Dave Stone
Finished 14 January
Year Total: 3
Finished 14 January
Year Total: 3
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Hades' Daughter
Sara Douglass
0765344424
2003
The first of a trilogy. Brutus, the last of the Trojan kings, rounds up his people and takes them to the island of Albion to rebuild Troy. As the original was, his new city was to be founded on the Game, the labyrinth that traps evil and protects the city above. He would build it with the help of Genvissa, a powerful priestess with her own agenda.
I found this a little hard to read; it's an enthralling story, but the nature of the characters and the storyline itself just weren't that easy to like. Still, the whole ultimate showdown between good and evil kept me going, and it paid off. The story draws you in, and you spend the entire length of the story trying to figure out who is on which side, or even how many sides there are.
Date finished: 16/12/08
Year Total: 38
0765344424
2003
The first of a trilogy. Brutus, the last of the Trojan kings, rounds up his people and takes them to the island of Albion to rebuild Troy. As the original was, his new city was to be founded on the Game, the labyrinth that traps evil and protects the city above. He would build it with the help of Genvissa, a powerful priestess with her own agenda.
I found this a little hard to read; it's an enthralling story, but the nature of the characters and the storyline itself just weren't that easy to like. Still, the whole ultimate showdown between good and evil kept me going, and it paid off. The story draws you in, and you spend the entire length of the story trying to figure out who is on which side, or even how many sides there are.
Date finished: 16/12/08
Year Total: 38
The Margarets
Sherri I Tepper
978-0-57508-0-478
2007
Margaret, the only child on a station orbiting Mars, invents other selves to pay with - a queen, a healer, a warrior... a whole collection of roles to lose herself in. And without her knowing it, each of her selves find themselves living their own lives, while strings are pulled from much, much further away.
This is a big book, in size and scope. Each Margaret has her own story and own cast of supporting characters, so I found I really had to concentrate to keep track of what was going on, even more so as things fell into place.
The story was well-told and not rushed, and was hard to put down. I thought the end, with the final Margaret, was a little saccharine, but maybe she deserved that; I personally preferred the quieter fate of Sophia, but it was nice to see the promise of real progress.
Date finished: 10-12-08
Year total: 37
978-0-57508-0-478
2007
Margaret, the only child on a station orbiting Mars, invents other selves to pay with - a queen, a healer, a warrior... a whole collection of roles to lose herself in. And without her knowing it, each of her selves find themselves living their own lives, while strings are pulled from much, much further away.
This is a big book, in size and scope. Each Margaret has her own story and own cast of supporting characters, so I found I really had to concentrate to keep track of what was going on, even more so as things fell into place.
The story was well-told and not rushed, and was hard to put down. I thought the end, with the final Margaret, was a little saccharine, but maybe she deserved that; I personally preferred the quieter fate of Sophia, but it was nice to see the promise of real progress.
Date finished: 10-12-08
Year total: 37
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Nosy Neighbor
Fern Michaels
074347749-9
2005
Romance, but at least there is a dog on the front cover and not a half naked male model, which was encouraging. A lot of this book is conversation, which meant I had to slow my regular reading speed right down, or the characters seemed to consist of deranged babbling – random sentences thrown together with no kind of pause in between.
Girl has a guy, who turns out to be the Bad Guy. Cue nosey neighbour, who is the Good Guy, add a sidekick, three dogs and a blizzard, and you have this story.
There were annoying bits throughout, not least the fact that for a couple of pages they changed the spelling of the Good Guy's name, and the overall tone was like a TV movie – too much implied emotion and the feeling that the book was rushed. Maybe if they'd added another five thousand words things would have slowed down to a more believable pace.
Year total: 36
074347749-9
2005
Romance, but at least there is a dog on the front cover and not a half naked male model, which was encouraging. A lot of this book is conversation, which meant I had to slow my regular reading speed right down, or the characters seemed to consist of deranged babbling – random sentences thrown together with no kind of pause in between.
Girl has a guy, who turns out to be the Bad Guy. Cue nosey neighbour, who is the Good Guy, add a sidekick, three dogs and a blizzard, and you have this story.
There were annoying bits throughout, not least the fact that for a couple of pages they changed the spelling of the Good Guy's name, and the overall tone was like a TV movie – too much implied emotion and the feeling that the book was rushed. Maybe if they'd added another five thousand words things would have slowed down to a more believable pace.
Year total: 36
The Oracle's Queen
Lynn Flewelling
0-73227749-3
2006
Tamir - formally Prince Tobin - has announced her intentions to restore Skala to its former glory. Allegiances are declared, but Tamir must face her cousin Korin, touched by an evil wizard and convinced that he is the rightful king.
This series was great - the first and second books were absolutely riveting (I stayed up to midnight just to keep reading), while the third wrapped up the story convincingly. There was one thing that I was wondering about that revealed how cunning the author was - a tiny thread woven through each book was revealed at the end to be part of a new series of books, which amused me and got me interested as well.
Year Total: 35
0-73227749-3
2006
Tamir - formally Prince Tobin - has announced her intentions to restore Skala to its former glory. Allegiances are declared, but Tamir must face her cousin Korin, touched by an evil wizard and convinced that he is the rightful king.
This series was great - the first and second books were absolutely riveting (I stayed up to midnight just to keep reading), while the third wrapped up the story convincingly. There was one thing that I was wondering about that revealed how cunning the author was - a tiny thread woven through each book was revealed at the end to be part of a new series of books, which amused me and got me interested as well.
Year Total: 35
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)