Tag Archives: fantasy books

Jul 28 2016
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Book Review: The Weaver’s Lament by Elizabeth Haydon

the weavers lamentTitle: The Weaver’s Lament

Author: Elizabeth Haydon

Series: The Symphony of Ages #9

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: For a thousand years, the lands ruled by the Cymrian Alliance have been at peace. When the brutal death of a dear friend catapults the kingdom to the brink of civil war, Rhapsody finds herself in an impossible situation: forced to choose between her beloved husband, Ashe, and her two oldest friends, Grunthor and Achmed. Choosing her husband will mean the death of thousands of innocents. Siding against him will cost Rhapsody the other half of her soul, both in this life and the next. – Goodreads

 The Review:

“The Weaver’s Lament”, the ninth and final book in the “Symphony of Ages” series by Elizabeth Haydon, takes place over 1000 years after the conclusion of the previous book (“The Hollow Queen”). The first third of the book was an account of how the characters’ lives had progressed over the millennia. It read much like an extended epilogue, which I didn’t mind because I’m always clamoring for more “where are they now?” content at the end of a good series. Even though this catch-up-the-reader storytelling wasn’t particularly eventful, it was enjoyable.

Then Haydon used the remainder of the book to rip out my heart… and I’m still reeling.

I love this series first of all for the characters – it’s one of the few that boasts nonhumans as main POVs, a trait which demands much more creativity on the author’s part. The series also has dragons (which is always a win in my book), and they’re represented in a way I’ve never seen before, so major kudos to Haydon for originality. I also love it for its total immersion into this world’s rich culture and histories. The world is so well conceived it feels like a real place, and I will probably miss the overall “feel” of it more than anything else.

I admit I hadn’t enjoyed the last couple of books as much as I’d wanted to, even though they were good stories. I think the reason might be the multiple perspectives used to tell the tale. For me, the selling point of this series has always been about the Three – Rhapsody, Grunthor, and Achmed. While the other POVs were interesting, they just didn’t bring the same flare to the story. In “Weaver’s Lament”, Hayden recaptured the magic of the series by focusing solely on the Three and bringing their epic saga to an end.

Overall, “Weaver’s Lament” was one of the more satisfying series enders I’ve read in ages. The series as a whole is well worth your time if you like fantasy. Even so, I find it a little difficult to recommend with confidence. The first hundred pages or so of book one are hard to get through (not including the awesome prologue), mostly because it’s a bit confusing and drawn-out. The series also has a ton of story recap and discussion which, while integrated seamlessly, sometimes takes away from plot advancement. Between all of that, however, are moments of pure brilliance which make the whole series worthwhile. All the rehashing might make for a long-winded story, but after reading this series over the course of fifteen years, I can honestly say I remember almost everything about it quite vividly. My recommendation is, if you love fantasy and have a bit of patience, pick up The Symphony of Ages series – it won’t let you down.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Apr 29 2016
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Book Review: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

a natural history of dragonTitle: A Natural History of Dragons

Author: Marie Brennan

Series: Memoir of Lady Trent #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 2.5 stars

The Overview: All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever. 

The Review:

I’ve been stalling on writing this review because I have so many conflicting emotions about it – it has been hard to get my thoughts straight. Up to about a third of the way through the novel, I was certain it was going to be one of my new all-time favorites. Every last element sang to me in a way that only a handful of novels ever have:

  • A young girl who dreams of studying dragons in a society that considers that a very unladylike endeavor.
  • A memoir narration from this girl many decades later indicating that she broke through all of the societal constraints and is now considered the foremost expert in the field.
  • A sweet love story where she meets someone willing to accept and share her passions.
  • The promise of adventure as she sets out to study her first specimen at an exotic location.
  • And of course, an abundance of dragons!

All of these elements were in line with my personal passions – books, dragons, and nature – and brought them together in a way that made me lose myself within the pages. It was magical!

But, alas, the magic didn’t carry through the entire story. ::sobs::

There were several issues that arose as the novel progressed, and I lament because ALL OF THEM could’ve been avoided with a different outlining strategy/focus on the author’s part.

The major one was the main conflict of the story. In a book about a dragon-nut going on a wild adventure to study dragons in a way never before attempted, I feel strongly that the main conflict SHOULD HAVE REVOLVED AROUND THE DRAGONS. Instead, the dragons remained on the periphery of the story and were only loosely related to what drove 2/3 of the book. It focused on a mystery surrounding a small village, a larger village, some old ruins, a handful of bandits, and some politicking between all of them – none of which had absolutely anything meaningful to do with the dragons and, frankly, could have been easily adjusted to omit the dragons altogether. What an opportunity wasted!!! I’m still agonizing over it.

