Books! and The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin

So this is going to be a two part post. To start things off...I was immensely happy to have received some money to go and buy some books. I managed to tone down my desire for more books by settling on only three. Two of them by Karen Miller. One of which is a newer one called the Falcon Throne which is going to be part of her Tarnished Crown series. This one really caught my eye because the description made it seem like it might be similar in idea to The Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin. Hopefully, it won't break my heart as much as his series did. Needless to say, I really can't wait to dive right into that book. The second book by her that I bought was Wizard Undercover from her Rogue Agent series. For some reason it was an oversight and I never got it to finish the series off...I really have no idea how that happened. In general Karen Miller's (a.k.a. K.E. Mills from some of her other books) are extremely enjoyable. They are those kinds of books that you forget how much you love them until you manage to wonder on over to them and pick them up again; and then you are upset that you forgot how much you loved the books. In general: it is good writing, each series has a very unique story (you do not feel like she is re-using anything), and the characters are very likeable with a notable exception. Hekat from her Godspeaker series....I just wanted to punch her in the face...more than once. So I guess you could say she makes very good bad guys too.

The third book I bought took some restraint...the series sounded very good and I nearly bought the whole box set of the three books in hardcover for $100...and then I made the difficult decision that I should not drop that much money on an author I don't know if I will like. So I settled with getting just the first book, even though I had that gut feeling I was going to need to run to the bookstore immediately upon completion to get the last two books. So without further ado! I bought A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The only thing that made me hesitate was the inclusion of vampires. But, if everything else is awesome then it might make up for any clicheness that might happen. So please, if anyone of you have read the above three books, let me know if you liked them or not.

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The Blood King by Gail Z. Martin

Now the reason I included this in a post with something else is that there really is not much else to say about the second book in the series that wasn't said about the first. I love the characters, but the writing in general gets a little simplistic (in the sense where things seem to be glossed over and skipped where more detail would probably be more appropriate). However, something that is very interesting about this series up to this point is the very important idea that Tris needs to change the intent of which he plans on taking Jared and Arontala down. He cannot do it in the mode for revenge, because they killed his family, because if he did it this way he will die. But he must instead choose to take them down because of the harm they have done and they are going to essentially destroy everything. The difference between your emotions and the greater good. The ending did get a bit suspenseful, which is good. However, I feel like this book and partially the first one are overshadowed by the third and fourth books. I personally liked the third book much more than the first two; but I still recommend reading them because they are worth the buildup for the remaining two books.

Reading and the New Year

So first and foremost I wanted to apologize for being a slacker on the reading. I have been busy finishing up the last presents I have been making for my family. Or else I would have been done with this series already. So I have been thinking about whether or not I want to continue with my current reading list...and I have decided for right now it is going to go on a hiatus. And I have had a very strong urge to go and read some books that take my down memory lane. This is in the sense where it has been years since I have read them; not because they aren't good but because I just hadn't had the urge to revisit them. Most of them were books that I bought when I was in high school and middle school and read them to death. There is one book in particular that I did not ever finish, but that was because at the time I recognized it was beyond my reading comprehension (a book my mom bought me when I was probably 6th grade). And I just never came back to it, and decided to hold on to it.

So anyways, the whole idea of the new year is to go about doing new things. Starting anew. And maybe I will get a nice new perspective on some old favorites. I will list the main ones that have been whispering to me to read them...well not really whispering...that is just what I call it when I look at my bookshelves and certain parts of a book just pop into my head. And that is when I know it is time to read them. So what books are whispering to me?

1) Random Terry Pratchett books...I haven't decided which ones yet. I always loved Going Postal and Reaper Man. I think I will probably throw in some random Terry Pratchett as it suits me.

2) A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer

3) The Dragon Quartet by Marjorie B. Kellogg

4) The Quickening Trilogy by Fiona McIntosh

5) All of my Michael A. Stackpole books. Which consists of a duo, a prequel, and a series that follows after the prequel.

6) The Path Trilogy by Diana Pharaoh Francis

These are the main ones to name a few. I might even embark on my Anne McCaffrey books; the Dragonriders of Pern, the Freedom Series, and the Mysteries of Ireta.

However, I don't know how far I will get. Now that I have a new job I see myself going on a book buying spree for my birthday. I could even write a book haul...I have quite a few series that I need to get updated on. Specifically my Circle series by Tamora Pierce. I started in the middle and promptly stopped once I realized that I need to buy the beginning series.

If you want to throw in a word about the books I plan on reading, please do so. OR if you just want to share a book you haven't read in awhile but plan to do so, please share. :) Everyone have a happy holiday season if you are celebrating. Or just enjoy the end of 2014, and get ready for hopefully a better year with 2015. 

The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin

This is definitely an interesting series. To start things off, the series starts as a story of revenge. And generally with a lot of revenge stories that are in movies, tv shows and books; which tend to be really focused on beating the bad guy not because they are bad and evil but because they did something to me. And this is how it starts. But what I really like is that Tris, the main character, starts to see that by trying to make this all about him when there is definitely a bigger picture that it will do much more harm than good. There is one touching moment where Tris is training with Carina and the witch which is kind of crazy and she poses this question to him. Tris breaks down with the realization that he needs to let go of the revenge aspect and become something greater. She also meant business because if he had not let go, she would have killed him right there because seeking power for revenge is definitely a good way to start the path to evil and darkness.

The religion of the Winter Kingdoms (sort of brings to mind Winterfell >.>) is one that I really find rather appealing. The idea is that there is the One Goddess, which is very nice change away from there being a god instead, and that she has many aspects. Each kingdom sort of reveres the different aspects of her as it fits the way that they as a people live and worship. There are eight different aspects: Chenne the warrior, The Lover, the Whore, the Crone, the Childe, the Dark Lady, and the Mother are the ones that are worshiped the most. What is very appealing to this is that everyone recognizes that these aspects are of the same goddess, which outside of exterminating a cult that is secretly probably still worshiped in Nargi it takes the religious motivation for some wars out of the equation. It makes it much more apparent that wars between countries really comes down to either selfish rulers or in this specific case the aim to remove a tyrant.

The characters that stand out the most in this series and specifically the first book are Tris, Kiara, Carina and Vahanian. I believe that is mainly because they have pretty much a bigger back story versus the others. Who, do not get me wrong, make very nice support characters, but pretty much only that.

There is not much wasted on the description of areas, which essentially means that there is description enough to get you started on using your imagination. Which can be both good and bad. Good in the sense that you can imagine a given area more to your tastes of how you think it should be. But bad because it doesn't show you exactly how the author imagined it

The basic story line that is shown you by the end of book one is that all roads lead to getting Jared and Foor Arantola gone for good. And with no surprise there is a very short time limit in the long scheme of things. Sort of in the sense of Avatar the Last Airbender where Aang needs to master everything by the time of the comet. Tris similarly has to master this amazing Summoner/Good Necromatic power that he has inherited from his grandmother the famous Bava K'aa in order to destroy Foor Arantola and the Obsidian King once and for all.

Switching gears I am generally not a fan of stories with vampires and werewolves. Out of all my books, there are only 3 series that have vampires (one of them really doesn't count because they are more like mecha vampires, but  still...). It has never struck me as very interesting, and so I have to be pretty impressed with either how they are handled or the story line in general to stick with a book with vampires. In the Summoner there are vampires, which go by the name vayash moru. Personally, I think that is a much cooler name then 'vampire' but that is my opinion. I believe that the only reason I do not get put off by them (outside of the cool name rebranding) is specifically the two main vayash morus; Gabriel and Mikhail. As the series goes on, they make the whole vampire aspect in this book okay.

This book specifically is a relatively fast read, and a good one at that. It is one of those books for me where the story is good...but easily outshined by other books I own...but is one where I come back to because of specific characters I feel like reading about. I have books that I keep because the story blows me away, both the story and characters blow me away, or the characters are the kind that I like to revisit now and again. And the whole series for the Chronicles of the Necromancer is one where the characters are what keeps me coming back.

Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson

So I fell in love with Brandon Sanderson's books when I read The Way of Kings. That book led me to a bunch of his other books which I have loved equally. However, with Words of Radiance I believe he has outdone himself. I was expecting it to be on the same level has the first in the series, but it was just amazing. The length of the book allowed for you to learn even more about the characters, especially after thinking that you knew about them pretty well at the end of the first book. It was amazing to see some people actually start to change, I thought it was amazing to see the change in Gaz when Shallan actually gave him a chance.

