Fiction

Today’s Book — A Game of Thrones

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I’m reading A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin and let me say right here — it’s wonderful.  You should read it too.  If you love fantasy, it’s for you.  If you love great characters, it’s for you.  If you love a good story, it’s for you.

Of course, I’m only on page 252 of 787 so it’s possible that my thoughts will change but I doubt it.  A cold has made it nearly impossible to read the last few days as my addled brain hasn’t been able to focus (so please ignore my rambling this morning and any subsequent typos which I’m sure will occur) but each time I pick up the book, I don’t want to put it down.   The fact that I’m taking cold medicine and keep falling asleep is what makes me put it down.

The world created by Martin is fantastic.  Winter and darkness loom over everything and while summer is still warming the world at this point in the book, you know it’s coming and it seems few, especially the king, are prepared for it.  Did I mention there are dragons too? What good fantasy wouldn’t have dragons?  So far, they’re only legend, but I have a feeling some may find a place in the story.  All right, so I googled the book to find out.  🙂  I like spoilers.

There was one thing that worried me about this book early on — the sheer number of characters.  Each chapter is told from the perspective of one person and a few chapters in I regretted the fact that I wasn’t taking notes.  Thankfully, that worry has passed.  Yes, there are a lot of characters in this book but you soon become able to distinguish each one as they’re drawn so carefully.  It’s an interesting way of telling this story, and while I wasn’t sure about it in the beginning, I have to say it’s grown on me.

I had more I wanted to talk about but the brain is craving a rest.  Enjoy Thursday.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

By JK Rowling

Scholastic

ISBN: 0-439-35806-X

4 stars

It’s taking me longer than I thought to finish my Harry Potter re-read this year but that’s all right, I’m in no hurry.  Let’s face it; it’s not as if I don’t know the story. 🙂  In all honesty, I was hoping to re-read the entire series before seeing the latest movie but that’s not going to happen so now I’m just enjoying the story.

The short re-cap: Harry is waiting patiently to return to Hogwarts when he’s attacked by dementors, almost gets expelled for performing underage magic in front of a muggle, gets off by a slim margin, heads back to Hogwarts to find out that the Ministry of Magic is slowing doing its best to take over the school.  And there’s that small little matter of Voldermort who would like to see him dead.

As always, spoilers below.  You’ve been forewarned.

The Order of the Phoenix, I hate to admit, is not my favorite book in the series.  Not to say it isn’t good but I forgot just how moody and cranky everyone is in this installment.  I can’t blame either Harry (who’s got a price on his head and feels everyone is lying to him, which in some ways they are) or Sirius (who’s still in hiding and unable to do anything to help the cause or Harry) for their dark moods but there is only so much male PMS I can take.  However, the Weasley twins stepped up and provided enough lightness to make me remember why I fell in love with the series — the magic these two manage is wonderfully silly, and so disgusting, that it makes me want to procure a flyer and order a few of their concoctions.  Umbridge is so mean, annoying, and sniveling that I somehow found myself enjoying her character this time around.  I won’t say like because that would go too far but her attitude brings out some wonderful qualities in others characters such as Professor McGonagall who goes to great means to control her temper.  Snape.  I didn’t plan on mentioning him but he does play a critical role in Harry’s fifth year and his actions only keep me securely on the hate Snape bandwagon.  I’m so very done with him, except I’m not really and I have two more books to fully loathe him, which I plan to do.

In some ways, I feel as though there is too much going on in this book.  It’s long, and that’s not a bad thing because we do get to know a few characters better — Luna and Ginny who are among my favorites — so I don’t want to point to that as the main reason for my lack of overflowing love.  So many sub-plots show up here and it’s a major turning point in the tome.  The danger is much more palpable in this one than the proceeding books and it carries on with the sadness that made its way into the series when Cedric was killed by Voldermort.  But Harry’s attitude is sometimes too much for me.  I do have to admit that I did enjoy the fight at the Ministry of Magic though.  The rooms in the Department of Mysteries are so fascinating.

Well, on to hunting horcruxes.

