Fantasy Archives - Page 18 of 21

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay: Book Review

Shen Tai's father, the great Kitan general Shen Gao, died haunted by an epic battle he led against the neighboring country of Tagura. He won the battle but in his old age he came to realize that the cost was too high. 40,000 casualties lie unburied in the beautiful meadow at Kuala Nor. Tai decides to spend his two and a half years of mourning burying those dead to honor his father's memory. Word of his epic task spreads throughout both countries until a Kitan princess married to the Taguran king hears of it. She honors him by gifting him 250 Sardian horses. "You gave a man one of the famed Sardian horses to reward him greatly. You gave him four or five to exalt him above his fellows, propel him towards rank, and earn him jealousy, possibly mortal jealousy. Two hundred and fifty is an unthinkable gift, a gift to overwhelm an emperor." Tai finds himself thrust back into the quick-moving world of court intrigue as he tries to do the right thing for his country, his family, and himself, while also trying to stay alive. My expectations for this were too high. I tried to temper them, knowing that I might be disappointed, but c'mon. It's Guy Gavriel Kay. It's China. How could it be anything other than a 6++++ star book? Yeah. They were too high. I just kept waiting for the story to start. And it kept not starting. And then it was over. So I missed something somewhere. GGKay isn't exactly about the action, he's definitely more about the characters. But there's usually some action going on somewhere. Not here. Tai just sort of went along, reacting to other people's plans for him and his horses, unable to gain much of an initiative himself. It's…

The Magicians by Lev Grossman: Book Review

Quentin Coldwater is the top in his class. He's also in love with his best friend's girlfriend and unhappy at home. One day, he receives a manuscript that looks like an unpublished addition to his favorite fantasy series, set in a fantasy world called Fillory. In a roundabout way, this manuscript leads him through a portal to a school called Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy and Quentin thinks he's found the happiness he's always been searching for. Let's get the obvious out of the way. I've seen the reviews that call this a Harry Potter rip-off. There's a boy in a school of magic, and a few intentional winks sent Harry's way, but this story felt like much more of an homage to Narnia than Hogwarts. Since it fell into Narnia territory for me, I started reading it and looking for the "deeper meaning." I don't know if I was exactly supposed to but I did; I couldn't help it. It worked that way for me. If you're looking for it, there's all kinds of stuff about childhood dreams and disillusionment, how there are so many distractions in life that really don't help you in any way, and how you won't find happiness externally until you find it internally. One character tells Quentin, "I will take some chances. If you will, for just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever....{You} can sure as hell decide to be miserable." All that stuff aside, this worked as…

Everlasting by Angie Frazier: Book Review

Camille Rowen is engaged to Randall Jackson, the most eligible bachelor in San Francisco. So why doesn't she feel anything when he kisses her? And why is she so excited to go on one last voyage with her sea captain father? Could it have anything to do with handsome, inappropriate Oscar Kildare? And why does her father announce that they'll be sailing into a different port halfway through their trip? I enjoyed myself so much reading this fun YA novel! Camille is a feisty, likable heroine; Oscar is a handsome, thoughtful hero; their companion is a lovable rogue; and the action doesn't really let up. It's just one thing after another. Two small things I'll mention. I think this might have worked a little better as a straight adventure story without the fantasy element. That would have changed the ending quite a bit though, so I won't swear that I'm right. It just felt more like an adventure story and the fantasy thing was just added in there. Also, I would have liked to have seen more of the Australian setting. It's a country I'd love to visit, so I'll take all the description I can get! Those are small, but really this was just a fun sort of Indiana Jones story with some young love thrown in. Recommended for a light read for young adults and the young at heart.

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain: Book Review

Grace Divine, the local pastor's daughter, walks into art class one day to find Daniel Kalbi checking out her latest project. Not too remarkable, right? Well, Daniel disappeared from her life several years earlier on a violent night that her family never talks about, and she's had no idea what happened to him. He seems to have changed. He's angrier, darker, and seems to be hopeless. Grace decides to make his life better however she can, then realizes she's in way over her head. I can't give a reason for my rating. I just didn't love it, didn't hate it, so it landed in the forgettable middle. There's a twist, and I did like it, but that's about all I can say. I did like the message that forgiveness helps the person doing the forgiving as much as the person being forgiven. Maybe even more. I have a looooooooooong fuse, but once I get upset with you, I'm done. I don't really forgive. So that part did hit home as something I need to work on personally. I have realized that I really only read YA fantasy. I don't have a whole lot of patience for "real-life" high school drama. This felt a lot more like that kind of book than like a fantasy I would normally read. I know there are plenty of you who like those kinds of books, so you'll probably like this more than I did. One thing drove me crazy. It felt like every page or two there was a header proclaiming what time, day, or place the story had moved on to. This is not necessary. Write it in. And she does, so it looked like this: "MORNING [....:] I rolled over and and looked at the clock: 6:00 a.m." Or "INTO THE WOODS"…

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell: Book Review

Damien Locke is the son of the Mistress of Mayhem, a mad scientist supervillain living in Golden City. On his sixteenth birthday, he has a huge party to celebrate his thumbprint becoming a "V," meaning that he's a born supervillain. Except that it doesn't. It becomes a mythical "X," which can only mean one thing: his dad must be a superhero. Where does that leave Damien? I had a lot of fun reading this! Damien might not be the most scientific supervillain, or the strongest, but he is definitely clever and creative, a combination that leads to some ingenious plans. But he also felt like a normal teen. He freaks out when his whole life plan and everything he knows about himself is thrown into question. He hides them well, but he has some insecurities. He's sarcastic but tries his best to be a good boyfriend and friend. Girls baffle him but he keeps trying. If he makes up his mind that he's got a reason to get revenge on someone, he takes it in ways that are totally unpredictable and frequently hilarious. He just can't help caring about the people around him in spite of himself. I liked the way that this adventurous superhero story can also be read as a story about choices. Just because your parents are good or bad doesn't mean that you have to follow in their footsteps. Just because you think that you were born to be one thing doesn't mean that you can't at least try doing something else. The other characters were great too. Kat was so totally random and fun and well-developed. She messes up before the story even begins and she feels awful about it. Sarah is just a geek to the rest of her school, but Damien finds out…

Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint: Book Review

In the author's note at the beginning of this volume of short stories, Charles de Lint says that he's taking a break from Newford for a while but that he still has enough short stories lying around to publish one more collection. I read that and my heart stopped for a second. I love Newford and all the characters in it! They have become my fictional friends over the years! The logical part of my brain can understand though. He's written 20+ novels and short story collections set in Newford, and if I were de Lint, I would probably have gotten tired of it and moved on long ago. My attention span just isn't that long. Maybe for that reason, this collection felt a bit like goodbye. There were so many stories that paid visits to old friends from other stories and novels. It almost felt like I was being allowed one last peek into their world to show me that they're doing just fine and that they'll continue to be just fine in that world where unwritten stories live. They'll live on as long as loyal fans like me continue re-reading and new fans fall in love with the characters in their turn. I might not be happy about a break from Newford, but I'm happy with where everyone is.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton I'm pretty sure this is the first book of Gaiman's that I read. I read the novel but I need to get the graphic novel sometime. I have Charles Vess's Drawing Down the Moon, which features quite a few panels from the Stardust graphic novel, and it's beautiful.…

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

Grace has been obsessed with the wolves living in the woods behind her house for years. There's one in particular that she thinks of as her wolf. On the day that she starts to think that there may be more to these wolves than meets the eye, some local hunters decide to go wolf hunting in her backyard. She makes up a story to get them to stop and then comes home to find a shot and naked young man shivering on her back deck. Wow. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and it really is great. I've read Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by this author, and I thought it was just okay, so I was a little hesitant to pick this one up. I shouldn't have been. I have a full-blown sensitive-boy crush on Sam. I think he has it all. He loves to read, he's musical, he writes songs for Grace, he respects her and tries to treat her right, he's beautiful; I really could go on and on. Sam is the reason I loved this book. Grace was pretty cool too. She has this weird obsession with the wolves, but that's explained. The only thing I can't figure out is how her 10- or 11-year-old self got locked in a car. Child locks are on in the back? A kid that age should know to climb out the front. Oh, and that disappearing-parent thing that is so prevalent in YA books shows up here. At least it's noted and treated as a problem rather than taken for granted and used as nothing more than an excuse to let teens do whatever they want without any adult interference. The girl that I really liked was Isabel. She had such a tough, take-no-prisoners exterior.…

Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson: Book Review

Alex Van Helsing has heard it thousands of times before. Yes, his last name is really Van Helsing. No, not like that Van Helsing. No, he doesn't kill monsters. To paraphrase his father, that kind of thing doesn't happen. Except when it does. What a fun, action-packed story! It begins with Alex running toward a scream in the woods and ends on a very brooding scene that feels like a pause. Which isn't to say that this book feels incomplete; for the first in the series, it stands very well on its own. I know more is coming, I have one or two questions, but I'm happy with the way things ended. Alex is the most fully fleshed-out character and I liked him. He's had some trouble in the past and he's still having trouble in the present but he's doing his best. His whole world has just shifted but he's dealing with it. The other characters were fun, but they weren't developed all that well. I am curious about Minhi, Mr. Sangster, and Sid. I hope I'll learn more about them in other books. As an older reader, I appreciated the way the classics like Dracula and the background story to Frankenstein were worked in. For younger readers who might not have been exposed to these books yet, the necessary references were explained well and the unnecessary ones were just bonuses for those in the know. There wasn't really anything new added to the vampire myth, but it was still fun. Kids who haven't read quite so much will probably love this. There were some gadgets that I even thought were very cool, and I'm not into gadgets! These vampires are not the seductive, tormented vampires that we've seen so much of lately. These guys are baddies through and…

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs: Book Review

Mercy Thompson is a walker. Not that kind of walker. A "skinwalker." She can shift into coyote form easily and at will. Her sexy neighbor is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She's good friends with a vampire. Her life isn't exactly normal. When a new lone werewolf shows up at her garage one day looking for work, trouble follows him to Mercy's doorstep. Mercy has to figure out what's going on before her friends and family get hurt. I loved this! Mercy is a great character. She's smart, loyal, caring, funny, and sarcastic. She can hold her own against all the Alpha men in her life. And, oh those Alpha men.... There were a lot of men to choose from here. Adam is the ex-military guy who sticks his nose into Mercy's business whether she wants him to or not. There's a lot of history between Samuel and Mercy. Warren is loyal to his pack and the rules at any cost. There are actually more, if you can believe that. I don't know why I liked all these guys so much; I generally can't stand overly-dominant men in person. But these guys didn't just see themselves as powerful. With their power came responsibility to those weaker than themselves, and they took that responsibility seriously. That must be the difference for me. Briggs filled in the details of this world pretty smoothly. I never felt like I was just getting an info dump. A couple of times Mercy explained to a werewolf something like how the werewolves would defeat the vampires in a battle and I was pulled out of the story enough to think, "Honey, he knows that. Oh. That was for my benefit." And then I moved on. I know that I'm probably in the minority here,…