Now to back this up a little bit, I am a very avid reader in case you had not noticed. And so I can judge how much I loved a book on a few different things. And when everything is met, it really makes me realize how outstanding a book is. So for starters, I had started reading it on the evening of Thanksgiving. On Friday I read a nice little chunk. And today (which really by the time I post this it will be Sunday but that is just a technicality) I finished it. I read a good 2/3 of the book in one day, despite thinking about how I wanted to vary my long weekend. I just put the book down and work on some of my other projects, oh I should but this book down and maybe play a little bit of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Nope. None of those happened. I had issues actually wanting to take time out to prepare something to eat. Now this generally happens with good books that take a little bit of time to read. And so this is sometimes easily met.

I was on such an emotional rollercoaster, it is not even funny. There was a nice amount of humor, there were times I was so upset I would protest verbally (startling my cats) to something that happened. I got immensely giddy upon some of the different things happening. This book single handedly bumped him up to the level of Steven Erikson. And yes, I am starting to rate books on the scale of that series.

A wonderful thing that he did were the Interludes and the flashbacks. The first book was all about Kaladan's flashback, and really allowed us to see into what his past was like. This second book was focused on Shallan. It definitely made me understand her a little bit more through these flashbacks and seeing a little bit more from her point of view. The Interludes were nice breaks from the current story and showed things that were happening in different parts of the continent; which is extremely important in making everyone realize that there is more to that world than the Shattered Plains. It also allowed us to see some things from Szeth's point of view, and to see the conflict that he has been living through his whole life. The ending for him was really heartbreaking in a sense. 

But I must go back to the fact that the changes and progress so many of the characters managed to undergo was just breathtaking. And it really brought out meaning behind the first oath of the Radiants. And one I will not put down here in hopes of tempting you the read the book. What I found extremely interesting was how connected to a lot of things Wit was. He most definitely played a key role in helping both Kaladan in the present, and Shallan in the past to get to where they were. And I sincerely hope that he does not take nearly as long to make the third book as it took for him to get this second book out. In the end I would say this book definitely deserves a standing ovation, especially for the very interesting ending.

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Now I generally do not come back to alter these posts after posting, but I had to do a quick bit of Googling. My bookworm heart was sent aflutter upon the news that this series is supposed to be a 10 books series. I believe Steven Erikson will have some very good competition in here for my #1 book spot. 

Society/Culture of Alethkar - The Way of Kings

Map from http://stormlightarchive.wikia.com/wiki/Roshar

In both real and fictional worlds there are generally at least some sort of divide between the sexes, Alethkar really takes it to the extreme. Which in turn makes it a very interesting country to look at. It is pretty much the furthest east you can go on the continent, which as far as I can tell is a lot like Pangea, the super continent. Outside of the Unclaimed Hills and the Shattered Plains, there is nothing further east which means Alethkar gets most of the brunt of the highstorms. Now to the main topic of the post.

Now I am going to let you know where I am in the book, beginning of Chapter 54. So as of this point, assuming Dalinar's visions are true (which I am sure they are), we know that the Knights Radiant had women in their ranks and that really surprised Dalinar. So in the distant past there did not appear to be such a severe divide between men and women. Or at least they made an exception. In the present however, things are very much different.

Picture of Shallan by Johanna Rupprecht

Now the most noticeable difference will be clothing, generally you do not find many women wearing pants. Which is not that surprising, the whole dress or long skirt fashion being worn by every woman around you is a pretty good indicator of some things. The MOST interesting thing about their fashion however is the idea of a safehand. The safehand is their left hand and it is covered by a long sleeve or if you are going to be a little risque a glove would work. In their safehand sleeve there is a pouch, which is very private. And to look at a woman's safehand pouch, it is almost synonymous with strip searching her. And as you can imagine, prostitutes and the such do not have their safehand covered. This essentially has the same effect when women's fashion used to be conservative and when someone wore something significantly less so it made it very alluring in some sense. When out in public or having a nice little gathering at home, it would be very important for the woman to wear her hair up. And again, the more risque of the females would wear it either semi-up or even just not care and wear it down to the amazement of those around them.

And to even take this divide even further, the foods they ear are very different. The women typically eat the sweeter and more delicate foods. The men on the other hand eat more spicy heartier foods. If you were a man it would be social suicide to be caught eating sweetbread and jam. The only exceptions are the male ardents, they are allowed to eat the food that women eat. And in one of the interludes there is a man whose calling has to do with chemistry, and he decided to use cooking as a way of achieving it and he makes sweeter foods to taste.

The women partake in reading and writing, while the men only learn to decipher glyphs. It is seen as very strange for a man to want to read let alone learn how to. So all of the history books are written by women who are writing down what some man is saying. The very interesting thing about this however, is that it gives the woman who is scribing the leeway to make notations at the bottoms of pages to interject her own opinions or to clarify something. And scholars who delve into the history books as you can imagine are mostly women. However, not all scholars are those who read history, there are those who do more in the field research and have female assistants to write down what they found. Speaking of which, there are even some scholarly pursuits that are scene as more feminine than others.

Now this is just a basic broad overview of the society that is Alethkar, mainly because to do more indepth would require a significantly longer blog post that I am sure no one else would want to read. It is amazing how different the culture is between the different countries across the whole continent.

Currency - The Way of Kings

First off...I am going to apologize for being MIA. It has been a pretty busy time for me right now, and I am trying to get into a sort of groove so that I can actually do the things that I really want to do. Like this blog. So without further ado....

Out of all the books that I have read, if I had to choose a book world to live in based off of the currency I would choose this one. In Roshar, or in other words that world. Nothing screams magical and amazing like their form of money. So picture it, it is a sphere that has a gem piece or shard in it, such as diamonds or emeralds. And not only is this pretty piece of gem suspended in this clear sphere...it GLOWS. It can be used as a source of light, a source of magic for those who can use it, and money. I would not want to spend any of it because of the sheer amazingness. And they range from being like the size of your thumb nail to a little bigger based off the value, and the gem inside is a different size in the bigger ones.

Outside of being able to use it to buy items, it is the most useful currency ever, especially if you either have a lot or have a few of the higher denominations. One scene that I really liked is described by Shallan when she is in the Paladeum (the giant library she is studying in). You have these little hidey hole cubby areas for you to sit in, and in the table in the center you can just poor your spheres into it and use them to read and study by.

The one problem is that as time goes on, the stormlight inside that makes them glow wears away. And that makes it a big issue when it comes to trying to spend them, because that would be a potential sign that if you are spending spheres that don't glow they might be counterfeit. However, that is not the end...in order to recharge the spheres you can either trade them in to someone who is able to determine what you have is not fake OR you leave them in a hopefully secure manner during those nasty storms I mentioned earlier. When you do that you risk either having them blow away, or some enterprising sneaky person comes out before you do and steals your spheres. And then you are extremely out of luck.

And in order to make this post a little longer...because I don't want to feel like a slacker and there is not much more I can say about the topic without pretty much just find the wiki page for this and pointing you to it. I mean come on, it is amazing glowing glass with gems inside...it really does speak for itself and the imagination brings it to life. Another scene that I thought was pretty interesting involving the spheres was during a memory chapter for Kaladan. It is late at night and he is up with his father when a group of people come in the night and bang on the door and when his father opens it they attempt to coerce him into giving them the money. The money in question is the money the late mayor left to them...with a little pushing from the father during the mayor's weakest moment. But anyways, the money was a substantial amount so that Kaladan could go away and become a surgeon. So his father goes to grab the giant bowl and throws off the blanket which causes a giant flash of light blinding those trying to intimidate them. And it reveals them to be those that they know and have taken care of and those fellow townsmen then run away.

One thing that I always wonder about, and maybe they mention it in the second book...but what the origins for the spheres are. I feel like it takes a lot of creativity to come up with the idea of a glass ball with a gem inside that holds light as a way to pay for goods. Or maybe it is possible that when more people could use the Stormlight for magic, and infused the gems in light that that was how it came about...or even a third option it started as a rechargeable light source, and the value in and of itself caused it to become a currency. This is something that I hope gets mentioned at some point.

Anyways, for those who celebrate Thanksgiving have a very nice and filling Thanksgiving. For those who do not, I hope you have just a nice day in general either by yourself or with family. And those who celebrate black friday, may the deals ever be in your favor.

