Castle Roogna - Xanth #3

Castle Roogna is a magical story filled with time travel and always amazing puns.

Dor is the son of Bink and Chameleon, a full fledged wizard Dor is most likely the next to inherit the crown. Able to talk to any nonliving thing few secrets are kept from Dor. I really liked Dor, while he was like his father in Bink some ways it was clear Dor was struggling to find his own path and grow into his own man. At twelve years old Dor is just starting to enter the path of becoming a man. Having been given a quest by King Trent Dor is eager to get out and prove himself. Unlike most pre-teens Dor did not feel invincible and I liked that about him. Instead of seeing his talent as all powerful Dor viewed himself more as how others saw him weak with an annoying talent. Thankfully while undertaking the quest Dor learns a lot about himself and gets a whole new outlook on life.

Normally books with time travel bother me a lot but Castle Roogna did a nice job of making time travel work. It fit with the way the story flowed and how things work in Xanth. Like other Xanth stories the puns were ever present and always entertaining. I look forward to reading more Xanth stories.

Ice Kissed - Kanin Chronicles #2

Ice Kissed was an emotional roller coaster for me. Normally I do not like books that make me cry but I did enjoy the reason I was shedding tears this time.

Bryn is an awesome heroine who is stubborn beyond belief. That stubbornness gets her into a good deal of trouble but it also helps her excel at being a tracker. Work is Bryn's life and while she seems desperate to let go and have fun she is not quite sure how to. Once again Bryn has issues with letting other people help her in any way and when she finally relents it explodes in her face. Due to all the emotional trauma Bryn suffered I wonder how Byrn will hold up emotionally as the series continues.

Ridley just made brief appearances in Ice Kissed. I am not overly fond of Ridley he does not seems as developed as other characters.

 I do hope Konstanstin is actually in the third book, his appearance in Ice Kissed was way too brief.

My biggest problem with Ice Kissed was an intimate scene going past PG13, I read young adult to avoid that. I hope it is not a trend that is continued since I want to read the next book in the series.

Ice Kissed is full of lovely passages of writing, even when something bad was happening the writing continued to be lovely. 

Friday 56: Ice Kissed - Kanin Chronicles #2

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. 

Ice Kissed hardback book page 56:

The air smelled of snow, water, and fresh pine needles. The dripping water had dampened our hair, making his a bit wavier then normal, and for some reason it made his mahogany eyes appear brighter.

The Source of Magic - Xanth #2

The Source of Magic has been on my to-read list for a good while. Having read several Xanth stories over the the years I have always wanted to know how Xanth had magic. Sadly of all the Xanth stories I have read I like The Source of Magic the least.


Bink having figured out his magical talent is married to Chameleon and a bit restless with life. Due to the nature of his talent King Trent orders Bink to find the source of Xanth's magic. Eager to get out and experience a quest once again Bink sets off on the quest with his friends. Despite getting married Bink has not really changed, he still sees women by their looks first and anything else second.

My biggest issue with The Source of Magic was the puns, they did not just grab at me. Since puns are what I enjoy about the series that is why I did not enjoy The Source of Magic as much as I had hoped I would. Another drawback was the end got extremely complicated and I had to keep re-reading parts to understand it.

The Sin Eater's Daughter - The Sin Eater's Daughter #1

Despite giving myself time to think about The Sin Eater's Daughter I am still unsure how I feel about the story. I really wanted to like the story but it did not just make the cut in my opinion.

Twylla is one of the weakest characters I have ever read about. She does not grow in any way that I was able to see. Instead of learning to stand on her own she just runs to hide behind various men and then whines when the men she hides behind use her. It was painful to read about how naive and stupid she was at various times. 

Merek, the crown prince, was annoying as heck. Constantly Merek promised to protect Twylla and then rushed to her begging him to protect her. It was like Merek had multiple personality disorder since he switched around so quickly with what he wanted. I am not sure if this was intentional since the bloodline was kept pure by royals marrying close family members. If it was intentional it was not done properly since never a comment or thought about how Merek suffered from pure blood.

