A Thief of Nightshade by J.S. Chancellor

In this novel a woman loses her husband in what she thinks is a hunting accident gone wrong. Come to find out he merely was stolen away from her and taken back to his world where he must become the king only to rule until he withers away giving his youth to the Fae queen. Or does he? Distraught with grief, Aubrey finds herself in Avalar, the place her husband writes about in his novels. Novels she thought were all fantasy. Determined, and in a strange world with strange beings, she sets out to save her husband with the help of an Elloheim (a man turned into a bear) and other assorted creatures and beings known as Shades and Fae. Will she save her husband or will he always be lost to her with no memories of her?

The way this novel was written was very well done and very thought out. The entire time Chancellor has you hanging on edge as Aubrey and her companions' survival is constantly hanging by a thread. The suspense of whether or not they will make it through each encounter will leave you reading on, never wanting to put the story down. All of this is all well and good if you've never read the chronicles of Narnia. A lot of the overall feel of the book is very, very Narnia-esque as far as having to defeat a "witch" with the help of other creatures. All of which happens after being taken to a magical world that is very different from our own reality. 

But if you have never read Narnia, then you will really enjoy this book. Shoot even if you have read Narnia, you'd really enjoy this book especially if you are good at the suspension of disbelief!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Hope Flies on Broken Wings by L.F. Falconer

Hope Flies on Broken Wings is a very interesting story that takes place in an unknown time setting and an unknown realm. It's one of those places where you are unsure if magic can happen or not. The only hint of anything magical is the mention of mermen and the good luck charm that comes from finding one of their scales. However, this story has a wonderfully captivating set of characters that just suck you into the story. Especially with such themes as love, hope and destiny. Despite the fact that I normally don't enjoy the "trashy romance" genre of book, surprisingly I did enjoy this, not gonna lie, it actually brought tears to my eyes especially in the last two chapters. 
Unfortunately, with all the good comes some bad, and for my it was the point of view. Initially the author starts the story in the first person, I I I...however, towards the end of the story, when a lot of the action is occurring, the author kept bouncing back and fourth between this first person and having a narrator. It was already hard enough for me to get used to the first person since many stories don't do this, but then I found it even harder to follow the plot after the author kept bouncing around between perspective. Despite all of this this story was still very captivating. The author really caught the style of love that happened during less civilized times around a fishing village. The one thing that I didn't understand was the introduction to Christianity. It was never given a name, but other than the fact that it preached abstinence until marriage, I don't understand the purpose of the other roles it played. Maybe it is just my lack of knowledge of the uprooting of paganism by Christianity, but the parts where the main female character is being told she will burn in eternal damnation, which is throughout the entire book on almost every page,just make no sense to me. other than the straight-forward obvious point of "oh, you have urges that everything alive has? Too bad, if you follow what is instinct you'll go to Hell". 

All in all this novel was well written, other than the point of view bit, and had good themes, especially if you are christian and believe in the whole abstinence before marriage thing that is preached throughout this story.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

In this coming of age tale, we are met with three different story lines that are in and of themselves unique and could stand on their own as individual stories. Much of the going ons in these stories is the main characters learning who they are by taking up various tasks and having traumatic experiences happen to them through the loss of parental figures or just the hard truth of trying to remain pure and uphold their morals, even the lessons of what a coward looks like. All of these things are going on amongst one of the most harrowing things in their lifetime, the Demons. These denizens of the night have reduced all of the people of "Thesa" to cowering behind ancient symbols, many of which no longer are remembered by everyday people. Many of the people (the Krasians being the exception) hide out of fear of being Demon fodder every night afraid to fight. However, after learning waht cowardice looks like, one boy takes to questing about the land and stumbles upon a ruin where some of these ancient wards that could hurt the demons remain. He then becomes known as the Warded Man, a man who eats the flesh of Demons, and has covered himself in wards and fights the Demons at night.
Now that my book report is over...The writing style used is very rhythmic. There is a very fine and delicate balance between the upbeat rhythm of the action of this novel, as well as the lulling almost lullaby quality of the intimate and personal moments of the story. The only complaint I have about this is the nature of how the three main characters come together. It is very abrupt and instead of telling us why Arlen was where he was (near Leesha and Rojer), Brett just kind of throws them together which isn't how Rojer and Leesha met up, that introduction was a lot smoother. However, despite that one hiccup, this novel was an overall success. The only question I have of Peter Brett is why did you change the name? "The Painted Man" just seems more fitting with the setting of the story. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Trinity by Kristin Dearborn

Trinity

     So this story starts off pretty, well, slow. It then suddenly escalates into action very abruptly and without much warning. However, the plot twist at the end where the main character learns that he is in fact an alien that was born to help a race of aliens breed with another race to absorb the second race's mind powers, was interesting, however, it wasn't very mind blowing. Throughout the entire book it is hinting at this possibility.

Another thing that I didn't particularly like about this novel was the excerpts from another authors book. I felt that this could have been made into either the introduction, or just included at the end. The story really didn't benefit from these excerpts. It also seemed very amateur-ish and very simplistic despite the fact that it was written for an older audience which I assume based on the graphic nature of the language and descriptions.

