Book Reviews
Review: “Ysabel” by Guy Gavriel Kay
Ysabel is my first Guy Gavriel Kay book. He’s one of those authors that I’ve always heard about. Maybe it’s the memorable name, I don’t know. But he was always just kind of out there as one of those authors that I knew I was supposed to read and simply hadn’t.
In case I was wondering, I guess, if he was worth the hype, Kay opens Ysabel with a 3-page prologue that was, simply, stunning.
Review: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J. K. Rowling
It’s pretty sad when you’re 33 years old and the highlight of your year is when the next new children’s book is finally out on the market. Deciding to skip the ridiculous lines and midnight “parties,” I pre-ordered my copy online, and only had to chew the tablecloth for four hours from when I woke up at eight o’clock, till the postman finally delivered my book at noon on Saturday.
And, just like last I did with Order of the Phoenix, I forgoed (forgew? forwent?) everything, and did nothing but read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (stopping for the occasional bathroom break) until I finished Sunday afternoon.
God, I love being a geek.
Review: “The Prisoner” by Carlos J. Cortes
As a good thriller does, the book proceeds at a brisk pace, only slightly slowed when one of the characters begins to expound on how easily personal freedom was lost in this near future America. I might not have noticed this, except my previous reading with Suarez and Doctorow had already covered this topic pretty extensively.
Review: “Thirteenth Child” by Patricia C. Wrede
Thirteenth Child is a YA novel and in this novel Patricia C Wrede crafts a story that may remind you of Orson Scott Card’s “Seventh Son” series. In this case, the hero is a young girl named “Eff” coming to grips with her magical heritage.
Review: “The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail” by Michael Spradlin
The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail is one of those books I picked off the shelf at random. I love books about knights and castles, and one about teens in that time period sounds cool to me. And wow, the first book I read this summer turned out to be one of the best all year!
Review: “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”
Let me start off by admitting that I love both Zombies and Regency novels. So, naturally, when I saw a zombified portrait of Jane Austen on the cover of a book, I was intrigued. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a parody (or as the back cover describes it, “an expanded edition”) of Jane Austin’s classic regency novel Pride and Prejudice.
Review: “Night Train to Rigel” by Timothy Zahn
Timothy Zahn’s a prolific writer with many succesful books both in his own and in other people’s universes.
What’s more, his name makes him eminently suited to be a bad guy in a Star Wars movie himself.
Darth Zahn’s latest book, Night Train to Rigel, delivers why-didn’t-I-think-of-that clever ideas and a zippy plotline that kept me flipping paper to the end.
Review: “The Magicians and Mrs. Quent” by Galen Beckett
I began reading this book with a question of my own: would infusing magic into a novel of manners produce a book that I would enjoy reading? Because in all honesty, although I have read Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, I didn’t enjoy either.
