Naamah’s Blessing by Jacqueline Carey

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Naamah's Blessing
Naamah’s Blessing
Jacqueline Carey
I won a copy of this book at the last readathon I did (Dewey’s 24 hour readathon) plus got a copy (unsolicited) from the publisher. [Psst! Since I was sent two copies of this book, I’m giving the unread one away this week!] Naamah’s Blessingis the third book of this trilogy.
 
Book 1: Naamah’s Kiss  https://i0.wp.com/i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/jayamei2/livejournal_com.gifhttps://i0.wp.com/i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/jayamei2/wordpress.jpg
Book 2: Naamah’s Curse  https://i0.wp.com/i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/jayamei2/livejournal_com.gifhttps://i0.wp.com/i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/jayamei2/wordpress.jpg
 
***** This review contains spoilers for the earlier two books *****
 
 
The Premise: Moirin mac Fainche has returned to Terre D’Ange from her adventures in the far away lands of the East. She’s found and brought back her lover (now husband) Bao, but while she was away. Moirin’s beloved Jehanne de Courcel, the D’Angeline queen has passed away, leaving a grief stricken king and a very young daughter. The city of Elua is left without an attentive king, and Desirée, Jehanne’s child is a lonely, isolated little girl. In the meantime, Prince Thierry has left on an expedition to Terra Nova for exploration and glory, and hasn’t returned. Moirin sees Jehanne in her dreams, again tasking her with a Destiny. Things have come around full circle and this time Moirin must fix a disaster of her own making. For when Moirin was younger she naively used her powers granted by the Maghuin Dhonn to further the ambitions of Raphael de Mereliot and the Circle of Shalomon. It has consequences Moirin never imagined, but Moirin must make things right.
 
My Thoughts: Like it’s two predecessors, Naamah’s Blessing is not a short story (this one clocks in at 610 pages), but for its length the story is very readable. I was grateful that the first couple of chapters are ones where Moirin looks back over her adventures, and whenever her past touches on the present, the relationship is summarized. I have a pretty decent memory of what happened in Naamah’s Kiss and Naamah’s Curse but it was nice to have my memory gently jogged without it becoming an info dump.
 
I felt like Naamah’s Blessing was easing me back into the story, which was good. After all that Moirin has been through, especially in the last book, it was nice for this one to begin back in familiar territory, not with Moirin discovering new people and traveling somewhere on an arduous journey (not that that doesn’t happen, but it happens later).  It was nice to see how Elua has changed since Moirin has been away, but more importantly how Moirin has changed. She has an idea of how to comport herself and what people expect of her, and most importantly she is now wiser about how her actions have consequences. If she wants to help certain people, (particularly the king and princess Desirée), Moirin has to take care.  There’s some court intrigue and machinations in Naamah’s Blessing, but Moirin is not so naive that she is unaware of them, and I loved reading about this less oblivious Moirin who wisely seeks advice on what to do about the problems she sees. Moirin’s maturity is a big part of what made this a very good third installment in my eyes.
 
Moirin’s character may be less naive, but she still keeps her open personality and her faith in her gods. As always she consults her diadh-anam which she has as a worshipper of the Maghuin Dhonn, as well as the signals of Naamah, the Bright Lady. Although Moirin wants to stay in Elua and protect Desirée from the ambitions of others and the grief-caused neglect of her father, her diadh-anam calls her away. Compounding that are dream visions of Jehanne that tell Moirin news about Prince Thierry. As before, Moirin follows as the gods will it.
 
Naamah’s Blessing has two distinctive parts followed by an epilogue. The first would be in Terre D’Ange and second, Terra Nova, where the Nuhautl Empire and the Quechua kingdom reside. Both parts of the story are tied together by Moirin’s task to fix things in Terre D’Ange and to fix the disaster she created in her youth. There are (as there always is in these books), fascinating new people and places where Moirin encounters new cultures. I enjoy reading of the lush new worlds Moirin discovers and about the new peoples. One big theme seemed to be “sacrifice” as the people of Terra Nova worship bloodthirsty gods in ways that the D’Angelines and Aragonians find barbaric. As the story progresses, Moirin learns to appreciate the idea of sacrifice being the price to pay to make things right.
 
