2013 Books Read
1. PATH OF DAGGERS - Robert Jordan
2. WINTER'S HEART - Robert Jordan
3. World at Work T3: Quantitative Methods
4. CROSSROADS Of TWILIGHT - Robert Jordan
5. KNIFE OF DREAMS - Robert Jordan
6. THE GATHERING STORM - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
7. TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
8. EMPEROR'S SOUL - Brandon Sanderson
9. A MEMORY OF LIGHT - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
10. BLOODFIRE QUEST - Terry Brooks
11. NO ASSHOLE RULE: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn't by Robert Sutton
12. Lonely Planet's Belgium & Luxembourg
13. World At Work's Accounting and Finances for the Human Resources Professional (multiple times)
14. Scotland - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture by John Scotney
15. Fodor's Scotland (Travel Guide)
16. THE GOLDEN KEY by Rawn, Robertson, and Elliott
17. Fodor's See It France
18. OUT OF OZ by Gregory Maguire
19. HARD MAGIC by Laura Anne Gilman
20. PACK OF LIES by Laura Anne Gilman
The follow up to HARD MAGIC did not disappoint. I did have issues with it, only because it was very triggery for rape victims. It was a bit too close to home at several points. I LOVED getting to know the main characters more, seeing the team gel, and getting to understand more of the Cosa world.
21. TOUCHSTONE by Melanie Rawn
I preface this with the fact I'm a die hard of Melanie's work. I even forgive her for not finishing Exiles. :P This, however, was not her best work. My husband likened it to a biography of the Beatles and how their road to becoming famous, only totally fantasy. I kept waiting for the book to "start." Every time I thought that there was an arch, it would be completed and I wondered where it was going. There were many red herrings. The thing that bugged me the most was how interbred species were - not because it was wrong, just getting used to the novelity of it and how it would work. I found myself wishing for a book about race rights to interbreed and how the world developed that you could have a pixie-gnome-elf-human-wizard... and explained how wizard is different from the other races. :P Was it possible in those pure breed days to have a wizard gnome? Or where all the wizards human? I felt very disappointed and "that's all?" when I finished the book. It was an interesting ride that had earworm qualities where I found myself daydreaming during work wanting to crack the spine... But on the whole not her best work. :(
22. STORMWARDERN by Jany Wurts
A very dear friend lent me his copy of CYCLE OF FIRE omnibus. After it sitting on my to read shelf since May, I dove in. It was published in the late 80s and has a lot of vestiges of older high fantasy. I'm talking DRAGON PRINCE, the beginning stories of Pern type old. There is a distinct flavor and feel to the fantasy from that time frame. I strong feel that there was a strong shift in how fantasy was written in the late 90s and it continues to evolve today - largely due to how technology itself has evolved drastically in that time frame and enabled authors, move producers, etc to imagine differently and produce the more impossible things. At least that is my ignorant take on it.
STORMWARDEN took a long while to get somewhere. There was a lot of world and character building, that I felt the plot was secondary and then 3/4s through zoomed back into perspective to become a roller coaster. There was a very odd twist where it went from high fantasy, tolkien-esque to having a heavy sci-fi (mechanical, science, space) twist to it that was somewhat off putting. I see why my friend loves this series with a passion though. :) The last 20 or so pages in the climax was a bit chaotic and had points that didn't seem clear how characters got to a place or what they were doing. :(
Even though I have other books I am dying to dive into, and I promised public reviews in many places, since STORMWARDEN is part of an omnibus, I don't feel like I finished the book, since I'm only a third of the way through. ;) So I am plowing ahead to the next book in the series KEEPER OF THE KEYS.
2. WINTER'S HEART - Robert Jordan
3. World at Work T3: Quantitative Methods
4. CROSSROADS Of TWILIGHT - Robert Jordan
5. KNIFE OF DREAMS - Robert Jordan
6. THE GATHERING STORM - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
7. TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
8. EMPEROR'S SOUL - Brandon Sanderson
9. A MEMORY OF LIGHT - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
10. BLOODFIRE QUEST - Terry Brooks
11. NO ASSHOLE RULE: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One that Isn't by Robert Sutton
12. Lonely Planet's Belgium & Luxembourg
13. World At Work's Accounting and Finances for the Human Resources Professional (multiple times)
14. Scotland - Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture by John Scotney
15. Fodor's Scotland (Travel Guide)
16. THE GOLDEN KEY by Rawn, Robertson, and Elliott
17. Fodor's See It France
18. OUT OF OZ by Gregory Maguire
19. HARD MAGIC by Laura Anne Gilman
20. PACK OF LIES by Laura Anne Gilman
The follow up to HARD MAGIC did not disappoint. I did have issues with it, only because it was very triggery for rape victims. It was a bit too close to home at several points. I LOVED getting to know the main characters more, seeing the team gel, and getting to understand more of the Cosa world.
21. TOUCHSTONE by Melanie Rawn
I preface this with the fact I'm a die hard of Melanie's work. I even forgive her for not finishing Exiles. :P This, however, was not her best work. My husband likened it to a biography of the Beatles and how their road to becoming famous, only totally fantasy. I kept waiting for the book to "start." Every time I thought that there was an arch, it would be completed and I wondered where it was going. There were many red herrings. The thing that bugged me the most was how interbred species were - not because it was wrong, just getting used to the novelity of it and how it would work. I found myself wishing for a book about race rights to interbreed and how the world developed that you could have a pixie-gnome-elf-human-wizard... and explained how wizard is different from the other races. :P Was it possible in those pure breed days to have a wizard gnome? Or where all the wizards human? I felt very disappointed and "that's all?" when I finished the book. It was an interesting ride that had earworm qualities where I found myself daydreaming during work wanting to crack the spine... But on the whole not her best work. :(
22. STORMWARDERN by Jany Wurts
A very dear friend lent me his copy of CYCLE OF FIRE omnibus. After it sitting on my to read shelf since May, I dove in. It was published in the late 80s and has a lot of vestiges of older high fantasy. I'm talking DRAGON PRINCE, the beginning stories of Pern type old. There is a distinct flavor and feel to the fantasy from that time frame. I strong feel that there was a strong shift in how fantasy was written in the late 90s and it continues to evolve today - largely due to how technology itself has evolved drastically in that time frame and enabled authors, move producers, etc to imagine differently and produce the more impossible things. At least that is my ignorant take on it.
STORMWARDEN took a long while to get somewhere. There was a lot of world and character building, that I felt the plot was secondary and then 3/4s through zoomed back into perspective to become a roller coaster. There was a very odd twist where it went from high fantasy, tolkien-esque to having a heavy sci-fi (mechanical, science, space) twist to it that was somewhat off putting. I see why my friend loves this series with a passion though. :) The last 20 or so pages in the climax was a bit chaotic and had points that didn't seem clear how characters got to a place or what they were doing. :(
Even though I have other books I am dying to dive into, and I promised public reviews in many places, since STORMWARDEN is part of an omnibus, I don't feel like I finished the book, since I'm only a third of the way through. ;) So I am plowing ahead to the next book in the series KEEPER OF THE KEYS.