REVIEW + GIVEAWAY: The Taker by Alma Katsu

Synopsis (from Simon and Schuster): 

True love can last an eternity . . . but immortality comes at a price.

On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural St. Andrew, Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting a quiet evening. Until a mysterious woman arrives in his ER, escorted by police—Lanore McIlvrae is a murder suspect—and Luke is inexplicably drawn to her. As Lanny tells him her story, an impassioned account of love and betrayal that transcends time and mortality, she changes his life forever. . . . At the turn of the nineteenth century, when St. Andrew was a Puritan settlement, Lanny was consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, and she will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for eternity. 

My thoughts:  Normally I do not read many books that have a paranormal element to them but since this one is partly in a historical setting I decided to give it a go.  Oh my-what a story this was!  We meet Lanny as she is brought into the ER of the small town of St. Andrew, Maine-covered in blood and accused of murder.  She insists she is not a murderer and beseeches Dr. Luke Findley to hear her story before turning her over to the police.  We soon learn Lanny is not what she seems and her story of love, lust, and betrayal spans centuries.  Lanny takes us back to 1800's Maine where as a 14 year old girl she lays eyes on Jonathan St. Andrew-son of the town founder and leagues above her in social status-and never looks back.  She must be with him at any cost.  It is this obsession with the impossibly beautiful Jonathan that will be Lanny's downfall time and again.  Lanny is sent to Boston where she is alone and friendless until she meets a trio of rich travellers who take her to the home of the mysterious Count Adair. It is there that Lanny's life will change forever.  Adair and his trio are not what they seem.  

I will not give away the plot to the book but I will say that once Lanny meets Adair and his minions the book takes a very dark turn.  There are some rather strange relationships, torture, rape, and other forms of cruelty involved and while not graphic these themes may disturb some.  I didn't have any serious issues here but I wanted to mention it because some might.  I would compare it to some of the more disturbing elements of Anne Rice's Mayfair witches trilogy.  If you can stomach the events in those books you will probably be alright here too.  The book also gets very interesting at this point, especially as we get Adair's back story.   He changes Lanny into a whole different person (literally and otherwise).  As expected with an unrequited and obsessive love, all roads for Lanny will always lead back to Jonathan and they do, eventually leading up to the present day story line with Luke.

This story flip flops between the past with Lanny's story and the present with Luke where they are fleeing the police.  Of the past and present story lines, the past is the much stronger part of the book.  The writing here is definitely compelling.  The book caught my attention from the very beginning and it never let go.  At first I had a hard time figuring out why Lanny was so obsessed with Jonathan because he doesn't appear to have any redeeming qualities besides being the sexiest man to ever walk the planet.  He doesn't treat her well at all but I guess the physical qualities are enough to love him to point of madness. Katsu also includes a few twists in the latter half of the book that I didn't see coming at all.  I love when the unexpected happens in a book. There were a few loose ends left at the end but that makes complete sense considering this is only the first book and the story will be continuing in another (The Reckoning) coming out later this year.  This is not a vampire story although it deals with immortality and it is definitely not a light fluffy read.  It may have some disturbing themes but it is one of those books where you will have to keep reading to find out what happens with all the characters.  Even though this is not within my normal realm of reading I am glad I picked this up.  I will be looking forward to continuing the story and seeing those loose ends tied up in the next book.

I received this book via a fellow blogger on behalf of the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Taker is being released in paperback today and I am offering a copy of the paperback edition (with that gorgeous cover!) to one lucky person!

This giveaway is open: Internationally-anywhere Book Depository Delivers

To enter: Leave your name and email address in the comments.  One extra entry each will be given for helping spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, or posting on your blog.

Giveaway is open until: midnight on April 9th.  Winner will be announced on the 10th.

