Fantasy

Today’s Book

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The Red Wolf Conspiracy…I don’t think we were meant to be.  I’ve tried reading you twice now and really, there’s nothing wrong with you.  In fact, there are many things right with you that I’m beginning to believe it’s me.  Maybe I’m not in the mood for fantasy at this moment in time.  Epic adventure — perhaps I’m craving something on a small scale.  Conspiracies, war, a ship hundreds of years old on a journey with a child aboard who can read languages he doesn’t even know.  The possibilities were good, but alas, I think we need to go our separate ways for now.

Last night, I began The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger.  It’s historical fiction and seems to be sticking.  After all, maybe I was in the mood for something more historical rather than fantastical.  Who knows…

Reading anything good today?

Review – A Conspiracy of Kings

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A Conspiracy of Kings

By Megan Whalen Turner

Greenwillow Books

ISBN: 9780061870934

4 stars

A Conspiracy of Kings in the fourth book in The Thief series.  I don’t know that I loved this one, which is supposedly the final book in the series, as much as the previous three, but I did enjoy it.

Sophos of Sounis is more concerned with complaining about his tutor than with the fact that he may one day be the King of Sounis.  When his father’s villa is attacked, he gets the chance to figure out whether or not he has what it takes to be King of Sounis.

I missed Sophos in the last two books.  He’s a likable character in The Thief but here, well, I wanted to slap him and yell at him to grow up.  He’s going to be King, let’s face it, you know he is, and his land is at war and all he can think to do is whine about the tutor he can’t stand because he thinks he’s smarter than him.  And while that might be true, it just shows you how childish he is.  When he finds himself a slave in one of his father’s Barons’ household, he thinks about staying there because it’s easier to let someone else make decisions which made me wonder why I liked him in the first place.  But then he finds out there’s more to him than even he thought and the rest flowed, although I did miss Gen, the King of Attolia and the former Thief of Eddis, in this book.  Gen was a whiner too but there was something still so likable about him because you knew he was doing it to hide something.  Sophos just whined.  This one is all about Sophos and while he’s good, he’s no Gen.

I’m slightly annoyed though.  It did end on a good wrap-up note but I feel there is still more and I don’t know if another book is planned — must Google!  Otherwise, it has been a satisfying series and I recommend it.

The Sunday Salon – A Slow Week

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I didn’t do much posting this week which is ironic because I’m caught up on my reviews but for some reason I didn’t find the time to post anything much.  I finished Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (amazing), Emily and Einstein by Linda Frances Lee (fun), and I’m about half way through Fathom by Cherie Priest (interesting) so while the posting was slow, the reading was good.

Being honest, this will probably be rather short today too because I want to go to the Hirshhorn Museum to see an exhibit by Blinky Palermo.  At some point this week I will get some blog karma back and return to normally scheduled things though.  Admittedly, I’m a bit overscheduled so once that clears up all will be well.

Some more sharing…

Middle-earth According to Mordor – Salon article about a Russian author who re-tells the Lord of the Rings from the evil perspective.

Chicago Tribune article about the killing of the Dewey Decimal System – it seems my library or at least certain portions of it are going along with the trend.

The 2011 Tournament of Books begins March 7, 2011.

If you have an e-reader and don’t want people to know you’re reading it, you can make this nifty cover.

Happy Sunday.

Review – A Discovery of Witches

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A Discovery of Witches

By Deborah Harkness

Viking

ISBN: 9780670002241-0

5 stars

Diana Bishop is from one of the most powerful witch families known to exist and she may be one of the family’s most powerful witches ever, but she goes out of her way not to practice magic. She’s become a well-known scholar in the fields of history and science, in particular the intersection of science and witchcraft, and while she might not practice magic intentionally, she’s aware of it all around her. While doing research in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Diana recalls a manuscript — Ashmole 782 — which has been considered lost for the last 150 years. Finding it bound by a spell, she breaks it unknowingly, and once the book is open, she can’t say why but something about it is all wrong. Slightly shaken by her discovery and the magic, Diana sends the book back to the stacks bothered by its contents and the influx of witches, daemons, and vampires that have suddenly gathered in her vicinity. Unsettled by what she’s seen, Diana leaves the library and plans to forget the book and hopes that the attention from the other creatures will fade too.

Matthew Clairmont is a pioneering researcher known for his work in the genetics field. He’s also a vampire looking for a way to get his hands on the Ashmole 782 manuscript and he thinks he may have found that way through Diana. What Matthew doesn’t expect is to fall in love with her in the process of looking for the book. Diana is an enigma to him — not only does she appeal to him both intellectually and physically but he stuns even himself when he can’t walk away from her even when he should.

