Waiting on Wednesday 12/25/13
Posted on December 25, 2013 Leave a Comment
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful.
He doesn’t know the half of it….
Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.
It’s a smash-and-grab job to recover the literal Holy Grail from the vaults of the greatest treasure hoard in the supernatural world—which belongs to the one and only Hades, Lord of the freaking Underworld and generally unpleasant character. Worse, Dresden suspects that there is another game afoot that no one is talking about. And he’s dead certain that Nicodemus has no intention of allowing any of his crew to survive the experience. Especially Harry.
Dresden’s always been tricky, but he’s going to have to up his backstabbing game to survive this mess—assuming his own allies don’t end up killing him before his enemies get the chance….”
Book Review: The Troop by Nick Cutter
Posted on December 24, 2013 Leave a Comment
Genre: Horror
Series: Stand-alone
Publisher: Gallery Books
Date of Publication: January 7, 2014
Author Information: Website
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I love delving into the horror genre every now and then, and I have to say the description on The Troop sold me right away. Something about being stranded in an isolated area like the woods or on a lonely island just invokes a primal kind of fear in my heart, the idea that no one can hear you scream when the stuff of nightmares comes to life around you.
Of course, for me the icing on the cake is that this book is written by a Canadian author (Nick Cutter is the pen name of Craig Davidson, according to the copyright details) and takes place in Canada, in a sleepy town off the coast of Prince Edward Island to be exact. A bucolic maritime province, P.E.I. is known for its fisheries, tourism and potatoes, and I’ll always remember it in my mind as a place of lush landscapes and gorgeous coastlines. That said, the contrasting effects created by juxtaposing this setting alongside the horrific things that happen in this book is probably what made it even more terrifying.
When I’m reading, there are two parts to being scared. First, there are the descriptive details that appeal to my senses — the sight of gore, the smell of blood, the taste of vomit on the back of a frightened character’s throat, etc. Also known as the gross-out factor, I think I can safely say that this book did that very well. Still, I find many authors are able to write very descriptively, but simply making me feel nauseous and disgusted is only half of the picture.
This is where the second part comes in, which is more abstract and subjective. For me to be truly creeped out, there has to be that factor of suspense; the horror novelist has to strike me with that sense of dread which makes me want to keep turning the pages and not want to at the same time. I’m happy to report that The Troop succeeded in this as well, artfully combining the two parts to make this reading the book a truly unnerving horror experience.
A big part of this is of course the idea behind the story — a Scoutmaster and his troop of five scouts being abandoned on a small deserted island to fend for themselves against an unknown infection. Reading about the boys and their interactions, I can’t help but be reminded of Stephen King and the easy camaraderie he usually has between the adolescent characters in his stories. I always think it’s so much more disturbing when a horror novel stars teenagers, because their behaviors are that much more unpredictable. The boys’ minds have not reached full maturity, and this leads to a lot of unsettling things happening, especially given the wide range of personalities present in The Troop. Being kids and scouts, their first inclination is to help others in need, and the fact this natural drive is exploited by the contagious threat is what made the book even more chilling.
You can kind of tell that the author delights in doing this to the reader as well, as the writing in the horror scenes seem to come off more naturally and elegantly than the other parts. Believe it or not, the introduction was the toughest section for me to get through, since the narratives of the Scoutmaster and the boys felt very awkward, rough and unfocused before finally smoothing out after the first few chapters. It’s like the book doesn’t settle into its groove until the horror parts are underway, but once it does the momentum just builds and builds and doesn’t stop! I was on pins and needles right up to the end.
Book Review: Mage’s Blood by David Hair
Posted on December 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Moontide Quartet
Publisher: Jo Fletcher
Date of Publication: September 27, 2012
Author Information: Website
Books like Mage’s Blood are extremely hard for me to review, and not least of all because the many comparisons of this to A Song of Ice and Fire are mostly appropriate; this first book of the Moontide Quartet is a sprawling epic indeed! Still, I’m of the mind that George R.R. Martin’s epic series stands uniquely on its own…but then so does David Hair’s. It would be impossible for me to go into every single thing I liked about this book without having to talk about why, because that would just lead to lengthy explanations into the details of the plot, and if I did that this review will end up being thirty pages long with half of it made up of spoilers. Obviously, we can’t have that.
Suffice to say though, this book has it all: nations at war, clashing religions, political intrigue, mages and sorcery, multiple points of view. Yuros and Antiopia are two lands long separated by vast ocean. But every Moontide, the seas part to reveal the magnificent mage-crafted Leviathan Bridge, allowing trade and communication between the two continents. Unfortunately, the passage is also a source of much bitterness and conflict. The last two Moontides have involved crusades of conquest, thanks to the lofty ambitions of the Magi.