REVIEW: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Arriving out of nowhere in the dead of night, les cirque des reves (circus of dreams) is a wonder to behold.  With endless tents featuring mind boggling delights, the circus does truly seem as if it is out of a dream.  The circus serves as more than just an entertainment though.  It is the chosen battle ground for dueling magicians Celia and Marco, raised from childhood for just this purpose.  Schooled by their mentors, Celia and Marco are only told they are playing a game with their magical abilities.  They are given no rules, no purpose to the game, no indication who their opponent is and no clue as to how the challenge actually ends.  But it must end-and there can be only one winner.  There is one thing that the two gentleman who taught Celia and Marco didn't count on when they entered them into the game-that they would fall madly in love.

I wasn't quite sure whether this was the book for me but after seeing a few favorable reviews on it, I decided to give it a go and see what the fuss was all about.  Although slow to get going (the story didn't really pick up until the first 80 pages or so) Celia and Marco's alternating story lines slowly pulled me in.  Both spend years honing their abilities in preparation for this mysterious competition and both move steadily to what will be their assigned roles in the competition-Marco staying in London as an assistant for the circus and Celia travelling with it as an illusionist.  The competition begins as Celia and Marco seek to out do each other by adding additional elements to the circus.  When they meet sparks fly but how can they be together if they are competitors, especially after the true intent of the circus is revealed?

Reading about Les Cirque Des Rives in this book left me with the same feeling I had when seeing Mr. Wonka's chocolate factory come to life-it really is magical.  Morgenstern is definitely not lacking in the imagination department.  I found myself thinking I wish I could see this stuff for real every time a new circus attraction was revealed. The next best thing was conjuring what it would look like in my head which was easy to do given the author's wonderfully detailed descriptions.  I also liked all of the characters involved as a bit of mystery surrounded each of them.  With Isobelle the fortune teller, twins Widget and Poppet, and Tsukiko the contortionist to name a few, I kind of wish there was a separate book to follow each of their stories.  I did find the competition between Marco and Celia being described as a duel to be misleading.  Normally when you think of dueling magicians it is the wand wielding spell casting magical battle that comes to mind.  This is more of a game/competition/exhibition then it is a duel.

The writing style is wonderful and the chapters are short so the point of view switches often. The time period does as well which left me a little lost at times, particularly the parts with the character Bailey who becomes an integral part of the story later on.  I knew he had to be important somehow but I would be totally engrossed in the Marco/Celia narratives and then it would switch to 1902 with Bailey and until all the narratives converged it pulled me out of the story a bit each time it happened.

I liked the development of the Marco and Celia's romance but I was kind of annoyed by it as well.  Liked because it was not overdone or flowery at all.  Annoyed because it was Edward and Bella-esque in it's "we meet and....Boom! Electricity! Sparks! We're in love!"  way that always irks me a bit. Why are they in love?  Because he's hot and she's pretty and they can both do magic?  What else drew these two together?  I always hate when two characters meet and it's insta-love for no discernible reason.  I like to see when they learn each others personalities and are slowly drawn together.  Maybe this is why I have so much trouble with the romance angle in books.

I thought the author did a great job of pulling everything together at the end and despite my misgivings about the romance I really enjoyed the end of this book.  I honestly don't think I've read book so unique and inventive in a really long time.  Often times when a book gets so much attention I'll give in to see what the fuss was about and end up thinking it was ok but wondering what the big deal was.  I definitely didn't feel that way here.  This book was worth the read even with the minor issues I had with it and I will be reading more by this author in the future.

I borrowed this from the library

REVIEW: The Magician King by Lev Grossman

The Magician King picks up a few years after the first novel the Magicians left off with Quentin, Julia, Janet, and Elliot occupying the four thrones of the magical land of Fillory.  All is not as exciting as one in such a lofty position would wish and Quentin who is bored with his role, wishes for some kind of quest.  It becomes quite apparent that something is not right in Fillory as of late and when things go horribly wrong on a hunting trip, Quentin gets his wish and sets out on an ancient ship to fulfill his given mission accompanied by Julia who agrees to come along for the ride.  Again things do not go quite as planned and Quentin and Julia end up in the most unexpected of places-back at Quentin's parent's house in Massachusetts.  Now they must figure out how to return to Fillory relying mostly on Julia's unconventional magic and also to complete the quest Quentin was given and save Fillory (and magic) before it is too late.

