Sorcerer to the Crown is a Best Book of 2015 from NPR. I found it on their Book Concierge, and the description of the book, set in Regency England with magic, sounded delightful. The book tells the story of Zacharias Wythe, the Royal Sorcerer of England, who came to the post when his adoptive father, Sir Stephen, died. He was a slave as a child, and his adoptive father rescued him and trained him to use magic. Zacharias faces opposition to his position from magic […]
I finally joined the Rainbow Rowell fanclub
Somehow I missed the Rainbow Rowell is great fan train. I read all the glowing reviews on the Cannonball and never got around to reading anything by her. I had been seeing some retweets of hers on my Twitter feed and liked them, so I decided to read Fangirl. And I’m sad it took me this long to read it, because I inhaled it. It was so great. Is it possible I have peaked and read my favorite book of the year already? Possibly, yes. […]
A long time ago this show was so good
I loved Veronica Mars the television show so much, but I must confess, I haven’t seen the movie. I had a baby that January, and my March just went by in a blur of no sleep. Now that I’ve read the books I should really go back and watch it. I did spoil myself with some major plot points from the movie since the first book takes place right after the movie. I liked the mystery plot in the book, and I thought it was […]
Sisters of Predestination
The second book in this series about Tudor England starts with execution of Lady Jane Grey. The story alternates between Jane’s sisters Mary Grey and Katherine Grey. Mary is misshapen and used as a doll or pet by both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and Katherine is pretty and flighty. The character of the narrator is court painter Levinia Teerlinc. Katherine spends most of the book in the Tower of London, having married without Queen Elizabeth’s permission, and possibly mixed up in a plot to […]
The Survivor
I am fascinated by Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth’s eras in history, and I enjoy historical fiction, but I am not a big fan of Phillipa Gregory’s works from this time period. I picked these up in the hopes that these would be better written and better edited. The first book tells the tale of Queen Katherine, who has the distinction not only to have avoided the chopping block, but actually survived Henry’s reign. Katherine is pursued by Henry shortly after the death of her […]
Soaring through History
I decided to read this book because I saw a description of Uprooted, and thought it looked interesting, but I hadn’t read anything else by Naomi Novik, so I started with this series. I’m glad I did. This book is set during the Napoleonic Wars but has dragons that form an Aerial Corps There are many more dragons on the French side than the British side, so when Captain Will Laurence discovers a egg that is about to hatch aboard a French ship he and […]