by series | Reading Backwards book reviews

The Merry Gentry Series, books 6-8 By Laurell K Hamiltom Read: April 2010 Rating: Phwoar I tried really hard not to let them all run together, but they did. Rather than try to pull the last three books apart, I’m just going to shove ‘em in one post and mention what lasting impressions I have. A Lick of Frost I was [...] Full Story	A Stroke of Midnight By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Whirlwind Time moves differently in the sithen. Merry says, “I wish we had more time!” and suddenly they do. Time is moving glacially outside the hill, giving them all they need… to catch a killer. The book begins with a press conference, sometime in the afternoon (I [...] Full Story	Seduced by Moonlight By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Engrossing First, let me just say that that cover is a total plot-tease. It shows a woman’s belly, with a nice little round to it, and her hand just so… The series is about a woman trying to get pregnant. You are plot-teasing me, you stupid cover [...] Full Story
A Caress of Twilight By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Engrossing To be perfectly honest, I’m going to speed through this review, and #3, Seduced by Moonlight. These books slam into each other and it gets hard to pull them apart. Anyway, we now know the plot arc for the whole series. Merry’s aunt, Queen Andais, wants her [...] Full Story	A Kiss of Shadows By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Wham My mummy picked up one of the books in this series, and must have liked what she saw. She didn’t read it, she went and ordered all eight books. Mummy hates starting a series that she can’t finish, or at least be able to read a [...] Full Story	The Skull of the World and The Fathomless Caves By Kate Forsyth Read: ~2002, November 2009 Rating: Gripping Hoo-! I was up MUCH later than intended last night, polishing off the last of book 6, which I read right on the heels of #5. Good reading, there. When I say gripping, I mean it. The last third especially… The Skull of the World follows [...] Full Story
The Forbidden Land By Kate Forsyth Read: Sept-Oct 2009 Rating: Nostalgic Number four, in what was meant to be a trilogy. I had always liked this one because it stars one of my favorite characters: Finn. Fionnghal was born a princess, heir to the MacRurach clan, but was kidnapped by Maya’s regime to use as a tool. The [...] Full Story	The Blue Lotus By Hergé Read: September 2009 Rating: This was the very first Tintin book I ever got my hands on. So there’s nostalgic attachment to it. Published in 1936, the squabbling countries make speeches to… The League of Nations! Funnily enough, there’s not mention of communism, at all. But I suppose that wasn’t so much on [...] Full Story	The Cigars of the Pharoah By Hergé Read: September 2009 Rating: Transitional One can definitely feel the transitional quality of this volume. It FEELS like a Tintin book, but the story is quite choppy, and for good reason–originally, it was running as a serial. There is a consistent story arc, but it’s not like later books where everything is geared [...] Full Story
Tintin in America By Hergé Read: September 2009 Rating: Trippy I now know why this volume confused the hell out of me as a kid. Firstly, it’s the first in the series, as published widely, but it’s technically the third book. So there are references to Tintin’s past adventures, and he has a hell of a reputation. Such [...] Full Story	A Statement on Book Count Policy: Comics A note, in case anyone should care. I believe that comics are a wholly valid artform, and can be amazing pieces of literature. I also acknowledge that one page of a graphic novel isn’t necessarily equal to one page of prose, as far as ‘amount.’ Maybe ‘mass’ is the word I want? When I add [...] Full Story	Tintin au Twenty-First Century When I was very young, our town had an Encore books. It was a special kind of bliss, because it was like the library, but all the books were new. It’s from this book store that I got my set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I spent hours browsing their selection of Babysitters Club volumes. [...] Full Story
