One imperfect letter, one missing page

143. Killashandra by Anne McCaffrey
Crystal Singer, book 2
Adult, Science Fiction, 384p

144. *Doctor Who: The Slitheen Excursion by Simon Guerrier, read by Debbie Chazen
Science Fiction, Audiobook, 5h41m

Entertaining enough and Chazen did a fine job reading. I'm sometimes disappointed that book-companions tend to be single-story characters; June was a fun character.

144 / 160 books (89%)
62 / 80 *new books (77%)
3 / 7 ^non-fiction (43%)
39517 / 48000 pages. (82%)
Audiobooks: 65h20m

141. Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce
Young Adult, Fantasy, 409 pages

142. *Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Adult, Fantasy, Short Stories, 389 pages

There is some wonderful imagery and ideas in these stories, but Link has a problem with endings. The stories either sort of fade away or just stop with no resolution. And the final story, the titular story, was a great idea with a twist that surprised me and I really wanted to liked, but it was ruined at the end by an annoying patronizing moralistic bit directed at the reader, who the author clearly thinks must be too stupid to realize the clever thing she just did there.

Overall, like I said before, I wanted to like these stories, but there were only one or two that I cared for and I don't plan to read any more of her work.

143. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey (176)
144. Dragonsinger (240)
145. Dragondrums (193)
Young Adult, Fantasy

Remember what I said about being patronizing and thinking readers are stupid? I've always thought McCaffrey had that problem, too. This trilogy are the only Pern books that I like, and them just barely, since even they have the same issues. The same things are explained over and over again, or in ways that really seem to be talking down to the reader. I like the story and some of the characters, but I often consider ways that I would rewrite sentences or whole paragraphs to make them sound better.

I'd still like a fire lizard, though.

145 / 150 books. 97% done!

74 / 75 *new books. 99% done!

5 / 10 ^non-fiction. 50% done!

41655 / 45000 pages. 93% done!

Originally posted in July and August of 2007 in fiveforsilver:

Like the previous post, this isn't in order, because I lost track of what order I read all these books.

80. Do-It-Yourself Magic by Ruth Chew (128)
81. The Magic Coin by Ruth Chew (128)
82. Earthstar Magic by Ruth Chew (128)

These are some old YA books that I loved as a kid. They're still fun little books.

83. The Morning Star by Nick Bantock (56)

Book 5, I think, in the Griffin and Sabine series. The first three books are the best, but the others appear to be growing on me a little. These books are actual postcards and letters - envelopes and all - with beautiful drawings and paintings on them.

84. Old Man's War by John Scalzi (313)

The first book in a trilogy. It's set in a future time, and all elderly people on Earth are given the option of joining the CDF (Colonial Defense Forces) when they turn 75. If you do it, you are taken off Earth and - on Earth, at least - declared legally dead. Nobody on Earth knows exactly what happens next...except that they somehow make you young again, to fight in the war.

I've been busy getting read to move and then moving over the past month. I was going to wait until I had time to write something about all of these to post it, but I'm just getting further and further behind, so I won't bother. Suffice to say I like all these books. Scott Westerfeld is a new favorite author.

85. The Fuzzy Papers by H. Beam Piper (407)
86. *Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld (383)
87. *Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld (439)
88. *Midnighters 3: Blue Noon by Scott Westerfeld (505)

89. *Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (312)
90. *The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld (304)
91. *His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (353)
92. *The Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (398)

93. Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (231)
94. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett (249)
95. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (317)
96. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (389)

97. Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (292)

Well...I didn't like this much better than the last time I read it. This has got to be my least favorite of all of McKinley's books. It just doesn't quite fit together; either there are a lot of ideas sort of smushed together to make this book or there was some overzealous editing.

98. Crystal Line by Anne McCaffrey (313)

Brain candy. I'm not a huge fan of McCaffrey's style but somehow these bother me less than the Pern books.

99. *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowlings (784)

Hm. This one gets a resounding 'eh'. The writing is improved over the previous book, there were a few laugh-out-loud moments, but overall it was mediocre and predictable.

100. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (248)

An old favorite.

100 / 100 books (100.0%)
47 / 50 *new books (94.0%)
32,092 / 30,000 pages (107.0%)