The Light and Shadow Trilogy- Moira Katson

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book review, fantasy, fiction, light and shadow trilogy, moira katson, self-published, series, shadowborn, shadowforged, shadows end

5 Stars

The pattern here seems to be: if I’m reviewing a whole series at once, I probably loved it. It’s pretty unusual for me to finish one book and immediately buy the rest of the series. I have to be really impressed.

I have to confess to being a bit reluctant to pick up Shadowborn. It was probably the fourth book I started after trying three others that looked similar, only to put them down after twenty pages or so. There are so many fantasies out there, and frankly, most I see are pretty mediocre.

So I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the writing from the first sentence, the fascinating world and characters, and a story that sucked me right in.

Promises to Keep- Shayne Parkinson

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a second chance, book review, fiction, historical fiction, mud and gold, promises to keep, self-published, sentence of marriage, series, settling the account, shayne parkinson

5 Stars

This series comprises a trilogy and a sequel, all of which I practically devoured. “Sentence of Marriage” had been sitting on my Nook for well over a year, since I feared it would be romance novel-y. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The story of Amy, a girl living in New Zealand in the 1880’s is heartfelt without being sappy, and in spite of its grittiness, ultimately warm and uplifting.

Amy Leith is a 15-year-old living on a New Zealand farm with her father and two older brothers. Even though her mother died when she was small, and her beloved grandmother not long before the book begins, we get the sense that life, though hard, is happy, and she enjoys a close relationship with her family.

All of that changes when her father takes a business trip to Auckland (two days away via steamer!) and returns with a surprise bride. Susannah is an old maid from a wealthy family, and couldn’t be less suited to farm life. I really wanted to feel sorry for her, but she’s so whiny and so horrible to Amy, that my sympathy quickly dries up. She makes life difficult for her husband and stepsons, but they spend their days on the farm, so it’s Amy who bears the brunt of her unhappiness.

So Say the Waiters- Justin Sirois

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book review, fiction, justin sirois, so say the waiters

4 Stars

How’s this for an idea? There’s a new app making its way out of the hipster scene. Called KidnApp, it lets you arrange your own kidnapping. Just for fun, of course. You get to decide how long you’ll be gone and what – if anything- will be done to you.  Looks like there’s some potential for things to go wrong, eh? You’d be right about that!

So Say the Waiters is the first installment in a series focused on the people using and making the app. It’s weird, wonderful, and au courant, with a grimy window into the life of Baltimore hipsters.

Dani is a tattooed bartender who was one of the first users of the app. She’s still one of their best “customers.” In the “kidnapping” we get to experience with her, she has a guy play the viola for her for several hours, while she’s tied up and blind-folded. Hmph.  I have to confess I was relieved that while kinkier kidnappings were hinted at, they never materialized in any graphic way.

Forbidden the Stars- Valmore Daniels

Tags

book review, forbidden the stars, science fiction, series, valmore daniels

3.5 Stars

Forbidden the Stars started out well, but didn’t quite live up to the promise. It begins intriguingly, on an asteroid, which is being surveyed for valuable metals. The only people present are the surveyors- a married couple- and their ten-year-old son, Alex. Alex is left to his own devices while his parents are working, being tutored by a computer, and slacking off playing space-pirate games.

Then, there is the spaceship captain Justine, who has just landed her ship on Pluto. The first thing her team finds is a large pyramid-like object inscribed with runes that turn our to be ancient Mayan. What?

Simultaneously, we see what’s happening on the moon- Luna station- as a disabled renegade Chinese dude takes over with a sophisticated criminal enterprise, populated with teenage hackers. We also spend time with the head of the Canadian space mining corporation who is in charge of the asteroid surveying operations.

148 Books in 2014!

photo by Gualberto107

Well, it’s pretty far from 200, and 40 shy of last year’s accomplishment, but that’s still a lot of books!

I had a very busy year, publishing our first book, starting on the second one, starting a novel, while blogging about it, and working more steadily on our other blog. So yes, three blogs, two books in process, and 148 books read. Not bad.

My favorites? In fiction, I fell in love with Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora. I eagerly read the next two in the series, and though both were terrific and I can’t wait for the rest, they didn’t quite do it for me like the first one.

In non-fiction, I was blown away by Salman Rushdie’s memoir:Joseph Anton. I’m a huge fan of Rushdie’s to begin with, and usually find his novels to be life-changing experiences. Joseph Anton was no different.

Honorable mentions: