Alix “Owl” Hiboux is an archaeology grad student who was screwed over by her professors and turned to a life of art theft to support herself. After a job gone wrong, she ended up on some French vampires’ hit list and has been hiding out in a Winnebago in the desert, playing online roleplaying games in her downtime. She’s sworn off any kind of supernatural job ever again, but can’t really refuse when a helicopter comes to pick her up to take her to Mr. […]
She’s Just a Little Old Lady; Who Cares if We Left the Keys in the Helicopter (Said No Terrorist Ever)
Mrs. Pollifax, Innocent Tourist (1997) I’ve loved Mrs. P from the beginning (14 books ago!), but I didn’t realize she was married and still having adventures until I picked up Innocent Tourist. Although a little formulaic (I’ve only read the early ones), they are about the most atypical spy hero imaginable. Picture a little old lady in New England who got tired of volunteering for local charities after her husband passed away. What does she do? She goes to the CIA and tells them she’s […]
With so many exciting parts of the American Revolution you could have written about, Diana, why is there so much boring in the first half of this book?
Disclaimer! If you haven’t read the previous six books in the series, there will be minor spoiler in this review. Proceed at your own risk. Having finally completed my epic re-read of the previous books in the series at a page count total that is frankly obscene, I finally got to read a new to me Diana Gabaldon. When this book first came out in 2009, I just didn’t have the energy to expend on re-reading the whole series to catch up and I decided […]
Sometimes being kidnapped might be the best thing to ever happen to a young woman
Having finally read The Hero and the Crown, it felt like it was time for a re-read of the Damar book I had actually read. The Blue Sword is set many centuries after Aerin the Dragon Slayer saved her kingdom from magical threat. Damarians now seem to be chiefly desert dwelling nomads and expert horsemen. They are now threatened both by magic wielding enemies to the north and ignorant colonists from the Homeland (read: Imperialist Britain). Corlath, the Damarian king tries to propose an alliance with […]
Best Book I’ve Read This Year
I’ve had Code Name Verity (2012) by Elizabeth Wein in my library queue for months. I think at least twice it came up, but I either forgot to check it out in time or ran out of time to read it. Part of the problem was I couldn’t remember why I’d chosen to read it. I vaguely remembered that it was a young adult novel set during World War II that had something to do with women spies. I was imagining some kind of Disney-fied […]
Are you more heroic if you sacrifice yourself for people who shun and fear you?
Disclaimer! This was granted to me by Open Road Integrated Media through NetGalley in return for a fair and unbiased review. Aerin is the lonely, ostracized daughter of the ruler of Damar. She has pale skin and fiery red hair amongst a people who are bronzed with dark hair. She cannot even remember who first told her the story, but she has known for as long as she can remember that her mother was a commoner witch-woman who came from the North, who ensorcelled the […]