Recently, An Echo In The Bone, the latest book in the Outlander series was released, and I found myself thinking, wow, it’s been a long time since Gabaldon wrote an Outlander novel, and… where did I leave off in this series? I couldn’t remember enough about it, so I thought the best way to remedy that was to start over. No easy task when you consider the size of these novels. But start over I did with the first of the series, Outlander.

Englishwoman Claire Randall and her husband Frank are on a sort of belated honeymoon in Scotland. Having been separated shortly after their marriage by war taking Frank into the army and Claire into service as a nurse, they have been reunited and are enjoying another start to their marriage. On a trip to Scotland to learn more about Frank’s roots, they explore the countryside where they come upon a stone structure high atop a hill in the Highlands called Craigh na Dun. Frank, a professor of history, is fascinated by the stones, as they are often used in worship by pagans of an ancient time. Claire is interested in the foliage growing around the stones, as she enjoys learning about herbs and their medicinal uses. One day, Claire decides to go to the stones atop the hill to look for some plants she spied on an earlier trip, when she is literally sucked into a time warp transporting her back 200 years to a time of warring Highlanders and Englishmen.

She is set upon by Captain Jonathan Randall, the very relative her husband Frank had been researching. She discovers that Randall is not a hero of any kind, but a vicious sadist intent on raping her. As she fights to get away, she is rescued, then kidnapped, by a clan of Scottish men, who whisk her away deep into Scottish territory, at the Mackenzie clan’s Castle Leoch. Along the way, she meets a man who will become very important to her — the outlaw Jamie Fraser, a young, fiery, handsome Scot, who also happens to have been beaten and injured to an inch of his life. Claire calls upon her experience as a nurse and her knowledge of herbs to aid Jamie, and is soon labeled as a physician at Leoch and made invaluable to the inhabitants of the castle.

The chief of the clan, Column Mackenzie and his brother, the war chieftan Dougal Mackenzie, are reluctant to allow her to leave Leoch, not only because she is a healer, but because she is an English woman, and they suspect she is working as a spy for the English or for the French, as she has chosen to identify herself by her Maiden name of Beauchamp, rather than link herself in any way to the terrible Captain Randall. The Mackenzies are determined to find out her true identity, and eventually lead her back to the English to attempt a trade of sorts in order to discover who she is working for and how she came to be in the woods of Craigh na Dun that day they discovered her.

It soon becomes clear when Captain Randall manhandles Claire violently, that she is not working with him. But Captain Randall demands that she be handed over to the English army, as she is an Englishwoman and it is their right to claim her. To avoid handing her back to Randall, the Mackenzies decide they shall make her Scottish, and wed her to Jamie Fraser.  Neither Claire nor Jamie really want to marry, but they can’t deny a strong attraction between them — one that explodes into a passionate love that will change their lives forever.

Claire now has to decide which man she will be faithful to — her husband Frank, whom she left 200 years in the future, or her new husband Jamie. Frank is safe, if a bit dull, but he offers her stability and security in a time of modern conveniences. But Jamie lights her up with a passion she has never felt before, and he fights for her honor and safety at every dangerous turn.

And there is a lot of danger in this time period — the barbarism of the Highland games is no joke. This is a time of ruthless violence. A time of theft and killing at every turn. Claire is afraid for her life, but at the same time, she has never been happier. She is in love and her skills are useful at a time when modern medicine doesn’t exist. This is a time of beauty, untarnished by tar roads and vehicles puffing their fumes into the environment. Even as her protectors and new friends are attacked and beaten, she doesn’t want to leave them. They’ve become her family.

