Paperback Archives - Page 14 of 27

Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop: Book Review

Dreams Made Flesh is a collection of four short stories/novellas centered around Jaenelle and her court. One of the events takes place immediately after the third in the Black Jewels series, so anyone reading this should keep that in mind. It definitely has spoilers for the previous books. My favorite story by far, was "The Prince of Ebon Rih." How I grinned as I read it! I've always liked Lucivar, but he really is cast as the older brother in the series. There is definitely more to him than that, so it was great to see him as a powerful ruler in his own right and a sexy-as-hell man. Watching him deal with that bitch Roxie was a pleasure. Seeing his insecurity in dealing with Marian was delightful. He didn't know what hit him. Absolutely loved it. My sister, who shoved this book into my hands saying only, "Read. This. Now." loves "Zuulaman." This is an event from Saetan's younger years that made him a legend. I liked it, but somehow couldn't help comparing it to Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. You probably have to be inside my head to see how that happened. I loved Tigana and this story suffered for the comparison. And probably from my sister's buildup. Still, it was a very cool showcase of Saetan's raw power. "Kaeleer's Heart" would have been good, but it was a little too much like "The Prince of Ebon Rih." It was nice to see Daemon and Jaenelle together, but I felt like I had pretty much read the story already, just a few pages earlier. It is sexy to see the lengths that Daemon is willing to go to in order to protect Jaenelle though. "Weaver of Dreams" was just a confusing little legend and that's all I have to…

The Invisible Ring by Anne Bishop: Book Review

Jared is one of the more powerful members of the Blood, the vaguely aristocratic magic-wielding rulers of the lands he lives in. After a life-alteringly bad choice in his teens, Jared has become a pleasure slave for the Queens and Witches of Hayll. After nine years of bowing to sadistic whims, he does something that has him headed for a short, brutal life in the salt mines unless some fool decides to buy him at the semi-annual slave market. Enter The Gray Lady. She is one of the few Queens that has refused to bow to the demands of affiliation from Hayll's Queen. The Gray Lady sees that the balance of power has shifted dangerously in Hayll. The Queens who are meant to care for their people and their land are instead abusing both. The males who are meant to protect the female Blood are instead breaking the stronger of them in order to eliminate competition for the leaders. Hayll's Queen wants The Gray Lady assassinated. The Gray Lady buys Jared and a handful of other cast-off slaves at the slave market. She then makes some puzzling choices. Instead of putting everyone in a coach and riding the Winds home, a trip of hours, she buys a cart and heads over land, a journey of days, if not weeks. On the journey, the group faces many dangers together and starts to feel a confusing loyalty to their new owner. Jared is the most torn of all. As a pleasure slave, he has had more than his fill of women, so why is he attracted to this Lady who is old enough to be his grandmother? I might be finished with this series. I loved the first one and liked the next two, but now that new characters are taking center…

Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop: Book Review

**Possible spoilers for the first two in the series, Daughter of the Blood and Heir to the Shadows.** The evil queens, Dorothea and Hekatah, are trying to force a war and so gain control of Jaenelle. But they have no idea how strong she is or the lengths she is willing to go to in order to protect her people. Or of the lengths her people will go to try to protect Jaenelle. Either these aren't quite living up to the promise of the first book, or I'm not quite as enchanted by this new system of magic and these characters, but I'm not quite as in love with this series now. Don't get me wrong--I still read this 400 page brick in a matter of hours, frantically turning pages, and eager to see what happens next. But somehow Daemon wasn't the same sexy unknown that he was in the first volume, Jaenelle isn't quite as charming as queen, and there wasn't much of Saetan, whom I adore. But there was more of Surreal, and I loved reading about her. Jaenelle doesn't put in an appearance for several chapters, and once she finally did, I remembered a peeve of mine from the other books--the phrase "midnight voice." Oh my gosh, I'm irritated just repeating it! It's used to show when she means business as queen, but a more creative author could surely find another way to do that without beating that phrase to death. And then there's Karla's "kiss kiss." Ugh. My husband stumbled onto that phrase as I was reading this and never even saw what hit him coming. What a coy, pretentious, fake, supercilious little habit! But, really, I do love these books and the characters and look forward to reading more of them. Which reminds me of…

