Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. A. LaFevers (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Theodosia Thockmorton series by LaFevers. I actually received the second book "Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris" though the Amazon Vine program and really liked it. After realizing that that was the second book I went back to read this one. The third book "Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus" comes out in April of 2010. This was another great Theodosia book. These are wonderful books for kids interested in Egyptian history, magic, mystery, or just reading about a smart young girl who gets into all sorts of trouble.

In this book Theodosia's mother brings back a whole load of artifacts from Egypt and they are rife with curses. Theodosia has a special talent for being able to sense curses and uses her hard-won knowledge to dispel them. One of the artifacts her mother brings back is the Heart of Egypt. The Heart of Egypt will bring about the fall of England if it is not sent back to Egypt quickly. Unfortunately Theodosia's mother is not the only one interested in it, a nefarious group steals it and it is up to Theodosia, a pick pocket named Sticky Will, and Theodosia's brother Henry to find a way to get that artifact back where it belongs.

LaFevers spins an intriguing and interesting mystery surrounding these Egyptian artifacts. I love Theodosia's resourcefulness and practicality, these coupled with the fact that she is only a young girl make for a number of very humorous moments in the book. I think after Theodosia my favorite character is Will, he is resourceful in a different way and another great character. There are many excellent characters, but by far the strength of the book is the mystery and the interesting Egyptian lore included. The plot clips along at a good rate and never becomes boring.

The only thing I didn't like was that LaFevers makes the parents so clueless, in fact most of the adults in the book are rather stupid and helpless. I kind of wish that at least some of the adults in the book had a clue, but it is a good story nonetheless.

I found this book to be a quick and fun read and suitable for children of all ages. There are some scary parts, but nothing too horrible. Overall a very enjoyable read, very in keeping with the second book (Which I read before this one) I am really looking forward to the third book in this series.

Waiting on Wednesday - 11/11

Okay "Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week my WoW book is "The Good, the Dead, and the Uncanny" by Simon Green. This is the tenth book in the Nightside series. I love this series. There are supposed to be 13 books total in the series. I am really looking forward to this next one!



"The Good, the Dead, and the Uncanny" by Simon Green
Pages: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Release Date: Jan 5th, 2010

Synopsis: "Things were going so well for P.I. John Taylor, that it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan. Walker, the powerful, ever-present, never­to-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of The Authorities, is dying. And he wants John to be his successor-a job that comes with more baggage, and more enemies, than anyone can possibly imagine."

Teaser Tuesday - 11/10

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from "Keeping It Real" (Quantum Gravity, Book 1) by Justina Robson.

Here it is: "She mentally apologized to the metal elements who were temporarily blasted apart by her body's response to the command as it switched current phase from her reactor. But she thanked Sarasilien for having the wit to add such a defensive capability to her AI-self in the first place." Pg. 94

Boneshaker (Clockwork Century, Book 1) by Cherie Priest (5/5 stars)

I have been wanting to read something from Cherie Priest for some time. When I saw Boneshaker out on the shelves and read the premise of it I had to get it. It was a good buy. I really enjoyed the book, the plot, the world, the characters, all of it. This is the first of three planned books to take place in the Clockwork Universe. The books are supposed to be unrelated stories set in the same universe.

Lecviticus Blue won a contest to drill for gold in the Klondike with his invention the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Only problem was that on the first trial something went extremely wrong. The Drill ripped apart Seattle and released the Blight; a poisonous gas that turned many of the residents of Seattle into walking zombies that love to feast on raw flesh. A wall was built to contain the Blight. Briar Wilkes is Blue's widow and lives outside the Wall; she is eking out a living raising her son and daily deals with the hate of her fellow humans for the actions of her husband. Her son Zeke is determined to prove that his father was not a bad man so he sneaks back into the Blight filled city to find evidence. While he is there things go wrong and now Briar must enter the city of her childhood and face all of the horrors there if she is ever going to rescue her son.

This was a great book. I mean it had zombies, so that's pretty cool right there. It also had airships, lots of shotguns, non-stop action, beautiful descriptions, and a wonderful cast of characters. It shows how both a mother's love and humanity's penchant for survival can go against all odds.