This was a great book. It’s the reason I kept on buying the series. Gabaldon’s writing is rich in details that bring the time and the places to life. There is certainly a lot of filler in the book — historical facts and details that might not be necessary for the storyline, but which help establish an authenticity and feeling that connect the reader to the story. Of course, this is not a book for the squeamish, as there is a lot of detailed and gory violence in it; and this isn’t a book for the prudish, as Gabaldon has no qualms writing sex scenes and plenty of them. I can recall being in a creative writing class once and discussing the difficulties of letting go of your inhibitions and writing a sex scene that will really put you in that moment and almost make your reader feel uncomfortable, like they’ve walked in on a private moment they aren’t supposed to be a part of. It’s not easy to write like that, but I have to say Gabaldon dropped those inhibitions and gave it gusto. You want sex, you got it. But it’s not all sex. At least not the first half or the book, anyway. My husband used to joke the first time I read this book and we’d be reading our books before bedtime, when he’d lean over and look at my pages every few minutes to discover another sex scene or body part being exposed. It was annoying the first couple of times he did it, but after it turned out he was right near the 4th or 5th time, it became funny and we’d make it a sort of game where instead of him looking over to glance over the pages, I’d just call out, “Another one!” and we’d laugh. You could get mighty drunk if you played it as a drinking game ;)

Anyway… enjoyable read. I’ll be starting the next one (again) shortly.

The last book in Beddor’s Wonderland trilogy is the best of the bunch. King Arch has taken control of Wonderland, after WILMA, his Weapon of Inconceivable Loss and Massive Annihilation has rendered the Heart Crystal inert. Creativity throughout Wonderland and to worlds far away, including Earth, has dimmed — writers are unable to write, inventors are at a loss for ideas, and the powerful Queen Alyss and her ruthless Aunt Redd have lost their Imaginative powers, leaving them unable to defend themselves against King Arch’s massive and well-armed army. The only choice they can think of is to join forces to defeat Arch and save Imagination.

Obviously, there are obstacles in the way. The house of Clubs has sided with Arch, and rounded up Imaginationists into well-guarded prison camps where any creativity will be squashed before it can flourish. The Queen’s top soldier, Hatter,  is preoccupied with finding his kidnapped daughter. The oracle caterpillars are sending mixed messages, and seem to be splitting and taking sides amongst Arch, Alyss and Red. And the Heart Crystal is failing, growing weaker every day it is under Arch’s control.

I enjoyed this story, and think it was a good read. I liked the idea of working together despite differences. I liked the idea of working towards the common good.

The second installment of Frank Beddor’s Wonderland trilogy finds Queen Alyss learning that defeating her Aunt Redd for the role of Queen didn’t mean everything afterward would be easy in comparison. Her Aunt Redd may be gone, having leapt into the Heart Crystal with The Cat and disappearing, but no one knows if it’s for good or if she’ll find a way back to Wonderland to challenge Alyss for the queendom again.

It certainly seems like Redd may be on the verge of returning. Her army of Glass Eyes have continued attacking Alyss’s soldiers, and Glass Eyes are programmed to follow only their leader’s orders… and their leader has always been Redd. What Alyss doesn’t realize is that King Arch of Boarderland, Wonderland’s neighbor, has decided now is the time to rise up against Alyss and claim Wonderland for his own. He’s devised a plan to wipe out all of Alyss’s armies and to eradicate Imagination altogether so that everyone will be equal under his rule. His plan is WILMA, his Weapon of Inconceivable Loss and Massive Annihilation. Comprised of strands of silk from each of Wonderland’s caterpillar oracles, WILMA will destroy the Heart Crystal and the power of Imagination in Wonderland. But in order for it to work, Arch needs Hatter Maddigan, the top member of the Millinery squad of soldiers to set it in motion. To force his cooperation, he kidnaps Hatter’s daughter, Homburg Molly, and holds her hostage.

Arch doesn’t believe Redd will return, but Redd’s a determined villainess. She understands the Heart Crystal, and the fact that ideas that are passed into the Heart Crystal often find their way out to other worlds, such as Earth. And it is on Earth one day that a painter discovers he has lost his ability to paint the landscapes he so loves. Instead, every time he sets brush to canvas, he finds himself painting the image of a woman and a large feline. The harder he tries to stop, the more the images come to him, until one day he has painted a life-size portrait of Redd and The Cat, and they break through and find themselves free of the Heart Crystal and existing in France. Redd sets to work amassing an army of followers on Earth and finding the portals back to Wonderland — the puddles that exist where no puddles should exist. These portals will bring her back to Wonderland through the Pool of Tears, where she will challenge her niece again for the throne.

