Book #203 of 2017: Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #2) I don’t know if Hollow City is any worse than Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, but it certainly doesn’t improve on that first book’s problems. There are the same under-developed characters, the same sketchy romance between a sixteen-year-old and his …
Tag Archives: fantasy
Book Review: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin
Book #200 of 2017: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin (The Tales of Dunk and Egg #1-3) This book is a collection of three novellas from George R.R. Martin, set in the century before his major series A Song of Ice and Fire. Presenting these stories in a single volume is …
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Book Review: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
Book #195 of 2017: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (Farseer #2) This middle book in the Farseer trilogy was formative in my teenage years, speaking to the idealism and anger that most young people probably feel to some degree. There’s something universal in youths chafing against authority figures who will not see reason, and author …
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Book Review: Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip
Book #194 of 2017: Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia A. McKillip (Riddle-Master #2) This middle volume in the Riddle-Master trilogy is probably the strongest, but it still moves to the strange internal logic of a dream, often leaving its readers grasping after oblique shades of meaning in under-explained references to this world’s history …
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Book Review: The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr., and Linda Antonsson
Book #190 of 2017: The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Elio M. García Jr., and Linda Antonsson The World of Ice & Fire is a Silmarillion to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, providing an exhaustive (and somewhat …
Book Review: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Book #188 of 2017: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison There’s a little Game of Thrones in this standalone fantasy story of an honorable figure coming to court and facing palace intrigue, but it more closely resembles Assassin’s Apprentice in centering its narrative around an abused and friendless child whose station prevents others from getting …
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Book Review: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
Book #184 of 2017: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (Enchanted Forest Chronicles #1) This was a fun fairy tale of a princess who runs away to live in a cave with a dragon to avoid an arranged marriage. As expected, it’s full of girl power for younger readers, although it’s a bit jarring …
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Book Review: Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
Book #179 of 2017: Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (Patternist #1) Anyanwu is an African shapeshifter who has survived for centuries by healing all physical damage and keeping her body young. She thinks there’s no other person remotely like herself until she meets Doro, a man millennia past his own natural lifespan but whose …
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Book Review: Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce
Book #178 of 2017: Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce (The Immortals #3) This third novel in Tamora Pierce’s Immortals quartet is the first one that I’ve felt approached the quality of the other books I’ve read in her wider Tortall series. The main character is still absurdly overpowered – she’s already able to magically communicate …
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Book Review: Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix
Book #174 of 2017: Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom #2) This sequel felt like a formulaic retread of the first novel in the Keys to the Kingdom series, which was already a pretty generic fantasy adventure story. I’m still waiting for that Garth Nix magic that I love from his …
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