Friday Finds – Fantasy Series

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I love a series and I’ve been looking for some new fantasy so when I came across these two authors while looking up a book at my library the other day, I knew they had to go on the list.

The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne by Joshua Palmatier. The series takes place in a city called Amenkor and follows a young girl named Varis who has the ability to see innocence and guilt in colors and develops a knack for murder. She eventually becomes the Mistress of Amenkor and tries to lead the city through political turmoil while fighting to keep the city’s citizens from starvation. When an alliance with another city becomes a possibility, Varis must find an ancient stone throne that was lost centuries earlier to seal the alliance. I tried to sum up each book in a sentence so this short description covers all three books.

Green Rider, First Rider’s Call, and The High King’s Tomb by Kristin Britain. This series is a quest tale with a medieval fantasy setting. In the first book, Karigan is expelled from school, and in a forest on the way home, she finds a Green Rider, a magically bound individual who is carrying a message for the King. She takes his magic brooch and takes over his mission becoming a Green Rider herself. The second book sees tainted magic seeping into the world and Karigan, poisoned by the magic, begins seeing visions of the first Green Rider who tells her how she must overcome a great evil. In the final book, Karigan receives a message from a dead magician and she begins to accept that she is destined for extraordinary things, especially after the god of death’s horse shows up for her.

Find anything good this week to share?

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Leave a comment here with a link to your own finds, or share your list at Should Be Reading. Happy Friday.

My Favorite Reads – The Time Machine

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

From the back cover: When the Time Traveller courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700 — and everything had changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings — unearth their secret and then return to his own time — until he discovered that his invention, his only avenue of escape, had been stolen.

My thoughts: I read The Time Machine in 8th or 9th grade and it was my first brush with science fiction. I was fascinated by the idea of time travel and the ability to experience and observe new worlds. Wouldn’t it be amazing to witness firsthand the use of fire and tools by early humans, see dinosaurs roaming vast plains, experience the Ice Age, see humans evolve into what we are today, observe amazing creatures of the sea, see the building of the pyramids, and watch the Great Wall of China emerge stone by stone? Maybe this is why I have developed such a love of historical fiction — it captures a time and place in history and brings it to life.

I’ve read this book several times since my first initial bit of enthusiasm and have liked and enjoyed it each time finding new parts to be excited about. Our version is a bit dog-eared and passages are underlined but it only means that it’s well loved. I also love the cover art work of our little Bantam Classic book. It’s very Salvador Dali-esque. I can’t profess to be a big Dali fan, he creeps me out way too much for me to actually enjoy his work, but I like the starkness of the paining and of course the clock in the background gives it just that little reminder of what you are in for. According to the inside cover, the painting is Gentleman in a Railway Carriage by James Jacques Joseph Tissot.

Deliver Us From Evil

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Deliver Us From Evil

Deliver Us From Evil

By David Baldacci

Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Books

ISBN: 978-0-446-56408-3

3.5 stars

Evan Waller is a monster. A sadistic and ruthless killer, he cares for nothing and no one. His business practices are cold and methodical; money being his only goal. He traffics in women, children, and nuclear weapons and people in the world believe he should be brought to justice. One such person is Reggie Campion, a member of a secret vigilante group. Her group has an agenda and that is to hunt down Waller, show him his deeds, and bring justice. She intends to kill him. Unfortunately, she is not the only person hunting Waller. Shaw, a mysterious operative from an unknown government agency, is also out for Waller. When Waller, Reggie, and Shaw all end up in Provence, the hunt begins.

There is one thing I need to say right off the start with this book — Waller is a great bad guy. He’s cruel, disgusting, scary, cold, calculating, and just so good at being bad that you honestly want him to be dead. And you don’t want his death to be a pleasant or easy one, the guy should suffer. So when two people do try to kill him, you find yourself cheering them on. OK, so I was a bit disturbed by the fact that I was cheering on two characters to take the life of a third but he was that bad!

While it’s an engrossing and fast read, there are a few corny lines and some “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” moments in this book. And it’s a, “I’ve got your back do you have mine?” line that is the culprit I’m hinting about here. Some of the dialog felt odd, old, and a bit bumbling, but this didn’t ruin it. While those hokey lines take you out of the story for a breather, there is enough to pull you back in quickly. This is a story about people out to murder a murderer, and there are a few torture scenes that I could have gone without reading, but they did fit so I can’t say they were too much.

The ending, I feel I must address it. No, don’t worry, I won’t be ruining it by telling you any more than this — for me it felt predictable. I think I was expecting more from the bad guy. Up to this point in the book he had been much more creative and while it’s a fast paced ending, I felt as if it had been done before. There is one more thing that bothered me about the ending but in the spirit of not giving it all away I will say no more than it was just too easy.

