The 3rd book in the History of Us series. This one covered the Revolutionary War and forming of the Constitution. I liked this one better than previous as it seemed to jump around less and we delved more into the people and their influences and what they were trying to accomplish rather than jumping time periods constantly and not knowing when we were.
Page count: 188p/32,367p ytd
Friday, October 5, 2012
110:102 Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop
The 2nd book in the Black Jewels series. The last book ended with Jaenelle broken in body and spirit and no one sure if she would recover, Daemon taking the blame upon himself, and most people left believing that Jaenelle was dead. Nice little cliff-hanger. This book touches a little bit on the time immediately after that but really gets going 2yrs after when Jaenelle's spirit has finally come back to her body. As you would suspect, she is quiet, moody, and withdrawn. She shies away from her friends and lashes out easily. Her innocence is gone and so is much of her unique charm. Everyone is wondering if she will be able to heal enough to become the Queen they were hoping she would be.
I have to say, I much prefer this book to the last because it was much more a book of healing and watching Jaenelle finally grow up into who we all knew she was going to be. Many little puzzles are solved in this book while the overarching storyline still has much further to go. So glad I have so many books left in the series without having to wait.
Page count: 422p/32,179p ytd
I have to say, I much prefer this book to the last because it was much more a book of healing and watching Jaenelle finally grow up into who we all knew she was going to be. Many little puzzles are solved in this book while the overarching storyline still has much further to go. So glad I have so many books left in the series without having to wait.
Page count: 422p/32,179p ytd
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
110:101 Have Stakes Will Travel by Faith Hunter
4 short stories set in the Jane Yellowrock series. All but the last take place before the first book in the series and provide more background on Jane.
WeSa - A story of early Jane/Beast where they find men encroaching on Beast's previous hunting territory. The men are destroying the land and Beast isn't happy about it.
Haints - Told in Molly's voice of the first case she and Jane worked together, shortly after they met. Interesting to see Jane from an outside perspective.
Signatures of the Dead - Again told in Molly's voice and is the story that gets hinted at a lot in their interactions through the books of how Molly's sister was kidnapped by vampires and Jane and Molly went in to get her out.
Cajun with Fangs - Takes place right before Death's Rival. Jane has just put in her resignation to Leo and is trying to get the heck out of dodge when she gets pulled back in the most unlikely way.
I enjoyed these, especially those told by Molly where we get to learn more about their relationship from another POV and what has drawn them together. Probably not a great introduction for those not already familiar with the books but a great little tidbit for the fans.
Page count: 143p/31,757p ytd
WeSa - A story of early Jane/Beast where they find men encroaching on Beast's previous hunting territory. The men are destroying the land and Beast isn't happy about it.
Haints - Told in Molly's voice of the first case she and Jane worked together, shortly after they met. Interesting to see Jane from an outside perspective.
Signatures of the Dead - Again told in Molly's voice and is the story that gets hinted at a lot in their interactions through the books of how Molly's sister was kidnapped by vampires and Jane and Molly went in to get her out.
Cajun with Fangs - Takes place right before Death's Rival. Jane has just put in her resignation to Leo and is trying to get the heck out of dodge when she gets pulled back in the most unlikely way.
I enjoyed these, especially those told by Molly where we get to learn more about their relationship from another POV and what has drawn them together. Probably not a great introduction for those not already familiar with the books but a great little tidbit for the fans.
Page count: 143p/31,757p ytd
110:100 Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
The first book in the Black Jewels series. Daemon is a black-jeweled warlord who has been turned into a pleasure slave for the Queens and is biding his time for his true Queen to be born to throw off his shackles. Dorothea is trying to unite all the lands under her influence and is trying to keep Daemon under her control. Jaenelle is a young girl born with extraordinary powers who will be the prophesied Queen and Witch...if she lives long enough and remains undamaged enough to take that mantle. Saetan is Daemon's father, High Priest of Hell, and now the teacher of Jaenelle who managed to find her way into his realm.
I will warn people from the start that there is serious child-abuse in this book. It's not totally graphic but the scenes can be intense and it also deals with the damage to the psyche in some cases as well, if there is a psyche left to be damaged. I understand why it's there but I wish the author had chosen another way to achieve those ends.
Basic fantasy plot with Jewel colors equaling position and power levels. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but so far, they seem fairly formulaic without much depth. It's been intriguing enough that I'll keep reading the next couple since I have them sitting around and we'll see where it goes. Not my favorite first book in a series, not entirely gripped by it, but willing to continue giving it a chance to see if it grows on me.
Page count: 375p/31,614p ytd
I will warn people from the start that there is serious child-abuse in this book. It's not totally graphic but the scenes can be intense and it also deals with the damage to the psyche in some cases as well, if there is a psyche left to be damaged. I understand why it's there but I wish the author had chosen another way to achieve those ends.
