Saga. What does one say about Saga? It’s a force of nature. Impossibly grand in scope while remaining completely character driven. And while there are arguably two (and a half) main characters — Alana, Marko, and toddler Hazel — the secondary players are just as well-developed, sympathetic, and alive as the mains. It’s sophisticated yet totally crass, complex and bizarre yet familiar and universal. It’s utterly audacious. It’s the type of story that gives you this disgustingly adorable anthropomorphic baby seal character, right out of […]
Why spend a 5-star review explaining why I like the book, when I can chide heartbroken shippers instead?
Beware shippers, you guys. Sigh. I ruined this review before it ever began, because right after I finished Ruin and Rising, I ran (internet-ran) to the reviews on Goodreads, excitedly, to hit the “like” button a bunch of times on said reviews, and instead, I was confronted with a bunch of one- and two-star reviews from people who were devastated that their favorite series would end this way. Some of them made valid points, that I nonetheless disagree with, but I understand their interpretations. But […]
“The ox feels the yoke, but does the bird feel the weight of its wings?”
My wish for half-star ratings becomes ever more pronounced with my review of Siege and Storm, because where I gave its series predecessor, Shadow and Bone, 4 stars, it was probably more like 3.5 (I liked it a lot, but there were issues.) Here, I also give Siege and Storm 4 stars, but I’d just as soon bump it up to 4.5 (One minor irritation, but otherwise amazing!) As this is a review for a second book in a series, spoilers for the first book […]
A romance featuring canal engineering
The Way to a Duke’s Heart is the third book in a trilogy (The Truth About the Duke) and is best not read as a standalone. The romance is self-contained, but the B-plot is very much a continuation of a mystery that has developed over the course of the series. Mild spoilers for the prior two books may follow. Charlie de Lacey, eldest of a trio of brothers and heir apparent to the title Duke of Durham, has a blackmail problem: someone is threatening his […]
[wistful country tune plays]
Check another one off the NPR Summer of Love list. Texas Destiny is first in a trilogy about cowboy and rancher brothers living in an as-of-yet uncivilized West Texas. Preciously, they are named Dallas, Houston, and Austin. (“Our parents just named us after wherever they were living at the time,” Houston explains, which doesn’t alleviate my raised eyebrows considering Texas is huge, frequent travel in the Wild West is not something one does for fun in this era, and in the pre-birth control 19th century […]
Early CBR8 popularity front-runner?
I can see why they recommended this at SBTB: it’s a clever, succinct romance between two characters who share obvious charisma. The prose is witty and sophisticated, and Lucy Parker struck a remarkable balance in writing dialogue that demonstrated the characters’ intelligence while also remaining casual, which made everyone on the page seem much more realistic than I often encounter in contemporary romance. (This, in fact, is a hidden pet peeve of mine: authors bend over backwards to inject “cleverness” in banter between characters, but […]
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