So You Want to Be a Wizard?

by Diane Duane

Grade: Good

I think it's not "Good" because I'm tired and my back is sore and I have too many books to read. Because the magic was cool, the allegorical references to angels were awsome, and I loved Fred. And the living machines...that was so weird. I think really that was my favourite part. The living stars and objects and plants seemed so Chestertonian and Lewisian and Tolkienesque and good.

EDIT: Ok. It's "Good" now. If it didn't have the flaws, it would be "To Own".
EDIT 2: Ok, now I own it. I'm not really sure what flaws I was talking about above.

Hexwood

by Diana Wynne Jones

Grade: All right

It was rather confusing. Basically, it was book all about a bunch of people who get thrown around into multiptle situations and times and places over and over and sometimes know it and sometimes don't. And some of them turn out to be King Arthur and Merlin, rather randomly.
Usually I like D.W.J.'s randomness, but this just went a bit too far in that direction.
It was dedicated to Neil Gaiman, though, which was cool. I love these British authors' dedications.

Flora Segunda

by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Grade: All right

It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it would be. But it was terribly original. The whole setup of the society, the language, the magic was quite amazing. And there's a sequel, and more planned, so this should give me some of the stuff I thought was lacking in the first one.

The Westing Game

by Ellen Raskin

Grade: All right

It looked good from the inside cover. But it didn't live up to it. The style was quite strange--I found it distracting and uninteresting--and the end was confusing.

However, I did finish it quickly. That says something, I think.

More Information Than You Require

by John Hodgman

Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 352, plus random other stuff throughout

There's just too much in here to properly read through. One needs to own this sort of book.
However any faults of un-readability it may have had were totally and utterly redeemed by a mention of The Doctor!!!!! on page 288. It was the Sixth Doctor, which isn't my favourite, but it's The Doctor all the same. To quote:

"But Van Buren's shrunken-head necklace was imported from France, and in all respects he was known as something of a free-spending dandy, favoring brightly colored vests and ascots and strange, luminous wiastcoats. Only later did we find out that this was because he was a Time Lord."

The Foundling

by Georgette Heyer

Grade: All right.

I liked the hero fairly well, and some of the secondary characters well enough, but it didn't have enough sparkle, especially as it neared the end. The first half was quite amusing. The heroine was hardly in it at all, which I thought I might not mind, but I did.

The Ropemaker

by Peter Dickinson

Grade: Good

I think I like Robin McKinley better. But I definitely want to read more Peter Dickinson. For this one, I was hoping to have a bit more at the end about what happened to the Ropemaker and Tilja. There's a sequal, but it happens a long time after this one.

Pyramids

by Terry Pratchett

Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 64

I kind of remember now why I didn't really like T.P. at first. I loved the first part of this book, where it describes the Guild of Assassins in much greater detail than usual. I think I loved it because I was familiar with it. T.P. needs familiarity.
So then the rest of the book was mostly about Egyptian stuff--no Ankh-Morpork...sniff...--so I couldn't really read it.

The Black Tattoo

by Sam Enthoven

Grade: All right

It had some quite cool, creepy strange parts. I especially liked the tattoo itself. But then...it got a bit action-y and movie-ish.
Plus there was the rotten theology.

100 Cupboards

by N. D. Wilson

Grade: Good/To Own

If it turns out to be a series, I might need to own this one.
It was creepy, cool, and Faerie. There's pretty much endless potential--I mean, 100 cupboards? With just one cupboard, Lewis created seven books.
The only problem was that most of the characters bugged me a lot. Especially Henrietta and Anastasia. Man, they bugged me. But they didn't ruin the book. I loved the book.

Dogsbody

by Diana Wynne Jones

Grade: All right

Not as good as I expected from a review. I thought it would be something like Fire and Hemlock, but it wasn't really. I mean, it was still excellent really, just a bit disappointing.
I loved the stars, though. Especially Sol. And the very end was kind of nice.
I didn't quite get the dark guy, the underworld guy. I guess because I don't know whatever legend or myth she was basing him on.

The Shadow Thieves

by Anne Ursu

Grade: Good

I got interupted in the middle by Ben, so I don't think I liked it as much as I could have. And I was always comparing it to The Lightning Thief, which I like better. Mostly because of the gods, I think. Hades was so cool in Lightning Thief. He was just a bit silly in this one.
But I guess I'll keep it Good instead of All right. It was quite unique and amusing, after all. I think in a different mood, I might like it exceedingly. But as it is, it doesn't really resonate at all.