End of Semester

So.  I bought the kindle and filled it with some of my favorite books (free thanks to the interwebs) and have been varociously devouring book after book on it during my free time.

Hasn't been much of that though, tbh.

It's the end of the semester, when everyone starts to manically try to complete work, and I'm no different.  Except I've actually been doing work the whole time at least.  I just stress easily.

Sooo....if there's no new posts for a little while....never fear!  I'm rereading some old goodies I may list at some point, but am currently a little too time crunched to do at the moment.

Ten Things I Love About You - Julia Quinn

My what an influx of Julia Quinn!

In case you were wondering, this magical influx is due a visit from my mom.  They just closed down the one proper bookstore within 50 miles of my hometown so when she came to visit she really wanted to hit up a Barnes and Nobles, so that's what we did.  And I may have bought a pile of books :3  Or maybe she did, I'm not sure.  We read a lot of the same stuff anyways so it doesn't matter all THAT much.

Now this book is a bit of a branch out from the Bevelstokes.  It follows the romance of Sebastian Grey, Olivia's cousin-in-law.  The one who did a reading of a cheesy romance book from atop a coffee table, one so moving that it made the maids cry (tears of joy) and then fell off the table and dislocated his arm.  Not in this book, but in the one with Olivia.  Which I will eventually get to reviewing. 

But yes.  Sebastian.  This book is pretty funny and takes on themes I definitely do not remember in other books from Quinn, and it's a good thing.  It's pretty nice to vary it like this.

The Lost Duke of Wyndham -Julia Quinn

Don't you wish all the handsome guys just walked around with their shirts open like this?  But then it would have to be the fluffy white shirts for the proper romantic effect and that would be a little weird nowadays...

Anyways.  This book is the same story as the one from Mr. Cavendish, I Presume, except from the point of view of Jack Audley, aka the lost duke. 

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume was what I read first, and it was my first book from the post-Bridgerton stuff.  It was interesting...but definitely not what I had expected.  It seemed more about self discovery than actual romance, which is what I thought I paid for.  This book balances out that a bit better with a good amount of romantic times. 

I think now that the original Bridgerton series is done, these books are Quinn's way of broadening her storylines (duh) and it's working.  I'm not sure if Mr. Cavendish was her first attempt, but it definitely did not capture me.  In fact, this one didn't so much either.  But it certainly wasn't bad.

Also!  I've put in my order for a kindle and it is on it's way now!  I'm super psyched!

The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever - Julia Quinn

Once Quinn finished with the Bridgertons I kind of didn't have high expectations.  The stories seemed to be getting a bit repetitive...I mean, after Francesca I was just kind of meh about the rest of the stories.

But Quinn kept writing and I was happy for it.  :D

This is the second book following the Bevelstokes.  The first one was following Olivia Bevelstoke who was super purty and all that, but this one follows her friend Miranda, who is definitely not so purty, at least not by Society's standards. 

This is definitely one of the post-Bridgerton books I would recommend to anyone :P No synopsis in case my mom is peeking.

Another bentobloggy giveaway!

Loathe though I am to share this, there is another bentobloggy giveaway!  awesome prizes galore!  I must enter!
http://bentobloggy.blogspot.com/2010/10/another-bento-pack-giveaway.html

E-Book Readers

As I sit here anxiously, waiting until 3:00 pm rolls around for my midterm exam, I have come to a decision.

If I do well on this exam, I will FINALLY invest in a Kindle.

I've lusted after e-book readers ever since I'd heard of them (couple years now) but now that the prices are so low I think I'm about to take the plunge.  Therefore, everyone wish me luck.  Because I would like a Kindle.

Granted, I'll probably buy one no matter what my grade.  But still.  It's the principle of the thing.

Extinction - Lisa Smedman

This is the 4th installment (of 6) in the War of the Spider Queen.

The war between Menzoberranzan and their enemies continue, in which Gromph finally extricates himself from the prison Dyrr forced upon him and takes part in the battle. 

Pharaun and his group also continue to try to make contact with Lolth by summoning demons and demanding routes to her underworld. 

Halisstra and Ryld abscond from the group.  Halisstra converts her faith.

And Danifae schemes and plots against her mistress, trying to figure out how to free herself. 

Meanwhile, Quenthel relies more and more heavily on her snake whip for advice.  This is not missed by her nephew Jeggred, who sees weakness in his mistress that he did not see before. 

Again, read this a little while ago so details are fuzzy. 

