Category Archives: World of Books

Julia Quinn: Everything and the Moon

World of Books July 15, 2010 Comments: 2

Before I get on to the book, you have until the end of the week to say why you should be the one to win a bottle of the mysterious 6T by Mr. Webber.

Ok, it’s been a while since I read something by Mrs. Quinn. And once I started reading this, I remembered why I liked her. She is not my typical romance novelist (I tend to go for romance including steamy sex scenes incorporated in the love story). Well, if you want that, maybe Julia Quinn’s work is not for you. 🙂 But you should still give it a go. Because even though there might not be so many hot scenes in her novels, you will remember what it felt like to be in love. You know, the kind where your heart constricts with pain when you think of losing that person, or fighting with them  or any of the things that will bring pain or joy to your heart in love.
I’m ashamed to say I wouldn’t have started the book if it didn’t happen that I didn’t know what to do with myself at my parents’ home and this was the first thing I came across. Several hours later (at my home), I had to have a serious talk with myself telling me I need to go to bed because I do have to get up for work in the morning (that was around half past one and I get up around 7). Somehow I managed to leave the last 50 pages for yesterday when I finally finished the book.

The reason I couldn’t let it go is that I kept chuckling through it and I enjoyed the story very much. There are no bad guys here trying to hurt any of the characters – this time, they are more of the star-crossed variety. They fell in love when they were young (and both very positive and humorous people) but of course, due to some unexpected problems, they split and thought how the other one was not what he/she seemed when they were in love.
It’s fun to see how they get back together and also painful at times because their inner processes are obviously for me portraied quite well (if I’m feeling my heart constrict on behalf of the characters).

Pic by: http://www.juliaquinn.com

Lynda Hilburn: The Vampire Shrink

World of Books June 1, 2010 Leave a comment

What fun this book was! I enjoyed it tremendously. Kismet Knight Ph.D. is a delight to read.

The thing is, what happens in this book is exactly what any of us would think if someone was trying to convince you vampires existed. Especially when you are a psychiatrist and you have all the knowledge of conditions that might be causing these types of self-illusions. Because that is what she is, a psychiatrist. And I have to tell you, it’s hilarious reading her inner thoughts which are interspersed throughout the novel.

What I’m wondering now is how come I haven’t heard about this before? The first book came out in 2007. I already have the second book in the series (Dark Harvest) and I plan on reading it as soon as I can (in the next couple of days).

Anyway, Kismet has to deal with a lot in this book (including her budding sex life after a 2-year pause) and is falling in love with two men. What I loved especially is that her thought process is well explained through those comments we follow and completely understandable (except the part where she is totally in love, I’m not sure I can identify with such love in such short span of time but it’s fiction after all).

I though the end was a bit so-so and a lot of underlying history is missing but hopefully that will get better explained in the second book (not the first author whose first book left something to be desired regarding the background, but that is easily fixed in the following books).

Soon, I’ll let you know if the second book is as much fun as the first. 🙂

P.S. Ooops, I was wrong, Kismet is a psychologist.

Pic by: http://www.lyndahilburnauthor.com/

Katie MacAlister: Playing with Fire

World of Books May 29, 2010 Leave a comment

I’ve read several reviews regarding Katie MacAlister’s books from the dragon series so I decided to give them a go myself. Unfortunately, I couldn’t start from the beginning because it’s currently unavailable at my bookshop, but they had the first in the Silver Dragons series, Playing with Fire.

I blame the fact that the description of the world this is set in (it’s our world) is not complete for me on not reading from the beginning of the dragon series because it feels much of this information is implied. But that didn’t stop from enjoying a completely new type of story. I did have some problems with getting completely into it, but I think it again goes with what I just said about the world and characters that appeared in previous books and are obviously familiar to the reader.

Anyway, you have wyverns, demons, naiads, doppelgangers and I probably skipped some. I like the bantering the characters engage in and the steamy sex (and no foreplay for our wyvern hero because he is still too hot for his mate) – and while on the subject, I’d be grateful if writers would refrain a bit from writing hot sex scenes that are not realizable in real life. I wouldn’t mind some but I don’t think it exists in such a way. 🙂

The bad part is that the book ended with a cliffhanger and I don’t have the second one (I do have the third, I bought it so as not to have to go looking for it after I get the second and finish it, only to realize the third was sold in the meantime).