Now, you will be entertained by this book, if you like thrillers like this, but once the book is done, you’ll move on to the next easily without lingering. I don’t think this is a bad thing as there are a lot of books out there that I don’t find myself thinking about after I turn the last page. It’s just a warning from me and how I felt, you might have a completely different reaction so feel free to ignore this. If you’re looking for something to keep you busy on a plane or at the beach, it’s not a bad pick.

The Divine Sacrifice

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The Divine Sacrifice

By Tony Hays

Forge Books

ISBN: 978-0-7653-1946-3

3.75 stars

This is the second book in the Arthurian legend mystery series following The Killing Way.  You can read my review of The Killing Way here.

Malgwyn ap Cuneglas is a counselor to King Arthur. He’s asked to accompany the King to Glastonbury Abbey to investigate reports of rebellion. What he finds on his arrival is a dead monk, accusations of heresy, and while investigating one murder, finds himself entangled in a second. The second murder becomes the more problematic one as the dead man is a well-known and revered man of the church. While trying to find a murder, or murderers, Malgwyn uncovers a conspiracy to overrun the church and the kingdom.

I’m not a mystery person but I’ve been trying to read more of them. I always have the same problem with all mysteries though — I spend all my time trying to figure out who did it that I don’t always enjoy the story itself. I don’t have this problem with other genres, although I do read ahead a lot and of course I do that with a mystery too but I just get caught up in it too much. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy this book because I did find it a fun read but I think I’m coming to a realization about mysteries themselves. They might just not be for me.

There was a small thing that did bother me about this book. All the men are rough and stay true to their nature throughout which I appreciate. I don’t expect 5th Century warlords to be overly kind but when an old murder — rape and murder of a young girl actually — is mentioned, it’s treated so casually and coldly that it bothered me. It’s a brutal murder but somehow having taken place so many years ago means nothing to all the people involved. It irked me too much.

I will say this though, I was surprised by who did it in this book. It was hidden well behind a name I didn’t connect. Of course, by this time I was too busy trying to figure out who did it that I had completely overlooked the connection and was annoyed by several of the characters reactions to past events to pay attention to this person at all. Then again, maybe that was the master plan of the author. Overall, this quick read was good and if you like historical fiction mixed with your mystery, it’s not a bad aside.

The Sunday Salon – A Quickie Post

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Yes, a quickie. I’m off shortly to pick up my husband from the airport and I thought I’d do a fast re-cap of this week’s reading. And besides, after writing six reviews this morning, I’m a bit worded out but the good news is that I will have reviews for everyone to read this week. Yea!

This week I read:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling — A re-read but oh so much fun.

The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn — A fast read but not bad.

The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion — A heavy piece of historical fiction but I enjoyed it.

Well, that’s it for today. I told you it was quickie didn’t I. 😉

A New Challenge of Sorts – Diana Wynne Jones Week

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There are authors and books that we all have good intentions of reading but sometimes, for reasons completely unknown to us, we never get to them. For me, I’ve always meant to read Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. The book has lingered on my long list of books for, well, let’s be honest, forever. I have no idea why I never picked it up.

Jenny of Jenny’s Books is a huge fan of Jones and is hosting a Diana Wynne Jones Week August 1 – 7, 2010. To participate, one has to read one of Jones’s books and post a review during the week. Jenny has even been nice enough to post lists and descriptions of her books. You can find her lists here and here and here. My only problem, there maybe to many good ones to pick from…

I was going to read Howl’s Moving Castle — and still intend to —- but I have somehow managed to add a few more to the list:

Deep Secret

The Dark Lord of Derkholm

Power of Three

A Sudden Wild Magic

A Tough Guide to Fantasyland

Have you read any of her books? If so, any recommendations?

And, Jenny, if you’re out there, any suggestions?

My Favorite Reads – The Mists of Avalon

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

From Amazon: Even readers who don’t normally enjoy Arthurian legends will love this version, a retelling from the point of view of the women behind the throne. Morgaine (more commonly known as Morgan Le Fay) and Gwenhwyfar (a Welsh spelling of Guinevere) struggle for power, using Arthur as a way to score points and promote their respective worldviews. The Mists of Avalon’s Camelot politics and intrigue take place at a time when Christianity is taking over the island-nation of Britain; Christianity vs. Faery, and God vs. Goddess are dominant themes.

From Wikipedia, if you want a bit more plot info: Mists of Avalon is a generations-spanning retelling of the Arthurian legend, but bringing it back to its Brythonic roots. Its protagonist is Morgaine, who witnesses the rise of Uther Pendragon to the throne of Camelot. As a child, she is taken to Avalon by High Priestess Viviane, her maternal aunt, to become a priestess of the Mother Goddess and witnesses the rising tension between the old pagan and the new Christian religions. At one point, she is given in a fertility ritual to a young man she will later learn is Arthur, her half-brother. She conceives a child, Gwydion, or “bright one,” later called Mordred, or “evil counsel” in the Saxon tongue.