Now another Moontide is at hand. As the time draws nearer, the people on both sides prepare for war. Antonin Meiros, a mage of great renown (in fact, it was he who was the intellect behind the Leviathan Bridge) seeks a new wife, and travels to Lahk to wed Ramita. Ramita, however, is already betrothed to the hotheaded Kazim. In another part of the world, Elena Anborn has pledged her life to protect the royal family of Javon, fighting off the assassination attempts and conspiracies masterminded by her former lover Gurvon Gyle, who works for powerful political enemies. Meanwhile in Noros, Elena’s nephew Alaron prepares for his mage finals. But during the presentation of his thesis, he unwittingly proposes a dangerous topic that could mean the end to his hopes and dreams.
Everything and everyone is connected in this massive and intricate web that David Hair has woven. The scale of both setting and story are vast. The continents involved here encompass various nations, many of which are described here with great thought and detail. Their populations, including their cultures, languages, religions, rituals and even food and styles of dress are given the same exacting care. This is a world where both magic and theology form a strong basis for society, and it is diverse.
At the same time, readers will find there is much that is familiar in this fantasy world of Urte. Most of the nations and cultures in this book bear marked resemblances to those in our reality — even when it comes to religion and geography. The nature of this brought to mind a recent discussion I had with a friend, regarding settings in various epic fantasies and how he usually preferred fictional worlds that he can imagine as our own earth, whereas I tended to prefer the opposite. Needless to say, a book like Mage’s Blood can appeal to both camps. As well, even I can admit that real-world historical and cultural influences in a fantasy setting can add a lot to a story, a prime example being Jacqueline Carey’s original Kushiel’s Universe trilogy which remains one of my favorite series of all time.
With a book so massive which features a cast so big, it was perhaps no surprise that the first quarter of Mage’s Blood is the most demanding of the reader. The different characters and their story lines are cleanly organized and separated by chapters, which is why this is my favorite format for epic novels. Nevertheless, it makes for a slower start, when an author has to cycle through the perspectives while introducing all the main players, and the first couple hundred pages were dedicated to this task. Patience pays off though, as the book finishes setting the scene and gradually builds up momentum in the middle chapters. This is the meat of the story, and it is amazing how David Hair manages keep all the plates spinning at once, giving each character and plot thread the attention they deserve, while also meticulously bringing them all together so that they eventually form a much bigger picture.
As Mage’s Blood features an ensemble cast, obviously I had my favorites (the notable example being Ramita and her story with Antonin Meiros) while others were not as interesting to me. Each person has an important role to play though, and this was made clear by the climax and the ending, which is in a word incredible. It is a conclusion that is positively incendiary, leaving me wondering what else the author has in store. As the series name implies, Mage’s Blood is only the first in what is meant to be series of four books, and as such there is much left wide open for huge things to come. However, at the same time David Hair has wrapped things up in a way that is straightforward and satisfying, without any abruptness. I think this is a far rarer skill than people realize.
I have a feeling a lot will be happening in The Scarlet Tides. Mage’s Blood may have been encumbered by a lengthy introduction and a slow build-up to the story, which I honestly don’t think could have been avoided. I suspect, however, that we will jump right into the action with the sequel. I’m excited, and can’t wait to see where things will go.
Novella Review: Poison Dance by Livia Blackburne
Posted on December 22, 2013 1 Comment
Poison Dance by Livia Blackburne
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Prequel to Midnight Thief
Publisher: Lion’s Quill Press
Date of Publication: September 12, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
When I first saw the intriguing description for the upcoming book Midnight Thief, I just knew I had to check it out. But with a release date of summer 2014, it was going to be quite the wait. So it was a pleasant surprise when I was contacted by the author and asked if I would like to read and review the book’s prequel novella, Poison Dance. Needless to say, I eagerly accepted; I hadn’t even known there was a prequel, and thought it would be an excellent opportunity to catch an early glimpse of the world and get a taste of the writing style.
Now that I’ve read it, I’m just as excited if not more for the first book of the series. Livia Blackburne first described Poison Dance to me as “darker, and heavier on the romance” than Midnight Thief, and probably leans more towards adult fantasy than young adult. She’s absolutely spot on, as those are all things I picked up from this novella. It stars James, a skilled assassin who is approached one night by Thalia, a dancing girl who offers him a job to kill a powerful nobleman. And if he won’t take it, she is determined to go through with it all the same, with or without his help.
I’m typically very picky about my short stories and novellas; characters always come first in my reading, so I find the fewer pages there are in a story, the more challenging it is to make me grow attached to or form a connection with the protagonist. However, Poison Dance impressed me immediately, painting a clear picture of who James is in a very short period of time. I also found out later that he will only be a supporting character in Midnight Thief, but that just makes me think: how much more awesome will the characterization in that book be, if even someone in the supporting cast like James gets this much thought into his back story? Livia Blackburne obviously puts a lot of care and effort into her world and characters, and if what I saw in Poison Dance is any indication, I’m sure it’s going to pay off.
