King's Wrath (Valisar Trilogy Book Three)

Title: King's Wrath
Author: Fiona McIntosh
Score: 8/10
Chart Entry Position: 19/45


Review

In my experience of reading McIntosh's previous books, the endings have been fairly weak and anticlimactic. If it wasn't for the fact that the first two and a half books of her trilogies are generally extremely good then she wouldn't be one of my favourite authors. This series however, and particularly this book, was the exception. The majority of the series was, while still well-written, loose and unfocused. But the ending was possibly the most exciting one that McIntosh has written.

Vortex (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Book Six)

Title: Vortex
Author: Troy Denning
Superseries Star Wars
Series: Fate of the Jedi
Preceded By: Allies (Christie Golden)
Succeeded By: Conviction (Aaron Allston)

Ratings

Score: 8/10
Chart Movement: 22 -> 21
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite.

Review

I had no idea where this book was going to start. The last book, Allies, pretty much finished off every storyline except for the Trial of Tahiri Veila. With four more books to go, I began this one a little apprehensively. But that problem is quickly resolved. We found out pretty much straight away that Abeloth has a little trick up her sleeve that means that she could indeed be the main antagonist for the rest of the series, and we also see that the conflict between the Jedi and Admiral Daala is still going strong.

In short, there's plenty to read about in this book. But there was another reason that I was apprehensive. For me, Denning's contributions to the Legacy era books have been going downhill since his spectacular first entry in the legacy of the force series. But fortunately, while not matching the level of writing he had with Tempest, was considerably more engaging than in Abyss. He still used one or two awkward metaphors every now and again, but overall the writing was smooth, enjoyable, and most importantly, easy to read.

Death Star (Star Wars)

Title: Death Star
Author: Michael Reaves & Steve Perry
Superseries: Star Wars
Preceded By: The Force Unleashed II
Succeeded By: A New Hope

Ratings

Score: 8/10
Chart Entry Point: 9

Review

This is unusual for a Star Wars book, or any book really, in that all of the characters are on the bad guys side. This is a book about people who work for the empire, and it gives us a unique insight into "the other side of the story".

For a start, nearly all of the main characters are pretty good guys. One or two do a couple of illegal things, but then so did Han Solo. But apart from Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, all of the viewpoint characters are likeable. None of them really want to kill anyone either. Even the one who pulled the trigger on the big gun. It does give a new perspective to the Star Wars films. Many of the people on board the Death Star when the Rebels destroyed it were actually Civilians - running the cantinas and shops on the station. Which was designed in order to end all war...

Backlash (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Book Four)

Title: Backlash
Author: Aaron Allston
Superseries: Star Wars
Series: Fate of the Jedi
Preceded By: Abyss
Succeeded By: Allies

Ratings

Score: 8/10
Chart Movement: 19 -> 17
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite

Review

Finally! Something happens! The first three books of this series were really quite slow, but in this we finally see it going somewhere. This time, while still plenty of political manoeuvring, we get too see some action.

This book follows quite nicely from the previous one - where the Sith Apprentice Vestara escapes from Luke and Ben Skywalker on Sinkhole Station. It actually starts with a Vestara viewpoint scene of her leaving. It's one of the few of these in the book - I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see more from her point of view, as she was with a more major character for most of the book. But she is a good character nonetheless, and brings some interesting aspects to the story.

Outcast (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Book One)

Title: Outcast
Author: Aaron Allston
Superseries: Star Wars
Series: Fate of the Jedi
Succeeded By: Omen (Christie Golden)

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: I already have, actually. Expect a review of that in a week or two.

Review

For this review, the 50th on the blog, I decided to review something that I had bought myself, rather than one that someone had requested me to review. And then I got a little carried away and read the second in the series. But to those waiting for reviews, don't worry - after this I shall be back to reviewing those that have been requested of me. But for now, Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Book One, Outcast:

I approached this book with some trepidation, as I was disappointed with the last book of Legacy of the Force, and was unsure whether I should really be setting out on another nine book journey with the same characters, by two out of the same authors, especially when the one author that was replaced was my favourite of the three. But my desire to read all the Star Wars books overcame my anxiety of being disappointed and I began to read.

