The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

The Sworn Gail Z. Martin, 2011 New Release! Copy provided by Netgalley for review. Premise: King Matris Drayke of Margolan has barely recovered from deposing his patricidal brother and assuming the throne when a new threat approaches. Worshippers of death and chaos are on the rise throughout the region, dark rumors circulate about invasion from abroad, and the dead themselves are frightened enough to warn the young summoner-king and his friends: prepare for war. I have only one quibble with The Sworn , but it's not a small one: it's not nearly as good a jumping-on point for this world as the marketing push would have you believe. If you are in the mood for some good epic fantasy, you might enjoy, as I did, the experience of catching up, but there is serious catching-up to do. The author has written four previous books set in this world, dealing with most of the same characters. The prologue of The Sworn summarizes these books in a brain-numbing flood...

I'd like to thank anyone who read through all my reading meme posts this month. (If you missed the month-long meme, see index post here .) I know it's cliche, but I hope that you had as much fun reading them as I had putting them together. Please steal the prompt list for your own if you like, memes are meant to be shared after all. Thinking through these short articles put a lot of books back on my "to re-read" list. Partially inspired by this post  and partially by a gift I received for the holidays, I've decided on a special event for the upcoming month. I'm declaring the week of Feb 14th Fantasy   Flashback Week here at the Bookshelf. I'm going to read a large pile of classic Middle Grade fantasy, all books that I loved as a child but haven't read in years and years. Some will be obscure, some less so. I'll post about a different book every day that week. If you reread an old favorite recently, I hope you'll come by and leave a com...

What a depressing way to end. I'll have to think of something fun to post tomorrow.  Spoiler blocks in place for this. Highlight to read. I think my answer is  Jake    in The Dark Tower (Book 7) . That one hit me right in the gut.  (and yes, I read the epilogue-happy-ending, but still...)   Aral   in Cryoburn was pretty hard too, but not unexpected. Beautifully written, though. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Hmm.. not too much specific going on right now. My current obsession is variety, I guess. Reading a little of this and that, then switching gears entirely. Recent/ongoing obsessions: Military Science-Fiction, Noir, Classic Pulp, Classic Sci-fi, Popular Science... Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

I have to say my first full-blown obsession was fantasy novels in general. I started with Lloyd Alexander, and by the time I went to college and took a break from novels, I had read just about everything available in my local library, and literally owned hundreds of them. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

This is the Book Blogger Hop, hosted at  crazy-for-books.com This week's question for discussion: "What book are you most looking forward to seeing published in 2011? Why are you anticipating that book?" Despite my relative disappointment with The God of the Hive ( review ) , I am looking forward to Pirate King , the next Mary Russell book. I just re-read A Monstrous Regiment of Women (book two), and am reminded why I love the series. Other than that, I just don't know.  I don't tend to hear about most books months ahead of time, unless I'm already following the author, and there are only a few authors I currently like enough to follow. (Not to mention some of the authors I like who are still releasing books, are of the type whose books are on the schedule of "Well, you know, another book will be finished eventually, and it might be this book or it might be something else... or not.") ----------------------------------- ...

I've done some gentle tweaking and repair to the look of the blog.  Just minor changes, but I like the effect. Any Comments/Questions?

How do you define “mainstream” I wonder? Most of what I read is genre, most of it is decently known... Well, I'm sort of sweet on one particular indie writer , but that hardly seems fair. Hmmm... how about David Petersen, the writer/illustrator behind Mouse Guard . Small press comics are pretty non-mainstream, and Mouse Guard ( review ) is consistently beautiful and intriguing. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Not a lot out this week that I was interested in. Plus it's snowing and disgusting out, so I almost didn't go to the store at all. Favorite Issue this week: American Vampire #11 Books were new in stores 1/26/11 Notable comic collections released this week: Avengers Academy Vol. 1: Permanent Record , collecting 1-6 of the very well-written if indifferently drawn series ( More about Avengers Academy two weeks ago ) The Last Unicorn , collecting the entire miniseries. I highly recommend this book if you missed the issues. It's an absolutely gorgeous adaptation, although I'm not sure if you might get lost here and there if you haven't read the book. I recommend the book, too, of course. American Vampire #11 (The Way Out, Part Two) Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Mateus Santoluco What is there left to say about this book? I love it. I love it every month. I love Pearl. Sure, she's troubled by being a vampire, but she tries not to angst about it. S...