A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin: Book Review

I just couldn't write this review without getting some big spoilers off my chest. I kept it safe for everyone though. If you're not worried about spoilers and it looks like something is missing, just highlight and you'll see what I wrote. You'll get it. Just when I thought this series couldn't get any more twisty-turny, (spoiler) I started to like Jamie Lannister. A lot. How the hell is Martin doing this? No, seriously. Not only is he keeping up with 50 pages' worth of characters without bogging the story down in names, but he has twisted this story in every conceivable direction without turning it back on itself. I keep thinking that I have made my peace with losing characters that I love, but I am enraged every time another gets knocked off. I cheer when a bad guy gets it. I want to reach inside the pages and bitch-slap an awful lot of people. They are asking for it. Trust me. Watching the series on HBO made me brave enough to pick up this one. Much as I love these, they are monsters. I need some courage to tackle them. Watching the series is giving me a better idea of how good Martin actually is. I am a slow series reader, so I do lose a lot of details between books. Seeing how things from the first book tie directly into the third book, about--oh, 3000 pages later, is amazing. It's also making it hard for me to keep my mouth shut as I watch with my sister and husband. They would never forgive me if I let a spoiler go, but it is so. freaking. hard. Like that spoiler up there. I want to tell them all about it and hash out exactly what happened where. I…

Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani: Book Review

**Very minor spoilers for Big Stone Gap** Ave Maria has been married for eight years now. She and her husband have a beautiful daughter, but they've also had some very difficult times. Now Ave feels that they're growing apart. Everyday life has gotten in the way of love, and it's time for both of them to make some decisions about what they want out of life. I like Ave a lot, I really do. So this melancholy book was hard for me to read. She is so unhappy. She has ample reason to be; she really has been through some things that no one should have to go through. But I wanted some moments of grace for her. She has some mostly carefree moments, but those felt wrong and my stomach was in knots, afraid she would make the wrong decision. The quirky characters that I loved in Big Stone Gap do, of course, make an appearance in this book. But they aren't being all that quirky. They're mostly sticking their noses into Ave's business and giving her advice that just seems to confuse her. Ave ends up in Italy for a while, and I did love the descriptions of the countryside there. I want to see that field of bluebells. Ave is in a very different place emotionally than she was in Big Stone Gap. I still liked checking in on her, but other readers should be ready for this more introspective, somber book. Read an excerpt. My review of the first in the series, Big Stone Gap. Find author Adriana Trigiani on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you…

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani: Book Review

Ave Maria (Please don't call her Ava) Mulligan has lived all her life in Big Stone Gap in the mountains of Virginia. Yet she's still seen as a "furriner" by everyone else because her mother was from Italy. Ave is sort of a "pillar of the community"; she's the town pharmacist, she makes house calls, she directs the town's outdoor summer drama, she's one of two volunteers for the rescue squad--you name, she's in it. But after her mother's recent death, Ave learns some surprising news about herself that leads her to question the direction her life is taking and make some big changes. Probably the most important thing to me about this book is that I was either smiling or laughing most of the way through it, and at the end I was definitely left with a satisfied smile on my face. It was a sweet, yet funny story full of lovable, quirky characters. And two very viable male leads to think about! :-) I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society recently, and I think fans of that book will enjoy this one. Not that there's anything really similar between the two. But they both left me smiling, and those books are always fun to find. I'll continue reading the rest of this series. Reviewed February 2009 Read an excerpt. Find author Adriana Trigiani on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. Buy Big Stone Gap at Malaprop’s | Better World Books Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and her Retro Friday Reviews for the inspiration and encouragement!I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will…

The Richest Man in Babylonby George S. Clason: Book Review

A co-worker insisted on lending me this book. It doesn't sound like my kind of thing, but I didn't know how to tell her I wasn't interested. We'll see how this goes... Written in a format that leaves me wondering whether to classify this as fiction or non-fiction, The Richest Man in Babylon uses the framework of established Babylonian men telling stories about how they gained their hard-won financial wisdom. The book is short and surprisingly readable for someone who doesn't understand much about Finance. I understand budgeting and saving, but that's as far as I go with that. The advice in the book seems sound to me, at least the parts that I understand. It boils down to: 1. Live on 70% of your income. 2. Save 10% of your income. 3. Use the remaining 20% to pay off your debts. Sound financial advice. Then it tries to get into investing. I just don't get it. The story in the book is about a man giving a shield-maker money for his business and the shield-maker pays him back with interest. I can't translate that into modern times. Oh, I know it's something about investing, but I'm so vague about how that works that I'm just left scratching my head, wondering where I can find an honest shield-maker. The format worked well for me. I was getting a little bit of a story along with my Financial Advice, so that made it easier. "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" kind of thing. I did get tired of all the "Thee" and "Thou." Maybe I'm wrong, but that's just King James English, right? I don't really think that's how ancient Babylonians talked. Just write "your" and be done with it. I guess it was supposed to give this…

