The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett

Title: The Desert Spear

Author: Peter V. Brett

Type: Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Yes Book #2 of the Demon Cycle

Pages: 579
Copyright:  2010

Publisher: Del Rey

Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads.
The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that arise as the sun sets, preying upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind ancient and half-forgotten symbols of power. These wards alone can keep the demons at bay, but legends tell of a Deliverer: a general-some would say prophet-who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. Those times, if they ever existed, are long past. The demons are back, and the return of the Deliverer is just another myth . . . or is it?


Feelings: 
I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I was a little disappointed that the first part of the book was now from the point of view of the Krasia self-proclaimed Shar'Dama Ka, Ahmann Jardir who is the Deliverer for the desert people. The story starts almost were The Warded Man stopped but then it goes back and tells the back story of Jardir who was a minor character in the last book.

Arlen, the Warded Man, plays a role in Jardir's narrative as we catch up to the present time but it is a different in many ways from what we saw from Arlen's perspective. It isn't until half way through the book that we see the characters from The Warded Man. I had a hard time with it at first because I didn't really like the Krasia people as much as the Northerners that told the first book. However, I did end up liking the Krasia and enjoying their part of the narrative as well.

The story ties up loose ends from the last book as well as leaving open many things for the next book. I have to admit this book didn't progress how I expected it to. I am glad that it didn't because being surprised by a story is a good thing.

This is some of the best fantasy I have read in a while and I highly recommend it.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Title: A Reliable Wife
Author: Robert Goolrick
Type: Novel
Genre: Fiction
Series: No
Pages: 305
Copyrigt: 2009
Pubisher: Algonquin Paperbacks

Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary: from Good Reads

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt a passionate man with his own dark secrets has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.
 
With echoes of "Wuthering Heights" and "Rebecca," Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

Feelings:
I enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't the typical romance novel, however, that is what this book is. The writing is at times very good and others typical of the romance genera. The beginning of the book gives a little bit of a feel for what the prose can be like.

It was not snowing yet, but it would be soon, a blizzard, by the smell of it. The land lay covered already in trampled snow. The land here flew away from your eyes, gone into the black horizon without leaving one detail inside the eye. Stubble through the snow, sharp as razors. Crows picking at nothing. Black river, frigid oil. (page 3)

There are times when the book uses you, referring to the reader, and I both liked it and didn't like it when this was done because it reminded me I was reading a book.

This book isn't going to be for everyone. It is a romance but not one that individuals that normally read romance novels are going to like. This is romance with a twist and not one that is very pleasant. Ralph Truitt and Catherine Land are not what they say they are. I can also see that the writing might really annoy some people. At times I think the author may give up some of the story for the way words sound together. However, at other times I think that the author simplifies and the writing isn't as good. The story itself is not really anything new and unique. However, I did enjoy the story. That being said before you decide this is the book for you I would recommend you read at lead a bit of the first chapter.

 

Reached by Ally Condie

Title: Reached

Author: Ally Condie

Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Yes, Matched #3

Pages: 512
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Dutton Books

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary:  from Good Reads
After leaving Society to desperately seek The Rising, and each other, Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again. Cassia is assigned undercover in Central city, Ky outside the borders, an airship pilot with Indie. Xander is a medic, with a secret. All too soon, everything shifts again.

Feelings: 
Out of the series I thought that this was the best of the books. After reading this book I felt like I understood the world that the characters in the series lived in. I also liked that there were more characters in this book than in the last books. This was largely because we had three narrators, Cassia, Ky, and Xander, and they were all in different places interacting with different people.

It is difficult to say much about the last book in a series without giving away much of what came before. This book shows the difference or lack of difference between the society and the rising. We also get to know those people that have lived outside of society and how they feel about the society and what they really want from life.

Xander, Cassia, and Ky still have an triangle relationship but there isn't really any doubt as to what will happen at the end. All three of them grow as characters and I think that really is what made this book the most interesting for me.

I would recommend this book to those that liked the other two in the series.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Title: Crossed

Author: Ally Condie

Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Yes Matched #2

Pages: 367
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Dutton Books

Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads.