Hmmm. A decent book with a WTF plot: Perdido Street Station . It's been a while, but I think there are bug people and a caterpillar that eats brainwaves and the plot completely shifts about half-way through. I thought it was well written, but loathed the ending with the fire of a thousand suns. A bad book with a WTF plot: Space Junque . This little e-novella starts out as pretty good post-apocalyptic sci-fi romance, but completely switches into poorly plotted future religion-destiny-fantasy stuff and abandons the original tone entirely. I didn't like that much. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Any book? There are plenty on my TBR list. Among them: The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One    The Purity Myth  The Handmaid's Tale  Name of the Wind  The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie: A Doll's History and Her Impact on Us ( Throne of Jade ) read since compiling the list The Black Company  Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Throne of Jade   Naomi Novik, 2006 This was another great installment in the Temeraire series. I purchased it on my Kindle when I was delayed by weather over the holidays, and it did a delightful job of transporting me to a warmer clime. Premise: Captain Laurence and the dragon Temeraire, introduced in His Majesty's Dragon , travel to China. It is unclear whether the Chinese government will allow Temeraire, who is a Celestial (a special and rare Chinese breed) to remain in company with Laurence, or ever to return to Britain. They face factions, politics, and assassins, and try to make a good impression. This is a second book, and runs the risk of feeling like more of the same. I think it rides the line beautifully; it neither feels like a disappointment, nor like the action is being ramped up unreasonably. There are new characters, new settings, and new kinds of dragons to learn about. It is also a great start for the series in finding its moral center. Laurence l...

 “...the true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch's door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.” - Prince Liir, The Last Unicorn  Honorable Mentions: “Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can't trade for your heart's desire is your heart” - Miles Vorkosigan, Memory  “I've always thought–tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and so...

Well, I hated all the characters in Oliver Twist when I read it in High School.... Oh! I stopped reading A Song of Fire and Ice because I couldn't come around on all the annoying characters in that. I don't even remember their names at this point. So for most annoying character, I nominate everyone who survived to book three, more or less. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Okay, this one I have to give to Lord of the Rings . The destruction of Mount Doom through to the rescue by the Eagles is one of my favorite parts of any book ever. I'm even highly partial to the Scouring of the Shire. Honorable Mention: The end of Moonraker (James Bond) I find notable for tension and dark humor, and the end of Memory (Vorkosigan Saga) for mental and moral triumph. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Unsurprisingly, given yesterday's answer, my top two have to be Russell/Holmes and Miles/Ekaterin. These are both adult, intelligent relationships between equals that are also romantic and sweet. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

End of A Monstrous Regiment of Women . Zero doubt in my mind about this one. As hardcore as I can be about my Holmes canon, I'm totally a Russell/Holmes fangirl. Honorable Mention goes to the end of A Civil Campaign I enjoy sex scenes, but I usually find a well written kiss far more satisfying. Especially these ones. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Favorite Issue This Week: Darkwing Duck #8, but it was very close All books new in stores on 1/19/11 Avengers Academy #8 Writer: Christos Gage, Penciler: Mike McKone Yes, I caught up over the weekend, as I said I might . The writing on this series is really good, although this felt like one of the weaker issues to me. I suppose I might feel that way because this issue focused on Tigra, an established character I know nothing about, rather than expanding one of the new characters or dealing with a character I'm more familiar with. So your mileage may vary. The kids do push their limits here, and I'm looking forward to the next issue. My major problem with the book is that the art is uneven. There are plenty of good panels, but faces in some perspectives seem to be a problem for this artist. Darkwing Duck #8 Writer: Ian Brill, Artist: James Silvani This deserved Book of the Week just for the art alone. Wrapping up the “Crisis on Infinite Darkwings” storyline with...