Condemnation - Richard Baker

This book follows the group as they go off in search of a way to contact the missing goddess Lolth.  They search for another medium to reach her, a priest of a different religion, which is pretty much blasphemy to the priestesses. 

Regardless, the effort was a success.  Well, they reached the temple of Lolth after several different skirmishes.  Halisstra's faith in her goddess crumbles upon seeing the empty temple, blocked completely from her goddess. 

Everyone seems pretty shaken that Lolth no longer occupies her temple.  Except of course, the foreign priest who lead them there.  Who then summons Lolth's enemy, her son, to destroy the block on Lolth's temple and wipe any sign of the goddess from that realm.

I read this a week or so ago and just didn't get around to writing about it.  So it's kind of fuzzy.  Thus weak review.

Insurrection - Thomas M. Reid

The first book set the stage for disaster and introduced all the main players in this story.  But this book gets to the heart of the action, leading the main characters (certainly not protagonists; I'm sure they'd be offended) out of Menzoberranzan to Ched Nasad - The City of Shimmering Webs. 

There a city is built upwards from thick, stone-like webbing.  It would surely be a marvel to behold.  The main characters seemed impressed enough.

So far in the tale we have three females total to the group - Quenthal, sister to the Matron Mother Baenre, and to Gromph, her would-be assassin from the previous book.  Hallistra, the now homeless Matron Mother Melarn (her mother killed in an attempted coup on the part of Ambassador Faeryl's House).  And finally, the lovely Danifae, battle captive and bound to Hallistra.  Hallistra relies heavily on the servant, who seems to want nothing more than to kill her mistress and return to her home city, betraying a level of weakness that is...unsettling to see in a drow.

The males who tend to their demanding females are at current count three as well - Pharaun, the mouthy mage who in the previous book betrayed his "friend" Ryld.  Ryld himself seems now (after surviving the betrayal) to keep an eye on his old buddy more often than not.  And Valas, the scout who joins them on their journey at Matron Baenre's "request" is often quiet, disappearing at the drop of the hat only to reappear at extremely plot-convenient times.

In this book, you see the fall of Ched Nasad into a completely chaotic wreck.  While Menzoberranzan put their political differences aside when the revolt came, Ched Nasad Houses only wreaked more havoc with their wrestling for power.  Ultimately, it looked like the entire city fell apart completely.  Crushed beneath the weight of burning stone and giant fucking spiders.

Dissolution - Richard Lee Byers

This is another book from the Forgotten Realms world.  It follows the intrigue in the Underdark, between the different Houses in Menzoberranzan and the mystery of where exactly the Spider Queen, Lolth, has gone to.

Their dark goddess seemed to have left the drow, leaving a city full of abused and angry slaves under the care of powerless priestesses. The males of the city begin to rise up in discontent against the dominant females of their species and a rebel force grows.

We see much of the story through the eyes of a mouthy drow mage, Pharaun.  His friend - as much of a drow can have or be a friend - Ryld, master of Melee-Magthere follows him on his quest to solve the mystery of where all these male nobles are disappearing to, only to stumble upon an unlikely rebel alliance.

I've only ever read one book set in the Underdark (one book BEFORE reading this series) and this book really fleshes out answers to all the questions I had after being introduced to this other world.  We see exactly how the females treat the males and their slaves, what exactly honor means to them, and how it's frowned upon. 

I've already read the second in the series of four and am eager to discuss the next book so I shall leave it at this for now.

The Cleric Quintet - R.A. Salvatore

Well, I finished it, all 1036 pages of it.  And I am now a Forgotten Realms fan.

I've read novels from the Forgotten Realms....world before.  I read the beginnings of Drizzt, I think the book that describes his youth in the Underdark.  I then went on to read some of his adventures with his friends, but it was out of order and I was quite lost to be honest.

The Cleric Quintet is the complete (as far as I know) adventures of Cadderly Bonaduce, all five books:
- Canticle
- In Sylvan Shadows
- Night Masks
- The Fallen Fortress
- The Chaos Curse

Now, my liking for this series grew with each volume.  I wasn't that excited with the first pages involving Aballister slaughtering some creatures I could hardly visualize.  But by the end of the series, I was resisting the urge to ravenously turn the pages to complete Cadderly's adventures.

This series appealed to me a lot more than the Drizzt series perhaps because I felt there was more depth to the character and he wasn't the typical hero.  True he was an innocent in the beginning, but he didn't take to warfare or battle the way most fantasy heroes do.  He abhorred wreaking violence down upon other beings, was haunted by his first human kill for weeks, despite the evil doings of the man.  Even at the end of the series it was evident that while he was a better fighter than the beginning, he took no joy in the fight.

