Tag Archives: series

May 12, 2012 · 4:12 am

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

I love Kristin Cashore. I have been waiting to read Bitterblue for what feels like AGES, and I’m happy to say that it doesn’t disappoint! I should probably note that it’d be best if you read Graceling and Fire before reading Bitterblue (click to see my reviews). This book is kind of sequel to Graceling, and kind of a companion to Fire.

So, Bitterblue. You may remember her as the frightened little princess that Katsa helps save in Graceling. Well, now she’s 18 and still trying to help her kingdom of Monsea heal and get over the damage that creepy-ass King Leck did. Unfortunately, she’s practically trapped in her castle under mountains of paperwork that her advisors assure her is necessary to help her kingdom, but finally Bitterblue gets sick of it and sneaks out of the castle to see her kingdom for herself. And when she sees how much things still need to change and realizes that something strange is going on, she has a lot of mysteries to solve to finally become the great queen she was meant to be.

Because there’s not quite as much action in this book as the others, it’s a different feel. But even though it’s not action-packed, it’s still so, so good and a really quick read. I read it in only two days. What it lacks in action, it makes up for with mysteries, plots, and startling revelations.

Bitterblue is a completely different character than Katsa or Fire, from the previous books. Since she grew up as royalty and kind of sheltered, she’s innocent, naive, and kind of a softee. But don’t mistake her compassion and good intentions for weakness – she also has a lot of strength and intelligence to back her up.

Since Bitterblue does not have a Grace, I thought that this book was going to be boring, but it wasn’t. Bitterblue is still an interesting character, and a mix of lovable old characters and great new characters help keep things lively. Po and Katsa come back, as well as a couple other characters from the previous books. My favorite new characters were probably Death (pronounced “deeth”), and Teddy. Death is the castle librarian, Graced with the ability to read super fast and remember every word. How awesome is that??? And Teddy is just a happy, likable guy. I hope they make an appearance in later books.

A couple other things… I’m gonna switch to bullet points to try to not ramble on forever:

  • This hardcover is beautiful and well worth the $20. There’s really pretty designs in the inside covers, as well as really awesome maps and pictures in the back, plus a little artwork spread throughout the book.
  • YAY for Cashore’s casual mention and acceptance of same-sex couples in the book, as well as a small pro-birth control scene. I just love that she slips these things in.
  • There was a bit of romance in the book, but it wasn’t overdone and I’m really happy with the way it ended up.
  • I love that the ending kind of tied Graceling, Fire, and Bitterblue all together. It makes me really hope that there will be another sequel involving these characters again in some way.

So, basically I loved this book as much as the others, even though it was different.

Of course I’m already hoping and waiting for another book by Kristin Cashore set in the Seven Kingdoms. April at Good Books and Good Wine recently went to an author signing, in which she learned that next up from Cashore is a novella unrelated to these books, and possibly another fantasy novel set in the same world but that may expand the map… I’m not sure if that means it’ll take place in a different part of the Seven Kingdoms, or if it’s going to go beyond the Seven Kingdoms, but either way I can’t wait.

So, Bitterblue. It was great! READ THIS SERIES! I feel like re-reading them all now.

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

 

Visit Kristin Cashore’s website here.

Visit Penguin’s new Graceling Realm website here.

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March 12, 2012 · 8:27 am

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

  • Title: A Feast for Crows (A Song of Ice and Fire #4)
  • Author: George R.R. Martin
  • Publisher: Bantam Books, 2005
  • Pages: 1058
  • ISBN: 9780553582024

I FINISHED IT!

So, if you haven’t read the other three books in this series you should be aware that this may be a little spoiler-y for them. And if you want to see my reviews for the other books, here they are:

A Game of Thrones #1 – A Clash of Kings #2 – A Storm of Swords #3

Also, a note about the format – so A Feast for Crows and the most recent book, A Dance With Dragons, happen chronologically at the same time. For some stupid reason, George R.R. Martin decided to divide the characters in half between the two books and …. dude, what a bad decision. Because all of the really interesting characters are in the other book, and he added a whole bunch of boring, unnecessary characters in this one.

