Sunday, November 29, 2009

Unafraid of Virginia Wolf

by Joseph Pearce

Grade: Unfinished
Read: A bit of the preface.

I'm still going to read this. The Campbells seem like two incredible people. Strange, yes. (They both had affairs with other people, Mary Campbell with Vita Sackville-West.) Fascinating, yes. (They both converted to Catholicism, Roy Campbell was an Inkling.) I'm just a bit busy at the moment.

Pistols for Two

by Georgette Heyer

Grade: All right

No really good ones. I was hoping one of those stories would be as splendid as Grand Sophy, Masqueraders, or Cotillion. But none were. Mostly just the lazy-eyed, 30-year-old type as hero. Which isn't bad in small doses, but almost all of them?

Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb

by Kirsten Miller

Grade: All right

Kiki was great and Kay-Kay-Bay-ish, as last time, (although she's a bit nicer and more into "getting along" than KKB).

I liked Kasper. I liked that the first and only romantic relationship went to Betty, of all people.
I disliked that it seemed somewhat obvious at times. Perhaps that's because it's written for younger people. Although young people's books don't always have to be like that.
Anyway, I'll read the next one.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Second Siege

by Henry H. Neff

Grade: Good

The similarities to Harry Potter were WAY lessened this time. Firstly, the relationship between David and Max almost has Max in the position of side-kick. Secondly he's the son of the fairy king!!! (Or something like that.) Thirdly...well, there's too many other things. I don't want to mention them all. Just know that it's different now.

It's also a bit confusing. It tends to jump around a bit. For a long time, they were just running and hiding, and hiding and running, and then BANG, stuff happened, they were in Faerie, "Max, I am your father", ages of physical training (perhaps years!), and it all goes by in a flash. Oh, and then a quick meeting with the evil-wicked-demon bad guy, but it's not significant, because now we have to go to a couple weeks of sitting around and recouperating.
And the part where he defeats Level 9...it seemed like he was having a fight with someone, and then he got so mad, that he stormed off and worked at this test thingy. Not exactly a typical reaction...It really confused me.

Actually, I really liked it, though it might not seem like it. It was a bit jumpy, but I liked it that way. It had a nasty cliff hanger, and the library doesn't have the next one!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Wizards at War

by Diane Duane

Grade: Good

Quite...apocolyptic, this one. As with many of the earlier ones, there were some fascinating ideas about the nature of time and angels, but also some bad theology.

It got a bit confusing, especially near the end. I'm afraid I didn't really get the Ponch stuff. What exactly was he? And had he always been that? I also didn't get exactly who the "someone standing at the end of his driveway" on the last page was. I assume it was Nita, but it seems a bit strange.

On the pro side, I liked Roshaun in this one, and Dairine too. The end was quite devistating, but it was also ambiguous, so there's hope.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Wizard's Holiday

by Diane Duane

Grade: Good

Not my favourite. The visiting aliens were interesting and amusing, but Kit and Nita's part was a bit boring.
I liked Spot's "Uh-oh"s, though. They were cute!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The King of Attolia

by Magan Whalen Turner

Grade: To Own

....................

Post-reading euphoria.
Tears.
Shaky returning to the normal world.

"He is an Annux, a king of kings."