When I read The Magicians a couple of months ago I couldn't understand what was supposed to be so great about it-way too much sex and too many obvious allusions to really well known fantasy series'.  Here it seems Grossman took the time to do all the things that he didn't bother to do in the first book.  He developed the main characters and the setting.  He made said characters more bearable.  He took the classic fantasy quest and coated it in his own brand of weirdness that he only semi-developed in the first book.  And the best thing he did in this book?  He divided the storyline between Quentin and Julia instead of just keeping it all about Quentin and in doing so made Julia one kick ass character who totally stole the show!  Julia's story fills in the blanks as to what happened after she failed to get into Brakebills (the magic school attended by Quentin, Elliott and Janet) and takes us up until the point she meets up with Janet and Elliott and joins in with the main storyline.  Grossman develops this whole magical underworld that was really quite entertaining and the reader quickly realizes Julia is equal parts vulnerable, genius, slightly nutty, and someone you do NOT want to make angry.  Quentin is much better in this book as well since we get to see him start to leave behind the asinine behavior he exhibited in the first book.  Is he hero material here?  No, but neither is he the same Quentin I spent all of the last book wanting to punch in the face.  I found myself rooting for him just a little bit, especially in the end.

Is this book perfect?  No.  There were still a few issues-namely that Grossman brings some characters back from the Magicians for the sole purpose of them making an appearance.  I think he could have done a little better integrating them into the current story once he introduced them again.  Also, while I loved the Julia storyline, I'm not sure I cared where the character ended up.  As with the first book this one was also plagued with strange happenings (more than one of which had me going ewww and some that had me asking if he really had to go there).  Still this was a vast improvement over the first book (and with an ending that I totally did not see coming).  I'm glad I stuck it out after Magicians and read the Magician King.  I'm looking forward to seeing where Grossman goes with his next book.

Received from publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

And now for your reading pleasure, here is quite possibly the strangest review I have ever written. :)

 I have got to be one of the few people left who had neither read nor watched the movie the Princess Bride before now.  I had no idea what it was even about.  For the other 5 or so of you on planet earth who have also not encountered this enchanting story, it is basically a classic novel that has all the elements you would expect in a fantasy. A fabled land? Check.  A beautiful princess? Check.  A swashbuckling hero? Check.  An evil Prince? Check.  Other assorted villains? Check. True love?  Check, check, and check.

 The princess in this story is Buttercup who, convinced she has lost her true love Westley, agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck.  Things are going swimmingly until a plot to kill Princess Buttercup comes to light and she is kidnapped by a hunchback, a master swordsman, and a giant.  But who ordered her kidnapping?  And who is that dashing man in black that is risking life and limb to save her?  I will not give away any more of the story but for the parts of it I actually read, I could not put this book down.  I read it in one day and I actually put off eating dinner til about 9 pm so I could finish it. 

What do I mean the parts I read you ask?  Well here is the thing about the Princess Bride.  The author, William Goldman, says in the beginning he discovered this great book by author S. Morgenstern and it was absolutely wondiferous  except there is all this boring history about the country of Florin and other areas of long windedness about inane subjects that bog it down so he, gracious man that he is, has decided to give us an abridged version!  Goldman starts the book by giving his entire history with the book and the his fight to bring the Morgenstern estate to bring this magical story to light-30 whole pages of it.  He butts in throughout the reading of the story to tell what parts he cut out.  Sometimes this goes on for pages.  This in itself is annoying.  Really annoying.  I couldn't help thinking that if he just shut his trap and continued on with the story without giving us all these details about what hit the cutting room floor the book would have been ten times better and the reader would have been none the wiser.  Inevitably I ended up thinking "Wow.  I just wish I dug up Morgenstern's original and read it so I could avoid all the commentary."    I started skipping the parts where Goldman cuts in and eventually curiosity got the better of me so I googled "The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern".

