REREAD #1: 8/10 (31 December 2005 - 31 December 2005)
This is probably my favourite of Kenyon's HunterLegends short storiDRAGONSWAN by Sherrilyn Kenyon
REREAD #1: 8/10 (31 December 2005 - 31 December 2005)
This is probably my favourite of Kenyon's HunterLegends short stories. Of course, it has a dragon in it - and a super sexy one at that - which gives it a good head start. Sebastian is a lovely character; I love the way he always tells Channon the truth and because of the situation, she initially takes it all as a joke. She is strong and clever and takes things in her stride in a realistic kind of way.
Perhaps because this is a short story, although it has many of the usual trappings where the hero keeps agonising over whether he can subject the heroine to his dangerous lifestyle, it's in character here and doesn't go so far as to be annoying. There's a nice explanation of the creation of the Were-Hunters that I probably didn't pay full attention to the first time as I didn't know how important it would become.
I like the reason why dragons can't safely live in the 20th (or now the 21st) century and I really like Channon and Sebastian. I hope we'll get to see them make a guest appearance in a later book.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
As always, a very pleasant visit with Eve and Roarke. While the murder mystery is solid, my feeling in this book was that it was secondary to the furtAs always, a very pleasant visit with Eve and Roarke. While the murder mystery is solid, my feeling in this book was that it was secondary to the further development of Eve and Roarke's relationship. There have been some lovely touches in previous books of Eve's attempts to do the 'relationship thing' and that goes up a level in this book. As her first wedding anniversary approaches, Eve is finally beginning to find some security in her relationship with Roarke, even if she still feels she doesn't really understand it. She manages to admit some of her feeling to him out loud at last, and the effect of that upon him is major. I was left with the feeling that they had both taken some great strides in the process of letting each of them heal the other in this book, especially Eve, who still tries to avoid admitting her own weakness, whether emotional or physical.
All the usual minor characters appear, with a delightful 'attack' on Eve by Mavis, Trina and Leonardo, determined to make her fashionable, more sniping between Eve and Sommerset, and interesting developments in the broken relationship between Peabody and McNab.
Robb takes a different approach with the murder this time, letting us in on the identity and motives of the murderer long before Eve begins to discover these things herself. This part of the book is solid, but it is more a mirror to Eve's development and her fundamental ability to 'stand for' the victims by understanding the murderer than the main focus of the book. Still, since I read the books primarily for the characters, especially Eve and Roarke, that works fine for me.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I find myself in two minds about this book. It's good, very good in fact. The prose is easy to read, the science doesn't bog the reader down too much I find myself in two minds about this book. It's good, very good in fact. The prose is easy to read, the science doesn't bog the reader down too much and Hamilton's created worlds and alien species are well done. But it is very long. I've just read 1000+ pages, something I find to be pretty hard work these days, and the story has really only just begun, with everything poised for the next 1000+ pages that is the sequel, Judas Unchained. I guess I feel a little cheated, that I did all that work and it all proved to be set up for the next book.
All the same, I really liked it. After I write this I'm heading to the library website to order the sequel. I want to know what happens and how everything turns out. I like the future Hamilton has created and the civilisation and I want to see it survive and move forward again. I like the characters, even the ones I don't like, and I want to know how things turn out for them.
Hamilton has created a world that feels solid to me. I didn't study it in detail to figure out how possible or realistic it was, but at the causal reading level I was doing, it all seemed to hold together. I liked a lot of his ideas and the way he's used them. The idea of the main transport system in the entire Commonwealth being trains really appealed to me. It makes sense too. If everything is connected by wormholes, having everything set up around station yards and train tracks works nicely. I do get the feeling that air transport may make more of a comeback however, as the attack on the Commonwealth continues and more spaceships are built. The whole concept of rejuvenation and stored memories is clever, as is the way the concept of death has changed due to secure stored memories and re-life procedures. When a character who did not have those secured memories was killed at the end of the book, I suddenly found myself as shocked as the characters in the pages that he was now permanently and finally dead.
The aliens from the Dyson Sphere were suitably strange and very disturbing. I'm hoping the Commonwealth soon figures out that there will be no negotiation and get themselves organised with regard to their own protection. The other aliens are all interesting, and while I can't comment on the potential accuracy of them or the various other planets visited, nothing was so glaring it tossed me out of the story.
