122:110 Queen's Blade by TC Southwell

First book in the Queen's Blade series.  Minna-Satu has become queen of the Jashmiri and in her innauguration speech has declared that she will end the endless war that has been going on for generations untold with their neighbors, the Cotti.  She is advised to have the Cotti king killed and his son brought to her unharmed in order to bring peace about but after sending team of soldiers after team of soldiers out, only to be informed of their deaths, she is intrigued when an assasin known as Blade comes saying that he can do the job.

Blade is an unlikely assasin, smooth cheeked and slender, but also considered one of the best around.  He manages the impossible task but now his Queen wishes him to stay on as her advisor and personal assasin.  She knows her course is unpopular and will be even more so as the plan becomes revealed.  Can Blade help keep her safe and can peace actually be accomplished with this plan?

Well paced with a more simplistic writing style but good political intrigue.  It was hard to really relate to the characters and I found myself neither liking nor disliking them but curious to see what would happen next.  This is the start of a longish series and while I'm not rushing out to get the next ones, I don't discount picking them up at some time either.

Page count: 231p/38,831p ytd

110:121 Kick-Ass by Mark Millar & John Romita Jr.

Saw the movie and thought it was crazy but an intriguing concept so when Chris got the book for his birthday, I figured I'd give it a go.  In all, the movie was pretty faithful to the book although the story of Big Daddy was changed.  If you haven't seen the movie, it's a comic about an ordinary teenager who is a bit of a geek and short of friends deciding that his life is boring and why don't  more people try to become every day superheros.  He dons a costume and with zero training, goes out patrolling the streets of a mob town to try and bring some justice into the equation.  He gets the crap kicked out of him and almost dies.  This leads to his having plates put in his head which dampen his pain receptors and doesn't deter him from going out again and again.  He's a junkie and this is his high.  Along the way, he meets two real masked crusaders: Big Daddy and Hit-Girl.  Hit-Girl is about 10yrs old but has spent her entire life training to take out the bad guys by her father.

This is a bloody and gore infested comic, make no mistake.  I knew that going in and wasn't too surprised by anything in it but I just couldn't get into the artistic style of it.  I get that it's supposed to be gritty and everything, but it was just ugly.  I won't go out of my way to see the movie either but at least the movie had an artistry about it that I just felt the comic lacked.

Page count: 192p/38,582p ytd

110:120 History of US Vol 4: The New Nation by Joy Hakim

I have to admit I learned more in this book than previous ones like the fact that there were presidents between Jackson and Lincoln.  I mean, I knew that in a logical sense because Jackson was number 7 and Lincoln was sixteenth but still, they actually had names.  Of course, she only gave one chapter to all 8 of them since they didn't seem to do much of anything.  Otherwise, it was still better than the first book or two as it seemed to flow better and the presentation was easier to follow.  I still dislike the gazillion side notes and extra articles that get stuck in tho.  I find them distracting and I know that Jon tends to gloss over them.  Sometimes you can as they aren't that important and sometimes they are really important.  Ugh!

Page count: 199p/38,390p ytd

110:119 Memorable Thoughts of Socrates by Xenophan

This was a kindle version and included Xenophan's versions of The Symposium and The Apology as well.  Of the three "books", I liked The Apology the best.  I felt it was honest, heart-felt, and straight-forward.  The Symposium was my least favorite as I felt it was very rambling and did not show Socrates in his best light.  The Memorable Thoughts I felt truly was a brilliant portrayal of what I would expect to have heard from him.  Witty, insightful, straight-forward when possible but with the curveballs when needed to make his point.  I'm interested to read Plato's thoughts on Socrates now.

Page count: 114p/38,191p ytd

110:118 Viridis by Calista Taylor

The first in the Viridis series.  Lady Phoebe Hughs has created an herbal elixer, Viridis, that hightens the senses in a most pleasurable way and has build a discreet club for those wishing to partake.  Her former lover, Seth Elliot, is back from a mission for the Cause after a year to find that she has been being courted by Lord Victor, a man who does not like taking no for an answer.  Now Lord Niles Hawthorne is found dead only a few blocks from the club and all trails are leading back to Phoebe's life being in danger but by whom?

Billed as Steampunk Romance and Mystery which I suppose it lived up.  I wasn't impressed.  The mystery was only mediocre and it was hard to care much about the characters.  There wasn't "romance", it was just a bodice ripper.  There was no wooing or courtship.  That all happened a year before the story took place and we got none of that, just two people picking up where they had left off.  I felt it was a let down in that department as well.  The villain was nasty and got away with everything, likely to help lead into the sequel, but the whole thing just left things too unfinished.  At this point after finishing the first one, I very much doubt I'll be going back for the sequel.  I'll give it 3 stars because it was ok but it was nothing spectacular.

Page count: 304p/38,077p ytd

110:117 Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow

The first book in the Jill Kismet series.  Jill is a Hunter, one who hunts the dark for Hellbreed and kills them to protect humanity.  She is the only hunter for Santa Luz now that her teacher and lover is dead, murdered by Hellbreed less than a year ago.  Unlike other hunters tho, she has entered into a pact with the main Hellbreed in her territory, Perry, in order to gain strength, speed, and extra magical firepower.  It also lets her tap him for information.  It's a good thing as she will need everything he can provide for this case where the never before heard of alliance of werewolf and hellbreed has happened.  The daughter of a high ranking (and very psychotic) Hellbreed is on the run with a rogue werewolf who is on a murderous rampage.   Can Julie figure out what is going on that has brought those two together?  An even better question is can she  make them stop and keep her own skin mostly intact?

Fast paced and interesting.  A departure from the standard which is always appreciated with nice strong leads, both male and female, good and bad.  Not a lot of romance but it's definitely being set up for that in future books.  Internal guilt ridden monologues got very close to hitting my annoyance buttons a few times but I'm hoping that some of that got resolved in this book so it won't be such a big issue in future ones.  In all, a promising start to a series.

Page count: 323p/37,773p ytd

110:116 The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis

An enjoyable romp through other areas in the Narnia universe that eventually lead into Narnia itself, but only briefly.  King Edmund, Queen Lucy, and Queen Susan make small appearances but are not integral to the story rather it's an adventure tale of two children running away from Tashbaan towards Narnia with two talking horses but who find out about a plot to destroy Narnia and must do the near impossible to get the news into the right hands.  You can definitely see the Aslan/God connection very heavily in this one as he orchestrates things for the greater good of the land he loves.

Page count: 224p/37,450p ytd