News - Updates on "Shiver" Book 2, "Wondrous Strange" Book 2, and Theatre Illuminata Book 2

I was again working on updating my book reading chart and came across some information that I didn't know previously.

I started reading "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater and was curious about the status of future books in the series. It ends up that it will be a trilogy. The second book will be titled "Linger" and will be released in Fall of 2010. Stiefvater is currently working on writing the third book which will be titled "Forever". For more info check out the author's website here.

I also finally got "Wondrous Strange" by Lesley Livingston from the library. It ends up this is also going to be a trilogy. The second book entitled "Darklight" will be out this December. Check out the beautiful cover art for it below. Also for more information visit Livingston's blog here.


And finally I also got my copy of "Eyes Like Stars: Theatre Illuminata, Act 1" by Lisa Mantchev. This is going to be another trilogy. The Second book "Perchance to Dream" will be released in the Fall of 2010. Go to the Theatre Illuminata website for more info!

Looks like next fall is big for more books!

Mailbox Monday - 10/5

Mailbox Monday can be found at The Printed Page.

Another week with only a few books received. I got a couple new books from the Amazon Vine program: "A Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces" by Harry Connolly and "Shiver" by Maggie Steifvater. Child of Fire is being compared to the Dresden Files so we will see. Shiver has gotten rave reviews from a number of folks, so I am hoping it is good. I also got "Poison Ink" by Christopher Golden from paperbackswap.com. I have read Christopher Golden books that I liked previously; so I hope this one will also be a good (if creepy) read.


"Child of Fire" by Harry Connolly

First Sentence: "It felt good to sit behind the wheel again, even the wheel of a battered Dodge Sprinter."
From Amazon.com: "Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He’s the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him–or let someone else do the job.
Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise’s next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who’s sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must find–and destroy–the source of that inhuman magic."

"Shiver" by Maggie Steifvater

First Sentence: "I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves."
From Amazon.com: "For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever."

"Poison Ink" by Christopher Golden

First Sentence: "Pieces of her are broken."
From Amazon.com: "SAMMI, TQ, CARYN, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School—except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends’ backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls’ entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what—if anything—can Sammi do to get them back? This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read."

That's it for this week! I hope that everyone has a good week :-) I have to go and read something :-)

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert (4/5 stars)

I am trying to catch up on all the Gaiman stories I have missed. This looked like a pretty interesting one; I mean how cool is it to re-imagine all of the Marvel characters in 1602? Overall it was entertaining. The story was excellent and the drawings fantastic. I am a new-comer to the Marvel universe and as such I think I missed some things that a more comic knowledgeable person would have grasped. At times I also thought the story line jumped around a bit too much.

Overall though I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this is you are a Gaiman fan or a Marvel universe fan. Some of the ways Gaiman adapted the Marvel heroes to the 1602 time-frame were very interesting and creative.

The Luxe (The Luxe, Book 1) by Anna Godbersen (3/5 stars)

I was excited to read this book. The synopsis of it reminded me some of "A Great and Terrible Beauty" a little bit. This book really wasn't like that at all; it was okay and somewhat entertaining. I found it to be very predictable and the characters to all be very stereotypical and dull.

This book is set in the late 1800's in New York. Take every Victorian type story you have previously read and this story follows that storyline. Elizabeth's wealthy family is short on money; as Elizabeth is one of the most virtuous figures in New York society she is expected to marry into money. Only Elizabeth loves someone outside her station. Her intended husband also loves someone else; and a different someone (Penelope) loves Elizabeth's intended husband. Of course, Penelope is Elizabeth's best friend and a bit of a catty type of woman. If you have read a million plots like this before, well, this book ends exactly like you would expect it to.

Overall there is a bit of mystery to the plot and some intrigue which propels the story forward. Unfortunately the characters always do exactly what you think they would do. Some of the conversation and the way characters interact is interesting. The writing style itself was very good and very articulate. The book reminds a bit of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" except that there isn't much humor in this story and the characters aren't nearly was witty. I can't vouche for the accuracy with which this era of New York was portrayed because I just don't know much about it; I will trust other reviewers who say that a lot of research went into this book.