This novella sets the tone nicely, and gives a good general background for the world in which the series will take place. I didn’t expect too much world building, but what is there definitely piques my interest. If Poison Dance is meant to build up my enthusiasm and fuel my eagerness for Midnight Thief, then its mission was most certainly accomplished.
Mogsy’s Winter Reading List
Posted on December 22, 2013 Leave a Comment
At the beginning of each season, I come up with a personal reading list apart from those books to-be-reviewed. I started ever since this summer, when I saw how organized it made me and how efficiently it managed to whittle down my TBR (70%+ completion rate!) Yet I’ll admit, I was terrible with following my Fall reading list, just absolutely, pathetically dreadful (33% completion rate).
And I can’t even blame NaNoWriMo for a lot of it, though that one month of wild, literary abandon did take a huge bite out of my reading time. More likely though, is that I simply let my leaning tower of books get away from me once again. Seriously, that thing has a mind of its own. Every time I look away, I swear it grows by several more titles.
A lot of the books I didn’t get a chance to read last season ones I really wanted to get to, so for Winter, they are coming back, along with some new additions. And this time, I be more realistic with the numbers. Here’s my nice and neat metaphorical stack of audiobooks, ebooks and physical books all on hand and ready to go. See anything that looks interesting?
YA Weekend:The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard
Posted on December 21, 2013 Leave a Comment
The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult
Publisher: Strange Chemistry (Angry Robot)
Publication Date: January 7, 2013
Author Info: www.amaliehoward.com
Wendy’s Rating – 3 of 5 stars:
Riven is a military general in command of technologically advanced undead soldiers called Vectors. When we first meet her, she has defected and is being hunted by her former charges before she “everts” to our planet to follow through on her mission: find a boy named Caden.
The prologue gives you a taste of what’s to come with a strong, resourceful and deadly main character and a lot of action, but once we hit earth, things stagger. First of all, there’s the problem of this crack soldier who fails to notice that her target is actually in the science class she’s been attending for some time. Fortunately, she has an accident that leads her to his doorstep. From there, there are some interludes where more time is is inexplicably spent in highschool, rather than Riven dealing with the delivery of her package. Then there is a lot of time spent running away from and/or fighting the Vectors that have been sent to retrieve him, with the help of several other people from her planet, including Riven’s sister, Shae. While each encounter includes some very well-scripted fight sequences, the quantity of said encounters becomes tedious and the information that results from each one could have been delivered more quickly, rather than dragged out through the first half of the book.
Fortunately, once the story gets to Riven’s planet of Neospes, things pick up significantly. The descriptions of the technology and the dystopian alternate sort of earth are great and I was intrigued by some of the politics, however, the pay off that we’ve been promised kind of fizzles out. Still, on Neospes, we meet a lot of potentially interesting characters and the intricate political plots involving Caden, his ruthless father and his brother Cale whom Riven is trying to save, and Riven’s father, the heartless creator of the Vectors.
Riven is a hard and fast soldier, intent on her mission, but Caden brings out another side of her that she doesn’t quite know how to deal with. Riven’s character growth, from a truly unlikeable character to, well, an almost girl, is very well done. Because of her involvement with Cale, it’s not surprising that she falls for Caden’s tenderness, skill and his handsome face. Unfortunately, there’s very little to make Caden likable, or to explain why he’s interested in her, or ultimately, why he actually would be worthy of the role Riven expects of him.
With thanks to NetGalley and Strange Chemistry for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Panels: Fables vol.1: Legends in Exile
Posted on December 20, 2013 Leave a Comment
Wolf and Snow chat about her sister’s violent disappearance in
Audiobook Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Posted on December 19, 2013 6 Comments
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Throne of Glass
Publisher: Audible Inc.
Date of Publication: November 5, 2013 (audiobook)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
It’s not often that a book catches me off guard, but this one sure did. Sometimes, the mood for a particular type of story or experience will strike me out of the blue, making me seek out the sort of book that will satisfy the hankering. At the time, what I felt like reading was a traditional young adult fantasy, complete with action and intrigue, a kickass heroine, a thrilling love triangles and all that goodness. I was pretty confident that Throne of Glass was going to deliver all that and more when I first settled back with the audiobook, and yet nothing could have prepared me for the way it swept me off my feet.
A year into her imprisonment and forced labor at the salt mines of Endovier, convicted assassin Celaena Sardothien is hauled before the Crown Prince and offered a chance to reclaim her freedom. The conditions Prince Dorian offers her are simple: act as his champion in the king’s upcoming competition to find a royal assassin, win, serve the kingdom for four years, and then she will be free.
