Category Archives: Fiction

Review: Mercedes Lackey – The Sleeping Beauty

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The Sleeping Beauty
Mercedes Lackey
Rosa’s mother has just died, and things seem set for her to inherit a horrible step mother determined to kill her off! Instead a craft set of trials is devised to determine her husband. Although Rosa has favourite, there is someone who hasn’t shown their hand and could destroy everything.
Initially this book starts out with a great sense of humour – something that Lackey says she deliberately included. As the novel progresses, things do become a bit more involved. One gripe I had was that the same analogy used by Godmother Bella in The Fairy Godmother to explain to Elena about her missing price is used again in this book.
I love Seigfried. He’s so likeable. You can tell from his physical description that he is frequently underestimated, yet underneath all that is a bright brain. I like his little bird too.
Rosa is awesome. I like Rosa too. She doesn’t get nearly enough airtime! Or I guess she does, but it’s not really that obvious because perspectives are swapped every which way. A strong willed female protagonist once again. I’m a bit sick of the Sleeping Beauty / Cinderella stories though – there doesn’t seem to be anything else going for the women!
There are some inconsistencies with the fairytales, and countless references to others. If you aren’t familiar with your fairytales, I’d suggest brushing up on them.
I liked the trials, particularly the riddles. That was my favourite part of the whole thing! Worth reading just for those. Perhaps this isn’t the most glowing of reviews, but it is enjoyable, and certainly easy to read with a thrilling conclusion.
It’s a complete change from Fortune’s Fool, where the kingdom in question is poor. This kingdom is so rich that they are constantly at war to keep the neighbouring kingdoms from stealing the gold. The final trial is quite logical from that really.
After awhile, the covers on these books become quite samey. There are only so many pretty women you can look at! It would be nice to have another strong male Hero in future books, and have him on the cover instead. I can understand that Lackey is a female and therefore writes female orientated things, but still…
This one is suitable again for teens as well as adults. Not even very many adult themes in this one! Just some clever use of language, humour and trials as I mentioned.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – The Snow Queen

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The Snow Queen
Mercedes Lackey
Aleksia is the Snow Queen, ruling and saving young boys from becoming Clockwork Artificers. Imagine her horror when she discovers that she has a duplicate – and her duplicate is actually putting spears of ice into young men to destroy them. Aleksia has to prove that she is true, while also trying to overcome her own isolation.

This book is considerably later in time since The Fairy Godmother. Elena is now a senior Fairy Godmother, and has multiple Kingdoms under control. When I looked this up on Mercedes Lackey’s website to check the spelling of Aleksia’s name, I discovered this is actually the 4th book in the Five Hundred Kingdom’s series, when I have been rereading them as this being the 3rd book. Nevertheless, it didn’t have a huge impact on my enjoyment because it doesn’t depend on any characters from Fortune’s Fool.

I felt a little like Aleksia was too cold for me! I did connect with her character, but not to the extent that I did with Elena. There were parts of her that didn’t feel fleshed out (particularly her seemingly rational but out of proportion anger at the North Wind). More could have been done with her

There is a section where two people are attacked by bandits, and it is briefly described how they get out of the situation and gain from it. A couple of pages later after swapping view points, this is repeated and expanded upon. It wasn’t far enough away in the text hat I felt that the repetition was warranted.

Other parts of the novel didn’t connect. No matter how many times I reread this, I can never remember which of the two men with Veikkio Aleksia is interested. I can understand using different sounding names to emphasis that this is taking part in another part of the world, but it’s annoying to keep track of.

I loved the concept of the Runes foretelling what a person is good at for the Sammi. For such a practical people, I couldn’t understand how their afterlife could be so boring though! I would like to see more stories about them, because the end of this book didn’t feel finished for Aleksia at all. I wanted to know more about how she would bring more friendly people (not just children!) to her castle.