The Unimaginable - Dina Silver

 

The Unimaginable was the book that I chose for the Amazon Prime early book pick. Like I have said before in other reviews for books from this opportunity offered, I am going to try and pick books that I do not think I would enjoy to force myself to broaden my reading repertoire...and because I feel like it might make me look like a more fair blogger if I do come out with bad reviews. Now...with that being said, I was pleasantly surprised with this one, but also a little disappointed. It is more along the lines of a 75/25 (good/bad).

Now I believe we should start with the good news. The book was well written, and the side characters were definitely a hoot. Quinn, Sophia, and Niran I just could not get enough of. The story itself had me laughing, enjoying the ride, getting a little hot and bothered, being very upset, crying, back to being okay, a little upset, and back to enjoying the ride with pleasant feelings. Definitely had me on a little bit of a rollercoaster, which is something that I appreciate in a book.
I was not disappointed in the character of the love interest Grant, and the main character Jessica actually was a good character. I do not really believe I disliked her at any point and she was believable. She is capable of being brave, understanding, she struggles with her own past issues she is working through, and she broke down when any other person would have. I think that is what makes her such a wonderful character for the story being told, she is an 'average' person in a sense. Which made it really touching that in the darkest point in the book she actually was able to come to terms with the relationship with her mother, and that scene was very heartfelt. I will probably show myself as being a nerd or geek at this point, but it reminded me of what Aang said to Korra in The Legend of Korra when she lost her bending; which goes something along the lines of - when we are at our lowest point we are open to the greatest amount of change. Jessica in this book pretty much had accepted that her mom never loved her, and they never had a good relationship, but when the pirates were on the ship and the circumstances caused her to hallucinate (or her mom's spirit came to see her, either one) opened her eyes to some things about their relationship.

Grant is wonderful. For some reason I definitely pictured Grant has being similar in looks to either Hugh Grant or Colin Firth; very attractive. He is a 38-40 year old man in this book, which also gave the romance a nice spin to it. He is a well lived older man, she is a younger woman who finally found herself on the path she wants to journey life through. He is also dealing with his own past issues, which I will not talk about so I don't ruin too much of the story before you read it. There was also a time where I just wanted to slap him across the face for being an idiot, but you can't help but forgive him because of what he has been through and what he is feeling guilty about.

I really enjoyed the ending, which did the same thing Playing it Safe by Barbie Bohrman, where the final chapter is from the point of view from the man. It was really nice and refreshing.

There was a few kisses, and a total of two sex scenes. From the description I was expecting a bit more, but that was not what disappointed me in this book. It was nice to expect it to be a little smutty and having the scenes be very well done. And I felt like it was a good move, and a realistic one based off of how the story really is.

The one thing however that did disappoint me was that for some reason I felt like it would be a little deeper than what it actually was. There was some depth, don't get me wrong, but I feel like it could have been deeper. There was a little resonating, but not as much as I wanted. It was not on the same level as The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens. That was really the only thing that disappointed me. On the other hand, when you read the end and it talks about where she got the idea for the book it really makes up for it. She based it off of real people and real events, which inspired her, and she decided to use those events as the plot for the story.

I would definitely recommend this book as being a very nice read. And please, if you read the book, make sure to read the very end which talks about all of the events that inspired the book.

On a very side note, I will probably be posting another The Way of Kings book post sometime this weekend or early next week.

Environment - The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Here is a little update for everyone: So The Way of Kings and it's sequel are very big books, just in case none of you have ever really looked at them let alone read them. It definitely will not take me nearly as long to read them as it did for me to read the Malazan Book of the Fallen, but it will definitely take some time. So I am going back to the idea of picking parts of the books that interest me and doing a post about them. And so the first series of posts to go with the book starts today, YAY :)

The Environment

Now I do not want to sound like I am bragging when I say that I own a lot of books, specifically over 300. And so I want you to realize that out of ALL of those books that I have read, none have had such creativity in the environment as the books by Brandon Sanderson (specifically though this series, however his other books that I have read definitely do not lack in creativity). The only other authors who I have read that have this much creativity behind it is Steven Erikson and Terry Pratchett (I mean come on...a turtle with four elephants and a very very flat world...).

art by satarariley d79skuc

We all know that it takes a very creative person to write a good book. But when you have an environment where mostly everywhere over the continent the grass hides in the ground as you walk through it to only appear again is very unique. And there are these storms that are so scary to be in that everyone runs and hides the second you see it on the horizon. And this is how it is throughout almost the whole continent. Those storms have so much energy behind them that it has caused the environment to have those sorts of defense mechanisms behind it. To top that there is even more  magic to the world. There are spren. I love this idea SO much. I think of them as wispy sprites or fairies.

This is the closest picture I could find that matches the description the best and how I envision them in my head. This specifically is a wind spren, and for the most part they are carefree, tricksy little buggers who enjoy pulling pranks on people from time to time (why they remind me of sprites). And usually they are not the most intelligent of beings, and have a memory worse than a goldfish. There is one exception, pictured above, but we will talk about her later in a character post. There are other varieties of spren too; there are rot spren, creativity spren, life spren, and fear spren to name a few.

 And the animals that roam the world...it is a wonderful thing that throughout the book there are sketchbook like pictures of the different creatures and plants. And for that alone I would say this book is amazing, I am a sucker for books that include extra stuff like this (on a side note I squealed when I saw the hardcover version of the sequel with the sketches IN COLOR, do not know about paperback though). Like chulls...these are essentially their version of the beast of burdens cows. They remind me of gigantic hermit crabs (think about 10-12 ft. tall, with their shell being made of essentially rock). They are slow, and they are really one of the few creatures that can be used for travel that are able to survive outside in a highstorm (those gigantic hurricanes on 5 doses of steroids).

Now the further east that you travel, the less ferocious those storms are. There is a town that you come across were it sounds like all of the residents' feet should have rotted off by the age of 5. They essentially live in the shallows of a giant lake. Their buildings continually have about a couple inches of water, and it seen as strange to have a house that is high enough off the ground that in a low tide it drains out.

You make it to about the middle of the book where you are reading from the point of view of a trader in training, and they cross the final mountain range the furthest east you can go. You have gotten used to the idea of steroid storms, environment that is better at surviving those storms than you, and creatures that are just plain weird. You cross this final mountain range and BAM! You are in a world where the storms are normal, and the grass has the audacity (or stupidity if you take into account the trader's thoughts) to not sink into the ground when you move. And it is a world where chickens can thrive! In other words, everywhere west of that mountain range pays extremely high prices for chickens...because we all know that chickens would shoot out those eggs and die of a heart attack during one of those storms and then you are left with shattered eggs and dead chickens. But the strangest part, is (at least for me) that you start to agree how strange that land is beyond the mountains.

Brandon Sanderson has done a very very good job on the world that he created, showing how the environment has had to adapt to these storms. And really showing that there are different regions that are stark contrasts from each other. I definitely look forward to doing some more of these posts, and if you have a general theme you want me to write about let me know in the comments below. Have a nice day :)

Glass Series - Maria V. Snyder

                            
It happened again...It came down to the thought process of: "gee, I should probably write the post for the first book...but in that time I could instead read some of the second..." and it all went downhill from there. I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoyed the Glass Series. The main character, Opal, was a character that showed up in the Study series. So it was really enjoyable to know where she started off and to see how she was affected by the events in Fire Study.

Opal definitely has the same sort of spunk that Avry and Elena do;  but you can definitely see that hers starts off as subdued and she has to deal with the damage that was done to her when she was kidnapped but also with the feelings of guilt for pricking Yelena with the curare. I believe out of the three of them though, Opal definitely seemed to make the most change from start to end in the series. She also had to deal with the situation of losing her magic, and not know exactly what her life should entail. Her struggle to sort of deal with who she is as a person now.

It was extremely surprising to see that the people who helped her the most with finding her place were Valek and even more surprisingly Devlen (the man who had tortured her). It was a twist that I never really saw coming. When I first read the book I was all with her in the not trusting department when he tried to tell her he was reformed. But to also then realize that he really has changed from that monster and then growing to really like him as a character. For me, Devlen once he was good reminded me a bit of Valek, especially with what he was able to do with the self image Opal (or in Valek's case Yelena) had of herself.

It was also great during this series to get a nice healthy dose of seeing Valek, Yelena, Janco and Ari. This series also made me really dislike the Council.