Diana and Matthew find themselves in an unorthodox relationship, and because of it, are being hunted by the Congregation, a group of witches, daemons, and vampires that rule the world of creatures. Diana and Matthew find themselves in danger from not just from the discovery of Ashmole 782 but also their growing relationship. Knowing Diana will never be able to defend herself without knowledge of and control over her powers, Matthew convinces her they must go to her family for help.  Safe with Diana’s family of witches they try to understand what her connection is to the manuscript and why every vampire, witch, and daemon is after it.

I love books about books and throw in witches, daemons, and vampires and it appears I become very easy to please. Harkness throws a lot into the story — witchcraft, love, vampires, daemons, secret covens, lost spell-bounds books — but she makes it all work and very smoothly at that. It works thanks to the characters. Diana and Matthew are more than just witch and vampire and it’s about more than spells and bloodlust. While I’m not always a huge fan of love stories mixed with fantasy stories, it works very well here and manages to become the story without overwhelming it.

Matthew’s history combined with Diana’s research, lend the story a fantastic scope that spans generations but the science Harkness infuses into the story grounds it so it never feels as if it goes off on a strange tangent. There are explanations for the witchcraft as well as background for the hidden lives of the creatures (witches, vampires, daemons, and humans) that make the story feel less fantastic and more realistic. Well, as close as one can get to real in a story about creatures that don’t exist.

A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy.  I for one will be waiting anxiously for the next two books in the series.

In addition to this blog, I also do reviews for The Book Reporter website. The above review was done for the Book Reporter which can be found here. The book was provided to me by the publisher.

Review – The Lost World

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The Lost World

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

B&R Samizdat Express

E-Book

After reading The Lost City of Z by David Grann last year, I immediately downloaded The Lost World to my Nook.  Grann references the book in his story about Percy Fawcett whom Conan Doyle credits with the idea for his story that became The Lost World.  On a night when I needed something to read and was craving more non-fiction than fiction but couldn’t even feign hope in the book I picked, I browsed the Nook and found my copy of The Lost World.  A short book, my version is a mere 174 pages, I thought it would be the perfect distraction.

I was right on one level — it was distracting but in a good way.  Conan Doyle, is known better to me as the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, surprised me in that the story he was telling felt familiar and foreign all at the same time.  The Lost World is the story a newspaper reporter looking for his big story break and thanks to a tip from an editor, he finds himself wrapped up in the tale of Professor Challenger who believes he found a prehistoric world on a plateau in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.  And if you’re wondering, yes it comes complete with caveman and a t-rex.

What makes the story work is the length.  Conan Doyle’s stories were published in segments and you can easily get the feel of that here but it works without feeling punctuated.  The four men that take on the expedition, Professor Challenger, Professor Summerlee, Lord John Roxton, and Edward Malone are interesting characters.  Challenger and Summerlee both have agendas and are out to prove something — for Challenger it’s to prove the world he’s been ridiculed for discovering exists and Summerlee is out to prove Challenger is the fraud he believes him to be.  While Malone is chasing the story of his life to appease the woman he loves with the hopes of a marriage, Roxton is the true explorer who wants to satiate a curiosity.  The four men, and yes it’s a story all about men, come together to form an interesting tale that will keep you interested even if you know the end.

This year I’m trying to delve deeper into author backlists and while my Sherlock Holmes knowledge is still rather shallow, this was a fun little story and I’m glad I took the time to read it.

Tuesday Teaser – A Conspiracy of Kings

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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 that other participants know what you’re reading.

I’m reading A Conspiracy of Kings by Meghan Whalen Turner, which is the final book in The Thief series.

“I think my face must have made it clear what I thought of that. ‘And my abduction?’ I asked pointedly.” (pg. 220)

Review – The Last Pendragon: A Tale of Dark Age Wales

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The Last Pendragon: A Tale of Dark Age Wales

By Sarah Woodbury

Smashwords Edition

EAN: 2940011110184

3.5 stars

Rhiann’s father, the King of Gwynedd, is a cruel man and sees her only virtue as what she can bring him through marriage.  She spends her dreary days turning down any available man her father brings to his hall.  As a bastard child, her choices are running low and she may find herself married to the next man her father brings to his hall.  When Cadwaladr (Cade), the last of the Pendragons, is drug bleeding into her father’s hall, she’s stunned by his appearance.  When she is sent to help him with his wounds and he refuses her help, Rhiann finds she wants to help him even more.  With the help of her stepmother, who also happens to be Cadwaladr’s mother, she escapes with him.  She soon finds out that he’s not exactly who she thought he was.  He’s brave, prepared to fight, a man born to lead men, and he’s also not quite human.

