Book reviews, continued
I'm reviewing May and June here. The books are listed from the end of the month back because I am lazy like that and copied the text from my running total. Fortunately, I read mostly series these months, so the reviews are going to be en masse, series by series.
***EDIT*** I hit my goal of 60 books during August! Now I just have to see how many I end up reading. For those of you who don't remember- that would be everyone but me, because it's not the kind of thing you think about, I'm sure- my goal for this year was 60 books because I'd read 50 last year and 70 the year before. I figured 5 per month was doable. Of course, Sydney's reading list this year includes The Call Of The Wild, Watership Down, Animal farm, and The Taming Of The Shrew, so I plan to read those along with her so we can talk about them. I'm SO excited about it!
May total: 14
YTD: 37 books
May 31: Mistral's Kiss- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 30: A Stroke Of Midnight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 29: Seduced By Moonlight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 27: A Caress Of Twilight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 24: Small Favor- Jim Butcher
May 21: Proven Guilty- Jim Butcher
May 20: Dead Beat- Jim Butcher
May 16: Blood Rites- Jim Butcher
May 14: Death Masks- Jim Butcher
May 13: Summer Knight- Jim Butcher
May 7: Grave Peril- Jim Butcher
May 4: Fool Moon- Jim Butcher
May 2: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging- Louise Rennison
May 2: Storm Front- Jim Butcher
May was the month of Jim Butcher. We picked up Small Favor, the latest in the Dresden Files series, and I felt compelled to reread ALL of the previous books in the series because I'd forgotten some critical events. I've linked his name under the books section of Amazon because it's easier than linking the books individually, and this series is written in a way that makes it immeasurably better if you read them in order. You COULD drop in later on, book 3 or 5 or so, but why would you? Don't let the number of books intimidate you; they're an easy, compelling read. When asked to recommend a series for people who don't read a lot of sci fi or fantasy, Butcher comes in second only to Terry Pratchett in my book, and since the Discworld series is a lot more lighthearted, sometimes, I recommend Butcher first. Here's the series in a nutshell: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only openly practicing wizard, is trying to make a living and pay his rent without getting killed by the myriad of people and things that he keeps running afoul of. He has issues with authority, a Superman complex where he tries too hard to protect people, even to the point of not telling them things because it's "safer" only it's NOT safer when the boogeyman starts going after your friends who don't think he exists and therefore can't protect themselves against him. The series starts out okay, with Storm Front, but by the second or third book, Butcher hits his stride and you're sucked in and amazed at every turn with where he's going. Butcher has figured out the secret to not getting boring in later volumes: keep the supporting cast changing and evolving. When someone's story line is played out, he's not afraid to write them away from Harry and introduce new people. The 10th book, which I finally got to halfway through the month, was so worth the wait. A lot of characters- good guys and bad guys- from past volumes were brought back in, with interesting effects as people we've never seen together got to work with and against each other.
Which is good, because I followed my Butcher spree with a quartet of Merry Gentry books by Laurell K Hamilton. I have to admit, Hamilton is frustrating me in the last few years. I still read all her books, but lately,
it's like a dinner party where most of the fare turns out to be dessert. There's WAY too much sex in the way of the plot. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, because I'm a fan of the sex, but I find myself skimming the
sex scenes, making sure I'm not missing any crucial plot points, and wishing there was more violence going on. Fortunately, the Merry Gentry series was written from the get go as erotic fantasy, so the large amount of sex is expected: the story arc for the series is that Merry is an exiled princess of Faerie, half human, heir to the Unseelie throne, in competition with her cousin Cel for the throne. Since the Sidhe are largely infertile, and the courts are metaphysically tied to the rulers, the first one to succeed in getting pregnant will land on the throne. But Cel is a bad guy with a capital B, and Merry spends just as much time dodging assassination attempts as she does trying to breed. Of course, magical surprises run rampant, Merry develops abilities to bring out powers in other Sidhe, and practically every time she has sex, something metaphysical goes awry. Still enjoyable. I'm not quite giving up on either this series or the Anita Blake novels, but honest to God, I don't see how someone can hold down a full time job (Merry is also a PI, and Anita is a necromancer who moonlights helping out the local police with supernatural investigations) and still have so very much sex. I work 40 hours a week, and I know I couldn't handle multiple sexual encounters, usually with multiple partners, all of whom are preternaturally endowed, every single day. When the hell do these women sleep? It explains Anita's fondness for coffee...