It’s an easy read that I’m sure feels more complete if you started from the beginning. But that won’t stop me from finishing the Silver Dragons series before starting from the beginning – I just cannot stop now.

Matthew Reilly: The Six Sacred Stones

World of Books May 25, 2010 Comments: 2

This is the second book in the Jack West Jr. series (James Bond go hide somewhere and never come back). 🙂

Intelligence, physique, morals, and a lot of luck – Jack West has it all (ok, he’s missing a part of his arm, but he’s got an artificial one that works better for him than a real one would).

Anyway, in this book we are again following the characters we got to know so well in the previous Jack West book, where they saved the world. Now they have to do it again because that was just the beginning (and you cannot start reading from here, you have to start at the beginning).

The pace of the book is typical Matthew Reilly, fast and furious and unstoppable. I forgot to say this in my last review but the pictures of the places they visit really come in handy (and not just that, they are actually necessary for better understanding who is going where and doing what).

I still wish though that at the end of the book there would be some information on what in the book are actual facts. Because I am sure there are many that would surprise the reader. But ok.

I know people who are absolutely unable to read fiction. I know, what is wrong with them?! 🙂

I was reading today a really good post from Desert Book Chick on How to write a killer book review and she talked about characters and characterisation so that got me thinking (and hence the fiction non-afficionados). I don’t have a problem with characters in Mr. Reilly’s work but I’m sure some people might. Especially since in this book we meet Jack’s father and some other family members of other characters. Most of which all are not just bad but evil in the manner that they think their way of thinking and doing things is the best and only way. Which combined with non-existing morals leads to evil things. And some very troubled thoughts on my part as to what kind of people are leading this world (some good quotes on that appear in the book).

And I’m going to end on a note regarding my favourite books of all time (which might be Mr. Reilly’s as well).

The main (good) group of characters uses code (of course) to contact each other when apart. And what books and characters they use? Those from The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Just that would be enough to make Matthew Reilly one of my favourite writers. The action plot helps too.

Charlaine Harris: Dead in the Family

World of Books May 23, 2010 Comments: 2

Finally! I got my copy late Friday afternoon and wasn’t able to start reading it until Saturday (and had no pressing stuff so I finished it yesterday evening). I feel like someone lifted a little burden I was carrying since the book came out and I didn’t have it. 🙂

This is not going to be only about the book – I was thinking a lot about the series I was able to watch in between the last book two books in the series. I wasn’t particulary thrilled with the choice of Sookie (Anna Paquin) but now, I think they got it absolutely right. And I’ll tell you why.

When I started reading the series, I thought of Sookie as this really nice blonde girl who just happens to have a problem (she can hear other people’s thoughts) and that makes everyone think she’s a bit crazy (only her friends consider her normal). Anyway, she sounded stereotypically blonde in most ways. And it hit me with this book. I mean I changed my opinion of her character before (she is terribly nice but goes through a lot of bad things) and then I was thinking about the series and who could have starred as Sookie instead of A. Paquin. The problem with blonde actresses is that they all seem nice and gentle and in need of protection, without that inner core of steel which Sookie obviously has and Anna is portraying wonderfully.

So, I’m also looking forward to the new season of True Blood. 🙂 It actually took for me watching the series to realize how dark and bloody these stories really are. It’s never that dark in my head.

On to the book. Since I love the series, I enjoyed it very much – I love the fact that Sookie and Eric are in love (even as complicated as he is). And I loved the Bill surprise in the book (definitely didn’t see that one coming).

The rest was a less bloody Sookie story than I keep remembering from previous books. Maybe that’s because it’s been a while since I finished the last. I mean, there is some bad stuff happening but after the ending of the previous one (where there is the Fae war), this one was a walk in the garden for Sookie. So, the ending was a bit anti-climactic for me even though it ended with a serious fight. Well, it’s Mrs. Harris who has put the bar so high with the previous one.

This doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it – quite the contrary. I will be awaiting the next one with the same anticipation as this one. Can’t help it – I love the Sookie world. 🙂

P.S. The previous books I read weren’t mine, a colleague lent them to me. In order for me to explain how much I enjoy them, I plan on buying the whole series to be able to enjoy them again at my own leisure.

Pic by: www.charlaineharris.com/

Kim Harrison: Black Magic Sanction

World of Books May 18, 2010 Leave a comment

And another installment of Rachel Morgan is behind me. 🙂 I really like the world this story is set in (genetic modifications in tomatoes killing a lot of population so that the witches, vampires and the rest of non-human species get public in order to help with the problem).

Anyway that’s the beginning of series and in no way has anything important to do with this book only to give people who haven’t read any of the Rachel Morgan books an overview of the world.

I noticed this before but I’m putting to words now, even though I enjoy the books and the characters and I never know where the story is going to end up (which is probably the consequence of what I’m going to say next) – I cannot for the life of me get in the head of any of the characters, but that is especially the case with Rachel Morgan. I just cannot understand her reasoning and that is probably one of the reasons I never can guess what is going to happen, i.e. what is she going to do next.

Btw, I couldn’t help but notice the opposites in this book with Anita Blake. Rachel has a chande to deal with some trouble by killing those who are doing it but decides against it at the last moment and deals with the consequences – which are manyfold and make her life even more complicated. And Anita has to kill in order to keep all her loved ones alive – of course, I don’t mean to judge any of the characters who have to kill. Rachel is not a vampire executioner so she never meant to do that in her life and is basically a good witch (or not a witch, it’s debatable what exactly Rachel is) – but even using demon (=black) magic does not make her a bad person because any kind of magic can be used for both good and bad. What I still don’t get is how come that reason never came up in Rachel’s problems, especially in this book where white magic is used for some bad stuff.
So, basically, you get another set of Rachel’s problems, very interesting ideas, previous bad guys turning not good, but positive, and some previous ok guys turning seriously bad (some of that was expected but some definitely wasn’t).
If you enjoyed previous books, you will like this one as well. I wonder what else can be in store for Rachel in the future since this book finally ended on a positive note.

Matthew Reilly: Seven Ancient Wonders

World of Books May 15, 2010 Leave a comment

I’ve been a Matthew Reilly fan since the first book of his I read (I no longer remember which one it was, but I bought everything else I could at the time). And now after some years have passed, I finally read another of his books and enjoyed it a lot.

But, you should bear in mind that Mr Reilly has a specific way of writing not everyone might enjoy. I once read somewhere that he tries to re-create the action movie atmosphere in his books, and honestly, I think he does a good job with that. Of course, ending sentences in the middle and making you read the following line with a bombastic statement helps. 🙂

I loved the way this book explored some ancient history mixed with myths and how Mr. Reilly used it to create his own story. I just wish he would follow the example of James Rollins and state at the end what parts of the story are actually based on true facts. That is always a fascinating reading and I’m sure the readers would be surprised by the stuff they read as true.

Anyway, the book offers a lot of action, a lot of lucky coincidences and just plain James Bond/Indiana Jones abilities in one person who for a change is Australian this time (MR is Australian as well). I am really glad to see his country put in a special place by this book and I loved the ending.

I also loved the mention of the Da Vince code – that book is just part of our culture now. 🙂 I still can’t understand what the fuss was about because nothing new was said in that book but I guess the public was unaware of many things before it (but that’s a completely different topic).

In the end, even if you don’t find Mr Reilly’s type of writing something for you, all I can say is when I start his books, I cannot stop until they are done (even if I started reading something interesting before it – like I did with this one). Action packed – his novels really are.

Kelley Armstrong: The Reckoning

World of Books May 14, 2010 Leave a comment

It’s been almost a week since I finished this and this whole week I’ve been thinking what to write about it.