Now you do it.  Go ahead and Google away.  I'll wait right here.
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That's right gang!  THERE IS NO S. MORGENSTERN.  Goldman made him up and the whole "I'm making an abridged version because Morgenstern is a windbag" is just some sort of narrative device where Goldman is trying to be clever.  When the reader figures it out they'll be like "Oh Mr. Goldman-you got me!  HA HA!  Except I wasn't going HA HA.  Instead I sat here on the bed for at least a good half hour feeling like a total idiot.  And I DON'T like reading books that make me feel like an idiot.  I liked reading this one though because the full of adventure, magic, derring-do and above all True Love story that was in between all that nonsense made me love it.  As you wish Mr. Goldman.  You got me-ha ha.  I liked it.

 I borrowed this book from the library

REVIEW: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Uber smart high school senior Quentin Coldwater is unhappy with his life, even though he is almost guaranteed to be accepted to an ivy league college in the fall.  His only escape from the monotony of living with his totally disconnected parents are the novels of Fillory-a childhood fantasy series he is obsessed with.  Quentin is offered a chance to test for a place at Brakebills, a prestigious college of magic in upstate New York. He is accepted and is thrown in with a group of kids just as brilliant as he is and struggles to learn the ins and outs of sorcery.  He bonds with a group of social outcasts and as their time at Brakebills comes to a close they make an astounding discovery-there are portals to other worlds and one of them leads to Fillory!  Fillory, however, is not what Quentin thought it would be.


I've heard this book described as Harry Potter for adults and I think the adult part comes from the sex, alcohol, and drugs that are so prevalent in this novel.  This is not Harry Potter by any means though.  I guess the way I would describe it is if you took elements of Harry Potter, Chronicles and Narnia, and one of those angsty-teenage rich kids-we have everything but our lives suck- type TV shows and then wrote a book with them. 

THE GOOD: Although non of these group of kids-Quentin, Alice, Janet, Eliot, Penny-is particularly likable they were all interesting and different enough to keep my attention.  I liked the parts of the book focusing on this group of characters trying to learn sorcery and also the parts that gave the reader snippets of the Fillory books so we could get a sense what they were about.

THE BAD:  As stated above, none of these characters were likable.  I like someone to root for in my books and I couldn't get behind any of these guys. Any time you find yourself wanting to scream "Stop being such a douche!" at the main character it can't be a good thing. I also didn't quite like that it seemed that everything that went wrong in the novel was an excuse to have sex and drink vast amounts of alcohol. Oh-learning magic is so hard!  Lets down 10 bottles of wine!  That will make us feel better!  Oh-we're having a disagreement among the group!  I know!  Let's have an orgy and then everything will be hunky dory again!  Seriously?

It's been a few days since I finished this book and I still can't decide whether Grossman was trying to pay homage to Harry and Narnia or whether he was just blatantly ripping them off.  Here are some of the similarities:

• The magic school that is protected by spells so no one can discern its location (um Hogwarts?)
• The magical land of talking animals with vacant thrones to be ruled by humans (Narnia?)
• A magic game that is played against students of other schools (Quidditch?)
• The once good boy turned evil villain (Voldemort?)
  

Also two things quickly became apparent about Quentin Coldwater:  1) he is the kind of guy who is never going to happy with his lot in life no matter what happens and 2) for such a brilliant guy he sure knows how to make a mess of things.

THE FINAL VERDICT: I probably would have completely given up on this book except the parts I did like were entertaining enough to make me want to keep reading.  There were a lot of problems here that kept me from enjoying it as much as I hoped but I am going to give the sequel The Magician King a shot only because the story returns to the magical land of Fillory which has the potential to be a good story if it goes its own way and distinguishes itself from Narnia. Also I am hoping that Quentin redeems himself in the second installment. Recommend this for someone who likes their fantasy novels a bit darker and doesn't mind all the similarities to better known (and better written) fantasy books.  If you're looking for something that captures the magic of Harry Potter-I'd give this a pass. You won't find that here.

