Leave it to Le Guin to write a young adult book that’s a really moving story of slavery and freedom. This book is the story of Gavir, a slave in one of the households in the city of Etra, part of a confederation of cities that constantly seem to be at war with each other, […]
Powers – Ursula K. Le Guin Read More »
Interesting book. It’s set in a vaguely Eastern cultured world, where people use magic called madra. Lindon is born without any specific ability to shape madra, meaning he’s unsouled – more or less useless to his family. But he’s determined to make something of himself, and through sheer force of will sets out on what
Unsouled – Will Wight Read More »
This is a reread, which I don’t normally write up, but these two books (this is the follow up to The Curse of Chalion), are just so incredibly good, I want to make sure I mention them again. Ista is a minor character in The Curse of Chalion, the dowager royina, mother to the two
Paladin of Souls – Lois McMaster Bujold Read More »
This is a twist on Cinderella. It starts with the step mother asking Eugenie to stay away from the coming masquerade ball – everyone knows that Eugenie is prettier than her two step sisters, and because she will inherit her father’s estate once she comes of age, it’s vitally important that they find themselves good
Soot and Slipper – Kate Stradling Read More »
Following the action of The Scarlet Thread, Kai has managed to escape from the home of the gods lead by Hades – it would seem that their reasons for helping her might not always be pure, and they’ve neglected to tell her that her friends at the old institute, who are like sisters, are now
The Golden Shears – D.S. Murphy Read More »
Salya is a Traveler, and as she’s approaching adulthood, she’s feeling the pressure to devote herself to the healing trade of her grandmother. It’s a very serious thing among her people –a true vocation. But she’s not quite sure she’s ready for it. One night, an injured man stumbles upon their camp. Bren is a
Blue Gentian – Casey E. Hamilton Read More »
LibraryThing Early Reviewers book Tam Paradiso is a cop in Philadelphia who also happens to be one of the few people that can see otherworldly creatures, so she has a double job – cop by day, protecting the world from evil by night. As she’s tracking a particularly nasty creature one night, another creature hunter,
Knight of the Crescent Moon – L. E. Towne Read More »
I can’t say this book is reinventing the YA star-crossed teenage love story trope, but it has a few things I like that are a bit different. We have Ethan, who’s lived a small South Carolina town all his life, and has wanted to leave for ages. His high school is full of people who
Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl Read More »
This book is nominally set in the Grishaverse, but is all the fairy tales they would tell there. You can definitely see the parallels to tales in our normal world. My favorite story was “Ayama and the Thorn Wood”, which is sort of a cross between “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast”. The younger son
The Language of Thorns – Leigh Bardugo Read More »
Fawn has fled her family. She’s done an incredibly stupid thing, and feels the only way to remedy it is to run away. On her way, she runs into Dag – a member of a patrol of Lakewalkers. The Farmer folk are a bit leery of the Lakewalkers, who have magic, which they use to
The Sharing Knife: Beguilement – Lois McMaster Bujold Read More »