So, at the start of THIS book, the war for the throne is kind of winding down cause a crapload of people have died. And basically people in this book are still being all plotting and mischevious but it’s honestly just not as interesting as it used to be because GRRM decided to kill off so many of the original people scrambling for the throne.

Anyways, here are the POV’s in this book. There are freaking TWELVE:

  • Pate, the random prologue character that Martin always throws in there.
  • Cersei Lannister: Now acting queen, and basically going batshit crazy because she’s terrified of the Imp.
  • Jaime Lannister: I actually don’t mind the Jaime chapters because he is kind of an interesting character… it’s like he’s becoming a better, smarter person but you don’t quite trust it yet.
  • Brienne: The lady-knight that is on the hunt for Sansa Stark to save her. I like Brienne, but her chapters are seriously too full of “oh Brienne is so ugly and manly looking, what a hideous wench, blah blah blah”. I get it, she’s not a pretty picture.
  • Sansa Stark: Who I still don’t like, and who is still kind of an idiot. Why didn’t GRRM kill her off instead of some of the better Starks?
  • Arya Stark: Who continues in her awesomeness and bad-assery. Although something messed up happens to her near the end of this book and I can’t wait to see what happens to her next. Also, she’s apparently ALSO in A Dance With Dragons, cause GRRM must have realized he needed to put at least one really good character in here.
  • Samwell Tarly: Another character who I kind of like but who is boring to read about because GRRM fills them with “I’m Sam and I’m such a cowardly craven and I like this girl who won’t stop crying and it takes like 600 pages for someone to explain to me why she’s so sad.”
  • Aeron Greyjoy: A priest-like guy who worships the sea and is trying too prevent one of his crappy brothers from taking control of the sea islands where they all live.
  • Asha Greyjoy: Technically should be the next sea ruler because she’s the heir, except she’s a chick and people won’t listen to her. I am REALLY disappointed in how her storyline went. GRRM could have done something great with her and he didn’t… although maybe I’ll be surprised by the time the series ends.
  • Victarion Greyjoy: Aeron’s brother, who like Aeron wants to take their older brother off his high horse and prevent him from destroying their sea lives and stuff.
  • Areo Hotah: Some guard for the Prince of Dorne. Seriously, who cares.
  • Arys Oakheart: A Kingsguard, but again who cares.
  • Arianne Martell: Daughter of the Prince of Dorne, who is okay because she’s all about woman being allowed to rule and inherit and stuff, but she’s also skanky and ehhh, again, I don’t care.

You can really tell that since GRRM decided to split the storyline between two sets of characters, he then had to give POV’s to a lot of secondary characters. Seriously, over half of the characters above only had one chapter or two, whereas Cersei had like ten chapters.

So, I really like this series but man this book was not good. GRRM really showed that he’s starting to get kind of lazy with the series, and honestly this book was SO MUCH FILLER. Splitting the characters MIGHT have been a good idea if he’s maybe only had like 6 or 7 POV’s in each book – he could have really dedicated his time and energy to the characters that matter. But instead he felt the need to give us a crapload of POV’s whether they were beneficial to the storyline or not, and that made reading this book really tedious. And as I mentioned earlier, he’s killed off so many people at this point and so he feels like he has to introduce new characters to kind of take their place, but it’s too late in the series for all that. I don’t give a crap about the Prince of Dorne, or his guard. They weren’t big players at all in the other books, so why would I want to read about them now? And only for a chapter or two?

After reading this book though, I’m wondering if maybe GRRM is going to end the series with a woman on the throne of Westeros. He seemed to make a big deal out of woman wanting power in this book… although by the end of the book, none of them seem like they are going to get it.

I’m going to try to read A Dance With Dragons within the next month or two, because apparently all my fave characters are hiding in there and because after that I will be all caught up with the series and I can happily wait for the next book to come out.

Sarah Says: 2 stars… maybe combined with ADWD I’ll be able to give them a combined better rating.

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January 24, 2012 · 7:49 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’m Dying to Read Right Now

Hey there ya’ll! So it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is a FREEBIE – and because I’m finally out of my reading rut and excited about several books, I wanted to share with you the Top Ten Books I’m Dying to Read Right Now. Let’s get to it!

1. Humans (Neanderthal Parallax #2) by Robert J. Sawyer – So I just finished reading Hominids by this author, and it was SO GOOD. I flew through it, and it was so interesting. It’s about a parallel universe in which WE died out and Neanderthals survived to present times. A Neanderthal physicist named Ponter accidentally comes to our universe, and the book is about him learning about our universe, and us learning about him, and about his partner in his universe trying to find a way to bring him back. And now I am dyyyying to read the sequel, Humans. Sadly the bookstore closest to me doesn’t have it in stock, so today after I get out of work I’m going to drive like 25 minutes away to the store that DOES have it and pick it up. I can’t wait.

2. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWiit – OK so I don’t know exactly what this book is about, but I’ve seen great reviews for it, and I know it’s kind of a Western, and it’s about two brothers who are hired guns, and I love me some hitmen. I just picked it up from the library yesterday, and I’m excited to start it.

3. Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer – So remember that show that came out a while ago that was about how all the people on Earth blacked out at the same time for like 2 minutes? I always thought that show sounded interesting, but then it was cancelled so I never bothered. Well, I didn’t know it was a show based on a book! Sawyer (yes, the same guy that writes the Neanderthal Parallax series I mentioned above) wrote it, and now I am SUPER-CURIOUS to give it a try. If the bookstore has this in stock today, I’ll probably buy it too… cause you know, my book-buying knows no bounds.

4. Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer – OK, I swear this is the last book by this author I’ll mention. They just all sound so good. THIS one is about an alien named Hollus, who shows up on Earth to talk to a palentologist. He’s been traveling the universe and visiting planets to prove to the inhabitants of each one of God’s existence. Come on, an alien who believes in God? Major theological, religious debates? I’m so there.

5. Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey – The honeyman and I just read together and finished Sandman Slim, and we’re both kind of itching to read the sequel now. It’s the honeyman’s turn to pick the book we read together for February, and I’m hoping he picks this.

6. The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James – I saw a great review for this book a while back, but I fully admit that the main reason I decided I wanted to give this romance novel a try is because I love the cover. So colorful! And I’m guessing it’s a play on the fairytale about the princess who can feel the pea through a ton of mattresses? Also, does anyone know how to pernounce “Eloisa”? Is it “el-oh-wee-sa”, or “el-oy-sa”?

 

7. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin – I miss this series. I want to continue on with it. In fact, that was my exact plan until I got sucked into these Robert J. Sawyer books! So hopefully I’ll get to read this soonish.

 

8. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon - I also want too continue on with my Outlander re-reads. However I think that I need to go buy the trade paperback copy of this book, cause my little mass market copy is kind of falling apart from previous reads and I don’t think it’ll survive another one, lol. And I’ve started collecting the trade copies of the series anyways, so it gives me a good excuse to hunt one down.

 

9. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde – And I still want to get caught up in the Thursday Next series. Are you starting to notice a pattern, lol? I have so many series that I’m in the middle of right now…

 

And sadly I cannot even think of a tenth… or rather I could, but I’m too lazy to think that hard right now. SO what’s coming up next on your must-read list?

~Sarah

 

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November 29, 2011 · 7:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books to Read This Winter!

 

Good morning everyone! So it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! This week’s topic is Top Ten Books On My TBR List For Winter. I have SO many books I want to read before the year is over, and sadly I do not think I’m going to beat my number of books read last year, which was 127. But these are the ones I’m definitely going to try to make time for.

 

1. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – This will be a re-read for me, because I read it last year and LOVED it! I’m just waiting for some snow to be on the ground before I start it to get that awesome Christmas mood going.

2. The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein – As some of you may notice, this is listed for the December poll on the right-hand side and it is winning by a whole bunch so since there’s only two more days until December, I’m gonna assume that this is the winner. Bob actually had some of his fans come to my blog to vote – for those of you that voted and don’t think that’s fair – whatever. Maybe it will encourage you to spread the word around to all your friends and stuff to vote for the book you want! All’s fair in love and war… and vote-getting. LOL. Either way, this book looks awesome and I can’t wait to try it!

3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore – Another re-read! I LOOOOOVE Graceling, and I’m happy that the honeyman has picked it as our book to read together in December (he hasn’t read it before).

4. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum - I had no idea that the master of Oz himself had written about Santa! I’m sure it’s bound to be whimsical and out-there, but I’m going to try to get a copy of this from the library today.

5. Crossed by Ally Condie – Actually, I’m hoping to start this today. But unless there’s a miracle, I probably won’t finish it until at least Thursday, which is December, which counts as winter! So there. It’s actually due at the library tomorrow, but I’m not going to return it until I finish it, since I’ve been wanting to get to it for ages now.

 

6. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde - Book numero tres in the Thursday Next series. Yay for continuing on with a series! I was hoping to actually catch up completely with these books by the end of the year, but that didn’t happen. Just gives me more to look forward to next year, right?

7. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin – I’m pretty sure this was on my fall list as well… Sadly I was sidetracked by other books, and in all honesty I may not get to this in December. It’s a big chunky book and with the craziness of the holidays upon us, I’m probably going to stick to shorter, fluffier books. But I’m definitely getting to it in January darn it!

8. The Fiery Cross (Outlander #5) by Diana Gabaldon - You know how I love my Outlander reads! I’m really bummed I didn’t get to re-read the entire series this year. I love these books dearly, but I start to get blogger-guilt when I go to re-read them because they’re massive and take about a week for me to read (since I’m usually busy) and then I feel bad for not reviewing other books in that time and yeah… Screw blogger guilt, I’m going to read book 5 through 7 hopefully in the first quarter of 2012.

9. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen – The only Austen novel I haven’t read yet! There would be a nice symmetry to finishing it before the end of the year, since I read three Austen books in 2010 and two so far in 2011. (P.S., It’s not the cover I own but I kinda love this pink one!)

10. random Christmas romance novels – This one is vague, but I’m a sappy girl and totally into the Christmas stuff this year – as if you couldn’t tell. So I’m definitely going to look for the Christmas romance section at the library today and pick a few up!

Soooo that’s my super-ambitious list! I definitely focused on books I’m trying to read in December rather than the whole winter because once 2012 comes, I won’t care as much what I read because it’ll be a new year! And I’m weird like that.

What’s on you winter TBR?

~Sarah

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September 6, 2011 · 9:30 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Sequels I Wanna Read NOW!

Good morning folks. Time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the lovely peeps over at The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Sequels I’m Dying to Read. I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to get to 10 with this one, but we’ll see…

1. the 8th Outlander book by Diana Gabaldon – Diana Gabaldon just announced today that she’s thinking the title for the 8th book is going to be Written With My Heart’s Own Blood. I’m not crazy about the title – I like the shorter Outlander titles myself, but it’s exciting because that means that it’s only another 2 or 3 years until it comes out!

2. the 3rd Kingkiller Chronicles book by Patrick Rothfuss – Another one I’ll be waiting years for. There’s no title for this one yet, but it’s one that I’ll buy the day it comes out.

3. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – This is supposed to the be the 3rd book in Cashore’s Seven Kingdoms books. Not a date for it yet, but totally can’t wait!

4. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini – I’m starting to feel like a broken record because I’m pretty sure this has been a lot of my lists lately, but it’s out in November and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the Eragon books end.

5. Crossed by Ally Condie – This is the sequel to Matched. Honestly I wasn’t crazy about Matched but I do want to see what happens, so I’m looking forward to reading this one. Also out in November.

6. Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire – As I’ve been saying a lot lately, I have got Wicked on the brain. I keep thinking about the book, and I’m listening to the soundtrack constantly (which is driving the honeyman nuts, btw). I’m waiting for Son of a Witch to come from paperbackswap, and I’m itching to start it ASAP. I even read the first chapter of it in the bookstore yesterday, but had to stop cause my lovely baby nephew L had issues with sleeping in his stroller.

7. 4th Lucy Valentine book by Heather Webber – I love the Lucy Valentine books, but sadly cannot find any info on when a new one will be out. Which seriously bums me out.

8. rest of A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin – Well duh. I’m working on reading the most recent two out, but I’m sure it’ll be a loooooong wait for the 6th one.

And that’s all I got. I feel bad because I feel like I’ve mentioned a bunch of these before, but oh well. I’m dying to read them for a reason.

What sequels are you itching to get your hands on?

~Sarah

 

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August 16, 2011 · 9:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday Freebie: My Favorite Series

Good morning everyone! This is a very good Tuesday – my little sister is coming into town to visit and she’s staying with me, so I’m going to get a  LOT of quality time with my new little nephew, L. (Expect a post of pictures sometime this week.) It’s also a good day because it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by the fabulous peeps over at The Broke and The Bookish! This week’s topic was a freebie, and I was surprised that a TTT post dedicated to favorite series hasn’t been done yet. (I looked at the list of past TTT’s like three times, but if I’m blind and I missed it, please let me know.) So, my topic this week is Top Ten Favorite Series. Which will include trilogies. Okay, let’s get to it!

 

1. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: I’m sure this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. This is my favorite series in the whole world, and major depression will set in when it finally ends.

 

2. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss: The next book probably won’t be out for another two or three years at least, but the first two books in this series are OUTSTANDING. Some of the best fantasy I’ve ever read.

 

3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Well, duh. Do I even need to explain why this would be on my list?

 

4. A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin: I’ve only read the first three books so far, but this is a wonderfully huge and epic story. It’s hard for me to imagine it ever ending. It’s full of really interesting characters and many big storylines.

 

 

5. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins: I’m SO glad I tried these books – they’re SO GOOD, and I flew through all of them. The honeyman and I have decided to read one book together a month starting in September, and we’re starting with The Hunger Games, which he’s never read before. I’m really looking forward to the re-read.

*Fun fact: This is the only series on my list that doesn’t have some magical / fantasy / sci-fi aspect of it. At least from what I remember – it’s dystopian and set in the future, but I don’t remember any paranormal aspects. Or is my memory failing me?

 

6. The Inheritance Cycle (AKA the Eragon series) by Christopher Paolini: I started these books 6 years ago when I was working at Waldenbooks, and it’s been love since then. The last book, Inheritance, comes out in November and I can’t wait!

 

7. The Living With the Dead series by Jesse Petersen: Married couple Sarah and David battle zombies together when an outbreak occurs in Seattle, and it turns out zombie therapy is good for your marriage. Who knew? This books are awesomely funny, and I hope there’s more to come for Sarah and David!

 

 

 

8. Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey: If you like fairy tales, try out these awesome fantasy books. They’re fun, magical, and always have a bit of romance in them. The newest one, Beauty & The Werewolf, will be out this fall!

 

9. The Inheritance Trilogy (AKA the Hundred Thousand Kingdom series) by N.K. Jemisin: These awesome books take place in a world where people and gods mix. Can’t wait for the third book to come out in October!

 

 

10. The Lucy Valentine series by Heather Webber: I highly recommend these romance / mystery novels. They’re fun, quirky, and absolutely adorable. There’s no word yet on when the next in the series will be out, but I hope it’s soon!

So those are my ten favorite series! I could have probably added at least 5 more, but I was able to restrain myself. I also have a huge list of series that I want to try out some time… but I think I’ll save that list in case another Top Ten Tuesday freebie comes up :-)

So what are some of your favorite series?

~Sarah

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June 17, 2011 · 3:13 pm

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

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OK, let me start by saying that…
~Though I love the movie, I’ve never actually read the Oz books by Baum. Yet.
~I’ve never seen the play.
~I went into this book expecting to be disappointed… I’d heard a lot of mixed reviews, and a lot of people said it was hard to get into and they couldn’t even finish it.
~I FINALLY read this because it was one of the winners for the June poll. And I’m so glad I did.

Now most of us are familiar with the story of The Wizard of Oz… The movie is about Dorothy, a girl whose house is caught up in a tornado, and her house (with her and her dog Toto inside) lands in the wonderful land of Oz – right on top of the Wicked Witch of the East. The Wicked Witch of the West (distinguished by her green witch skin) shows up and is pissed, but goes to grab her sister’s magical shoes. Then Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, puts the magical shoes on Dorothy’s feet and directs her to Emerald City to see the Wizard of Oz, who will hopefully help her get home. There’s also Munchkins, a yellow brick road, flying monkeys, a tin man, a talking lion, and an animated scarecrow.

Wicked is the intricate story of the sadly misunderstood Wicked Witch of the West – here now known as Elphaba. The story starts with Elphaba’s birth to a minister and his wife in Munchkinland. From there we see Elphaba as a young adult attending Shiz University and rooming with an ambitious socialite, Gelinda (AKA Glinda). Nessarose, Elphie’s sister and later known as The Wicked Witch of the East, is introduced. I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone, but you basically see Elphie develop her passions and purposes – for better or worse. Throughout the book I really grew to love Elphaba, to feel for her, and to totally side with her. And the book raises some very thought-provoking issues of what exactly evil is, and whether it actually exists.

I love how detailed the land of Oz has become in the hands of Gregory Maguire. Oz is divided into four main areas – the tribal Vinkus, agricultural Munchkinland, poor Quadling Country, and elite Gillikin – with Emerald City smack dab in the middle. There’s religious and political turmoil and plots. There’s moral and ethical dilemmas, there’s discrimination, there’s deception and intrigue. It’s all just SO GOOD. And Elphie is a great heroine – yes, that’s right. This book really does explain why the Wicked Witch seems so darn wicked, and you can’t help but cheer for her, even though you know that her fate is doomed.

Honestly, I could go into a LOT of detail here. I could go on and on about the things I loved about this book, the issues it raises, etc. But I’m going to save all that for when I meet others who’ve read the book, cause I don’t want to get all spoiler-y on you. But I do HIGHLY recommend this book, and I do plan to read the sequel, Son of a Witch. Also I’m totally dying to see the famous Wicked play now, even though I read up on it and I don’t think I really like the changes that were made. (For those of you who have read the book AND seen the play – what is up with Fiyero being a white guy on stage? I was looking forward to a cool dark-skinned guy with little blue diamond tattoos!)

Anyways, that’s my verdict and I’m sticking to it.

Sarah Says: 5 stars, and I’m going to go buy the soundtrack to the play tonight.

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May 28, 2011 · 3:18 pm

>Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

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*SPOILERS FOR BOOK ONE – OUTLANDER – HERE. SHOULD PROBABLY ONLY READ THIS IF YOU’VE READ THE FIRST NOVEL. OR IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT SPOILERS.*

So, my re-read of the second novel in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber. My god I love this series. And the first two novels are my favorite :-) Outlander ends with Claire telling Jamie that she’s pregnant, and they decide to set off for France in hopes of preventing the Battle of Culloden and saving thousands of Scottish lives.

The book starts off kind of confusing – it’s 1968, and Claire and her daughter Brianna are in Scotland, visiting Roger Wakefield (the son of an acquaintance from book one). When I first read this series (I can’t believe it’s only been about 4 years since then!), I was confused and thought that maybe I didn’t have the right book. But keep reading – Claire has brought Brianna to Scotland to tell her who her father is. And from there the book picks up where Outlander left off. Claire and Jamie are France, constantly trying to prevent the slaughter of thousands of Highlanders. From plots and courtly intrigues in France, to danger in England and Scotland, there are plenty of plot twists, action, and big surprises that make this probably the most exciting novel in the series.