Mine

Title: Mine
Author: Lin Sten

Ratings

Score: 8/10

Review

It's been a long time since I stayed up till 4am reading. At least, unless you count last night. You can probably tell from that that I enjoyed it, and I'm sure the author enjoyed writing it. It's a happy book, an uplifting one. One that it's easy to enjoy reading. But it's not easy to read. It's Technical, Hard Sci-Fi, and there will be more about that later in the review. But first I want to talk about the characters. They're great.

Essentially that's the summary of the characters. I can't think of a single character that I didn't like. Maybe the chat-show host, Charles Dance. But of the main characters, there are none that are boring or lifeless. Even the bad guy seems somewhat lovable as the story progresses. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Generally it's helpful to have someone to hate. Normally the bad guy, but not always. This doesn't have that, but while unusual, it reflects the theme of the book quite well (that of coexisting with other species).

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

Title: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Author: Michael Reaves
Superseries: Star Wars
Preceeded By: Darth Maul Saboteur (eBook Novella by James Luceno - currently available in the back of modern editions of Shadow Hunter)

Ratings

Score: 8/10


Review

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter was the first book that I read in the Star Wars extended universe, and it's probably due to this book that my blog is currently rather full of star wars book reviews. It's not my favourite book in the Star Wars franchise, but it is one that I will always enjoy reading - and have indeed read several times.

Dark Lord (Falconfar Book One)

Title: Dark Lord
Author: Ed Greenwood
Series: Falconfar

Succeeded By: Arch Wizard

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: I'd really like to.

Review

I've read quite a few books this year, and as a student the year for me begins in September, so that's quite some time to be reading.  But this is very likely to be the most unique of all of them.

I decided to review it almost entirely on the strength of the title, "Dark Lord", with the incredible artwork on the cover enticing me further. It embarrasses me somewhat to say that I actually had no idea of what it was about... But it paid off. If I had read the blurb, I would have chosen a different book. It's about a man who travels to his own fantasy world, and I generally avoid these books, for reasons which will be explained below...

Exile (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force - Book Four)

Title: Exile
Author: Aaron Allston
Super-series: Star Wars
Series: Legacy of the Force
Preceded By: Tempest (By Troy Denning)
Succeeded By: Sacrifice (By Karen Traviss)

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Ordered it already!

Review

There is a rule I've heard in several places. The second in a trilogy is always the worst. Now the glaring exception to this rule is the Original Star Wars trilogy, where the Empire Strikes Back was probably the best, but in general, it seems to be true. This isn't part of a trilogy, but each author writes three books, and I'm hoping the rule applies to that too. Why? Because Allston's second book wasn't as good as I was hoping.

That's not to say it's bad! I've rated it 8/10, which is still a high score. It's just not at quite the same level as the previous three in the series. There are three reasons for this, the first of which is this:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter Book Seven)

Deathly Hallows (Not the new cover)

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J.K. Rowling
Series: Harry Potter
Preceeded By: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: If only there was one...

Review

Harry Potter. The most famous wizard of the last decade. To be honest, if you don't already know who he is, this review might not mean a lot to you. If you've just seen the films... READ! The books are infinitely better. Read those instead. If you've read the books, well you probably don't need to read this review.

Harry Potter has been reviewed, summarised, and talked about plenty of times, across various media. Everyone knows about it. But now, and this is the reason I was sent a copy of the book to review, IT HAS A NEW COVER.

The Spook's Nightmare (Wardstone Chronicles Book Seven)

Spook's Nightmare on Amazon

Title: The Spook's Nightmare

Author: Joseph Delaney

Series: Wardstone Chronicles
Preceded By: The Spook's Sacrifice


Ratings

Score: 8/10
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite!

Review

It's always more difficult to review a second (although this is actually the seventh) book in a series than the first, or even a second book by an author. This is because the writing style, and pitfalls of an author often change little between books. So If you haven't already, I would advise reading my review of "The Spook's Sacrifice" as well as this one, which will give a more detailed account of the author's style.

On saying this however, there are some marked differences between the two books I've reviewed of the series so far. The main one being is that this book's storyline, while not actually being set in "the County" as the first five were, is much closer to them in storyline than the The Spook's Sacrifice was. By this I mean that while in The Spook's Sacrifice they were on a heroic quest to save the world, Once more they are dealing with local enemies, in fact one they've faced before, and also the fact that there is again distrust between characters, and peoples as a whole, that were more muted in The Spook's Sacrifice. This book felt somewhat more realistic for the fantasy world Delaney has set up.