Lief, Twylla's guard, seemed like he could be interesting at first but then it got a bit strange. People who defy the Queen die and yet Lief did not seem to fear the Queen or care that he did things that were not proper. 

The Queen reminded me the entire time of Levana from the Lunar Chronicles and that drove me crazy. Besides being cruel I again think the Queen suffered madness from pure blood.

The Sin Eater's Daughter is one big love triangle and the poorest one I have ever seen done. Twylla jumped around just wanting who could ever protect her the best to be with her. I am not even sure she loves either Merek or Lief since it came off she was using them more then anything.

I do not want to give spoilers but the ending was one of the worst I have ever encountered in the first book of a trilogy. The epilogue threw me a bit as well, seems odd to have one since it is the first book in the series. 

The writing was not bad but not great. The end did add something I am curious about so I am really torn if I will continue the series or not. All in all The Sin Eater's Daughter was a huge let down and nothing like I expected it to be.

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl - Acrona #1

I first read Acorna the Unicorn Girl in high school and the only thing I recalled about it was I liked it enough to read the whole series.

Since Acorna is an alien it is hard to say how much development and growth she really showed over the course of the story. While she did grow to an adult form in some ways her mental capacity did not grow with her and Acorna was ignorant to the ways of humans despite being raised by them. I do like Acorna she is willful and determined to do what is right no matter the risk to herself however I do think I have outgrown the series since I recalled liking it way more in high school then in re-reading Acorna: The Unicorn Girl this time.

The writing was easy to understand and despite jumping between characters I did not get confused as to what was going on. Despite enjoying Acorna: The Unicorn Girl I will not be continuing on with the rest of the series.

Tempist - Destroyers #1

Synopsis for Tempest courtesy of Goodreads:  

"Sixteen-year-old Janelle never thought the gray spiral birthmark on her arm meant anything special. That is, until she meets Gary, a boy her age with a birthmark exactly like hers. Gary’s attractive, brooding, and perfectly normal…except for the fact that he materialized out of a dangerous hurricane right in front of her. Janelle’s certain of only one thing. Gary’s mark—and hers, too—mean something, but he’s reluctant to tell her what.

At last she squeezes the truth from Gary about their markings. And the truth is utterly terrifying: Janelle and Gary are more connected to the destructive power of nature than she ever dreamed possible. And learning the truth about herself is only the start of her nightmare."

Tempest is a fast paced read, something was happening for almost the entire story and very little filler.

Janelle had a pretty normal life, her mother passed away and her father worked hard at being a single parent until they suddenly move to Florida and Hurricane Gary strikes. That was the beginning of Janelle's whole life changing and her finding out about Tempests. With one crisis after another happening in the story Janelle did not really have time to process all that was going on with her. She kept trying to hide behind other people and deny who she was, while this normally bothers me it worked well in Tempest. I could easily see Janelle becoming more confident and growing into her own in the rest of the series. 

Gary was a bit of a weak character developmental wise. Everything was told from Janelle's point of view so that could have been part of it. A lot of time Gary seemed to be around just to protect Janelle and it was never even really made clear why Gary went out of his way to protect Janelle other then he hated Andrina and wanted to stop her plans. 

Tempest was free for me so unless I can get the next book from the library I will not be continuing the series. 

 

Friday 56: The Sin Eater's Daughter

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

 

The Sin Eater's Daughter ebook 56%:

My breath comes in pants, wave after wave of feeling washing over me. Every time I close my eyes it's as if he's kissing me again, and the dizziness, the lurch of my stomach, makes them fly back open.

Cycle of Hatred

Cycle of Hatred was a fun, easy, read rich with lore from the World of Warcraft characters I adore.

Lady Jaina Proudmoore takes center stage and I adored reading about Jaina. Revered as one of the most powerful mages alive and a leader Jaina has a lot on her plate. With the Burning Legion pushed back Jaina focuses on working on the alliance between humans and orcs. While she is eager to work with Thrall to come to a solution not all the humans who follow Jaina are eager for that solution to come into effect. 

