Xariel

Here he goes again! Dan Brown is back with a new page-turner - and more, such as plot twists that are not so much twists as a road straight ahead and a plot that feels oddly similar to every other Dan Brown book. There's Langdon, on a run, with a female sidekick, a mysterious organisation (or many of those) with conservative& elderly, male leaders. People are again doing bad things in the name of religion - and I feel like I'm rereading the Da Vinci Code, except now we're in Spain. 

So why, oh why, do I like this book? At least enough to actually give it a good rating? 

Well, I am not a critic, I'm a consumer - an avid book consumer, and there are things that really speak for Brown. Firstly, I buy a Dan Brown book and I know what I'm going to get: a fast-paced thriller, filled with intriguing symbols, hidden meanings and "deeper" questions. It's close enough to truth that I can entertain the idea "what if this were true" without loosing the illusion. There's plenty to learn from the characters knowledge, locations, central artwork... things that I know are based on real things. My Trivial Pursuit skills get enhanced, and I'm having fun reading. What's there not to like? 

I do wish Brown would somehow flip the script and surprise me with something I haven't seen before in terms of _plot_, because the setting is changing every time while still being engaging. That's where Brown's true talent lies as a writer.

Reviewing The Innkeeper Chronicles 1&2.

I heard about the Innkeeper Chronicles when Ilona Andrews was publishing the chapters one by one as a serial on her website. I'm not very good at following serials, so I did not start reading then but rather waited until they were done and published the serial, and later the sequel.

It was very much worth the wait. I don't think I've ever read a book from Ilona Andrews that I did not like at all. There's been some that I didn't really fall for like the new hot&heavy sorcerer romance Burn For Me. Clean Sweep and Sweep in Peace were both excellent and I couldn't make them better if I tried.

Clean Sweep introduces us to a new world but in a series that will at some point (fine, fine... in Sweep in Peace) tie into Andrews' series The Edge. The characters are fresh, interesting and alien... literally. I love that the different alien races in the series are also described as looking very different from normal humans. And they are clearly from cultures that do not share much with humans - and those clashes and fun and scary.

Sweep in Peace takes what Clean Sweep created and emphasizes the strong points of the heroine Dina DeMille; her integrity, pride and extreme down-to-earth practical mindset are impressive and help take the story forward. The sequel surprised me with the emotional baggage the feelings that I got from it. Without the lighter parts and humor in it, it would have been much heavier read, and even as it is it left me in deep thoughts and misty eyes - unexpected, but not unwelcome.

Without giving away more, I would urge any fans of Andrews, magical inns, clever heroines and an action fantasy that doesn't focus on romance to get their hands on these!

Reviewing The Innkeeper Chronicles 1&2.

I heard about the Innkeeper Chronicles when Ilona Andrews was publishing the chapters one by one as a serial on her website. I'm not very good at following serials, so I did not start reading then but rather waited until they were done and published the serial, and later the sequel.

It was very much worth the wait. I don't think I've ever read a book from Ilona Andrews that I did not like at all. There's been some that I didn't really fall for like the new hot&heavy sorcerer romance Burn For Me. Clean Sweep and Sweep in Peace were both excellent and I couldn't make them better if I tried.

Clean Sweep introduces us to a new world but in a series that will at some point (fine, fine... in Sweep in Peace) tie into Andrews' series The Edge. The characters are fresh, interesting and alien... literally. I love that the different alien races in the series are also described as looking very different from normal humans. And they are clearly from cultures that do not share much with humans - and those clashes and fun and scary.

Sweep in Peace takes what Clean Sweep created and emphasizes the strong points of the heroine Dina DeMille; her integrity, pride and extreme down-to-earth practical mindset are impressive and help take the story forward. The sequel surprised me with the emotional baggage the feelings that I got from it. Without the lighter parts and humor in it, it would have been much heavier read, and even as it is it left me in deep thoughts and misty eyes - unexpected, but not unwelcome.

Without giving away more, I would urge any fans of Andrews, magical inns, clever heroines and an action fantasy that doesn't focus on romance to get their hands on these!

First of all, I love the cover. The artist also makes the covers for the Mercy Thompson series, which is a favorite of mine.

This book did not live up to my expectations. I expected more humour and somehow easier read. This wasn't light, it's very dark fantasy, and urban fantasy. The language was also tiring to read with all the flowering, "fairy" expressions.

Sometimes I fall so deep into Eve Dallas' New York of 2050's that I forget I'm reading scifi. Then this book comes and figuratively hits the reader in the head. I loved it.

