I’ve neglected my reading blog again, which means I have six
books to review since the previous post―not including the books that I have
skipped earlier. It’s been a good month
and a half with old favourites and new interesting finds. Here’s the summary.
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| Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler |
Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler was a brilliant
find. It wasn’t at all what I expected based on the description and the sample chapters. I thought I was getting a swashbuckling
pirate story with magic. What I got was a humongous steel ship filled with monsters
and teenage mages, who have no idea where the ship is going and why, and who's
steering it. Isoka, the main character, has to find her place in the strange
society on the ship she's been brought to against her will, and figure out how
to gain control of the ship so that she can return home and save her sister.
But nothing is how she hopes it would be, not even her.
The book is marketed as YA, but despite
the age of the characters, their life experience and the problems they face are
not those of teenagers. It's all about survival. Isoka is a fairly unlikeable
main character, and she doesn't really improve with softer characteristics she
gains, as she lacks the insight to go with them. I actually preferred her as a
cold-blooded killer. There was a bit too many fight scenes―the story goes from
fight to fight that become repetitive―and the ending seemed slightly rushed.
The epilogue didn't really make it stronger, but since the original problem of
saving Isoka's sister is yet to happen, I'm looking forward to reading the next
book in the Wells of Sorcery series.
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| Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron |
Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron is
the first book in DFZ, a new series set in Aaron’s post-apocalyptic, dragon and
magic filled Detroit. Opal has a job cleaning unclaimed apartments after their
owners die. On one such mission, she finds more than she expects and gets gangsters
after her.
Opal is a great character with serious
dad issues, and Nik, her side-kick, is an interesting companion. There’s a lot
of action, magical and mundane, as the pair tries to find the site of a magical
ritual that just might bring them a lot of money. Needless to say, it wasn't as
easy as that. I'll definitely read the next book too.
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| The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman |
The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
is book six in The Invisible Library series. This time round Irene and Kai have
to team up with a group of criminals to steal a painting for a villain straight
from the Bond movies. After the previous book where political machinations pushed
the pair to the edge of their skills, this was a rather boring addition to the
series. Kai especially was a let-down after becoming a more assertive,
interesting character in the previous book. A new political plot is brewing,
however, so I’ll keep with the series.
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| Where Winter Finds You by J.R. Ward |
Where Winter Finds You by J.R. Ward is
the latest addition to her long Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It’s marked as
only half a book, but at 480 pages it’s long enough. It’s a second chance love
story, a follow-up for The Shadows where Trez lost his beloved Selena. A woman
has moved in Caldwell who resembles Selena perfectly and who dreams of a lover
she knows is Trez. He’s convinced his love has been returned to him, but how is
that possible, when Theresa has lived a full life already. I must admit I
couldn’t see how this could be brought to a satisfying conclusion either, but
in the end, the story worked out perfectly. It wasn’t the best BDB book there
is, but like always, it was full of emotions that the reader is pulled into,
only to emerge tearful and happy in the end.
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| The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer |
The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer starts a
spin-off series for his excellent Artemis Fowl series. Artemis’s little
brothers, twins Myles and Becket, are now eleven and ready for adventures of
their own. Myles is like Artemis, a genius bent on surpassing his big brother,
but not inclined to criminal activities. Becket is more physical of the pair,
with an interesting ability to talk with animals―not that anyone believes he
actually can do it.
The adventure they are pulled into is
typical fast-paced mayhem. Unlike with Artemis books, which are set in the
fairy realm, this takes place in the human world, and the bad guys are humans
too, a duke and a nun of all people odd. But it wouldn’t be an Artemis spin-off,
if fairies weren’t involved. Humans are after fairies and it’s up to the twins
to save them with the help of LEP specialist Lazul Heitz. Artemis makes a cameo
appearance―he’s on a mission to Mars―as does Holly Short, the LEP officer from
Artemis books. It’s a fun book that suits adults perfectly too, even though it’s
aimed at ten-year-olds. And I hope the subsequent books take place in the fairy
realm because that’s where the magic truly happens.
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| A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh |
A Madness of Sunshine is the first
thriller by my favourite paranormal romance author Nalini Singh. It’s set in
rural New Zealand where the author lives, and is inspired by Nordic noir books.
The story is fairly straightforward: a young woman goes missing and practically
everyone is a suspect. Only, they really aren’t; most of them are dismissed
easily and if the author attempted to build an atmosphere of mistrust, it doesn’t
really work. There are only a couple of plausible suspects and among them the
guilty are found. The action is slow and the body count low.
It’s an interesting book nonetheless.
Singh can write great characters and as this is very much a character-led book,
it’s a pleasure to read. There are two point of view characters, a woman who
returns home to recover from a past tragedy and a cop who has taken a job in a
small town to recover from a past tragedy. They connect early on, and even
though this isn’t a romance, the two getting to know each other carries most of
the book. There aren’t great twists in the plot, but the ending is satisfying,
even if some motivations of the suspects remain baffling even after the end.
Six books read in six weeks don’t sound
much, but there are a few books that I have started and not finished. At this
point I’m still three books short of my Goodreads reading challenge of
sixty-five books, but I’m confident I’ll be able to make it. I’ll keep you
posted―I hope.
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