont of more of her work. I may now have to take back my words. I just read another article in which it states that she is indeed working on another novel. YES!!!! Who knows how long it will be until we see it. The article was written in 2006 when Tale was released.
Kushiel’s Chosen
I finally finished this beautifully written book, Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey last night. I had not realized until I finished how time slipped by. When I closed the book with satisfaction, I checked the time only to realize it was after midnight, and I had to be at work in less then seven hours. Irregardless, I would not trade those few hours of reading this gorgeous book for more sleep.
I will apologize now if I give away anything spoils your enjoyment. I will endeavor not to, but I make no promises. Carey is a wonderful wordsmith. Her word choice transports the reader into Terre d’Ange more so than even her descriptions of the lands and countries Phedre travels through. Written in first person, the story unfolds as if one were reading Phedre’s memoirs. It is Phedre’s voice that comes through the page as if one were sitting at her knee listening to her recount her tale.
After the horrific events of Kushiel’s Dart, Phedre has now taken residence in the home she inherited from Anafiel no Delaunay de Montreve, along with her inherited title of Comtesse de Montreve. This installment begins where Kushiel’s Dart ended. Phedre has received a package containing the sangoire cloak Delaunay commissioned for her. It is a message and an opening gambit into Melisande Sharhizai’s new game. Phedre accepts the challenge and returns to Namaah’s service in order to discover the traitor who allowed Melisande to escape.
Here begins Phedre’s journey anew, nearly shredding the relationship between Phedre and Josceline. She is taken prisoner, driven to brink of insanity, rescued only to be lost again to the sea, taken hostage, betrayed, forced to face her darkest inner truth which nearly broke her once more, marked by yet another god, in order to prevent civil war and the death of her Queen.
Throughout, Phedre learns how her pride and cleverness leads to more death and suffering, nearly unmaking what she sought to protect. The story moved me to tears, anxiety, anger, and sorrow. I felt Phedre’s suffering, and knowing that it was of her own making, I hated her a little. I was not able to grieve for her fallen comrades until the end when things were finally resolved if not finitely at least momentarily.
I have only one complaint. I never want to read the phrase “well and so” again. There are very few rules to writing that apply to almost all forms of writing, I feel. One is to avoid repetition of a particular word or phrase. It might work in poetry or speech writing but not so much in prose. We all do it, and have tried to weed out the over-usage. I could let it go when I thought it was just Phedre’s way of speaking or thinking, but then everyone started using it. I wanted to be able to skip over those words, but was unable to time and time again.
I will say this, this book was nearly flawless in its scope, beauty and use of language. If you enjoyed/loved/made love to Kushiel’s Dart than I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. If you have not read Kushiel’s Dart, I suggest you do and then after a suitable grace period pick up Kushiel’s Chosen. I say to wait to read the sequel only because as beautiful as these books are, they are also emotionally exhausting. I needed to stop and breath before picking up Kushiel’s Dart and I will need another moment to catch my breath after Kushiel’s Chosen.
