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May. 1st, 2009
a plethora of Tamora Pierce
May. 1st, 2009 02:47 amGot called back into one of Tamora Pierce's worlds recently - ended up getting all the Circle books and reading them (re-reading a couple). Not going to do indepth reviews of each - just each series. All are teen fantasy, suitable for all ages, even adults :)
The Circle of Magic quartet:
Sandry's Book
Tris's Book
Daja's Book
Briar's Book
These introduce to four young mages whose magics are different than most. Their magics are drawn from the ambient world around them, rather than through precise spells, and all are untrained and in need of guidance. These four books introduce each character and go into their backgrounds and show their growth in learning about their magics and each other and making themselves into a family and a magical force to be reckoned with. Read the first couple when they came out and didn't care for them a whole lot - I think I was too in love with Pierce's other world of Tortall and these younger kids just didn't match up :) I've since learned better and really enjoyed them. So much so that I bought the set and the second quartet and the start of the third :)
The Circle Opens quartet:
Magic Steps
Street Magic
Cold Fire
Shatterglass
The four are split up in this set - Sandry remains home with her ailing uncle while Tris, Briar and Daja go away with their respective teachers to vastly different parts of their world. Each of the four, though, encounters another untrained ambient mage - and the rules of their magic state that since they discovered them, they're responsible for teaching them until a proper teacher is found. None of the new mages have the same magic, so the four try to teach their pupils discipline and meditation, while hunting for proper teachers - and dealing with being foreigners in lands that aren't necessarily accepting of strangers. Since they're seperated, each book is only about one of the quartet (well, their new student too) and how they adjust to becoming a teacher, learning about new cultures and growing up. Lots of intrigue and mage politics.
The Circle Refored: (2 so far)
The Will of the Empress - individual review in the YA Challenge post.
Melting Stones - read this one last September and am not counting it for this year
First one is the original 4 back together after two years apart and now it's Sandry's turn for travel to her familial home where her cousin is Empress. Not a completely cordial visit and the four must learn to reconnect themselves magically to get away. Second explores more of Briar's student Evvy, a stone mage. This one got me back interested in these series :)
The Circle of Magic quartet:
Sandry's Book
Tris's Book
Daja's Book
Briar's Book
These introduce to four young mages whose magics are different than most. Their magics are drawn from the ambient world around them, rather than through precise spells, and all are untrained and in need of guidance. These four books introduce each character and go into their backgrounds and show their growth in learning about their magics and each other and making themselves into a family and a magical force to be reckoned with. Read the first couple when they came out and didn't care for them a whole lot - I think I was too in love with Pierce's other world of Tortall and these younger kids just didn't match up :) I've since learned better and really enjoyed them. So much so that I bought the set and the second quartet and the start of the third :)
The Circle Opens quartet:
Magic Steps
Street Magic
Cold Fire
Shatterglass
The four are split up in this set - Sandry remains home with her ailing uncle while Tris, Briar and Daja go away with their respective teachers to vastly different parts of their world. Each of the four, though, encounters another untrained ambient mage - and the rules of their magic state that since they discovered them, they're responsible for teaching them until a proper teacher is found. None of the new mages have the same magic, so the four try to teach their pupils discipline and meditation, while hunting for proper teachers - and dealing with being foreigners in lands that aren't necessarily accepting of strangers. Since they're seperated, each book is only about one of the quartet (well, their new student too) and how they adjust to becoming a teacher, learning about new cultures and growing up. Lots of intrigue and mage politics.
The Circle Refored: (2 so far)
The Will of the Empress - individual review in the YA Challenge post.
Melting Stones - read this one last September and am not counting it for this year
First one is the original 4 back together after two years apart and now it's Sandry's turn for travel to her familial home where her cousin is Empress. Not a completely cordial visit and the four must learn to reconnect themselves magically to get away. Second explores more of Briar's student Evvy, a stone mage. This one got me back interested in these series :)
book post :)
May. 1st, 2009 03:12 amI finished the 100 book challenge yesterday - 101 books as of April 30.
( 101 books )
Reviews/thoughts at my book lj
( 101 books )
Reviews/thoughts at my book lj
three off the TBR list
May. 1st, 2009 04:10 amSnow White, Blood Red - Childhood tales take on a darker, more adult hue in this collection. Quality, of course, varies, though most are good to very good.