 I borrowed this book from the library.

REVIEW: The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss + Giveaway

 After the untimely death of her father, Lucy Derrick is forced to board with her uncle who wants her out of his house at all costs.  He means to accomplish this by marrying her off to a Mr. Olson, a local mill owner who has taken an interest in her.  While discussing the marriage they are interrupted by a delirious, disheveled, and handsome young man who delivers a cryptic message and insisting Lucy not marry Mr. Olson before collapsing on their doorstep.  Lucy has never seen this young man before in her life but he is soon identified as Lord Byron and his arrival sweeps Lucy into a world of magic, faeries, and an ancient struggle between good and evil to which Lucy holds the key.  Now she must figure out exactly what her part in all this is, who she should trust and what she should do-a decision that will decide the future of England.

I knew from the very first chapter that this book was going to be completely different from what I expected.  What was I expecting exactly?  A regency period historical about those in favor of the Industrial Revolution vs. those that oppose it with elements of the occult featuring the heroine who is somehow caught up in a great mess yet to be identified.  That is not what I got by a long shot. This book is pure magic and I mean that literally.  It's about magic.  After the unexpected arrival of the handsome stranger, Lucy befriends Mary Crawford who may know how to help the stranger whom everyone believes is cursed. During this effort it is revealed to Lucy that she possesses a great natural talent for magic and that she is key player to an ancient battle against forces who want the Industrial Revolution to succeed which would destroy magic and those who want it to fail to keep magic alive.  Lucy tries to decipher the cryptic message given to her by the young man and continues to have increasingly strange encounters in which she is told to "gather the leaves".  Once she divines the meaning behind this message she embarks on a dangerous mission to do just that.  Full of magic, faeries, ghosts, changelings and a host of otherworldly creatures, Lucy encounters many obstacles in her quest-most notably in Lady Harriet who seeks the same thing Lucy does only for a far more sinister purpose.

Liss builds a host of intriguing characters and writes them in such a way that the reader cannot possibly discern where their true allegiances lie-with Lucy or against her.  Is Mary Crawford friend or foe?  Is Lord Byron genuinely interested in her or a hopeless rake?  Is a past love really the villain she thought he was?  Not only is the reader left guessing what the intentions of these characters are, you are literally guessing at WHAT they are.  Some of them may not even be human!

The only sticking point for me was Lucy's mission to gather the objects she seeks really overshadows the whole Luddites vs. Industrialists theme which is why I would place this book more in the fantasy category than historical fiction-it was much more about the magic than about the historical elements.  Also the objects themselves were always in the possession of someone who was already a player in the story which made it seem a little too convenient.  Despite these two little hang ups, Liss has written a truly unique story here. He has created a likable heroine in Lucy Derrick and a story that you feel compelled to keep reading to find out where it is going to go next (and I guarantee it is never going to be where you think it is going).  As I enjoyed the writing quite a bit, I am curious to see what one of his straight historical novels are like as I own several.  Recommend this for historical fantasy lovers.

 The Twelfth Enchantment is being released on August 9th, 2011

I am offering my galley of the Twelfth Enchantment as part of my Summer of ARCs/Galleys Giveaway so if you are interested in winning, please enter here.  Winner for July will be selected on August 1st.

I received this book from the publisher via Goodreads First Reads Giveaways. These are my honest thoughts on the book.

REVIEW: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

 It has been many years since the life forms known as Threads which fall like rain and "eat" all organic material have fallen on Pern.  Because it has been so long the citizens of the planet no longer view them as a threat and think they will never fall again.  The Dragonriders, once sworn to protect Pern from this menace, have decreased in number over time.  Now the Queen dragon is about to die and the Dragonriders must search for a new rider to partner with the new Queen.  They land at Benden Weyr and at first it looks like there is no one worthy of such an honor but a servant girl named Lessa turns out to be more than she seems.  Lessa bonds with the newly hatched dragon Queen just as the Threads return to the planet.  With not enough dragons and riders to fend off the threat the Threads pose, only Lessa holds the key to the survival of Pern.



