f morsie reads

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Weather Warden

Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series

So far I've read the first three books -- Ill Wind, Heat Stroke, and Chill Factor -- and am in the process of reading the fourth, Windfall.

I read Ill Wind last summer.
Ill Wind was a quick read, but very enjoyable. It took me a little while to really get into the world Caine is describing, but after that point I was hooked. I loved the twist at the end and am looking forward to reading the other books in the series (as soon as I get my hands on them!).
- 31 July 2007 journal entry
I'd been slowly accumulating the other books in the series (I had books 3-5), but finally broke down and bought Heat Stroke last month so that I could get on with reading the series (and passing the books on to another reader).

Now that I have read more of the series, I have a better idea of Caine's intent. The series, and Caine's world, get more complex with each addition to the story. Sometimes things do seem a bit too complex and there seems to be too much action, too many twists. Caine's protagonist, Joanne, however is very sympathetic (though at times her focus on fashion and cars seems a bit forced) and Caine puts her through a heck of a lot in such a short period of time.

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posted by karen! @ 8:38 AM   3 comments

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Tamora Pierce

Over the weekend was was home-bound with a bad cold and though I've generally had a hard time concentrating on anything for any length of time, I did have some luck with the Tamora Pierce books on Mt. TBR.

Terrier: The Legend of Beka Cooper

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises — and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.

I believe this is the first Pierce book I've read. I'd heard good things about her, and when I saw this book and it looked like it might be a good entry into her world, I couldn't resist.

I enjoyed the book. The story was interesting and compelling, the characters were well-written and sympathetic (those that were supposed to be). Most importantly of all, Terrier did keep my attention and I was sorry to turn its last page.

The Will Of The Empress

For years the Empress of Namorn has pressed her young cousin, Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, to visit her vast lands within the Empire's borders. Sandry has avoided the invitation for as long as it was possible. Now Sandry has agreed to pay that overdue visit. Sandry's uncle promises guards to accompany her. But they're hardly a group of warriors! They're her old friends from Winding Circle: Daja, Tris, and Briar. Sandry hardly knows them now. They've grown up and grown apart. Sandry isn't sure they'll ever find their old connection again — or if she even wants them to.

After reading Terrier, I was at a loss until I remembered that I had this book on Mt. TBR. I double-checked that the book wasn't a 2nd or 3rd book in a series and then dug it out.

While I did not find The Will Of The Empress as compelling as Terrier (despite the fact that the book does stand alone, my attention-limited self found that there were a few too many main characters to handle not knowing their backstories), it did meet my needs and provide a distraction from my icky-feelingness yesterday.

I'll definitely be reading more of Pierce in the future - particularly the Circle books so I can meet Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar properly.

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posted by karen! @ 8:41 AM   1 comments

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Extras

Extras by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies Trilogy)

It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime. Without those strict roles and rules, the world is in a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras. The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes. Popularity rules.

As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451,369 is so low, she's a total nobody. An extra. But Aya doesn't care; she just wants to lie low with her drone, Moggle. And maybe kick a good story for herself. Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secretive of it. Aya wants desperately to kick their story, to show everyone how intensely cool the Sly Girls are. But doing so would propel her out of extra-land and into the world of fame, celebrity...and extreme danger. A world she's not prepared for.

Extras is the fourth book in the Uglies Trilogy (yes, that's right, the 4th book in the trilogy).

It's been a while since I read the first three Uglies books (which I thought were fantastic) and in this case I think that that's a good thing. Because Tally wasn't so fresh in my mind it was easier to cope with the fact that she's not the protagonist of this installment (that and having been given a heads-up before I started the book).

It seems like Westerfeld was planning to end with book three, but was pressured to continue the series because of its success. Extras is much different than the first three. It does continue in the same vein and Tally and the cutters do figure into the story, but it is set on a different continent, years later. Extras also brings the storyline to a satisfactory conclusion so it'll be interesting to see whether he comes out with another book.

Anyway, I did like Aya - at times she was a bit too insistent on the importance of her "kicking", but I'm sure that's because she's a product of her city. I also really liked the character of Frizz. So I guess what I'm saying is that I would not be adverse to another book that continues their story.

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posted by karen! @ 11:31 AM   2 comments

Friday, May 09, 2008

Twilight Saga

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga seems to be getting a good deal of press lately. I was introduced to the books by a friend before I'd heard any of the hype.

I read New Moon and Eclipse just this week, though I'd read Twilight in September.

Twilight has a very different feeling than the other books in the series so far. Maybe that's because Meyer didn't set out to write a series. In any case, when I read Twilight I liked the relationship between Bella and Edward, its slow build-up and all the difficulties inherent in it, but wasn't crazy about the violent, action-packed ending of the book. I had no strong feelings about the series, but I knew I'd read the other books when my friend got around to loaning them to me.

I became much more invested in the series with the second book, New Moon. Part of it is because I knew - to some extent - what to expect. Of course, I was blindsided by the big thing that happens early on in that story, but I liked how things proceeded from there and I became much more interested in Bella herself.

The books are compelling despite the fact that it is sometimes hard to relate to Bella. The cast of characters (mortal and immortal alike) is interesting, as is Meyer's take on vampires.*

Though some fans might consider this sacrilege, I am not a member of the Edward fan club. Personally, I prefer Bella's other option. I find Edward too domineering (though, I'll admit that he is beginning to mellow) and think that if this was a chick lit storyline we'd have a very different sense of Edward and would be convinced that Bella was in a horribly unhealthy relationship and rooting for her to kick him to the curb. I think the memory of the romance of the Twilight tends to blind readers to the implications of some of his actions later in the books.


* This isn't really a spoiler because it's alluded to in the first book, but I've put it down here just in case: actually Meyer's take on werewolves and her incorporation of them into Native American mythology is much more interesting.

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posted by karen! @ 9:38 PM   1 comments

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Series

Sally Lockhart Trilogy by Philip Pullman
I recently read Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart trilogy: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, and The Tiger in the Well. The Tin Princess is a related title; I have it on Mt. TBR. Set in Victorian England, the books tell the story of Sally and her various adventures as an independent woman. Chock full of mystery, they offer murder, kidnapping, and an occasionally happy interlude.

The Sally Lockhart books aren't nearly as good as the His Dark Materials books. I'd been told as much and came prepared. I did, however, think The Ruby in the Smoke was a promising start to a series. When I started The Shadow in the North I was disappointed. I didn't like the huge gap between the stories. I wish that Pullman had given his readers a look at Sally's life in those intervening years. While following Sally set up her business and grown into her own woman might not lead to page-turning suspense, it would have been a welcome respite from the gloom and doom of the mysteries as written. The same goes for the gap between books two and three.

Study books by Maria V. Snyder
On another note, while I was away on my mini-vacation I read the first two Study books: Poison Study and Magic Study. They came to be highly recommended and I was not disappointed.

Poison Study is Maria V. Snyder's debut novel and it is fantastic. Set in a fantastical world, it follows Yelena, a young woman who becomes the food taster for a military dictator after being sentenced to death for a murder she did in fact commit. A journey of discovery, Poison Study offers magic, mystery, and suspense (with a side of romance). Best of all, we continue to learn about both the Snyder's fantastical world and Yelena herself in Magic Study.

While the books are on the violent side, one can't help but become completely invested in Yelena and her personal struggles. The third book in the series, Fire Study, is out now and I hope to pick up a copy soon.

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posted by karen! @ 7:38 PM   1 comments

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

more recent reading

Witch Child by Celia Rees
The year is 1659, a time of fear and lies. For Mary Newbury, it is a time of desperation. While she watches, unable to intervene, her wise and beloved grandmother is falsely condemned, tortured, and hanged as a witch. Soon the relentless crowd may turn upon Mary.
When a mysterious stranger offers her a way out--safe passage to America--she knows she must go. But she doesn't know that the turbulent voyage will bring her to yet another society where differences are feared and defiance is deadly. To survive, Mary pretends to be a pious Puritan girl. But when witch frenzy begins to tear apart the community, Mary must finally choose between the precarious safety of her disguise and her own true nature.

The time period and subject matter are both of great interest to me and I thought this book was very well done. I particularly liked the archival aspect of it - the fact that the bulk of the book was Mary's diary that she hid in a quilt and was only discovered 400+ years later.

I found Mary's character quite sympathetic and ended the book hoping that she'd met up with Jaybird and lived happily-ever-after with his tribe. Now that I know there is a sequel (Sorceress), I've put in on my wishlist.

The Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld series by Alexander McCall Smith
Portuguese Irregular Verbs, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs, and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances (all published in 2003).

I feel the end to harken back to something I wrote about The Sunday Philosophy Club, the first book in another AMS series:
One thing that occurred to me as I was listening to the book is how different Isabel is from Precious Rambotswe (star of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books). Not that I expected them to be similar, but I found it interesting that while McCall Smith's core audience probably has the least in common with Precious, she may very well be his most sympathetic protagonist (I don't know anything about the 44 Scotland Street series, though, so I could be completely off base).
Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is if anything less sympathetic than Isabel Dalhousie. He's a quirky, clueless, self-important academic who manages to get himself into very Bridget Jones-y situations. I did, however, like the books (though the over-the-top situation in At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances may have put me off reading more books in the series if there were any). They are very tongue-in-cheek and because I know more about German culture than the average American (and more than I probably care to know about academe), I was able to appreciate a lot of what AMS was going with the books.

The highlight of the series, however, has to be the case of mistaken identity in The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs. I was so amused (though, again, AMS carried it a bit too far later in the novel).

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posted by karen! @ 8:20 PM   2 comments

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Series Swap

Right now I'm taking part in a series swap on BookObsessed.com. This is like a normal swap (explained in the swap FAQ), but with an offering of three books from a series (preferably the first three books in the series).

I'm offering Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun Mysteries:
1. The Coroner's Lunch (2004)
2. Thirty-Three Teeth (2005)
3. Disco for the Departed (2006)

I'm just finishing Thirty-Three Teeth and I have to say that I'm really enjoying the series so far. The books are different and I really just love the setting and the supernatural elements that appear throughout the stories and within the lives of the characters.


Here's the description of The Coroner's Lunch:
Laos, 1975. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over this former French colony. Dr. Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old Paris-trained doctor, is appointed national coroner. Although he has no training for the job, there is no one else; the rest of the educated class has fled.

He is expected to come up with the answers the party wants. But crafty and charming Dr.Siri is immune to bureaucratic pressure. At his age, he reasons, what can they do to him? And he knows he cannot fail the dead who come into his care without risk of incurring their boundless displeasure. Eternity could be a long time to have the spirits mad at you.

"A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery. [...] If Cotterill [...] had done nothing more than treat us to Siri's views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri's examining table [...] are not cozy entertainments, but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue." – The New York Times Book Review

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posted by karen! @ 9:34 PM   0 comments

Monday, September 10, 2007

series

It's probably quite obvious that I haven't been getting a lot of serious (read: assigned) reading done lately. I've been a bit of an escapist and I've been drowning myself in quick, untaxing reads many of them series books. So here's a look at what I've been reading lately.

Maggie Sefton's Knitting Mysteries.
So far I've read the first three: Knit One, Kill Two, Needled to Death, and A Deadly Yarn. The fourth book in the series, A Killer Stitch, is next on my list (I'm going to start it right after I publish this post).
I don't typically read a lot of cozies, but I do like this series. I can really relate to its protagonist, a young professional who is addicted to coffee and just learning to knit. After the second book I was worried that the series would end up being unforgivably formulaic (there were too many similarities between the crimes in the first two books), but I'm pleased to report that A Deadly Yarn deviated a bit.

Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris
My coworker and I are actually both reading this series now. So far I've read Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, and Dead as a Doornail.
I like this series much better than most of the other paranormal series I've picked up. Sookie is pretty down-to-earth, the author is inventive, the secondary characters are pretty well-drawn, and there isn't an unnecessary amount of sex. The overarching story, however, is a bit of a mystery to me. Just today my coworker and I were arguing over the identity of Sookie's intended love interest. Though my coworker has cast the role, I'm not altogether sure. We both agree, however, that it's not Bill.
I'm not going to run out and purchase the other books in the series (so far Definitely Dead and All Together Dead), but I'll read them when they come my way.


I also just finished the first of Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie mysteries, The Sunday Philosophy Club.
When I was in Chicago, my aunt gave me the audio version, which we started listening to on the way home. Russell didn't care much for Isabel and her internal monologues on ethics and philosophy. I will say that she grew on me. Yes, the monologues got a bit tiresome, but I found Isabel to be an interesting character (and I liked McCall Smith's inclusion of what my dad would call SAT-words).
One thing that occurred to me as I was listening to the book is how different Isabel is from Precious Rambotswe (star of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books). Not that I expected them to be similar, but I found it interesting that while McCall Smith's core audience probably has the least in common with Precious, she may very well be his most sympathetic protagonist (I don't know anything about the 44 Scotland Street series, though, so I could be completely off base).
So far there are three others in the series: Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, The Right Attitude to Rain, and The Careful Use of Compliments. I won't go out and buy the books, but I did put them on my BookMooch wishlist so hopefully I'll be able to snag them if they are listed. In the meantime I'll probably give the Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld books a go. They've been hanging around my bookshelf for a while now.

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posted by karen! @ 7:27 PM   1 comments

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Harry Potter?

The book's been out for a week and, yes, I did finish it last Saturday, but I thought I'd better hold off for a bit to give others time to read and absorb the book. I've tried to be vague in this post, but there is one spoiler toward the end.
~

With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being the final book in the series, it was hard not to get caught up in the fervor. I'd preordered by copy of the book from amazon (I know, I know, I should be supporting local businesses...) and I have to admit that I was getting very antsy waiting for our mailcarrier to show up with my copy.

While I liked the book overall and think it was a satisfactory ending to the series, it wasn't flawless. Some things were very well done, others could have been handled better.

There were so many things that were not addressed in the epilogue and I found that disappointing. While I'm glad that certain characters lived happily ever after, I wish that we found out what happened to everyone else. (And, no, I don't think I should have to watch The Today Show to find out what happens). The way she ended the series, I can definitely see some spin-off series about the kids at Hogwarts, either done by her or by someone else at some point.

The pacing was a bit schizophrenic, some sections were almost unbearably slow, while others flew by so quickly that it was hard to keep up. There was sooo much action that at certain points that I felt rushed through the book. And, yes, as many others have said, it was a bit of a blood-bath. While I understand why it was necessary, this book doesn't really deal with the consequences of those losses like the earlier ones did (not that they were perfect in that respect, either).

On the other hand, I really liked the way she tied things together with a certain character who features prominently in book 6.

However, I still think that book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is my favorite book in the series.

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posted by karen! @ 11:27 AM   1 comments