Thursday, February 28, 2013

What I Found - The Black Prism, by Brent Weeks

This past weekend I was visiting the local mall, and decided to duck into Barnes & Noble for a quick moment.  As I approached the entrance to the store I passed the Bargain Rack that usually sits just outside the entrance, which I usually ignore.  But for some reason this time I stopped to take a look, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

This:


The Black Prism, by Brent Weeks.

I've been intending to read this series "eventually" but wasn't in a hurry to start it.  I figured I'd just download it to my Nook at some point when I could devour the whole series at once.  But when I realized that the Hardback version of the book was on sale, I really couldn't pass it by.  I mean, really - a hardback novel for under five dollars?!  That's CRAZY!!!

So of course I brought it home, and now it lives in my bookcase.  I'm so excited!

What bargain books have you found lately?

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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I'm slowly working my way through this massive tome, and am currently just short of page 450.  In this weeks' Teaser, the forces of good begin the attack on the Dark One...

The Tease:
"Aviendha ran with the rest of the Aiel through the gateways.  They surged, like floodwaters, into the valley of Thakan'dar.  Two waves, rushing down from opposite sides of the valley.  Aviendha did not carry a spear; that was not her place.  Instead, she was a spear."
 -The Wheel of Time, Book 14: A Memory of Light,
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

What's your Tease?

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Book Review - Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

All Soul's Trilogy, by Deborah Harkness
1. A Discovery of Witches    12/01/2011  * * * * * (My Review)
2. Shadow of Night              10/21/2012  * * * *

From Goodreads:
"Together we lifted our feet and stepped into the unknown"—the thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestseller A Discovery of Witches

Deborah Harkness exploded onto the literary scene with her debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, Book One of the magical All Souls Trilogy and an international publishing phenomenon. The novel introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782.

Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the season.

My Thoughts:
Shadow of Night is indeed a gripping novel in many ways.  The author, Deborah Harkness, has definitely done the required research of the historical period and characters involved in this portion of the story, and manages to make England and Western Europe come alive.  From the moment Diana and Matthew arrive in England, and as they travel to London, France, and beyond, the reader is steeped in fascinating and colorful historical detail.

Unfortunately, as wonderful as the setting is, the story itself suffers from middle book syndrome.  The couple join up with Matthew's  friends - the School of Night - and seem to just wander aimlessly from place to place, reliving events that Matthew has already experienced, and is unable to change the outcome of those events.

Additionally, occasional forward-flashes to the current time are interspersed throughout the story, many of which don't seem to connect to anything that it happening in the story, and these tend to be a little confusing.

Overall though, it's a good story, if a bit slow, and sets the characters up for the events to come in the third novel, which I am anticipating reading.  I give Shadow of Night four stars, one less than A Discovery of Witches, due to the dragging plot lines and confusing flash-forwards.

Have you read Shadow of Night?  What did you think??

Monday, February 18, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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I'm slowly working my way through this massive tome, and am currently just short of page 350.  In this weeks' Teaser, Moiraine muses about a conversation she's just had with Rand, concerned about the boy he was and the man he has become...

The Tease:
"Moiraine held her warm cup of tea, which Rand had fetched for her before leaving.  He had become ruler of so much since they had parted, and he was as humble now as when she had first found him in the Two Rivers.  Maybe more so.
Humble toward me, perhaps, she thought. He believes he can slay the Dark One.  That is not the sign of a humble man."
 -The Wheel of Time, Book 14: A Memory of Light,
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

What's your Tease?

Monday, February 11, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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I'm slowly working my way through this massive tome, and am currently just shy of page 250.  In this weeks' Teaser, Elayne finds herself with her soldiers in the Braem Woods, waiting to ambush an enemy army...

The Tease:
"It was difficult not to feel tiny in a wood like Braem.  though many of the trees were bare, Elayne could feel a thousand eyes watching her  from the depths of the forest.  She found herself thinking of the stories told to her as a child, stories of the Wood being full of brigands - some goodly, others with hearts as twisted as those of Darkfriends."
 -The Wheel of Time, Book 14: A Memory of Light,
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

What's your Tease?

Monday, February 4, 2013

Teaser Tuesday - A Memory of Light, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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I'm slowly working my way through this massive tome, and am currently just shy of page 150.  In this weeks' Teaser, Rand awakens in the night and spends a moment feeling reflective...

The Tease:
"He was reminded, in passing, of mornings during his youth, rising before dawn to milk the cow, which would need milking twice a day.  Eyes closed, he remembered the sounds of Tam - already up - cutting new fence posts in the barn.  Remembering the chilly air, stomping his feet into his boots, washing his face with water left to warm beside the stove."
 -The Wheel of Time, Book 14: A Memory of Light,
by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

What's your Tease?

Friday, February 1, 2013

Covering the Cover - Curtsies & Conspiracies, by Gail Carriger

Yesterday, the always fabulous Gail Carriger revealed the cover art for the second book in her new four-book Young Adult series set in the Parasol Protectorate universe - Finishing School - Book the Second: Curtsies & Conspiracies!


The series is set 25 years before Soulless, and follows young Sophronia as she attends a rather unique finishing school, where she and her school mates learn the proper methods for finishing anything - and anyone - as needed.

I think the cover art is amazing, as always, and the detail is incredible.  I'm very excited to read this new series.

Curtsies & Conspiracies is due near the end of 2013, probably in November.  The first book in the series, Etiquette & Espionage, will be released next week, February 5, 2013!