Character Modeling (Take 2), Book Review: Lisa Shearin, Jim Butcher, Julie Kagawa, Dan Brown, Kelley Armstrong

It's been a while since I've done a book review, so I have plenty to talk about.

Blood Rites
Book #6 in the Dresden Files pu the hero in a quite unusual situation. At the risk of a spoiler, I'm just going to say that he's investigating murders in a rather unusual setting. There were PLENTY of LOL moments, many of which came up because of the situation. We also find out more about Thomas and the White Court Vampires, which is pretty cool as well.
Dead Beat
 Book #7 in the Dresden Files brings Necromancy into the fold of things that go bump in the night. We get to meet more Wardens as well, which is something I had been looking forward to the entire series. Some fallout from an earlier book is also explored in great deapth, and this is the first time we see Harry truely outside his magical league. Refreshing.
Proven Guilty
Book #8 in the Dresden Files brings the character who's fast becoming a favorite into greater light. Harry goes to a horror convention, and sees his friends daughter all growed up. This would be so much easier if I was allowing myself spoilers, but I did really enjoy this book :)
White Night
For the last Dresden Files book this week, we see book #9. Here there's someone killing women, and they leave messages for Harry..messages that only he can see. His first love comes back, and adds to the complicatedness of the situation.

The Iron King
Written by Julie Kagawa, this book was actually suggested by Rai, even though she hadn't read it. A girl finds herself thrown into the world of Faeries, accompanied by the now-infamous Puck (yes...THE Puck). We see both the courts of Winter and Summer, which are lead by their typical leaders, Mab and Titania (incidently, Dresden uses them too, but even some non-Mab queens of the winter court are identified as the Queen of Air and Darkness. I think there's something here, but I've not the knowledge to chase it down). Still, we even see hte rise of a new threat, and the sequels still have room for a few big twists.

The Reckoning
The last book in the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong(Site #2. Chloe and the others are starting to learn more about their abilities, and what that entails for them. This book marked the end of their original arc, but she's seeded the next arc, and they will eventually meet up again. She does that a lot. I also got to meet her on Wednesday, which was a boatload of fun. She read the first chapter from her new book, and it sounds like it'll be a fun read.


The Lost Symbol
I know there are people out there who will loose any respect for me since I've read this book, but  it was an entertaining read. Like many of Dan Brown's books, there are many huge infodumps, some cleverly disguised, some not. The plot was twisty but confusing. The portrayal of the masonic brotherhood was interesting, though not very flattering to that same brotherhood. It's given me the idea to try and work with some secret society things for my Mage game, but more on that later.

Trouble with Demons
The last book I finished (just yesterday in fact), was the third book in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series. The cover/title was for this book was what got me to pick up the series in the first place. The Demonology professor who got elaborated on in this book is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I hope she comes back. I've been on a Demon kick recently, and this helped with that. It also got me thinking about some more details for my magic system in my own novel, but that's for another post.


Character Model
So last time didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I did a few things that were, in retrospect, pretty obviously wrong. I've told some of you, but what I basically did was start over, and try a new method. There's still work to be done, but it's a much better start than last time.

Book Review: Rick Riordan, Jim Butcher, Lisa Shearin

Last week was spring break, and while I didn't get much of a break, I did get a lot of reading done. So we'll have a book review post that's a bit overdue.

The Sea of Monsters

Book 2 in the Percy Jackson series. We find out more about a prophecy, and get a run in with some famous greek monsters. The plot in this one was a little weaker, I think, than the first, but it did some good set-up for the third and fourth books. Percy gets a little more disobedient, closer to how he was in the movie. As with the first, and most YA I find, it's a quick, engaging read. 

Titan's Curse

In Book 3 of the Percy Jackson series, we find more players in the prophecy. 2 new characters set the stage for the next book as well. Plot-wise, there's some fallout of the events in the previous book, but they're tied into a new quest and a new conflict. There's some believability issues near the end, but the book is an enjoyable read.

Battle of the Labyrinth
The penultimate book of the Percy Jackson series. The titular labyrinth is the very same of Theseus and the Minataur. We finally see the conclusion of one of the side-arcs that one of the characters was going through, which is a bit of a relief, and there's plenty of twists to keep one guessing.

Armed & Magical

The 2nd book in the Raine Benares series, this picks up pretty much exactly where the previous book left off. All in all, I find myself sucked into the world. I would consider this strong worldbuilding. Character's are pretty engaging, even with the MCs possible lack of limits. We see a bit more of the dark side of things here, and a few more players on the global stage. All in all, an enjoyable read, even if it did take me 3 weeks to read it.

Grave Peril

Ahh, Back to Jim Butcher, and the Dresden Files. When I was listening to the forward, Butcher claims that this book is what fans usually consider the start of the series. The first 2 books are more stand alone. I think this is partially true, though elements do carry over, we're starting to see more global plot structure in this book. The fall out of the events effect the next book (see next bullet) much mroe than the previous book effected this one. Dresden's world is also providing some great inspriation for the Mage: The Awakening games I've been throwing around. Things dont' transfer 1-1, but it's really easy to get some of the same imeagry and themes going, if you want to. My only downside to these books is that Harry is always so beat up. I know characters are supposed to fail at times, but he's always on his last limb, making the stories pretty gritty from that perspective.

Summer Knight

The 4th book in the Dresden Files, we see the fallout of Harry's decisions in the previous book. This book also shows us the world of Harry's Fae, and the war between the courts that's seen in every fae story. Historically I've always been more of a witches and wizards fan, but lately branching into the fae has given me some interesting ideas to explore. 

Conclusions

I have to say, these book reivews get harder with each book. I think it's because I'm trying to avoid major spoilers, but at the same time I'm always giving something away.