The Pool of Two Moons By Kate Forsyth Read: Way Back When, July 2009 Rating: Bonny Book Two in the Witches of Eileannan is a big ‘un. It covers TWO mega-battles/wars, and a giantass cast of characters. I love it. And plenty of men in kilts. Not much fetishizing of the kilts, but plenty of kilts. And women kilting their [...] Full Story	Victory of Eagles By Naomi Novik Read: July 2008 Rating: Intense I got an email alert announcing the release of this book, and was able to attend Naomi Novik’s very first book signing EVARR. She was excited, we were excited, and the space at the Greenwich Village B&N was standing room only. How cool was that?! She read [...] Full Story	Empire of Ivory By Naomi Novik Read: June/July 2008 Rating: Fascinating I put off reading EoI for a long while because I just wasn’t in the mood. I read the first three Temeraire books back in ’06 and they have since been passed on to both my parents. All our paperbacks now have warped spines and white, messy [...] Full Story
The Temeraire Series (Books 1-3) By Naomi Novik Read: September 2006 Rating: Faboo!! Every so often, the grocery store rewards my endless browsing with a shiny pearl. This is some of the coolest stuff you could ever present to me: Historical novel. With dragons. !!!!! of JOY! Some of the only ”traveling” books I have ever liked! And you know [...] Full Story	The Enchanted Forest Chronicles By Patricia C. Wrede Read: When I was but a lass… and July 2006. Rating: Fun These were my very first proper fantasy novels. I’d recently made the graduation from the low paperback shelves to the (seemingly) giant big kids’ shelves, and had only been able to find books like Mrs. PigglyWiggly and brush up [...] Full Story	Mini Reviews (2006, January-June) Since time and interest don’t allow for every book to get its own lengthy review, I’m going to do some mini-reviews. Clod save us all. This install comes from the 2006 50 Book Challenge, which is going great guns, thanks. Books 1-20 were read during this time period. This mini review includes: Yentl’s Revenge (Essays [...] Full Story
Sir Apropos of Nothing (Trilogy) By Peter David How apropos… Amazon.com Rating: YOSH! Read: Fall 05, April/May 2006 The tale of Sir Apropos of Nothing is not a particularly joyful one, but it is very amusing and insightful. Definately one of my faves. Apropos is indeed the fellow’s name, and he is the most cynical, pessimistic, jaded young anti-hero ever. [...] Full Story	Equal Rites (Discworld) By Terry Pratchett Rating: Merfle Read: Feb 2006 I was a bit disappointed with this one, actually. I’ve read a handful or more Discworld books but this one wasn’t quite as jubilant as some of the others. Yes, there was snark, but it was sort of downplayed. Maybe that’s because the main character is an [...] Full Story	With a Tangled Skein By Piers Anthony Rating: Frabjous Read: approx. 1998 (age 12), reread August 2005. I first read the Incarnations of Immortality when I was about 12, and I remember enough to know that I didn’t comprehend nearly as much as I will now, some 7 years later. (Yosh, has it really been that long?) I’ve reread [...] Full Story
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince By J.K. Rowling You don’t have your very own copy by now, WHY!? Amazon.com Rating: Excellence Read: July 2005 It’s here! It’s here! At very long last, it’s here! The penultimate! The one that’ll REALLY have us all on the edge of our seats-! I cried at the end. If you haven’t read it by [...] Full Story	A Series of Unfortunate Events (1-3) By “Lemony Snickett” Rating: Good Read: June/July 2005 These books are the way good childrens’ fiction SHOULD be. They don’t talk down, they are whimsical, clever, amusing, and honest. Full Story	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix By J. K. Rowling Like the woman needs more money. The books are undeinably good, though. Amazon.com Rating: Cantputitdowner Read: First read a month or so after it came out, reread April 2005. Agh- definately the most driving book so far. If you haven’t given it a good reread yet, do so before July when [...] Full Story
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire By J. K. Rowling Like the woman needs more money. The books are undeinably good, though. Amazon.com Rating: Read: Dunno when the first time was (in HS, I know) but reread April 2005. Full Story	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban By J. K. Rowling Like the woman needs more money. It’s still good, though. Amazon.com Rating: Quality Comfort-zone. Read: Dunno when the first time was (in HS, I know) but reread March 2005. I decided it was time to reread all of these a long time ago (I’ve only read them through once, and that [...] Full Story