Friday, September 26, 2008

September '08


IN FIRE FORGED: THE WHITE DRAGON
-L. Resnick-fantasy
-491-sequel to In Legend Born. Nothing has improved in her writing that I could tell. Since Josarian is dead, another goddess, this time a sea goddess, gets involved in things and stirs the pot. The gods of this world are horrible. Uncaring, selfish, all the worst of fallen humanity but without its limitations. This story is definitely going for the epic feel, but I am just not feeling it. I certainly connect with the characters, even the villains. Characterization is great but I almost feel like I'm reading a B-movie novelization in regards to plot.

GREEN RIDER: GREEN RIDER
-K. Britain-fantasy
-504-this is Britain's first novel, and yes, it shows. There are times that you have to shake your head and wonder how long between her reading of Tolkien and her writing her story. A dire threat is somewhat foiled by a young girl who ends up joining the Green Riders. Green Riders are magic users and completely loyal to the king. 2 more books in this series. Bordered on the young/adult line for me.

MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN: MEMORIES OF ICE
-S. Erikson-fantasy
-781-taking place during and immediately after Deadhouse Gates. Paran is now Lord of the Decks [which recognizes "legitimate" gods]. Turns out that the Crippled god is actually an alien forced into our dimension 100's of thousands of years ago and now he is trying to destroy everything here in revenge. He is playing a great game of war. This book deals with various factions putting down an army of his that is led by a Jaghut. Details alot more about the Imass and the Jaghuts in the far past. Has lots to do with the rise and fall of gods, ascendants and the like. It is incredibly sad. Yet the writing is SO incredible that whenever I read a fantasy book right after one of these, the fantasy book seems so shallow and 2d by comparison. This was the last that the libraries have and Crystal doesn't feel comfortable having them in our house, so I guess I am done with them. I shall, hopefully, remember these books as some of the most incredible, detailed, indepth and utterly fantastic books that I have ever read.

INVASIVE PROCEDURES
-O.S. Card, A. Johnston-medical thriller
-352-a renegade geneticist is nearing completion of his plan to 'uplift' humanity, with himself in control. A Biohazard Agency agent stops it all from going down. I suspect that Card's name was on this more for sell'ability than anything else. A nice light read.

STARWARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: INVINCIBLE
-T. Denning-fantasy
-299-the end of the Legacy series. I was glad it was done. Jaina kills Caedus, who in the end allows himself to be killed so that he can send a warning to Tenel'ka about a virus directed at their daughter. Everything just wrapped up so quickly and neatly once Caedus was out of the way. The series went out with a whimper, in my opinion. This book was as good as the rest of the series though.

COREAN CHRONICLES: SCEPTERS
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-624-the end of the first trilogy of the Corean Chronicles. Wendra and Alucius both get some additional training by the Soarers. They push back an assault by the ifrits. Then they recover some sort of "life sapper" device [the scepters] which links to the one on Efran, the ifrits home world. They travel to Efran via the Tables and destroy the Master Scepter. Without that, Efran collapses on itself and Corus is safe evermore from them. Modesitt uses to many predictable simple things to stretch out the story. Why does he insist on telling us everytime Alucius is thirsty and takes a drink? After the first book, that type of thing should have been dropped. Oh well, probably a holdover from his writings on Recluce. Formulaic. I will take a break from Modesitt for awhile and visit him again next year.

IN FIRE FORGED: THE DESTROYER GODDESS
-L. Resnick-fantasy
-478- the conclusion to this trilogy. Sharifar, a sea goddess, gets her new consort. Tansen and Zarien end up killing Killoran. Lots of things happen. Josarian's spirit had never gone to the afterlife and it became Dar's new consort. I think this whole series could be summed up by this sentence in the book: ...Dar demanded her due...worship her, praise her, comfort her and offer her their lives. I did not like this, even though in the end everything prophesied came out ok. I would not recommend this series to anyone nor will I be seeking out anymore of Mz. Resnick's books.

GREEN RIDER: FIRST RIDER'S CALL
-K. Britain-fantasy
-484-a good successor to Green Rider. Karrigan resists actually joining the Green Riders, but is "haunted" by Lil Ambrioth, the First Rider and eventually joins up. Mornhavon the Black's consciousness is awakening in the Black Forest. Alton goes to the breach in the wall to attempt to repair it. He ends up being fooled by Mornhavon and almost destroys it. Karrigan foils a plot by the "Second Empire" [original descendants loyal to Mornhavon] and sends Mornhavon into the future to give Acoria time to prepare some kind of magical defense. Much more original than the first novel. Looking forward to the end of this trilogy, in a good way.

OH MY GODDESS! #29
-K. Fujishima-manga
-156

THE LOOKING GLASS WARS
-F. Beddor-fantasy
-376- an alternate "take" on Alice in Wonderland. Alyss is a young princess in Wonderland. Her parents, the King and Queen, are deposed by Alyss's Aunt Redd. Alyss escapes to our world, lives there for 13years, and then comes back and rescues Wonderland. Twists Alice in Wonderland into something completely different. A very cool idea. However, this book is a bit shallow. It was like looking at snapshots. Alyss at 7, Alyss at 14, Alyss at 20. No character development, even though Beddor does "try". It comes up VERY lacking when compared to the original, which is to bad. I think that a younger, less experienced mind would appreciate this story more. Wouldn't recommend this to anyone, too much glitter and glazz without the substance to make the g&g palatable.