I have had this book sitting on my shelf for about 10 years.  I've collected most of the series and finally decided to read it.  The one thing I noticed right off the bat was that you can't really put this book into one category.  It has elements of fantasy because of the dragons but also elements of science fiction as Pern is a colonized planet with a setting sometime in the future and technology comes into play.  The bond for life shared between dragon and rider and the way the dragons choose their riders was interesting and I could see a bit of a similarity between this process and the one described in Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon (even though this book was published in the 1960's).

Balancing the reckless and impulsive Lessa is the dragon rider F'Lar who is one of the few who takes the Thread threat seriously.  There is a bit of a love story between the two.  Once the threat from the Threads is imminent the story really starts to pick up as the one remaining Weyr tries to discover what happened to all the other Weyrs.  A surprise discovery and strange occurrences may spell the solution to the problem of Threads as there is no way the dragon riders can save all of Pern with such depleted numbers.

A few things potential readers should know: 1) the book has a misogynistic take on the women-they are not treated well and viewed as only good for breeding.  This was surprising to me since the book is set in the future and reminded me a little of the views of women in the middle ages.  2) This book felt like it was written for a young adult audience, although there are some adult scenes that are written in such a way as to not be too obvious (so if a 12 year old were reading it they may not pick up on it).  3) The terms used (such as Weyr) aren't really explained but are easily figured out by context.

I think this was a solid start to the series and although I preferred Naomi Novik's first book to this one, it has peaked my interest enough to keep reading the series (which is good since I have so many of the books).


A question for McCaffrey fans-what is the best order for a first timer to read this series in?  I have googled this question and found a suggested reading order but I am interested to hear the opinions of others who have read this series.

This book is from my own personal library.

REVIEW: The Raven Queen by Jules Watson

To her father, Maeve of Connacht serves one purpose-to be sold into marriage where he sees fit to make strong political alliances. Now Eochaid is ill and Maeve flees from her latest brute of a husband, Conor of the Ulaid, and returns home to find the future of Connacht up in the air. Soon her brother Innel sees she means to challenge him for the throne of Connacht. After defeating her brother, the warriors soon realize that Maeve is touched by the Gods and draws her strength from the Sidhe, Otherworld beings who serve the Source, the life force of all living things. Maeve develops this mysterious power through Ruan, a wandering druid whom she forms an unbreakable bond to. As Conor makes it known that he wishes to rule all of Erin, Maeve recognizes that only she can lead the battle to unite Erin in peace.

What a marvelous tale of Irish legend! Watson paints a vivid picture of a fierce yet vulnerable Maeve-tired of being cast aside as a mere woman, a fierce warrior in her own right, stubborn, gifted, and capable of deep love and compassion for her people and those close to her. Although the men surrounding her view her as a power hungry she-wolf using her femininity to get her way, it is clear from the beginning of this novel that Maeve’s love for her country is most important. I wasn’t sure of the more mystical elements involving the Druid Ruan and the Source at first but I warmed to this part as I read further and got a better idea of what the Source was and the purpose of the Sidhe. I thought she captured this aspect and the beliefs of those who worship the old Gods very well. Interwoven in the story is also the Irish hero Cuchulainn. Here he is Conor’s champion whose fierce loyalty to his people overrides his desire to leave the mad king’s service. Maeve’s forces battle the great Champion in one on one combat making for some ferocious and gory scenes. This is but another character that weaves life into the story. I think this is the element I liked most in the book-the conflicted characters. Almost every one of them has some internal struggle between what their hearts tell them is right and what their honor or loyalty tell them to do.

The novel also includes a list of important people and places as well as a map and pronunciation key in the front. While helpful, it still took me awhile to get the pronunciation of character names and places right. In almost every instance the word sounds completely different than how it is written. It took me a little while to get going with the story because I was flipping back to the front for help with the words so much but once I got used to it I was able to move right along. I’ve only read one other novel concerning Irish myth and legend and I enjoyed Maeve’s story very much. Deidre of the Sorrows makes a brief appearance in Raven Queen and I am looking forward to reading the author’s book the Swan Maiden for her interpretation of that legend.