Basic fantasy plot with Jewel colors equaling position and power levels. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but so far, they seem fairly formulaic without much depth. It's been intriguing enough that I'll keep reading the next couple since I have them sitting around and we'll see where it goes. Not my favorite first book in a series, not entirely gripped by it, but willing to continue giving it a chance to see if it grows on me.
Page count: 375p/31,614p ytd
Thursday, September 27, 2012
110:99 Xombies: Apocalypse Blues by Walter Greatshell
Agent X has swept across the world and devastated the human race. Starting out among the women of childbearing years who would turn blue and suddenly gain super strength, speed, and healing abilities, they then started making it a point to administer the kiss of "salvation" to anyone around them. Problem is, most people don't see being turned into something akin to a zombie as salvation.
Lulu and her mother have just driven cross-country in an attempt to find Lulu's biological father and have been shut up in a house with little access to news of the outside world when Agent X hit. On their first foray out to get supplies and information, they are greeted by a strange new world and one that neither of them is prepared for. Lulu is eventually able to win free and find a man who may or may not be her father but is willing to use his resources to try and save her. Unfortunately, in this new world, nothing ever goes as planned.
I read this one in order to fulfill an A-Z book title challenge. It's pretty hard to find books that start with X and a friend recommended it so I figured what the heck. I'm going to preface this whole review with the fact that while my oldest child is a Zombie-fanatic, I am not. I pretty much only read zombie anything in an attempt to be able to communicate and have some sort of discourse with him. As a result, I have read a few phenomenal zombie books (Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant springs immediately to mind) and some that made me want to claw my eyes out and marching across the house to ask him why he would read such poorly written crap. This one goes in the middle. It had some fresh new perspectives on the tired cliches but frankly, I never really cared for any of the characters. The lead was constantly going from whiny and annoying to ultra-capable and then back again. The rest were basically names thrown in to play the roles needed to move her along. It's not a bad book but I wasn't gripped enough to be going out of my way to read the rest of the series.
Page count: 336p/31,239p ytd
Lulu and her mother have just driven cross-country in an attempt to find Lulu's biological father and have been shut up in a house with little access to news of the outside world when Agent X hit. On their first foray out to get supplies and information, they are greeted by a strange new world and one that neither of them is prepared for. Lulu is eventually able to win free and find a man who may or may not be her father but is willing to use his resources to try and save her. Unfortunately, in this new world, nothing ever goes as planned.
I read this one in order to fulfill an A-Z book title challenge. It's pretty hard to find books that start with X and a friend recommended it so I figured what the heck. I'm going to preface this whole review with the fact that while my oldest child is a Zombie-fanatic, I am not. I pretty much only read zombie anything in an attempt to be able to communicate and have some sort of discourse with him. As a result, I have read a few phenomenal zombie books (Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant springs immediately to mind) and some that made me want to claw my eyes out and marching across the house to ask him why he would read such poorly written crap. This one goes in the middle. It had some fresh new perspectives on the tired cliches but frankly, I never really cared for any of the characters. The lead was constantly going from whiny and annoying to ultra-capable and then back again. The rest were basically names thrown in to play the roles needed to move her along. It's not a bad book but I wasn't gripped enough to be going out of my way to read the rest of the series.
Page count: 336p/31,239p ytd
110:97 The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis
Read this last in 2008 when I decided to read the whole series because I never had. It was as lovely and enchanting this time as it was last time. It might have even be a bit better this time because I've had the pleasure to share it with Jon. I found a lovely curriculum and we are going to go through the entire series together this year. I'm so looking forward to it.
Page count: 202p/30,326p ytd
Page count: 202p/30,326p ytd
110:96 Downpour by Kat Richardson
The 6th book in the Greywalker series. Blaine has survived her last death with much of her powers in the Grey diminished. She is trying to lead a more normal life with less of the weird stuff that has surrounded her for so long but unfortunately, the new Guardian hasn't gotten that memo. She has been told to pursue the matter of a disturbance in the Grey and the death of Leung which she learned about from his ghost. Things are much stranger than she could possibly have thought at the start. The power lines of Grey around the lake have been distorted and there are several different factions pulling on the power, any of whom could have messed with it. Can she figure out how to fix it before someone decides they don't want her poking around any more?
The over descriptive writing was toned down a bit for this one but it's still present which tends to bog the story down. Still, a good read and I'll be continuing with the series.
Page count: 355p/30,124p ytd
The over descriptive writing was toned down a bit for this one but it's still present which tends to bog the story down. Still, a good read and I'll be continuing with the series.
Page count: 355p/30,124p ytd
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