Review: Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory – The Outstretched Shadow

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The Outstretched Shadow
Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory
Kellen has been sent 3 strange books. For his knowledge, he shall be cast out of his city in discrase. Little does he know that other family members are willing to look out for him.
Kellen is endearing, frustrating and awesome all at once. Once again, a strong male character who I actually enjoy reading about. The unicorn he meets provides a bit of comic relief as well, as do the elves.
I only wish there was more of other wildmages and their skills. The prices and things are interesting to me, and I’d have loved to see more. I enjoyed the rustic environment that Kellen finds himself in, and the everyday experiences as well.
The detail of the Endarkened torture chambers and such is fascinating. It’s really quite horrifying to imagine, but it’s so interesting at the same time.
The elves are just as I could have imagined them. They don’t deviate from the usual idea for elves, which isn’t a bad thing as far as I’m concerned.
I really like this series, and I wonder whether it’s because it’s a work between two writers for a change. Lackey’s touch is clear, but this novel makes me want to go out and read some of Mallory’s stuff as well.

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Review: Brandon Sanderson – the Hero of Ages

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the Hero of Ages
Brandon Sanderson
Vin mistakenly set free Ruin, and Preservation is no longer strong enough to hold Ruin in check. It is up to the fallible humans to set right their mistakes and save the world.
The Lord Ruler set up cashes to save his people, and yet failed to protect them the rest of the time when he was living. It’s strange how out of touch with the world he got – but perhaps that can be attributed to Ruin.
Vin is once again important, but Elend and the other character have bigger roles to play. No longer is brute force the way to solve every problem, instead diplomacy and thinking are useful. Nice to see for a change.
There were several lightbulb moments for me while reading where I suddenly realized the importance of something that happened in the first two books. I can’t get over how amazing some of these things were, and the setup of things.
The ending is just as I wanted it to be. It was obvious that they were doomed – but not obvious who would save things. Oh the irony for Sazed. I loved Sazed’s convincing uncertainty, but happy usefulness in the end. Who knew religion was good for something?
Amazing. I can’t wait to read the standalone book that comes around 300 years after the events in this novel. I’m not sure it’ll be as good as these, but still good no doubt. Additionally I’d like to read other things by Sanderson – the magic systems he dreams up are inspired.

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Review: Brandon Sanderson – the Well of Ascension

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the Well of Ascension
Brandon Sanderson
Vin has toppled the Lord Ruler. What is left is a country increasingly in peril. Although Vin strives to become more than a tool, ultimately she is in service to a greater cause.
Vin has finally become more than just a pretty girl in Kelsier’s shadow. Her role in the fading empire isn’t clear, but she tries to do the best she can. She has to be the most convincing self-sacrificing heroine I have seen in a while. This is offset by her violence, which sometimes seems unjustified and dangerous.
The romance between Vin and Elend is refreshing. The trust between them is something that we should all strive for. Theirs is a relationship fraught with danger, and so is more wonderful for that.
Elend is a bit weak for me. That’s not to say his character building is weak, it’s just that him as a person is weak. His character progression is clear, and ultimately he rivals Vin for power and self assurance.
This novel has the big battles that you would expect in an epic fantasy like this one. When the odds seem poor, there has to be a way. It’s not necessarily the politics that will save them, perhaps it will tangle them up even more?
The kandra are an inspired creature creation by Sanderson. One part bones, one part muscle, and the other part composed of The Contract. Although they play an important role in this novel, it comes to a head in the third book.
Just as good as the first book in the series, and a pleasurable and surprising read.

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Review: Brandon Sanderson – Mistborn

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Mistborn
Brandon Sanderson
Vin uses her Luck to get her out of bad situations. Little does she know that she is a powerful Mistborn, with the ability to use Allomancy on many different metals. She finds herself thrown in with a huge theiving crew, with the aim of ruining the Lord Ruler.
The introduction to this story is a bit slow, and I found myself wondering when things would warm up. I liked Vin, but it wasn’t quite enough. I persevered though, and ended up very pleased with the way the novel headed.
Vin transforms from a scared street brat into a lady with brilliance. That’s not to say she’s absolutely fantastic at pretending to be a lady at first, but that makes her character progression that much more believable.
Kelsier’s perspective, and that of the other crew members are refreshing when contrasted with Vin’s rather fatalistic and paranoid viewpoint. You don’t really gain that many insights into her character this way, but the rest of the narrative is good.
At the end, I simply couldn’t believe that he died! My mind kept wanting to suggest that there was some way he still lived. The trick with the Kandra was pretty inspired though. This part definitely set the tone for the other two novels as well.
A brilliant story that I couldn’t put down. Really highly recommended by me. I borrowed this from my older brother, who recommended it to me, and I can’t wait to be able to buy books and put it on my own shelves.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Take a Thief

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Take a Thief
Mercedes Lackey
Skif lives out on the streets, trying to find a spot of warmth and a bite to eat whenever and where ever he can. When his old mentor is murdered, little does Skif know that this will set him onto an entirely new path.

Skif’s one of those awesome protagonists that you admire for his bravery, skills and sense of humour. Yay, a male protagonist that I actually like! Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Lackey anyway.

The climax is pretty weak really. Some child slavers? And burnt buildings? An enemy that neither of them even mentioned before they were found. Not to mention that Lord Orthallen just ends up fine again – and it’s not really clear why he hates Skif in later books.
The descriptions of thievery are some of my favourite parts of the book. I skipped over some other parts of this novel on this reread – I’ve read it enough times that I remember basically everything anyway. A comforting, if not particularly exciting, read.
Skif livens up into a ‘normal’ child pretty easily. The Collegium accepts him – and clearly he can read and write. He fits in with the rest of his yearmates easily. Still, he does have an adult perspective. Not bad at all.

