![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiveforsilver posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
imperfectletter11.The Sagan Diary by John Scalzi (audio) (1h18m)
Old Man's War series, set between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony
Adult, Science Fiction
12. *Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
Young Adult, Fantasy, 352 pages
Finally, a book about faeries that has traditional faeries and an interesting story! Most books I've read with faeries either had Traditional Faeries And A Boring Standard Fantasy Story or new agey punk-type faeries, which are sometimes fun and sometimes not, but nowhere near traditional.
Great writing, great characters, great story.
13. Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
The Circle Opens, book 3
Young Adult, Fantasy, 355 pages
As with most of the Circle books, there are so many plots and sub-plots going on that it's difficult for any of them to get the depth they deserve. In this book, Daja and her teacher Frostpine are visiting a city to the north. Daja discovers the daughters of their hosts have magical abilities, so they need to be taught, so she needs to find teachers for them and teach them meditation. There are lots of fires going on in the city and Daja starts developing a friendship with a man named Ben who set up a fire brigade, and she decides to make living metal gloves for him so he can be more effective in rescuing people. The aforementioned daughters are teaching her to ice skate. Frostpine is investigating counterfeit coins.
And so on.
Most of the plots overlap or converge at some point, but still it just seems like the book is too short to hold it all. Also, there is a mystery that the reader learns the answer to early in the book and the characters don't discover until near the end. I found that disconcerting and I would have preferred it handled differently.
For all its flaws, it's not a bad book, just one I think could have been better. I enjoy it nonetheless; Daja is one of my favorite Circle characters - maybe I relate to her because of the metalsmithing - and also the Circle characters have a little less of a tendency toward Mary Sueishness than the Tortall women.
13 / 160 books. 8% done!
3 / 80 *new books. 4% done!
0 / 7 ^non-fiction. 0% done!
3236 / 48000 pages. 7% done!
Audiobooks: 9h03m
Old Man's War series, set between The Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony
Adult, Science Fiction
12. *Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater
Young Adult, Fantasy, 352 pages
Finally, a book about faeries that has traditional faeries and an interesting story! Most books I've read with faeries either had Traditional Faeries And A Boring Standard Fantasy Story or new agey punk-type faeries, which are sometimes fun and sometimes not, but nowhere near traditional.
Great writing, great characters, great story.
13. Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce
The Circle Opens, book 3
Young Adult, Fantasy, 355 pages
As with most of the Circle books, there are so many plots and sub-plots going on that it's difficult for any of them to get the depth they deserve. In this book, Daja and her teacher Frostpine are visiting a city to the north. Daja discovers the daughters of their hosts have magical abilities, so they need to be taught, so she needs to find teachers for them and teach them meditation. There are lots of fires going on in the city and Daja starts developing a friendship with a man named Ben who set up a fire brigade, and she decides to make living metal gloves for him so he can be more effective in rescuing people. The aforementioned daughters are teaching her to ice skate. Frostpine is investigating counterfeit coins.
And so on.
Most of the plots overlap or converge at some point, but still it just seems like the book is too short to hold it all. Also, there is a mystery that the reader learns the answer to early in the book and the characters don't discover until near the end. I found that disconcerting and I would have preferred it handled differently.
For all its flaws, it's not a bad book, just one I think could have been better. I enjoy it nonetheless; Daja is one of my favorite Circle characters - maybe I relate to her because of the metalsmithing - and also the Circle characters have a little less of a tendency toward Mary Sueishness than the Tortall women.
Audiobooks: 9h03m