Recommended for adults and teenagers as there are no ‘sex scenes’, only a great story! Highly enjoyable, even if I feel that is isn’t quite as good as the others in the series. There are more new fairytales from other parts of the world that European readers may not be familiar with which adds an extra level of interest.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Fortune’s Fool

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Fortune’s Fool
Mercedes Lackey
In another tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Sasha and Katya are both seventh born children. The difference between them is that one belongs on the land and the other in the sea. Both have important roles for their kingdoms, but both are equally alone as well.
Sasha and Katya show very little character development. Sasha is the kind hearted soul he has always been, and Katya the strong willed woman who loves clothes!  Their relationship also seems a little quick moving, but then again, the Tradition is behind it.
I like how this book has two climax points. The first is with Katya, which introduces her nicely, and the second is with the Jinn. The various adventures Sasha had didn’t hold as much weight with me because I knew that as a Fortunate Fool he would come out of them ok every time.
Nippon. Anyone who has studied Japanese will see that Lackey has blatantly ripped off their language. I’m not sure I found it great – I wanted something new, not something I was familiar with. Granted, it was a bit like medieval Japan, but in a Fairytale book I felt there should be more.
Three Baba Yagas! How scary. This is a fairytale that everyone should be familiar with, the strange house that walks on two chicken legs. This book really makes an effort to draw in a number of Fairytales, which is excellent.
The ending is a little bit too clear cut for me. Or rather, not the ending itself, but the little epilogue that is at the end, in a years time. All too very convenient and unlikely, even with the Tradition. I was under the impression that the castle was further away from Sasha’s kingdom that it appears, and it isn’t near the water except by a stream.
I’d recommend this book for adults only, simply because it has explicit sex scenes in it. They aren’t really necessary for the book, and they do feel a little gratuitous, but I guess Lackey doesn’t get to explore that much in her other books.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – One Good Knight

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One Good Knight
Mercedes Lackey
Princess Andie is intelligent, waif-like beautiful and has just turned 19. Her mother however isn’t ready to see her as an adult, and would rather she was confused and silly with conventional beauty. When Andie finally gets a real ‘job’, she uncovers things that were probably better off hidden. Andie becomes a liability very quickly – as a virgin she’s very likely to be snaffled up by an evil creature…

Andie is smart, and bookish – just what I like in a female protagonist. She isn’t very good with common things, but her common sense is certainly in place. Yay for a non-traditional heir. Lackey has a good thing going, and she really works with it.
The different perspectives of this book, particularly the Queen vs Andie in the first parts of the book really set the plot going. Those that have read The Fairy Godmother in this series will recognise the Traditional path that is taking place, but Andie can’t see it. You just keep waiting for the penny to drop!So many good things to say about this book, but many of them would give away too much of the plot. It’s not a particularly hard read, but it will sucker you in and steal all of your time (oops to doing all that study I had lined up)

Andie’s knowledge of the Tradition, and also that of the other people in her Kingdom (such as Sophont Balen) seems strange, after the emphasis in The Fairy Godmother about most people having no idea. Yet everyone seems to be exploiting it easily! It’s nice to see how a situation can be resolved without a Fairy Godmother though – the regular people have a chance.
The cover of this book doesn’t match how I saw Andie at all. I though she was very thin with no breasts, and the girl on the cover certainly does have those! Also I expected that the dragon would be less fierce looking than that. Hard to discuss more without giving the plot away.
Worth a read. I’d say this book is suitable for teens as well as adults because it contains none of the explicit sex scenes of the first book. This series is a very good one, and worth buying to reread often. Lackey really breaths life into old fairytales.

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Review: Midsummer Night's Giveaway (Fairytale Adaptations)

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Sam @ A Journey Through Pages put a call out for other bloggers to join her in a celebration of YA Fairytale Adaptations. Now, I have to say I don’t do a lot of YA reading of Fairytale novels. I have however read a couple of adult adaptations, children’s fairytale adaptations and another historical fiction fairytale that I can talk about. 
I have already published three reviews of adult Fairytale adaptations:
These two authors are very different in style and execution. While I’m a fan of Mercedes Lackey from a long while back, this was one of the first novels of Juliet Marillier’s I read and reviewed. 
Lackey makes believable characters in The Fairy Godmother, and focusses on them to the exclusion of all else. She warps the fairytales and creates ‘The Tradition’, a guiding force which forces people to follow their fairytales to a set conclusion – unless they are changed by Fairy Godmothers or the like. Lackey immediately draws you in, and it’s a great ride all the way through the book. A very enjoyable introduction to Lackey’s writing. Beauty and the Werewolf is actually the sixth book in the series, but you won’t spoil anything for yourself by reading it first.
Differently from Lackey, Marillier does a true adaptation, staying strictly to the tale of the six swan brothers and the sister who can’t talk until she has finished weaving her shirts for them. Nevertheless, Marillier puts a new spin on the book, and you are driven by her vibrant formation of the world around her characters. That’s not to say she doesn’t put effort into her character development – she does, but the thing I appreciate most about her novels is her rich world-building.