I really like the epic nature of this series and the world building is fascinating. I liked how Moirin’s religion and the religion and cultures of the people she meets are a big part of the story and how the world is an alternative fantasy version of our own. Particularly tickling – having the D’Angelines alter the course of history by innoculating the natives of the Nuhautl Empire from a disease brought over by the Aragonians. But I have some minor problems with the story as well. I’ve commented on this in previous reviews –  on one hand it is just part of Moirin’s character to be so faithful, but on the other I never really felt like there was any danger of Moirin making a tragic choice because she just has to follow the path set for her. The only difficulty is getting others to follow along with what the gods have told her.  Another problem I had was that although minor characters from the first book return and are more fully fleshed (Balthazar Shahrizai and former King’s poet Lianne Tremain in particular), some felt less so. Bao, Moirin’s husband was one. I don’t know what it is but I couldn’t connect with him.  I had the same problem in Naamah’s Curse because he wasn’t in the story very much. Now that he is, he’s still not really there. I found him a cardboard “perfect husband for Moirin”. The other character I had problems connecting with was Raphael de Mereliot, who was completely unrecognizable in this story. There was no satisfying reason for it other than to have him fit an archetypical role, and I was disappointed that there wasn’t more. I think that for the length of the story, I’d like to have seen more in depth characterizations of these two.
 
That said, this still was my favorite installment of the series. I liked how Moirin’s story was wrapped up in a satisfying way that brought everything full circle and I really liked the growth of Moirin’s character over the three books and how that affected the story. I closed this one without feeling disappointed.
 
Overall: Probably the strongest installment in this epic fantasy series, Naamah’s Blessing concludes the adventures of Moirin mac Fainche with one last journey across the world. Moirin has learned and become a more mature heroine, and I liked her the better for it. Except for minor complaints about secondary characters in this story and the reliance on deus ex machina, I found this one satisfying.
 
Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository
 
Other reviews:
The Discriminating Fangirl – 5 stars (out of 5)
Fantasy Book Critic – A++
Dear Author – B (I feel like this is the review I most agree with)

Mini-title trend: Riffing on “Eat, Pray, Love”

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Part of me does a little groan when I see this, but this year the title Eat, Prey, Love has had at least three books play off its popularity. What do you think of this? I guess at this point I’ve only seen the three, but three may be my limit. If I see another one I’m seriously going to eyeroll.

Are there other popular titles you can think of that have had a similar “remixing”?  I feel like I’ve seen similar things done before but my mind is blanking.

Giveaway: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

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I just reviewed this book and I have ONE extra copy of an ARC copy of Shut Out to give away, thanks to BEA, so here it is –

To enter:
1. Email janicu[at]gmail[dot]com with the subject SHUT OUT GIVEAWAY, and say “please enter me” or something like that, and that should be it. No hoops, although if you found this blog via this giveaway, I’d be thrilled if you did subscribe.
2. One entry per person please
3. This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL. I’ll mail it anywhere that the USPS delivers to.
4. This contest ends midnight EST July 22nd

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

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Shut Out
Shut Out
Kody Keplinger
The DUFF is one of my favorite reads of this year; I loved the real and unvarnished voice of the main character, a teen distracting herself from her problems by having a physical relationship. When I found out that Kody Keplinger had another book in the works, based on Aristophanes’ play, Lysistrata, I mentally put it on my list as a book to look for in the fall.  But I didn’t have to wait that long – Shut Out was one of the offerings at BEA. Yep, I was so there. This is an early review of an ARC copy. This book doesn’t come out till September but I am planning a giveaway of my extra copy in a day or two!
 
The Premise: (taken from the back blurb) “Most high school sports teams have rivalries with other schools. At Hamilton High, it’s a civil war: the football team versus the soccer team. And for her part, Lissa is sick of it. Her quarterback boyfriend, Randy, is always ditching her for go pick a fight with the soccer team or to prank their locker room. And on three separate occasions Randy’s car has been egged while he and Lissa were inside, making out. She is done competing with a bunch of sweaty boys for her own boyfriend’s attention.
Lissa decides to end the rivalry once and for all: She and the other players’ girlfriends go on a hookup strike. The boys won’t get any action from them until the football and soccer teams make peace. What they don’t count on is a new sort of rivalry: an impossible girls-against-boys showdown that hinges on who will cave to their libidos first. And Lissa never sees her own sexual tension with the leader of the boys, Cash Sterling, coming.”
 
My Thoughts: What I liked about The DUFF was that its main character felt like a real teenager, and I was glad to see that the same is true about Shut Out. Lissa Daniels is a normal girl with a fairly typical life. She lives with her father, a counselor at an elementary school, and with her older bother, Logan . She’s a good student, has a steady boyfriend who fits in with her family, and she works at the local library as a part time job. Fairly normal stuff, except for losing her mother a few years ago in the same car crash that left her father in a wheelchair.
 