So Alyss doesn’t have a very easy start to her Queenship. Even though she has managed to rebuild Wonderland to be almost as glorious as it once was under her mother’s reign, she still has the threat of her Aunt Redd returning, and to top that, King Arch is plotting his coup, and her personal bodyguard, Homburg Molly, has been kidnapped. At least she has the love of her life, Dodge the palace guardsmen, to brighten her days, but even he is still focused on getting revenge at all costs against The Cat for the murder of his father, and it is obvious that he is willing to put his life in danger at every moment to get it. All of these problems are coming at her at once, and Alyss isn’t sure her Imagination will be strong enough to defeat them all. (more…)

I enjoy reading books that take a well-known story and twist it into something new, such as Gregory Maguire does for the land of Oz in Wicked and Son of A Witch. Which is why I’ve started reading Frank Beddor’s series of books based on the stories of Wonderland, from Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. While Maguire’s books are targeted for adults, Beddor’s books are classified by my public library as being books for the juvenile audience. Although, with the violence and death in it so far, I’d say these books are almost better suited for the young adult  and adult audiences.

Beddor’s Wonderland is not the light and airy world we remember from Disney’s adaptation of the book. It does start out that way, when the world is ruled by Queen Genevieve of the Heart family. Her Queendom is one of singing flowers and beautiful, shining cities. It is a land of imagination, where those who are inventive are able to create things out of nothing, just by using their thoughts and the power of the Heart Crystal. It is said that ideas that pass through the Heart Crystal are beamed out into space where they will reappear in similar forms in other worlds. It is a wondrous world, ruled fairly and kindly by Genevieve. But it’s also a world on the cusp of a war with Genevieve’s sister, Redd. Redd is gathering her card soldiers and inventing new weapons and tactics as she plans her takeover of Wonderland. Redd was once the heir to the Queendom, but when it became apparent she preferred to practice Black Imagination instead of White, she was exiled by her parents, and Genevieve was chosen as the next queen. Redd has never forgiven her family for the exile, and, together with her assassin, the Cat, she orchestrates a brutal attack that leaves Genevieve and her husband, King Nolan, dead. It would also leave her neice, the 8 year old Princess Alyss, orphaned and forced to escape Wonderland through the Pool of Tears, a lake into which no one who goes in ever comes out.

You’d be correct to assume that Alyss is the Alice in Wonderland character. In this version, she’s a princess and the next in line to take the throne, although with Redd’s coup d’etat and Alyss entering the Pool of Tears, that future seems very unlikely. Alyss’s entry into the Pool of Tears takes her to Earth, and Oxford, England in particular. Her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, was sent with her by her dying mother’s last request, but they are separated in mid-transfer, and he ends up in Paris. On her own in a strange land with not nearly as much imagination as Wonderland, Alyss is forced to live as a street orphan, performing tricks of imagination to earn pennies in the street. She is caught one day and put into an orphanage where she is adopted by the Liddel family, and raised as Alice. Her stories about Wonderland are hushed by her adoptive parents, pushed down as silly imaginings, until she meets a friend of the family who takes an interest in her story. The Reverend Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carrol, listens to her stories and asks Alice if he may publish them into a novel. Alice agrees, hoping the book will open others’ eyes and help her find a way back to Wonderland. Instead, the Reverend turns her stories into a childish fantasy, and Alice is heartbroken. It seems Wonderland is lost to her forever.

Having given up hope, Alice tries to convince herself that she did imagine Wonderland, and that perhaps there was no such place. She lives in England for the next 12 years as the obedient Alice Liddel, and even finds herself engaged to marry a true prince. It is at her wedding day that unexpected visitors arrive and bring her back through the Pool of Tears to Wonderland, where she leads a new rebel army, the Alyssians, in a raid against the tyrant Redd, who, in Alice’s absence, has turned Wonderland into a dismal and bleak world of Black Imagination. Together with the Alyssians, the returned Alyss faces her Aunt Redd and the assassin Cat in a battle for the throne.