Hmm... I'm repeating myself a bit, but the obvious answer is Dragonlance. Tanis, Flint, Tasslehoff, Raistlin, Caramon, Sturm, (even Riverwind, Goldmoon, Kitiara, Laurana, Tika, etc...) were my constant companions as a teenager, and still what I think of first when I think of a good wide cast of characters. A newer choice is the lovely ladies of the Birds of Prey. Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress, and Lady Blackhawk make me quite happy, not to mention occasional members/newer members Hawk and Dove, Vixen, Gypsy, guest spots by Catwoman and Wonder Woman and many others... besides there are the opposing characters in Savant, Lady Shiva, Cheshire, many smaller parts... it's an all around carnival of awesome, and one of the best uses of an ensemble in comics. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

I already posted about book covers for a Book Blogger Hop, see my answer here . I'll add few more pictures of some favorites: Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Full Dark, No Stars   Stephen King, 2010  Premise: Four long short stories about revenge and human behavior. The first story was slightly darker and more brutal than I prefer, but I know I can't really complain on that account. “1922” is kin to “The Telltale Heart”. It is the longest story in the collection, and the one I liked the least. The rest, though, were quite good. My main nitpick about this book is actually that the stories are slightly too long. Each premise is not enough to fill a book, and too much for a normal short story, but most feel just slightly padded out to their current length. Page count: “1922”: 128, “Big Driver”: 110, “Fair Extension”: 29, “A Good Marriage”: 81 I know not everyone likes Rose Madder , but I do. Of these four new stories, two center on wronged women, and I enjoyed both. “Big Driver” follows a mystery writer who is attacked on the road, “A Good Marriage” is about discovering the dark side of someone the protagonist t...

Is it too cliché to say LOTR ? Maybe so. I find I don't read trilogies much anymore... are they falling out of fashion? I do have a soft spot for Dragonlance: Legends , or some of the older stuff by Mercedes Lackey. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Well, Guilty Pleasures ( review ) comes to mind. Much of the Anita Blake series would fit this category. Yes, many of them are awful. That, clearly, is not the point. Other paranormal romance books come and go on my radar, but these ridiculous books hang around, particularly the first few. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Molly Grue, Lady Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan, Mary Russell. That's three intelligent, decisive, independent women. Molly might be more clever than intellectual, but she's still fantastic, and deals sensibly with many a difficult situation. I adore Ekaterin, watching her find her feet, then take a breath, and follow both her head and her heart. Mary Russell is a match for Holmes. Of course she's extraordinary.   While we're here, I'm also going to throw some love to Wonder Woman, and the Birds of Prey when they're well written (i.e. Gail Simone). Because superheroines are awesome. Birds image source Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here . 

Sherlock Holmes, Stephen Maturin, Samuel Vimes, and Lord Miles Vorkosigan. That's one consulting detective, one physician/natural philospher/intelligence agent, one head of the City Watch, and one enthusiastic and eclectic minded leader of men, if you're keeping track. Back in the day, I would have cited my personal trilogy of favorite magic-users: Raistlin (Dragonlance), FireSong (Valdemar) and Naitachal (Bard's Tale). I still have a soft spot for them, actually, though many of those books don't hold up to much re-reading. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

This is the Book Blogger Hop, hosted at  crazy-for-books.com This week's question for discussion: "Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?"   Well, I read a lot of different genres off and on, but I always return to fantasy and sci-fi novels. I prefer to read about characters in extraordinary situations. I have trouble connecting to characters who aren't engaged in something larger than themselves. I love fantasy for its tales of "what could of been" and sci-fi for its tales of "what could be," (even though I don't actually believe in fairies or alien abduction, etc.) (This is not to say that I never enjoy "realistic" fiction, but I almost never do, not any set in modern day at least. Other genres of special interest include Historical fiction, Noir, Mystery, and Horror.) I especially enjoy novels that engage with big ideas or situations that are fantasy today: what might happen if we dev...

The Phantom Tollbooth . I love The Phantom Tollbooth as a fun story, a funny series of metaphors, a well written adventure, and a rallying point for overly thoughtful, intellectual children. If you missed this one as child, it's a fairy-tale style adventure of a bored little boy who is transported to the Kingdom of Wisdom (containing the major cities of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis) and tasked with rescuing the Princesses of Rhyme and Reason to restore order to the land. It's full of puns and colorful characters, including the Awful Din, the Humbug, the Spelling Bee, and the demons who live in the Mountains of Ignorance. Honorable Mention: The Prydain Chronicles , The Cat in the Hat Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Favorite Issue This Week: Birds of Prey #8 All issues new in stores 1/12/11 Also new this week: collected paperback of Joker's Asylum II, which was a great series of one-shots that I thoroughly enjoyed. Avengers Academy: Meet the New Class #1 (Reprint of 1-3) Writer: Christos Gage, Artist: Mike McKone This issue benefits from some convenient timing. I had decided to look into more Marvel books (see 2010 comic post ), Avengers Academy was plugged heavily in the "3 Chicks Review Comics" podcast I enjoyed last week, and then Marvel releases this. It's the first three issues collected for the price of one. Sweet! I really liked this: it's like New X-Men but I think the character work is better at first glance. It helps to know a little about recent Marvel, but it brings you up to speed quickly. The premise is simple: a bunch of misfit young super-humans created or traumatized by Norman Osborn train with a bunch of misfit Avengers. Sort of. I hop...

