My first stop on the Trilogy Tour turned out to be somewhat of a dud, and even though all of the books in The Long Price Quartet were already published, I decided to abandon that series and start fresh. Promise of Blood wastes no time in getting right to the action – the king is overthrown in the very first chapter by Field Marshal Tamas, the head of the Adran army and a powder mage. Powder mages fall in the middle of the magical hierarchy […]
Fatale: A murder/mystery with more murder and more mystery
It is raining. Darkly clad people under umbrellas at the funeral of Dominic Raines. One woman stands out, beautiful and dark. Our protagonist is immediately taken with her as she explains how her grandmother had a fling with the deceased – the godfather to our protagonist. This is the scene where Nicholas Lash meets Josephine. We meet these people just this day because this is the day Nicholas Lash’s life changes; people try to kill him at his Godfather’s house and Josephine appears to save […]
“Bright the hawk’s flight on the empty sky”
After taking on the rather draining Tiptree anthology, I wanted to rest my heart and mind and spirit. So I am revisiting one of my most cherished treasures: Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea cycle. I was 10 or 12 when I discovered this series, and I fell precipitously in love with it. It was my gateway drug to the world of fantasy and SF. A Wizard of Earthsea is, at heart, a classic story of a Young Wizard who Comes Of Age And Goes On […]
#7 A fantastic foray into Norse Mythology for children
For Odd’s village, winter seems like it will never end – more so than usual, that is. It is especially tough on Odd, who doesn’t quite fit in with his village, and at last he resolves to set forth into the wintry forest to figure out why spring does not come. When he runs into a bear, an eagle, and a fox, he is swept into a mystery and another world – the world of Asgard, where the Norse gods are dealing with an angry […]
KayKay #CBR6 Review #07 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Someone recently asked me what this book was about. I wanted to say it is about a journey, and there’s magic and a magic school…but that sounded too much like Harry Potter. I decided I couldn’t properly remember, and I needed read it again and write a proper review. I write these reviews because I have a terrible memory. I mostly remember the feeling I had when I read a book (and this one left me with a great feeling). Needless to say this book is a 5, if […]
We’ll see how brave you are
Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making