This book was sent to me from the Publisher via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review :)

To visit additional stops on this tour for author interviews, more reviews, and giveaways please see the Raven Queen Tour Schedule.

REVIEW: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Will Laurence has a successful career as a Captain with His Majesty's Navy. While captaining the HMS Reliant, he engages a French ship in battle and defeats her soundly only to find an unexpected surprise in the cargo hold-an unhatched dragon egg. The crew of the Reliant seizes the dragon egg from the French ship but soon realize that it will hatch well before they make landfall. There is only one way to keep a dragon from becoming feral once it is born-get it to accept a harness which in turn binds the person who does the harnessing to life as the dragon's aviator. When the egg finally hatches the dragon will accept the harness from no one but Will. He names the dragon Temeraire and when they finally reach the shores of England both are sent for training-Temeraire as an aerial heavy combat dragon and Will as his aviator.


Will grudgingly accepts his new life with Temeraire but soon develops genuine affection for the dragon. It is soon discovered that Temeraire is not just an ordinary dragon-he is a Chinese dragon, one of the rarest in the world. Together they learn to adapt to their new life and develop and unbreakable bond and not a moment to soon as Napoleon Bonaparte's Navy and his dragons threaten to invade England at any time.


This book surprised me a bit. The dragon thing has been done many times over but adding dragons into the Napoleonic era made things rather interesting. I loved watching the relationship between Will and Temeraire evolve and I enjoyed how human like the dragons were with their ability to speak and to learn at such a rapid rate. The melding of this point in history and the aerial combat with the dragons was done very well-largely because the battle scenes were written exactly how you would imagine them happening during this era and the whole process of dragons flying in combat was quite involved. During the part of the book concerning the training Will and Temeraire had to go through to become battle ready, the story tended to focus more on the drills Temeraire was put through and didn't really make a lot of mention about Will learning to be an aviator. I thought there would be more having to do with this since in the beginning it was repeatedly mentioned that it was very rigorous and the Corp didn't know if Will could handle it because he was much older than most are when they start training to be an aviator.


This is the first book in what is now six books in the series. I am very glad to have discovered this series and have the next two books on their way to me from PBS. One thing I wish is that the publishers had stuck with the UK covers for the US release because I much prefer them over the US covers.


This book is from my own personal library

REVIEW: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

It is 1945 and former combat nurse Claire Randall has been reunited with her husband Frank whom she hasn't seen in six years. They decide to rekindle their marriage with a second honeymoon to Scotland. While Frank is busy researching his ancestry, Claire decides to go for a walk and comes upon an ancient stone circle. She places her hand on what appears to be an ordinary stone and is transported backward in time to Scotland in the year 1745.

While trying to escape the skirmish she somehow landed in the middle of, she falls into the hands of one Captain John Randall who as it turns out is her husband Frank's ancestor. Fortunately Claire is rescued from the clutches of the creepy CPT Randall by a Scottish warrior named Murtagh. She is taken to where the rest of his clansmen are gathered and discovered an injured Scot named Jamie among them and treats his injuries. Impressed by her healing skills and unsure if she is a spy for the English the clansmen take her back with them to the seat of the MacKenzie clan. The English demand Claire be handed over for questioning as they also believe she is a spy and the Scots tell her the only way to avoid falling back into the clutches of CPT Randall is to become a Scot herself. Claire reluctantly marries Jamie, the man whose wounds she treated. Claire and Jamie are soon caught up in several adventures: the politics of the clans, Jamie an outlaw on the run from the English, Claire accused of witchcraft. Amid all the action Claire is caught between the desire to return to the stone circle and try to make her way back to Frank or to stay with Jamie, the man she has grown to love in 1745.