So, I thought the book was okay. It was a pretty good page turner. I was disappointed however at the lack of witty conversation between the characters and by the predictability of both the plot and the characters. Based on these things I don't think I will continue with the rest of this series. I just prefer books with a bit more substance and more uniqueness; if they are lacking in those areas sometimes wittiness can make up for it. Unfortunately neither of those were present in this book.

The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater (5/5 stars)

I had no idea what to expect from this book, but with a subtitle of "How Neddie took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization", how can you go wrong? I actually saw the sequel to this book "The Yggyssey" and it peaked my interest, so I got the first book from the library and read it. This was an absolutely wonderful book. I don't know what I haven't heard of Pinkwater before. Oddly enough after I read this book Gaiman mentioned Pinkwater as one of his favorite writers on his blog; so I guess you can't get a better recommendation than that!

Neddie lives in Chicago, but he would really like to eat hamburgers at the Brown Derby in LA one day. He tells his dad and his dad agrees that would be cool. So on a whim the family packs up and moves to LA. On the way there an Indian shaman (who can be multiple places at once) gives Neddie a stone turtle and tells him it is really important. Neddie misses his train and goes on a crazy road trip to LA, where some creepy man tries to steal his turtle. What if Ned's turtle really is the key to saving the world from total annihilation? Throw in a ghost, some prehistoric creatures, a circus, a military school, a man with blue gums, and some alien policemen; and you have yourself a story like none I have ever read before.

This was an awesome book. It is a fun and quick read, with surprising depth. The characters are all quirky, funny, and interesting. I liked every single one of them. Billy the Ghost was great and I really enjoyed Iggy. The road trip they go on down route 66 was very interesting and really made you wish that we were still in the good ole' America of the past. Much of the book is a young boy's view of nostalgic America, and is most amusing. This book was just a riot from beginning to end. The chapters are short but compelling; making the book very hard to put down!

This is one of those books that is hard to describe. It is a mixture of adventure, nostalgia, humor, fantasy, and just all out good ole' craziness. It would be suitable to read to kids of any age and I think adults of all ages will get a kick out of it too. After I finished this book I really wished that I had the Yggyssey to read. This book completely wraps up the story but it was just so much fun I wanted more!!! I am kind of disappointed that I got it from the library because I want to keep it; so I guess I will have to buy myself a copy.

The Child Thief by Brom (5/5 stars)

I like Brom a lot so I was very excited to get an ARC of "The Child Thief" to review. For those new to Brom, he started doing awesome artwork. Then he did a phenominal picture book called "Plucker" and then he did another pretty cool book called "The Devil's Rose". So when I heard he had a full length novel I was like, really, how cool is that! This was actually an really great book; less artwork than other books but the writing was really good. This is definitely not a book for children; the violence and language would be too much even for an older child.

This book follows the stories of two boys. The first is Peter a half-elven child that rescues children who have no hope; he takes them to a new place, Avalon. The second child is Nick, a boy in a hopeless situation who runs from his problems, but is rescued by Peter. Peter takes Nick to Avalon to join the Devil's Children. The Devil's Children is a society of children warriors who have been in a centuries long battle with the Flesh Eaters and the scourge; both which threaten the existence of Avalon and it's Lady. In the beginning the story jumps between present time with Nick and Peter and the past where the story of Peter's past it told.

This is a re-telling of Peter Pan, but it owes more to the original story and surrounding mythology than to any Disney version. Brom describes horrific scenes in a beautiful yet brutal way, in a way his writing style reminds me a bit of Stephan King's Dark Tower series. The difference is that Brom also takes time to intricately describe scenes of intense beauty; although they are less frequent than the horrific scenes. This story is more of an epic than I thought it would be. We are talking about a battle that has gone on through the ages and about enemies whose fight has extended for generations.

This was not a quick read, it is not really a fun and happy read; the pace is deliberate and the writing a bit dense. The description and action is written in such a way that it takes time to read it all, but it is worth the time. I loved the description and the action scenes. The plot was not super fast, but went forward at a steady rate that built up the dread you felt for Avalon, Nick, Peter, and the Devils. This book was written like a piece of fine literature, a story that can really span time; but as such it takes some time and work to read.