I absolutely loved the Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter. I say, books and series like those make most TV and movies seem like an inferior form of entertainment. The Scribe is her newest book and I was excited to give it a try.

Aaand it was wonderful! I'm quite convinced that I will love anything she writes, because there hasn't been one exception in about ten novels I've read from her. That's about everything she's published.

The Scribe was so interesting! The history of the characters, the ambiance, the story itself... I just got sucked right in. I love traveling to exotic places while reading and I could just imagine I was in Istanbul myself, your writing and descriptions were that inspiring. I need to get out of the country for a while.

A very good read!

***
Another very, very good novel in an exotic milieu is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, which is mostly set in Prague, Czech Republic. I want more of that. No more lil' ol' American towns, I want Jerusalem, Sao Paulo, Wien and Mumbai...

Wow. I love this.

A Hidden Fire is an interesting mystery, a fascinating story and a book that I'm enormously happy belongs to a series. It promises a lot, delivers most of what it promises and the rest of it... well, just read the next ones!

Throne of Glass is... something else. Really good, cutting-edge YA high fantasy! And yes, we don't get that very often.

I hear it's being marketed as the Young Adult version of Game of Thrones, which is true and is not true at the same time. Yes, there are many complex characters, all scheming with their own motives. Some you like, some you hate, but she scale of love and hate in Throne of Glass is nowhere near to that of George R.R. Martin's saga. Comparing those two novels in that fashion, I would have expected Throne of Glass to be much darker, gloomier and, well, gorier than it actually was. If you've read them both, I'd like to hear what you think about the comparison.

What's clear, however, is that Throne of Glass is an excellent read - fast-paced, action-packed novel with a kick-ass heroine who's strong, smart and likable. We get two men, who in readers' hearts compete as the protagonist Celaena Sardothien's love interests. Sarah J. Maas did say, however, that in her mind there was never real competition and that the choice has always been clear to her.

Well, thank you very much, Ms. Maas, but I rooted for that other guy. No spoilers.

A thought. Princess Nehemia was a really cool character. She is independent, motivated, "nice like people are in real life, which means only as long as she likes to be". She's not one of those secondary characters whose acts seem to be created just so that the plot could advance. No, we get to find out why she makes her choices. And she just happens to be a person of color, without being a stereotypical person of color, or feeling like an added thing, just because there should be a person of color in a book.

If you like thrill of competition, can stomach high fantasy world building (not everybody can) and won't be put out with a love triangle - please, read Throne of Glass. And don't forget the fantastic little prequels. Yum!

It's been a long while since the second book and I think rereading the first one before opening this book might be a good idea. It makes you understand more subtle references in the book, although I note that the book seems very different from the first two.

The two books before this have been strolling on and focused on Candy's adventures, but this one has relatively larger scale and the events get more complicated. New characters are introduced and things a reader though sure are turned upside down. Big changes are coming...

The text itself was guaranteed Clive Barker style and I'm sure Abarat lovers will love this book, too. It has more action and more twists than I certainly expected and after it I was left with a wee bit confused expectation of the fourth book. Whereas the second book had in a way a clear cut ending, the third does not. So many things are left open-ended and questions are still unanswered.

A good read that keeps up the high quality of the series.

Ultraviolet was a book that intrigued me from the beginning. I love the way the author has combined some real life mystical elements and then something from the other end of the scale.

I liked the main character Alison and reading her thoughts was very enlightening, for a reason that'll come up while reading the book.

The reason why I ended up rating Ultraviolet three stars instead of the four I would have given based on the first hundred and fifty pages of the book are the last fifty pages. Somehow, from my perspective, the story line just jumped this huge distance and left me gaping and laughing to myself, thinking "is this for real?"

Much more cannot be said without giving the surprise away...

Wood Angel is a book that surprises. The basic idea is very simple, but the book itself feels more complicated, so it's an interesting read. One adjective to describe the book: unique. It was a refreshing novel to read on a summer day... a good moment to ogle one's own shadow.

Alexandra Bracken's novel is a stunning debut. The plot is simple but not too simple, it flows on naturally. For that it's easy to follow, but it also surprises; you cannot always predict what's coming.
The theme of one's responsibility towards one's country and home is repeated through the novel. However, the biggest part of the story, like often in YA novels, revolves around the relationship between the two main characters. The good part is, that their relationship and it's changes were not artificial, they were identifiable.
Brightly woven was a book that delighted and, in my opinion, is one of the best YA novels of 2010.