The Paper Magician By Charlie N. Holmberg This is the first in a trilogy by Holmberg following new Magician’s Apprentice Ceoney Twill as she begins her tenure in paper magic under the eccentric Magician Thane. She is not exactly keen on paper magic, she had wanted to be bonded to metal and a magician can only work with one material for their entire life. Normally, the student first in the class would get to pick their discipline, but Ceoney is told by the head of […]
Blind Woman Does Surgery in a Forest
This review is for the audiobook verson of The Spymaster’s Lady, by Joanna Bourne, the first in her Spymasters series. Full disclosure: I listened to this while I was sick and not really with it (thank you cold medicine and naps), so that probably had an effect on my feelings about this book. After learning that My Lord and Spymaster was second in a series, I decided to listen to the first. It too was read by a woman with an American accent, but it […]
Sharp as a Razor
This review is for the audiobook version of Stiletto, by Daniel O’Malley, read by Moira Quirk. This book is the sequel to the popular novel The Rook, part of the Checquy series. Rook Myfanwy Thomas is hoping the merger between two secret organizations, the Checquy and the Belgian Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen (AKA The Grafters) will be seamless and easy. Unfortunately it’s a bit of a mess. A group known as The Antagonists seem to be trying to stop any kind of agreements being reached. […]
Actual Improvement or Stockholm Syndrome? Books 4-6 of Juliet Blackwell’s Witchcraft Mystery Series
After reading (and not particularly enjoying) the first three books in Juliet Blackwell’s ongoing Witchcraft Mystery series, I had decided to give them up. By the third one, I was mostly hate-reading anyway, curious to see how crummy these stories would get. But…well, I’d already put the fourth volume, In a Witch’s Wardrobe, on hold at the library, and when it was automatically delivered to my Kindle, I read it anyway. And then something surprising happened–it was actually pretty good. Some of the more annoying […]
Fortunately, I am mighty!
IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!! IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! *Ahem* Apologies, but I have a lot of feelings about Neil Gaiman’s books, and it seems like this one was announced 742 years ago. However, I got my hands on it a week and half before the official release date, because I’m bullshit lucky and someone at my local bookstore put it on the shelves early. One of my favourite books in recent years was Philip Pullman’s retelling of some classic fairy tales, Fairy Tales from the Brothers […]
Takin’ a Trip to Goofyland
Question Quest by Piers Anthony (1991) Xanth is a very magical realm and a complete series of fantasy books by cheeky Mr. Anthony. In this ongoing story of Xanth, it begins with a simple girl on a simple quest. She, like everyone else on Xanth, has a magical ability but that’s not the reason she’s come to ask an ancient wizard a Question. She thinks she is an old maid at thirty and perhaps the proposal she turned down when she was younger could be […]