June 30: The Gathering Dark- Christopher Golden
June 28: Of Masques And Martyrs- Christopher Golden
June 23: Angel Souls And Devil Hearts- Christopher Golden
June 15: Of Saints And Shadows- Christopher Golden
June 13: The Lost Ones- Christopher Golden
June 10: Startled By His Furry Shorts- Louise Rennison
June 8: The Borderkind- Christopher Golden
June 5: The Myth Hunters- Christopher Golden
June 3: Away Laughing On A Fast Camel- Louise Rennison
June 3: Dancing In My Nuddy-pants- Louise Rennison
June 3: Knocked Out By My Nunga Nungas- Louise Rennison
June 2: On The Bright Side, I'm Now The Girlfriend Of A Sex God- Louise Rennison
In May, I read the first volume of Louise Rennison's "sex god" series. I bought volume two for Sydney a year or so ago at Christmas, not realizing it wasn't the first book. We've since filled in the series, although there are two I haven't yet read, released in paperback and in hardcover this summer. I like this series, but not enough to pay hardcover prices, so I'm delaying picking up the last two until the very last is in paperback. Actually, I got a really good deal at UKazoo on most of the others, so I'll likely look there. Greg was horrified at the title of the first book I purchased, but I'd skimmed it in the book store, and besides, at Syd's age I was reading Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes and Forever, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. A super quick summation of this series is: Bridget Jones for teenagers. Now, this is oversimplified, because Bridget is a lot quirkier and has a lot of bad habits. She smokes too much, she drinks too much, she's obsessed with her weight. Georgia is a lot more like all of us were at 13, 14, 15 years old. She chafes against the uniform at school, sneaking off to apply forbidden lipstick after school. She says the wrong things to boys and then overanalyzes the conversations for hours. She worries about the size of her nose. She has a core group of best friends that she fights with and makes up with, and that she's sure every other day she will never speak to again. Every event is "the end of the world" until it isn't, and life goes on. She snogs boys occasionally and then worries about every aspect of having snogged them- where does ear-snogging fall on the snogging scale, for example? Is it of higher or lower importance than snogging for three minutes without coming up for air? She also has a family that she describes hilariously as various types of insanity- her four year old sister is constantly sticky and gross and saying things that make no sense- her mother has huge basooms and no sense of modesty, it seems. Her father has an odd, embarrassing sense of humor. The series is written in diary form, like Bridget Jones, and it's simple, light and hilarious. Probably not for male readers, but girls in the same age range as Georgia will empathize with her, and those of us old enough to have forgotten a lot of what it is to be a teenager end up with lots of nostalgia. Plus, I *love* the English vocab. Especially as Georgia has helpfully included a dictionary of sorts at the back of each book to help her American friends to understand her.
In the middle of my Georgia-fest, I picked up two Christopher Golden series: The Veil, and The Shadow Saga. The veil series consists of three books following the adventures of Oliver Bascombe, his fiancee and his sister and they journey separately to the land beyond the Veil, home of the Legendary. Seriously, If there's ever been a myth or legend about a critter, deity or anthromporphic personification, they're in this book. From Jack Frost to obscure Japanese demons, they're here. Golden is an incredible fantasy writer and well worth reading anything he's written, but this book reminded me of Gaiman's American Gods, where you guess at which god is being described. Readers familiar with myths and legends will enjoy seeing old faces in a new light. The book does tend towards the violent at times; there was some pretty unpleasant stuff- not all legends are good, you know- and it is NOT for children, but if you can handle Stephen King, you're okay here. Definitely recommend this series. The Shadow Saga is considerably darker, and was written at a much earlier point in Golden's career, when he wasn't as experienced a writer, and sometimes it shows. It's straight up horror and thriller, with vampires pitted against the Vatican, and the reader not sure who to root for. I was disappointed in the eventual outcome of this series, but the first couple of books are AMAZING and not to be missed.
