Books
After writing that mammoth entry about VM, I feel pretty empty and will just write a small book entry. The Gate of Gods, the third book in the "Fall of Ile-Rien" trilogy by Martha Wells brought the series to a satisfying conclusion though leaving the field open for more books about the world(s) used in the trilogy.
Tremaine Valiarde is a great complex character who is the driving force behind the books, but the other characters are very well-drawn and engaging as well. The mystery behind the Gardier invasion and the sorcerer crystals is well-handled and the final solution to the problem, as well as the aftermath are quite believable. Wonderful series, highly recommended, as are all her other books as well.
I also read Pistols for Two, a short story collection by Georgette Heyer. I wasn't even aware that she had written any short stories when I spotted it in the 1€ bin at the Helsinki Book Fair. Apparently she was quite ill one year and couldn't finish any novels she was working on, so instead, she wrote the stories in this collection to provide her readers with their yearly Heyer fix.
Reading the stories, it's quite obvious that she is not really a short fiction writer. Most of the stories are short vignettes or read like synopses for much longer stories. Still, reading the collection did inspire me to seek out some of Heyer's longer works and start rereading my favourites.
Tremaine Valiarde is a great complex character who is the driving force behind the books, but the other characters are very well-drawn and engaging as well. The mystery behind the Gardier invasion and the sorcerer crystals is well-handled and the final solution to the problem, as well as the aftermath are quite believable. Wonderful series, highly recommended, as are all her other books as well.
I also read Pistols for Two, a short story collection by Georgette Heyer. I wasn't even aware that she had written any short stories when I spotted it in the 1€ bin at the Helsinki Book Fair. Apparently she was quite ill one year and couldn't finish any novels she was working on, so instead, she wrote the stories in this collection to provide her readers with their yearly Heyer fix.
Reading the stories, it's quite obvious that she is not really a short fiction writer. Most of the stories are short vignettes or read like synopses for much longer stories. Still, reading the collection did inspire me to seek out some of Heyer's longer works and start rereading my favourites.