Book Review: Too many to name.

I'm a little behind on my book reviews. Between NaNo and my research, I've not had much time to write it up. So here's a quick catch-up, some of these I may revisit with more fevor later.

39 Clues: Beyond the Grave by Jude Watson
39 Clues: Black Circle by Patrick Carman
39 Clues: In Too Deep by Jude Watson
39 Clues: The Vipers Nest by Peter Lerangis
39 Clues: The Emperors Code  by Gordan Korman
39 Clues: Storm Warning by Linda Sue Park
Rather than going through each of these books individually, I'll talk a bit about this chunk of books as a whole, since they're from the same series. The story is developing, and it's taking a different route from the standard Alchemists Stone, which is cool. That only happened in the last couple books though, so it's still got potential. The Black Circle was one of the better ones I read, with a very nice exploration of Rasputin and Russia. There was a new character introduced who I kept hoping would become more important, but she has yet to do so. As things are winding to a close, the plot keeps thickening.

Secret World Chronicles: The Hunt
Secret World Chronicles: World Well Lost
The next two books in the Secret World Chronicles, by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libby. More awesome superhero goodness. The story is really interesting, and I just love some of the characters (two in particular). I found out that this was inspired by the game City of Heros, which makes me kinda want to play it now. Lots of potential for awesomeness. The story has taken a hiatus since early september, and I keep hoping that they'll come back to it. Maybe I'm getting my hopes up though.

Thomas Riley
In this debut book by Nick Valentino, we've got my first real introduction to Steampunk. I picked it up at the Decatur Book Festival, and I haven't regretted it. It's a nice story, involving alchemy and steampunk and all kinds of other things. Pretty simple, for all that. I don't remember all of hte end, it got kinda hectic, but I'm happy with it.

The Red Pyramid
New mythological-based Urban Fantasy, by Rick Riordan. This one is leveraging Egyption mythology. In general, I know much less about this than I do Greek/Roman, but that didn't stop it from being a good story. The mode of telling is also interesting. It's two kids, and they're 'fighting' over hte rights to tell the story, but in several places they're explicitly addressing the reader, as if the whole thing is a letter or warning to the reader. It's well done, and it's what sparked some of the inspiration for my nano novel (in voice).

The Way of Kings
The new epic fantasy by Brandon Sanderson (and I do mean EPIC). This thing's a brick. For all that there's little sorcery, there's some really awesome magic going around in the world. Most people can't do it, and those who can can't do everything they used to be able to. People are in a war where they have barely a notion of what they're fighting for. All in all, there's some fascinating things in here. The magic has made me think, and it may be worth re-investigating as I pull things together for my rewrite of DragonMage.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians
This is a middle-grade/ya book by Brandon Sanderson. It seems to have largely be written as an experiment. It contains a lot of commentary on the craft of writing, since the protag considers himself a novice writer. Or something. He keeps doing things and commenting about how a writer shouldn't do them. Beneath the writerly commentary is a story about two worlds, in which librarians are evil and people can do amazing things with lenses made specially out of sands. Better sand means better glass, and so it's a hot commodity. Some strange ideas, some interesting ones. We'll see if I pick up sequels.

My Soul to Take
The first book in the Soul Screamers series, by Rachel Vincent. This is one of hte best YA books I've read recently. She took a different direction on the whole supernatural kid angle, the kid is not a mage, not a vampire, not a werewolf and not related in any way to the Fae. That right there is reason enough to give it a try. Don't get me wrong, I love books about all of those, but it's nice to see something different that still holds your interest. Since the reveal of what she in fact is is a big spoiler, I won't mention more here. Suffice it to say she did everything I thought was redeeming Twilight (which wasn't much), and made it awesome. I just grabbed book 2 out of the library yesterday.

The Black Prism
This new novel by Brent Weeks is the beginning of a trilogy I guess? I wasn't sure about this one, since it was targeted facebook advertising. It worked though. I enjoyed the book. The basic story is simple, the world in the aftermath of a brothers' war. Like Way of Kings, this is the introduction to a world, and so there often seems to be more worldbuilding than plot building. I guess you can get away with that in a series, though I would have liked to see more direction in this one. The primary magic system, based off of light, is really fascinating and has earned this book a second look in my eyes. Unfortunately, their little test keeps putting me as hopeless :(

Terrier
This is actually a reread of one of my favorite books by Tamora Pierce. It's kind of amazing that I love this book so much, since it's pretty low magic, but I love the characters, especially the narrator. The story is told through a journal, which had more influence on the voice of my nano novel than anything else. The treatment of slang and vernacular in this book is also very fascinating. The story itself is about a young overconfidant girl who gets in over her head as a trainee guard.

Bloodhound
This is the sequel to Terrier. All of the above awesomeness, except she's now a full guard.

Beautiful Demons
This one is more of a plug than the others. Sarra Cannon is actually in my critique group, and so I got to read the draft of this. It's available on amazon and b&n as an ebook, and is a really fascinating story about a young girl coming into her powers. Totally worth the $1 she's charging for it.