A YA fairytale I have previously read::

Scatterheart by Lili Wilkinson
I didn’t love this novel, for reasons I have outlined within the review. Yes, it’s not a traditional Fairytale because that element is only a supportive idea for the historical fiction, but I felt it was worth including here as an example of me not always loving Fairytales!
This week I have lined up for you several more in the Five Hundred Kingdoms series (One Good Knight, The Fortunate Fool, The Snow Queen, The Sleeping Beauty) and a couple of short Fairytales by the estimable J.K. Rowling. I’ll try and read some more soon, but I think for the weeks that this will be happening I will be on holidays in the States! I’m pretty excited about that, and I’ll be sure to pick up more books while I’m away. Let the week begin!

A final note: I’ll be updating this post as the week progresses.

Here is a quick link for entering Sam’s giveaway! You can sign up here, or on her website, either way will get you entered to win some awesome books. Personally I’m hoping to get my hands on the Juliet Marillier novel, either in this giveaway or through The Book Depository.

Review: Mercedes Lackey – The Eagle and the Nightingales

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The Eagle and the Nightingales
Mercedes Lackey
Nightingale has travelled on her own for a long time. Now she has been set by three people to do a seemingly impossible task – work out what is wrong with the High King of the Twenty Kingdoms. Settling herself in at Freehold with the non-humans, she discovers a plot that runs deeper than they ever imagined.
I have no idea why the title of this book is ‘the Nightingales’. There is only one Nightingale, although she does go by a number of other names. I love Nightingale, and have almost as much empathy for T’fyrr. Nightingale has things that she is a afraid of, but for love, she is willingto work around them.
The reason that I love this book so much is that it combines a kingdom under threat with music and beautiful costumes. A strong female heroine doesn’t hurt either. I love the idea that music can be magic, and I only wish I had as much talent.
This book is decidedly plot driven, but that’s not a bad thing. Just as you feel like things are being settled in, they change! The ending is thrilling really – the first time I read it I was too hooked to let go. Even on this millionth rereading, I still couldn’t put it down.
This is a book in the Free Bards world, and there are a number of other books that you could read in this series about the Free Bards. I don’t feel that you need to read them in order, although it may be more interesting to do so. It references other books, but doesn’t give too much away.
You will find this book very hard to purchase! I personally got my rather battered copy from ebay – it was listed as being in good condition, but certainly wasn’t, which was disappointing. I am yet to find a nice copy, but I have hopes that this series will be republished.
I’d recommend this book for adults and teenagers. Although there are some adult themes, it is all very subtle and enjoyable. The hints about rape and sex are not explicit, and although torture is never nice to talk about, it’s not badly done in this book.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Alta

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Alta
Mercedes Lackey

Little Vetch has grown into a man, named for his father Kiron. With his tame dragon Avatre he has fled from Tia to Alta, the land of his birth. He does not know what he will find, or what he will be able to do for Alta. When he arrives, he finds that there are more troubles than he could have imagined.

This is the second book in the awesome Dragon Jousters Series (Joust is the first). I’m so very fond of it! I like Kiron, even though he’s a male protagonist (it wouldn’t have worked with a female), and the minor things that go on in this book are really down my alley. I love learning, and I love learning with Kiron and also feeling with them as the dragons hatch.

The dragons are so realistically realised. Lackey is an animal carer, and its obvious that she has drawn on that expertise. She has thought about everything – their breeding habits, the way the hatch, how they interact. This is the way dragons should be – they may be wild, but they can also be tamed and form bonds of love.

