Book Reviews » Adult, Fantasy, Fiction
August 6th, 2006
Mercedes Lackey is one of the best fantasy writers out there. Her Elemental Masters quartet is one of MANY reasons to read her. This book, Firebird, is a departure from her usual fantasy series, though. It is a stand-alone novel set in Old Russia, and heavily draws on Russian fairytales and magic. If you’ve read Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, you will feel right at home with this book.
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Book Reviews » Adult, Fantasy, Fiction
July 16th, 2006
Deerskin by Robin McKinley is fantasy only in its setting: a generic kingdom with a handsome king and a queen more beautiful than any before, and more beautiful than any queen to come. This is the story of their daughter, Lissa Lissar, largely ignored, and therefore unused to people. It is with the death of her mother that her father finally notices her, and with that notice comes a danger that I, for one, was not expecting.
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Book Reviews » Fantasy, Fiction
July 11th, 2006
The lyrical prose of Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip made this book a delightful read. This story, told like a fairy tale (most likely because it basically is a fairy tale, of McKillip’s making), is about two sisters: Laurel and Rois. Laurel is proper and beautiful, the perfect dutiful daughter; Rois loves the wood: she runs around barefoot, has twigs in her hair, and sees beautiful men walk out from beams of light. This man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere is Corbet Lynn, and his appearance is the hook of this story. His beauty entraps Laurel, the mystery of his past, Rois. This is a story of personal identity, of losing oneself and the journey to understanding oneself again.
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Book Reviews » Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
July 3rd, 2006
If you like any sort of research-based/mystery-type fiction, this book might be for you. Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith is the story about a graduate student from Northeastern University who finds what he thinks is a letter written by THE William Shakespeare. In his search to prove Shakespeare wrote it, Joe Roper gets involved with the Oxfordians, a group of people who believe the Earl of Oxford was the real William Shakespeare.
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Book Reviews » Adult, Fantasy, Fiction
June 30th, 2006
Ten years ago, the great city of Elantris fell. With it went any semblance of democratic government, though this isn’t to say that Elantris led a democratic example. A paranoid and stingy king rules Kae now, the city feeling the brunt of Elantris’ fall. The kingdom of Fjordell is trying to invade with their demanding and regimented religion, Shu-Dereth, by sending its high-ranking gyorn, Hrathen. The Teoish princess, Sarene, is on her way to Kae to marry the crown prince, Raoden, only to hear once leaving the ship that her fiancé has very mysteriously died/disappeared. No one knows how it happened, but the situation is profitable for Hrathen and potentially disastrous for Sarene.
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Book Reviews » Fantasy, Fiction
June 27th, 2006
All right. I thought you all would like to know about this book I just read: The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip (352 pgs). I would say the theme of this book (which is pretty obvious) is sorrow. The importance of losing something, and, without really remembering what exactly it was that you lost, still having this innate sense of loss. The importance of words, or rather, the insignificance of words themselves because it is the meaning behind the words that give them power.
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