Speaking of the world he was set up, I would appreciate a map that covered more of the county. I live near the area the county is based on, and it would be nice to see the real towns on a map, such as Kendal. But I do appreciate the geography of the County, and I love the idea of it.

There are a couple of points that went very well, and one that didn't go so well. Beginning with the Spook's failures mentioned in the blurb; It's good to see that the Spook isn't perfect. It helps with the realism and roundedness of the character. Although we have already seen this before, in the Spook's Secret for example, it's also good to see the main character noticing the weaknesses. Similarly, the use of the Dark by the 'good guys' is also good to see. Not because I think they should be dark, but because it represents that not everything in life is black and white. I think that this book generally represented our world a little more than the others, particularly The Spook's Sacrifice, did.


---SPOLIER ALERT: Tom & Alice (Highlight to read)---

Now, the thing that I didn't think went so well was the romantic tension between Tom and Alice. It's been there for several books now, and I'm quite disappointed that they haven't done anything with it. They hold hands every now and again, but I get the impression that the Author's reluctance to take it any further than that is due to the fact it's aimed at children.

While I disagree even that romance should be minimised even in normal children's books, this series has been growing darker, and in many ways more mature, as it's characters age. I don't think that it would be out of place for the two teens to kiss, or be boyfriend and girlfriend. In fact, it's something that I hope will happen in the next book.

--- SPOILER OVER ---

But overall, this is possibly my favourite of the spook's books so far, and I am eager to read the next, which will hopefully be written soon. Bony Lizzy is a fantastic opponent, and she is restored brilliantly in the book. I look forwards to more returning villains, and new ones, in the future. As before, I would seriously recommend this series to anyone who likes fantasy or supernatural novels, adult or child.

More Information

Main Protagonist(s): 2 Male, 1 Female
Main Antagonist(s): 1 Female
Main Relationships: Hinted Heterosexual
Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural
Brief Synopsis:  (From Spooksbooks.com)

The Spook, Tom and Alice return from Greece to find the County under siege – and the Spook’s home burnt to the ground. With his precious library of knowledge destroyed, they seek refuge on the nearby island of Mona. But with Mona in the thrall of a twisted Shaman there is little respite from hostility or denizens of the dark. And as Alice dodges the ever-tightening net of the island’s witch hunters, a more deadly enemy emerges...

Bony Lizzie, freshly-escaped from the Spook’s bonds, has grand ambitions: to take for herself the throne of isle. She has harnessed the services of a tunnel-dwelling buggane, an evil creature which thrives on stealing the animas, or life force, from its unsuspecting victims. With the buggane as her secret weapon can she become an all-powerful Witch Queen?

ISBN: 978-0-370-32981-9
Website: http://www.spooksbooks.com/
Amazon Link: The Spook's Nightmare
Pages: 401 (hardback edition)
First Published: 2010
Publisher: Bodley Head (Random house imprint)

The Prophecy of Zephyrus

Title: The Prophecy of Zephyrus
Author: G.A.Hesse
Series: Standalone

Ratings
Score: 8/10
How long I would stay up reading: 2am
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Quite Likely (if there is one)

Review

Where do I start? The world that Hesse creates is a wonderful to be taken to, whether by the spirit comet as Obie is, or by reading the pages of the book. I was severely disappointed when the book ended, as it meant that I would be forced to leave.

It is not a particularly described world, the author leaves much of that to the imagination. But the characters are particularly realistic, even though one consists of a talking mole, and another as a half-lion, half man. The only character I though unrealistic was a talking falcon, a minor character in the last few pages of the book. It is easy to become attached to the main female character, and we can easily understand the main characters fascination with her, as if we herself were fascinated. Through these characters we percieve the world around them, and it is through them that it comes alive.

The title refers to the prophecy that the events unfold around. While Zephyrus is not really mentioned, or explained, the prophecy is incredibly well thought out, referring to some little details that cannot be predicted until after the event. It makes me wonder if it was actually written after the rest of the book.

The beginning of the book however, is far too rushed. Until he is taken to the fantasy world, we understand little of what's going on, and an event is over short after it has begun. The matter of the nightmares and discovery of the stone, the two reasons for him goint to the other world, need to be expanded upon, and so does his main love interest, Shannon, who is barely mentioned. I would like to see a longer first part, until the comet takes him to Windermere.