Many re-tellings of Arthurian legend tend to include some form of the supernatural.  It’s sometimes magic used by Merlin, some form of a seer, the sword which in some stories is pulled from an enchanted stone or is given to Arthur by a goddess.  In others, Morgaine or Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s sister, is the one in possession of the magical abilities and there is usually a goddess that has chosen Arthur, or his decedents, for the task of reuniting the people of his land, and more often than not, Saxons are involved.  Woodbury includes most of these elements in some fashion, and while I tend to prefer the non-magical Arthurian legend stories, this one has an interesting twist that made it appealing.  Cade is a form of a daemon which makes him invincible to a degree baring his head doesn’t become dislodged from his body or his heart pierced.  Cade also feels drained by the sunlight and while clearly not a vampire, felt a little too close for me in terms of symptoms/afflictions.

I like character driven stories and once I become attached, even if I was a little leery, I stayed till the end.  One thing that did bother me, and bothered me a lot, was this — the names were all very similar.  I appreciate that the author was staying true to the story by using Welsh names, even if I can’t pronounce them, but they were all too similar and it took me a long time to get them straight.  Even Cade’s horse’s name (Cadfan) was too close to his own name for me.

I was in a slight reading slump when I picked this one up.  I was thoroughly relying on my love of Arthurian legend to pull me through.  It did.  It won’t rank high on my list of best of Arthurian legend stories but it was an interesting re-telling.

Review – A Game of Thrones

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A Game of Thrones: Book One of A Song of Fire and Ice

By George RR Martin

Bantam Spectra
eISBN: 978055389784-5

5 stars

A Game of Thrones has been on my radar, way out there, but it was there.  I thought about reading it a few times but never quite found the time.  Then HBO announced it would be producing a series based on the book, and yet, I still put it off.  So in December I finally got around to picking it up and what can I say other than I am completely and utter in love with this book, the world, and the characters.  Without me listing, and believe me when I say it would be a long list, let’s just say everything about it is great.  Yes, it’s that good.

Now for the dilemma — how do I describe this book?  It’s epic fantasy, it’s long (over 700 pages on my Nook), it’s also violent at times but so fantastically told that it’s almost impossible to put the book down.  I don’t want to give too much away (which is very hard for a person who loves spoilers) so my description will be short and somewhat vague.  The story takes place in a medieval world that resembles England.  Kings, queens, knights, court politics, and drama infuse the story with a richness that rivals any good bit of historical fiction.  But there’s something more.  In the world of the Seven Kingdoms, the king rules from the Iron Throne.  When King Robert calls upon Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell to act as his councilor, all hell breaks loose in the realm and no matter what Stark does, there will be no way to keep a war from starting.  The political struggle for the throne is the main story which all others revolve but there’s also a Wall that looms heavy in the background.  What lies beyond the Wall that was built to keep the realm safe is an army of the dead and while not much is offered up on what and who they are, they add a dark overtone to the story that can only be bad.  In the Seven Kingdoms, winter can last decades so when people say winter is coming it adds a foreboding to the amazing world that makes you want to dive into the next book immediately.

So, are you confused now?  Maybe a little frustrated with me for not offering more?  Please don’t be.  I’m a person who loves spoilers but I think this a book that has to be read to understand the amazing world created by Martin.  Yes, it holds true to basic fantasy (witches, spells, and dragons) but the weight added by the political drama brings the story to a new level.  Each chapter is told from the perspective of a single character which I’ll add was a little daunting in the beginning because the cast of characters and references is long and complicated, and while it may take a minute to adjust, it flows smoothly from there.  From Eddard Stark who is called to court to be the Hand of the King, to understanding the dreams and persistence of his daughters who came to court with him, to his wife Catelyn who suffers heartache over their young son’s injury, to his son Robb who must rule in his place, to the annoyances of the King, the lives of Queen’s brothers, to the brothers who protect and patrol the Wall, and the life of a forgotten ruler’s daughter who is poised to attack to regain a lost kingdom.

Yes, there’s a lot going on in this book but don’t let that deter you.  Martin manages to walk a fine line that threatens to spill into overindulgence, but it never happens.  What does happen is pure enchantment.  His world building is amazing and it doesn’t take long to get sucked into it.  It’s dark, violent, and bloody, but fits with the story and never feels overdone.  If you’re looking for a great fantasy novel, A Game of Thrones is it.