Pegasus

Pegasus by Robin McKinley (NEW READ)

I've been a Robin McKinley fan since high school, but I feel like I haven't loved her newer work as much as "Hero and the Crown", "Deerskin" or even "Beauty". This book looked like a return to her old form, so I was looking forward to it. Plus the cover is gorgeous- it really looks like the girl and pegasus are in different worlds (earth and sky), but their placement makes them look like they are trying to reach each other.

Sat down and started reading and got a big old history lesson on the how the kingdom was founded. Great, not only was I in infodump city, but it made the pace of the first 100 pages slooooooooooow. I'd rather have started with the main characters (Sylvi, the princess and Ebon, the pegasus) meeting and learned more through their character development, but I felt like I was getting the worldbuilding in huge boring chunks.

Since the start was so slow, I had to hang in there until things got better. And... they did get better. The descriptions of pegasi culture were fascinating, and I wish we had spent more time there early, or maybe had a pegasus narrator for alternating chapters. McKinley actually comes up with a decent reason that beautiful flying magic horses might feel jealous of humans (they long to create, but only have a few fingers which are super delicate and weak). Human hands actually feature in the pegasi fairytales, which is a nice way to round out their culture (not perfect, wants things they don't have).

Unfortunately, I did not know that this book was half of what originally was one story. The end comes at what would be a climax in the story complete, which makes for a horrible cliffhanger and gives the book almost no story arc of its own. I haven't said "Fuck!" this much about a book in a long time. I felt strongly about it- too bad I felt anger and disappointment. I'd like to know what happens, but I feel so cheated I will have to make myself pick up the next one.

Ideally, I wish this book had been more heavily edited to remove the boring bits (court politics, suspicious wizards that are OBVIOUSLY evil but spend pages wasting our time) and then released as a complete story, instead of only half a book.

Behemoth

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (NEW READ)

I am a huge sucker for this series to begin with, since it is A) good steampunk B) cross-dressing adventure  C) fabulously illustrated, but this book really upped my interest in where the plot is going. It felt like a lot of "Leviathan", the first book was spent in set-up, whereas in Behemoth we jump right into the action. And the action just keeps on going.

The Leviathan is headed for Istanbul (not Constantinople) so the "lady boffin" Dr. Barlow can present the Sultan with a mysterious present that might help halt the war. Of course things go wrong- the almost-electrocution of the giant flying whale, a hijacking of a huge mechanical war elephant. Meanwhile Alek and his crew are desperately trying to escape their English captivity. A botched attempt leads Alek right into the middle of a revolution...

(Picture from Keith Thompson's Gallery just to give you a taste of how great the art is. Don't you want to go buy a print now? I know I do!)

My favorite character in the book is Deryn Sharp, my new girl-dressing-as-a-boy role model. Incredibly capable, fairly fearless and sometimes baffled by how weird boys are, Deryn is always in the middle of something crazy. Behemoth delves more deeply into Deryn's feelings about both her father's death and her feelings for Alex (OMG does she LIKE like him?!) but mostly it just features Deryn kicking ass and taking names. It seems like her secret identity as the best (not)boy in the British Air Corps is a little closer to being exposed but so far is in safe hands. Also, an almost love triangle that doesn't turn out quite the way Deryn expects. Ha ha, "MR. Sharp"

The secret of the mysterious eggs from the first book is revealed and it is ADORABLE. Imagine one of these but it speaks better Turkish than you, is named after a British meat extract and keeps making sarcastic references to your secret identity. Pretty much the perfect pet.

The next book in the series looks like it will deal with the Orient Express. I love trains so I am EXCITE. Can't wait to read the further adventures of Deryn and Alek!

Quick Haiku Reviews

This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas (NEW READ)

Won writing contest
College, boys, but something is wrong
Stalked by a priest, yuck

Avalon High by Meg Cabot (REREAD)

Camelot reborn
Elle is NOT the Lily Maid
Though she loves the pool

"Magic Strikes" audio, "Bleeding Violet", "Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case"

Nicolas Sayre and the Creature in the Case by Garth Nix (REREAD)

Like I mentioned in my Lirael review, Nicholas seemed kind of bad-ass in his first appearance before he got all possessed and needed to be saved. Since he seems to be set up as a possible romantic interest for Lirael, obviously he should be tough as nails or at least not afraid of zombies. In this novella he not only gets to be the resident freakish incident expert, he gets his own James Bondian chase sequence involving motorcycles, cars and trains. Dark as most of this series, with lots of deaths, this story was also a lot of fun and I wish there would be more stories written in this world.