After Uther dies, his son Arthur claims the throne. Morgaine and Viviane give him the magic sword Excalibur, and with the combined force of Avalon and Camelot, Arthur drives the invasion of the Saxons away. But when his wife Gwenhwyfar fails to produce a child, she is convinced that it is a punishment of God: firstly for the presence of pagan elements, and secondly, for her forbidden love for Arthur’s finest knight Lancelet (Lancelot). She increasingly becomes a religious fanatic, and relationships between Avalon and Camelot (i.e. Morgaine and herself) become hostile.

When the knights of the Round Table of Camelot leave to search for the Holy Grail, a young man seeks to usurp the throne: Mordred, bastard son of Arthur and Morgaine. In a climactic battle, Arthur’s and Mordred’s armies square off, and in the end Avalon and Arthur are magically removed from the circles of the world. It is Morgaine alone who lives to tell the tale of Camelot.

My thoughts: I read this book many years ago but I remember it so vividly. The character of Morgaine is wonderfully strong and fanatical at the same time but still likable. In many of the stories she’s a cruel shrew bent on revenge, in this book she has her moments, but she’s doesn’t go for the deep end. And I love that this Arthurian story is told from the perspective of the women. Women play a major role in Arthurian legend and sometimes are not given proper credit for the strength they bring to the story.

This book is actually a series — Book One: Mistress of Magic, Book Two: The High Queen, Book Three: The King Stag, and Book Four: The Prisoner in the Oak. The version I own contains all four and is a behemoth of a book at 876 pages. I also own a few other Bradley books in the Avalon series but this is by far my favorite.

This book was made into a TNT movie but I read the book before the TV miniseries but did watch it, and if I remember correctly, it didn’t disappoint. Of course, I’m one of those odd people that doesn’t mind movie and TV adaptions even if they are different from the book so don’t count that for much.

This is a fantasy novel, and yes, there are faeries and magic and Merlin and Lancelot but it’s also contains an interesting take on religion and the pull between keeping old customs and beliefs alive while others makes moves to take over the old with the new. It’s Paganism and Christianity and the fight between old worlds and new views. It’s also a violent story at times but I tend to think of that as normal when a story is based in this time period, about 5 A.D., so don’t let that be a turn off.

While I know that fantasy can be an acquired taste, I think this is one book that can make you a fan.

Benighted

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Benighted

Benighted

By Kit Whitfield

Del Rey

ISBN: 0-345-49163-7

4 stars

Lola May Galley is human. When the moon rises, she does not go lyco. Instead of growing fur and howling at the moon, she sets out with others from the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity (DORLA) to catch stray lycos and criminals who haven’t locked themselves up properly. She is a human in a world run by werewolves. She is looked down upon for being born non-lyco (considered a disability by most in her world), and like all others with her disability, she spends her days and nights working for the lycos in a lyco run world.

During a full moon, a friend loses a hand when a lune goes bad and then he ends up murdered before the attacker is brought to trial. She finds herself wrapped up in a case that runs much deeper than she thought with societal implications that leave her terrified and almost numb.

I know vampire and werewolf stories are starting to run thin, and even I myself, who happens to like stories with these creatures, am getting a bit tired. Yet, after reading In Great Waters, I found I liked Whitfield’s writing and wanted to read more. I found Benighted and became entranced with her world. She takes the normal werewolf story and turns it upside down. It is now the humans living in poor conditions, fighting prejudice at the hands of a world run by werewolves, and living degrading and horrifying lives. Being born a bareback (the negative term given to those children born head first and human) means living a life only to attend to lycos. They are given no other choice and for them it is a sad, scary, dangerous, and mostly short life.

Lola was the only non-lyco born in her family and she lived her entire life wondering what it would be like to turn with the full moon. When she finds herself in a relationship with a lyco, she ends up finding answers to questions that she never thought about. The devastating consequences make for a good, and sad, story. There are some, more like many, disturbing moments in this book. When Lola talks about her childhood I felt like she shared a bit too much and I wished she would take some of it back but it was already on the table at the point. It took me a while to like Lola even though I felt for her from the start. She does things that she hates, and begins to hate herself with good reason. It’s unfortunate that she feels, and in many cases is right, that she has no other choice. For someone in her position, it is only a life of servitude and nothing more even if she is made to feel free. It is the life she was born into and nothing will change her. She becomes more hardened against the outside world and that’s just to keep herself sane.

Whitfield is a good writer and I enjoyed this one much more than In Great Waters. Even if you’re tired of werewolves, I’d say give this one a chance. It’s an interesting, if sad and disturbing, world to get drawn into. There are a lot of themes at play, many of which I haven’t even touched on here, that leave you wondering more about societal ramifications than actual werewolves. It’s a dark world to get drawn into.