You have to love Briar as a character, she has her flaws, but she is one resourceful mother and will stop at nothing to get back her son. Zeke is an awesome character too. Priest captured the family dynamics really well. All of the side characters were fascinating and interesting too.

The action is non-stop with danger lurking around literally every corner. The descriptions of the various steampunk machinery are wonderful and well-done. This is steampunk adventure at its best. I think just about everyone will find this book a fascinating read. It could also be read to young adults, maybe not younger kids though; it gets pretty scary and there are quite a bit of rather violent fighting scenes.

The asthetics of the book also bear mentioning. This was the first book I have ever read that is on an deep off-white paper with the words printed in a deep rust color; it does a good job of setting the mood of the story. I was worried that the lower contrast would make it hard to read; but it didn't, just leant the book a very, well, steampunk feeling!

This is definitely a keeper and I look forward to reading the next two Clockwork Universe novels that are planned. I will also be checking out Priest's previous works like her Eden Moore series.

Mailbox Monday - 11/9

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

A lot of wonderful books this week! I got a couple books for new series I want to start reading. I got both "Unshapely Things" (Connor Grey, Book 1) by Mark Del Franco and "Wicked Game" (WVMP Radio, Book 1)by Jeri Smith-Ready through Paperbackswap.com. I also got the 2nd book in Kim Harrison's Darkest Powers series "The Awakening" though Paperbackswap.com. I have been waiting to start the first book until I got the second book; so now I can read full speed ahead!

I also bought two books. "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest. I have heard so many wonderful things about this book and I love the premise. I can't get it at my library and no one is swapping it; so I went ahead and bought it. I hope it is worth it! I also bought "The Dust of 100 Dogs" by A.S. King. I have been wanting to read this book forever. The library doesn't carry it and no one is swapping, so again I broke down and bought it for $1 online.

The books are shown below. Happy reading to you all!

"Unshapely Things" (Connor Grey, Book 1) by Mark Del Franco

First Sentence: "The alley was slick with rain and a rainbow-hued slop I didn't want to think about."
From Amazon.com: "In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more "important" crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement.

Boston police call in Connor Grey, a druid and former hotshot Guild investigator-whose magical abilities were crippled after a run-in with a radical environmentalist elf. As Connor battles red tape and his own shortcomings, he realizes that the murders are not random, but part of an ancient magical ritual. And if Connor can't figure out the killer's M.O., the culmination of the spell might just bring about a worldwide cataclysm."


"The Awakening" (Darkest Powers, Book 2) by Kelley Armstrong

First Sentence: "When the door to my cell clicked open, the first thought that flitted through my doped-up brain was that Liz had changed her mind and come back."
From Amazon.com: "If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.

Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying."

"Wicked Game" (WVMP Radio, Book 1) by Jeri Smith-Ready

First Sentence: "Family curses never die, they just mutate."
From Amazon.com: "Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, '60s psychedelia, '80s goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers just how the DJs maintain their cred: they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara's first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WVMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station -- and the link it provides to their original Life Times -- the vampires would "fade," becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover is a matter of life and undeath.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara rebrands the station as "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll." In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs' vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around -- next to Ciara's complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the "gimmick" enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren't so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher -- and the perils graver -- than any con game Ciara's ever played...."

"Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest

First Sentence: "Unpaved, uneven trails pretended to be roads; they tied the nation's coasts together like laces holding a boot, binding it with crossed strings and crossed fingers."
From Amazon.com: "In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.
Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.
His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive."


"The Dust of 100 Dogs" by A.S. King

First Sentence: "Imagine my surprise when, after three centuries of fighting with siblings over a spare furry teat and licking my water from a bowl, I was given a human nipple, all to myself, filled with warm mother's milk."
From Amazon.com: "In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of one hundred dogs," dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact.

Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica."

Ballad: A Gathering of Fairy by Maggie Stiefvater (4/5 stars)

This book is the sequel to “Lament”. You wouldn’t have to read “Lament” to enjoy this book but “Lament” does provide a lot of good background between Dee and James. This was a good book, I enjoyed it. I am finding that Steifvater has a very distinct writing style; I am not totally in love with it but I do love her characters.