A scholar by nature and nurture, perhaps, Cadderly made an intriguing choice for a fantasy hero.  His weapon on his adventures was not something that you could hold in your hand precisely (though he made use of his spindle discs and walking stick often enough); it was his faith in the god he served, a power he could call on to cast spells of healing and protection, to dissuade and pain the undead and whatnot. 

Cadderly aside, there was a great cast of supporting characters - Danica, the warrior monk (who incidentally, inspired me to begin my own physical training again), Ivan and Pikel, the brother dwarves, Shayleigh the elven archer, and so on and so forth.

I hate to say it, but the boyfriend was right.  I really liked this book.  Now I have to ask to borrow some others from his collection. :D

Bentobloggy Giveaway!

So there's this awesome blog, completely unrelated to books, that I love.  It's called bentobloggy. 

Now, they're giving away a cool gift certificate and I really want to win!  Good thing no one reads this or else I could have some major competition!

However, if you too love food and want to try to win a $45 gift certificate to CSN stores, then go to bentobloggy and enter!

Acorna - Anne McCaffrey

If you haven't read this book, you need to hit a library or go to a bookstore or steal it or something.  Any lover of Anne McCaffrey's girl-power-y books or scifi/fantasy would love this.
It follows the adventures of this alien foundling, Acorna, in a space-aged human world.  I use the term world loosely, since the setting for this series takes place on multiple worlds, all human-populated. 

Found in a escape pod as an infant by three asteroid miners, Acorna is raised on a spaceship and taught the trade by these three gruff men.  With her strange looks they stay as far away from humanity as possible since each of their encounters with civilization has people trying to take the alien girl away.

Eventually she grows to realize there is a world beyond the hull of their mining ship and that it is really not all sugar and lightness.  One of the worlds they visit and eventually stay on, Kezdet, is full of evil doings.  Children used in the thousands as cheap labor, then sold off to pleasure houses til they are killed from overuse or die of disease.  Corrupt officials unwilling to change the system due to expense and sheer laziness.

Now, of course Acorna won't let that lie.  :)

I first read this book a long, long time ago.  Nearly a decade now, but I still love to reread it.  Even if you don't want to follow up on the rest of the series (and you probably will), it's a great standalone book that you'll have a hard time putting down.

The Cleric Quintet & Update

So my boyfriend has insisted I read this massive book, which is really five books smooshed into one.  I'm about fifty pages in and it's....okay.  Kind of interesting, but the writing from R.A Salvatore has always just left me cold.  Some authors know how to whip up a reader - keep them on the edge of their seats, flipping pages eagerly.  Not so with Salvatore.  It's a good story with a lot of interesting details and stuff but I never feel any tension from it somehow.
So far I'm enjoying it though.

That aside,  I just wanted to update to make sure I was still going through with my book log.  I HAVE been reading other things aside from that last book, but it's nothing new, just some of my own personal classics from my lovely bookshelf.  Maaaybe I'll write about them later, but I want to start off with some new stuff.

That's all for now :D

I Am The Messenger

I've been toying with the idea of starting a book log of sorts online for awhile now.  It's kind of ironic that it was this book that finally made me get around to it.

See, this book makes me not want to read another book.  In a GOOD way, if you can imagine that.

This book follows Ed Kennedy, a nineteen year old nobody in a small town.  He didn't have anything going for him really; just a few friends who he got together with to play cards with a few nights a week, a job as a cabdriver, and a mother who isn't exactly fond of her son.  Until the first card arrives.

On the card is scribbled addresses.  Three addresses that set Ed down a path that changes his life.

I'm not a big fan of spoiling stories, especially not in print/online form where people can analyze and look back on little hints given by reviewers, so I won't go into much detail.  But this book follows an inspiring change in Ed's life that fills a reader with a strange sense of satisfaction.  Or at least, it filled me with satisfaction.  I rushed to the end of this book, because despite the lack of magical explosions (I'm a fantasy buff) it kept me at the edge of my seat.

This book managed to have romantic elements that didn't muddy the true adventure of the tale.  It just seemed so well balanced; as if the author managed to mix all the genres into one well-rounded tale.  Gripping scenes of violence; tender scenes between parents and children; horrifying apathy.  It's got it all, in my humble opinion.

This is a must read!  This book would be perfect for anyone with more than a fifteen minute attention span.