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.
Showing posts with label Mercedes Lackey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mercedes Lackey. Show all posts
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Book Review: Peter Lerangis, Laura Anne Gilman, Mercedes Lackey, Jonathan Stroud, Herbie Brennan, Charlaine Harris
To follow up the book festival, I thought another book review post might be interesting. So let's see what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks.
The Sword Theif
Book 3 in the 39 clues series, this one written by Peter Lerangis, sees the duo off to Japan. In this book we find out more about what the 39 clues are all about. There was also this awkward romance budding between two characters (who, I might point out, are cousins), and more secrets dropped about the kids' mysterious past. I'm not sure I like some of the character changes that happened here (mostly the romance and the ending), but the series itself is still promising. It might be a long ride though.
Hard Magic
I've been eyeing this book by L. A. Gilman for months. Anyone following me on twitter has noticed this, since I tweeted about it when I picked it up. They had it on the 1 week shelf on the Library when I was dropping off the previous book, and I just had to grab it. What I didn't realize going in, is that this is a spin-off series of her other series. However, it was self contained and intelligable. The plot centers around a team who become a new magical forensics squad, similar to CSI. The magic system still has room for expansion, but the view of magic as current (in fact, this is why mages can't use electric appliences: they run on the same frequencies) is kinda cool. I'll be watching her more carefully. This is also the first UF I think I've read that treats alternate relationships as just another thing, without making a big deal of it. The MC is bi, and one of the other characters, it turns out, is involved in a 3-way relationship. The MC speculates a little about this, but it's pushed aside to make way for more plot. It's presented with the same lack of consideration as it would if it was a heterosexual relationship. I found that intriguing.
The Invasion
Book 1 in the Secret World Chronicles, by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libby. This is actually a podcast audio book, which is a new format for me. I've listened to some podcasts before, mostly gaming, and I've listened to plenty of audio books (probably more than half of the ones I've mentioned here have been audio books, though I haven't kept track). This one is set in 2004, but with superheros existing. Superheros grew out of WWII, and are managed by a worldwide organization called Echo. However, in this book, we see a surprise invasion by a mysterious Nazi force, mostly metahumans and humans in superpowered suits. The story jumps around in each chapter from one character to another, and they only start interacting with each other in the 2nd book. Still, I haven't been able to stop listening.
Shakespeare's Landlord
Most people know Charlaine Harris from her Southern Vampire Mysteries (a.k.a. True Blood). However, in her Lily Bard novels, the situation is quite different. This is, in many ways, a much more mundane mystery than the UF I've been reading. It starts off as a girl in a small town with a clear past to hide. However, as it unfolds, and we learn more about her past, well it's one of the most heartbreaking backstories I've read. There's no supernatural here, and I'll be honest I spent a good chunk of the beginning looking for one. While this may have stopped me from picking it up in the first place had I known, now that I've read it I'll most likely add the next couple to my list. The next 2 I already have on audio book courtesy of my mom.
The Golem's Eye
After about 2 years, I finally got back to the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Book two finds our hero crawling up the government rungs. He's his own magician now, and has gotten himself in over his head tracking down the Resistance. It had been so long since I'd read the first one, that truth be told I didn't remember a bit of it. I was still able to follow most of this, but I'm sure there were many back references I didn't get. The Djini's habbit of including footnotes in his work are rather amusing. It only occured to me partway through the 3rd book that the Djini's sections are int he first person, while the other sections are in the third. This is another book that's also strangely political, but since the MC is young and naive, it really boils down to who's trying ot take advantage of him today. Some of these ideas may end up leeking into my WIP if I'm not careful though (more on that later, I've done some significant effort in plotting, but I'm nowhere near done).
Ptolemy's Gate
Book 3 in the Bartimaeus Trilogy has changed the nature of John and Kitty's relationship pretty completely. He is now even higher on the government totem pole, and is running his poor Djini raggid. While I can't remember the "main" conflict, what's stuck with me is that this novel is an interesting treatment of trust, what trust there can be between a man and his deadly slave anyway. I just can't seem to remember what lead them to that place in the first place...
Ruler of the Realm
The Third and Final book in Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars novels finally wraps up some of the storylines. The demon's mechinations have enough plot twists to keep everyone guessing, though whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is left up to you. The romances come to a heel, at least to a certain extent, and all in all, not a bad book. Though I don't think I'm going to make particular effort to keep an eye out for sequels anymore.