Then there’s dealing with her boyfriend’s obsession with the feud between the football and soccer teams at her high school. From Lissa’s point of view (a view shared by many), the feud is pointless; the teams belong to the same school, and hardly any of the boys can remember why they are fighting.  When Lissa tells her boyfriend Randy to stop before someone gets hurt, Randy doesn’t take her seriously. He is oblivious that Lissa’s problem with the feud has to do with how it affects their relationship, and Lissa finds it difficult to articulate her feelings. As it is, he brushes off her repeated requests to stop. That’s when Lissa gets fed up and organizes the hookup strike with girlfriends of players on both sides of the fighting.
 
This is where things begin to get interesting. The boys are in an uproar, and relationships weaken, particularly Lissa and Randy’s. The boys begin to band together against the girls. Suddenly it’s a war of the sexes.
 
Amongst the fallout, the strike opens up a dialog, particularly amongst the girls. It becomes an opportunity for the girls to get closer and to talk to each other about sex.  I loved that the girlfriends – all very different from one another, had a chance to air out individual experiences and hear from the rest of the group. Things like what the “normal” level of intimacy is, using sex to manipulate people, and what the line is with what they’re doing. What I particularly liked was that the realization that there is no such thing as normal. I found that the message that everyone goes through feeling inadequate just because they don’t think they conform to an idealized normal, is a similar message that was in The DUFF. The DUFF just focused on the appearance side of the message, and Shut Out focuses on experience. This is a positive message, and I think it’s great that Shut Out speaks frankly about sex and teens, but  the “lessons” about sex also lent the story a very obvious moralistic slant, and there are a lot of these lessons. Lissa talks through sexual rights and wrongs with other characters on several occasions.
 
I’m far from being a teen so these messages do little for me now, but I think I’d have liked to read a book like this when I was in my early teens. The only small issue I really had was about one of Lissa’s friends who has a cavalier sexual lifestyle. I didn’t think much of it until she explains it as a need to have some control in her life after her dad moving out (but doesn’t want anyone to psychoanalyze her). Maybe the message was not to judge people for their private decisions, but it didn’t The DUFF illustrate what a bad idea it is to deal with your problems this way? The contradiction bugged me.
 
Anyway, on to the romance in this story, which was big subplot. While Lissa and Randy’s relationship falters, her relationship with Cash Sterling becomes stronger. Not only does Cash now work at the library with Lissa, but it’s revealed that they have a little bit of a back story. Things being as they are, there are a lot more opportunities for these two to be thrown together, and of course sparks fly. It’s a bit of a love triangle, but not really. I think the story makes things very clear cut so Lissa can’t be accused of cheating. Without going into it, it becomes very obvious who the right person for her is, while at the same time not making anyone a cardboard villain without any redeeming features. I understood the qualities that drew Lissa to the guy she doesn’t end up with.
 
Lissa’s role as the leader also gives the story an opportunity to touch on sex as a weapon. Lissa begins to get very caught up in the “war” and goes a little overboard in her “attack”, so there’s a scene that covers teasing and when the term is used unfairly and when the term really applies. Excellent scene, although the response of the guy involved felt a little unreal for a teen-aged guy, it was great to see how mixed up and emotionally invested the whole thing is making Lissa. I really liked how Lissa’s progression from going too far to figuring out the right thing to do went, although I did feel like the final smoothing over of misunderstandings between Lissa and her chosen guy was missing something, which was an apology from Lissa for how she acted.  I didn’t see that and it left me with a nagging feeling when I got to the end.
 
Overall: Like The DUFF, Shut Out is a very real, very readable young adult story that doesn’t shy away from the topic of sex and teens. While I think that this is a book that has a lot of great messages, it’s more obvious than The DUFF as a Topic Book. I sometimes I felt like it tries to cover too much in what it tackles: I’d have preferred that it stuck to one or two important points and left the rest for some other story. But even with its agenda, Shut Out is still an engaging story. Lissa was an easy-to-relate-to narrator, the story was well-written, and the romance was a sweet one. I didn’t love this one like I loved The DUFF, but I liked it.
 
Shut Out comes out in September.
 
Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository
 
Other reviews:
It’s a little early yet.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

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Hounded
Hounded
Kevin Hearne
The Iron Druid Chronicles have been on my radar since Chelle’s cover feature on them. Nice covers, but want to shave that soul patch thingy. Anyway, when I found a copy of Hounded for sale at my library’s sale area, I grabbed it.
 
