This review has spoilers for both this book and Camber of Culdi. I’m sorry, but as book two in a trilogy, it really can’t be helped much. The fact that Camber becomes a saint in this book is a spoiler, but the title gives it away, and as these books are prequels of sorts to the other trilogies, it’s not much of a spoiler, as some of the other titles in the other trilogies give away the fact that Camber is a major player in Gwynedd’s […]
Christianity and Magic? It’s An Interesting Combination
When I was a young kid there was an amazing used bookstore in town. The bookstore smelled of used books, books were stacked waist high in spots, and the shelves were so close together, and so tall that to see the top shelf, you had to press your back against the next shelf and crane your head way back. Books were a dollar a piece, and if you brought books to trade you could get store credit, so you didn’t have to pay anything at […]
Magical timepieces
This book is a mashup of mystery, magic, romance and historical fiction and I wanted to like it just based on that. Despite that, it was rather lacking in romance and the magic was rather minimal. The heroine, India Steele, is reaching a point of desperation as the book begins. Her father is recently deceased, and the man she was engaged to has snatched her inheritance out from under her. Well, the shop had been left to the fiance, because of course a woman couldn’t […]
Double Cannonballing with a Messy Author
Twelve years ago I was sharing a house in Annapolis, Maryland. My housemate had 3 kids who visited every other weekend. Her youngest, Rosemary, introduced me to Tamora Pierce and I introduced her to Joan of Arcadia. I have since read most of Pierce’s books, both her Tortall and Emelan worlds. She has a gift for writing characters that stick with you. She has written some wonderful female characters. However, as a person, Pierce has revealed herself to be messy on race and representation. She […]
At the End, It All Comes Down to Choice. Final Thoughts on Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, Jim Dale (narrator)
*Note: This review was completed in 2017 before the author’s views towards our trans siblings began to be widely known. My reading experience was what it was and these reviews will remain up, but it should be noted that I find her TERF values abhorrent, which have only become more clear over time, and her doubling down in Summer 2020 has made the decision to walk away from her as a creative force the only acceptable choice for me. I will no longer be supporting […]
Mostly Boring Dinners
Living in a forest during a freezing winter, Feyre and her family rely on her ability to hunt to keep them alive. When Feyre kills an animal that also happens to be a faerie, she is claimed by the fallen’s friend as payment for her transgression. Whisked off to a magical kingdom, Feyre soon starts to fall for the faerie prince that’s keeping her captive and hoping that she will be the key to his freedom from a curse upon his people. Lots of my […]