I did have some pacing issues, but I'm not sure if that was actually bad pacing, or if it was just that it was such a long book. We went so far back in some of the set-up that at first many things seemed to have absolutely no connection to anything else. Some are still that way, although I can see more congregations happening in the sequel. Probably the one that seemed to have the most convoluted set up was all the details of the forty year old murder, that was all there to set up Mellanie and her connection to the SI. Once it started coming together, I was okay with it, and it was rather clever that an apparently unimportant side character in the saga was actually the one we would continue following through the book.
So I guess I can see why Hamilton did it as he did, and overall he did it well, but I still have a slight sense of being cheated in that I read so much, only to be left ready to read another book rather than being finished with this one. At least I enjoyed the ride.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I find Tanya Huff a mixed bag. I liked all the Vicki Nelson books (even if some of the themes did get a bit disturbing by the time we got to Huff's riI find Tanya Huff a mixed bag. I liked all the Vicki Nelson books (even if some of the themes did get a bit disturbing by the time we got to Huff's riff on Frankenstein's monster) and the first Keeper book. I found the second in that series so-so and never finished the third. Most of her others haven't done anything special for me, although I did like her early pair of books about Crystal. All of this meant I ordered Smoke and Shadows when it came out, but didn't rush to read it.
This is sort of a spin-off from the Vicki Nelson books in that it is about Tony, who moved to Vancouver with Henry after he moved on to leave the Toronto territory to Vicki. It's five years later now and Tony has moved out of Henry's place and is trying to make his own space in the world. He's working as a PA on the set of a syndicated TV show about - wait for it - a vampire detective. Tony was only a minor character in Vicki's books, but I liked him when we turned up and it is nice to see him finding himself now. The scars of his past haven't vanished, but he's dealt with a lot of them and the things he learned on the Toronto streets and in company of first Vicki and then Henry are going to help him out as he finds himself having his own mystical adventures.
Ignore the blurb above; since the wizard in question is a she rather than a he and Tony is a pretty low-level member of the production crew, I wonder if the person who wrote it even read the book. Henry is less of a presence here; he's a main character, but he's playing second fiddle to Tony - something he probably wouldn't appreciate if he knew about it. The secondary characters are all well drawn, although some are more fleshed out that others. The wizard, Arra, is a nicely motivated character even if those motives are less than pure and the more realistic for it.
This was a good, solid and enjoyable read. It was nice to see familiar character again, and better that their previous adventures had changed them enough that they were also new characters at the same time. There are a few pop-culture references that readers may or may not get (I did like Tony's comment that with everything that was happening and likely to happen, he had a lot more sympathy now with Buffy the Vampire Slayer's season six version of Buffy Summers) but they don't overwhelm the story enough to be annoying. This was part of my summer reading and it has been perfect for that. While there are references back to the Vicki books, you don't need to have read them (although they are worth the time), so get out and give this one a go.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I think this series is great fun. They're a quick, funny read with a decent mystery. Certainly, iI didn't peg the murderer - although I have to admit I think this series is great fun. They're a quick, funny read with a decent mystery. Certainly, iI didn't peg the murderer - although I have to admit that I don't actually try when reading mysteries these days. I'm along for the ride, not the mental exercise and I just want to enjoy the book, not have to do any work.
I actually think the greatest weakness of this book was the lack of Meg's crazy family. They take things up a notch or two and having only her dad and Rob present toned things down a lot. Rob as the accidental corporate computer guru was a nice joke; knowing him as we do from the days he was creating Lawyers from Hell back in Murder with Peacocks, the awe given to him by his staff is rather funny. When it gets turned on Meg as well (the original 'Judge Hammer' - snicker) that's a lovely touch. I felt the lack of Michael, who works as a good foil for Meg and his presence only via cell phone was a disappointment.
I have collected my favourite recent quote from this book. Living with an it guru of my own who is often late at work as they upgrade the latest piece of software, I was delighted by this:
A build, I'd learned in the last two weeks, was an important recurring event in companies that developed computer software. As far as I could understand, it meant that Jack, as team leader, told everybody to stop messing around with their parts of the program - yes, right now dammit, not in half an hour - and launched a two-hour semiautomated process that was as temperamental as cooking a soufflé.