The Premise: Atticus O’Sullivan is a two thousand year old Druid, but he looks anything but. In fact he looks like a young twenty-something kid and that’s the way he likes it. No one suspects that the young occult bookshop owner in Tempe, Arizona, is hiding from the Old Ones.  A god named Aenghus Óg holds a grudge against Atticus because of a magic sword, and has been searching for him for hundreds of years. Whenever Atticus feels Aenghus get close, he usually moves, but this time Atticus is tired of running. Arizona is home turf, and a good place as any to take a stand against a god who is hellbent on destroying him. Atticus has made preparations and allies, but even so, it’s impossible to guess what tricks his longtime enemy may have up his sleeves.
 
Read an excerpt (the first 6 chapters) of Hounded here
 
My Thoughts:  Atticus O’Sullivan has been laying low for centuries, and he’s good at it. He’s over two thousands years old and the last living Druid. His latest residence is in Tempe, Arizona, which is as far from those hunting for him as possible, and blessedly low on gods and the Fae. Of course, given time, his enemies find him yet again, forcing Atticus to decide to run or make a stand. The sword Aenghus Óg is after is a big prize, and Atticus is visited by other gods and creatures with a stake in the outcome of the upcoming battle and who muddy the waters on who to trust.
 
Despite all that hangs over his head, this is a fun main character. Atticus narrates with a keen awareness of the humor in almost every situation.  It’s a constant source of amusement and an inside joke with the reader that he’s older than everyone he knows, including the local paranormals (a coven of witches and a pack of werewolves), while he pretends to be a “young-Irish-lad” (he hasn’t survived this long by being incautious). Helping to maintain this sense of humor is Atticus’ beloved Irish Wolfhound Oberon, with whom Atticus can speak to mind to mind. I love a dog sidekick (one of my favorite tropes), and the relationship between Atticus and Oberon is quite amusing and heartwarming. Here’s a sample mind-to-mind conversation between the two (Atticus is in italics, Oberon in <angled brackets>):
 

[…] I don’t trust witches.
<You think she’s going to try something? Should I move behind her?>
No, she knows you’re here. She can see through the camouflage. But I think she’s hiding something from me, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
<When did she drop the first shoe? I missed it.>
Never mind. Just listen. Once she drinks the tea, she will try to surprise me with something. She is waiting for the contract to be fully in effect before she says anything.
<Well, then give her back the check and send her packing! We don’t need to play her witch’s games. They always want to get you and your little dog, too.>
I knew I never should have let you watch The Wizard of Oz.
<Toto didn’t deserve that kind of trauma. He was so tiny.>

 
As the conversation shows, the humor in Hounded has a lot of pop culture references (but not obscure ones). This is big part of the humor in the book, as well as a sort of “foiling the bad guys is fun” schtick. What I mean by this is that Atticus goes though these trials and tribulations but you always end up feeling like he’s going to come out of it relatively unscathed, a “Phew, still alive” grin on his face. If I were to compare it to anything, I’d say that Atticus is like the urban fantasy version of Michael Westen from Burn Notice (if Michael Westen was a kick-ass Druid undercover as a twenty-one year old). It’s hard to believe that anyone is going to get the best of him. He’s so paranoid and he’s seen it all, plus he has his backup. Hounded has of several attempts by Atticus’ enemy to box him in, but Atticus survives because he plans ahead and thinks on his feet. And he has friends who will help him bury the bodies. After a reading string of darker urban fantasy, it was nice to sit back and just enjoy Atticus handling the latest debacle, which runs the gamut from goddesses to giants, getting knocked down in the process, but rallying pretty quickly (thanks to his Druid powers).
 
Being a Druid is a pretty nice gig, particularly when it’s combined with Atticus’ accumulated knowledge. He’s figured out how to stay young for an extremely long time and how to ward off most attacking spells without selling his soul. Part of the world building in the story is explaining what being a Druid entails, but the other part is describing the supernatural world Atticus is aware of. In this series, all pantheons exist at the same time. It isn’t directly explained, but I understood the existence of deities and other mythical creatures to be a result of human belief. If an idea is worshiped by enough people, it will exist. This means that there may even be different versions of the same god (Thor is an example), in existence at the same time. There’s a mix of supernatural creatures and ideologies, but in Hounded the pantheon Atticus mostly deals with is from his own Irish upbringing. As for the setting, I have a lot of family who live in Arizona and Hearne captures the Tempe area like a true Arizona native. It was well done and made me look forward to my next visit (and also eager to check out some of the places referenced in the book).
 
