Review: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Summary
What happens to those who are forgotten? What happens to things lost? In London, these things and people fall between the cracks to end up in London Below. Richard saves a girl from this otherworld and wakes up to find that everything about his life has changed. Now, he must survive this strange new world that lives in the shadows of his former one.

Commentary
Gaiman writes many interesting worlds which are at once strange and familiar. The books that I have read of his always add a twist to the modern world. This one for instance, creates a world which exists only in the shadows of London. He takes familiar things from around London and adds a dimension of other to them which makes it easy to fall into this new world.

Neverwhere has a sort of Alice in Wonderland whimsy to it albeit with a slightly more sinister and adult edge. The way he inter-meshes the two worlds is nothing short of genius. I really enjoyed reading about the Floating Market where people from all over the underworld come to trade and conduct business in very interesting places.

Despite the novelty of his work though, I find myself not loving his books. I believe this is because I feel a sense of apathy toward his characters, at least for this book that was the case. They're interesting, and I liked reading about them. But, I'm not so lost in them that I get really nervous when they are in danger; I don't feel like I'm truly rooting for them. His work is still worth reading for its detailed and ingenious world-building.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 13/13 books. I'm finished!

Check out prices for Neverwhere at Amazon

Review: Royal Assassin (Farseer #2) by Robin Hobb

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

*Note: This is the second book in the series and this review may contain some spoilers although really not that many. You should read my review of the first book Assassin's Apprentice*

Summary
The Raiders continue to raid the shores of the Six Duchies while Fitz recovers from being poisoned. Fitz also admits to falling in love with Molly who is now at Buckkeep as a servant. As the situation in the Six Duchies gets worse and worse. Fitz scrambles to keep his word to the King and to help keep Regal from destroying everything precious to him.

Commentary
The biggest thing you will notice about this book is how incredibly long it is. I often felt like things were happening at a crawling pace. I believe this is deliberate since it mirrors Fitz's mounting frustration throughout the novel, but it made the book really hard to get through.

Despite the pacing, I did enjoy the story itself as it is unapologetic about reality's harshness for someone in Fitz's position as a bastard assassin, and the depth with which Hobb writes is very much appreciated. The choices characters have to make are all tough, which made for interesting situations.

While I want to know what happens to Fitz, I'm dreading the slow pace of events that has been prevalent through the first two books of this trilogy. Also, the tone of this series is very much bleak so that also contributed to the slow pace feeling.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 12/13 books.

Check out prices for Royal Assassin at Amazon

Review: The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry #1)

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay

*Note: I couldn't finish this book, but I did read the first 160 pages (out of 400) so I feel I gave it a good try*

Summary
Five people are transported to another world called Fionavar where some things have gone terribly wrong. They find themselves entangled in the webs of a political power struggle in a kingdom where the king is old and beginning to lose his mind.

Commentary
I really liked Tigana, which is why I was pretty excited to pick this book up. Unfortunately right from the start, I couldn't really get into the story because characters just kept piling in without much background to separate the megaton of names being thrown around.

The premise for the story is pretty weak. The characters get an offer to go off to a mystical new land, which seems kinda cool, but noone really spends that much time questioning this new land and what dangers there might be. Once they get there, a whole bunch more names of places, people, and gods are thrown around.

Basically, every time I thought I had a handle on the current set of characters, a whole new set of myths with names and almost completely without context were thrown around so I've given up. This might have been interesting, and there were moments were beautiful writing reminiscent of Tigana arose. Sadly, though there just weren't enough of those moments.

Star Rating: 0.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 11/13 books.

Review: Mort (Discworld #4) by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett

Summary
Mort, our main character, is offered a position as an apprentice to the one and only Death. As his choices are somewhat limited (he has no other offers), he goes off and learns about the work of soul reaping. Things seem to go along fine until Mort, who everyone seems to call boy, leaves a princess alive and takes the soul of her would-be killer instead. As always with Pratchett, hilarity ensues.

Commentary
I really love Death in Pratchett's books so I was excited to read a book that was focused on him, but I was somewhat disappointed. It still had a lot of funny bits (Death cooks at one point), but I was not super-impressed with this one. It may be one of those expectation things.