Magic Strikes (audiobook) by Ilona Andrews, read by Renee Raudman (NEW LISTEN, REREAD)

This series is one of my favorite reads I've come across in the past few years. I love to reread them, but that doesn't mean they'll make a good audiobook. A lot depends on the reader, and in this case it's a perfect fit. RR is just right for the protagonist Kate Daniels, but she also does a mean Southern accent (and not True Blood Southern, Beeeeeeel!). The snarkiness of the narration shines through in audio form, with all its asides and in-jokes ("Dingoes ate my baby!" makes an appearance). There are books I love that I won't touch in audio, but this series is getting added to my Audible list ASAP.


Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves (NEW READ)

I just finished this book 15 minutes ago, and I'm still a little shellshocked. It turned into something totally different than I was expecting, much darker than most paranormal YA coming out today. By the end of the day so much crazy violence and magic has happened that the protagonist's manic depression has become a minor problem, even one that is beneficial to her. Not even sure how to write a summary for this unless I think about it more, but people looking for some YA fantasy with a dark, dark twist might want to give this book a shot.

Gotta Fever, and the Only Prescription is more Audiobooks

Since I've been working on knitting as many hats as possible, I've turned to audiobooks and gotten completely hooked on the one I listened to this weekend.

Lirael by Garth Nix (REREAD) (YA, fantasy)

Lirael spends her childhood feeling like an outsider. Physically distinctive from all her cousins, she also lacks the gift of foresight that is the mark of her people. When she finds she must leave on a mysterious journey she meets with Prince Sameth, a man with a dangerous job he is not sure he can actually bring himself to do.

This audiobook is narrated by TIM CURRY. So great! My favorite is when he does the voice for the small, evil, white cat. His women's voices can be a little nasal but it's Tim Curry and he's so great I don't care.

One character who seemed very different to me in my relisten of this book is Nicholas. For most of the book(s) he is possessed or sickly with everyone trying to rescue him, but for the 15 minutes or so when he's NOT possessed he's actually kind of badass. He saves his rugby team from being blown up by friendly fire, helps them start a signal and make noise then grabs a sword to fight a necromancer. And... that's about as far as he gets. But still, not bad.


Honestly I've always loved this because because it's so teenage emo. Lirael doesn't fit in, she feels like she'll never be as good as everyone else, blah blah. It's like a slow-flowing stream of emo interrupted by awesome monster killing and talking dog. Once the adventure really gets going I have trouble putting my CD player away to go to bed, so the story does pick up.

Sam is pretty emo too- at one point he even admits to himself like he's acting like a spoiled baby- but he also has a lot of fear, which I think is a cool thing to see in a fantasy hero, most of whom don't seem to feel fear at all (or if they do it's just a kind of nervousness). Sam is genuinely terrified of death, to the point where he has awful physical symptoms. I like his unexpected talent, and would like to see more of it and how it works (in another book maybe pleeeeease?).

Looking forward to finishing this tonight and moving on to "Abhorsen".

Warden threw a party in the county jail...

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith (NEW READ) (YA, dystopian, adventure)
  I love a good prison story, and this one definitely has interesting elements. Alex is running a string of burglaries when he and his best friend are caught in the act, and Alex is framed for murder. Once caught, Alex is sentenced to life in the infamous prison "Furnace". Furnace houses only teens, created especially for that purpose after a summer of shocking gang murders several years earlier. Not only is Furnace unusual in that it is almost completely underground, there are also huge freaky guards, monster dogs and machine guns. Worst of all are the men in gas masks who take you away in the middle of the night...
  While the writing in this book didn't really grab me, the situations the story portrayed felt very real. Furnace is a little like junior high: try not to cross authority figures, avoid the Crazy kids who are Trouble, make a decent showing but don't come off like you're looking for a fight. It's a complicated social structure, and I like how the reader gets to struggle along with Alex about the choices he makes. I enjoyed the scifi elements like the dogs and men in gas masks- can't wait to find out what the story is there, though a big hint is dropped near the end of the book.
  All in all a fast read, not particularly deep but an interesting and intense beach book.