I enjoyed this novel. I thought it was fun, and an interesting take on the Wonderland stories. I don’t much like the cover of the book very much — it is quite boring in comparison to the sequels that follow. I’m looking forward to the rest of the novels in the series, including Seeing Redd (which I am reading now) and Arch Enemy. I hear that Frank Beddor, who also happens to make movies (he produced There’s Something About Mary), is in the process of turning these novels into screenplays. I think they’d make great movies. I’m also looking forward to seeing the new Alice in Wonderland movie slated for release in early 2010, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Like this novel, it has a dark feel to it, which I think works so well for Wonderland lore. And, also related to that dark feeling, I recall playing a videogame called American McGee’s Alice, which was wonderfully sad and creepy, and had an accompanying soundtrack with equally sad and creepy (but fun!) music. Check them out, and visit Frank Beddor’s Wonderland site for some fun interaction with the books. (more…)

Anita Blake is known as “The Executioner” in St. Louis. She’ll occasionally hunt down vampires who have broken the law for the local police force, and she raises the dead for her day job. However, she finds herself in a position where she must help the master vampire of the city locate someone or something that has been killing vampires. You see, in Hamilton’s world, vampires are an accepted part of society and are even gaining legal rights for their existence and fair treatment under the law. And while Anita doesn’t particularly like vampires, and therefore doesn’t want to search for the killer, she doesn’t have much choice when the master vampire of the city, one who is a few hundred years old and very powerful, forces her to assist them. How? Powerful vampires are able to get into your head and read your thoughts or plant visions and feelings that can make life either very painful, or very pleasurable. In order to force Anita to help them, the master vampire makes it very clear that her life will be very difficult if she doesn’t. So Anita decides she will help… but she’s also going to take down the master vampire if it kills her.

This is book one in the Anita Blake, Vampire hunter series of novels. I thought I’d give the series a try because my husband is a fan (he bought the series) and because when I worked in a library, I noticed that Hamilton’s books were very popular (particularly the Anita Blake ones). But I have to say that this first novel didn’t impress me very much. The storyline is interesting and Hamilton is pretty good at the macabre details, but the writing can be a little too repetitive (I’m not sure how many times she has to let us know about the sound air conditioners make, or the way Anita’s sweat “gels”), and her characterization lacks those small details that can really bring a character to life. I’m hoping that, like I found with Twilight, the series will get better as it goes on, and that Hamilton’s writing improves with each novel. However, I’m only a few chapters into book two in the series (The Laughing Corpse), and already have encountered enough references to the A/C and Anita’s sweat to discourage me from continuing the series.

Happy Halloween! I think it’s only fitting I review a book about monsters :)

Meyer’s Twilight saga ends with Breaking Dawn, the best of the 4 novels she’s written about the mortal Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen. I was pleased with this novel, as I didn’t particularly think the first three (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) were anything special in terms of writing talent. But Meyer surprised me with the last novel of this saga. It was unpredictable (in some ways), enjoyable and well-written.

The novel opens where the last one ended, as Bella and Edward get ready for their nuptials. This was the first surprise of the novel. I expected Meyer to take her time getting these two married, but it comes quickly. It is then followed just as quickly with surprise number two: Bella’s transformation. Probably the greatest source of unpredictability in this novel comes from how it happened and why: Bella’s pregnancy. Meyer really didn’t hold back with it. The pregnancy was brutal, the birth was even more brutal, and then Bella’s transformation into a vampire was extremely unpleasant. Just the way a novel about monsters should be. I am impressed that Meyer didn’t sugar coat it.

I was also happy with the way the novel wrapped up the loose threads — the Volturi coming to make sure Bella has been transformed, and the twist in Jacob’s love life (though, can I just say that I saw that one coming the moment Bella became pregnant?). I thought the novel was a fitting ending to the saga, though it’s clearly left open to the possibility of more to come in the future should Meyer decide she wants to revisit Bella and Edward (and considering how successful her novels are and how popular they’ve become, particularly now with the first movie about to be released, why wouldn’t she want to? Cha-ching!).

Finally read a book! It helps when you’re up late at night feeding the baby and have time on your hands (and your son is a lazy eater and takes his time).

This is the novel that inspired the movie that came out this last year (starring Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson), though it is not the same story at all. The book is completely different from the movie, apart from the names of characters and the fact that Davy is a jumper. Of course, the book is better than the movie (it always is, isn’t it?). This is also the prequel to Reflex, which was another book I enjoyed reading, and which, in my opinion, is the better of the two.