I guarantee my little synopsis there did not even remotely do the book justice. I spent the entire weekend ignoring the existence of everyone around me as I sped through this 600+ page monster of a book. Claire is a kick ass woman who doesn't take crap from anyone and Jamie is so loyal, handsome and brave you can't help but fall in love with him. I found myself asking why it is all the good ones are taken or FICTIONAL, or already married to me but in 8 years has never once put the toilet seat down? ;-)

Gabaldon transports you into the time period with her writing in such a way that you can completely tune in to the emotions of her fascinating and dynamic characters (and not just Claire and Jamie either-all of her characters are well developed and interesting). Now as I have stated in previous reviews, I am quite a prude when it comes to the romance aspect of books. I must have spent the whole weekend with my face a lovely shade of crimson because I don't think a chapter went by without Claire and Jamie getting busy in a field or stable or underground spring of some kind. Ok, I get it. I was a newlywed once upon a time but sheesh! After that initial encounter, it felt like Claire was thinking "Frank who?" any time Jamie came within a five mile radius of her. Also CPT Randall is one evil man. I will not give away exactly how much of a sadist he is but one scene toward the end of the book was so brutal and cringe worthy I felt like I needed a shower after reading it. Still, despite these two areas of the book that had me alternately blushing and shuddering, this was a fantastic read. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series (all of which I conveniently already own).

REVIEW: Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? Snow White of course. Or is it…..Lucrezia Borgia???! Gregory Maguire mixes the classic fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with Renaissance Italy ruled by the Borgia’s. Vincente de Nevada is a widower raising his young daughter Bianca on his own at Montefiore after the untimely death of her mother. One day they receive a surprise visit from Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia who take a liking to Vincente’s home. Cesare, now in the grips of illness from his immoral life sends Vincente on an errand to retrieve a branch from the Tree of Knowledge which is located in a Middle Eastern monastery. He believes this will change his fortunes. Many years pass while Vincente is off on his quest and his daughter Bianca grows into a pretty young girl. Unfortunately this is noticed by Cesare Borgia which in turn makes his sister Lucrezia insanely jealous. She orders a huntsman to take Bianca into the woods, kill her, and bring her the girl’s heart in a casket. Instead the huntsman lets her go and she is found by the dwarves. The dwarves of this tale however bear no resemblance to the Disney version. These dwarves are actually boulders that come to life and become more human due to the presence of Bianca. Lucrezia soon discovers that Bianca is not dead and sets out to do the job herself, trying a variety of unsuccessful methods. Her final try-poisoning an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and convincing Bianca to eat it seems to work, but as in the fairy tale, a “Prince” rescues her and she survives.

The Good: I thought the idea of taking the Snow White tale and melding it with the Borgia’s to be rather clever. Also the take on the dwarves as some sort of rock beings with their own kind of reality and time was creative. As always, Lucrezia made a lovely villain and the supporting cast of Cesare, Primavera, Fra Ludovico and the idiot goose boy made for some entertaining scenes.

The Bad: The story did not flow very well at all. This was a surprise to me because I loved Wicked, Son of a Witch, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and A Lion among Men. In those books even with all of Maguire’s strange and interesting plots and characters, I always had a firm grasp of what was going on. Not so with Mirror Mirror. I got confused about what was happening. The pace of the book was slow throughout. I kept hoping it would pick up at some point but it never did. The characters were interesting enough but none of them were very well developed. I didn’t really get a feel for any of them which is too bad because the story probably would have been much more interesting had some of the characters been featured more. I think out of all of them the best was Lucrezia, however Bianca (who is supposed to be the heroine) really had no substance.

Overall: Like all of Maguire’s books this was a unique take on a classic fairy tale. Unfortunately, unique isn’t always a good thing. If you are reading Gregory Maguire for the first time, I would recommend trying one of his aforementioned books and not starting with this one. I would also avoid the novel Lost as that one was not on the same level as the Oz books either. This one was good enough. It just wasn’t great and great is what I have come to expect from this author.

If the FTC is wondering: This book is from my own personal library