The Association by Bentley Little - Watch out for your homeowner's association. They may just be annoying - or they could be supernaturally evil. Guess which one Barry and Maureen Welch get? Pretty cool :) Will seek out others. (S/T)
Wishing Season by Esther Friesner - new genie Khalid forgets to tell his new master the "three wishes only" rule and is stuck fulfilling every wish. Fellow genie Tamar and a cat try to free Khalid. Cute. I really like the cover picture of the cat :)
(all books 100 Book challenge)
The Association by Bentley Little - Watch out for your homeowner's association. They may just be annoying - or they could be supernaturally evil. Guess which one Barry and Maureen Welch get? Pretty cool :) Will seek out others. (S/T)
Wishing Season by Esther Friesner - new genie Khalid forgets to tell his new master the "three wishes only" rule and is stuck fulfilling every wish. Fellow genie Tamar and a cat try to free Khalid. Cute. I really like the cover picture of the cat :)
(all books 100 Book challenge)
end of April: thrillers
May. 1st, 2009 08:24 amThe Unseen by T.L. Hines - Lucas is an urban explorer, exploring buildings, going into places he's not supposed to go. Then he meets a member of a group of explorers, who've taken the exploring a bit further - and then he's approached by another man who wants him to spy on the group. Group members begin to die and Lucas is named as the killer. And to clear himself, he must dig into his past and hunt for the memories he doesn't have before he becomes the next victim. Mostly positive - the urban explorer stuff that Lucas and the group do was interesting and kind of creepy to think about, but the ultimate conspiracy part was a bit too much. But a good read.(A to Z title, S/T, 100 bks)
Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines - Jude Allman died three times. Not just heart-stopped & resuscitated - but clinically dead for much too long to come back from. Yet he did. Now a paranoid recluse using an assumed name to escape publicity and miracle seekers, Jude is visited by a strange woman who declares he has a purpose in life he must fulfill. He has no idea of her meaning - he's missing lots of his memories of his childhood, but it soon becomes clear. He has a gift of clairvoyance and needs to use it to save people. Things get really bad when one of those people turns out to be his young son, who, along with a friend, is kidnapped by a predator, who has committed a string of child abductions. Strong Christian bent but doesn't overpower the story. Liked "The Unseen" better, but still enjoyed it.(100 bks)
The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry - Cotton Malone calls in a favor to get his late father's file pulled from government archives to find out the whole story of what happened when the submarine his father commanded went down. What he finds is a connection to Nazi explorations of the Antarctic and a link back through history to Charlemagne. Oh, yeah, and people constantly trying to kill him. Fairly fun fluff along the lines of Dan Brown and Clive Cussler.(100 bks)
Very Hard Choices by Spider Robinson - Robinson is more known as a SF author, but this and the preceding book "Very Bad Deaths" are more thriller with a SF edge. Russell Walker, an aging hippie and columnist for a Canadian newspaper, is trying to reconnect with his estranged son, when Nika, a no nonsense constable, shows up with news that someone has been tracking her and it has to be related to Zudie, Russell's college roommate, a telepath. Nika and Russell had helped Zudie find a murderer before he could kill again and the two of them had disposed of the body after Zudie killed the man. Now someone has connected them to Zudie, who's been pretending to be dead since he escaped the CIA in the 60's. Good characters, fast read, Robinson's feelings about the US, Canada, the health care system, and the future of the planet get a bit strident and pessimistic, but he obviously cares. And he writes it well :) Prefer the Callahan's books, but these are good reads too. Still need to check out his other, more SF stuff.
Robinson's book was #101 on my list, so I'm done with the 100 Book Challenge.
Waking Lazarus by T.L. Hines - Jude Allman died three times. Not just heart-stopped & resuscitated - but clinically dead for much too long to come back from. Yet he did. Now a paranoid recluse using an assumed name to escape publicity and miracle seekers, Jude is visited by a strange woman who declares he has a purpose in life he must fulfill. He has no idea of her meaning - he's missing lots of his memories of his childhood, but it soon becomes clear. He has a gift of clairvoyance and needs to use it to save people. Things get really bad when one of those people turns out to be his young son, who, along with a friend, is kidnapped by a predator, who has committed a string of child abductions. Strong Christian bent but doesn't overpower the story. Liked "The Unseen" better, but still enjoyed it.(100 bks)
The Charlemagne Pursuit by Steve Berry - Cotton Malone calls in a favor to get his late father's file pulled from government archives to find out the whole story of what happened when the submarine his father commanded went down. What he finds is a connection to Nazi explorations of the Antarctic and a link back through history to Charlemagne. Oh, yeah, and people constantly trying to kill him. Fairly fun fluff along the lines of Dan Brown and Clive Cussler.(100 bks)
Very Hard Choices by Spider Robinson - Robinson is more known as a SF author, but this and the preceding book "Very Bad Deaths" are more thriller with a SF edge. Russell Walker, an aging hippie and columnist for a Canadian newspaper, is trying to reconnect with his estranged son, when Nika, a no nonsense constable, shows up with news that someone has been tracking her and it has to be related to Zudie, Russell's college roommate, a telepath. Nika and Russell had helped Zudie find a murderer before he could kill again and the two of them had disposed of the body after Zudie killed the man. Now someone has connected them to Zudie, who's been pretending to be dead since he escaped the CIA in the 60's. Good characters, fast read, Robinson's feelings about the US, Canada, the health care system, and the future of the planet get a bit strident and pessimistic, but he obviously cares. And he writes it well :) Prefer the Callahan's books, but these are good reads too. Still need to check out his other, more SF stuff.