Davy Rice is a troubled teen. He’s been abandoned by his mother, and is physically abused by his alcoholic father. One day, as his father prepares to give Davy an especially brutal beating, something happens — Davy vanishes and reappears in the safety of the local library, a place he has always felt safe. At first, Davy thinks he dreamt it all, and that the stress of the beating is blocking his memory. He decides to run away and make it on his own in New York City. On his way there, he hitch hikes with a trucker who has some nasty plans in mind for Davy that make a beating from his father preferable. As the trucker starts to carry out the plan, Davy vanishes once again and finds himself back in the safety of the library. This is no mental blockage — Davy realises he can teleport, or “jump”, and he begins to practice his new skill, learning that he can only jump to places he has been before and can picture vividly in his mind.

Davy’s new skill gives him some purpose in life. While he uses his skill to teleport into the vault of a bank and rob a million dollars, he does also use the money to support himself as he performs some good deeds; for example, helping the homeless or teleporting around the world to catch terrorists who have hijacked planes. It is certainly interesting to think about what life as a teleporter would be like. No need to spend hours and money on transportation; you can teleport yourself home anytime you want to take a quick nap, make a snack, or use your own bathroom; nothing could stop you from going where to want to go.

I enjoyed this book, and I thought the story was well plotted, though not necessarily well-written. Some of the dialogue was awkward and the character development of Davy and his girlfriend, Millie, could have been a little better as I found their relationship and the way they spoke to one another to be a little too contrived at times. And, not that it impacted the story at all, but (my pet peeve) the editors missed some spelling and grammatical errors (gah! drives me nuts!) as well. But overall, this was a well-paced, interesting story.

Isabella Swan is back with her band of monsters. Her relationship with her vampire boyfriend, Edward, is back on track, and they’ve returned to life in Forks, Washington to recuperate from their eventful trip to Italy and Bella’s run in with the Volturi. Bella’s high school graduation is now a few short weeks away, and with graduation comes Carlisle Cullen’s promise to turn Bella into a vampire when she’s ready. Except, nothing ever really goes as planned, does it?

Even though Bella and Edward got past that whole, “We can’t be together because it’s too dangerous” drama that kept them apart for all of New Moon, Bella is still in danger, and her problems haven’t gone away. Her werewolf friend, Jacob, is still in love with her and still in hate with the vampires as ever. Her vampire friends and werewolf friends are still at war and refuse to co-exist peacefully. Her moronic father is still (rightfully) disapproving of Edward for leaving Bella to fall apart in New Moon and driving her to do crazy stunts with Jacob, who her clueless father seems to think is a better choice for her as a boyfriend. Her demanding and controlling boyfriend Edward refuses to let her spend time with Jacob, who he thinks isn’t in control of his werewolf instincts, but Bella just wants to lead on encourage Jacob’s feelings continue to break Jacob’s heart spend time with her best friend and have things go back to the way they were before Jacob got all furry and older than his 16 years. Of course, there’s still the physical threat of the Volturi, who want Bella transformed into a vampire sooner than later, since humans aren’t supposed to be aware of the vampire’s existence. And oh yeah, let’s not forget that there’s still a crazy, vengeful vampire named Victoria out there intent on killing Bella for causing her vampire mate’s death. Then there’s also the matter of the reports of a serial killer on the loose in nearby Seattle that reeks of vampire army raising.

So Bella’s got a lot on her mind. (more…)

I can’t believe this is the final novel in J.K. Rowling’s series. And yet, after reading it, there can be no doubt that this is the end of the series. I was worried about this book — mainly that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But J.K. Rowling has had the entire series, from beginning to end, mapped out since she first started writing about Harry Potter and his friends, and I’d say that the 17 years of planning that went into this book should have allayed any concerns I had about the ending of this series, because I needn’t have worried: the ending works and is satisfying. Disturbing, but satisfying.

Warnings: there are some plot details ahead (though nothing that will really spoil the surprises in store for you), so stop reading if you don’t want to know anything before reading the book yourself! (more…)

New Moon is book two in Stephenie Meyer’s series about Isabella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen. It’s been a few months since Bella and Edward got together, and things are going well until the Cullen family decide to throw Bella a birthday party.