One thing I can say though is that so far I have not been at all disappointed in any of her books. I do however feel that her Glass and Study series were the best ones so far, which is part of the reason I am extremely excited for her to return to the Study series. I particularly want to see Opal and Devlin make an appearance hopefully, definitely keeping my fingers crossed!

Study Series - Maria V. Snyder

                         
So...I am going to have to admit I got lazy earlier this week. I sat down with Poison Study and finished it...and then the next thing I knew I finished Fire Study. I kept putting it off until the next chapter; and if you are an avid reader like me we all know I was just fooling myself. So I figured instead of doing the rapid fire reviews like I did with the Healer Series (since I did those reviews as I finished the books) I would do a full series review for this one...and hopefully do I better job with the Glass Series.

Re-reading this series was amazing, it was where I first started with her books and it was great going back to the beginning and seeing how those books compared to the healer series. And one thing that I have realized is that to me, the Study series was definitely a set of darker books compared to the Healer Series. Yelena had to some pretty messed up things happen to her, and she was fighting through the psychological damage it pretty much caused her. And some of the villains in this series really put Tohon to shame. He would kill people and reanimate their bodies, but the Warpers would torture in a lot of cases and then kill the people and harvest their souls for strength. Yelena definitely had a lot to fight through, and it was amazing seeing how she managed to slowly overcome things as they came to her; especially when she was fighting to understand what her magic was and what she is capable of doing. What was also great was how unique the system of magic is for this series (and by extension the glass series) compared to the Healer series.

Now...I do not know if this is because this is the first series, but so far there has not been a leading male in her other books that has taken the place of Valek for sheer amazingness. He is a complete and utter bad ass and becomes even more so as the series progresses. If for some reason you do not like Yelena, it is still worth it to read the books for Valek, Ari and Janco. I am sure you will develop a character crush one AT LEAST one of them before the end of the books. It would be impossible not to do so. Ari and Janco are the original monkeys (although they are never referred to as such in this book, but this is what the monkeys in the healer series reminded me of).

The only thing I can say is that in comparison to the Healer series, the Study series has more substance to it. It is a little hard to explain and DOES NOT belittle how good the Healer series is. But to me it just seems like there is a lot more character development here, and just a lot more goes on. Although that to me is the only complaint when you compare the newer series to her first one...and really...it is not much of one because all of the characters that she has made are just pure amazing. You can see sort of a pattern between the characters, but it is not cookie cutter. You can see the similarities between Yelena, Avry and Opal but they are definitely far from being the same person. She gives them their own fears, and they have different struggles (however Opal and Yelena are more similar but that is due to the intertwining of their stories which makes sense).

If you started off with any of her other books, I believe you should definitely try out the Study series (especially in order to prepare yourself for the next book which I have the countdown for). You will love it if you love anything else she has written. Although it may be a bit different from if you were to start of with her Inside Out/Outside In duo, but I loved that one too (just not as much as the Study and Glass series).

If you are into the political intrigue that you get from books like The Song of Fire and Ice; the Study series is not on the same level, but it definitely has just enough to make things interesting so do not let that deter you if you are not into that sort of thing. She finds a nice happy medium where you are upset with people in power being corrupted, mean and evil but it is not a complete saturation because there are plenty of people NOT in power who are evil and corrupted...they are more like the figurehead. So pretty please pick this series up and read it, they are definite page turners that you will fall in love with and read more than once.

:) Have a nice end of the week everyone!

Taste of Darkness - Maria V. Snyder

 

I have waited so long to be able to buy and read this book. And I was not disappointed. This book made a wonderful ending to this trilogy, and I honestly do not know where to start. For starters...I was practically living in fear throughout this book that Kerrick would permanently become one with the forest. Especially as winter got closer and closer, and you could tell how drained and how much of a struggle it was for him to do anything. Which brings me to the really interesting concept that she really fleshed out in this book which was the connections that can be made between mages. 

Which definitely gets complicated because first Avry and Kerrick make the connection when she heals Poppa Bear's stomach wound and he needs to help her heal. Then when Tohon decides to imprint on Avry...making Avry almost a battleground for their connections in this book. And then Kerrick bonds with the forest in a more deeper sense. Connections everywhere!

One part that I thought was really interesting was learning more and more about the Peace and Death Lilies, and then Avry eventually coming up with an idea for the cure for the new strain of the plague. And how she came to the conclusion of finally figuring out the reasoning behind the start of the plague, why the other Princes and Princesses of the realms were saved from catching it but not their families.

The romance moments were sweet. It is something that I find very endearing about these books. People have sex, it is going to happen, and Maria V. Snyder does not ignore that part of relationships; she just leaves it to your imagination outside of letting you know they are about to get some lovin' on. Which I think is a good move for these books because it does not take away from the story and the action itself. I thought it especially funny in the second book when they had the funny euphemism for having sex with eating dinner in the tent. And relationship wise, I really wonder how Odd and Avry would have hit it off if Kerrick had eventually died for good. It was very evident in this book Odd's feelings for her, but it also spoke very well for him in that he was 'content' to be her friend and be there for her when she was still set on Kerrick being alive.

It was really great seeing from start to finish the transformation in all of the characters. And it isn't super noticeable until you get to this book that they have all grown up in the sense, and in the case of the monkey's they still managed to maintain their cute humor. Avry manages to slightly control her urges to save anyone and everyone...for the most part. Kerrick is forced in this book to take a step back in certain circumstances instead of being in charge and leading everything.

 And speaking of humor. I absolutely loved the part where Belen and Flea joke about how almost everyone in their original squad has been presumed dead at one point, and despite all odds have managed to come back from the dead. And speaking of the rising from the dead. I think that in the case of Flea, Avry and Kerrick it made them really realize how mortal they can be and how close they all came to not coming back. And was definitely part of what made them grow in a sense.

This book was definitely not a disappointment and only has me even more excited for Shadow Study to come out (keep your eyes on the countdown clock!). And you REALLY REALLY need to read her books :) trust me.

Scent of Magic - Maria V. Snyder

Scent of Magic is without a doubt just as good as the first in this trilogy. And it is yet again a very fast read because I really did not want to put it down; mainly for two reasons. First reason being that it is well written and there were A LOT of things going on, revelations, people dying, people thought dead coming back, dead people for sure coming back, etc. The second reason is that I am so excited to start on the 3rd book that I have not read before. Especially because of the way that the second book ended.

For starters, Maria V. Snyder put Avry through the ringer in such an emotional roller coaster. She experiences so much loss, betrayal, and sadness in such a short amount of time I am honestly surprised that she kept going. However, it just went and showed how strong of a person she is capable of being; despite all the heartache and everything she is still pushing on. Another thing that I loved was that each chapter had two parts. The first part was from Avry and the second part was from Kerrick. It was so nice to see things from his perspective, and it made him seem like a much better person than he was in the first book.

She also continued with showing how crazy, obsessed and deranged Tohon is. How much he does not care about living souls that he would just kill all of Estrid's army to turn them into the dead soldiers. And his obsession with Avry because he wants to just hurt Kerrick SO much, and then when he thought he was dead; to essentially crap on his memory. And then to round things up, a character betrays Avry and it was one that even reading it the second time I never quite see the warning signs of the imminent betrayal.

I am now very eager to see what this Skeleton King is all about in the 3rd book, and to at least see Avry find SOME happiness for more than a couple days.

Touch of Power - Maria V. Snyder

So one thing that I am probably going to mention so many times through the reviews of me re-reading her books is how quick of a read they are. And I mean that in the good kind of way; since there are books out there that are fast reads because they have no substance and then there are books that are fast reads because you can't stop turning the pages. And for me, her books are of the kind where I really do not want to stop turning the pages. I mean I had to force myself to put this book down so I did not finish it in one day. Same with the second book which I started yesterday and I am already halfway through. She is consistent with all of her protagonists in all of her books where they are really likeable for me. I am able to empathize with them, and probably because I read the Study Series first (LIKE YOU ALL SHOULD! I mean it. Read them!) I love where I can see how the characters are really similar. And not in the sense where it feels like she recycled them, but in the more subtle feel of the characters. I know, that might not make any sense, but it does to me.
heal
Something I have noticed is that Maria V. Snyder is quite good at making the main baddy very nicely unhinged. Where you can definitely tell that the more you learn about them and are exposed to them you can tell there is definitely a little bit of crazy behind them; this is Tohon. And then you have the character that you really really really do not like at all, but that is because they are just bad people, and that would be Jael.