The second issue was with characterization… particularly that of the main character. She was a bright woman who wanted nothing more than to study dragons. This obsession made her a bit reckless at times when dragons were concerned, which is consistent with her character (and an element I appreciated). What isn’t consistence is how she kept making harebrained decisions when no dragons were involved at all. Stupid stuff. Stuff that leaves you going “no half-intelligent person would do that! What is wrong with this woman?!” It was frustrating, to say the least. The only thing I can figure is that the author orchestrated these odd decisions because she couldn’t figure out another way to advance the plot and get the character from point A to point B any other way. But that’s just me theorizing…

Ugh. Overall, I both fawn and agonize over A Natural History of Dragons, and am really nervous to pick up the second one. I’ll keep in mind that Brennan has the ability to dazzle me and what was done well was done brilliantly enough to give me hope going forward.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Apr 27 2016
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Coming Soon: The Weaver’s Lament by Elizabeth Haydon

the weavers lamentTitle: The Weaver’s Lament

Author: Elizabeth Haydon

Series: Symphony of Ages #9

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: June 21, 2016

The Overview: For a thousand years, the lands ruled by the Cymrian Alliance have been at peace. When the brutal death of a dear friend catapults the kingdom to the brink of civil war, Rhapsody finds herself in an impossible situation: forced to choose between her beloved husband, Ashe, and her two oldest friends, Grunthor and Achmed. Choosing her husband will mean the death of thousands of innocents. Siding against him will cost Rhapsody the other half of her soul, both in this life and the next. In The Weaver’s Lament, the lines between the past and future are irrevocably blurred, and the strength of true love is tested in unthinkable ways. Bestselling author Elizabeth Haydon has delivered a spectacular conclusion to the Symphony of Ages.

Waiting on Wednesday
Hosted by Breaking the Spine

What’s that, you say? The final Symphony of Ages book is on its way? Well, it’s about time! :-)

I feel like I’ve been reading and rereading this series for half my life, so it’s nice to finally have a conclusion in sight (I was being facetious, but I think I first read Rhapsody when I was 16… I’m 30 now, so I literally HAVE been reading this series for half my life… weird). There certain things about The Symphony of Ages that make it super brilliant and memorable, and others that make it very difficult to recommend with confidence. I have to say, book 8 (The Hollow Queen) was my least favorite of the series so far (too much dialogue and recap, not enough plot advancement, and the resolution of a major conflict that was very anti-climatic). Because of that, I’m a little wary of what the end might bring – hopefully it will be every bit worth the long wait.

What book are you waiting on?

by Niki Hawkes

Apr 19 2016
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Book Review: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Title: The Fifth Season

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Series: The Broken Earth #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Overview: This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries. Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

The Review:

“The Fifth Season” by N. K. Jemisin first came across my radar when one of the authors I follow casually mentioned that it had a lot of great world-building. In fantasy, I find the more expansive the world-building, the more I tend to become immersed in the story. It has the power to leave me feeling like I’d done more than read a good book, I also had an experience with it. This is probably why I value world-building so highly when evaluating speculative fiction titles. Anyway, when “The Fifth Season” was announced as a nominee for the 2015 Nebula Awards, I knew I had to read it asap.

And it was one of the coolest books I’ve read in ages!

One of my favorite things about the book (and there were many) was the story construction. It was unconventional and totally unlike anything I’ve ever read. Jemisin wove together three POVs (one of which was written in 2nd person) that at first seemed unrelated, but you still got the sense that they’d eventually come together brilliantly (which they did). Jemisin broke rules left and right, deviating from what we are taught makes up solid story construction, and it was fantastic! She clearly knew enough about the rules of writing to break them and still have a solid piece of work to present. If I ever teach a class on writing technique, “The Fifth Season” will be one of my favorite books to have students analyze – it really was that well-done.

Jemisin created a world in which the very earth itself rises up against its inhabitants. The people are at the mercy of the various “seasons” which decimate the population whenever (and wherever) they strike. With such unstable environments, you’d think working together for survival would be everyone’s primary concern. People will be people, however, which means there was no shortage of politicking, power-seeking, and discriminating to be had. It was a fascinating composition of elements that somehow managed to be both foreign in presentation yet completely relatable in concept.