After finishing The Awakening I was really anxious for the book 3, but now I’m sort of ambivalent. I read it really fast but it feels like something is missing from it hitting it with me. I still can’t believe that the whole series happens in only 3 weeks or so.
I was already suspicious as to how much can happen in book 3 to resolve the whole situation with the genetic manipulation regarding supernaturals in the previous books and I think I was right (I will have to check what other bloggers thought of it).
If you read the first two books, you probably got an idea who is Chloe going to fall for even though she gets terribly surprised when she realizes it. 🙂 Teenagers.
Anyway, a lot of things happen, some people get killed and it seems that the kids will have to keep hiding for the rest of their lives since it turns out the whole project had backing from a Cabal. And if you read anything of Ms Armstrong before, you know about Cabals and how ruthless they are. So yes, it feels like there should be more story to this Darkest Powers thrilogy. But I was also thinking that since we are talking here about the world K. Armstrong created and that the characters from the previous Otherworld books know each other and keep appearing in others’ books, I guess we can assume we’ll be seing more of Chloe and friends in some other books to come (I certainly hope so).
In the end, I thought there should have been some more elaborate closure but since Chloe’s flight is nowhere near its end (even though the series is), I suppose we’ll read more on that in the future so I’m not actually upset. And I did enjoy the book after all.
To leave you with a final thought, I think that only young people can have so much trust in each other in so little time.

Patricia Briggs: Silver Borne

World of Books May 5, 2010 Leave a comment

The Mercy Thompson series is one I like and enjoy very much but now it has come to that point that I like and enjoy several of those type of series and it’s harder and harder to remember what happened before since there is always enough of a gap between books that I read so much else i the meantime, I cannot for the life of me remember all of it.

But that is not important today, I remembered enough to be able to thorougly enjoy this Mercy installment. Mercy Thompson is a coyote shifter, not to be mistaken for a were animal (start reading the series if you are interested in what constitutes a difference). 😉

Anyway, this book is far enough in the life of Mercy that she is already mated with the werewolf pack’s Alpha who happens to be her neighbor.

In each book she ends up in trouble so you can imagine her life is not exactly safe which comes to bite her in the back when friends are considered in this book.

This time the story revolves around the misterious book she was lent by the half-fae, bookstore owner Phin. As you can guess there is more to that book then meets the eye and it is quite interesting once you find out.

Of course, bad fae want it so there is some bad stuff happening along with the fact that Samuel (Marrok’s son who lives with Mercy and is a lone wolf) is having a serious life crisis that resolves itself quite interestingly out. I loved that part.

There is a quality to Ms Briggs’ writing that I cannot determine what it is but makes for easy, not too long but full of meaning reading. It feels like the story is much longer and the connection between Mercy and Adam finally clicked into place for me.

The only thing that scares me is that this was book 5, meaning the next one is book 6 where usually someone dies at the end and the book ends for readers with incredulity – how did the author dare do this and make me wait for the next book?!! – which is usually a year or more in the future. 🙂 This is speaking from personal experience.

Laurell K. Hamilton: Narcissus in Chains

World of Books April 30, 2010 Leave a comment

Yes, I did manage to through another Anita Blake novel without reading anything else in the mean time. But it seems the urge is slightly lessening (and some other interesting books have found their way toward me) so I might be reading something else soon (after I finish Cerulean sins first).
Narcissus in Chains is interesting because we learn more about Jean-Claude’s past and by that I mean more of the sordid details of what he had to go through to become what he is. Anita has to learn to deal with a bad side effect to being a vampire servant – and this is the book where the sex starts appearing everywhere and with some new people (the number of people is just going to grow from now on, so if you decide in this book it’s too much, stop reading the series). 🙂 I don’t mind – especially because – SPOILER – it is going to be Asher’s time soon.

Narcissus from the title can be attributed not only to the head of werehyenas (he is called Narcissus) but to several characters who are either chained in this book for real or chained i life by circumstances.

We also learn that werehyenas are matriarchal and that there exists something called a panwere – a were person who can change into several animal forms.

And even though Anita seems to contract the leopard variant at the beginning, which leads to serious problems with werevolves who consider the possibility of Anita becoming a wereleopard as losing her as the lupa. And of course Richard being Richard has led to some serious problems inside the pack.

Of course, all these problems are resolved by the end of the book, except for ardeur which is here to stay and Anita isn’t terribly happy she needs to feed it by sex regularly. Especially since she cannot feed on the same person all the time.
But more on ardeur in the following book.
I like it that still in this book we are following again two parallel stories that end together and there is quite a lot of happening – you never get bored reading through Anita’s life.