One imperfect letter, one missing page

76. Blood Price by Tanya Huff (272) A/Fan

Book one in the Blood series, a supernatural crime novel. I was not expecting a whole lot from this book, so I got just what I wanted: it was fun, a little sexy, and an enjoyable fluff read.

77. Blood Trail by Tanya Huff (304) A/Fan

This book has interesting werewolf pack dynamics, with, of course, the Henry/Vicki/Mike dynamics mixed in. I enjoyed it - this whole series is nice sexy fluff reading without being over-the-top and I like it a lot.

78. Blood Lines by Tanya Huff (271) A/Fan

Creepier than the previous books, but still an enjoyable read.

79. Blood Pact by Tanya Huff (332) A/Fan

The creepy character in this book is not actually the zombie, but the scientist, or rather, the assitant. The ending makes me cry every time, and was a complete shock the first time I read it. Fantastic.

80. Blood Debt by Tanya Huff (330) A/Fan

There's not a whole lot I can say about this book without giving too much away, but the tension between Henry and Vicki is astoundingly well done, and Mike is amazing. Even Tony is given more page time, and has clearly grown.

81. *Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (592) A/Fan

Vivenna, eldest princess of Idris, has been trained from birth to become the wife of the God King of the neighboring Hallandren. Her youngest sister Siri has spent her seventeen years avoiding her royal lessons. So neither is prepared when their father bends the treaty and sends Siri to Hallandren instead of Vivenna.

But that's only one of several threads that weave through Warbreaker, and only two of half a dozen main characters, all of who are distinct enough to make switching between threads easily followed and fascinating to read.

I very much liked it. There is a slew of interesting characters, some of who are not quite what they seem, and all of who are interesting to read about. The settings are a bit askew from the typical fantasy world, and the magical system is another unique Sanderson one. He has a knack for coming up with unusual forms of magic. The breath-magic in Warbreaker is very interesting in how it's generated and how it can be used. However, the color aspect of it, which was supposed to also be important somehow, never quite made sense. Almost...but not really.

Definitely recommended, especially if you like his other books.

81 / 150 books. 54% done!

40 / 75 *new books. 53% done!

2 / 10 ^non-fiction. 20% done!

25125 / 45000 pages. 56% done!

I'm a bit behind on posting (again) so, last books of March:

38. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (643) A/Fan

I really like this book. I enjoy the unusual kind of magic in this fantasy world, the dynamics between the characters, and the mystery in the plot - they're fighting against something they don't really understand and don't know how to fight. It's also very well-written.

39. Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (573) A/Fan

I really enjoy this book as well, for the most part. It is a good sequel to Mistborn, a complex plot with characters I care about and a world I believe. Also, I really like Sanderson's writing style.

But I really didn't like the end.

*possible spoilers*

This is book two of a trilogy, so the end of this book is clearly a setup for the next book, and I get that, but...there was this big huge build-up throughout the entire book and at the end, we discover it's all a lie. And something else big happened right at the end, too, and there was also this weird character throughout the book, who was involved in the stuff at the end...so there are at least three important things in this book that really weren't explained at all. Presumably they'll be explained in the third book, but I don't like that much just left hanging. I didn't have this feeling of being left hanging after the first book, and there was a big setup in that for this one. So, as much as I liked the rest of the book, the end left me dissatisfied.

39 / 150 books. 26% done!

22 / 75 *new books. 29% done!

0 / 10 ^non-fiction. 0% done!

11590 / 45000 pages. 26% done!

45. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (615)

This is a well-written fantasy novel that I enjoyed even more the second time around.

46. *Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest (285)

I really like Cherie's blog (cmpriest), so I decided to check out one of her books. This will make her the third author whose books I read after I was already a fan of their blog. I am not a big fan of horror, though, so I made blue_ant read it first, so she could tell me if I'd be able to read it or not.

Eden is an orphan who occasionally sees the ghosts of her dead relatives, has a cousin who keeps trying to kill her, and that's just the beginning of her family dysfunctions. She finds out just how crazy it all is when she starts probing into her family's past - but if she hadn't, things could have turned out a whole lot worse...

I did like it, although not quite as much as I expected. Eden never seemed to take much of anything seriously, and the book was in first person, so the whole book had a rather sarcastic tone and a pretty even level of emotion. Which on the one hand, meant it wasn't especially scary, even for a horror-phobe like me, but on the other hand...it felt like it should have been scarier.

47. The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner (246)

This has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in high school. It is definitely dated, with an optimistically organized and truthful version of the internet (or "data net") and pessimistic views of the US future, but I've always enjoyed the way the story is told - it starts out as a series of flashbacks that eventually work up to the present time, and has random thought-provoking (to various degrees) quotes and questions peppered throughout the book.

47 / 110 books. 43% done!

18 / 75 *new books. 24% done!

2 / 10 ^non-fiction. 20% done!

14440 / 33000 pages. 44% done!

Currently reading:
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Steampunk edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer

Originally posted in September of 2007 in fiveforsilver:

Last two books from August:

101. *Evolution's Darling by Scott Westerfeld (290)

I got this book from the library because I love Westerfeld's YA science fiction and fantasy books. This, I didn't like so much. I couldn't really connect with the characters, I didn't really care about them. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that one of them is an artificial intelligence - I've read numerous other books with AI characters that I liked or loved. This seemed more like an exercise in how many weird things could be packed in one short novel. And there was a lot of sex. Really strange sex.

I did very much like the end of the book, but it didn't make up for the rest of the weirdness.

102. *Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (643)

I read really liked this book. I enjoyed the unusual kind of magic in this fantasy world, the dynamics between the characters, and the mystery in the plot - they're fighting against something they don't really understand and don't know how to fight. It's also very well-written.

(I left the original of the above entry in place here because there are a couple of comments from the author of Mistborn there :)

103. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld (312)

Great book. The writing is excellent, the story is intriguing, and the characters are believeable. It's fun to read a different take on the vampire myths.

Midnighters Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld
104. The Secret Hour (383)
105. Touching Darkness (439)
106. Blue Noon (505)

I like these books - I just love Westerfeld's writing style and ability to create distinct, believeable characters in unique settings. Well, ok, the high school setting isn't exactly unique, but the secret hour certainly is.

107. *The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint (289)

This book was disappointing. I read de Lint's urban fantasy The Blue Girl earlier this year and thought it was wonderful, so when I was at the library, I picked up another of his books. This one is high fantasy, though, not urban, and it is...just...blah. Everything is Standard Fantasy; Standard Fantasy main character, Standard Fantasy plot devices, Standard Fantasy help along the way. It's just boring.

107 / 100 books (107.0%)
50 / 50 *new books (100.0%)
34,953 / 30,000 pages (116.5%)