Reading roundup – September 26th 2014
Uncategorized / September 26, 2014

This week has been a quiet week in terms of reading.  It’s been the start of the new TV season which might have had in impact…  (on that topic, I’m watching Forever and Gotham as new shows.)  I finished Robert Galbraith (AKA J.K. Rowling’s) second mystery novel, The Silkworm and you can expect my full review next week.  Sneak preview: I liked it. I’m also continuing with the audiobook of Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel.  It’s not grabbing me in the way that The Silkworm did, but it is very intriguing and I am enjoying it.  Also being listened to is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  I’m just at the wedding night scene.  Yum.  Especially when you add Mr. Sam Heughan into the equation… For once, I didn’t add any books to my library this week!  Incredible, I know.  I will make up for it next month, trust me…  I have been waiting for the next book in Anne Robillard’s A.N.G.E. series, Tribulare, to hit Kobo.  The hard copies have been out for a while, but this series is only now being released in electronic format.  I see it’s available on prologuenumerique.ca and archambault.ca, and even amazon.ca but I have…

Deviation by Christine Manzari – Review
Book Reviews / September 22, 2014

Deviation by Christine Manzari is the first in an independently published YA dystopian trilogy. In Manzari’s world, following a devastating terrorist attack the US government set up the Sophisticates program of human genetic engineering to produce smarter, faster, better soldiers in the war on terror.  The Sophisticates are divided into two groups, the Vanguard who are the intellectual ones, groomed to be the country’s next leaders and the Mandates who are those designed to be physically strong.  We follow the story of teenager Cleo, who is the product of such engineering as she learns more about the truth of her conception. I really enjoyed this novel.  I felt it was well written with an interesting protagonist, intriguing setting and good character development. What I liked Good concept well executed. The basic concept of the genetic engineering was very well done and interesting.  There was the added interest of Cleo’s special abilities and what that means for her.  I look forward to seeing where Manzari goes with this in future books. Nerds vs jocks.  It was an interesting take that our protagonist who was raised as a Vanguard suddenly finds herself in a school for Mandates.  There is some fun exploration…

Reading roundup – September 19 2014
Reading Roundup / September 19, 2014

My apologies for the delay in my reading roundup this week.  I was rather distracted by the announcement of the new Kindles and the referendum held in my country of origin on independence.  I stayed up late last night watching the BBC and Scotland Decides.  I really hope once the dust has settled, the UK can work out some structure that works for everyone. Ahem, so onto more literary matters.  This week I breezed through Christine Manzari’s Deviation, the first in The Sophisticates, a YA dystopian series.  I absolutely loved it – expect a full review next week.  I’ve also been continuing with the audiobook of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.  I only listen for half an hour or so at night before I go to sleep, so at 33 hours it’s not quick.  I’m just about managing to keep ahead of the wonderful Starz TV series (at least as the episodes are broadcast in Canada.) Added to my library this week Conviction by Christine Manzari.  This is the second in the Sophisticates series.  I imagine you can guess where I’m going in my review if I immediately went out and bought the second book upon finishing…  I’ve not started it yet,…

My thoughts on Amazon’s 2014 lineup of Kindles
e-Reader Reviews / September 18, 2014

Last night Amazon announced its 2014 lineup of Kindle ereaders and tablets.  I will direct you to Amazon’s main Kindle page to get the full specs. Looking at the eIink ereaders first Amazon announced that the basic Kindle now comes with a touch interface.  This will retail for CAD79.  This looks a really nice entry into the ereader market and you could do a lot worse. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the new Kindle Voyage, which is smaller, lighter and with a higher resolution than ever before.  It includes page turn functionality in the bezel – something many people seem to have been requesting – as well as enhanced reading features such as an expanded X-Ray, greater integration with GoodReads.  This all seems excellent, but it does come with a hefty price tag.  The Kindle Voyage retails from USD 199.  It has optional 3G. However, for us Canadians, we’re out of luck.  The Kindle Voyage is not yet available on the Amazon.ca store.  I asked customer service and was told that they had no timeline for when it might be available.  It is available in the UK, Germany and Japan so why not Canada?  I seem to…

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – Review
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / September 17, 2014

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is the first in a loose trilogy of contemporary, cutesy young adult romance novels.  It is followed by Lola and the Boy Next Door and Isla and the Happily Ever After.  It tells the story of Anna Oliphant who is spending a year studying in Paris at the fictional School of America in Paris.  She makes friends and has a romance with Etienne St Claire a young Londoner also studying at the school. What I liked The setting.  I adored the setting.  The school sounded fantastic and I loved Anna’s and Etienne’s strolls through Paris.  I’ve only spent a couple of days in Paris myself, and I would have liked to have spent more. Perkins really brought out the sense of the city in her writing. The character development.  I loved seeing how Anna grew in self confidence during her stay in Paris.  The Anna at the end is a very different person from the one who spent her first evening in the school crying into her pillow with homesickness.  I also felt that the development was earned.  Her experiences in Paris and the friends she makes there allow for such a…