***EDIT*** I hit my goal of 60 books during August! Now I just have to see how many I end up reading. For those of you who don't remember- that would be everyone but me, because it's not the kind of thing you think about, I'm sure- my goal for this year was 60 books because I'd read 50 last year and 70 the year before. I figured 5 per month was doable. Of course, Sydney's reading list this year includes The Call Of The Wild, Watership Down, Animal farm, and The Taming Of The Shrew, so I plan to read those along with her so we can talk about them. I'm SO excited about it!
May total: 14
YTD: 37 books
May 31: Mistral's Kiss- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 30: A Stroke Of Midnight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 29: Seduced By Moonlight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 27: A Caress Of Twilight- Laurell K. Hamilton
May 24: Small Favor- Jim Butcher
May 21: Proven Guilty- Jim Butcher
May 20: Dead Beat- Jim Butcher
May 16: Blood Rites- Jim Butcher
May 14: Death Masks- Jim Butcher
May 13: Summer Knight- Jim Butcher
May 7: Grave Peril- Jim Butcher
May 4: Fool Moon- Jim Butcher
May 2: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging- Louise Rennison
May 2: Storm Front- Jim Butcher
May was the month of Jim Butcher. We picked up Small Favor, the latest in the Dresden Files series, and I felt compelled to reread ALL of the previous books in the series because I'd forgotten some critical events. I've linked his name under the books section of Amazon because it's easier than linking the books individually, and this series is written in a way that makes it immeasurably better if you read them in order. You COULD drop in later on, book 3 or 5 or so, but why would you? Don't let the number of books intimidate you; they're an easy, compelling read. When asked to recommend a series for people who don't read a lot of sci fi or fantasy, Butcher comes in second only to Terry Pratchett in my book, and since the Discworld series is a lot more lighthearted, sometimes, I recommend Butcher first. Here's the series in a nutshell: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only openly practicing wizard, is trying to make a living and pay his rent without getting killed by the myriad of people and things that he keeps running afoul of. He has issues with authority, a Superman complex where he tries too hard to protect people, even to the point of not telling them things because it's "safer" only it's NOT safer when the boogeyman starts going after your friends who don't think he exists and therefore can't protect themselves against him. The series starts out okay, with Storm Front, but by the second or third book, Butcher hits his stride and you're sucked in and amazed at every turn with where he's going. Butcher has figured out the secret to not getting boring in later volumes: keep the supporting cast changing and evolving. When someone's story line is played out, he's not afraid to write them away from Harry and introduce new people. The 10th book, which I finally got to halfway through the month, was so worth the wait. A lot of characters- good guys and bad guys- from past volumes were brought back in, with interesting effects as people we've never seen together got to work with and against each other.
Which is good, because I followed my Butcher spree with a quartet of Merry Gentry books by Laurell K Hamilton. I have to admit, Hamilton is frustrating me in the last few years. I still read all her books, but lately,
it's like a dinner party where most of the fare turns out to be dessert. There's WAY too much sex in the way of the plot. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, because I'm a fan of the sex, but I find myself skimming the
sex scenes, making sure I'm not missing any crucial plot points, and wishing there was more violence going on. Fortunately, the Merry Gentry series was written from the get go as erotic fantasy, so the large amount of sex is expected: the story arc for the series is that Merry is an exiled princess of Faerie, half human, heir to the Unseelie throne, in competition with her cousin Cel for the throne. Since the Sidhe are largely infertile, and the courts are metaphysically tied to the rulers, the first one to succeed in getting pregnant will land on the throne. But Cel is a bad guy with a capital B, and Merry spends just as much time dodging assassination attempts as she does trying to breed. Of course, magical surprises run rampant, Merry develops abilities to bring out powers in other Sidhe, and practically every time she has sex, something metaphysical goes awry. Still enjoyable. I'm not quite giving up on either this series or the Anita Blake novels, but honest to God, I don't see how someone can hold down a full time job (Merry is also a PI, and Anita is a necromancer who moonlights helping out the local police with supernatural investigations) and still have so very much sex. I work 40 hours a week, and I know I couldn't handle multiple sexual encounters, usually with multiple partners, all of whom are preternaturally endowed, every single day. When the hell do these women sleep? It explains Anita's fondness for coffee...