Robinson's book was #101 on my list, so I'm done with the 100 Book Challenge.
Keep It Together by Kirsten Lagatree - subtitled "200+ tips, tricks, lists, and solutions for everyday life" - some excellent information here.
X-Men: Visionaries - wasn't thrilled with this - it's excerpts from other stories, so you don't know how things began or how they end. But, hey, it's an X title :)(A to Z title)
both 100 books challenge
X-Men: Visionaries - wasn't thrilled with this - it's excerpts from other stories, so you don't know how things began or how they end. But, hey, it's an X title :)(A to Z title)
both 100 books challenge
end of April: fantasy
May. 1st, 2009 09:09 amThe Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan - Kick ass! Lots of action. Ringil, a former hero living off his legend, gets pulled back into action to find a cousin sold into slavery. He pisses off lots of people and finds members of a legendary, but long-missing race planning on reclaiming their former world. During his search, he's reunited with two old friends (and legendary warriors themselves) - the three of them may be their world's only hope, if they don't get killed by their allies first. Ribald, raunchy, violent. Good stuff.
Foundation by Mercedes Lackey - a new branch of Valdemar. Actually haven't read any of the Valdemar novels - will have to remedy that. Mags, a mistreated orphan working in a mine, is chosen to be a Herald. He's taken to the Collegium, where the methods of training Heralds are changing - to the dismay of some. Really enjoyed it.
Something Rich and Strange by Patricia McKillip - Brian Froud's drawings of faerie inspired McKillip's story of two lovers in a Pacific Northwest coastal village who become attracted to two newcomers to town, whose real forms are of sea faeries. Very ecological message. Shorter than her usual works. Didn't like it as much. Some of the illustrations are fairly odd also. (McK)
all books 100 book challenge
Foundation by Mercedes Lackey - a new branch of Valdemar. Actually haven't read any of the Valdemar novels - will have to remedy that. Mags, a mistreated orphan working in a mine, is chosen to be a Herald. He's taken to the Collegium, where the methods of training Heralds are changing - to the dismay of some. Really enjoyed it.
Something Rich and Strange by Patricia McKillip - Brian Froud's drawings of faerie inspired McKillip's story of two lovers in a Pacific Northwest coastal village who become attracted to two newcomers to town, whose real forms are of sea faeries. Very ecological message. Shorter than her usual works. Didn't like it as much. Some of the illustrations are fairly odd also. (McK)
all books 100 book challenge
reading challenges update
May. 1st, 2009 09:22 am2009 reading challenges:
100 Books - finished! Wooo! Actually doing a 250 bk challenge also, but I'm keeping track of it on LibraryThing.
A to Z: authors needed: ADEUXYZ titles needed: ILPQYZ
TBR: 12 books, with 12 alternates - I've read 9, so 3 left. And I've got 9 titles left to chose from - having marked some off as not interested/didn't finish.
Young Adult: 2 more to go. (10/12) am only counting one of the Tamora Pierce books or else I'd be done.
Pub: 9 books published in 2009 - done!
Suspense/Thriller: 12 books in 12 different sub-genres of suspense/thrillers: read 8 out of 12.
Patricia McKillip Challenge: read 2 out of three.
So, two completely done and the others are well under way.
Links to these challenges are in my sidebar.
100 Books - finished! Wooo! Actually doing a 250 bk challenge also, but I'm keeping track of it on LibraryThing.
A to Z: authors needed: ADEUXYZ titles needed: ILPQYZ
TBR: 12 books, with 12 alternates - I've read 9, so 3 left. And I've got 9 titles left to chose from - having marked some off as not interested/didn't finish.
Young Adult: 2 more to go. (10/12) am only counting one of the Tamora Pierce books or else I'd be done.
Pub: 9 books published in 2009 - done!
Suspense/Thriller: 12 books in 12 different sub-genres of suspense/thrillers: read 8 out of 12.
Patricia McKillip Challenge: read 2 out of three.
So, two completely done and the others are well under way.
Links to these challenges are in my sidebar.