Teaser Tuesdays

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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 started A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin a few days ago.  I haven’t had the chance to read much, but what little I’ve read, is fantastic.  Let me share…

“Bran pulled himself up, climbed over the gargoyle, crawled out onto the roof.  This was the easy way.  He moved across the roof to the next gargoyle, right above the window of the room where they were talking.” (86 of 787 on Nook)

The House on Durrow Street

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The House on Durrow Street

By Galen Beckett

Ballantine Books

eISBN:978-0-345-52271-9

3 stars

The House on Durrow Street is the sequel to The Magicians & Mrs. Quent.  My review of The Magicians & Mrs. Quent is here if you’re interested in some thoughts on the first book.

After saving Altania from evil, Ivy Quent is living happily with her two sisters and her new husband in her father’s old house.  In the midst of restoring the house to its former glory, many odd things are found, but knowing her father was a magician, none of these things faze the rather unflappable Ivy.  Soon, Ivy and Mr. Quent are swept into the high circles of Altania society, Ivy especially attending party after party.  Nothing seems amiss in her world until she begins to experience a strange calling from the trees and finds out that the magic her father used to safeguard the house may not be as strong as she once thought.

Two things about these books: 1.) I like the world.  It’s sort of an alternative Edwardian England with magic and it’s very appealing.  And 2.) Ivy is a very likable character.  Two more things about these books: 1.) Ivy somehow got a bit dense after she got married; and 2.) I still felt as if I was reading different books only tangentially tied together by a few characters that crossed paths every once in a while.  I had this same complaint about the first book and that was not alleviated with the second.  There are characters and sub-plots in this book that go nowhere and seem to have no ties to the ending.  I do like these other characters and story lines and I especially liked the different look at the lives of those in Altania but having characters meet up in a bar doesn’t make the stories mesh.  And, it moves slow.  Very slow.  In The Magicians & Mrs. Quent, I felt like the pace moved faster but in The House on Durrow Street I kept waiting for something to happen and it doesn’t until 550 pages in to the 602 page book.

I’m a sucker for a series (probably something I don’t have to state if you’ve been reading my reviews) but I’m not sure about this one.  I so wanted to love it because I really like the world built by Beckett but I don’t feel as if the story is going anywhere.  For me, the world can’t be everything and I think that’s the way I feel about this one.  I still need things to happen and they don’t seem to be.  Then again, maybe it’s me so feel free to ignore at will.

A third book in the series is planned — The Master of Heathcrest Hall.  While I wasn’t so enthralled with the first two, something still nags at me and tells me I’ll be reading the third wondering what’s going to happen with Altania even if I’m not sure that I’m totally invested anymore.  Odd?  No.  Call me a book addict is all.

The Distant Hours

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The Distant Hours

By Kate Morton

Atria Books

ISBN: 978-1-4391-5278-2

4 stars

Kate Morton is a new to me author.  I’ve read some mixed things about her books, and about half way through The Distant Hours, I felt I understood some of those reviews.  In the end, I did enjoy it with the exception of one odd thing that left me wondering which I’ll explain later.

Edie Burchill’s mother never cries so when a letter arrives that leaves her mother in tears, Edie wonders, almost obsessively, what was in the letter.  She finds out, after a lot of questioning, that her mother was a child evacuee during WWII.  Her mother, Meredith, was relocated from London to Milderhurst Castle in the deep countryside and found a life there she never imaged possible.  Unfortunately, it was also during this time that her greatest heartache occurred.  Edie finds herself researching the Castle and its three spinster sisters, Percy, Saffy, and Juniper, with the hope that she’ll be able to understand her mother better.  What she finds is a mystery neatly wrapped up in the pages of a children’s book.

A lot goes on in The Distant Hours but it all happens very slowly.  Morton takes her time un-wrapping the story which in some ways can be infuriating and at other moments it’s lovely.  Her writing style lends itself to long, meandering stories which The Distant Hours definitely is.  I liked that Edie was in publishing and had a deep appreciation for words and books.  It made her research and reading, which she does a lot of, fit seamlessly in but as you can imagine, it doesn’t offer a lot of action.  The story didn’t feel slow so much as weighty though and this book is over 500 pages so it’s a literal and figurative heaviness.

So what left me with an odd feeling?  Everything is this book comes to some sort of conclusion.  Every mystery, every thought, every wonder that Edie had about her mother’s life, the sisters of Milderhurst Castle, all find a neat ending.  I’m not opposed to tidy endings but I wasn’t left wondering at all — about anything.  Honestly, I think I would have liked the book more if some of my questions weren’t answered.  Even some of the peripheral sub-plots were tied up.  I almost felt a little ripped-off because I didn’t get the chance to wonder how certain things turned out — Morton told me everything.