For example, prejudice is very prevailent through the book, but the targets are those gifted with the talent to sense and manipulate movement within the earth. It’s a subtle representation, but definitely makes you aware of the unfairness of each situation based on unjustified things beyond the victim’s control. It’s an aspect I really loved about “The Fifth Season” because it helped make the story thought-provoking and not just downright entertaining. The book also showed diversity in sexual identity and orientation, which you don’t come across too often in fantasy works. I applaud the author for not discriminating in her character construction and reminding us that, at the end of the day, were all just people doing our best to survive and find a measure of happiness.

Overall, I can see why “The Fifth Season” is getting so much attention and think it totally deserves every bit of it. It provided everything I want from a fantasy novel while shattering boundaries and disrupting the status quo at every turn. If I had any complaints, it’s that I’m craving to understand how this world works even more, and the second book (“The Obelisk Gate”) doesn’t come out until next August – woe is me! Fair warning: sexual content and language.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Feb 24 2016
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DNF Q&A: The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind

The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind

Title: The Omen Machine

Author: Terry Goodkind

Series: Richard and Kahlan #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: DNF

The Overview: #1 New York Times-bestselling author Terry Goodkind returns to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell—in a compelling tale of a new and sinister threat to their world. In addition to concluding the Sword of Truth series, The Omen Machine also launches the new series of “Richard and Kahlan.

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The Q&A:

This is a reviewing feature I’ve been eyeballing on one of my favorite book blogs There Were Books Involved for a couple years now because I think it’s an excellent way to talk about an unfinished book fairly. I’m incredibly grateful because Nikki (the brains behind the blog, who has a most excellent name)  kindly allowed me to steal the idea and questions for my own blog. As my list of “amazing books to read” continues to grow, I find I have less and less time and patience to devote to the books I’m just not enjoying. I never would have considered DNFing a book ten years ago, but then I came across a quote, “Read the best books first, for you might not have the chance to read them all,” and have since made it my personal mantra. So let the Q&A begin!

I’m a Richard and Kahlan fan to the point where my unborn child would’ve been named “Kaylen” had he been a girl, thereby representing my all-time favorite female character from anything I’ve ever read. If that’s not fangirl enough to show my passion for elements of this series, I don’t know what is. I was willing to overlook the Pillars of Creation because I thought the Chainfire trilogy really redeemed the ending of the saga. Heck, I was even willing to overlook the uninspiring prequel The First Confessor, but finally have to admit that this series is no longer doing anything for me. Omen Machine lacked everything that once made the series special. I’ll elaborate:

Did you really give the Omen Machine a chance?

I think so – I read at least half of the book, if not more, before deciding to put it down.

Have you enjoyed other books in the same genre before?

Emphatically, YES! Fantasy is my favorite genre and I still consider the Sword of Truth series a must-read for fellow fanatics.

What ultimately made you stop reading?

I mentioned above that I feel the series has reached a point where it no longer contains the elements that made it special, and unfortunately it also exacerbated all the things I’ve criticized it for. For examples, Omen Machine lacked a sense of adventure and discovery (not to mention world building), didn’t have a clear purpose to the story (or villain, as far as I read), had zero romantic tension/love story, and really didn’t give the characters much to do other than stand around and argue over magical theory. And argue they did… holy shit.

Goodkind has always been accused of needlessly beating his readers over the head with concepts that are fairly simple to grasp. In Omen Machine, there was essentially nothing other than theory and concept driving the plot, and the resulting tirade of repetitive dialogue was enough to make me pull my hair out (and don’t even get me started on the ten page argument the characters had over how to implement a card catalog system in the palace library). It’s like Richard had to say everything four different ways before he was completely satisfied, then a talking-head character would step in and say “what you mean?” and he’d proceed to explain it four more ways. Then, another character would jump in and add one more tiny nuance of a fact and the whole cycle would start all over again. After one such scene went on for over twenty pages, I decided they had about ten more to finish the conversation and continue the plot before I got fed up. After another dozen more had passed with no end in sight, I’d had enough! I put the book down. For all I know the characters beat each other into bloody pulps with all the explanations. I just knew I didn’t want to risk joining them.

This is harsh, but I’m really disappointed in Goodkind. Omen Machine came across as self-indulgent and lazy – it always takes more effort to edit your work down to something concise (which this book desperately needed) than it does to add more detail. But then, cutting out all of the needless repetition would mean he wouldn’t have been anywhere near his word count and would’ve had to replace the vacancies with things like, I don’t know, storytelling and plot advancement. That’s a scathing as you’ll probably ever hear me get, but I just expected so much more at this point and he really let me down.