However, the trials set up to prepare Celaena for the competition are challenging and brutal, and her opponents are all hardened, dangerous men. Chaol Westguard, the guard captain overseeing her training, pushes her hard and keeps her isolated from much of the court activities. Still, she cannot help but be drawn to him, much as she is drawn to the prince. Things get more interesting — and unsettling — when one by one, the other champions turn up dead, savagely ripped apart by someone or something unnatural. Celaena fears the killer will come for her next, ending her hopes before she will even have the chance to win her freedom.
I admit, I was a bit worried when I first met Celaena. I can take sassy, confident and badass young adult heroines, but what gets on my nerves is arrogance. And Celaena happens to have it in abundance. It’s not that her vanity is uncalled for; in fact, she’s quite the talented young woman, having all the looks, the smarts, the moves. But I could have done without her proclaiming her greatness every chance she gets.
Obviously, something changed my opinion of her at a later point, otherwise I wouldn’t have enjoyed this book so much. But more on that later because first praise needs to go to the narrator Elizabeth Evans whose voice work was exceptional, perhaps doing the job too well. Her delivery of Celaena’s lines were all spot on, nailing all the boastfulness and arrogance of her character. It’s really amazing how a good narrator can bring out the full gamut of a protagonist’s personality, for better or worse.
Definitely for the better, once I eventually warmed towards Celaena. Beneath the arrogance lies a lot more than I’d given her credit for, a much greater complexity. She’s really not as invincible as she thinks she is, and deep down I think she knows this. It cast her determination and her strength in a whole different light for me, and in time I grew to like her and want to see her succeed. I’m still not completely sold on the love triangle between her, Prince Dorian and the Chaol Westfall, but at least I desperately wanted to see her win the king’s competition.
And speaking of the competition, what a complete 180 it did on my emotions! Here I was, thinking that it’s just like the fantasy version of a reality-TV-show-type game where the champion with the worst performance gets booted out and goes home each week. That’s how it started off, but by the end I was completely enthralled, especially over the final duel scene. It’s good that audiobooks don’t allow you to easily flip forward to the end of a chapter to find out what happens like you do with a book, or else I would have been sorely tempted to spoil the outcome for myself. It was just that intense.
Like I said, I really didn’t expect this book to be this gripping and full of surprises. The beginning of it led me think it was going to be an average book, but gradually it built up both the story and the characters to make this one close to a five-star read.
Audiobook Review: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Posted on December 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
Genre: Science Fiction
Narrator: Wil Wheaton
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: May 2011
Author Info: whatever.scalzi.com
Wendy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars: Scalzi’s approach to science fiction is so refreshing and fun and he perfectly captures human nature at its best and worst.
I’m three books into my love affair with John Scalzi’s writing. He is clearly a master of snark, which his main characters wield with deadly precision. And who better to narrate the book than Wil Wheaton who does a great job of capturing the masterful way Scalzi uses tone to deliver his characters and their message.
Things are perhaps a little too perfect for Scalzi’s characters. They always seem to get the huge win in the end as a result of their mostly well-orchestrated plans and ability to adapt to any situation. I suppose this could get tedious after a while if it truly is a constant in his books, but for now I’m content with the all-loose-ends-tied-up results where the little guys win as a result of the characters actions. I’m even okay with the neon sign moral that appears in the epilogue of each book.
In this case, the little guys are actual little guys. Fuzzy cat-sort-of creatures that befriend Jack Holloway on the planet where he and his dog have just discovered a huge vein of sunstones, which are going to make Jack and the company he is/was contracted to, very, very rich. It becomes a case of big corporation against possibly sentient creatures and Jack, the disbarred lawyer with questionable motives.
While Jack is not a likable character and by no means tries to be a likable person, the fuzzies are, and before long, unsurprisingly, their survival became very important to me. I did not, however, expect to spend most of their fight for survival inside a courtroom when the story became Law & Order in space. That’s not a complaint. Scalzi’s approach to science fiction is so refreshing and fun and and he perfectly captures human nature at its best and worst.
Novella Review: Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu
Posted on December 18, 2013 Leave a Comment
Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love by Mercedes M. Yardley
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Ragnarok Publications
Date of Publication: September 7, 2013
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Ragnarok Publications is a publisher newly founded in 2013, but I’d heard of them prior to receiving a copy of Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love. These are the amazing folks behind the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters anthology Kickstarter, which was successfully funded this fall and quite possibly one of the coolest projects I’ve ever backed! It was thus an honor and a pleasure to be offered a chance to read and review their inaugural title by Mercedes M. Yardley.
The BiblioSanctum 