As Kiron learns to read, it becomes obvious to the reader that this series has a foundation in Egyptian history. The ideas of tombs and hieroglyphics really make that stand out. It’s nice to see some input, but not too much. It’s not intrusive at all.

This book is really unusual in that its climax doesn’t really feel to me like a climax. This is really a medium plot book – several moderately exciting things happen, and you often wonder whether they are going to get away with their tricks, but of course they will – because most things are relatively minor. I’ve read the book so many times now that I’m never surprised by anything happening!

Just as in any good book, it is obvious how Kiron is growing up and becoming more opinionated, as well as stronger. Things he has been through make him seem older than the other unique Jousters. It’s interesting that Kiron supports slavery, when usually Lackey channels characters that hate it. It’s understandable though, and I don’t think I could have expected anything else as it wouldn’t be in line with Kiron’s beginnings as a serf. The other characters also show development, particularly Orest and Aketen who we meet early in the novel.

I’d recommend this book for teens and adults. Nothing particularly controversial in this one – it’s all very above board. Yes, the Magi’s scheming is unpleasant, but its totally in keeping with the rest of the novel and not too confronting.

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Review: Diana Wynne Jones – Year of the Griffin

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Year of the Griffin
Diana Wynne Jones
The wizard university is suffering from severe money and staffing problems. The current head decides that his promising group of 6 students are likely to yield him money to repair the leaking roofs – but how wrong he is! With two students with jinxes, a griffin and a runaway dwarf things seem like they will go from bad to worse. Underneath all this, Wizard Corkoran wants to go to the moon but if he doesn’t change his set ways of thinking, he won’t get there – or will he?

As usual, I can’t do justice to the synopsis for the book. It’s easy enough to google one, and even just read the back of the book at the library. It’s a lot better to just read the book and be done with it! It isn’t a waste of your time to read anything by Diana Wynne Jones.

Elda is a strong female protagonist, even as a griffin she has her weaknesses. She is the youngest griffin daughter of Wizard Derk, and he doesn’t approve of her going to university, particularly the way the university has become hardbound and unable to teach anything but the basics. Even the basics are wrong, and together with the new friends she is making they must change the university from first year up.

This book is slow to start out in my opinion, but it is worth persevering. As the story progresses, it evolves from a simple university setting into a mess of assassins and mice! It is the characters and their various shortfallings that make the book interesting. It is rather plot driven, and I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of the characters, but finding out about each of their histories is interesting.
If you enjoyed ‘Dark Lord of Derkholm’, this book is a logical continuation. However, it is totally readable without having read the first book in this series. The novel is a little reminiscent of Harry Potter at first, with wizards going off to school. But really, it should be that Harry Potter is reminiscent of this! If you like school-based books, this one will draw you in.

The ending is just a little too neat, with everyone ending up happily paired! The story as a whole is good though, although not quite as good as the first book in the series in my opinion. Maybe I’m just tired of the old wizarding school idea? I would have much rather learned about how Kit and Blade (Derk’s sons) learnt magic from a dragon or perhaps about the childhood of Derk’s winged humans.

I would recommend this book for both children and teenagers. I wouldn’t say there was anything in it unsuitable for children, although I could be wrong. It is pure enjoyable fantasy, and I don’t regret having chosen this book off my shelf as my 40th book review reward.

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Review: Tamora Pierce – Melting Stones

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Melting Stones
Tamora Pierce
Melting Stones follows the story of Evvie, Briar’s foundling from Stone Magic. Evvie has a tendency to be quicker than the average stone mage, but still not too lively. When she goes to the Battle Islands with Rosethorn however, she finds her self a bit like a volcano set to explode.
It’s great to see another novel in the Circle Universe. It’s officially labelled as ‘Circle Reforged’, although I’m not quite sure how that fits in. No doubt The Will of the Empress should also be under that title. Both of these books occur during the same time period.
This one is a bit different from the others because it is told from a different student’s perspective. We also get some more insight into other dedicates at Winding Circle, not all of which are as ‘friendly’ as Rosethorn.
I can’t say I like this book as much as the others. It’s told from a first person perspective, which certainly works, but does feel a little forced compared to the seamless third person narration of the other books. As a stand alone however, it’s just fine.
You could read this book without having read any of the other books by Pierce in this universe. There are hardly any spoilers in them, except of course, if you didn’t know Briar was going to win Evvie over as a student.
I keep comparing this book to all the others! It’s hard when I’ve just finished reading all of them in a row to be objective about each of them individually.
I’d recommend this book for teenagers and children. Evvie is highly aware that adults have sex, but she’s very subtle about it, and there isn’t anything I’d be particularly wary of. In this book, there isn’t much blood shed at all, mostly human development.