I don’t think Hounded really sets out to be serious, so when I think of my one complaint about the story (that I wish that there were deeper relationships between the characters), I’m not really sure I can make that complaint really stick. There are plenty of side characters, but hiding his past and his power is Atticus’ modus operandi. So far, the deepest relationship is the one between Atticus and Oberon, and I wish there was more than that, but the events in Hounded may have created an opportunity for relationship development in later books.
 
Overall: Hounded is a refreshingly lighthearted urban fantasy. I liked the mix of action and improvisation, presented by a narrator who appreciates the comedy of pretending to be innocuous while being much, much older and more powerful than he appears. It made me smile often, which is quite a nice pick-me-up, and I’m looking forward to enjoying the next one.
 
Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository
 
Other reviews:
My Favourite Books – positive
Karissa’s Reading Review – 5 out of 5
The Book Pushers – B
Star Metal Oak – positive
Ticket to Anywhere – positive

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

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Enclave
Enclave
Ann Aguirre

Ann Aguirre is one of my favorite authors, particularly for her Sirantha Jax series, which is a science fiction romance. I’ve been eagerly awaiting Enclave since I first heard that Aguirre would be trying her hand at YA dystopia. This is the first installment of the Razorland series.

The Premise: In the enclave, children have numbers, not names, unless they live till their fifteenth birthday. Then they’re given a naming ceremony and a place as a Breeder, Builder, or Hunter in the society. Deuce (formerly Girl15), has just been named and given a spot amongst the Hunters – an honor she’s been training for as long as she can remember. Now she can leave the enclave, and bring her people food, and she can protect them from the Freaks – creatures that live in the tunnels that would like nothing more than to feast on human flesh. All her life, Deuce has only known a world that is underground, where the oldest is in his early 20s, and where people don’t live for more than that. It’s a world with very little, but it’s the only world Deuce has ever known. Deuce is partnered with Fade, the only Hunter who wasn’t born in their enclave. Fade has never really fit into the enclave, but he’s the best fighter they have, and Deuce is eager to prove herself worthy of being assigned to him. But being a Hunter brings a different perspective to all that Deuce knows. During their patrols Deuce and Fade encounter Freaks with more organization and intelligence than the norm. When their warnings about this eerie Freak behavior are ignored or suppressed, Deuce begins to question the leadership of the enclave.

Read an excerpt of Enclave here

My Thoughts: Enclave is basically three parts. At first the focus is narrow. The story revolves around Deuce’s small sphere and all that is familiar to her. When Deuce begins to think beyond the small borders of the enclave, the spotlight expands. She discovers where her partner, Fade originally came from. The last part expands the world even further beyond that.

For the size of this book, a lot happens. I liked that the story manages to blend in action, a gritty world, and a budding friendship into the story, and I think this is what made the beginning of Enclave particularly strong for me. When Deuce’s narrative begins, we’re introduced to the daily life of a semi-primitive tribal culture. It has three basic roles (Hunter, Breeder, Builder), a leadership structure based on age (over twenty makes you an elder, as this is a very small group), and a painful initiation ritual into “adulthood” (cuts made on the arms that are seared closed by hot metal).  Deuce knows only the limited scope of this enclave, which is in the Underground. Only after she becomes a Hunter and assigned a partner can she see what’s outside her home. It’s not clear what the year is or what has happened to make the world it is in Enclave, but there are enough hints to say that it is our world that has been hit by some apocalyptic event that has reduced the world to rubble and society into small tribes like the enclave, and created monsters like the Freaks.

Because Deuce is a Hunter, that brings plenty of action and the story goes at a fast clip. Deuce is eager to prove her mettle, but she is also learning about Fade and about her the Underground. The action adds drama to the story, but the plot moves along because of Deuce’s path of discovery. Fade isn’t very talkative but as time goes on Deuce begins to trust him, and she knows he doesn’t like the current leadership. Their relationship evolves through time and trials, but Fade keeps a lot close to his chest. What he does tell her, Deuce has trouble believing, but she begins to question. She debates the need for rules and leadership, against inhumane punishments to keep the enclave in line. A leadership that keeps tight control is particularly dangerous when there is important information being suppressed.