     Some of the things I did like about it were the paths of discover throughout the book. Not only was the character discovering things about himself, but the reader also discovers things about the characters, and well it allows the reader, if they can get into the story, to question their view on reality. Maybe if a younger person read this novel (like a 7th or 8th grader), after it has been edited somewhat for graphic language, the point would be better accepted.

     Unfortunately, overall, I don't feel as if I would pick this story up and read it again. and thus, I only gave it two stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

The Grass King's Concubine

The Grass King's Concubine by Kerri Sperring

 This is a wonderful tale about adventure to the unknown as well as finding your roots. In this story a young girl gets a hint about a wonderful world. She then devotes the rest of her life to trying to find this wonderful place, her Shining Place, as well as trying to figure out where her wealth and family lineage comes from. However, she gets more than she bargains for when she realizes that not everything makes sense about her lineage. When she finally get to this place she has dreamed about for so long, she realizes all is not well in her Shining Place and that its inhabitants expect her to be the key to restoring their realm.

    In this story of adventure, Sperring captures and creates this wonderful "other" world for her readers. She manages to keep you on your toes, clutching the edge of your seat, or hugging the blanket to you with every turn of the page. her grasp on descriptions particularly that of the surrounding of the Shining Place, can almost make you smell the oranges that are a common occurrence for her main female character. Sperring also manages to leave her novel open enough to be able to continue the story, but also doesn't leave a reader hanging in suspense.

    Now on to some technical things. In the copy that I have, there are quite a few typos and things that did not get processed out when it was edited. In having all of these typos it would jar me very suddenly out of my readers trance as I call it, and it detracted from the novel. However, despite this I still feel that If you like stories about adventure and discovery, you should definitely go and read this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the above book for free from Goodreads First Reads, in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I enjoy and believe that my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Introductions are to be made I suppose

Well, lets see, I guess I should tell my readers just who I am. I am a 4th year college student with one more year to go. I am an art major with minors in art history and chemistry. Weird combination, I know. I feel that in doing this, I have more of a chance to get a job doing something I enjoy. How I enjoy two very different things is beyond me, but hey, it works in the end.

As to why I am doing this? well it is also another thing that I think would be interesting especially when I get a larger viewer base who would also comment more, creating a sort of conversation that can be both informative to the person making the comment as well as to the people who are afraid to ask that same question. This also, to me at least, also allows others reading the comments to see things differently, as well as become even more interested in the book being reviewed.

A few housekeeping rules, unfortunately. Please keep the comments appropriate for the subject being discussed. Also, I enjoy CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. I don't appreciate it if someone comes along and just simply says "Oh hey, this sucked!" Okay, well why did it suck? what would you suggest I do to fix it?

I suppose that is it for now. If I feel I should say anything else later, you guys will be the first to know. :)

Paradise Lost by Milton

In this epic poem, we are faced with Milton's theistic debate about Satan and God. Here however, instead of idealizing and idolizing God, he instead makes the reader feel almost sorry for Satan. Milton also delves deeper into the happenings of Eden, as well as the fall of the angel Lucifer.

If you want something that will have you thinking and rethinking, then this is the poem for you. While reading this it really made me think about certain things like is Satan really only bad or is God really ONLY good?

All things considered (and I'm an atheist), this is one of the better books I have read involving religion. This is solely based on the fact that not only does it make the reader think but Milton combines both biblical and fictional subjects such as Jesus and Capaneus from Dante's Inferno. He even goes so far as to question the bible as well as how the subject of religion can be related back to so many different other authors like Dante.It also compares this religious view to that of government as well as different hierarchies.

When all is said and done, this is definitely something everyone should be made to read at one point or another. Even if you think it will be offensive, I'm fairly certain that it will open your eyes and make you think with a more open mind than you did before.

Lets get things rolling...

So, to begin my journey I decided to re-read one of my favorite books...oh, who am I kidding, I love almost every book I come across. The book I'm talking about is called SABRIEL, which was written by Garth Nix. In this story of a young girl's adventure to find her father, many hardships and misfortunes beset her along the way.

This story starts out innocently enough by describing her relationship, albeit tenuous and very long distance, with her father. We are then introduced to the concept of the necromancer, crossing between Life and Death, and magic, and that these are the ideas that will be repeated throughout this novel. However, unlike most authors, Nix dumps you straight into the action. Almost immediately, the action begins with the arrival of a messenger that pretty much tells Sabriel her father, Abhorsen, is in trouble by giving her the tools her father uses.

Unfortunately for Sabriel, she has no choice but to set out to save her father who is trapped in Death, even though she is no where near prepared or ready to take on the role of Abhorsen. This is a fact that she is constantly reminded of throughout the entire novel right up until the very end. 

After meeting new friends, and some not so nice characters, all of which are all a part of a larger scheme planned by a formidable creature that resides in Death, Sabriel finally learns the secret that tells why this formidable creature is out for blood. 

Will Sabriel be reunited with her father, or will she have to take on the role of Abhorsen permanently? 

There's really only one way to figure out the answer to all of the questions that arise, and that is to read this amazing novel that Nix so graciously provided for us. I feel that this would be a book that any appropriately aged child could fall in love with, as well as any teen or adult. It truly is a story you don't want to miss out on if the sci-fi fantasy genre is you or someone you love's thing.