Bella doesn’t want her birthday acknowledged because this birthday, her 18th, is the year she gets older than Edward, who will always be 17. She doesn’t want to age, so she doesn’t want to make a big deal about her birthday. But the Cullens want to celebrate , so they plan a birthday party, complete with flowers, cake and presents. (more…)

Isabella Swan thinks her mother would he happier in her new marriage if she didn’t have to be responsible for her seventeen-year-old daughter. So Bella moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, where she’s been living with her mother nearly her whole life, to live with her father, the police chief in the small town Forks, Washington. Bella doesn’t like Forks. It rains all the time and sunshine is rare. But she wants her mother to be happy, and she knows her father will be happy to have her live with him. Besides, she figures she can survive a year in the rain before she becomes an adult and goes to college.

All the students in her new high school welcome her, everyone but the stunningly beautiful Cullen family. But Bella soon learns that it’s not just her; the Cullens just prefer to stick to themselves, never making friends with anyone. Something about them seems odd, and Bella is mesmerized, especially by the mysterious Edward Cullen, who is the only Cullen that seems to despise her for some reason that she can’t figure out. Though she wishes she didn’t, Bella can’t help but find herself thinking about Edward and wanting him to like her even though everything he does and says to her suggests that he wishes he were as far away from her as possible. (more…)

So here it is: the last book in the original Samaria trilogy, and the last of the Samaria novels left for me to read. I’m very sad now. I have enjoyed reading these books so much that it’s depressing to know there are no more stories about Samaria left. Sharon Shinn, if you ever Google yourself and come across this review: write another Samaria novel! There’s definitely potential for at least one if not a few more books, since the ending of this one leaves you wondering what will happen next to the people of Samaria and (especially) its angels.

It’s been over a hundred years since the Archangel turned oracle Alleluia discovered the truth about the god Jovah. In that time, technology has made astonishing advances: motorized vehicles, advanced audio systems, and communication devices. In fact, there has always been quiet speculation among a small group of Samarians that the god they call Jovah is in fact a space ship orbiting above the planet, listening for the prayers of the angels to inform it of what needs to be done. This group, called the Jacobites, have grown in size over the last hundred years, and become more vocal about their beliefs, even claiming that the oracle Alleluia had proof to support their claims and left behind files to be found one day when Samaria was ready to learn the truth. (more…)

I don’t know why I waited so long to read another of Shinn’s Samaria novels. I really love this set of books, and I’m happy that I still have The Alleluia Files waiting to be read. But then I’ll be finished all the Samaria books, and that’s unfortunate, because these stories are so lively and imaginative, that I can’t help but wish Shinn would choose to write more. Perhaps that’s a reason for why I took my time getting to Jovah’s Angel — to prolong the Samaria experience. Plus, my library system (tsk tsk!) only has one copy left of this book in the system and it’s in pretty awful condition — its binding is cracked and a few pages are loose, plus there are stains on the pages; I just can’t bring myself to hold it for too long. Luckily, my wonderful sister gave me a Chapters gift certificate for Christmas and I was able to buy these Samaria books with it. (more…)

I’ve had an interesting reading experience lately. A number of the books I’ve been sent to read and review on this blog have been… not as good as I would have liked, especially considering the fact that I don’t read as quickly as I’d like to, so I hope that every book I read is worth the time and turns out to be enjoyable. And don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about abandoning a book if I’m not enjoying it, but it’s different when it’s been sent to me on good faith that it will be reviewed on this blog. So, as this book was sent to me to read and review, I couldn’t very well accept it and then not review it, could I? (more…)

In this sequel to Archangel, the world of Samaria is in a state of rebirth and rebuilding. The new Archangel Gabriel has taken control after the god Jovah brought down a mighty thunderbolt of destruction upon the evil Archangel Raphael and his fallen angel followers on Mount Galo. Gabriel’s first actions as Archangel have been to destroy Raphael’s angel hold at Windy Point and commission a new angel hold to be built at Cedar Hills.

The angels have seen better times. Their population is now severely depleted, a third of them having been killed at Mount Galo. The remaining angels are stretched thin across the three provinces, and there are not enough to travel the lands and help the people of Samaria. The birth of an angel baby, always a joyful event, is now cause for the most extreme of celebrations, for it will ensure the future of the angel population, the guardians of safety and harmony in the world. (more…)