Tag: #fantasy

Halfax — Joseph R. Lallo

By 5t4n5

Halfax -- Joseph R. LalloAnother addition to The Book of Deacon series.

This novella takes up the story after the events of Jade when Myn has gotten a little older, and i admit that i did have hopes that we may have found some of the answers to the questions that Jade had left festering in my mind: alas it was not to be.

Answers aside though, it’s a well written novella set in one of my favourite series, so i’m not complaining too much about being kept in the dark.   I’m sure Joseph will get around to filling in all the blanks for us in some future books.

Joseph’s Page

#fantasy #josephrlallo

Gubbins and the ‘Munculus — Gaie Sebold

By 5t4n5

Gubbins and the 'Munculus -- Gaie SeboldA freebie over at the Fox Spirit website and a nice little taster of Gaie’s writing.

A really good twist on the sorcerer’s apprentice kind of theme, where instead of an apprentice we find that Gubbins is a slave.

“What’s a ‘Munculus?” you ask.

“Read it and find out,” i answer.

And then go and read Babylon Steel and Dangerous Gifts, coz Gaie is a damn good fantasy writer.

Gaie’s Page

#fantasy #gaiesebold

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Lewis Carroll

By 5t4n5

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- Lewis CarrollWhen i read this last time i never wrote a review for it: possibly because i’d only just written a review for Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and didn’t really see the need to say much the same for this book.

So what brings me to reading this book again and writing a review now, you may ask.   Well, it’s because i just finished reading Heartless by Marissa Meyer and i so wanted to see how well it would flow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland if it was read as a prequel.

Now i’m certainly not saying that this book needs a prequel, but if it were to have one then Heartless has my full blessings to occupy that honoured place.

Yes, one can argue that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a plenty wonderful book and stands perfectly alone without any need for a prequel, but, having just read Heartless beforehand as a prequel, i can fully attest that it makes for a much better reading experience if you do.

Here be some more “Alice and Wonderland” books.

Lewis’ Page

#aliceinwonderland #viclit #lewiscarroll

Heartless — Marissa Meyer

By 5t4n5

Heartless -- Marissa MeyerAnother book for fans of all things “Alice and Wonderland”.

In Heartless, Marissa has certainly written a very good prequel to the Lewis Carroll books, so much so that i now feel the need to re-read Wonderland and Looking Glass.

If you’ve ever wondered why the Hatter is Mad, why the Queen of Hearts likes chopping everyone’s heads off, where Jabberwockies come from, and lots more besides, then this is the book for you.

Well written, very enjoyable and quite unputdownable.

Marissa’s Page

#fantasy #aliceinwonderland #marissameyer

Blood & Tears — Patty Jansen

By 5t4n5

Blood & Tears -- Patty JansenThe final book in this trilogy that has certainly kept me turning the pages and wanting more.

My only complaint with this book is that it’s collected together all the main protagonists from the previous two books and hops, back and forth, between each of their stories.   Not normally a problem but because there are so many protagonists, each with their own little story to tell you, there are quite a few chapters between the chapter you leave off one protagonist’s story and the chapter you pick it back up again: each chapter in between belonging to a different protagonist’s story.   This all leaves you starting each new chapter having to make an effort as to what the protagonist of that chapter was doing when you last heard from them.   It’s not unwieldly or chaotic, but just loses the flow a little bit each time you get to a new chapter and you have to stop and think about where you are in the overall story each time.

And it’s not that i’m not used to dealing with lots of protagonists with contrasting story lines, i’ve read plenty of books like that; it’s just that in this book it just seemed to not quite flow as well and i’m not quite sure why.

And then all the protagonists stories coalesce into one single main event and *** BOOM *** it’s all over, finished, thank you very much for reading.

Maybe it’s just me being rather curmudgeonly, but i kinda wanted a lot more from the ending considering how much went on to get to it.   I really enjoy a good ending — don’t we all — and this ending really didn’t balance with the story that lead to it.

Or maybe it’s just that i didn’t want the trilogy to end so soon: maybe it could have done with another 100 pages just to keep this curmudgeon happy.

Yeah, so that all said, i did enjoy this trilogy as a whole and i’ll certainly be reading the “Moonfire Trilogy” sometime in the future to see what happens once everything has settled down from the icefire chaos.

Patty’s Page

#fantasy #pattyjansen

Dust & Rain — Patty Jansen

By 5t4n5

Dust & Rain -- Patty JansenJust when you thought it couldn’t get grimmer, Patty managed to pull it off.

So the City of Glass has shattered and icefire is spilling across the land chasing lots of surviving refugees as it burns and destroys everything in its path.

Then we throw our bunch of rather troubled protagonists from the 1st book into the refugees; have another bunch of them chasing some of them and causing lots of nasty along the way; throw a whole bunch more troubled protagonists into the country they’re heading to; stir up all the political nonsense that a time of crisis deserves and then hit the capital city with a huge bunch of the afore mentioned refugees coming via train and road — oh, and, nearly forgot, the refugees are contaminated with high levels of icefire, mostly injured, very hungry and needing shelter.

The one thing i like about this book is the pacing.   Patty keeps everything concerning the refugees really moving along at a good pace until we get to the parts with the politicians.   Suddenly, the pace slows and it feels like the story is trudging along.   This is so like real life; whenever there’s a crisis you can guarantee the only people dragging their heels — forming committees to discuss things while people are actually dying — will be the politicians who are always more concerned with what they can get out of it for their political careers.   Point well made, Patty.

It follows straight on from book one, Fire & Ice, without a pause for breath, and i’m very much diving straight into and devouring book 3, Blood & Tears, with only a little respite to write this review along the way.

So now, if you’ll excuse me, i’m off to read Blood & Tears.

Patty’s Page

#fantasy #pattyjansen