Cold Magic - Kate Elliott
About a week and a half ago, I bought myself a kindle. I'd been toying with the idea for a while, but I like paper books, I like the feel of them, the weight of them, the smell of them. How the spines get bent and the corners dogeared once I've read them - especially my favourites, which wear those imperfections like a badge of honour. These books and I, we've been places.
But carting bunches of books around is hard. When I was a teenager, I used to pack half my suitcase with books when I went on holiday. Now, with my laptop and easy internet access, I've stopped doing that; I take a few books, sure, but I also take advantage of holiday time to read those fics I've had open in tabs for the past couple of months, or re-read old favourites. So that goes someway to reducing the weight and space taken up by books in my luggage. Sure, a kindle would be nice, but necessary? Maybe. Maybe not.
Then two weeks ago, I was in London - meeting a friend for lunch and a different friend for dinner. I had some hours in between so I pottered around Covent Garden a bit (and found my favourite boot store and actually got to see things and try things on when I've only ordered from online before - but that's another post) and then I went into Waterstones. So many books. As usual, I headed straight for the Fantasy section and browsed happily. I saw a book that looked interesting by an author I've heard was good and repeatedly almost-tried; so I pulled it off the shelf, found a chair and read the first two chapters. It was good, I enjoyed it, I wanted to read more. Only I knew I was desperately running out of space in my suitcase already. I had started re-reading David Eddings Elenium series and I wanted to take all of those back with me so I could read the whole thing. And I had lots of food bits I wanted to take back, and Christmas presents and clothes.... Wow, if only I had a kindle, I thought. So that night, I went home and ordered one. It arrived at my flat a couple of days after I did, and I love it!
The first thing I bought was that book I had started reading:
Cold Magic - Kate Elliott
I really enjoyed it! Although I bought it as soon as I had ordered my kindle, I actually didn't started reading it until saturday because I'd been finishing off the David Eddings series, as previously mentioned. Once I started, I found it very hard to stop; there were some things I had to do with my weekend, but with what was left, I read.
The book was very easy to read and definitely a page-turner. The main character is good, she's likeable, but not perfect. And the love interest is fleshed-out and intriguing and likeable because of his flaws, rather than in spite of them. I sometimes felt that the author was spinning out the will-they-won't-they nature of their relationship a little too much, but it was fun nevertheless.
The world she's created is fun too; Earth but not Earth. Kind of steampunky, Victorian-ish era but with the continents not separated as we know them, and a lot more ice at the poles; the same significant historic events, but played out differently. And I like her mages too; they can do some cool stuff, but not everything, there are limits - I feel sometimes that fantasy authors embrace magic a little too freely and make their magicians like gods, but these aren't.
I guess what speaks most highly of this book is that as soon as I had finished it, I went and bought the second, even though it's a new release and, therefore, horribly expensive!
This entry is a cross-post from Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you wish. To comment there, you'll need to use OpenID or you can get a DW account using one of the codes here or here.
But carting bunches of books around is hard. When I was a teenager, I used to pack half my suitcase with books when I went on holiday. Now, with my laptop and easy internet access, I've stopped doing that; I take a few books, sure, but I also take advantage of holiday time to read those fics I've had open in tabs for the past couple of months, or re-read old favourites. So that goes someway to reducing the weight and space taken up by books in my luggage. Sure, a kindle would be nice, but necessary? Maybe. Maybe not.
Then two weeks ago, I was in London - meeting a friend for lunch and a different friend for dinner. I had some hours in between so I pottered around Covent Garden a bit (and found my favourite boot store and actually got to see things and try things on when I've only ordered from online before - but that's another post) and then I went into Waterstones. So many books. As usual, I headed straight for the Fantasy section and browsed happily. I saw a book that looked interesting by an author I've heard was good and repeatedly almost-tried; so I pulled it off the shelf, found a chair and read the first two chapters. It was good, I enjoyed it, I wanted to read more. Only I knew I was desperately running out of space in my suitcase already. I had started re-reading David Eddings Elenium series and I wanted to take all of those back with me so I could read the whole thing. And I had lots of food bits I wanted to take back, and Christmas presents and clothes.... Wow, if only I had a kindle, I thought. So that night, I went home and ordered one. It arrived at my flat a couple of days after I did, and I love it!
The first thing I bought was that book I had started reading:
Cold Magic - Kate Elliott
I really enjoyed it! Although I bought it as soon as I had ordered my kindle, I actually didn't started reading it until saturday because I'd been finishing off the David Eddings series, as previously mentioned. Once I started, I found it very hard to stop; there were some things I had to do with my weekend, but with what was left, I read.
The book was very easy to read and definitely a page-turner. The main character is good, she's likeable, but not perfect. And the love interest is fleshed-out and intriguing and likeable because of his flaws, rather than in spite of them. I sometimes felt that the author was spinning out the will-they-won't-they nature of their relationship a little too much, but it was fun nevertheless.
The world she's created is fun too; Earth but not Earth. Kind of steampunky, Victorian-ish era but with the continents not separated as we know them, and a lot more ice at the poles; the same significant historic events, but played out differently. And I like her mages too; they can do some cool stuff, but not everything, there are limits - I feel sometimes that fantasy authors embrace magic a little too freely and make their magicians like gods, but these aren't.
I guess what speaks most highly of this book is that as soon as I had finished it, I went and bought the second, even though it's a new release and, therefore, horribly expensive!
This entry is a cross-post from Dreamwidth. Comment wherever you wish. To comment there, you'll need to use OpenID or you can get a DW account using one of the codes here or here.