Book #102 of 2018: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (The Dark Tower #5) The flashback-centric Wizard and Glass is my favorite novel in Stephen King’s epic Dark Tower sequence, but I’m willing to entertain arguments that this next book is its best. The setting has been firmly established at this point, and King …
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Book #100 of 2018: The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (The Queen’s Thief #2) In principle this is a fine follow-up to The Thief, although it shares that novel’s predilection for hiding character plans and motives from readers even when they’re pretty easy to guess. It expands this Greek-flavored fantasy world a little, …
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Book #98 of 2018: Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman Practically from the start, I’ve been reeling over the emotional journey that the heroine makes in this intensely personal fantasy novel. Largely eschewing the traditional genre focus on epic quests, author Rachel Hartman has instead written a powerful meditation on trauma, grief, and healing …
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Book #91 of 2018: Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce (Protector of the Small #4) A solid but kind of unremarkable Tortall adventure. The Protector of the Small series is generally marketed as a quartet, but it honestly feels more like a cohesive trilogy followed by this somewhat vestigial afterthought. I’m not trying to be too …
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Book #86 of 2018: Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #4) More or less a return to form after the disappointing third book in this children’s fantasy series. I wish this final volume hadn’t skipped forward 17 years after the last book’s cliffhanger, but the new story is fun enough and …
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Book #83 of 2018: Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb (Liveship Traders #3) The Liveship Traders trilogy has been steadily improving as it goes along, and this action-packed final volume is particularly great for weaving back together the various storylines that have diverged over the course of the previous novels. It’s downright thrilling to see …
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Book #69 of 2018: Squire by Tamora Pierce (Protector of the Small #3) I’ve noted before that this quartet of books within Tamora Pierce’s larger Tortall series seems to be the author’s take on the classic boarding school literary genre, like Harry Potter without any looming Voldemort-style threat. Indeed, the plot is the major shortcoming …
Book #65 of 2018: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1) This is a very well-crafted story that, while not quite my cup of tea, seems likely to be the perfect book / series for plenty of other readers. Set in a Victorian-style era of a world much …
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Book #63 of 2018: Frogkisser! by Garth Nix This princess-on-a-quest story for middle readers recalls earlier gems of the genre like Dealing with Dragons or The Two Princesses of Bamarre, although it feels a tad long and aimless in comparison. Author Garth Nix delivers a capable heroine (with nary a love interest in sight) and …
Book #58 of 2018: Mad Ship by Robin Hobb (Liveship Traders #2) Overall, I would say that this sequel is an improvement over the first Liveship Traders book. The plot moves a little more quickly, and there’s great character work turning the most insufferable figure from the previous story into a compelling protagonist. These features …
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