Magic. I am a sucker for books that have magic in them. I am even more of a sucker for books that have magic that does at least one thing unique about them. One of the positive points that I mentioned in the Malazan Book of the Fallen. In the Healer Series there are a couple things that stick out as nicely unique, the kinds of magic that are available and the namesake for the series; the healers. So Healers are capable of healing just about anything...except the plague, but plagues cheat. When a healer heals you they assume the injury or sickness on their body and remove it from yours. The healer then is able to heal from the sickness or injury at a faster rate than you or I which in most cases allows them to survive it. The oddballs are for example the plague, which the healers are just not able to heal from fast enough but live longer with it, and some instances of very series injuries. In the case of the very serious injuries or sicknesses (minus the plague) if another healer is around they can lend their energy so then either they split the healing between them or they help the main healer heal themselves faster. Healers are also able to send lots of pain through an attacker through skin contact.

A couple of the different kinds of magic available are Life, Death, Air, Forest, and Earth. Life magicians are able to take lives and preserve dead bodies, death magicians can tell if you are going to die and are capable of putting a living body in stasis to prolong the inevitable, and air is self explanatory. Forest mages are able to connect with nature and see intruders in nature through the connection, they can also do the awesomeness of camouflaging themselves. Earth mages on the other hand are more along the lines of rocks, so they can do stuff like earthquakes.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend you check out just about any of her books! :) Let me know if you have read any of her books and what you think about them. 

Malazan Book of the Fallen - The End

I finally made it. And I was reminded yet again of how much I enjoy reading that series, with it being the second time I have read through it. It is definitely a bittersweet ending, and I was in tears over the characters that were lost in the final battle, and when Korlat was able to have her final moment with Whiskeyjack. Heck...I was in tears during the time Gesler and Stormy played their final acts. In my mind this series definitely deserves to be described as an epic. The story develops in a way where you are lead to follow one train of thought and then you find out that the picture is even bigger and you had it all wrong. I have never grown attached to SO many characters over the course of a series before. And I think that is because Erikson is quite good at balancing all of these important characters, so you feel as if no one was slighted. It just gives me goosebumps thinking of how strong sheer force of will, stubbornness and determination can achieve so much.

If you have read things like the Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin, or even love The Lord of the Rings; where they both have that feeling of "everything is only getting worse, how can it get better?", and like the idea of light finally, in the very end shining through and some good is able to come of all the suffering then I definitely encourage you to read this series.

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Now next off, I plan on reading the Healer series by Maria V. Snyder. Mainly because I do have the 3rd book FINALLY so I can read it. And in early preparation for her newest book coming out in (insert number from timer on the left here) months and days. Because following that I am re-reading her Study and Glass series. I want to read them now because afterwards I plan on reading Brandon Sanderson's new book and I don't know how soon I will be able to get through it because I plan on tearing into Shadow study because everything will be vaguely fresh in my mind.

So let me know, if you have read the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and what you thought of it, or if you have read any of the books I intend on reading for the first time or re-reading let me know what you think.

Have a nice week!

My Sister's Grave - Robert Dugoni

 

This is the book that I picked out of the four offered for the free kindle book preview thing that is offered by Amazon Prime. And to be honest, I really did not think that the choices were the best in my opinion and that this one would not be all that good. I have been trying to go for books I never really read for these Kindle First picks because they are free and all I would be wasting is phone battery and time. The other three choices were The Fire Seekers by Richard Farr, The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning and The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter by Craig Lancaster.

So when it came to picking a book, the two books it came down to were this one and The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter. This book because I generally do not read a lot of mystery because it seems like the mystery ones that I pick are good but unbearably cheesy. The Fallow Season seemed sort of weird in that it is a sports theme mystery? I really did not know what to make of it. But I definitely to not read sport themed books...generally because they never really trip my trigger.

So one thing that I can tell you about this book is that it is a book that pleasantly surprised me, I finished it in just under a day; mainly because I could not put it down when I got to the very end. One of the aspects about it that I loved was the use of flashbacks. They were done very well and reminiscent of the Cold Case Files playbacks that they play throughout the show or at the end when they solve the case. So as you read the book, you are getting this flashbacks that are logically triggered by what is currently happening and you are putting together the pieces of the past as these flashbacks come to you. And you are also getting more information about the characters that are involved.

There is romance, and it is done as an undertone, so it does not take away from the mystery of it all. And the romance moments were sweet, with it steadily increasing a little bit as the climax of the book comes to you. What I absolutely loved at the end was that they did not just immediately start living together and showing the happily ever after. The ending fast forwards to the main character looking for a house with a big enough yard so that when he visits with his two dogs they have room to run around. THAT is a much more realistic ending romance wise.

The age of the main characters, and just about everyone involved makes sense with this being a case that happened 20 years before present events. But I felt like it was a very nice change and a breath of fresh air to have main characters that range from the 35 year range up to 50s and 60s; with the majority being in their 40s. You do not really realize how many main characters are generally from the mid 20s to mid 30s range until you read a book where they are 40. Just on that basis alone I would recommend it, because you do not have so much of the whole "GAH that stupid young woman/man making that stupid mistake!!!" moments that I once in awhile find myself having.

Getting to the meat of the matter...The main character is a woman named Tracy, and 20 years ago her younger sister was abducted and presumably killed. It took 20 years before her body was actually found. Tracy was 20 at the time, and she spent the next 20 years collecting all the information she could find because to her the pieces were not adding up. It appears that the person was framed, and I totally followed along with Tracy because that is really what it looked like. When Tracy's sister is finally found, she goes back to her small town for a funeral and runs into her childhood friend who also happens to be a lawyer, Dan. She asks him to look at all the evidence that she has on the case, along with the new evidence found with the body in order to get it reopened to find who the real killer is.

Dan agrees to do this and it ends up going to a court of appeals and the man, Edmund, who was convicted on the crime is set free that very day. Well...it turns out that despite most of the evidence having been planted...and the man clearly being set up...it DID actually do the crime. It is one of those seemingly rare circumstances where the man they latched on to early in the investigation actually did the crime and because there was no evidence he would have gone free; so they planted the evidence in order to make sure he did not go free. The plot twist that was done was expertly executed, because I was following Tracy's line of thought throughout the whole book up until that moment when you realize she was wrong. 

I would highly recommend this to someone who generally does not read mystery. I don't know if someone who is an avid mystery reader would like it; but you should give it a shot anyways.

Do you read book series in order?

I had just recently read a little article on the bookriot website in which the writer, who normally reads her books in order, ended up reading a large series not in order and completely enjoyed it. If you are interested you can click here to read the article and read some of the series that others have read out of order and thoroughly enjoyed. 

Personally, I almost cannot stand reading books out of order. If I am at the bookstore and a series looks interesting I will either wait for the first book to come in or order it online. And the most likely thing to happen is I will skip a book if I don't like it; and that has only happened once. And this also brings into the mix, should you read the books in order of publication? Or should you read them in order of the chronological events?  For example, the Malazan Book of the Fallen...I doubt I would have loved it as much as I do now if I had read it out of order, just because everything in each book relies a lot on what has happened in the previous book. The only minor exceptions based on technicalities is the beginning couple because they are relatively parallel stories happening at the same time. But even then...I do not recommend skipping things.


The Harry Potter series, I love it to death...except for the second book. For some reason I just absolutely hate the Chamber of Secrets, and after the first 3 or 4 times of reading the series every time after that I just skip the second book. Out of all the books that I own, this is the only one that I will skip. And I really cannot quite understand what it is that I so dislike about it. Am I the only one out there that is this unexplainable dislike for that one book?

Then there is the case with Tamora Pierce in which I had read her lioness quartet, and then I jumped a series ahead to the Protector of the Small and decided to go back to the Immortal Series. But I personally do not count that because each of the series can be read alone and be thoroughly enjoyable. Now other than this, there are three exceptions to my whole "Always read in order" and that is the Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (and in later books her son), The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett, and the other series that Tamora Pierce has.



The second big series that I have portions of by Tamora Pierce is the Circle, and the Circle Opens. I had read one of the books at the library, loved it and went and bought one from that series. Then it dawned on me....I was reading the second series in that batch of books. So I stopped where I was (3/4 books read) then I went and bought some from the first series...and then I was poor because I came to college. And I refuse to read those books until I have all of them so I can truly appreciate them in all their chronological glory. 



