Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine is the second in The Great Library series and is the sequel to Ink and Bone, which was one of my favourite reads from last year. I realised I never did a full review of it. Bad Evelynne. Paper and Fire was also one of my most anticipated reads for 2016 and it did not disappoint. For those of you not familiar with this series, it is a contemporary alternate reality/fantasy in which the Great Library of Alexandria survived and now has a monopoly on the distribution of books in electronic medium and controls all hard copy books, too. Naturally, this gives it the ability to control the flow of knowledge and as such it has gained almost immeasurable power. Our protagonist, Jess Brightwell, comes from a family of book smugglers and has infiltrated the Library with the intent of continuing the family trade. The people he meets there open his eyes to the extent of the Library’s corruption and change his perspective. The sequel, Paper and Fire, opens shortly after the events of Ink and Bone and deals with the aftermath of the Library’s successful “divide and conquer” campaign against Jess and his…
Good morning. This week I’ve been really unfocussed in my reading. I’ve dipped into several books, but not finished that many of them. It’s been a crazy busy week for me at work, which hasn’t helped. OK I admit it. Any free time I’ve had I’ve spent playing Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens rather than reading. Those games are addictive. One book I did finish and enjoyed was His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik. This is the first in the Temeraire series in which the Napoleonic Wars are reimagined with dragons. I loved the concept, characters and themes. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, the dragon. The ninth and final book in the series, League of Dragons, has just been published. Much as I enjoyed the series, I’m not certain I want to invest the time to read the rest of the eight, so I cheated and read Tor.com’s Temeraire reread. I’m hoping this will catch me up sufficiently and I will pick up League of Dragons in audiobook format – narrator is Simon Vance, how could I not go for the audiobook? – as soon as I have a spare Audible credit. I gave His…
My last entry talked about my favourite books of 2015, so now it’s time to talk about my most anticipated books of 2016. Passenger is the latest book by Alexandra Bracken. it is the start of a new YA series and is billed as a YA treasure hunt through time. I really loved Bracken’s Darkest Minds series, so this sounds like a real winner to me. The publisher has released a sampler, which I encourage you to check out. Passenger is officially released in just a few days on January 5th 2016. This is the first book in a new series by Mortal Instruments writer Cassandra Clare. It is set in the same world of the Shadowhunters but the action takes place in Los Angeles. At first, I’d been a little sceptical of the setting; the older cities of London and New York seemed a more natural fit for vampires and demons than sunny Los Angeles. However, the last book in the Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire, functioned as much as a setup for this new series, introducing characters, locations and possible plotlines in the new series, and I am 100% convinced now. I will certainly be devouring Lady…