Fantastique Foibles & Fables

• Kate is as wonderful as ever. A bundle of fierce and vulnerability which makes her incredibly real to her readers. She's brave, sometimes reckless in her pursuit to save others, and a real heart of gold underneath that scratchy surface. One of my favourite quote of hers comes at the end, and it shows how much she has in her for those that she cares about most. It had me in tears and will no doubt be one of my favourite lines for a long time.
• The Beast Lord, the wonderful swoonsome Curran, is just as fierce with an edge of softness and a whole lot of bite. He also has words that melt you! Yet they're not flowery poetry of yore. Rather, they appear to come from the heart and are oh so sincere and it makes you fall in love with this fun character ever more.
• Jim, for he is big and badass and so incredibly funny in the most coolest of ways. Just don't niggle him back. He will no doubt make you pay in kind. :p
• Derek, Saiman, Dr Doolittle, Andrea, Dali and a whole bunch of characters that we have loved before are back. And better than ever.
• But best of all, is the villain. Toughest of them all and we thought the ending of Magic Strikes was particularly difficult.

• The virusology and the science behind the Zombie making is so well done, I think the author has me convinced that it is possible and all!
• The technology is very well explained as well.
• She uses Social Media and blogging, central to her plot and all. What's not to love?!
• Excellent use of blog entries to highlight the chapter before.
• Well drawn out main characters that the reader feels really sympathetic towards. I ended up having a real affinity for them all.

• Initially the writing appeared to be clunky, but as the book progressed, it became tighter and I didn't even notice anything major in that department.
• "the Bad guy" appeared to be a little too obvious from the start and could have been fleshed out (see what I did there? Harharhar) a little better with a bit more suspense.
• Due to the above, it did not completely make sense for the potential President-to-be to be so blind-sided.
• However these are MINOR gripes.

• Definitely! I spent the first half meandering along happily, enjoying the pace. Come the second half and the pace picked up, the writing became sharper, I became so engrossed that I read it in a couple of hours. Yep, it is definitely one of those books that I would recommend to everyone, including those that usually avoid the books in this genre. 
• And I have already recommended it to a few, ha. Slacker? Not I!

My sister had to ask me about the "story" of the EXCELLENT A Song of Ice and Fire at 12.30am last night. 2 hours later, she regretted it as I was just hitting my stride and had plenty more to say about the various characters and the political nature of the books.

Lets hope I have not put her off of this most awesome series. Soon to be coming to a TV near you and all.Very excited.

Hoping to convert bookworms near you!

I am quite a sad individual. During my downtime, I find myself furiosuly searching The Forbidden Planet site Events section to see if anyone of my favourite authors are coming for a book signing. Sigh. It's where I met the wonderful Patrick Rothfuss and had my copy of "The Name of the Wind" signed. A most celebrated event in my sad young life. Unfortunately, I missed out on Joe Abercrombie and many others.

Sadness.

So now I spend a lot of time checking the site in the hopes I get to meet another one of my favourite authors. One day I will meet them all and get my books signed!

One day.

We're all allowed to have dreams right? Even if they are considered a bit pathetic to the society at large!

Adios.

One of my recent greatest of Fantasy finds has been the ever wonderful Michelle Sagara (West). I have already mentioned her as one of my favourite authors and so I thought I should do a post dedicated to her series that I love most, especially given her upcpoming release in August, otherwise known as Cast in Chaos. But wait, we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

Cast in, is set in a mythical place called Elantra, where all manners of trouble (of the fantastical kind) occur. We follow Kaylin, humble beginnings and all, working for the Hawks (very much like the law enforcement of our world). A human in a world of races that are very different from our own, from the winged Aerian, to the perfect (not least immortal) Barrani...and then there be Dragons - rawr, poor Kaylin has a lot on her hands as she stumbles along to acquire acceptance amongst the Hawks, whilst battling the attention of things greater than she even knows and understands. For she is not just a mere mortal, oh no sirreeee. There's something strange about Kaylin. And in her ignorance, we join her on her journey of self-discovery, with plenty of ass-kicking along the way.

Each book builds on the character development, and every book is a rolicking adventures with an intriguing cast of main characters. From the Barrani Lord Nightshade (fans self), to the stable Severn (mmm), it's what I would call a different kind of adventure to the usual fantasy warefare we have out there. Information isn't shared with aplomb, rather it is earned along the way and I enjoyed that aspect quite a bit. All in all, a most wonderful series and I can't wait for Cast in Chaos.



The reasons why I liked it:

• Female Protagonist is tough but also vulnerable. Isn't whiney, grating, super perfect and holier than thou, etc. She appears quite well rounded, has a back story, isn't all about the attitude and seems to be on the journey of discovery just as much as the reader. She's witty, has certain character flaws and habits that make you smile as the series progresses and you can see her character develop as the series wear on.
• Engaging set of characters that appear very well thought out.
  
• An amazingly interesting world. It's not like anything else I've read.
• Story includes discovering/understanding various cultures of the world it's set in and I think that part is handled really beautifully and very detailed.
  
• Its pacey and doesn't lag.
• Very re-readable due to the engaging way it's written.

So yeah, what else is there to say? Go buy it and read this fantastic series.