I know that this book has been around for a while, but I haven’t found time to pick it up until now. I have to say, it’s not exactly what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. I’m not terribly familiar with the ins and outs of Norse Mythology, but I’m aware enough at least to not use the Marvel films as a guide! I know J. R. R. Tolkien was greatly influenced by Norse mythology, and I think this may be the reason I […]
Mmmmm, syrup
“When light encounters a strong magical field it loses all sense of urgency. It slows right down. And on the Discworld the magic was embarrassingly strong, which meant that the soft yellow light of dawn flowed over the sleeping landscape like the caress of a gentle lover or, as some would have it, like golden syrup.” Pratchett describes the sunlight of Discworld as flowing like golden syrup several times during The Light Fantastic, which meant I spent a fair amount of the time that I […]
Missing the Beatles and Norse Insults
First, I’ve gotta say that I’m glad I got the Barnes and Noble exclusive on this one; the Norse insult generator in the back is fun if a little limited. So overall, the third book in the Magnus Chase series is pretty standard Rick Riordan fun. There’s plenty of action, and some touching moments mixed in. Seriously, if you don’t at least internally have an ‘awww’ moment when Hearthstone gets his othala rune back, there is something wrong with you. That part of the story […]
Schwab sticks the landing (mostly)
3.5 stars. It’s always a bit scary heading into the final book of a beloved series. Will things wrap up satisfactorily? Will my favorite characters die? Will I be able to read it again and still love it? Ideally you want it to be the best book in the series, but just not ruining the series will usually suffice. That was kind of my feeling with this one. Although I didn’t love it as much as the first two books, it was still a satisfying […]
Potter Adjacent
The Iron Trial is the first book in series by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. I’m a fan of Holly Black, but I’ve kind of avoided everything by Cassandra Clare because I used to read Fandom Wank back in the day and she just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. However, this book was on sale a while back, and it looked interesting so I picked it up (also, I think Holly Black was listed first and I didn’t see Cassandra Clare’s name at […]
Victorian Study of Dragons
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan is what happens when you take a curious minded scientific woman in a time when women weren’t supposed to be scientific or curious, like Marie Curie for example, and drop her in a world where dragons exist. It’s awesome. Set in a faux Victorian England this is the autobiography of the world famous dragon expert Lady Isabella Trent, or it’s the first part of her autobiography. I loved every second of this book. One of the things […]