But before anything really happens in the enclave, the story changes gears. Fade and Deuce move on together, away from what Deuce is familiar. Deuce continues to learn about her world, and along the way other teen characters are introduced. The shift is a little abrupt for me and left some dangling threads. I think as a series it’s more interesting for Deuce and Fade to travel outside the enclave, but the way this story was presented, it felt like some set up was abandoned. As a result, the second half of the book felt like a restart. Again a new setting and new characters are introduced to us, but thankfully Fade and Deuce stay constant. On the other hand, with new characters introduced late in the story, I didn’t feel like there was much time to get to know them.

There’s a hint of a love triangle with Fade, Deuce, and one of the new characters as well, but it is an odd choice. One of the things I like about Aguirre’s writing is the darkness she brings into her stories. Sometimes this is in the form of dark heroes – people who have done unlikeable things in their pasts but who I still root for. In Enclave the darkness is primarily in the world building, but it’s also in Fade’s past and Deuce’s choices for self-preservation. However, in the potential love triangle, I found the third person VERY unlikeable and a better choice as a villain than a romantic interest. Depending on what happens with this character, it could either be a show stopper or a deal breaker in a later book. I have my fingers crossed.

Overall: My reaction is that I was entertained. Aguirre’s writing keeps me interested in what’s going on and there’s enough darkness in this story to add depth, but the concepts themselves feel familiar. The underground setting after a post-apocalyptic event, the humanoid creatures craving human flesh, and society broken down and ignorant of the past are familiar tropes. But this series has a lot of potential. I think the slowly evolving relationship between Deuce and Fade and their fighting partnership is what has me hooked. I also suspect that now that the world has been established, the characters will have more room to grow. I would actually want to read the second book, and there’s are a lot of other YA dystopian series I’ve started where I couldn’t say the same.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Steph Su Reads – didn’t like this one
Babbling about Books and More – B-
Scooper Speaks – very positive
See Michelle Read – positive
Fantastic Book Review – 4.5 out of 5

Sharing the Awesome Awards – Day 2: The Characters

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Here we go, Day 2 of the Sharing the Awesome awards hosted @ inkcrush is all about the characters.  (P.S. This is a fairly open and relaxed set of awards. I don’t see a deadline, nor any real rules other than whatever books you choose for your awards be books you read this year. I urge you to join in on the fun if you’re thinking about it)!  🙂

1. Best female POV – Bianca Piper from The Duff for sounding like a real teenager. Sarcastic, smart, and a little buttkicked by Life (but learning how to deal with it).

2. Best male POV – Eugenides from The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I really loved the first person point of view of this book. Just the right bit of cheeky. A close runner up was R from Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion.

3. Best couple ❤ – After all my obsessing over Grace and Vaughn from Unsticky, it really would be strange not to see them win this one from me, wouldn’t it? Yes, they win. I love this couple for being individually quite dysfunctional, but together, quite amazing.

4. Who i so want to be best friends with – Hmm, this is one that took some thought. There are a lot of tough, cool ladies, but I think my choice is going to be Cat from Cold Magic, who can be counted on when someone she loves is in trouble.  A very important trait in a friend.

5. Who I fell completely in love with (new literary crush) – Oh please. Eugenides of course.

6. Worst (best) villain – the villain from Double Cross by Carolyn Crane. To tell you more may spoil it.

7. Best character twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa) -See above.

8. Best kick-arse female – Irene from The Queen of Attolia. An overlooked, underestimated female who seizes power and rules with a will of iron? Shiver me timbers.

9. Best kick-arse male – For his sheer crazysauce and preternatural fighting skills (never wearing any kind of armor), this goes to Whirrun of Bligh, also known as Cracknut, a secondary character in Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes. In the beta male category, this goes  Eldric (from Chime by Franny Billingsley) who kicks butt for saying something when Briony is wrong (like when she says she’d be better if she was someone else), and for also recognizing (and regretting) when he’s an idiot.

10. Broke your heart the most – I would have to say Rowan Mackenzie from Spellcast by Barbara Ashford. He broke it in a way it needed to be broken though. It felt right. I know that sounds strange, but it makes sense, really.

11. Best/worst character names – Best character name is a toss-up. It’s either Atticus O’Sullivan from Hounded by Kevin Hearne (Atticus is a great name), or Dreadnought Stanton from The Native Star by M.K. Hobson. DREADNOUGHT! Love it.

As for Worst character name.. sigh, I’m afraid I have to go with Deuce from Enclave by Ann Aguirre.  I like it within the context of the book, but it does not have the best colloquial meaning.

