Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Two books by James A Owen

1 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 2:51 PM


Rating : 2.5/5
Number of Pages : 417

Series : #4 Imaginarium Geographica
Format : Teenage Fiction Fantasy Novel
Reason for Reading : Series Challenge 2011

The Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica return to to go to war with a set of defectors who have joined forces with the Shadow of the Winter King. He is armed this time with the Spear of Destiny as well as the renegades and is looking to build an even more terrifying army of Dragons. World War II has begun in our world (the Summer Country) which seems connected to the war in the Archipelago and chaos is breaking loose everywhere.

Some new characters like Don Quixote join the Caretakers as they sail over the edge of the Archipelago to find an ancient sword that can defeat the Shadow energy. Definitely the weakest of the series though. I found the plot hard to follow and I'm frankly bored of them fighting the same energy in different forms again and again. It's like the boss battle at the end of a Japanese RPG game where you defeat it and then it goes ha ha ha and morphs into another form. Only this is the fourth book now and it's like there no original ideas...

Rating : 3.5/5
Number of Pages : 376
Series : #5 Imaginarium Geographica
Format : Teenage Fiction Fantasy Novel
Reason for Reading : Series Challenge 2011

Another adventure for the Caretakers. This time the Summer Country has become disconnected from the Archipelago and there is a rift in time. Their time travelling watches and the Trump Cards are no longer working and they must do what they can to save both worlds and create a new zero point. The Dragons are gone, but they are tasked with finding their last remaining apprentice who is still somewhere in the world. A band of select representatives of the Caretakers and the new faction must once again set forth and fight the new enemy.

Finally a new enemy! This book is mostly filler and annoyingly doesn't tell you if the final sacrifice worked or not after the fire. It sets things up for the next book (any word on when this will be out yet?), but I did enjoy this significantly more than the previous instalment. It seemed like James A Owen has a new direction and although it was still a bit overcomplicated, it has renewed my faith in the series. I only hope the next one keeps the same momentum.

 

Labels: , , ,

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Godmother - Carolyn Turgeon

5 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 2:08 PM

Rating : 5.0/5
Number of Pages : 279
Format : Alternative Fairy Tale Novel
Reason for Reading : 11 11 11 Challenge


Lil is an old woman living in New York. Her day job is in a second hand book store owned by newly divorced George. They specialise in finding old and first editions of books and Lil has always ben drawn to fairy tales, in particular Cinderella. You see Lil is a fairy godmother, none other than Cinderella's fairy godmother. She was flattered at being chosen to help Cinderella reach her destiny, she is to marry the Prince and become Queen. The problem is that Lil goes to take a look at the Prince herself and falls in love with him. She takes Cinderella's place at the ball and is then banished by the Elders to live in the human world.

Lil thinks that after three hundred years she has finally found a way to go home. She sees her sister in the corner of her eyes often in the light as it dances and longs for the fairy realm below the water. One morning Veronica enters the book shop with a book of the Cottingly fairies and Lil sees her sister and friends in the pictures. This is surely a sign that her time with the humans is almost over. Veronica is young and vibrant and would be just the thing for George who has withdrawn into himself. If Lil can make a match between them, surely she can repair the damage with Cinderella and atone for her past mistake.

Of course the story is not quite so simple. It looks into human pain and suffering that occurs from loss. We start to question Lil's story and wonder what the reality of her past is. It's a beautifully told story that really captured my imagination and attention. Of course I am slightly biased as I love alternative versions of fairy tales, but this really stood out as being in the same league as Briar Rose by Jane Yolen which I thought was amazing.

I can't remember who recommended this to me, but you have my hearty thanks. I loved this book so much. The characters were so alive somehow and the tale was told with care and attention to detail. I loved that Veronica kept her journal online and Lil was able to learn a great deal about her life. She is someone I would really like to befriend, she seemed like a lot of fun. My only tiny niggle was that we didn't get to spend more time getting to know George as well. Another 50 pages would have been even better.

 

Labels: , ,

Thursday, September 01, 2011

RIP VI Challenge

9 comments Posted by Rhinoa at 8:08 AM







It's finally here, RIP VI Challenge hosted by Carl V at Stainless Steel Droppings (full details here). A time to read books that fall under any or all of the following categories :



Mystery

Suspense

Thriller

Dark Fantasy

Gothic

Horror

Supernatural



There are a number of options for those taking part in the challenge (cleverly titled Perils) and I am opting for at least Peril the First. This means reading 4 books that fit into the genres above. Depending on time I may also add the Short Story and Film Perils as well.





Usually I have at least a rough idea of a pool of books, but this year I have so many things to read I don't know where to start. I am hoping to do the Readethon in October and read the same book as my friend and fellow blogger Jehara and we plan on reading Graveminder by Melissa Marr which will be for this challenge. Beyond that I have so much to choose from!



One thing I still plan on doing is mixing up the types of book I read. I try and cover fiction, graphic novel and manga formats to mix things up so expect me to stick with that idea again this year. All I know is I can't wait to get started. September 1st to October 31st is one of my favourite times of the year.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


 

Labels:

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)