I just love the temperamental soufflé part, which Dave assures me is an accurate description.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
ORIGINAL READ: 6/10 (5 December 2005 - 9 December 2005)
I liked this book, despite the low rating I've given in. The main character is solidly developeORIGINAL READ: 6/10 (5 December 2005 - 9 December 2005)
I liked this book, despite the low rating I've given in. The main character is solidly developed and likeable, the secondary characters and varied and different (although I found Severn, the lead human male character, to be less well created and kind of boring) the story is interesting and the world and its inhabitants fascinating. I read it steadily and wanted to know what was going to happen next. I'm also still interested in reading the next in the series.
However, I felt things were just a little vague. That or my understanding was lacking. There were lots of good ideas, but exactly what was going on and what the world was like never felt exactly clear to me. The characters kept exchanging meaningful looks that told each other volumes, but the implications weren't clear enough for me to get it too, so that I only ever felt I got the drift of the story rather than the depth of it. I know my illness means I have a really terrible memory, but I'm not stupid and I usually understand what I'm reading.
That said, there were plent of things I did like, I just want to be more confident I jumped to the right conclusions, and I'm not left with that feeling. The races and history of the Empire gave hints of being very interesting, but it was never spelled out clearly enough for me to fell I know how it actually works. The author dropped us into the deep end of her world and set about explaining how it worked in context without ever spelling it out. This is a laudable idea - I like a blatant infodump as little as the next reader - but things never got clear enough for me to be certain I had understood.
The idea of the magic and the point of the symbols was a good one and I want to know more about it. The idea that the power came from names and the power of language without language was clever, but since we mere mortals are limited the language and the story is told with that language, I felt the idea wasn't quite pulled off.
I guess, the low rating comes from frustration. This book had great ideas and could have been fantastic instead of just good if things had been a little clearer - or if I'm a litte dense. I'm willing to accept it might have been my faulty brain instead of the author. I'd be interested to hear from others who have read the book if they agree or think I'm totally off track.
As mentioned above, I also found Severn kind of bland. The other characters were much more interesting, especially Lord Nightshade. I think I'll be reading the next one if only to find out more about him and what he might want with Kaylin.
So, for me, this was a good book with flaws that stopped it from being a great book.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]
REREAD #1: 8/10 (13 November 2007 - 17 November 2007)
Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered -- and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin . . .
Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.
But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging, Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers -- powers that no other human has. Her task is simple -- find the killer, stop the murders . . . and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!
This was another reread for me. The first time I read Cast in Shadow I came away from it a bit frustrated. I liked the story and the characters, but I was left with a feeling that I hadn't really got the book. A friend who borrowed it and liked it, admitted that she had read it twice, and it had made a lot more sense the second time. I decided I would reread it myself some time in the future, probably before reading the sequel as I knew I wanted to continue with the story.
Due to complications of US and Australian publication and budgetary constraints, I actually got hold of volume 2 and volume 3 of the series at about the same time. So all three books sat on the TBR shelf for a while until I finally picked up Cast in Shadow for that planned reread.
My friend was right. It made much more sense the second time. I liked the story just as much as before, but I understood it better this time as well. All the same, but original problems do remain. My feeling is that Sagara has done some excellent and probably complicated worldbuilding. However, she hasn't managed to convery the details of her world to the page as well as she might have done. I had to pay attention, knowing where I'd been confused before, to pick up on things I had missed. They were there, but still not easy to find.
My other issue had been that Sagara leaves just a bit too much up to the reader. I'm all for leaving the reader to do some of the work, but if the hints and clues aren't clear enough, said reader (or me, anyway) can't necessarily pick up on them. The characters kept sharing speaking glances or having moments of understanding where there wasn't enough information for me to work out whatever it was they were realising. In some cases it didn't seem to matter, but it others it might have done and I don't know because I missed it.
But it is still a good book. It's still an interesting story with engaging characters and some very clever ideas and plot twists. I was interested in reading the sequel before and I am more so now, especially since I feel like I understand the political system a bit better and everything suggests that will be significant in book two.
