Another urban fantasy contribution by Ilona Andrews, part of their Edge series which I find especially attractive. The Edge is a semi-magical no-holds-barred dumping ground that lies between the Broken, a land of shopping malls and ordinary unmagical lives like ours, and the Weird where powerful magic rules and those with the strongest magic and/or the most exalted lineage rule. Charlotte de Ney is an unequalled physician from the Weird who broke the cardinal rule of healers like herself, and so fled into self-exile in […]
“It didn’t matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home.”
The Magician’s Land is an exciting and satisfying end to a trilogy that had its ups and downs, but was nevertheless entertaining and always delivered on complex characters. Not to draw too clear of a parallel between the main character, Quentin, and the author here — because I’m sure Lev Grossman is not, and never was, the little shit that Quentin started out as — but I genuinely feel that there is some symmetry between the quality and goal of each of the books and […]
Oh Kresley, Why Can’t I Quit You?
Kresley Cole is known primarily for her super sexual, often glaringly misogynistic, yet embarrassingly addictive Immortals After Dark series full of sexy brooding vampires, Valkyrie, demons, etc. She then moved on to 50 Shades of Rough Sex with the Game Maker series. Now she’s encroaching into YA Twihard territory with the first book in the Arcana Chronicles. Regardless of your opinion of Kresley Cole you have to admire her ability to accurately identify profitable niche markets where her brand of sexual wish-fulfillment will sell. Most […]
omg omg omg
What with the visibility of this series lately, I don’t feel that I need to do a lengthy plot recap here — anyone reading this review probably has already read Outlander, or they have a good idea of what it’s about. I’ve had the intention to read it for some time, but spurred by the TV series, I finally dug in and — wow. I completely understand the obsession. Briefest of summaries JUST IN CASE: Claire Randall is a married woman of the 1940’s who […]
McSweeney’s #10 (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #10)
I saw the cover of this book at a book sale and I fell for it, hard. It’s a compilation of “genre” short stories: westerns, sci-fi, horror, crime, etc. The reason for my instant need to own? Contributing authors include: Michael Chabon (who also edited), Elmore Leonard, Neil Gaiman, Nick Hornby, Stephen King, Michael Crichton (who sadly contributed a rather lame tale), Dave Eggers, Harlan Ellison, and more. Love at first sight, I’ll tell you. It mostly lived up to my expectations as well. The majority […]
Matty is now the Messenger
In happier news, I’m reading a different YA series that is well-plotted, well-characterized, and somehow…gentler…on the human spirit. I’d always heard of The Giver but never really knew about the sequence of novels that came later. I’m really glad to be reading them. Let’s talk about Messenger. Lowry weaves together plots from The Giver and Gathering Blue with the story of Matty, now a teenager and living in Village, a haven for broken/destitute/discarded people of outlying villages. Protected by Leader and mentored by Seer, a […]