The Dragonriders of Pern is one of those series of books that is LONG and it can be quite confusing figuring out which book to go to next. You can either read it in publication order, which would then mean you are bouncing around in the timeline, or you can attempt to read in the order of events that is happening. When I first started getting into the series I read the books as I bought them, which meant out of order. As I started buying more of them I stockpiled the books, looked up a neat little time line and arranged them like that (which is still hard because time wise some of the books overlap each other). It was an interesting experience to read them as the world developed from the writers perspective; but I definitely prefer reading them in the order of events; that is just how I roll. And I guess you can technically read them every which way if you are that kind of person, but I would not recommend it.

http://barnsdale11.deviantart.com/art/Discworld-wallpaper-244884736

Now the Discworld Series....that is a completely different beast. It is literally the only series that I have in my possession that I have really honestly have not gone to the effort of ordering them because you really can read them in any order you want and thoroughly enjoy them; although I guess this stands with the whole idea of if you are good at keeping timelines and events straight in your head to avoid any confusion. It has also  not helped that between me and my older sister we own just about all of those books and have them split in half so if I wanted to read in order I would have to raid her bookshelf. Those Discworld books I love because if I am in the mood to read a certain kind of book, I can generally find one that fits my mood. And I also think a part of me would probably lose that enjoyment if I went out of my way to order them. So right now they are just arranged roughly in the order of being bought.

One a slightly different side note...The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I had watched the Lord of the Rings before reading either of them. Then my sister loaned me those books, on the first read through I hated the Hobbit and could not finish it, then I read the Lord of the Rings and loved that series. I read it a couple of times, and only because it takes me longer than normal to read them because they are very heavy books in the sense that there is just A LOT to take in. I did not return to the Hobbit book until after I had read the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, and then watching the Hobbit movie. On this second read through, despite movie discrepancies, I loved it the second time I read it. I think it partly had to do with having watched the movies for Lord of the Rings, and it being so dark and a lot of the other books I had been reading at the time being on the darker side that the Hobbit with it's vaguely lighthearted feel to it just was not working for me. And even if I had not seen the movie I would have read it a second time because my boyfriend got me the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings box set on accident not knowing I already owned Lord of the Rings...and I did not want him to feel bad. However, it all worked out in the end.

Do you guys have any book series you enjoy out of order? Or will you always refuse to read them unless you can go from beginning to end with no jumping around?

Malazan Book of the Fallen - Endings

I am glad that I got into this series when it was pretty much completed; by the time the last book came out I had finished all the others so it was wonderful timing. The endings of the books would have left me the most frustrated reading ever, for example the ending in Dust of Dreams. The final giant battle that you read before the last four or five pages gave me goosebumps. The part about it that really strikes home is the idea that humans, despite the overwhelming odds are able to make a stand. The tanks that stood the line when the marines had to fall back because of being overwhelmed, the giant Short-Tails (don't have the book in front of me to look up the spelling) were actually halted. And it was awe inspiring, especially seeing it from Brys' perspective. It looked like the Bonehunters would be annihilated, and yet they managed to hold their ground for a period of time in order for everyone else to retreat.

These battles remind me of the moments that are talked about in the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. The Goddess, when talking to Alanna speaks about times being at a Crossroads. Where gods are unable to really affect the outcome, and it is essentially up to mortals to choose where the worlds path is going to go. Steven Erikson makes those major battles feel like those crossroads. In Y'ghatan the Bonehunters could have lost their spine for good, but through the determination of some people they managed to make it out. Same with this battle against the Short-Tails. It was either going to be a complete failure and everyone would die, or they would make it out against all odds. This goes in line with something that is mentioned in the beginning of the Crippled God. The Bonehunters, like the Bridgeburners and Dassem Ultors army and even Coltaine's army in what they were able to achieve, stand out in the history of the Malazans and the human race in general because they manage to achieve the impossible. And the idea is that those armies are essentially reminders of the greatness that once was in the 'golden ages' where there was always glory. And the importance of them doing this final fight in this book not being witnessed by others is that it would truly show how far everyone else has fallen. Especially seeing the sacrifices that they have made and will continue to make as this book progresses to the final act.

To me it feels as if it took a whole army to fill the shoes of Anomander Rake in the sense of shouldering the hard burden that no one else will. Which says a lot about both the army and Rake.

Crochet One-Skein Wonders: 101 Projects from Crocheters around the World

So outside of reading I do enjoy doing some crochet. I don't do it as often as I would like and since it IS technically a book I figured why not talk about it for those of you who enjoy crocheting. This has numerous patterns that I think look absolutely beautiful, and I cannot wait to try them out. The only issue that I have been running into is the technical 1-skein aspect of it. Every pattern is designed from someone and they managed to do the hat or scarf, etc. with one skein. Which only really works if you are able to track down the same exact yarn brand in the stores around you or want to order it online. There are two different projects that I planned on doing and I sadly had to go and buy a second skein because everything I could find was a few yards short or wasn't even close. And one issue I could see coming up specifically is the pillow cover on the cover. If you want the same effect you had better make sure and order that exact yarn; or just be happy with whatever yarn you can get your hands on. Other than that, I feel like this book will definitely keep me busy with random projects to do. 

For those of you who use Etsy and generally use the Lionbrand free patterns or what not for what you create and sell on Etsy, you are not allowed to make and sell using the patterns in the book according to the publisher company of the book. They said that you can sell if you have made some alterations to the pattern essentially making it your own.

Inamorata by Megan Chance

This book was a free book of the month offered by Amazon Prime a few months ago, and one that I read before I started this blog. I generally do not pick books based off of their covers, but when I was looking at what was offered me it really came down to which cover looked the most promising. And I would have to say that there is something about this cover that makes it one of my favorites. So kudos to that.

The premise of this book is that there is a succubus and to survive with her youth and luster she must drain the creative power of an artist of some sort; musical, sculptures, authors, poets, etc. And every so many years she must choose one artist to inspire them to create their greatest work of art at the cost of their life or sanity; and if she does not then she reveals her true self to the world, and needless to say bad things can happen. And not to mention that every person she drains of their creative power generally commits suicide once she ends the relationship with them. It was very well done how Megan Chance ties in the idea of the succubus with different amazing works of art/poetry/etc. The story goes through a few different points of view. There is the succubus whose name is Odile, Nicholas who was one of the men she drained of creative power, Joseph who is the brother of the main character Sophie. Sophie is an extremely interesting character because she is almost the mirror image of Odile. Odile, through acting as a muse, sucks out the creativity in others while Sophie inspires others without taking anything. Sophie is specifically the muse for Joseph which is why Joseph has been able to last as long as he did in Odile's clutches.

Nicholas plays into the story by being the first to figure out what Odile is, and he makes it essentially his life's work to see an end to her; by trying to prevent her from finding the key person who extends her life. And he tries to warn away those who are the temporary fixes to the aging problem before they get to the point of committing suicide. Nicholas finds out for a brief moment that, when he thought all of his creativity and inspiration gone, that Sophie is able to inspire him. However, that all comes crashing down in the end. One of which I shall not spoil for you. What I will say though is that this book is definitely a good read and I would recommend it.

Maria V. Snyder's new book!

So, I realize this is most likely going to be old news for those who are big fans of Maria V. Snyder and all of her books. But she is coming out with another trilogy of books that follows with the Study series characters! So happy! I have a nice little countdown on the right side of the page for when the book is released and I hope you will all at least read the study series in preparation for the release. If you are a little leery and want a more specific review on the Study series, I am going to probably be reviewing it next after I finish the Malazan Book of the Fallen. If on the other hand you are a really big die hard fan, there is a giveaway going on for a signed copy of the book on the Two Chicks on Books page. The release date is Feb 24, 2015 and I really just cannot wait.

Runes by Ednah Walters

 I was able to get my hands on a kindle version of this book through one of those random special offers they have on Amazon where you can get a book for free. Right now if you have Amazon Prime you are able to buy the Kindle version for 99 cents. So on to the review. 