Don't let my comments put you off - this is a good book. It's just that you have to be awake and pay attention. Don't expect to skim along the surface and have everything explained to you, because it doesn't work that way.
There are a number of different races in this world and it is important to come to some understanding of each one, most especially the immortal Barrani, whose past seems to be coming back to haunt the entire population. They are left deliberately obscure by Sagara, but hopefully more will be revealed as the books go on. Cast in Shadow is the first of at least four books, possibly more, so I guess if everything was explained in the first volume there wouldn't be a lot left for the later ones.
So stay awake and you'll be rewarded with a very good story. As always, I have to find the time, but I'm looking forward to Cast in Courtlight (which has the most beautiful cover) and Cast in Secret.
Cast in Shadow Michelle Sagara The Chronicle of Elantra, Book 1 8/10 Followed by: Cast in Courtlight Cast in Secret Cast in Fury (forthcoming)
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I don't have a lot to say about this book really. It was a pleasant read, but it was standard romance fare really and didn't have anything about it thI don't have a lot to say about this book really. It was a pleasant read, but it was standard romance fare really and didn't have anything about it that set it specifically above anything else.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I loved this book. Sure, I'd class it as brain candy reading - something to savour when I don't want to concentrate too hard. But it's brilliant brainI loved this book. Sure, I'd class it as brain candy reading - something to savour when I don't want to concentrate too hard. But it's brilliant brain candy.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
The more I read of this series, the more I love it. These are good strong characters in a well-created world, living a good story. I found reading thiThe more I read of this series, the more I love it. These are good strong characters in a well-created world, living a good story. I found reading this volume hard, not because it is a bad book - indeed, the opposite is true - but because I felt such empathy for the characters, especially Fitz, and I didn't want to have to suffer through the events of the book with them.
I found myself caught in that in-between place where I both wanted desperately to read more, but at the same time I was afraid of what was going to happen next. This got me thinking about trilogies. I think the second book in a trilogy has a tendency to go one of two ways.
1. The story continues but doesn't really progress so that the third book can wrap things up. I recent example of this was "Eldest" by Christopher Paolini. I loved the book, but I'm more than willing to admit that on one level, all that happened was that characters got moved around the board a few times until they were in place for the last book.
2. Things just get worse and worse with no hope of improvement, because they won't start getting better until we're heading for a resolution in book three. So book two tends to be all about reaching rock bottom. Often, you can be fairly certain that if anything good happens in the first half of book two, it's going to have to go all wrong by the end. It may come right again in book three, but there are no promises.
"Royal Assassin" is a #2 kind of book. It's a fantastic book, but I hated being at the stage where I knew bad stuff was going to happen and I, as I said, I still needed to suffer through it with the characters before we could all start coming out the other side and hopefully get some kind of happy ending.
This is a great book, but it is very hard on the emotions. I'm now reading the last book in the trilogy, eager to know how it is all going to work out. I happily recommend this entire series to anyone who is looking for an excellent, solid fantasy.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I've known for a long time that Robin Hobb's books are meant to be good, but I've always been distracted by other things and never taken the time to rI've known for a long time that Robin Hobb's books are meant to be good, but I've always been distracted by other things and never taken the time to read them. Having [ffseries] reading the last of this first trilogy at the end of the month has been a good reason to finally taken them off the shelf and get on with it.
I am very, very glad I did. This is a solid, well put together fantasy without getting so dense I get overwhelmed by it all (one of the reasons I haven't yet tried George R. R. Martin's books which I also understand are excellent). Fitz is an engaging character, which is a triumph considering he starts as a lost six year-old and passes through phases of whiny childhood and adolescence. At one point he calls himself a catalyst for the Six Duchies, and I certainly think that is true. There is a feeling of fate tossing him into his life and situations more than he ever chooses them for himself. Still, despite everything he turns out pretty well.
By the end of the book, as everything and everyone seemed to be conspiring against him, I was very worried about him despite knowing he's got two more books in this trilogy to go and possibly several more futher along in Hobb's booklist. I was muttering, "Boy Fitz, you've really been set up" as things seemed to go from bad to worse. Fortunately, he's still around at the end of the book and I hope he gets a bit of rest before the start of the second in the trilogy, as I get the impression the bad stuff is far from over yet.