But the ending is spectacular, unpredictable, and unexpected. Perhaps not the most spectacular twist, it's plausible if you consider the story in hindsight, but one of the most unexpected. And also quite satisfying. It leaves no burning questions, and few loose ends. In some ways however, it is quite an emotional end, drawing soft but real emotion from the reader as they read the closing chapter.

The artwork is stunning, and althought the title made me dubious of the story, I would recommend it as light reading. It is an easy story to pick up and get into, and doesn't mean you lose the plot when you put it down as some more complex books would. It would be an ideal book for a fantasy lover to take on journeys and holidays.


More Information
Main Protagonist(s): 3 Male
Main Antagonist(s): 1 Male
Main Relationships: Heterosexual (But Minor)
Genre: Fantasy
Brief Synopsis: (From Amazon)

17-year-old Obie Griffin knew he was a jinx. He d proven that. So why was he chosen to fulfill an old prophecy and become the Protector of the Moonpath Riders, the beautiful Gabrielle and her windlord, Mara? Whisked back to an ancient kingdom at a time when black sorcery is destroying the world, he must decide whether to remain there, or return to the safety of his own time if it still exists. When an unexpected event occurs, Obie makes a decision that hurls him into an epic journey with his horse, Shadow, and two unlikely companions. Traveling through gloomy oak forests and deadly highland blizzards, they encounter Zelda the River Witch, enemy goblins, fierce warriors spawned by black magic, and others. But the worst is yet to come, for it dawns on Obie that he must soon defend Gabrielle against the King of Darkness in a battle to save the earth---and the soul be thinks he's lost.

ISBN:
Website: Publisher's Page (A brilliant website for the book)
Amazon Link: UK Site (unavailable in UK store) US Site
Pages: 431
First Published: November 2009
Publisher: AHAH Books

Still testing:

I recieve comission if you go through this link. But it has a picture :-).

The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time - Book Two)

Title: The Great Hunt
Author: Robert Jordan
Series: The Wheel of Time

Ratings

Score: 8/10
How long I would stay up reading: 4:00 am
How likely I am to read the next in the Series: Definite

Review

I was pleasantly surprised to find that in this second book of the series, the maps that seem to adorn most fantasy books were before the prologue. Anyone who has read my review of the first book, "The Eye of the World", will know that I found it being the other way round rather offputting. It feels like a much more natural order here. In fact, the majority of the problems I had with the previous book have simply disappeared.

The transitions between characters are smooth, and there are many more sub-plots than in the original, most of which tie together nicely in the last few chapters. There are less similarities to other famous works here, perhaps as Jordan seems to become more comfortable with his own style. Most importantly though, to me at least, the story starts a lot faster, opening with a sword fighting lesson and moving on to a raid of the town.

The prologue here seems to get in the way, since it is seemingly not very important. It refers to the whitecloak subplot, yet this is a very vague sub-plot, and rather hurridly ended. Despite being minor in compariosn to the rest of the story, it is ended quite badly, and leaves a lot of questions as to what exactly was going on.

However, as previously, it was brilliantly written and I will most definitely be following the series to it's conclusion (The last book has just been published).


More Information

Main Protagonist(s): 5 male and 4 female
Main Antagonist(s): 2 male
Main Relationships: Heterosexual undertones
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Preceeded by: The Eye of the World
Succeeded by: The Dragon Reborn
Brief Synopsis:

Every so often, a Great Hunt begins for the lost Horn of Valere, a legendary horn that when sounded will bring back the ancient heroes to do battle. Rand and his companions don't need to join in however, since the horn is safely in their possession. Or so they think. They are attacked by trollocs and darkfriends, who manage steal the horn, and cause Rand, Mat, Perrin, Hurin and Loial the ogier to travel with a host of warriors on the true great hunt. Meanwhile Egwene and Nynaeve are taken to Tor Valon to begin their training as Aes Sedai. But an Aes Sedai of the red faction betrays them, resulting in Egwene's slavery at Toman Head. With only their new friends Min and Elayne to help, How will Nyneave free Elayne, and why are the darkfriends, led by Padan Fain, taking the horn to Toman Head? Most importantly, will Rand al'Thor take up his destiny as the Dragon Reborn?

ISBN(-10): 1-85723-027-2
Website: Publisher's Author Page
Amazon Link: UK Site US Site
Pages: ~ 680
First Published: 1991
Publisher: Orbit Books