The Sword Theif
Book 3 in the 39 clues series, this one written by Peter Lerangis, sees the duo off to Japan. In this book we find out more about what the 39 clues are all about. There was also this awkward romance budding between two characters (who, I might point out, are cousins), and more secrets dropped about the kids' mysterious past. I'm not sure I like some of the character changes that happened here (mostly the romance and the ending), but the series itself is still promising. It might be a long ride though.
Hard Magic
I've been eyeing this book by L. A. Gilman for months. Anyone following me on twitter has noticed this, since I tweeted about it when I picked it up. They had it on the 1 week shelf on the Library when I was dropping off the previous book, and I just had to grab it. What I didn't realize going in, is that this is a spin-off series of her other series. However, it was self contained and intelligable. The plot centers around a team who become a new magical forensics squad, similar to CSI. The magic system still has room for expansion, but the view of magic as current (in fact, this is why mages can't use electric appliences: they run on the same frequencies) is kinda cool. I'll be watching her more carefully. This is also the first UF I think I've read that treats alternate relationships as just another thing, without making a big deal of it. The MC is bi, and one of the other characters, it turns out, is involved in a 3-way relationship. The MC speculates a little about this, but it's pushed aside to make way for more plot. It's presented with the same lack of consideration as it would if it was a heterosexual relationship. I found that intriguing.
The Invasion
Book 1 in the Secret World Chronicles, by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libby. This is actually a podcast audio book, which is a new format for me. I've listened to some podcasts before, mostly gaming, and I've listened to plenty of audio books (probably more than half of the ones I've mentioned here have been audio books, though I haven't kept track). This one is set in 2004, but with superheros existing. Superheros grew out of WWII, and are managed by a worldwide organization called Echo. However, in this book, we see a surprise invasion by a mysterious Nazi force, mostly metahumans and humans in superpowered suits. The story jumps around in each chapter from one character to another, and they only start interacting with each other in the 2nd book. Still, I haven't been able to stop listening.
Shakespeare's Landlord
Most people know Charlaine Harris from her Southern Vampire Mysteries (a.k.a. True Blood). However, in her Lily Bard novels, the situation is quite different. This is, in many ways, a much more mundane mystery than the UF I've been reading. It starts off as a girl in a small town with a clear past to hide. However, as it unfolds, and we learn more about her past, well it's one of the most heartbreaking backstories I've read. There's no supernatural here, and I'll be honest I spent a good chunk of the beginning looking for one. While this may have stopped me from picking it up in the first place had I known, now that I've read it I'll most likely add the next couple to my list. The next 2 I already have on audio book courtesy of my mom.
The Golem's Eye
After about 2 years, I finally got back to the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Book two finds our hero crawling up the government rungs. He's his own magician now, and has gotten himself in over his head tracking down the Resistance. It had been so long since I'd read the first one, that truth be told I didn't remember a bit of it. I was still able to follow most of this, but I'm sure there were many back references I didn't get. The Djini's habbit of including footnotes in his work are rather amusing. It only occured to me partway through the 3rd book that the Djini's sections are int he first person, while the other sections are in the third. This is another book that's also strangely political, but since the MC is young and naive, it really boils down to who's trying ot take advantage of him today. Some of these ideas may end up leeking into my WIP if I'm not careful though (more on that later, I've done some significant effort in plotting, but I'm nowhere near done).
Ptolemy's Gate
Book 3 in the Bartimaeus Trilogy has changed the nature of John and Kitty's relationship pretty completely. He is now even higher on the government totem pole, and is running his poor Djini raggid. While I can't remember the "main" conflict, what's stuck with me is that this novel is an interesting treatment of trust, what trust there can be between a man and his deadly slave anyway. I just can't seem to remember what lead them to that place in the first place...
Ruler of the Realm
The Third and Final book in Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars novels finally wraps up some of the storylines. The demon's mechinations have enough plot twists to keep everyone guessing, though whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is left up to you. The romances come to a heel, at least to a certain extent, and all in all, not a bad book. Though I don't think I'm going to make particular effort to keep an eye out for sequels anymore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)