Was there anything you liked about Omen Machine?

Frankly, no.

Would you read anything else by this author?

Yeah, I actually would if he started a new fantasy series with fresh concepts and characters. I feel like part of his problem with this novel was trying to extrapolate more from the story that had nothing else left to give.

So you DNF’d the book – would you still recommend it?

I definitely still recommend the Sword of Truth series, but unless you just can’t stand not having a new book with Richard and Kahlen’s names in the text, I’d say skip this one. Honestly, I thought the ending to the SoT series was really satisfying, so I’m going to continue pretending like the saga actually ended there.

Other books you might like better:

by Niki Hawkes

Feb 22 2016
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Series Review [So Far]: Mistborn 4-6 (Wax and Wayne) by Brandon Sanderson

Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

The Wax and Wayne Series [So Far]
(Mistborn 4-6)
by Brandon Sanderson
4.75/5 stars

I’m a huge Sanderson fan, and these latest books in the Mistborn saga are just three more very compelling reasons why he’s one of my favorite authors.

If you aren’t familiar with the Mistborn series, here’s a little more about it: Sanderson originally meant to tell the story across three trilogies (a high fantasy, a contemporary, and a science fiction). The first set (Mistborn 1-3) was published between 2006 & 2008. Somewhere along the way, while working on a plethora of other projects, Sanderson got a wild hair and decided to add what I’m calling a “bonus” series – a set of four books that focus on the characters Wax and Wayne. This bonus series, set a few hundred years after the first Mistborn trilogy, is a fantasy/mystery hybrid set in an era resembling the 1920s. While these books are strong enough to stand on their own, readers would benefit from exploring the entire series in order of publication (starting with Mistborn: The Final Empire) to fully enjoy the rich history and nuances of character this saga has to offer.

This spoiler-free review will focus on the Wax and Wayne series (thus far) as follows:

The Alloy of Law:

I really enjoyed this novel and thought it was a great introduction to both the new era and characters within the Mistborn saga. The characters all caught my attention right away with their interesting backstories, but Sanderson really only scratched the surface of their depth in this first book. The mystery was also engaging, but it’s not until the next few books where you see how it ties in to the arc of the saga as a whole. Overall, The Alloy of Law was a light first read that’s entertaining and worth your time… but you ain’t seen nothing yet!

4/5 stars

Shadows of Self:

After finishing Shadows of Self, I was certain it would be my favorite of the series, it was that good (and yet IT GETS EVEN BETTER in the final book). It not only brought in a fresh mystery that clearly tied into the overall arc of the series, but also offered a glimpse into a few characters’ pasts. Strength of character is easily one of the trilogy’s best elements, and I particularly appreciated the chance to learn more about each person’s quirks and inner motives. This book is when I knew for certain that Wayne, the loyal sidekick of the story, was my favorite character because a) he’s hysterical and b) it was fun to see him in his element (incognito, doing very serious detective stuff… wink wink). Also, as hinted at earlier, there’s a point in this novel where things start to tie back to the original trilogy in a way that had all of my nostalgic meters beeping off the charts. But the tiebacks were subtle, which made them accessible to new readers of the saga. Overall, Shadows of Self was a very strong work filled with mystery, action, humor, and a few surprises that might just knock your socks off (I’m still looking for mine, they flew so far).

4.75/5 stars

Bands of Mourning:

I could barely put Bands of Mourning down. Every single last page was engaging and exciting, culminating towards an ending that had me stalking the author for news on the next one (which is on hold for a couple years while the author finishes up Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archive series, and incidentally the only series I’d be okay with postponing this one for – can you say amazing?!). What stood out to me about Bands of Mourning, aside from the obvious aforementioned character depth, world building, excellent action scenes, and spot-on pacing, was that it felt like Sanderson had an absolute blast while writing it. It maintained its serious base plotlines while at the same time managing to be positively hilarious. I laughed out loud for what felt like most of the book while still reveling at all the twists and turns. Sanderson gets yet another A++ for execution on this one, landing it not only as my favorite book of the series so far, but one of my favorite books of all time!

5/5 stars!

Overall, is this bonus Mistborn trilogy worth your time? Definitely. Fans of the series will enjoy the continuation and delight in the new characters while newcomers will (hopefully) be intrigued enough to go back and see where the saga started. I consider Sanderson a must-read for any fan of the fantasy genre, and this latest set of books are no exception!

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes