Saturday, January 11, 2014

Melanie's Week in Review - January 12, 2014





Hello! I was really hoping I was going to have a whole big pile of books to tell you about this week but despite my good intentions I got through only 2 books (and one short story). I don't know why I did so poorly on the reading front as I had more dedicated commuting time than last week. So what did I read?

Last week I had already started The Silvered by Tanya Huff and it took me quite a bit longer to read than I was anticipating. I really enjoy Huff's books. She is such a talented writer and can switch easily between fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy. It's an added bonus that she is also Canadian (hurrah!). I laughed my way through The Keeper's Chronicles, bit my nails at the tenseness of the Confederation series and was totally engrossed by The Blood/Victoria Nelson series. The only series I didn't wholeheartedly get into was the Enchantment Emporium series.  The Silvered is high fantasy and tells the story of the plain and un-talented mage Miriam Maylin who along with Tomas Hagen, from the were pack, leave their homes and loved ones and are hot on the trail of Imperialists who have kidnapped Tomas' sister-in-law and four other mages. It's a journey fraught with challenges, near death experiences and self discovery. Huff has built a complex world for her well developed characters. She doesn't fall into the trap of explaining everything to the reader and sometimes I had to go back and re-read small sections so I could understand the relationships between characters, races and cultures. If you are either a fan of Huff's or a fan of high fantasy then I urge you to read this book.

My second book was a bit of a departure for me. I was having a look at Amazon's e-book sale and came across Warrior's Revenge by Coreene Callahan. This is historical romance set in the early 13th century (assuming somewhere like England). It is the story of Aurora who has a Cinderella-like existence as the orphan living with her cruel and heartless aunt and uncle. Destined to meet a grisly end she escapes and finds herself under the protection of the tall, dark and dangerous Brigham. I used to read a lot of historical romance in my teens but haven't read any for a long time. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of the better examples of this genre. I always have a bit of a titter to myself when they describe the heroine/hero. They are always clean and fragrant with perfect figures, hair and teeth. Considering that in the 13th century there was no indoor plumbing, no glass for windows and your clothes were hardly ever washed but Aurora was smelled sweet like lavender and had flowing burnished locks! Hey, but I guess that's why it's fiction.

Well that is it for me this week. I am taking a short-ish hiatus from my Week in Review and hope to be back in February to tell you all about what I have been reading. Until then Happy Reading.


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