The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Back – Review
Book Reviews , eBook reviews / September 15, 2014

In my recent reading roundup I mentioned that I felt The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black is a poor man’s Harry Potter.  I stand by that opinion.  It is almost impossible to read The Iron Trial without comparing it to Rowling’s masterpiece. Let us review;  a young infant born towards the end of a magical war is the sole survivor of a massacre which leaves him motherless and with a physical mark of the attack.  There may or may not be some shenanigans involving souls.  This massacre is the prelude to a decade of truce.  Eleven or twelve years later, the young boy starts to attend magic school where he becomes best friends with a boy and girl, and makes an enemy of another rich and arrogant student.  He is taught by a kindly if eccentric Master and they have lots of adventures.  The one with the power to defeat the enemy has been revealed to the wizarding world.  There is a confrontation at the end, and it seems the enemy may not be as dormant as he seemed.  Heck, the story even closes with the protagonist in the infirmary having a heart to heart with said…

Reading roundup – September 12th 2014
Reading Roundup / September 12, 2014

This week I have been reading shorter books so I feel I have been making excellent progress compared to the epic fantasy behemoths I’ve been reading lately.  I finished the cutesy contemporary romance Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.  I will be doing a full review next week, so I won’t say too much now. I have also been dipping in and out of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.  OK, at 640 pages or 33 hours audiobook, that’s not exactly short…  I’ve been listening mainly to Davina Porter’s excellent audiobook narration.  As I am Scottish born, I appreciate her rendition of the Scots accent.  I was reading the series, but I became stuck in the middle of book three.  The major TV adaption by Starz has inspired me to start rereading.  I’ll probably just keep dipping in and out rather than reading it in a block. Since I’m talking about the series, I would just like to say how much I’m enjoying it.  We in Canada are a couple of weeks behind our US cousins.  I knew the series was in safe hands with Ronald D. Moore who helmed the wonderful Battlestar Galactica.  He is very skilled at creating worlds…

The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks – Review
Audiobook reviews , Book Reviews / September 8, 2014

The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks is the third and penultimate in his Lightbringer series following on from The Black Prism and The Blinding Knife.  It continues the story of Prism Gavin Guile and his illegitimate son Kip and their attempt to stop the Seven Satrapies from collapsing under the pressure of the Color Prince and his new gods. My impression of this book was that it was very much a middle book – concentrating more on positioning the characters for the final assault.  It concentrated more on character development than moving the plot forward.  While there were a couple of eyebrow raising moments for me, but nothing compared to the couple of WTF?!? moments of the previous books.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. What I liked The magic system.  For this series Weeks has created a wonderfully developed magic system.  I usually consider Brandon Sanderson the master of magic system development, but with this colour-based system Weeks could give him a run for his money.  In essence, Weeks’ magic system works in the opposite manner to a candle.  A candle takes a physical substance – wax – and converts it into light.  Weeks’ magic users (drafters)…

The seven scenes in fantasy literature that made me cry
Miscellaneous / September 7, 2014

There are some critics who claim that fantasy literature is in some way a soft option; that in choosing to write in a more fantastical world, telling emotional character truths can take second place to worldbuilding. This post is my attempt to debunk that myth.  There have been several scenes in fantasy literature which had me bawling like a baby.  These aren’t necessarily death scenes, but simply beautiful writing illustrating the deep impact the situation has had on the character. Olver’s story in A Memory of Light, the last book of the Wheel of Time.  This particular section was just so powerfully emotive.   For those of you unfamiliar, Olver is a young orphan – around eight years old – in the Wheel of Time universe who was adopted by Mat Cauthon and his warband.  Being brought up in a war camp, he exhibits a lot of his “uncle”’s enthusiasm for battle and the band has a hard time keeping him away from battle.  In the particular scene that had me sobbing, Olver has become separated from his friends and is being attacked by bestial Trollocs as he desperately tried to hide.  All of his bravado is stripped away and you…

Reading Roundup – 5th September 2014
Reading Roundup / September 5, 2014

This week has been pretty quiet in terms of reading.  I’ve pretty much spent all my time this week finishing my reread of Brent Weeks’ The Blinding Knife and following up with the new release The Broken Eye.  These books are HUGE.  The Broken Eye comes in at 816 pages or 29 hrs and 33 mins in audiobook format.  I won’t say too much more – my full review will come out next week, so keep an eye out for it if you want to know my thoughts on it. Coming so close on my reread of Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings reading challenge I’m rather epic fantasied out.  I definitely need to take a break with some cutesy contemporary romance – Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins, I’m looking at you – or some cozy cat mysteries or some contemporary urban fantasy such as The Dresden Files.  I suspect I’ll just flick through my Kindle’s library and see what takes my eye. Next week sees the release of the first in a collaborative contemporary fantasy series by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, The Iron Magisterium, so that my hit the spot. Added to my library this week The Heir of Fire by…