Book Review: The Cipher
So I already have much fan love for Diana Pharaoh Francis from her Path series so eagerly awaited her new series, The Cipher: A Novel of Crosspointe, to be released. And bless her, she had it released for my birthday. I swear! She did!! (Ok, maybe not, but a girl can dream...)
Anyway, I finished it last night and Ms. Francis still has much of my fan love. In fact, I declare here and now that Lucy Trenton is my favorite heroine. She is strong, confident and brave, but the kind of strong, confident and brave you get from knowing you have your family behind you, even if they drive you nuts. But she is also logical and willing to accept help. She knows her limitations. And rather than being a scathing skinny beauty, she is a real person with flaws and body weight!! That I loved. She calls herself 'plump' and I adore Diana for that. She is also not a sword swinging fighter, which makes her wits all the more important. (And no offense to any writers with sword swinging hot women, I love reading your books too!)
As before, Diana has created a very real world. It took me a few pages to get in to the sailor slang that many characters use, but you quickly get the feel for it. The magic system is unique. Unlike many novels, it's perceived as taboo in some instances, but then large amounts are used in every day life. (It's so hard to do this and not give anything away!!) And you quickly get a feel for the city's system, government and general opinions of the town. (How to explain that?)
Ah well, instead of listen to my ramble, go buy it!! Read it!! Then you can come gush here with all the same fan love that I have.