I actually might like this book even MORE than I like Outlander, for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that we learn so much about Claire and Jamie. They’re together for the majority of the book, and it’s so nice to see their early married life. They also go through a LOT of heart-wrenching hell. This is my third time reading this book, and the ending STILL makes me cry.

Another reason this might be my absolute favorite of the whole series is that it introduces SO many characters critical to the rest of the series. My favorite are the introduction of Master Raymond- a knowledgable apothecary in Paris, and Fergus – the 9-year old French pickpocket that Jamie hires. These are two fantastic characters (and Gabaldon has hinted about novellas revolving around Raymond, which I would love). Also important are Brianna and Roger.

And of course, if you like historical fiction then you’ll eat this up. You’ll learn A LOT about the Jacobites, and the events leading up the The Battle of Culloden, 1745.


Basically, you HAVE to read this series. It’s amazing. I am so in love with Jamie & Claire. So much so that every year for Christmas, the honeyman gets me a piece of Outlander jewelry from http://theauthorsattic.com/. The first he gave me was the replica of Claire’s wedding ring from Jamie. I wear it every day :o )
Now that I’ve finished re-reading this one, I REALLY feel like starting my re-read of book three; Voyager. I think I have to read a couple other books first though. At least it’ll give me something to look forward to!

Sarah Says: 5 huge freaking stars.

 

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May 9, 2011 · 3:16 pm

>A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

> So, this is book #2 in the series A Song of Ice and Fire. I have to say, that’s a crappy series name. Too long. Anyways, so keep in mind that there *may be some slight spoilers ahead*. So read A Game of Thrones first! I won’t go too much into detail, because it’s hard to do with such an epic story with like 60 different storylines. Okay, not that many but you get what I’m saying.

Man if I thought that the first book was full of plots and courtly intrigues, this one is has about ten times more. Seriously, there are a lot of balls in the air in this one. War is breaking out all over the place – suddenly there are FOUR KINGS battling for power. Plus, war is brewing beyond that Wall, where there are like creepy zombies and other magical stuff.

What also becomes obvious in this book is that Martin is careful not to give any of the possible kings a P.O.V. There are NINE different P.O.V.s in this book, and none of them are kings. Daenerys is possibly the only exception here, because she wants to come back to Westeros and take the throne… but I’m guessing that she’s not a real contender for the throne because she’s a woman. Maybe she doesn’t realize it, but by giving her a P.O.V. I think Martin’s saying that she’ll have to marry a man and attempt to rule through him if she wants to be in power, because these peeps wouldn’t stand to be ruled by a chick.

OK, so here’s a break-down of character P.O.V’s…

    • Sansa – Still annoying and helpless.
  • Arya – LOVE her. She’s bad-ass, especially for someone so young. Can’t wait to see how her story goes as she gets older.

 

  • Bran – Still seems older than 9 or so, but liking him more. He’s less whiny, and gains some interesting abilities.

 

  • Jon – Still an awesome guy, still serving the Night Watch. I feel bad for him… he’s completely cut off from his family.

 

  • Catelyn – I hope she gets cut out of the next book. Her P.O.V. is only useful as an occasional telling of how Robb is doing in the war. Otherwise it’s just her whining about missing her kids and how she has to do her duty, blah blah blah.

 

  • Tyrion – LOVE the Imp. He’s crazy smart and tricky and always plotting. Love that he seems to really love Shae, I hope she doesn’t screw him over.

 

  • Daenerys – She’s had a tough time. I liked her more in the last book… her ambition to try to become ruler in Westeros is annoying and seems pointless… And she’s still only like 15 or 16.

 

  • Theon – New POV to the story – He sucks. I hate him. He was a “ward” (hostage kind-of) of Eddard Stark, but grew up among the Starks for 10 years. He’s an evil jerk. He’s a dick towards women and screws over EVERYONE and I can’t stand him.

