Tag Archives: fantasy books

Sep 27 2014
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Stacking the Shelves – September 2014 Edition!

Stacking the shelves

Hosted by Tinga’s Reviews

I have to admit, of all of the memes my fellow bloggers participate in, Stacking the Shelves is my favorite. I love seeing the books other readers are bringing home and especially love getting peeks at all of the ARCs floating around out there (I don’t get physical copies often, so it’s nice to live vicariously through those that do). Because I’m doing a self-imposed Read 4, Buy 1 challenge, I only participate in STS once a month – let’s face it, no one needs a play-by-play of the single titles I’m getting every couple of weeks. This month, however, could of been a different story because I broke my rule (*sort of) and I broke it in style!

New Hardcopies:

 Considering I only purchased a couple “new” books this month, I can think of many other authors I’d be THIS excited to add to my collection! And two of them are SIGNED!!!! The Kim Harrison one will have to wait until I’m caught up in the series (I’ve been savoring them), but I am ready and eager to devour this short story collection by Patricia Briggs! And, of course, I’ve already read and loved the Rothfuss. :)

“Used” Hardcopies:

haul3

 *You see, there is an addendum in my R4B1 challenge (which I added, of course) which states that I may break the rules and buy books if 1) I find them at a screaming deal or 2) they are among the half-dozen titles I’ve been searching for to complete certain series within my hardcover collection. Thank goodness for this amazing bookstore in Seattle, because I found almost ALL THE THINGS I have been looking for, and at a bargain to boot!! So, technically I cheated (from a financial standpoint), but technically all of these titles fall into that “addendum” category so I’m letting it slide…

It amazes me how us book-lovers can rationalize away potentially destructive behaviors… Books are definitely my drug of choice.

The Used Bookstore of All Things AWESOME:

And this is where I sold my soul. Seriously, this bookstore went on for miles! The photo on the right is ALL Science Fiction/ Fantasy, and there was even more behind me! I was in heaven. :-)

Library Books:

library

Four books really isn’t that many to have checked out at a time, so why have I been so stressed? Oh, yeah! It’s because I went to request-crazy and put another 10+ books on hold (which will be trickling in within the next month). Reading new books before I buy them is a part of my strategy to cut back on book buying (and it’s working), but I still occasionally feel like library books fall into that deadly “obligation” category, regardless of how awesome they are. In any case, I’m stoked to read anything by Ann Aguirre, and Shaheen over at Speculating on SpecFic has me all pumped about The Falcon Throne (read her review and you’ll see why), so I’m still excited about this month’s haul.

ARCs:

 Seriously, what would I do without Netgalley and Edelweiss? While these books may not be at the top of my priority list, I’m definitely excited that I have the opportunity to read them!

 Well, that just about does it for my adventures in book buying this month – I hope you enjoyed going on that mini journey with me. I just have one more question: what books stacked YOUR shelves this month? :-)

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 22 2014
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Top Ten Books on My Fall 2014 TBR!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

These TBR posts are my favorites to compose because I get to go sit in front of my collection of books and decide which ones I’m looking forward to reading the most. Any time I have an excuse to go stare at my shelves is a good time. Since I got so much good reading done on my Alaskan cruise, I decided to designate a few spots to releases that haven’t quite hit the shelves yet (but ones I plan to pick up immediately). Here’s a look at my:

Top Ten Books on My Fall 2014 TBR!


 The one I’m probably most excited to read at the moment is Fortune’s Pawn, as it’s written by the same author who created the awesome Eli Monpress series (Rachel Aaron writing as Rachel Bach).

What books make the top of your TBR?

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 21 2014
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Book Review: Spirit’s End by Rachel Aaron

Spirit's endTitle: Spirit’s End

Author: Rachel Aaron

Series: The Legend of Eli Monpress #5

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Eli Monpress is clever, he’s determined, and he’s in way over his head. First rule of thievery: don’t be a hero. When Eli broke the rules and saved the Council Kingdoms, he thought he knew the price, but resuming his place as the Shepherdess’s favorite isn’t as simple as bowing his head. Now that she has her darling back, Benehime is setting in motion a plan that could destroy everything she was created to protect, and even Eli’s charm might not be enough to stop her. But Eli Monpress always has a plan, and with disaster rapidly approaching, he’s pulling in every favor he can think of to make it work, including the grudging help of the Spirit Court’s new Rector, Miranda Lyonette. But with the world in panic, the demon stirring, and the Lord of Storms back on the hunt, it’s going to take more than luck and charm to pull Eli through this time. He’s going to have to break a few more rules and work with some old enemies if he’s going to survive.

Spirit's end 2

The Review:

If you are a fantasy-lover and have not yet had the pleasure to read The Legend of Eli Monpress, you are missing out. This series has some of the best world-building of any series I’ve ever read. Combine that with great characters, a cool magic system, originality, an engaging plot, and a fantastic writing style, and you can begin to see why I hold this author and series in such high regard. Aaron is such a great writer that, in my opinion, there’s not a single element storytelling from a craft standpoint that she doesn’t do brilliantly.