But you’ll notice I still gave this book a rather high rating.  I did that because I enjoyed Morton’s writing and I did find myself at times unable to put the book down.  Parts of the story are wonderfully hypnotic, especially those that take place at the castle.  The sisters’ story is sad, almost as decrepit as the castle itself, and yet romantic.  The story is about love lost and love found.  It’s also about endurance (which is handy when reading a book of this size).  For these reasons, I enjoyed it.

This book was sent to me by the publisher for review.

Teaser Tuesdays

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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.

My teaser today comes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

“Harry had been looking forward to the weekend trip into Hogsmeade, but there was one thing worrying him.  Sirius had maintained a stony silence since he had appeared in the fire at the beginning of September; Harry knew they had made him angry by saying that they did not want him to come — but he still worried from time to time that Sirius might throw caution to the winds and turn up anyway.” (332-333)

Magic Bleeds

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Magic Bleeds

By Ilona Andrews

Ace Books

eISBN: 978-1-101-18776-0

4.75 stars

Magic Bleeds is the fourth book in the Kate Daniels series.  And, let me tell you right here how much I love these books.  I put off buying this one when it came out this summer (Why I don’t know?  I think it had to do with a book buying ban or some other foolishness.) but I gave in when I knew I would be traveling for work.  I wanted something that would suck me in, entertainment, and leave me searching out places to read.  Andrews provided me that little respite with this book, and also, how happy was I to find out there are three more books to come after this one!  So, now the gush is over…the review.

Kate Daniels is making good on a bet she lost to Curran, the Beast Lord.  When he stands her up, she does her best not to make her way to the Keep and rip his head off knowing that as an employee of the Order of Merciful Aid which deals with all magical problems, it would make relations between the Pack and the Knights of the Order even more difficult.  Instead she goes about her days cleaning up magical messes trying not to think about Curran.  Without knowing it, she stumbles onto a strange phenomenon, magically poisoned individuals that emit plagues.  These infectious people start showing up all over magic-ridden Atlanta and all seem to become her problem.  While trying to deal with and contain a possible plague, Kate’s aunt, a god who loves to demolish worlds, appears and it’s not a happy family reunion.  In the midst of trying to figure out how to kill her aunt, she finds herself falling harder for Curran who seems intent on making her his mate.

As the fourth book in the series, I will say this — you can read this book on its own because much is explained and the story here is self-contained enough to make it easy to follow — but why would you do such a thing?  There’s too much fun to be had reading them all.  What I love about this series is the world itself.  The Atlanta in these books is subject to waves of magic that flood the city with craziness.  There are shapeshifters, vampires (But of a different type than most are used to so don’t let that turn you off.), mages, beasts, and everything else you can possibly think of.  Kate is crass, hardheaded, crazy, and funny.  She cracks jokes at the most inappropriate times and she makes the story fantastic.  It’s an odd mix I’ll grant you but you have to trust that somehow all of the ways in which magic makes things happen in these books will work and it does.  Andrews takes a number of fantasy elements and staples and tweaks each one so that it becomes gritty and dark.  For me, it’s like brain candy of the highest caliber.

The love story between Kate and Curran finally comes to some understanding in this book and I couldn’t wait for it to happen.  In fact, I had been waiting for three books for this one so without wanting to ruin this if you haven’t read it yet, I won’t say more.  While I’ll admit to not always being a huge fan of love sub-plots, this one worked for me.  Kate and Curran are two great characters and the reason I keep reading this series.

If you’re looking for different, dark fantasy, you might want to try these.  It’s not your standard fantasy telling but this is a world that will pull you in and you won’t want to put the book down.  The three previous books in this series are: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, and Magic Strikes.

The Sunday Salon

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We had visitors this weekend so not much reading was done. I did get in a few chapters here and there but mostly it was filled with football games and touristy things.

In the last week, I finished The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, The Sherlockian by Graham Moore, The Exile by Diana Gabaldon, and started Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling so even if I didn’t get to read this weekend, it was still a good week overall.

I don’t have much to say today which is probably due to the lack of sleep I’ve had the last few nights.  Even the nap this afternoon didn’t help so I’ll be making this a very short salon today.  I was planning to talk about cleaning off the bookshelves or maybe even holiday reading but I don’t have it in me today.  🙂

Happy Sunday.