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See: Book Review

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is the story of two girls from very different backgrounds in 1800s China and the deep friendship they share. I picked this up after reading three Holocaust novels in a row. I needed some “fluff” and, not really knowing what it was about, I thought this might work. Instead I found myself reading the horrible details of foot binding. I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize it was that bad. *Shudder* That aside, this was pretty good. I found it hard to relate to either Lily or Snow Flower, but I did appreciate the deep friendship they shared. In a time of arranged marriages, a friendship was the truest love most women experienced. I think we’ve lost some of that today, but we can still relate to the love, regret, and misunderstandings that arise between friends. A big part of the book centers around the secret women’s writing that the women in this area of China had. I just love the whole idea of a hidden writing system invented for women by women. I’ve come across this idea before in The Secrets of Jin-shei by Alma Alexander. That novel’s set in an imaginary country that is obviously based on China. Readers of one of these books should like the other. I think women who enjoy reading about friendships between women will enjoy this one. Reviewed August 12, 2009 Read an excerpt. Find author Lisa See on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. Buy Snow Flower and the Secret Fan at Malaprop’s | Better World Books Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and her Retro Friday Reviews for the inspiration and encouragement! I have an affiliate relationship…

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Book Review

Forget the big, green, shuffling, moaning monster with bolts in his neck that we've all come to associate with Frankenstein. He does not appear in these pages. I wonder what book those old horror movie writers read? It wasn't this one. Frankenstein's monster is big, but the only other physical descriptions I really remember are flowing black hair, watery yellow eyes, and uncanny speed, agility, and tolerance for cold. Oh, and he's more eloquent than I could ever hope to be. Seriously. As for Frankenstein himself--a more self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-explicatory character I hope to never meet. He was terrible! This was his story: "Oh no! Something bad happened!" *clunk* He falls over in nervous delirium and is bed-ridden for months. He wakes. He moans and groans and just generally doesn't deal. Then one day: "Oh no! Something bad happened! But it wasn't my fault!" *clunk* He falls over in nervous delirium, bed-ridden for months, blah, blah, blah, blah. That really is Frankenstein's story in a nutshell. I do realize that this story was supposed to be more of a warning about our science getting ahead of our morals, pride coming before a fall and all that. On that level, it completely worked. As I read this, the word hubris kept coming to mind, and I haven't thought that word since studying the Greek myths for months on end my sophomore year of high school. That was more years ago than I honestly want to think about. Anyway, Shelley absolutely did what she meant to do and her work is always going to be relevant. But as a reader, I need a character that I can like. I don't think it necessarily has to be the main character, just give me someone, somewhere, to root for. There wasn't one here. Clerval…

Cujo by Stephen King: Book Review

Do we all know the basic story of Cujo? Big, lovable St. Bernard gets rabies and goes on a rampage. That's it. Sounds so simple, and it mostly is, but King can tell one heck of a story. I read this without once closing it, in one 12-hour night shift, without even thinking about getting tired. In fact, I found myself idly wandering around the office, doing things that needed to be done, holding this book in one hand and working with the other. I seriously couldn't put it down. But it was a little weak. There was this little subplot where he tried to make the story supernatural. I thought it was silly and unnecessary. It was scarier for being something that I (in my complete ignorance of rabies) think could maybe happen, at least for a little while. And can I go on record as saying that I hate the name Tadder? If Tad is too short for you, why not move on to Theo? Your kid will not thank you for Tadder when he's being beaten up on the playground. I'm just glad I had finished this before my husband said, "How do you know he didn't mean it to sound like tater?" But the fact that almost all the "horror" elements take place in such a confined space with just three characters, one of whom is a St. Bernard, earns King huge points. This really should not have been a page turner, and yet it was. There is a reason the man is so popular. Reviewed October 21, 2009 Malaprop’s | Better World Books Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and her Retro Friday Reviews for the inspiration and…