With that said, you would think composing this review would be a walk in the park, however, I’ve stalled on writing it longer than any other book this year. I loved how it wrapped up all of the conflicts of the series. It was a beautifully epic series that deserved an epic ending, and that’s exactly what it got. I feel really guilty for saying this, but I think the ending may have been just a tad bit too drawn out. It essentially took up a full third of the book, making me hold my breath uncomfortably for a really long time. There was so much momentum going into this last book that I don’t know how Aaron could have done it any other way. I wanted to know what happened badly enough to devour it in one sitting, but definitely had one of those Lord of the Rings (film) moments where I wasn’t sure if it was actually ever going to end. As with the LOTR, although it felt drawn out, I couldn’t tell you which part I felt she should cut… it was all essential to completing the plot and everything needed time to fully flesh out (not to mention the dozen or so amazing characters that needed proper resolution). Anyway, I think you can see why I’ve had such conflict over this one. Let’s suffice to say, now that I’m finished with the series, I eventually loved where it ended. We ‘ll leave it at that.

I’m actually kind of sad it’s over – I thoroughly enjoyed these characters, some of which are now among my all-time favorites (Nico, I’m talking to you). This is one of those books I will definitely go back and reread, if for nothing else than to study the craft because, seriously, Aaron is brilliant. The good news is, I just found out she published a space opera trilogy under the name Rachel Bach, so you’d better believe I will be devouring those as soon as I can get my hands on them!

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 16 2014
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Top Ten Fantastic Authors I Need to Read More From!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

So many books and so little time! You all know how it is: you read a single book from fantastic author and then never quite manage to make your way back to them despite the best intentions. I have a difficult time reading books in a series back to back (it’s a sickness that comes from wanting to read ALL THE BOOKS!). So more often than not brilliant (new to me) 5-star authors get put in a queue behind authors and series I’m already highly invested in. The bad news? I usually end up waiting ages before continuing. The good news? I know from this list that I have at least ten amazing authors to look forward to… eventually. Behold:

Top Ten Fantastic Authors I Need to Read More From!

Some of these novels made my top ten list of 2013. I can’t wait to read more!

What authors would make your list?

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 14 2014
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Book Review: Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

Dragon songTitle: Dragonsong

Author: Anne McCaffrey

Series: Harper Hall Trilogy #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: Every two hundred years or so, shimmering threads fall, raining black ruin on Pern. The great dragons of Pern hurl themselves through the beleaguered skies, flaming tongues of fire to destroy deadly Thread and save the planet. It was not Threadfall that made Menolly unhappy. It was her father who betrayed her ambition to be a Harper, who thwarted her love of music. Menolly had no choice but to run away. She came upon a group of fire lizards, wild relatives of the fire-breathing dragons. Her music swirled about them; she taught nine to sing, suddenly Menolly was no longer alone.

Dragon song 2

The Review:

This is going to be a fairly short review for a really great dragon book. I don’t know that I can honestly claim to have a Dragon Obsession with out having read at least a few McCafferys (although I’d like to note I eventually plan on reading all them). Even though Dragonsong is only the first book of the Harper Hall Trilogy, I can already tell it’s going to be just as good as the original Dragonriders of Pern series.

As with Pern, I initially had trouble getting into the flow of the story because of the writing style – it’s not exactly what I would call accessible. McCaffrey uses a rather high-brow language that can sometimes make you feel as if you’re trying to read a textbook. While I think the more readers you can retain with your writing the better, this particular writing style is part of what makes these books unique, so they get a lot of allowances where other books might not. I only had a difficult time focusing at the beginning of the book, but once I settled into the flow of the language, the story came alive.

I absolutely love Dragonsong’s storyline – it’s about a teenaged girl who accidentally enthralls a bunch of fire lizards with her remarkable music. The main character, Mellony, was as charming as she was atypical. She is not a petite, helpless little waif but a tall, strong, capable young woman who knows what she wants out of life (even though she doesn’t always get it). I found her incredibly likable because of how humble, hard-working, compassionate she was – I can totally see why the fire lizards were drawn to her.

I liked this story so much that I’m kind of kicking myself for not continuing on straight away. I’m eager to see where Mellony’s story takes her next and am secretly hoping for some sort of love story to develop. Overall, if you like McCaffery (or dragons in general) I think you’ll enjoy Dragonsong. It takes place chronologically after Dragonquest of the Dragonriders of Pern series, but right before The White Dragon, so you may at the very least want to read the first two of that trilogy to avoid spoilers. In trying to figure out what order to read the books in, I found the lists on this website very helpful.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Sep 9 2014
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Top Ten Underrated Fantasy Authors!

top ten tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 I did a TTT similar to this many moons ago so I need to apologize to the handful of you who have been following me since then. I normally don’t repeat topics, but I strongly feel that these authors deserve just as much of a spotlight as the well-known mainstream authors (if not more). Talking about brilliant authors most people haven’t discovered yet is why I love being a bookseller and a book blogger. It’s impossible to read all the books, so you might as well read the best. I should point out that these authors may not be technically “underrated” but they are certainly deserving of more recognition!

Top Ten Underrated Fantasy Authors!

 Not only are these epic, well-rounded fantasies, but also happened to be among my all-time favorites. Their writing, plots, characters, and world-building are phenomenal and on par with (and in some cases better than) any other fantasies on the market. These authors deserve kudos for their amazing story-telling, and I plan to continue championing them for as long as I can. If you love fantasy and need some good reading, this is a great place to start!

by Niki Hawkes