Life's hard.

It's even harder when you're stupid.

John Wayne

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde ★★★★☆



The Woman Who Died A Lot (Thursday Next, #7)


A hero down, but not out.
Fiction – Urban Fantasy - Mystery
366 pages
US Publication Date: October 9th 2012 (first published July 12th 2012)
Thursday Next #7


After an assassination attempt, Thursday Next is in need of some recovery time at her body’s and Landen’s insistence.  She takes a supposedly more sedate job as Chief Librarian back in Swindon.  Though, with Goliath up to their old tricks, Swindon facing a smiting and Tuesday unable to make the Anti-Smote shield work, Friday still caught up in a future that will never be and the un-existence of Jenny life isn’t very restful.

Okay, so this book was way better than One of our Thurdays is Missing(#6)- which was more like a book set in the TNS world but not really about Thursday Next- but I wouldn’t say quite as good as First Among Sequels(#5).  Fforde’s writing is still deliciously absurd, but particularly poignant at highlighting human foibles, with eloquence and humor.  This book was – like the others- fun, exciting, quick paced, witty and clever (have I used enough adjectives yet?).  The ridiculously well-developed mythology continues to progress and evolve at an exciting rate (I heart you Jasper and your amazingly flexible imagination) deeply entrenching the reader in Thurday’s world. A word of caution, though, this book is definitely not a one off and I strongly recommend making your way through the other books before trying to tackle this one, otherwise you will be really lost.  Also, I always love the blurbs at the start of the chapters – a staple of the series. 

I was a little sad to see the wear and tear book life takes on our hero – as highlighted in this edition of her exploits – but Thursday is still Thursday if not a bit more cautious and less impulsive with age and experience.  On the down side the plot seemed even more unfocused than usual and it got to be a little bit of an over load.  In TNS there is always a lot going on- which as a fan I totally expected- but I think some stream lining, like losing the Aornis Hades plot line, would have helped.  In an effort to wind up some plot points I think Fforde was bit over ambitious.  In the end, though, everything was brought back into focus and in true TN fashion the ending was unexpected.

ISBN  067002502X (ISBN13: 9780670025022)

Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan ★★★★☆



The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles, #3)

A promise fulfilled.
Fiction – YA – Urban Fantasy
Reading level: Ages 10 and up
406 pages
Publication Date: May 1st 2012
Kane Chronicles #3


With the plan of bringing back Ra not quite working out Carter and Sadie Kane may have only prolonged the enviable.  Apophis is still set to swallow the sun and send the world into chaos, with the House of Life nearing Civil War and the gods divided only the Brooklyn House initiates stand in the way.  Add to that Carter’s inability to give up on Zia   and boy trouble for Sadie, with a cursed Walt and “teenaged” god, Anubis, life is anything but normal, or in this case, even guaranteed.  The Kanes’ only hope isn’t really hope at all and only the forbidden knowledge about Apophis’ shadow may save the world.

I found this book a marked improvement upon the first one.  There is a good deal of growth and the awkwardness from book one is completely gone.  The writing is way more at ease and comfortable with the format.  This is rather a short analysis-at least for me, because I so enjoyed this story that I actually forgot to make notes.  So take that as the rather large thumbs up that it is.  Mostly what I can say is this series fulfilled its promise, and I couldn’t ask for more.

ISBN 1423140575 (ISBN13: 9781423140573)

Monday, January 28, 2013

Christening of a new entry for The Chosen Ones List.




I have decided after reading all of the – including the graphic novel (and as it turns out apparently I’m not cool enough to grasp the genius of this genre) - Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs it deserves to be added onto The Chosen Ones List (found at the bottom of the Blog).

Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
This series was easy to like and I quickly fell into the rhythm of the story from the beginning.  Briggs unravels this fascinating story line at just the right speed to keep me interested, but not overwhelmed with detail and mythology.  The plot was fun to follow as well as the emotional journey, with an excellent balance between the two.  I prefer the story construction, mythology and Mercy to almost any other book I have encounter in this genre. The caliber of this story is higher than usual for this genre as well as the main character, Mercy.  Mercy Thompson is independent, intelligent strong, but reasonable, and not perfect. I like the Tri-Cities as a location out of the norm, and appreciate the Washington State flavor Briggs adds to the story (whoo hoo for the Northwest, holla).