Fantasy
This novel is set in 2044 and the world is not such a wondeful place. The majority of the population escapes from reality by living in virtual reality games. The adventure begins when the developer of the most intricate virtual reality dies. His will states that his entire fortune will pass to whoever can find all of the "eggs" in his virtual reality world. The story is told retrospectively from the person that wins. There are a lot of references to the 1970's (which the developer loved) and even though I'm not a gamer I was drawn into the story of the virtual reality world and the lives of those that choose to go there and "live".
Loved the first part of the book depicting Rune's good nature while putting up with a hard life, working for room and board in a country inn. She works hard and stays true to her inner calling to play music. But she takes a chance on a new life after local bullies threaten her and she realizes her life at the inn will continue to be one of increasing drudgery. The foreshadowing in the first part is nicely played out. She has a series of adventures and finds herself a teacher who will help her prepare for a chance to win an apprenticship as a bard. Then the story falls apart. New plots are thrown in that seem disconnected to what has gone on before, Rune is extremely mature for someone who was only 14 in the first chapter, and there is too much fabulous magic. I was looking for a light read, which this is, but I do want my intelligence respected.
Review of Rogue Angel - Footprints
The story starts out well enough, catching the reader up on the main character's history. It is descriptive enough to place the reader in the place and time of what is going. There weren't too many editing errors.
But that is the only positives I can really give to this book. At some points in the story it seems as though the author uses his character Annja Creed to make a good point about life, but it really isn't in line with the character's personality at all. This threw me. Then, the story is just all over the place. If you like a story that leaves the loose ends loose, goes in every direction but the one you thought you were going in, and is nothing at all what you want or thought it was going to be, then this book is for you.
Read more»First of a series, overly cruel and brutal fantasy of a land expecting winter after many years of summer (I guess earth tilt and orbiting around the sun doesn’t play into this); machismo men grasping for power, wealth, and presumably honor, a big wall separating the normal people from some mystical Others, and dragons reappear at the end! Some interesting parts.
Some stories are smooth and satisfying, easy to follow, thematically consistent, and tie the plot threads into a neat little bow at the end.
American Gods is not that story.
When Shadow, waiting to be released from prison, learns that his wife is dead, he finds himself free but at loose ends. He takes a job from a old man who seems to be strangely fixated on him. While driving Mr. Wednesday around, running errands for him, and helping him run con jobs, Shadow meets an assortment of very odd people. He comes to believe they are ancient gods struggling to survive in the America's cultural desert. Short memories have begotten flashy, dangerous new gods: media, technology, credit. With Shadow's help, Mr. Wednesday is gathering an army to fight them, so the elder gods can reclaim their rightful place.
Read more»Newberry Award-winning novel about odd-duck young girl and her really super-smart even odder-duck younger brother being whisked off via a tesseract to save their father, a physicist over his head on a mission to save the universe. Odd places, odd creatures. L’Engle’s religious beliefs are embedded in this story that love conquers all. I didn’t find it as compelling as I did when I was younger.
How can I put into words an entire world that I delve into every time I open up Ward's books. I always feel tied to her characters and hate when the story ends, but it encourages me to move on to the next one, and the next one, and the next one, and the....
I couldn't pull away from this dark and sexy book, as usual when it comes to Ward and her prowess. And once again I was immediately sucked into the warring vampires and the lessening society. But as her books go on, so does her beautiful characters, and her spiraling plot.
Once again I was totally transfixed on every page of this next sizzling novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I was also blown away by the shocking plot twist Ward dropped like a bomb in this one. She has totally changed my expactations of action AND romance.
Quite possibly my favorite book in this series. Ward takes her characters far beyond what I thought they could handle and we both returned out of breath and shocked at the outcome. I can NOT wait for the next one!
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