Dee and James have started school at Thornking-Ash. Each of them is having their own problems. James keeps hearing the song of the horned king and wants to chase it down. Then he happens upon Nuala, she is a low type of fairy who feeds off of a person’s creativity to live. Nuala and James dance back and forth, as Nuala tries to draw him into a deal. While they are absorbed in this game something big is happening in Fairy. The new Fairy Queen wants to shrug free of the power of the Cloverhand (Dee) and has a plan to do it; but how much will her plan cost in lives?

I liked James voice better than Dee’s from the “Lament”. James is just more interesting and has a more fascinating perspective on the world. The chapters alternate between James’ and Nuala’s point of view. Nuala has quite a bit of bite and is another interesting character to read about.

There is a lot of tension between James and Nuala, as Nuala struggles to not eat James life force. This makes the story interesting and propels the beginning of the story along despite the lethargic pace of the plot.

I am finding that Steifvater has a very distinct writing style. Her books are always very meandering and laid back in the beginning; she spends a lot of time talking about how the characters feel and following them through their everyday lives. Then tons of stuff happens in the last few chapters. This book is no exception to that; it follows exactly the same pattern as both “Lament” and “Shiver”. It is not my favorite writing style but it seems to work for this story. Stiefvater's real strength is in the likable and believable characters she creates, and how she makes them struggle to love against all odds.

The end of this book resolves some issues but not others. I haven’t heard that there are any more books planned in this world, but the ending leaves me to believe that they will be at least a few more.

All in all it was an enjoyable book. I still wish though that the action had been spread out more and not all shoved in at the end. That being said I will continue to read Steifvater because I really do like the characters she creates.

Keeping it Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1) by Justina Robson (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Quantum Gravity series by Justina Robson. So far there are four books in the series with a 5th being planned for future release. I wasn't able to find the number of books actually contracted for this series. Anyway, I really liked it. It is a great first book in the series and I want to learn a lot more about both the world and the characters.

A quantum bomb exploded in 2015 ripping a hole in reality and revealing five other realities; an elven realm, an elemental realm, a demon realm, the realm of death, and Otopia (Used to be known as Earth). Zal is an elf that has abandoned his homeland and become half demon; he then entered Otopia and started performing as a rock star. The elven community wants him dead and Lila Black is the one assigned to guard him. Lila is not quite human. She got into a horrible accident and the only way to save her life was for her to agree to be part of an experiment. Now she is part AI, part cyborg, and part human. Initially she thinks that she is guarding a rock star...then she finds the plot goes much deeper and wonders how deep into Elven territory it will take her.

This was a very creative book. I loved the five realms (with a possible sixth somewhere) they were awesome. We really only get to visit Otopia and the Elven realm, Alfheim, in a lot of depth and I am eager to visit the other realms. The characters are very engaging. All of them have their heroic points and their flaws. Lila and Zal both struggle with being different in a world where things are more bizarre than ever before. The dialogue was witty and funny most of the time; Lila in general is a kick butt character always ready with a quick jibe and tease.

The plot is complex and densely packed. There is a ton of action and Robson does a very good job writing the action scenes. Robson's writing style is pretty straight-forward, there is not a lot of flowery language here or over-description, the writing style fits the story well so it all works out.

There were some small problems with the book. The whole world (actually five worlds) are a lot to throw at a reader all at once; it can get a little bit confusing. I thought this was handled okay. Also most of the book is written from Lila's viewpoint, then suddenly in the second half some chapters are from Zal's point of view. This was a bit odd; although it worked okay, it took me a few moments to figure out what was going on. The last problem was that a lot hinges on The Game that Lila and Zan are bound up in. I never really understood what a Game was or how it got initiated; I understand it happens through Wild Magic but I though that aspect of the plot could have been clarified better.

Other than the above, I thought the complicated world and plot was handled pretty well. The characterization, world-building, and action scenes were fantastic. I am really, really looking forward to reading more books in this series. I stumbled upon this series in a special display at a bookstore and I am wondering why this series isn't getting better coverage. It is a good series. People who have described it as Dragonlance meets Star Trek are right on. I can't wait to see what the next book holds.