The Complete Sherlock Holmes . Yup, COMPLETE. Also most of the Vorkosigan books, the core 6 Dragonlance Novels, The Lord of the Rings , the first few Anita Blake books, The Beekeeper's Apprentice , etc., etc.... I like to reread books sometimes. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

So many in this category. Lud-in-the-Mist ( review ) is a fairly salient one for me, and there have been a few recent works by authors I otherwise love ( Cryoburn review , The God of the Hive review ) that I've felt weren't quite up to snuff. The God of the Hive particularly, I felt was full of missed opportunities. The Best of CL Moore ( review ) also disappointed me. I read it after I had heard a little about her, as one of the first major female genre writers. My feminist heart selfishly wanted her work to blow everyone else's out of the water, and it was just decent with flashes of greatness. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

The Stepsister Scheme Jim C. Hines, 2009 Premise: Newly-minted Princess Danielle Whiteshore is still adjusting to life at the palace when her stepsister abducts her Prince and tries to kill her.  Luckily, Danielle teams up with two other former Princesses, creating a trio of heroines who are determined to rescue her Prince if they have to fight, flirt, bespell and bluff their way through all of Fairytown to do it. This book was tons of fun! This is the best pure fantasy adventure I've read in a long time. It's also fairly unabashed girl power. I really enjoyed it. In this world, fairy tales are true, more or less. Danielle de Glas did sneak off to the ball dressed in glass slippers she received from the tree over her mother's grave. She did not arrive there in a transformed pumpkin. Her comrades in arms are Ermillina “Call me Snow” Curtana, and Talia “ask about the fairies again and I'll kill you” Malak-el-Dahshat. One of the more interesting parts of the ...

I'm generally a pretty good judge of whether I'll enjoy a book. I have enough experience with various genres and styles to pick out books I think that I'll like. I generally don't read books that I don't think I'll like. There are definitely books that I didn't think I would like nearly as much as I ended up liking them: The Worm Ouroborous , The Count of Monte Cristo, Casino Royale, The Long Goodbye , to name a few. I guess maybe Dracula (Review here) is a book I read recently that I didn't expect to be anywhere near as good as it is. For some reason I expected to slog through the text, but it was a delight. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

Hmmm. I could go very classic here, with “... no living man am I! ”, but I'd like to highlight a few less martial moments. In The Last Unicorn, the scene when Molly meets the Unicorn is one of the most simple, beautiful, sad passages I know. I do admit that my preference here is colored by my love of the animated movie. And while I'm recommending touching scenes, I'll add a mention for the end of House at Pooh Corner, when Christopher Robin explains to Pooh how he's “not going to do Nothing any more” because he's growing up. If you haven't read any Pooh in a while, do yourself a favor and take another look. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

The Cyberiad , by Stanislaw Lem. Erin introduced me to this book, and we continue to encourage others to read it. It's a book of short stories, originally in Polish, that include some of the most clever, most enjoyable, most inventive science fiction I've ever read. Full schedule of the Reading Meme Here .

This is the Book Blogger Hop, hosted at crazy-for-books.com This week's question for discussion: "What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?"   Hmmmm... I'm not sure that any one book has influenced my life so much as my overall love of reading and learning has. My constant diet of books/articles/etc. makes me more well-spoken, more thoughtful, more considerate, more flexible, and more skeptical.  I guess A Rumor of Otters is one book I read as an early teen that influenced me a lot. It's a coming-of-age/survival story about a girl in New Zealand who strikes out on her own to look for otters in the mountain lakes. It solidified my environmentalism, and my love of solitude and wild places.  There have been many other books over the years: from Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald-Mage Trilogy I was moved to fully become an LGBTQ ally; from Dragonlance I was inspired to create my own fictional worlds, Hamlet pushed m...