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Review: Mickey Zucker Reichert & Jennifer Wingert – Spirit Fox

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Spirit Fox
Mickey Zucker Reichert & Jennifer Wingert
At the moment of Kiandra’s birth, her father kills a fox cub. Little does he know that he is going to pave the way for disaster, and inadvertently rescue his own people at the same time.
Despite liking the way this was written and connecting with the characters, I thought the storyline itself was uninspiring.
The ending that Bevin orchestrates – it’s just too simple. It doesn’t give me any idea of the state of the rest of things – are they going to accept the Priest of Light? Carry on with their own violent priesthood?
It wasn’t clear to me what role Kiandra actually played. She seemed to lead the invaders, but that was it. I expected more! Not to mention her children. What was even the point of including them in the text?
Class hangups are always difficult. I wonder whether if I was Indian, I would understand them better. It seems annoying to me that you can’t marry who you love. If they hadn’t had that problem, there wouldn’t have been any issues at all!
I didn’t understand why the spirit link with Tynan stayed intact. Bevin should have been shielding everyone, right? And then after that episode, things just went back to normal – the loss of a human child seemed to mean nothing.
Well, I read it. I was expecting more brilliance from an author that I like so much, but I didn’t get it. I probably won’t reread this one – the characters were ok, but the storyline just didn’t do it for me.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Winds of Fate

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Winds of Fate
Mercedes Lackey
Elspeth must find a way to bring magery back to Valdemar. Instead of following the convenient plan set out for her, she chooses to ride a different path – much to the consternation of her traveling companions.
Honestly, I found Darkwind’s sections boring, and often found myself skipping through them impatiently. The best part of those were the griffins!
I don’t see the same character faults in Elspeth that she sees in herself. Nevermind. I’m not sure if it’s a character inconsistency or something else wrong with the writing.
There were some inconsistencies with Skif’s characters. Elspeth says that Skif’s uncle was a thief, and Skif followed in his footsteps, but if you’ve read ‘Take a Thief’, you’ll know this isn’t the case. Also, the ending, I felt that what he might be planning to do would be outside what was required of him as a herald.
This is a great refresher on magic in Valdemar if you’ve forgotten all about it since Vanyel’s time. Lots of useful history and other good things.
I’m positive there are some redeeming factors for this book – I’ve certainly read them more than once. But I’m hardly ever attracted to them when they sit on my shelf ready to read, so that must say something as well.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Winds of Change

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Winds of Change
Mercedes Lackey

“The last Herald-Mage gave his life to protect his kingdom from destruction by dark sorceries. But now the protective barrier set so long ago over Valdemar is crumbling, and with the realm imperiled by the dark magic of Ancar of Hardorn, Princess Elspeth, Herald and heir to the throne, has gone on a desperate quest in search of a mentor who can teach her to wield her fledgling mage-powers and help her to defend her threatened kingdom.”

This novel details Elspeth’s learning of magic, and Skif’s finding of his cat girl. It’s quite slowly paced, but fills in a bunch of interesting details. Elspeth and Darkwind both mature in this novel. Elspeth is pretty awesome anyway, if I do say so myself, but it’s cute to see the romance happening.

This history covered in this novel is of the Vanyel and  Brightly Burning variety. Ah, my favourite! I can’t say I liked Firesong much, but I did respect him. His character is explored more in the Mage Storm books and again in the Owl Knight trilogy.

It’s interesting that this Ma’ar has been able to survive. You wonder whether Urtho might have done something similar. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you need to read the Gryphon series that details those points in time.

I left this novel before reviewing it. Oops. Naughty me. I’ve reread this novel less than most of the others in this series, and I have to say I probably have a reason for that – I just didn’t like it as much as others.

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Review: Tamora Pierce – Terrier

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Terrier
Tamora Pierce
Beka is a lower city Dog, a lawkeeper. With interesting informants, or Birdies, she must solve a number of unknown crimes in an area that noone else seems to care about.
I love Beka. She’s a heroine with faults, which makes her ever so much more likeable. And she is aware of most of those, which endears the reader to her even more.
When I read this novel for the first time, I hated the journal format, longing for the more familiar third person prose of Pierce’s other books. I settled into it though, and now I really appreciate that the action is compacted.
The dust spinners and pigeons add a bit of light heartedness to the novel. Who ever hear of the dead and voices speaking through those? Pounce too adds a little humour. There’s little to laugh about most of the time, Beka is so serious about her job.
The ending of this novel comes as a bit of a surprise, or at least some parts of it do, so that makes it way more exciting. A good, solid teenage read that I’d recommend to any teenager who loves fantasy and strong female heroines.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – The White Gryphon

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The White Gryphon
Mercedes Lackey
The city of the Black Gryphon has been in operation for 10 years after the collapse of Urtho’s empire. Now threatened by the black skinned owners of their land, Skan and Amberdrake are threatened as never before.
Skan returns – but he’s fat and bored with life. The novel here sees him getting back into shape, but also being saved only by the smidgen of luck. The same goes for Amberdrake. Sometimes it feels like they’ll use up all their luck just being alive!
I would have liked to see more of the regular life at the settlement, and more of the black people’s lands. But I guess you can’t fit everything into one novel.
The action isn’t bad, even if there isn’t really much suspense, because the reader already knows who and what is happening. You feel sure that they are going to triumph. You don’t even like the people who are murdered!
Something I disliked about this novel were how the partners of the men were basically ignored as sideeffects and weren’t really given much of their own say. This was particularly true of Zaneel.
Although I was intending on reading all of this trilogy in a row, this novel put me off reading them for a bit. For me, these novels are some of the weaker ones in the series.

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