2014 Booklist (as of October)

July 2014

Farthest Away Mountain by Lynne Reid Banks

Childhood book, re-read again for the final time. In which a mostly-sensible and intrepid young heroine goes on a magical adventure to the Farthest Away Mountain and meets trolls, an enchanted frog, a horrible witch, magical colors, and oh-so-sad gargoyles.

This book will always hold a warm place in my heart, but I’m afraid I’ve finally outgrown it. Highly recommended for younger readers and their young-at-heart parents.

A Nostalgic 10 of 10

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

A YA offering by this author whose shorter works resonate VERY well with me, but whose longer works don’t tend to stick as well.

In the world of the Rithmatist, magic is done through rigid rulesets governed by chalk magic. Lines, circles, and art come together to defend and attack — not just other chalk wizards, but also dangerous wild chalklings. Our young hero has no chalk magic of his own, but he can draw incredibly complex and nearly-perfect chalk circles. The plot revolves around chalk wizard children who are disappearing under mysterious and horrifying circumstances, and is very well done.

This one sort of muddled in the middle. I feel like it rambled a bit and involved rather a lot of pre-teen angsty whining from BOTH primary characters, which made it less fun to read. The premise of the worldbuilding is very nice and the story is set up to continue with a lovely not-quite-a-cliffhanger, but overall it’s not a book that’s in danger of appearing on my bookshelf.

That being said? One of the BEST, most entertaining and wonderful final battles I’ve read in a while. That final chalk battle was so good it made the entire book worth reading.

A Gloriously-finished 7 of 10

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

Dragons are supposed to be powerful, greedy, untrustworthy, and vicious. Julius (smallest dragon in his clan) is none of those things, which makes him a liability. To punish him, his mother locks him in human form and sends him to prove himself or be eaten. Adventure, battle, romance, hilarious oraclular characters all come together to fuel this wonderfully high-octane adventure.

(Pretty sure Rachel Aaron hasn’t written a book yet that I haven’t enjoyed.)

An exciting 8 of 10

Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce

Rereading a book from my shelf, this is the first book in a new Tortall series. Daughter of the Lioness, Aly takes after her spymaster father rather than her warrior mother. During a bout of youthful rebellion, she’s captured by slavers and ends up entangled in the machinations of the Trickster god.

The highlight of the book is EASILY watch Aly use her wits and training to solve problems. Her romance is sweet and light, but from the moment she’s captured by slavers, her mind is her sharpest weapon and she uses it to great effect. I’m not one who really likes political plots, so much of the trilogy arc is uninteresting to me, but Aly herself is vibrant and fun to read.

A witty 8 of 10

August 2014

Toad Words and Other Stories by T. Kingfisher

A book of varying-length short stories written by the pseudonymm’d Ursula Vernon, who was nearly killed by whales on her honeymoon. I’m pretty sure there’s almost nothing she could write about that I would dislike, so feel free to add a grain of salt or two on to this review.

Most of these are retold fairy tales. I love retold fairy tales.

All of these have incredibly sensible heroines. I love incredibly sensible heroines.

There was pretty much nothing about this book I did not like. It was by turns entertaining, heartbreaking, hilarious, thought-provoking, and clever.

A sensible 10 of 10

September 2014

Iron Druid 2 by Kevin Hearne

Real title: Hexed

Fun, fast-paced, funny … and somehow, this series is still just not quite working for me. I look at a line, and I can see that it’s supposed to be hilarious, and yet I so rarely actually find it funny. I don’t know. I’m not rating this one, because I feel like it’s not fair.

Monster Hunter International 1 & 2 by Larry Correia

Wow. And I thought OTHER books I was reading were fast-paced. Halfway through a battle, I realize I’m not even a third of the way through the first book and it FEELS like a final battle.

… and then it amps up from there.

Werewolves, elder gods, vampires — you name it, and MHI hunts it. Saving the world is just another paycheck.

FUN to read, fast, easy, but holy cow, the escalation on this series is insane. I’m a little afraid to keep reading because I’m not sure how to make the next book MORE IMPORTANT than the previous one.

A Breathless 8 of 10

October 2014

Digger Omnibus by Ursula Vernon

Ursula Vernon’s typical no-nonsense, sensible heroine strikes again. This time in the form of a wombat who hits some “bad earth” and winds up in front of a talking statue of Ganesh. Throw in a pack of tribal hyenas, a nameless outcast, a shadowchild, and a chained demon, and it’ll take more than a pickaxe and a vampire squash to save the day.

This comic strip is COMPLETE and it is absolutely wonderful. The art style is a joy and the overall story is wonderful but my favorite things were the little bits and pieces of society-building that were thrown in. Comments about types of rock and digging from the wombat, a Matriarchical society for the hyenas, and then you have shadowchild, who is as likely to ask a difficult question about morality as they are to eat a sock.

An Utterly Delighted 10 of 10

Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

I tried, I really did. I forced myself to finish the whole book, and I even started the next book to see if it improved.

The Chronicles of Prydain may be a hugely significant story for many, but I’m afraid it’s almost unreadable for me now. No rating, because it’s not fair when I know it’s got it’s place in many libraries.

Miss Mabel’s School for Girls by Katie Cross

If you’re a girl, and a magic user, Miss Mabel’s School will set you up right. Our main character joins the school and immediately forces her way into the super-dangerous combat trial that is normally open only to graduating girls. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about our mysterious heroine (and her newfound friends), but the fiendishly clever Miss Mabel is always one step ahead.

I … did not like the way this book ended. It sets itself up very nicely for the other books and isn’t a cliffhanger or anything like that, but it felt cheap. I’m glad I read the book — it was well worth the low price I paid for it, and had more than its fair share of wonderful concepts and worldbuilding moments. I worry that the rest of the series will be full of angst and rage and politics, though, so I may hold off trying the sequel until some time has passed.

A Pensive 7 of 10

The Dresden Files 3, 4, & 5 by Jim Butcher

Actual Titles: Grave Peril, Summer Knight, and Death Masks

Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire. He doesn’t get much sleep in any book I’ve read, but he does his best to abide by his personal moral code and save the world … without getting too far behind on his bills.

Perry told me that this series starts to get really really good about book 4.

I should listen to Perry more often. The first books were GOOD, mind you. I enjoyed them, they were awesome, but books 4 and 5 felt so much better paced, with more fleshed-out side characters.

I gobbled these up during the worst of my recent sickness, and I’m forcing myself to slow down and enjoy the remaining books while I can. It’s not a short series, but it doesn’t last forever, and I’d regret rushing through them.

An explosive 9.5 of 10

Related posts:

2014 Booklist (As of June)
Harry Potter 7 Discussion
2014 Booklist (Part 2)