Once again, dear readers, here is my weekly update in what I’ve been reading. The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns is the second in Chris Colfer’s children’s book series. However, it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the first one. The setting and characters are still enchanting, but the plotline seems a little repetitious. Once again our hero twins set off on a quest to gather magical objects that will allow them to cast magic to defeat the evil Enchantress. Additionally, this book suffers from too much of a tendency to show rather than tell; too many stretches where characters explain about something that happened rather than being shown it. Perhaps the novelty of the setting and characters carried the first book much further, and papered over inadequacies in writing style, but in this second installment it is not enough to cover up the recycled plotlines and the somewhat clunky narration. I’m not saying it isn’t a fun read to pass a couple of hours – I do love the world Colfer has built – but I do feel that with better editing and perhaps a different emphasis on story lines it could have been so much better. I gave…
First of all, apologies for the delay in posting. It’s been a busy few weeks on both a personal and work level, so I have not been able to post much. Anyway, here I am! Some of the books I’ve read recently have led to some natural comparisons. Two of these are Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Libriomancer: (Magic Ex Libris Book 1) by Jim C. Hines. These both have in common a theme of magic and mystery being hidden within books, a love of reading, and also a setting which couldn’t be anywhere other than in the present day, within the last few years. There were references to the dot.com crash and Google and the Twilight series. Personally, that second point is something which irritated me. I feel it limits the books’ durability. While Libriomancer was more of a traditional good vs evil fantasy, Penumbra is more of a mystery in which the protagonist attempts to resolve an ages old mystery hidden within books. I found it a fresh and entertaining concept. I had a few issues with the magic system in Libriomancer. Brandon Sanderson, considered one of the better contemporary developers of magic systems, wrote…