I liked the concepts of both the Wit and the Skill, although I really don't see that the ultimate danger of the Wit is any worse than that of Skill, so why one should be abhorred and the other praised continues to puzzle me. After reading the page of blurb for Royal Assassin at the back of this book, I do get the impression that may be further developed as the trilogy progresses.
I find Hobb's villain of the piece to be particularly disturbing, not because he's all out evil and crazy with it, but because he's petulant, vain, selfish and ruthless with all of it. He's going to cause a lot of grief simply because he can't see beyond his own wants, hates and self-importance and for me, that's often the scariest kind of evil of all.
I'm taking a break to read a different book next because I hate it when I know bad stuff is going to happen and I'm pretty sure it is here, but I'll be back to read the next in the series after that because I really need to know what happens next to Fitz, Verity, Chade and all the others.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
I didn't enjoy this latest needlecraft mystery as much as I have the others. I'm not sure why, except that I wonder if moving out of the familiar settI didn't enjoy this latest needlecraft mystery as much as I have the others. I'm not sure why, except that I wonder if moving out of the familiar setting of Excelsior was the problem. Here, instead of familiar characters (beyond Betsy, Godwin and Jill) we have a set of new strangers along with a bunch of people many cross stitchers will know by name because they are real people in the needlework industry. Ferris has given real, living people words to say that they have never said and an adventure they have never had. I think this may be my problem as this sort of thing very rarely works for me outside historical novels - and there I still expect the author to have done their research. Not only that, but she took an institution of the industry and moved it around by two months and made it do what she wanted. I feel that if Ferris wanted to write about the Nashville Market, she should have left it in February where it belonged instead of changing everything around. It was like she was trying to be clever, but couldn't make the story fit into the normal set of events so started changing them to suit herself. To me, that's lazy, fannish writing. If it didn't work, she should have changed the story, not the real events.
The murder is relatively simple really, with a limited number of suspects, none of whom really engaged me. I guess, all up, I didn't really care for the murdered woman, the suspects or anyone very much. It wasn't a really bad read, despite this, but certainly the lowest of the series.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012]...more
It's been a while since I "visited" with Eve and Roarke. With the growing TBR insanity, I haven't got back to my in-prINTERLUDE IN DEATH by J. D. Robb
It's been a while since I "visited" with Eve and Roarke. With the growing TBR insanity, I haven't got back to my in-progress series as much as I might like. I keep getting distracted by new books.
This time around, Eve is off-planet at a law enforcement symposium and trying not to think about the seminar she is supposed to be giving. It's easy to be distracted when a 50-year veteran and legend of the police force, Douglas Skinner, tries to blackmail her into helping him put Roarke behind bars. Things get more complicated when one of Skinner's aides is bludgeoned to death in a stairwell.
This was a very well executed tale, a tangle of parents and children, prejudices and passions and another glimpse into Eve and Roarke's lives. The resolution was neat, the solution clever and the herring nicely red. A good, short addition to the series.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 16 October 2012]...more
This is just a little story (only 16 pages) about how Miri Robertson became a mercenary. It is a fill inFIGHTING CHANCE by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
This is just a little story (only 16 pages) about how Miri Robertson became a mercenary. It is a fill in story and a very pleasant opportunity to meet her as a child, meet her parents and see her first interactions with Liz Lizardi. Was it worth the price of the entire anthology for 16 pages? I'm not sure, but I'm glad I read the story and feel I know a little more of why Miri ticks the way she does.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 16 October 2012]...more
This is a nice, light read. It's a book for pre-teens and young teenagers - and adults like me who like to revist that place in their reading. It's faThis is a nice, light read. It's a book for pre-teens and young teenagers - and adults like me who like to revist that place in their reading. It's fairly simple, although it soon becomes clear that good and evil are never actually simple or black and white. This is also very clearly a set-up book. As Jennifer discovers the secret world of the weredragons so does the reader. A lot is only touched upon and there must be going to be more books that delve into Jennifer's life and new world. I don't know if I'll read them or not, but I'm sure I'll enjoy them if I do.
[Copied across from Library Thing; 16 October 2012]...more