When I was young, and we still lived in Portland, about a block away from the local elementary school, which also contained the local branch library, my mother, sister and I would walk up there seemingly all the time. We would get picture books, and my mother would get more complicated chapter books that she […]
Mary Poppins in the Park – P. L. Travers Read More »
Captain Laurence and Temeraire have finally made it back to England, only to find that all the dragons there have been infected with a very nasty cold that’s kept them sick enough that many of them can no longer fly. After accidentally breaching the quarantine, they find that Temeraire is immune to the cold, and
Empire of Ivory – Naomi Novik Read More »
The Lord Ruler is dead, and Elend Venture has become King, and he’s trying his best to be fair to all the people, noble and skaa. The Mistborn Vin is trying to figure out exactly how to live as both the King’s consort, and assassin. And, the rest of the old thieving crew is trying
The Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson Read More »
Vin is a street urchin who happens to have a bit of Luck – it’s what’s enabled her to survive in the streets of Luthadel. After a near disaster where she uses her luck on the wrong person, she meets Kellsier. He’s the one person to have escaped the Lord Ruler’s most terrible prison,
Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson Read More »
I realize I’m asking a lot when I want my Pride and Prejudice sequels to measure up to Jane Austen’s original. I mean, she is Jane Austen, and she had a very singular way with words. Now, the ones that really bug me are the stories where the author goes for High Drama, in a
Pemberley – Emma Tennant Read More »
In the last book in the series, our heroine had finally found her true identity – Ashalind na Pendran, who had run free from the lands of the Faeran when the gates that connected that fair land and the land of mortals were closed and bound by the orders of the Raven Prince, younger brother
The Battle of Evernight – Cecilia Dart-Thornton Read More »
In the first book of this trilogy, a youth was discovered, mute, and disfigured outside Isse Tower. Through the course of that book, the youth discovered she was a she, and went on adventures throughout the lands of Erith. Near the end, she met a Diannen warrior named Thorn, and fell madly in love with
The Lady of the Sorrows – Cecilia Dart-Thornton Read More »
Sir Nicholas Beauvallet, one of the favorite knights of Queen Elizabeth I, meets the lovely Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva when he raids the ship carrying her and her father back from the New World to Spain. On a whim, he brings the two back to Spain, and vows that he will be back
Beauvallet – Georgette Heyer Read More »
Keladry of Mindelan is finally a knight, and with war with Scanra on the horizon, she journeys north, expecting to see battle. Instead, she’s assigned as the commander of a refugee camp. Even she has to admit it’s a job she’s perfect for, but she feels like she’s not doing enough to help the battle
Lady Knight – Tamora Pierce Read More »
I read young adult books with some frequency, and I’ve discovered many of my favorite authors in that category well after I left the demographic. Tamora Pierce is one that I’ve been reading since I was, in fact, a young adult. I think the thing I love most about her books is how well she
Squire – Tamora Pierce Read More »