Mort strikes me as a somewhat bumbling character, who knows he is not supposed to do something, but then does it anyway. Of course, I guess that is typical of humans in general so he gets a partial pass.

There are these books that write down the stories of humans, and what happens with them is really amusing. I definitely loved each scene with those books. I think I need a break from Pratchett maybe a couple months to better appreciate his humor again.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Mort at Amazon

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 9/13 books.

Review: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Summary
Coraline is a somewhat neglected little girl whose parents work at home, but are to busy to pay attention to her. They have moved into a new house where there is a mysterious door that seems to lead to nowhere, but in the middle of the night leads to another world which contains her other mother and other father. It seems nice, but there are sinister things afoot.

Commentary
I will note that I saw the movie before I ever read the book, and so the plot did not come as much of a surprise. This also meant that, in my mind's eye, I was viewing the characters as they were portrayed in the movie instead of something unique that my mind thought up.

I liked this story; I thought it was perhaps somewhat creepy, but that was to be expected from the premise. It's not so spooky that it should not be read by kids, but there is definitely a sinister element to it although I think the movie portrays that part better than the book.

Coraline goes through various quests because the other mother wants to keep her from in this world that the other mother has created. There is a moral to this that you should not neglect your kids, and that getting everything you want is not a good thing for kids.

I would consider this to be a middle grade read rather than a pure YA.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 8/13 books.

Check out prices for Coraline at Amazon

Review: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

A chilling look of the future under a radical Christian regime. The world is in dire straits because of some kind of war (likely nuclear in nature). The story focuses on Offred (pronounded of-fred), a handmaiden to one the Commanders (higher-ups, all men). We see the current world through the eyes of Offred as she uses the past to escape the present. "Today" is interspersed with how "today" arrived in a very fluid yet eerie way.

I love how smooth the transitions are because so many stories jump around timelines badly. As the timelines converge, the story goes deeper and deeper into a sort of madness that makes the reader want to scream stop, but somehow it seems logical for things to happen this way.

This is not really a hopeful piece of dystopian fiction, much more along the lines of 1984. Unlike the newer dystopian books, this story is much more quietly menacing rather than in your face violent fights. It's still not for the faint-hearted though.

I really enjoyed this story although it's disturbing nature has sapped my ability to read disturbing books for awhile.

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 7/13 books.

Check out prices for The Handmaid's Tale at Amazon

Review: Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson #2) by Patricia Briggs

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes goes along on a visit to a vampire who hasn't paid the proper respect to the local seethe. She doesn't do this for free, of course, she goes along to repay the debt she incurred for asking for information in "Moon Called." Things then proceed to go very badly because they encounter a demon vampire sorcerer (bet you didn't know those things could all go together).

Not much degradation in quality going into the second book, which I'm pleasantly surprised by. As most you likely know, the second books in a series suffer from second book syndrome (ok maybe I made that term up... or someone else did... whatever), and they are often a letdown after the first. Rest assured Blood Bound is a pretty good second book.

Mercedes gets to kick some serious butt in this one (course she gets tossed around too and as she likes to say, she's just a coyote after all). It's kinda nice to have the author set up a blatant stereotype for the vampires (seriously evil) and then have Stefan who doesn't conform. I am interested to see how many shades of gray she explores.

Adam and Samuel are sexy as ever. The only bit that bothers me about this series is how all the main guys fall all over Mercedes (or are fatherly protector types), but it gives us a much more intimate look into their thoughts so I suppose I can't object after all so many of them are serious eye-candy (err thought-candy?).

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 6/13 books.

Check out prices for Blood Bound at Amazon

Review: Calling on Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #3) by Patricia C. Wrede

Calling on Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Cimorene is pregnant. The wizards, unfortunately, don't care about her delicate state and proceed to steal the magical sword. This means Cimorene has to go after it, and because this sword is important, Kazul, Morwen, a few cats, and a rabbit who doesn't have much sense and so is turned into a donkey comes along too.

This book takes a much more in-depth look into Morwen, which I enjoyed. It turns out, the cats can talk to Morwen. They're rather opinionated while still being cute.

We get a tweaked version of Rapunzel in this book, which doesn't take up much time but was a good bit to stick in as well.

The sense of wonder in this book is somewhat diminished from previous books perhaps because the wizards are so perennially annoying. It's a bit sad that none of them really have any good dimensions. Nonetheless it's a book for younger children so the simplicity is a good fit for the audience, and I still enjoyed all the beloved characters.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 5/13 books.

Check out prices for Calling on Dragons at Amazon

Review: Moon Called (Mercy Thompson #1) by Patricia Briggs

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes Thompson happens to be familiar with werewolves. She grew up with them, and there's one living next door. Now a new werewolf wants to work in her car repair shop (German cars only please). Trouble ensues because if there wasn't trouble, what would be the point?

There are some sexy werewolves in this book, and the appeal is definitely for urban fantasy fans although this first book doesn't actually delve much into the actual sex part. The hinting is definitely there, and I like that there's a but of setup for what may happen in the future.

The pacing of the book is slower than most urban fantasy novels, which I appreciate. Most of them, in my opinion don't take the time to tell a good story, set a proper background, or give time for breathers. This mood setting makes the story a cut above the usual urban drivel.

Granted, the ending is a little silly. The solving of the mystery is just not that mind-blowing or perhaps well-thought out, but that's not really the point of books like this so I'll let it slide.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 4/13 books.

Check out prices for Moon Called at Amazon

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

The end of the world is about to happen. The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse are converging (well more like the four motorcyclists of the apocalypse). Unfortunately, the Prince of Doom is missing and the angel and demon who are in charge of setting the Apocalypse in motion aren't sure they want it to happen. Welcome to Pandemonium-calypse!

The most esteemed messirs Pratchett and Gaiman have teemed up to deliver a good amount of hilarity for the events of a modern era apocalypse. For the most part, it is quite amusing although there is a slight feeling of tedium at times.

Most of the story focuses on Aziraphale and Crowley (angel and demon respectively), who seem to like being on earth having stayed there for the last 4004 years. They try to delay the Apocalypse much to the dismay and wrath of their superiors.

The book is not an in-depth look at the end of the world, rather it is a comedy as with all works I have encountered of Terry Pratchett. It's fun and lighthearted but perhaps not quite special or absurd enough to be great.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 3/13 books read.

Check out prices for Good Omens at Amazon

Fantasy Mini-Challenge

I'm going to taking part in a fantasy mini-challenge being hosted here. Basically, this challenge is to read 13 books with titles or author names beginning with the same letters that holidays (US, UK, and CA) in these next 4 months beginning on Oct 3rd. I will be keeping this post updated with how far in this challenge I've gotten

Tentative List

B
Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs
C x 2
Calling on Dragons = Patricia C. Wrede
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
H x 2
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
Handmaid's Tale, The - Margaret Atwood
K
The Summer Tree - Guy Gavriel Kay
M\L\K
Moon Called - Patricia Briggs
N\Y x 2
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
R
Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb
T x 2
The Thirteenth Tale- Diane Setterfield
Mort - Terry Pratchett
V
The Way of Shadows - Brent V. Weeks

This challenge runs until Jan 31, 2011.

Looking through the books on the list to choose from. It's kind of tough to choose books since I've read many of them, and other I have simply no interest in. I think I've managed to compile a few that I want to read and that fit the requirements of the challenge.

Review: The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

Azoth is an orphan on the streets and is a part of a guild of street rats. This is a guild which is only a small part of the underworld of Cenaria. Azoth faces certain annihilation from Rat for humiliating him. In a desperate bid to save everything close to him, he tries to become a wetboy's apprentice (think assassin with magical powers). He seeks the best in the city - Durzo Blint - to apprentice to.

The book runs very long on violence, and repeats the mantra of life being empty far too often. The author definitely achieves the feeling of emptiness as death in this book with commonplaces-ness and utter lack of achieving any other story points.

There is very little in the way of the deaths building a political picture, which I had somewhat expected since there is a lot of power play in the book. From Azoth's point of view though, the deaths are simply done and don't seem to have much meaning besides furthering his education and as a point of contention while he continually tries to believe that all life is meaningless.

At the end there is a feeling that the epic this story was supposed to achieve somehow fell short and was not so epic after all. There is a hint of grandness with a long timescale and flashy powers just rising to the surface, but it hasn't come to fruition. Perhaps the next remainder of this trilogy will be more satisfying.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge.

Check out prices for The Way of Shadows at Amazon

Review: Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1) by Robin Hobb

c