January reading
Like I said on my year end book post, this year I'm determined to do better with my reading comments. Monthly posts, at least, should do the trick. So, here is January's post:
You should note that I had gallbladder surgery early this month, and as a result, spent more than a couple weeks on sick leave. I don't normally read quite this much in a month :D
1. Laura Anne Gilman: Tricks of the Trade
Third book in her Paranormal Investigators series, which is a spinoff of the Retrievers books. I very much like this series and the characters in it.
These books are parallel to the Retrievers books, when it comes to a timeline, so some of the background developments will be familiar if you've read both series. But this is only to give you a fuller picture of the overall situation, these books very much stand on their own.
The magical crime scene investigations are well thought out and the way the team members develop their skills is believable. The connection between two main characters comes to an important point, and I hope this is developed more in the next volume.
2. Loretta Chase: Mr. Impossible (e-book)
Romance novel set in 19th century Egypt, where the woman is the brilliant scholar bent on decyphering the Egyptian symbols, and the man serves as the brawn. I liked it while reading it, but couldn't help questioning the pairing.
The heroine is a brilliant scholar, knows several languages, and only hides her intelligence and learning, because she is expected to be silly and hysteric by her contemporaries. The hero is not too intelligent, but he's brave, righteous, and becomes devoted to the heroine during their various adventures while trying to rescue her brother.
I can't help but wonder how this pairing would work after the initial infatuation wares off. She's bookish and studious, though ready for action if needed. He's a brash, physical, outdoors, go-get-them kinda guy. One of those 'Ooh, she has so many books!' type of people.
He idolizes her intelligence and learning, so rare in a woman of her times, but wouldn't there be some resentment on both their sides later on as they grow older. This kind of intellectual imparity just feels really off to me.
3.-5. Kelley Armstrong: The Summoning, The Awakening, The Reckoning (e-book)
This YA trilogy is a companion to Armstrong's other books, since much of the same issues surface in these books as in the others.
The books start when Chloe Saunders suddenly starts seeing ghosts, even though she doesn't realize what's happening to her at first. After her breakdown at school, she is sent to a home for troubled teens. Gradually she realizes that all of the residents have some kind of special powers and starts wondering if that's why they are all in the same place.
Later books reveal more about the people in the home and behind the mystery, plus show how Chloe and her companions deal with their powers, bond together and outwit the adults after them.
What initially drew me to these books was a mention in the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books podcast, where one of them mentioned that one of the males was like a mini-Clay. I'd been curious about this series before, since I like Armstrong's books, but that was the clincher :D.
6. Jonathan Lethem: Musiikkiuutisia [Gun, with Occasional Music]
Dystopic noir crime novels with various drugs affecting people, their memories and behaviours. Okay, but not the masterpiece it's touted to be.
7. Fumi Yoshinaga: Ooku: The Inner Chambers, vol. 6 (manga)
I continue to like this manga that inverts the gender structure and has women in power. Maybe I've grown inured to the archaic language, since I no longer even notice the archaic speech forms used in the translation.
Related, I'm excited to see the new live versions that are planned to be filmed in the near future!
8.-9. Matsuri Hino: Vampire Knight, vol. 11-12 (manga)
Can't remember anything special to comment about these. Okay, there was some background manouvering, Yuki & Zero meeting for the first time after she left school, etc.
10.-12. Hiromu Arakawa: Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 25-27 (manga)
I finally reached the end of this story. And what an adventure it was. The end battle was quite epic, fitting of the previous volumes, and the ending was just right for everybody who was still there at the end.
13. Jackie Kessler: Hell's Belles
Jezebel is a succubus, but she escaped from Hell after a change in management and hid in a human form to escape anyone trying to follow her.
Her new work as a stripper is easy after having seduced mortals for centuries, but then she falls in love. There are all these mortal feelings, but Hell is still after her. Everything works out in the end, of course.
This was okay light reading, and I might read more books in the series when I'm in the mood for light fluff :).