The Society chooses everything.

The books you read.
The music you listen to.
The person you love.

Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him.

And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope.

But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems...

A rebellion is rising.

And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy everything.

Feelings: I enjoyed this book more than the first in the series. Cassia seems a little less like an annoying teenager that is having a fit that she didn't get her way and more like an individual that is going to make what she wants happen and not sit back and let people tell her.

This book unlike the first, that was just narrated by Cassia, switch between Cassia and Ky. Each chapter is dedicated to one of them in first person. At first I thought it might be a bit weird reading first person from two different perspectives but it does work.

I personally liked this book more than the first in the series. In this one we learn more about the society and what it does to stay in power and the Rising that is working against the society. We also learn about those that are on the outside and don't work with either. This was a stronger book that the first one because it dealt with difficult issues in an adult manner. Ky has been sent off to be a decoy in a war that doesn't exist and Cassia is trying to get to Ky. They both make compromises and in the end I think they are stronger characters because of it.

I would recommend this book to those that enjoyed the first Matched book. This is another book set in a post-American world but I don't think it exactly fits with the other books as far as the action as a result I don't think this book is a good fit for those looking for another Hunger Games like book.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth
Type: Young Adult Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Yes
Pages: 525
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads

Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope.

The thrillingly dark sequel to No. 1 New York Times bestseller, DIVERGENT.

I have done bad things. I can’t take them back, and they are part of who I am.

Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.


Feelings:  
This book picks up right were the last one left off. The ending of the first one felt like an ending in someways but at the same time it was a bit of a "what happens next?" I felt like this one started right after the first one finished. I have a feeling that the third book will also pick up almost exactly where the second one ends. I like that about these books. I'm not left wondering what happened between books and trying to fill in the blanks.

I find it a bit hard to say much about this book without giving away what happened in the first book. This book is more political than the first book. Following The Hunger Games model for post-American dystopian young-adult books. I have noticed that after The Hunger Games went big there have been a lot of books that have a similar feel to them. By far I think that The Hunger Games series was probably the best of the ones I have read so far. They are all different in some ways but they do have the first person narration with some kind of post-American world in which things are very different from what they are today but it isn't really explained how we got there nor does the narrator seem to know what it was like before.

I enjoyed reading Insurgent. It is really the characters that drive this story. The reason behind the society and the different groups is finally explained a little more in this book. I appreciate that since it does bother me going along and not knowing why things are the way they are.

I would recommend this book to those that enjoyed the first in the series and to those that enjoy dystopian settings and lots of adventure.

The Willful Princess and The Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb

Title: The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince
Author: Robin Hobb
Type: Novella
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Farseer prequel

Pages: 184
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Subterranean Press

Rating: 2.5 out of 5


Summary: from Amazon.
One of the darkest legends in the Realm of the Elderlings recounts the tale of the so-called Piebald Prince, a Witted pretender to the throne unseated by the actions of brave nobles so that the Farseer line could continue untainted. Now the truth behind the story is revealed through the account of Felicity, a low-born companion of the Princess Caution at Buckkeep.

With Felicity by her side, Caution grows into a headstrong Queen-in-Waiting. But when Caution gives birth to a bastard son who shares the piebald markings of his father s horse, Felicity is the one who raises him. And as the prince comes to power, political intrigue sparks dangerous whispers about the Wit that will change the kingdom forever...

Internationally-bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Robin Hobb takes readers deep into the history behind the Farseer series in this exclusive, new novella, 'The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince.' In her trademark style, Hobb offers a revealing exploration of a family secret still reverberating generations later when assassin FitzChivalry Farseer comes onto the scene. Fans will not want to miss these tantalizing new insights into a much-beloved world and its unforgettable characters.


Feelings: 
I enjoyed reading this novella in two connected stories. However, I didn't think this was as strong a book as the others that I have read by Robin Hobb. I think for me it was because the narration was first person from Felicity and I didn't find her to be the most interesting narrator. I know that she was writing in the style she did because she was instructed by her son to write only the truth and no speculation. I have to admit though I was expecting more from this book that was it was.

It wasn't a bad story it just wasn't that interesting to me thus I'm giving it 2.5 stars. I'm not sure I would have stayed with the book if it had been a longer story. At less than 200 pages it was easy to sit down and read. I haven't read the Farseer books which this is supposed to be a prequel to. Maybe if I had read them I would have liked it more. I do intend to read the Farseer books if I can find them at my library.

I would only recommend this book to those that have read and enjoyed other works by Robin Hobb. The title is wonderful isn't it? That alone was enough to get me interested in reading it.

The Mapmaker's War by Ronlyn Domingue

Title: The Mapmaker's War

Author: Ronlyn Domingue

Type: a legend (Novel)
Genre: Fantasy

Series: Yes, Keeper of Tales Trilogy #1 next is The Chronicle of Secret Riven

Pages:226
Copyright:2013

Publisher:Atria books

Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads



This will be the map of your heart, old woman. In an ancient time, in a faraway land, a young woman named Aoife is allowed a rare apprenticeship to become her kingdom's mapmaker, tasked with charting the entire domain. Traveling beyond its borders, she finds a secretive people who live in peace, among great wealth. They claim to protect a mythic treasure, one connected to the creation of the world. When Aoife reports their existence to her kingdom, the community is targeted as a threat. Attempting to warn them of imminent danger, Aoife is exiled for treason and finds refuge among the very people who had been declared her enemy. With them, she begins a new life surrounded by kindness, equality, and cooperation. But within herself, Aoife has no peace. She cannot share the grief she feels for the home and children she left behind. She cannot bear the warrior scars of the man she comes to love. And when she gives birth to their gifted daughter, Aoife cannot avoid what the child forces her to confront about her past and its truth. On this most important of journeys, there is no map to guide her. In this tale; her autobiography; Aoife reveals her pain and joy, and ultimately her transformation.

The Mapmaker's War is a mesmerizing, utterly original adventure about love and loss and the redemptive power of the human spirit. Watch for its epic sequel, The Chronicle of Secret Riven, in 2014.

Feelings:
This book felt like one of the most original books I have read in a long time. I was startled to find that it was written in second person, the narrator refers to herself as you, making it seem as though the reader is the main character. I wasn't sure if this was going to work for me or not but in the end I really enjoyed the non-conventional style. The story itself was also different than expected in a good way. I'm not sure it really fits what I consider legend but I can't say I went out and read any legends recently so who am I to say what the writing style for them is. I can tell you that the story, even if it were first person, feels different than your typical story. Dialogue is not in "quotes" but is just on a new line, this does take a bit of adjustment as well, but it does make since.

You called Wyl up to join you. 

The tower is wondrous. I could kiss you, you said.

Yes, you could, said he.

So literal, Wyl.

Then I'll wait until you mean what you say. 

You felt a sting. For the first time a joke on him barbed you back You watched him stare afar and wondered why he went to such lengths to please you. Perhaps there is more to this boy I once knew, you thought. You linked your arm with his and leaned into him, both swaying groundless. (p. 9)

 Aoife is not the typical woman who is what I would consider a typical mid-evil house wife. She is a mapmaker. When she thinks about this as an older woman she knows that she only got where she was because of what was allowed of her by men.

Now, tell the truth. You were not so different from other women. Your life depended on the favor of men. Your freedom was an illusion that you dared to dream. (p. 34)

Having a myth, legend told from the point of view of a woman was refreshing. The new take on legend was also something I liked. This is not a legend of this world but another world. There was not a lot of time spend on world building, but it wasn't needed. We learn of the world as we traveled it with Aoife. The language and descriptions are beautiful and flow from one sentence to the next.

I know this isn't a novel for everyone but the mythical quality and the superb writing make it worth giving a try. If you don't like experimentation and the non-conventional this is not the book for you. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I have to admit that it took me finishing the book before I formed a complete opinion of it. I knew the writing was good and I liked the story, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be a book I would continue to think about after I finished it. There is much to look back on in the novel though and it is worth the read. I highly recommend it.