Sharing the Awesome Awards – Day 1: The Books

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Nomes of inkcrush is hosting the Sharing the Awesome awards – which is a series of posts about people’s favorite books for 2011 (so far) are. Looks like she’s doing this until the end of June and everyone is welcome to jump in whenever they want. Day 1 is about your favorite books, Day 2 focuses on your favorite characters and Day 3 is about the scenes and randomness!

Looks like fun to me! There are 20 categories at inkcrush, but I don’t think I have answers for all of them, so I’ll just wing it. Here are my choices out of the 38 (and a half) books I’ve read so far in 2011.

favourite book read so far in 2011:


Unsticky… oh how do I love thee. This book left me obsessed with Grace and Vaughn after I finished it. I would ponder the ending for weeks afterward. Part of the reason I bought So You Think You Can Love Me, (Manning’s second adult novel) halfway through reading Unsticky was because I read Grace and Vaughn would make cameos, and I wanted to check to see how they were doing. I didn’t move this book from my bedside table for about a month after reading it because I “may need to reread my favorite parts before I go to bed”. Yeah.

Brilliantly funny:


I’m actually halfway through this book right now. I didn’t expect this, because  this is an urban fantasy, but it’s got a lot of amusing moments. There’s a doggy sidekick (an Irish wolfhound), who makes me smile like crazy (yes, magically talking dog trope = one of my weaknesses). I’m constantly chuckling over this one.

Delicious rainy day comfort read:


Sugar Queen surprised me with its charm and magic. This is a definite comfort read. I felt like I trusted the author to make everything all right in the end, even though I’d NEVER read anything by Sarah Addison Allen before. And she did. Yes, I know, I need to go and find Garden Spells.

Adrenalin-fuelled, unputdownable award:


Oh. My. God. Freaking.. ahhh. Part of the adrenalin here comes from Toby and one of her love interests and what happens in this book. One of those books that has you looking for someone else who has read it so you can basically scream “OMG!” “RIGHT?! RIGHT?” “AND THEN THAT PART WHERE… ” “I KNOW!!!”  and both of you will know exactly what the other is saying. There’s a lot going on in this series to mull over and try to guess what it means. Which I love.

Most original and imaginative:


Chime wins most original/imaginative hands down. It’s WEIRD, and I’ve said this in my review, the weird takes some getting used to, but I think if  you’re a reader where the weird works for you, it works very well. I would also put this down for the most atmospheric and vivid setting award for the strange swamp and the creatures that live there. I have images of lush vegetation, water, and mist.

I-so-want-to-go-there award


Because of The Thief, going to Greece and seeing the Sea of Olives is up there on my List of Things I’d Like To Do.

Outside my comfort zone but gosh how i loved it:


I loved a ZOMBIE BOOK. A zombie won me over as a romantic lead. Did not expect that at all. Did not expect to love this one as much as I did. And I find myself trying to convince other zombie-no-love people to try it (which is – sigh, kind of difficult).

Series that i’m loving:


If you’ve been following this blog, you knew I would choose this. I tried The Thief, and then I just couldn’t help it – I had to read the rest. And now I must wait for book 5. Darn lack of self control, I should have paced myself.


I’ve also been blown away with Carolyn Crane’s Disillusionists trilogy. The ending of Double Cross? Amazing. A very well thought out series that has the reader guessing about who the real villain is. Love the anti-hero angle here.


I believe I’ve already talked about this one. Quite addicted, thank you.

I-had-no-idea-I-would-love this-so award:


You know, I didn’t think this would do it for me, but after one review I decided I had to read it, and I’m so glad I did. I found Bianca’s casual use of expletives so refreshing, and although I didn’t agree with her using a guy she hardly likes for sex, the unapologetic messiness of her life appealed to me. I wanted her to figure things out, and she does. I was dithering whether I should put this book down for the most memorable voice award. I guess it goes there too.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

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Chime
Chime
Franny Billingsley

I read Billingsley’s The Folk Keeper back in the day (2007) before having a book blog (but I did write a very brief review which is on goodreads), and I liked it. It was different enough to stick in my mind and to take note of the author’s name. Fast forward to this year, and when I saw Chime being marketed, I was excited, and I asked for a review copy via Shelf Awareness. This is a review based on an ARC copy.

