Travel Reading Part 6

For the last three months, I've been gone, walking across Canada with a group called Crossroads Pro-Life. I was very, very busy, but I did manage to read a few books. Blogging about them was a different story, however. So it's been so long now since I read many of them, that I thought I could do travel posts like I did last summer, and just write a couple sentences for each book.
So here goes the second Crossroads multi-review post:

"Rome Sweet Home" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn
Grade: 4 stars
For me, being a Catholic who grew up on Scott Hahn and Protestant conversion stories, there was nothing very new in this book. Still, it was well written, and it was interesting to read something that was so personal. It showed the same story from both Scott's and Kimberly's point of view, which sometimes I found slightly repetitive and sometimes I found fascinating.




"Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad" by Reki Kawahara
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
This is a Japanese light novel, and thus is (surprise, surprise) rather on the light side. Apparently there are a number of sides stories that used to be included online, and are also in the anime. I think those scenes would have filled this out a little more and made it more enjoyable. I generally have a rule that if a manga came before an anime, I have to read it before watching it. I do not have the same rule with light novels, and this is partly why. The anime has more depth and more story. (I think in the future I will try to watch the animes first, and if I really enjoy it, will read the light novels to get a different perspective on the characters.) But there was some cool stuff in here. Interesting ideas about living a video game.

"The Icebound Land" by John Flanagan
Grade: 2 1/2 stars
Third book in the Ranger's Apprentice series, after The Ruins of Gorlan and The Burning Bridge. I found this one slightly slower than the first two, but it may have been my mood at the time. And there was an awesome section with Horace, which I was very happy to see. Hopefully he continues to grow more and more awesome.




"The Last Guardian of Everness" by John C. Wright
Grade: 4 stars
A fantasy novel with a dream world, many mythological references, a rising and terrible evil, betrayal and disguise and mistaken identities. The imagery was fantastic, and was definitely my favourite part. But I liked almost the whole cast of characters, who were mostly interestingly nuanced. As a note, because I like to keep track of these things, my favourite character was Peter, although Azrael was quite fascinating too (the part where he rides home with a certain character was hilarious).


"Mists of Everness" by John C. Wright
Grade: 3 1/2 stars
Technically I finished this after my summer travelling, but it's the sequel to The Last Guardian of Everness, so I thought I'd stick in in the same post. These two books were basically two halves of the same story, not a book and its sequel (sort of like the three LotR books are really just one book). However, I didn't actually like this one quite as much as the first. It seemed a little more disjointed, plot-wise, than the first. It was still very enjoyable, however. I loved when the characters all got their particular weapons and were using them like bosses. Also, John C. Wright is Catholic, and I could see some themes that resonated with me because of this. I'm definitely going to try out more of his books (especially his scifi, which is what he's most known for).

Travel Reading Part 5

For the last three months, I've been gone, walking across Canada with a group called Crossroads Pro-Life. I was very, very busy, but I did manage to read a few books. Blogging about them was a different story, however. So it's been so long now since I read many of them, that I thought I could do travel posts like I did last summer, and just write a couple sentences for each book.
Here goes:

"A Civil Campaign" by Lois McMaster Bujold
Grade: 3 stars, maybe 2 1/2?
Actually a bit disappointed in this one--the first time for this series, I think. I'm not sure, though, if it was the book itself, or the fact that I'd just started Crossroads, or the fact that I'd heard more hype for this one than the others. It was definitely more Romance heavy, though, even than Komarr, and some of the romances were not to my taste. I still think Ekaterin is the perfect wife for Miles, though, and I greatly enjoyed the parts with them and with the Emperor Gregor.



"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz
Grade: 4 stars
A thriller/mystery/paranormal, where a fry cook named Odd who can see the dead and hints of the future has to save a town from a horrible fate. Dean Koontz is Catholic, and it shows up in little interesting ways in his books, which is quite cool for me. The mystery/thriller/paranormal part was interesting (especially the bodachs!), but I think it was Odd's character and relationships that stood out to me most (unusual for this kind of book).



"Brother Odd" by Dean Koontz
Grade: 4 stars
Third book in the Odd Thomas series (I was told to skip the second). This time, the Catholic elements are even more obvious, as Odd goes to hang out at a monastery while recovering from the events of the first novel. The paranormal aspects were more interesting this time as well (those weird bone creatures! and the bodachs!). Great fun.



"The Ruins of Gorlan" by John Flanagan
Grade: 3 stars, maybe 2 1/2?
First book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. Fairly standard beginning to a children's fantasy series, with a few attributes that make it stand out. Although... I forget what they are because it's been so long, haha. Obviously doesn't stand out that much. But I know I really enjoyed the training sections (seriously, some day I'm going to write a story that's half training montages--I love them), and the character of Horace.


"The Burning Bridge" by John Flanagan
Grade: 3 stars
Second book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. This is where it first starts to become less of a cliched fantasy series, but one of the main parts of this is a spoiler, so I can't talk about it. Horace is still my favourite character, and I hope he just grows more awesome as the series progresses.

Komarr

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Story summary: As this is the first book in the Miles in Love omnibus, I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that this is the book where he meets his future wife. But of course, this is a book about Miles, so there are also plots and shenanigans and lots of trouble.
See the others in this series: Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, and Memory.

Thoughts: Right after reading this book, I left for a three month trip across Canada, and I didn't have time to upkeep this blog. Thus my memory is definitely fuzzy, and the review will have to be short and lacking in details.

Basically, it felt a little like a lead-up to "A Civil Campaign" (the next book in the series) in the same way that Brothers in Arms felt a bit like a lead-up to Mirror Dance. But it was still extremely good, as is all of the Bujold I've read so far. I couldn't imagine someone who could actually be Miles's wife, whom both he and I would like immensely. But I should have trusted LMB. Ekaterin was perfect.

Grade: 4 stars