 

  • Davos – New POV to the story – Like Catelyn, he was likable but boring and only served as useful to know what was going on with King Stannis.

 

As you may have noticed, Eddard Stark is the only P.O.V. missing from the last book. If you read it, you know why.

So that’s basically it. I really want to start the third book, A Storm of Swords, but I need to get some other reading done first. Maybe by the end of the month I’ll be able to get to it. It’s already waiting on my shelf :)

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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April 29, 2011 · 2:16 am

>A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

> I’m sure ya’ll have heard about the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin before. If you haven’t heard of it as one of those epic fantasy stories, or walked by it in the bookstore, you’ve probably heard about the new HBO series starting, titled A Game of Thrones after the first novel. I’ve actually been wanting to try this series for quite some time, but never got around to it. Hearing so much about the new show kind of increased my curiosity, even though I won’t be able to watch it since I don’t have HBO. Anyhoo, here’s my review of the first novel.

This novel alone is covers so many different characters that I’m not sure I’m going to make a lot of sense. I’ll try. Here, let’s try it super-simple:

Sarah likes. Story good. Characters awesome.

If you want more info than that, read on…

Basic plot is that there is a king and several major “houses”, basically several major royalty-ish bloodlines. Robert Baratheon is the king. He became king when him and his crew overthrew the Targaryens. Only two Targaryens survived. He’s married to Cersei Lannister. His BFF is Eddard Stark, one of the lords in the North. Some sketchy situations start going down at court, and you know, kingdom-ish, courtly plots and intrigues and stuff start unfolding. Also, there is a big Wall in the North that no one really goes past. The Night Watch keep an eye on it, though even they don’t seem to realize why. Summers and winters last like years. Summers can last a decade or more, and winters even longer.

I really don’t want to go into more than that, because that’s already more than the back of the book tells you. I will go more into the characters though, because the characters are what make this book. The book switches POV’s between 8 different characters. That’s right, EIGHT. It seems like a lot, but the characters are all so different that I didn’t find it confusing at all. I actually really enjoyed it. And those characters are;

Eddard Stark: Lord of Winterfell in the north. Very honorable man. The Starks are kind of known for being hard-asses. Their motto is “Winter is coming.”

Jon Snow: Eddard Stark’s bastard son. I like him. He’s an outcast because he’s a bastard, but he’s a good kid.

Bran Stark: One of Eddard Stark’s sons, about 8 years old. He’s a cool kid. He likes to climb.

Catelyn Stark: Eddard’s wife. She was born a Tully, one of the other great Houses.

Sansa Stark: Eddard’s very prissy 11-year old daughter. She sucks.

Ayra Stark: Eddard’s 9-year old daughter. Complete opposite of Sansa. She rocks.

Tyrion Lannister: One of the Lannister siblings. He’s a dwarf. Kind of snarky, very smart and witty. I like him.

Daenerys Targaryen: An 11-year old girl, one of the remaining Targaryens. She’s hiding out in the East with her older brother, both waiting until he can come back and take back his crown. I like Daenerys, but her brother is a total douche.

George Martin is REALLY skilled at making a complicated storyline with multiple plots move forward through SO many different characters. My only complaint is that Sansa, Ayra, and Bran kind of seem older than their ages. Obviously, since the Starks kind of dominate the POV’s, you can tell that they’re supposed to be the “good guys”. The Lannisters are sneaky jerks. Have you ever seen the movie Billy Madison? Remember the annoying O’Doyles, constantly bullying others and saying “O’Doyle Rules!”. That’s kind of how I picture the Lannisters, but less red-neck.

Anyways, I hope that this made some amount of sense. It’s a pretty big book, with kind of a whole hell of a lot going on in it. Plus I have a headache. LAME.

But this was a good book, and I already bought the next in the series, A Clash of Kings, to start this weekend.

Sarah Says: 4 stars. Winter is coming.

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