Thrall, the proud leader of the Horde wants peace between the orcs and the humans as much as Jaina. Yet with all the accidents and mishaps occurring for the orcs Thrall is unsure if that will ever happen. Busy with keeping the orcs under his command Thrall wants to believe Jaina but also does not want to call his followers liars. Walking a delicate line Thrall searches for the truth of what is happening to push the orcs and humans to war once again. 

 The writing was smooth and well done. I did not stumble or get confused with who was talking despite many points of view being shared. Once again I look forward to reading more of the lore books pertaining to World of Warcraft.

Disney Song Book Tag

I saw this tag on Pages to Explore and it looked like a lot of fun so I thought I would give it a try.

Part of Your World - What book world would you change yourself for so you could be part of that world? 
Such a hard choice, I would totally want to be part of a world where I could do magic that is why I will go with an Aes Sedai in the Wheel of Time series.

Let It Go - What book did you not want to finish because you loved it so much?
A Memory of Light took me over a year to read simply due to the fact I did not want to finish it. I would only let myself read a couple pages at a time since I wanted the story to last as long as possible. 

Beauty and the Beast - What book do you think is/will be timeless? 
I could easily say Harry Potter but lots of other popular books out there so I will say Hunger Games. The Hunger Games series seems to be a stepping stone for people to get into dystopian series. 

So This is Love - What book were you hesitant to read at first but ended up loving?
Vain by Fisher Amelie, I struggled past the first couple chapters and I am so thankful I did not quit on it. 

Friend Like Me - Which character would you like to be your best friend?
This is the hardest question for me by far, so many awesome people in books. The freshest character on my mind is Logan for Deception so I will go with him. While most of his technical talk would go over my head I would enjoy hearing him talk about his unique views on the world.

Reflection- What book really made you think/changed the way you viewed things?
Honestly most books make me think about things in a new way. However I think Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi really got me thinking about people who are different and how they have to struggle to learn to embrace it. While someone on the outside looking in sees it as a gift the person who is different can see it as a curse. 

Colors of the Wind - Who do you tag?
If someone wants to do this tag feel free. I was just doing it for fun! 

A Spell for Chameleon - Xanth #1

This was my second time reading A Spell for Chameleon. All I recalled from my previous time reading it was that I loved it. Even though my taste has changed some since the first time I read A Spell for Chameleon I still loved it.

Bink of the North Village is a typical guy in his twenties. He dreams of marrying his lovely childhood friend Sabrina and living happily ever after in Xanth. Only this is not possible for Bink since he seems to have no magical talent. Since all creatures in Xanth are magical or have magic this is a problem. Not wanting to leaving his home Bink sets out on a journey to find out if he has any magical talent at all.

Many other notable characters are included in A Spell for Chameleon however I do not want to give anything way by mentioning them since the ones that stick around the longest show up in the second half of A Spell for Chameleon.

It seemed several people had issues with Bink and the way Bink viewed woman. Well not all men view women the same and A Spell for Chameleon is a story so if you are super sensitive to men taking long looks at women I would not suggest A Spell for Chameleon for you. I personally did not find it distracting from the story and liked a guy who was not perfect.

Piers Anthony is one of my all time favorite writes, I love the puns he includes in his Xanth books and am always wanting to read more of Mr. Anthony's work.

Fury - The Seven Deadly #3

Fury turned out differently then I expected it to. Of The Seven Deadly series it is my least favorite so far.

Ethan Moonsong was introduced in Greed and I did like what I saw of him in Greed. Unfortunately I did not care for Ethan nearly as much as I thought I would. Convinced his life is over due to Cricket leaving him Ethan is determined to drink himself into oblivion. Not my favorite thing about a character and due to this I found the start of the book boring. Thankfully Ethan gets some sense knocked into him about his drinking and that does not stick around for the rest of the story. My other major issue with Ethan is he represents fury and it is not until near the end of Fury that you see why Ethan is fury.

Finley was interesting but I did not like that things were shown from her point of view at times. This was not done in previous books in The Seven Deadly series so I hope it is not a trend that continues. I did like Finley more then Ethan but Fin is not one of my favorite characters by far.

The writing was still well done though my copy did have an error in the printing which drove me crazy. Despite the issues I had with Fury I do look forward to Lust.