Currently reading:
Annette Blair: Naked Dragon (soon to be finished)
Jennifer Kloester: Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller (every now and then)
You should note that I had gallbladder surgery early this month, and as a result, spent more than a couple weeks on sick leave. I don't normally read quite this much in a month :D
1. Laura Anne Gilman: Tricks of the Trade
Third book in her Paranormal Investigators series, which is a spinoff of the Retrievers books. I very much like this series and the characters in it.
These books are parallel to the Retrievers books, when it comes to a timeline, so some of the background developments will be familiar if you've read both series. But this is only to give you a fuller picture of the overall situation, these books very much stand on their own.
The magical crime scene investigations are well thought out and the way the team members develop their skills is believable. The connection between two main characters comes to an important point, and I hope this is developed more in the next volume.
2. Loretta Chase: Mr. Impossible (e-book)
Romance novel set in 19th century Egypt, where the woman is the brilliant scholar bent on decyphering the Egyptian symbols, and the man serves as the brawn. I liked it while reading it, but couldn't help questioning the pairing.
The heroine is a brilliant scholar, knows several languages, and only hides her intelligence and learning, because she is expected to be silly and hysteric by her contemporaries. The hero is not too intelligent, but he's brave, righteous, and becomes devoted to the heroine during their various adventures while trying to rescue her brother.
I can't help but wonder how this pairing would work after the initial infatuation wares off. She's bookish and studious, though ready for action if needed. He's a brash, physical, outdoors, go-get-them kinda guy. One of those 'Ooh, she has so many books!' type of people.
He idolizes her intelligence and learning, so rare in a woman of her times, but wouldn't there be some resentment on both their sides later on as they grow older. This kind of intellectual imparity just feels really off to me.
3.-5. Kelley Armstrong: The Summoning, The Awakening, The Reckoning (e-book)
This YA trilogy is a companion to Armstrong's other books, since much of the same issues surface in these books as in the others.
The books start when Chloe Saunders suddenly starts seeing ghosts, even though she doesn't realize what's happening to her at first. After her breakdown at school, she is sent to a home for troubled teens. Gradually she realizes that all of the residents have some kind of special powers and starts wondering if that's why they are all in the same place.
Later books reveal more about the people in the home and behind the mystery, plus show how Chloe and her companions deal with their powers, bond together and outwit the adults after them.
What initially drew me to these books was a mention in the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books podcast, where one of them mentioned that one of the males was like a mini-Clay. I'd been curious about this series before, since I like Armstrong's books, but that was the clincher :D.
6. Jonathan Lethem: Musiikkiuutisia [Gun, with Occasional Music]
Dystopic noir crime novels with various drugs affecting people, their memories and behaviours. Okay, but not the masterpiece it's touted to be.
7. Fumi Yoshinaga: Ooku: The Inner Chambers, vol. 6 (manga)
I continue to like this manga that inverts the gender structure and has women in power. Maybe I've grown inured to the archaic language, since I no longer even notice the archaic speech forms used in the translation.
Related, I'm excited to see the new live versions that are planned to be filmed in the near future!
8.-9. Matsuri Hino: Vampire Knight, vol. 11-12 (manga)
Can't remember anything special to comment about these. Okay, there was some background manouvering, Yuki & Zero meeting for the first time after she left school, etc.
10.-12. Hiromu Arakawa: Fullmetal Alchemist, vol. 25-27 (manga)
I finally reached the end of this story. And what an adventure it was. The end battle was quite epic, fitting of the previous volumes, and the ending was just right for everybody who was still there at the end.
13. Jackie Kessler: Hell's Belles
Jezebel is a succubus, but she escaped from Hell after a change in management and hid in a human form to escape anyone trying to follow her.
Her new work as a stripper is easy after having seduced mortals for centuries, but then she falls in love. There are all these mortal feelings, but Hell is still after her. Everything works out in the end, of course.
This was okay light reading, and I might read more books in the series when I'm in the mood for light fluff :).
Currently reading:
Annette Blair: Naked Dragon (soon to be finished)
Jennifer Kloester: Georgette Heyer: Biography of a Bestseller (every now and then)