The Premise: Swampsea is a place that sits on the edge of a strange world – where creatures like witches, Dead Hands, Dark Muses, and the Boggy Mun await the unwary who stumble upon them. Briony Larkin is the daughter of the local clergyman, and she can see these Old Ones. Why she has this second sight is a dark secret that could have Briony hanged – her true nature is why her stepmother is dead and why her twin sister is different. To stop herself from harming more people, Briony promised her stepmother that she would avoid the swamp. Sadly, this is promise that is impossible to keep, and Briony fears that she has caused more destruction on those around her. While Briony frets and tries to right her wrongs, Eldric Clayborne, new arrival at Swampsea and the first boy Briony doesn’t find tiresome, gets dangerously close to unraveling her secrets.

Read a short excerpt of Chime here

My Thoughts: This story starts off in a puzzling, “I can almost make sense of this, but not quite”, way. It begins with Briony, and she’s telling someone that she deserves to be hanged. Obviously there is something wrong and as she tells us her story, more things just don’t seem to add up. Briony admits early on to not being a “regular girl” and not having any idea how to be. She tells us her family is not normal either, and from Briony’s first description, I believe her. She describes awkward silences at home, her sister’s childlike behavior, and her stepmother’s death. Then Briony begins to describe the swamp and the creatures in it. She uses terms like “the Boggy Mun”, “the snickleways”, and calls herself a “wolfgirl”. The past weaves in out of the present in her storytelling.

I began to suspect that Briony was actually quite crazy.

Briony isn’t crazy, but her world is. It’s like Wonderland – where all the residents know the rules, but any newcomer will find themselves completely at a loss and in disbelief at the local customs. Of course you need to bring a Bible Ball (a piece of scripture) into the swamp to ward off the Old Ones! Of course the Dead Hands will come to grab your hand and squeeze it off, unless something else finishes you off first! It’s not intuitive at first, but once you understand what the Old Ones are and what they do, it starts to make sense. So too does how Briony’s past affect her present.

No, Briony isn’t crazy but she is an unreliable narrator. Everything she tells the reader is colored by her belief of her own wickedness, and some of her “of course”s may not be the indisputable truths she thinks they are. In Briony’s industrial English world, a place like Swampsea is at odds with the new and exciting progresses in science and engineering. Briony feels keenly aware that Swampsea doesn’t have the same shine and bustle as the city, nor does she have the education she would have had if not for her stepmother’s illness.  But while Briony feels like she and Swampsea lack refinement, Eldric challenges her outlook. He sees Swampsea as an amazing place, a different planet, where he must do as the locals do (“when in the Dragon Constellation, it’s wise to do as the Dragon Constellationers do”), and he likes Briony as she is.

As a reader I was inclined to share Eldric’s sentiments: Briony is likable, despite what she thinks. She has a sharp humor that she wields like a weapon, but only on those who deserve it. Otherwise, she’s a fiercely protective champion of those weaker than herself. And although Briony is like the moon to Eldric’s sun, they’re really quite complementary. Eldric is a fun, boyish character, endlessly making his “fidgets”, speaking to Briony in their own silly language, and organizing events which make ordinary days special, but he’s not frivolous at all. Behind his laughing exterior is a gentle astuteness which Briony fears will be her undoing. The relationship between the two is something that unfurls slowly – from Briony determined not to like him, to an easy friendship, to an uneasy friendship, and more.

I really enjoyed the way this story kept my interest with it’s strange world building but at the same time, the development of the characters (all quite colorful and three dimensional) and the romance is deftly done. Even though sometimes Briony’s narrative goes off in odd tangents, once I settled into her storytelling style, it adds to the flavor of the story. Chime is not a book that I could read cover to cover though. I could only take it in small pieces, digest what was going on, then continue. Overall I think this book, the ARC only 358 pages, took me something like 10 days of slow reading, savoring each scene, for me to finish it. I think this odd duck quality is what makes me hesitate to recommend it to everyone I know. But me? I loved it. It was one of those books that made me sigh contentedly when closed its pages.

Overall: Chime is a historical fantasy that has a mix of whimsy, creativity, and emotional depth. It’s also a story with an odd flavor. It took me a little bit to adjust to Briony’s world and her way of thinking, and I had to read Chime a few pages at a time so I could process it at my own pace, but it was so worth it. In the end, I loved it. I loved Briony. I loved Eldric. I loved Swampsea. It’s weird, but in a wonderful way, and I just felt good after reading it. I know this is going to be on the top ten list for this year.

Buy: Amazon | Powell’s | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Steph Su Reads – positive
Chachic’s Book Nook – liked, but didn’t love
My Favourite Books – positive
The Book Smugglers – 9 (Ana), 7, leaning towards an 8 (Thea) – I’m with Ana on this one
Ellz Readz – positive
The Reading Date – positive