Brom did an excellent job of making all the characters both likable and un-likable. All of the characters, even the heroes, had flaws that made you dislike them somewhat. All of the characters also had a past that made you sympathize with them; including the villains. This character building was masterfully done, but for me also contributed to the only downside of the book; I didn't really like any of the characters and I had some trouble getting really engaged in their stories.

Brom also did an excellent job of interweaving the tale of Peter Pan with mythology from a number of different origins. At the end of the book there is blurb telling his mythological sources for different aspects of "The Child Thief". It showed how much research really went into telling this tale and provided some interesting background.

This was a great tale. I strongly recommend it. People who like dark fantasy or dark fairy tale retellings will get a kick out of it. I pleasantly surprised out how well written this book was and I look forward to more full length novels from Brom.

September in Review

For the month of September I read 25 books. I caught up on all of my Vampire Hunter D books, read the latest Vampire Academy book, and also caught up on a bunch of other series. I also started reading the Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine. Overall there were a ton of awesome books that I read this month; probably more 5 star books than in any month yet!

Here are the awesome books that I gave 5 stars and fell in love with:
- "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan
- "Rapunzel's Revenge" by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale
- "Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary" (Fablehaven, Book 4) by Brandon Mull
- "Clash of the Demons" (The Last Apprentice, Book 6) by Joseph Delaney
- "Magic Strikes" (Kate Daniels, book 3) by Ilona Andrews
- "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
- "The Last Olympian" (Percy and the Olympians, Book 5) by Rick Riordan

The most disappointing books of the month were "Seduce the Darkness" (Alien Huntress, Book 4) by Gena Showalter, and the Morganville Vampire books by Rachel Caine (I just could not get into the characters in this series!).

For a list of all the books I read and their rating please see below!

1. "Pale Fallen Angel, Parts 1 and 2" (Vampire Hunter D, Volume 11) by Hideyuki Kikuchi (4/5 stars)

2. "Strange Brew" edited by P. N. Elrod (4/5 stars)

3. "Flight of the Phoenix" (Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist, Book 1) by R. L. LaFevers (4/5 stars)

4. "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan (5/5 stars)

5. "Must Love Hellhounds" edited by Charlaine Harris (4/5 stars)

6. "Blood Promise" (Vampire Academy, Book 4) by Richelle Mead (4/5 stars)

7. "Seduce the Darkness" (Alien Huntress, Book 4) by Gena Showalter (2/5 stars)

8. "Red Seas Under Red Skies" (Gentlemen Bastards, Book 2) by Scott Lynch (4/5 stars)

9. "Rapunzel's Revenge" by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale (5/5 stars)

10. "Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary" (Fablehaven, Book 4) by Brandon Mull (5/5 stars)

11. "Pale Fallen Angel, Parts Three and Four" (Vampire Hunter D, Book 12) (3/5 stars) by Hideyuki Kikuchi

12. "Backup" by Jim Butcher (3/5 stars)

13. "Clash of the Demons" (The Last Apprentice, Book 6) by Joseph Delaney (5/5 stars)

14. "Magic Strikes" (Kate Daniels, book 3) by Ilona Andrews (5/5 stars)

15. "The 13 Clocks" by James Thurber (4/5 stars)

16. "The Glass House" (Morganville Vampires, Book 1) by Rachel Caine (3/5 stars)

17. "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson (5/5 stars)

18. "Starcross" (Larklight, Book 2) by Philip Reeve (4/5 stars)

19. "The Dead Girls' Dance" (The Morganville Vampires, Book 2) by Rachel Caine (3/5 stars)

20. "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow" by Jessica Day George (4/5 stars)

21. "The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl" by Barry Lyga (4/5 stars)

22. "Things Not Seen" by Andrew Clements (4/5 stars)

23. "Goth Girl Rising" by Barry Lyga (4/5 stars)

24. "Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales" by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (4/5 stars)

25. "The Last Olympian" (Percy and the Olympians, Book 5) by Rick Riordan (5/5 stars)

In October I am hoping to start the "Luxe" series by Anna Godberson. Maybe I will pick up another series too; we will see what the month holds. I have a whole bunch of non-series books to read too. Hope you all had a happy September, I wish you happy reading for the month to come!