This book was...interesting. I really liked the concept of using Valkyries and the Norns in Norse mythology. The idea of using the runes to perform magic and what not. However, other then that I was not particularly impressed. All the main character thinks about is how hot her neighbor (who you find out is one of these Valkyries) is and what an electric effect he has on her. And it is like that just about every time he shows up in the book. The most annoying part is when she admits to herself that she loves being around him (Torin), and eventually really likes the effect he has on her; and yet she is still with her childhood friend. She goes out of her way to sneak out and see Torin, but just cannot bring herself to break up with Eirik. She goes from feeling that the runes are strange and interesting, to them making her a freak, back to them being strange and interesting. 

Towards the end of the book her and Torin end up making out, and through some jealous actions by Torin's brother's girlfriend she is put in the hospital. I feel like if she finally made out with the other man that she should probably break up with Eirik. No. She doesn't. Torin sits with her practically 24/7 in the hospital, snuggles with her at night, and she still does not break up with Eirik. I think that is what mainly annoyed me about the book. She feels like it would hurt him more for her to break up with him than if he were to find out about the sneaking cuddles and the make out session. I also think my viewpoint on the whole thing is also possibly skewed because it seems as if the main character loved the book Twilight *shudder*. She bases her guessing that Torin is not a vampire based off of the fact he does not sparkle. I mean really? Really?! There are many vampire novels BEFORE Twilight and none of them featuring bedazzled vampires, and she decides to rule him out as being a vampire based off of him not sparkling in the daylight. My goodness. 

I think generally to sum things up; it had a great concept, and it was not like pulling my eyes out of my head to read it. However, I will probably not finish the remaining 3 or 4 books that follow this one. I probably would not feel right recommending this to any of my friends (just based off of their tastes), however if you are looking for a quick read and do not mind being constantly reminded of the hotness that is Torin and the effect he has on her then you might as well give it a try while it is only 99 cents before it goes back up to being $9...because really...I would not have spent $9 and am glad I got it for free.

An Ode to the Dead Characters So Far...*SPOILERS for those who have not read the books*

One thing I like about certain authors are the connections that they cause the reader to make with the character; connections that go beyond just being able to relate with the character. The connection I am talking about is when the essence of that character makes a deeper connection of some sort. And to tie this in with the current books I am reading, this connection makes it evident upon the death of a character. There is no sugar coating it, there are plenty of extremely heroic people who die on this series; the people that Erikson chooses to die makes George R. R. Martin seem 'nice' with who he picks in general to see the chopping block.

Throughout this series there are four different occasions where I am trying to read the book to teary eyes. The death that was probably in my opinion the most tragic...and yet most necessary death in the book was Anomander Rake. I already highlighted in a previous post about him being one of my most favorite characters, so of course it was an extreme blow during his death scene putting him in Dragnipur and then through his complete and utter sacrifice. It is in that moment where you truly realize how selfless of a character he is. He did stuff that would be considered bad in a sense, but he knew that it was necessary and he chose to take the burden of doing so entirely on his shoulders alone. He also chose to step up on Mother Dark's stead when she turned away so that the Tiste Andii would continue to have someone to look to. To me, Rake really is the definition of being a true hero.

Whiskeyjack was another character I was extremely sad to see leave, and another one that I was reading the book through teary eyes. You don't really learn much about him except through his perspective; the few times that it happens, and not much about his past. However, it is the indirect knowledge you have of him that makes it almost impossible to not absolutely love his character. Essentially the reader (or at least me) falls under the same spell that literally almost every soldier of his (i.e. the Bridgeburners specifically) has fallen under. To know the kind of loyalty and camaraderie that he inspired in those serving under him (even though yes, learning from Hedge there were some bad eggs in the basket) speaks volumes about a character. He is essentially made up of the same stuff that Rake is, just in human form. This really hits home when he chose to take the burden of killing the Mothers of the Dead Seed before they had a chance to recover from Rake. He chose to take on the burden of those all around him seeing him summarily execute every one of them. He was able to do for Rake, what Rake has been doing for almost everyone for his whole life. Whiskeyjack went above and beyond being a decent human being, and so it was extremely happy to see him show up in Hood's army for one last hurrah. It was SO frustrating to see him die when he chose to try and defend the last bonecaster from Kallor, and having his knee give out (the one that he kept putting of being healed essentially throughout all the books up till then).

Trull Sengar...his death had upset me so much when I first read it that I just was angry for the rest of the day. He died after all he has been through and finally finding the love of his life, by being stabbed in the back by some stupid person who decided he wanted to kill one last Tiste Edur before leaving or dying. His character was interesting in that he consciously was realizing how his people were changing after Rhulad took over, and during the conquering of Letheras that he allowed himself to be Shorn from his people. He truly pitied his brother the pain that he was feeling from the constant revivals via the sword and the strain it was putting on his psyche. When he went back to his brother instead of escaping with Fear, he knew in a way that he probably would not be able to ask for forgiveness after walking away from Rhulad as he lay on the floor slowly dying. So essentially, it was so sad to see the character change that he underwent through his journeys so eventually die when he has what he wanted from life.

The last and final death that spoke to me in the sadness that it caused was Itkovian's death. He chose to give his life in order to redeem the T'lan Imass when the last and only blood bonecaster refused to set them free. He was a man who felt that all purpose was gone from his life, when he realized that he had one last act to perform and strode towards it without hesitation. He is essentially of the same caliber of being as Rake and Whiskeyjack (at least in my eyes). The amount of self sacrifice that was involved in this act is one that most definitely makes it one of the most touching deaths.

Essentially I felt the need to write this after I finished the Toll of Hounds, because of the emotions I was feeling at the end. And that is one thing that can definitely be said for Erikson, and why he is definitely one of my favorite authors, is the way he is able to make the endings extremely epic in one way or another.

Amazon Prime Free Kindle Book of the Month - Playing It Safe by Barbie Bohrman

 

With another month comes the opportunity for me to pick a free book for the kindle app on my phone that comes out in October. I decided to go way outside my comfort zone and choose a romance book. I partly went this way so then I could maybe find a book that I could give a negative review to. You know...to increase my credibility because most of the books I am going to be reviewing on here are books that I have already read because I am a poor, poor graduate. 

I also picked this book because this is technically a sequel in a sense, it comes after another book that she published. However, the difference between the two books is that this one focuses on a good friend of the main character in the other book. Which in some cases speaks volumes because there are numerous books I have read in which I would wish there was a book dedicated to one of the side characters because they are just so interesting. 

To start things off, for the kind of book that it is (a romance), I think the way it was written plays so well with the main character that it immediately had me in love with the book. The character, Julia is looking for love and lust in all the wrong places. She is an extremely sassy character who will speak her mind almost no matter what. The way that the character narrates this book plays so well with that, and it gets rid of some of the awkwardness that can ensue when the sexual encounters take place. It also did a wonderful job of getting the sexual tension down...a VERY good job. The writing for the sex scenes were definitely far from awkward and very well done. There were very energized parts, sweet parts, on the kinky side parts and for those who are like me and can find written sex scenes to generally fall short in the sense where it either just written badly or what IS written well is just way too unrealistic then you won't be disappointed. 

The part that I honestly loved the best though was the ending. And not in the 'glad it was over' kind of way. She epilogue was done in the point of view of the man she ends up with (won't tell you any spoilers beyond that!). And you can definitely tell the difference, it was a complete and obvious voice change with how it was written. And it did a wonderful job of being realistic. It slides in the information that she is on birth control which explains how she is fine with having sex without a condom (however, it does show that she doesn't get to sex with everyone she has gone on a date with which gives a way of explaining from her view why she doesn't worry about sex diseases without actually saying it.). 

Would I have gone out and bought this on my own? No. I see the romance section in the book store and I avoid it at all cost. I generally have a thing where porn in book form is just not my thing. I felt like this book provided a good build up to the scenes, and I will say this for the first time ever: I liked the sex scenes. 

Would I go out and buy a copy of the book however? No. I do not see myself really re-reading it, however, if you are in to romance books I would definitely recommend it because of the humor and all the characters involved. It was a very nice break from what I usually read, and I was definitely pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed reading this book. If it means anything to you, I did read this from start to finish in essentially one sitting; except for a minor food break. 

So if you are romance book inclined OR just want to go on an adventure away from the normal reading that you do and want something that is easy to enjoy then I would definitely recommend this book to you. If you are someone that looks for a book that you can read a lot into, you might find this too lighthearted with not enough substance. If you chose this book on Amazon Prime let me know how you like it, if you have read the previous book by this author let me know how you like it! 

A shout out for all of you returning to school: Have a nice school year, and try to make time for some non-required reading :) Trust me, it helps.

Additional Social Media

So, as I was browsing the interwebs for some potential other posting ideas that I can throw in when I am just having a slow thinking week I came across some different blogs that talk about having a social media extension to their blog. And from what I can tell I have roughly 8 or so regular-ish viewers to this site (if I am reading right there are maybe 7 of you from the US and 1 or 2 from Poland?). Anyways, that was just a little demographic for you guys :) I know, information you all wanted to know.

So the idea intrigued me. Especially because out of ALL of the different social media websites that are out there I only have my personal Facebook account. No Twitter, Pintrest, Tumblr, etc. I have maybe gone on to Pintrest once or twice in my life and the same goes with Tumblr. I have used Twitter once for an extra credit question in college that never got graded and it took me WAY longer than I care to mention to actually figure out how to tweet to the right place.

So the question I pose for you, and any other people who randomly come across this page is whether or not you want me to add an extension to this page. I would be very open to maybe making a Pintrest or Tumblr account for this page, if enough of you wanted me to I would do a Facebook page, and it would essentially take a lot of people to convince me to do a Twitter account. If there are other social media sites that you think would be kind of cool for me to get into to add variety to this then I could give them a look-see. I want to know what it is that would add a little bit more interest or make it more fun or easier for you to follow this page.

So let me know in the comments below your top two social media sites that you use, and I will figure it out from there. And a disclaimer for my wonderful readers: The only things I see myself posting on any of those places are book related things. The only non-book related item that might pop up is food. Because I am passionate about baking. And if I am going to invest time into any of those places...well...I will make my time worth it!

(The main blog that brought this to my attention was Book.Blog.Bake )

Why Does a Book Stick With You?

Very rarely would I say that I find inspiration from Facebook. But I guess tonight was the night. There was a posting idea going through my newsfeed asking you to list 10 books that stick with you; for one reason or another. And for someone like me, if a book sticks with me then I am going to want to physically keep it with me (hence the hundreds of books that I own). Which got me thinking about what my top 10 books were and why they stuck with me more so than the others. For starters, I broke the rules (or at least the rules as I saw them to be) which was a list of 10 and to me it sounded like they wanted singular books. My list was 11 and most of them were series and not singular.

1) The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
This series is not on here just because I am currently reading it either. The first time that I read this series I could not put the books down. I was astonished at his talent for creating such a vast world and making it seem large and small at the same time. Showing how far the story goes and how close the connections are. This series for me is truly an epic, and before I read this series I was obsessed about the Song of Fire and Ice series. Erikson for me as surpassed Martin in the creation of a story that strikes me. There are times where I have goosebumps for a whole chapter! And that is one sign when I find a book that has struck a chord, when I am all cuddled up in a warm blanket and yet something I read has given me goosebumps.

2) The Once and Future King - T.H. White
One thing that should be mentioned is that I am obsessed with the story of King Arthur. I still have not quite figured it out, but there is something about the tale that really deeply strikes a chord with me. this was not the first iteration of the story of King Arthur that I have read, and even though it was definitely a long read (think Lord of the Rings long read, for some reason it takes me longer than usual to read), it has definitely made it up there in the ones that I own. For the record I have about 4 or 5 different versions of the tale. I find it amazing the different takes on it, and for some reason this one holds a special place in my heart in the sense that it was written before all the other ones that I own so in my mind it is the original story.

3) Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
This was a book that I was made to read in my AP English class in high school, and it has been so far the only book that I absolutely loved to read. I am one of those people that I will read many things on my own, but I hate being forced to read something that does not trip my trigger. This book was a combination of a dark but wonderful imagery combined with looking at the darker side of the human nature in a way that just fascinated me. This was one of the few books in high school that I hated having to read at a certain pace because all I wanted to do was devour it.

4) The Tortall Series - Tamora Pierce
In a previous post I pretty much did a mini review on the series. Her books were one of the first books that I read that featured a strong but fallible female character that I felt that I could admire and if they were real I would without a doubt look up to them. It is one of those series where I read them so many times because the world is so alive, and becomes so much more alive with every read through. I do not often fangirl over much, but this book definitely featured guy characters that I fan girled about (*cough* Numair and George Cooper *cough*).

5) The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
This was the book that started my obsession with King Arthur and Merlin. I had known about the general story before reading this, but I thought this book was like a breath of fresh air for the story because it featured Morganna Le Fey as more human and less villain as she is seen in many of the books written about King Arthur. In some ways I prefer this portrayal of the story because of its focus on her, and the story from her point of view. And it does a very interesting job of making everyone seem more human than legendary. But when it comes down to it, the reason this book has stuck with me is because of the way it has started my King Arthur collection of books that I own.

6) The Pillars of the Earth/World Without End - Ken Follet
These books return to a theme that is mentioned a lot in books that I love, the characters feel so real; their problems, their wishes, and the connections that everyone eventually has with each other. These two books that go together do a magically good job of making me feel invested in the characters, and feel the exact same way the characters do. I become outraged with them, and I feel as helpless as they do. It is also nice in a way how the books take you through what feels like might become a tragedy, but because those character pushed through and made sacrifices they managed to scrape together a happy ending of sorts. And one that makes the reader feel like they truly deserved it because of what they endured. He does as good of a job as Erikson does with drawing connections between characters but on a smaller more contained scale (as it would have to be with two books).

7) Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
This book is the definition of magical and the reason I fell in love with the fantasy genre. I will not lie, when I was little (I was in like 3rd grade when I was reading these I believe) I always hoped that I would someday get a letter to Hogwarts. That was also one of the most disappointing wishes I had as a little kid that never came true. This was probably the first big series I got invested into when I was little, and it was also probably the reason I stuck to reading series for the most part. The whole idea of really getting to know a character through the span of numerous books was amazing to me. It also had one of the biggest impacts on me being as big of a reader as I came to be because of the wonder that it instilled in me.

8) The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
I will not lie...I saw the movies before I read the books. However, it was because of the movies that I went and read the books. And I loved them just as much as the movies. A very good portrayal of the battles between good vs. evil, light vs. dark, old vs. new. And I think that I also became very enthralled with the books because around that time I ended up doing a report about J.R.R. Tolkien for a class, and it just made the books even more special to me. There was something so amazing about the darkness the filled the stories to end with a bittersweet ending with the elves leaving Middle Earth. It was a book that was just SO full of information and stories that it was definitely one of the first books that I read that had challenged my normal pace of reading because there was just so much to take it (similar to one's first day in a huge city you have never been to before).

9) The DragonCrown War Cycle - Michael A. Stackpole
This series consists of a trilogy and a prequel. And I had never felt so upset over how a prequel introduced you to the series as I was when I read this. It was me being so upset that caused me to get the rest and race through it hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel. For me this is similar to the Lord of the Rings where it is a dark series with a bittersweet ending. This one is different however, because it is another one of those that it struck a chord with me but I do not know why. There was something in this series that really connected with  me. And pretty much will be added to my To-Read list right now despite me claiming I won't make any more changes. But that is life, it is an old gem that I have not revisited in a long time but it still speaks to me after all this time. Who knows, maybe when I read it again I will realize what it is that makes this series stand out to me among my many.

10)Study Series/Glass Series/Healer Series - Maria V. Snyder
There is another book duo she wrote, that was very good and intriguing which I couldn't add in the long title because I just don't know what the series name is actually called (Inside Out, Outside In). She is similar to Tamora Pierce in the sense that she has female main characters that are not annoying, whining women who constantly need a man to save them. There are indeed male characters that are attached to the main character over time, but they just add to the strength that the female has and not overshadow it. They are very magical worlds, and the good guy characters are indeed all loveable and I can never get enough of them.

11) The Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey/Todd McCaffrey
This series is probably the most confusing to read 'in order' because there are different orders you can read them in. Either chronologically or in the order they were published. I prefer the chronological order, which means it can sometimes be difficult when they go back in time to write another book and finding the proper place in the series. This series, and a couple other series by Anne McCaffrey were the first Sci-Fi books that I ever read, and they are by far still my favorite. That was what was great about this series, it brought me into a whole new genre of books to look into that amazed me.

So this is my list, I would love to see some other lists you guys have. And I think picking out books like this according to some sort of theme (stick with you in this case) is a nice way to reacquaint yourself with the books that you have read over the years and remembering what it was about those books that held you spellbound.