June 30: The Gathering Dark- Christopher Golden
June 28: Of Masques And Martyrs- Christopher Golden
June 23: Angel Souls And Devil Hearts- Christopher Golden
June 15: Of Saints And Shadows- Christopher Golden
June 13: The Lost Ones- Christopher Golden
June 10: Startled By His Furry Shorts- Louise Rennison
June 8: The Borderkind- Christopher Golden
June 5: The Myth Hunters- Christopher Golden
June 3: Away Laughing On A Fast Camel- Louise Rennison
June 3: Dancing In My Nuddy-pants- Louise Rennison
June 3: Knocked Out By My Nunga Nungas- Louise Rennison
June 2: On The Bright Side, I'm Now The Girlfriend Of A Sex God- Louise Rennison
In May, I read the first volume of Louise Rennison's "sex god" series. I bought volume two for Sydney a year or so ago at Christmas, not realizing it wasn't the first book. We've since filled in the series, although there are two I haven't yet read, released in paperback and in hardcover this summer. I like this series, but not enough to pay hardcover prices, so I'm delaying picking up the last two until the very last is in paperback. Actually, I got a really good deal at UKazoo on most of the others, so I'll likely look there. Greg was horrified at the title of the first book I purchased, but I'd skimmed it in the book store, and besides, at Syd's age I was reading Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes and Forever, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. A super quick summation of this series is: Bridget Jones for teenagers. Now, this is oversimplified, because Bridget is a lot quirkier and has a lot of bad habits. She smokes too much, she drinks too much, she's obsessed with her weight. Georgia is a lot more like all of us were at 13, 14, 15 years old. She chafes against the uniform at school, sneaking off to apply forbidden lipstick after school. She says the wrong things to boys and then overanalyzes the conversations for hours. She worries about the size of her nose. She has a core group of best friends that she fights with and makes up with, and that she's sure every other day she will never speak to again. Every event is "the end of the world" until it isn't, and life goes on. She snogs boys occasionally and then worries about every aspect of having snogged them- where does ear-snogging fall on the snogging scale, for example? Is it of higher or lower importance than snogging for three minutes without coming up for air? She also has a family that she describes hilariously as various types of insanity- her four year old sister is constantly sticky and gross and saying things that make no sense- her mother has huge basooms and no sense of modesty, it seems. Her father has an odd, embarrassing sense of humor. The series is written in diary form, like Bridget Jones, and it's simple, light and hilarious. Probably not for male readers, but girls in the same age range as Georgia will empathize with her, and those of us old enough to have forgotten a lot of what it is to be a teenager end up with lots of nostalgia. Plus, I *love* the English vocab. Especially as Georgia has helpfully included a dictionary of sorts at the back of each book to help her American friends to understand her.
In the middle of my Georgia-fest, I picked up two Christopher Golden series: The Veil, and The Shadow Saga. The veil series consists of three books following the adventures of Oliver Bascombe, his fiancee and his sister and they journey separately to the land beyond the Veil, home of the Legendary. Seriously, If there's ever been a myth or legend about a critter, deity or anthromporphic personification, they're in this book. From Jack Frost to obscure Japanese demons, they're here. Golden is an incredible fantasy writer and well worth reading anything he's written, but this book reminded me of Gaiman's American Gods, where you guess at which god is being described. Readers familiar with myths and legends will enjoy seeing old faces in a new light. The book does tend towards the violent at times; there was some pretty unpleasant stuff- not all legends are good, you know- and it is NOT for children, but if you can handle Stephen King, you're okay here. Definitely recommend this series. The Shadow Saga is considerably darker, and was written at a much earlier point in Golden's career, when he wasn't as experienced a writer, and sometimes it shows. It's straight up horror and thriller, with vampires pitted against the Vatican, and the reader not sure who to root for. I was disappointed in the eventual outcome of this series, but the first couple of books are AMAZING and not to be missed.