I finished The Restorer by Amanda Stevens last night and had every intention of writing about it this morning but decided on a trailer instead. Yes, lazy won out. Enjoy.
Fantasy
Teaser Tuesdays – The Restorer
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.
Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.
I started The Restorer by Amanda Stevens last night and thought I’d share a teaser this fine morning.
“It suggests the flight of the soul, although it’s a little more ambiguous than a dove or a winged effigy.”
He glanced up. “What the devil is a winged effigy?” (page 66 on Nook)
Review – The Gates
The Gates
By John Connolly
Washington Square Press
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7540-8
4 stars
I love me a little humor with my demons and end of world type books and The Gates delivered on that promise. This is my first Connolly book but I’ve picked them up before thinking that a fantasy thriller might work for me. It did, and now I can say it won’t be my last either.
Samuel Johnson is an enterprising 11 year-old. Instead of waiting for Halloween and having to fight the crowds, he decides to start trick or treating a few days early. Unfortunately for him, his mildly brilliant plan doesn’t work out the way he intended. Instead of loads of candy, he sees something in the neighbors’ basement that makes him believe his neighbor, Mrs. Abernathy, is now a demon. He soon finds himself attempting to convince his mother and friends that not only is Mrs. Abernathy an actual demon but that more demons will be arriving very soon through the portal that now exists in the Abernathy’s basement. No one wants to believe Samuel the end of the world is nearing which makes for an amusing little apocalypse tale.
Don’t pick up this book and think it’s a dark one; it’s actually a really funny take on the usual end of the world scenario and I enjoyed it quite a lot. There’s some slapstick here — even the dog gets in on it at times — and random jokes laced throughout reminding you what you’re reading isn’t serious. And that’s good! I wanted a break from my normal reading which was starting to feel heavy and this came along at the right time. One particularly amusing character in the book is a demon named Nurd who was banished to a flat, deserted world with a little annoying fellow as his only company. Somehow he ends getting sucked into Samuel’s world and befriends him. You see, Nurd is a nice demon looking for a friend to connect with. His little adventures, especially his one driving a Porsche, are a good interlude and I do wish there had been more time featuring Nurd.
What can I say, if you’re looking for a small break in your regular reading pattern, pick this one up. Connolly didn’t disappoint and thanks to this book, I plan to pick up more of his work.
Teaser Tuesdays – A Clash of Kings
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.
Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.
I’m still working my way through A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. It’s a long book (874 on my Nook) but I’m also intentionally reading slow because I’m enjoying it way too much for it to end.
She is not breathing. Dany listened to the silence. None of them are breathing, and they do not move, and those eyes see nothing. Could it be that the Undying Ones were dead? (pg. 608 on Nook)
Today’s Book – A Clash of Kings
The problem with oversleeping is the lack of time one has afterwords which results in short posts like this one. I’m reading A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin. In one word: fantastic. Read it, after A Game of Thrones of course otherwise confusion might reign. That is all I have time for, again, the oversleeping.
Teaser Tuesdays – A Clash of Kings
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.
Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.
I was saving this book but finally gave in and started it the other day — A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin.
It was just the sort of notion that would appeal to Renly Baratheon; a splendid new order of knighthood, with gorgeous new raiment to proclaim it. Even as a boy, Renly had loved bright colors and rich fabrics, and he loved his games as well. (pg. 16 on Nook)
Today’s Book
Sometimes you read a new to you author and really like his/her style. You pick up a second book and then maybe a third and that’s when you go from like to love. That’s me and China Miéville’s writing right now. I started with The City & The City and enjoyed it. Moved on to Kraken and adored it. I’m now reading Un Lun Dun and loving it.
Why you might ask? Lines like this one…
“I’m Margarita Staples.” She bowed in her harness. “Extreme librarian. Bookaneer.” (pg. 154 on Nook)
Such a sucker for a book reference in a book.
Review – Fathom
Fathom
By Cherie Priest
TOR
ISBN: 0-7653-1840-7
3.5 stars
Over the past months and probably years if I’m honest, I’ve read some good things about Cherie Priest’s books (Boneshaker and Four and Twenty Blackbirds come to mind) so when browsing the library for something new, I stumbled upon Priest’s Fathom and decided immediately it should come home with me. I liked this book well enough but I don’t know how to classify it — it was surely fantasy, felt a little like a fairy-tale re-telling of a few mashed up stories, and then a story about sleeping gods.
Arahab waits in the water for the right moment. Waiting for a foot to dip in or a body to be thrown overboard so she can find her next pet child to mold into the beast she needs to wake the Leviathan. She finds her next child in Beatrice a spoiled teenager, murderer, and genuinely wicked person. Her cousin Nia would have been a better capture for Arahab but it was Beatrice she caught. Nia, lured into the water as a means of escaping Beatrice on a murderous rampage, runs from Arahab and believes she has escaped until she realizes she’s been turned to stone. While the beast that made Nia waits for her to awaken, the gods begin to play their own games.
Priest created a strange little world to drop Nia and Beatrice into. Toyed with by gods in the hope these two mortals will do their bidding, they are surprised by the strength the mere humans possess. Nia and Beatrice defy both gods that created them in ways the gods never imagined. The roles they played were interesting even if they were being used as a means to show how the gods have fallen. What I really wanted though was background. In some books I’m good with nothing — drop me in and I’ll learn as I go. Other times, I want ropes. This time I wanted ropes. Not because the story was hard to follow, it wasn’t at all, but because I felt I was missing vital information that would have made me love it more. We know no more of the gods than Nia and Beatrice which is fine and understandable, but I wanted more and that I think is my hang-up.
Would I recommend it? Yes, to someone who is OK with being dropped in to a story. If you are, then all good. Read it because it’s a good book. I was slightly disappointed with it though but still found it well done. I’ve been seeing a lot of talk (or maybe it’s only me looking for something specific) about Four and Twenty Blackbirds. When I get through the stack of towering books threatening to fall off my desk and dent my floor, I’ll be on a hunt for it.
Just Book Reading 