Day off reading

Fell into a bit of a lull this week, but yesterday when I found out the new Kresley Cole was out I blazed through it and another title I had half finished.


Demon From the Dark by Kresley Cole (NEW READ) (paranormal romance)
   I enjoyed this book more than the last one in the series (Pleasure of a Dark Prince), but I think that is because PoaDP took place in the past timeline-wise, so I felt like we were retreading territory we had already seen. I'm also still trying to work out how well the events tied into the established canon.
   DftD takes place after the events of previous books and avoids this problem. Carrow, the witchy best friend of Mariketa (book 3 heroine) has been captured by a mysterious organization bent on studying and eliminating immortals. Since the last book ended on a cliffhanger with quite a few characters (strangely all single...) being kidnapped, here we get to see how they are faring in captivity. Carrow learns she is now the guardian of a young witch before being sent on a mission to capture an incredibly powerful vampire/demon (vemon!) Of course this leads to destiny and sexytimes.
   I liked how the book had several distinct sections, and didn't just end where I thought it would- it carried on into a full jailbreak/war that I can't wait to read about in the next book. On the other hand I was a little uncomfortable with how the characters used sex to manipulate each other (especially emotionally). Some of their fights were pretty cold, and I wished they had talked things out a bit sooner. I like that there is a big reveal scene where everyone's feelings get out in the open, but at the same time I wish it wasn't necessary and thought it was strange that that was all it took for their problems to be solved.
   Overall, I enjoyed the plot, didn't enjoy some of the sexual politics as much but love the wide variety of characters present in the world. ALSO, this is the first Kresley Cole where I found myself correcting the grammar. I am not that great with editing and grammar, but I still picked out some clauses that need to be flipped and have their commas removed. Hopefully this is not a sign of declining quality.



Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (NEW READ) (YA, fantasy, romance)
   Meghan Chase has rescued her little brother from Faerie and killed the Iron King, but now she is bound to return to the Winter Court with hot hot faerie prince Ash. The Winter Court isn't a friendly place for a half human/ half Summer fey, and when Meghan is framed in a horrible crime she realizes that the Iron Fey are on the move again.
   I was happy to see Ironhorse return in this book: It's a horse! Made of metal! I want one! Grimalkin and Puck all come back to join in the adventure. There's quite a bit of slow bits followed by ACTION ACTION ACTION, which made it easier to get stuck on the down parts. I found the love triangle one of the slow areas, just because it was obvious she had already made up her mind and was just stringing things along in an effort to be nice.
   Iron Fey are based in Silicon Valley- perfect! I do wonder if all the Iron Fey are evil. The other fey all hate them, but they can't really help what they are. Meghan seems SO SLOW to realize what is going on with her Fey powers, and only Ironhorse had figured it out by the end of the book. I can't tell if they are willfully ignoring *SPOILER* but it left me seriously questioning the intelligence of the characters (and wondering what the author thought of me the reader, dropping such BROAD HINTS and then not mentioning them).
   I'll still give the next book a go, since I want to know more about the Iron Fey- those computer nerds sound like my kind of magic.

Sick Day Reading

I spent Monday home with a stomach bug, so I read quite a bit:

The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn by Fuyumi Ono (REREAD) (YA, fantasy, epic)
This is some of my favorite Twelve Kingdoms material. There are more characters than in the first arcs which can make it confusing, but I love how all the viewpoint characters in this series start out as horrible people and personal journey themselves into awesomeness. The introductory sections can drag a bit but the coup against corrupt officials is super-exciting (especially once you know who is taking part in it). I'm not usually a shipper, but I'm all for Shoukei x Kantai like woah. She's a former princess! He's a general who's sometimes a bear! Together they're all about piggyback rides and doing the dishes together, awww.

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews (REREAD) (urban paranormal)
This series is a cure for all the overpowered, hyper-sexy paranormal romance heroines out there. Yes, Kate is powerful, but she gets hurt an awful lot, sometimes doing stupid things. The worldbuilding and magic are well thought out, and there are plenty of interesting secondary characters.


Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews (REREAD) (urban paranormal)
Read two in a row, just because I had the time and could. :P