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Review: James Clemens – Wit’ch Fire

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Wit’ch Fire
James Clemens
Wit’ch Fire is part of The Banned and the Banished Chronicles. First we follow Elena, who is coming into her womanhood, then we add a dark magician, an un-aging man, a werewolf and an og’re to the cast – all with likely important roles. There are plenty of characters to follow – it’s a pity that the book didn’t live up to my expectations at all.

First off, I love the prologue/foreword. It describes almost exactly how I feel about studying texts at a university – it takes all the fun out of it! It also serves to draw the reader subtly into thinking that they too are being initiated into the secrets.

The initial chapter appears forced, and didn’t draw me into the book. I persevered however, unwilling to give up this early. I know from experience that often authors seem to have a problem with the first couple of chapters, and then the narrative grows in strength.
I tried to keep persevering in this book, but it just didn’t grab me. I felt like Clemens didn’t leave enough time for me to get to know each character, and the plot was also lacking. It went from having 3 characters, to suddenly getting more and more and more. As a first book in a series, it’s understandable that Clemens is setting up everything he will need in the next couple of books, but I’d still like to see more plot movement (rather than just giving me more characters to keep track of).
The title of this book irritates me as well. Seriously, what extra meaning does an apostrophe give? There are plenty of different ways in which magic/witches have been presented in the past that no longer fit with the original concept of magic (if there is such a thing). By the time I got to el’ves, rock’goblins and og’res, I was really unimpressed.
Because I was having second thoughts about the book, and was very disillusioned, about half-way through reading I decided to google the author to give me a bit more information about what I was reading. The knowledge that this book is the first in a 5 book series was not comforting – even if I pushed through to the end I might not get a satisfactory ending. Also, Clemens also writes thrillers under another name James Rollins. This further showed to me why I found the style of this book not to my liking. I’m not fond of thrillers, and I think regardless of whether his pen name is different or not, the style is probably carrying through.
I’m looking for something to like about this book. The concept of magic as ‘Chi’ reminds me of Chinese therapeutic medicine, but the usage here is not the same. What I garnered was that Chi is a type of blood magic (different to dark magic) where the user stores his/her power in his dominant hand in the form of a red stain. As they use up their magic, the stain gets less. It is an interesting concept, and I’m glad he came up with something really original. It doesn’t save the novel for me though.

I got through 190 pages of 496 before I almost gave up. I have plenty of other things I would prefer to read, or have waiting on my shelves to be read for the first time. It felt too much like cheating to give up though… A quick look at the last couple of pages reveals another couple of characters that I haven’t met yet, and also a cliffhanger to the next book. However, I decided I had to keep going. And perhaps it was a good thing I did! All the different character strains came together, and there was a type of final showdown. I still lacked a personal connection to the characters though, and that leaves me not wanting to buy any more of the books in this series. I felt sorry for Elena, but that was it. I don’t think I would care if she died. Even the language choices such as her uncle Bol calling her ‘Honey’ just jarred for me and I couldn’t accept it. Things that should have been subtle, and shown to me were just stated. Not the type of book for me.

If I had to suggest an age group for this novel, I would say adults only, because it is filled with blood, guts and people dying for no reason left, right and centre! I wouldn’t recommend this book. I picked it up as part of a 3 for $15 deal a number of years ago, and I now see why it was in that stack. If you do feel compelled to read it (I’m not sure why you would, after reading my disillusioned review), you’re welcome to have my copy!

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Alternatively contact me about a book swap.1star