alternate reality | 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	Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell By Susanna Clarke Read: December 2009 Rating: Engrossing For the record, I am including this in the 2009 50Book list, because I read the vast majority of it during December. So there. Mein gott, this has been sitting on my shelf since FOREVER. And it is one daunting brick of a book, too. Over 1000 [...] Full Story
General Winston’s Daughter By Sharon Shinn Read : June 2009 Rating: Ho hum? Well, it wasn’t terrible. There were some good points, but it certainly wasn’t Shinn’s best. (It’s feeling a little redundant saying that…) Essentially, it’s a story of imperialism, told for a young adult audience with a penchant for romance. Averie’s father is a general in [...] Full Story	Megatokyo by Fred Gallagher Read: Continuously, reread May 2009 Rating: Brills Get sucked in: http://www.megatokyo.com/ If you’ve been reading webcomics for any period of time and haven’t come across Megatokyo you’re not surfing the right comics. Ever seen the Sad Girl In Snow trope? This is where it was born. Megatokyo is a lot of things, [...] Full Story	The Subtle Knife By Philip Pullman Read: August 2008 Rating: Disappointing Gentle readers, it is a sad day for my bookshelf. I am usually very good about finishing the books I pick up, I hate stopping partway, unless they’re really trash. Even when something becomes mediocre, I see it through, if only to see how bad it gets. [...] Full Story
The Golden Compass(es) By Philip Pullman Read: August 2008 Rating: Intense I totally missed the boat on this one. It’s a real shame, because I think I would have quite liked it at the time it was published, and I was just ten years old. At 22, I’m much more critical of some things, and less easy to [...] 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
Cat’s Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut. Available @Amazon.com (but I’m too lazy to link right now) Read: September 2007 Rating: PHWOAR. See the cat, see the cradle? Book is farking brilliant. My apologies that I’m not more coherent about it, but I thought it was brilliant. Vonnegut is my new personal hero. In the course of Cat’s Cradle [...] 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	American Gods By Neil Gaiman Rating: DIVINE. Read: Xmas 04 Holy crapmonkeys, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I can’t remember who gave it to me (Sreya?) but I ADORE it. Neil Gaiman is absolutely brilliant (and sexy, too). We begin with a framed convict on the day he is released from prison. All he wants it to go [...] Full Story