Book Log 29/2011 - Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday

Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty Norville #3

This is werewolf Kitty's third outing and after the traumatic happenings in Washington in the previous book Kitty feels as though she needs a break, so since she has a memoir to write she takes a sabbatical from her radio show and heads for the hills. Trouble is close behind, however. Someone is using magic to put a curse on her (barbed wire crosses, dead animals left on her porch). The locals obviously don't like having a werewolf in their midst. But they've got much more than a werewolf to worry about.

When Cormac the werewolf hunter shows up on her doorstep with an injured man, Kitty's problems escalate. The injured man is Ben, her dishy lawyer, and he's been bitten by a werewolf. Kitty has to ease him through his first full moon and try to persuade him not to kill himself before the wolf takes over. It means getting closer to Ben, but what about Cormac? There's definitely a spark there, but Cormac won't do anything about it.

And there's something lurking in the woods, something that's wolf but not werewolf, something that smells of death. Kitty's caught between a vengeful sherrif, a local witch, a skin walker and a prosecuting attourney out to make his mark when Cormac falls foul of the local law.

This is a light, fast read and I trust Carrie Vaughn's writing enough to believe that she'll resolve the ending of this in a future book.

Book Log 29/2011 - Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday

Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty Norville #3

This is werewolf Kitty's third outing and after the traumatic happenings in Washington in the previous book Kitty feels as though she needs a break, so since she has a memoir to write she takes a sabbatical from her radio show and heads for the hills. Trouble is close behind, however. Someone is using magic to put a curse on her (barbed wire crosses, dead animals left on her porch). The locals obviously don't like having a werewolf in their midst. But they've got much more than a werewolf to worry about.

When Cormac the werewolf hunter shows up on her doorstep with an injured man, Kitty's problems escalate. The injured man is Ben, her dishy lawyer, and he's been bitten by a werewolf. Kitty has to ease him through his first full moon and try to persuade him not to kill himself before the wolf takes over. It means getting closer to Ben, but what about Cormac? There's definitely a spark there, but Cormac won't do anything about it.

And there's something lurking in the woods, something that's wolf but not werewolf, something that smells of death. Kitty's caught between a vengeful sherrif, a local witch, a skin walker and a prosecuting attourney out to make his mark when Cormac falls foul of the local law.

This is a light, fast read and I trust Carrie Vaughn's writing enough to believe that she'll resolve the ending of this in a future book.

Book Log 30/2011 - Sherwood Smith: Inda

I've been looking forward to reading Inda for some time, but putting it off while I finished the revision of the magic pirate book knowing there was some pirate stuff in this.

I was not disappointed.

I expected a lighter faster read, what I got was a richly layered, fully realised world with a child protagonist covering about seven years of Inda's life from 10 - 17. Set in Iasca Leror, a land conquered some years earlier by the warlike Marlovans the story centres around Inda, second son of the prince of Choraed-Elgaer. His life is mapped out. When his elder brother, Tanrid, inherits, Inda will become his Shield Arm - his military champion defending home. Not for Inda the excitement of the military academy, a privilege for firstborn sons only, until politics and impending war intervene.

The book follows Inda through two years of academy training where he befriends a boy called Sponge, the King's second son, who has fallen foul of  his older brother and the Royal Shield Arm, his uncle. There are feuds, political infighting, intrigue and sabotage. The women are also warriors, though trained separately in defensive strategies and are subject to arranged marriages. Despite not seeming to have much of a voice they are busy with plans of their own, researching to reclaim lost magic.

Inda is betrayed by the Royal Shield Arm who sees his developing talent for military strategy and his loyalty to Sponge as a threat. Dishonoured, he is spirited away when he refuses to admit liability for something that was not his fault. His life changes suddenly and he's sent to sea, ending up fighting pirates while the Royal Shield Arm finally gets the war he's been craving for years..

I found myself desperately wanting to read the next book in the series as soon as I'd finished this. To be honest I wouldn't like to leave too long a gap, mainly because the names and ranks are mind-twisting. A prince is not a prince, he either an Adaluin or a Varaef or a Sierlaef depending on whether he's the prince of a territory or the King's second or first son. The Royal Shield Arm is the Sierandael or Harskialdna depending on whether they are actually at war. It takes a while to get into this and I did find it confusing at first. Sierlaef and Sierandael were a bit too close for comfort and it threw me a bit. If only I'd turned to the back first and found the glossary!

But that's a small price to pay for such a complex, satisfying book. I'm looking forward to the next one. Come on, Amazon, hurry up!

Book Log 30/2011 - Sherwood Smith: Inda

I've been looking forward to reading Inda for some time, but putting it off while I finished the revision of the magic pirate book knowing there was some pirate stuff in this.

I was not disappointed.

I expected a lighter faster read, what I got was a richly layered, fully realised world with a child protagonist covering about seven years of Inda's life from 10 - 17. Set in Iasca Leror, a land conquered some years earlier by the warlike Marlovans the story centres around Inda, second son of the prince of Choraed-Elgaer. His life is mapped out. When his elder brother, Tanrid, inherits, Inda will become his Shield Arm - his military champion defending home. Not for Inda the excitement of the military academy, a privilege for firstborn sons only, until politics and impending war intervene.

The book follows Inda through two years of academy training where he befriends a boy called Sponge, the King's second son, who has fallen foul of  his older brother and the Royal Shield Arm, his uncle. There are feuds, political infighting, intrigue and sabotage. The women are also warriors, though trained separately in defensive strategies and are subject to arranged marriages. Despite not seeming to have much of a voice they are busy with plans of their own, researching to reclaim lost magic.

Inda is betrayed by the Royal Shield Arm who sees his developing talent for military strategy and his loyalty to Sponge as a threat. Dishonoured, he is spirited away when he refuses to admit liability for something that was not his fault. His life changes suddenly and he's sent to sea, ending up fighting pirates while the Royal Shield Arm finally gets the war he's been craving for years..

I found myself desperately wanting to read the next book in the series as soon as I'd finished this. To be honest I wouldn't like to leave too long a gap, mainly because the names and ranks are mind-twisting. A prince is not a prince, he either an Adaluin or a Varaef or a Sierlaef depending on whether he's the prince of a territory or the King's second or first son. The Royal Shield Arm is the Sierandael or Harskialdna depending on whether they are actually at war. It takes a while to get into this and I did find it confusing at first. Sierlaef and Sierandael were a bit too close for comfort and it threw me a bit. If only I'd turned to the back first and found the glossary!

But that's a small price to pay for such a complex, satisfying book. I'm looking forward to the next one. Come on, Amazon, hurry up!