Sci Fi and Fantasy

Yay Killer Unicorns!

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I was terribly nervous to read Rampant. What if it wasn’t good. What if it was really really bad. What if it was just plain disappointing. What if, what if, what if…

But it was terrific! I loved it. I love the evil unicorns. I love all of the unicorn hunters. I loved Astrid. I hated her mother, with a passion that I cannot even begin to explain. I still hate her. I will hate her forever.

Need more killer unicorns, immediately.

But… also… because I complained about Sassymonkey avoiding the virginity issue, I’m going to mention it.

I wasn’t bothered by the fact that the hunters need to be virgins. I get it. Completely. I was bothered by the number of times these hunters, girls from all over the world, griped about boys – and all boys want… and how they constantly have to deal with what boys want. Never once mentioning that girls sometimes, really would like to have sex as well. And that girls also think about having sex. It made me ill.

I blame the patriarchy for a lot of things but this was something else, this was blaming boys and men. And it was a wee bit over the top for me. OK A lot over the top for me.

Yay Killer Unicorns! Read More »

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wonder if I found The Forest of Hands and Teeth through the BlogHer Book Club Group or was it a book that TW saw reviewed and then asked me to reserve at the library. I hate it when I can’t remember. Quick search of the Book Club group doesn’t pull up results so I’m guessing it was TW. Or maybe it was you, some random book blogger out there?

Whatever. We listened to it on audio and boy was it long. Not really but it sure felt long. The author writes the way we picture RJ would write if she was writing post apocalyptic fiction about teens and The Unconsecrated (aka Zombies.) Yes Zombies.

The story was interesting. The characters never quite became interesting. I liked the Sisters the best and we didn’t learn nearly enough about them due to the Unconsecrated attack on the village.

I definitely liked the book more than TW did. She was frustrated by the teen girl who never seemed to learn anything. I think she did learn from her experiences, she learned the way teens do. Slowly and painfully and never quite making as much progress as you’d like.

Feels like a sequel might be in the works and I wouldn’t mind reading it if it appears.

*Update: Of course I had to go and look to see if there is a sequel in the works, should have done that before I wrote this… there’s a prequel due to be published in March 2010. Fascinating.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Read More »

A Curse Dark as Gold

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I loved A Curse Dark as Gold more than I love Rumpelstiltskin or any other similar story. I loved the characters. I loved the ending. Yes, I loved the ending – can you believe it? I was afraid I’d hate the ending, particularly when I was down to the last 50 pages and was loving it so much. I just knew something was going to happen to ruin it. But nope, excellent. All the way through.

Great Cybil selection!

A Curse Dark as Gold Read More »

Graceling

4 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Feminism, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wasn’t going to read Graceling because I am way behind and have a huge stack of books I need to read so that I can review them. Or read so that I can finish my challenges.

But TW insisted Graceling was good. Really good. And I wasn’t feeling very well, so a serious non-fiction book about a GI doctor seemed like less than perfect reading for a stomach flu kind of day.

TW was right. Graceling was really good. Another strong female character. A strong supporting female character. Male characters that run the range of good and evil, some that are a combo of both. And of course, there’s the “Grace”. How those who are graced are treated. What types of graces there are. Very interesting.

*Duh. Just realized the reason we had this book in the first place is that it was a Cybils book. Too bad it had so much competition in that category.*

Graceling Read More »

Highway to Hell

2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women, Young Adult /

I didn’t mean to start reading Highway to Hell. I simply lost the book I was supposed to be reading and this one was nearby. If I had realized it was the third in the series, I’d have worked harder to find the book I’d lost. I hate reading a series out of order.

Maybe that’s why it took me so long to finish it?

Nah. It took me so long because I was a) exhausted post-BlogHerCon b) sick c) working my butt off.

If I hadn’t been experiencing all three of those things at once, I’d have finished it in a day. And probably enjoyed it a good bit more than I did.

It was a fun book. It must by YA but I’m too exhausted, sick and busy to double check. If it isn’t labeled YA, it should be.

Demons. Evil geniuses. Brujas. Great girl power characters.

I have the first two books in the series now and I look forward to going back and starting at the beginning.

**updated** No wonder the characters in this book seemed so familiar… we read book 1, Prom Dates from Hell in 2007. And loved it.

Highway to Hell Read More »

Magic Thief: Lost

2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

This is book two in the Magic Thief series, another one that I plucked from my Amazon holding list and I think Lost might have been better than the first one. (A rare occurrence for a second book.)

There are hidden “rune” messages throughout the book and I always spend the time figuring out what they say. TW doesn’t bother with them. The messages in the last book were better than the ones in this book.

I wonder what will happen to poor Conn in book three… and I wonder what will happen to the magic.

Magic Thief: Lost Read More »

A Lion Among Men

2009, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I have a love/hate thing with Gregory Maguire.

Loved Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister
Loved Wicked
Hated Mirror Mirror
Did not love Son of a Witch
Bored by Lost

Based on the above, you might be a little bit surprised that I plucked A Lion Among Men off of the large print shelf. I was a little surprised, myself.

After the horrendous book Son of a Witch turned out to be, why would I want to ruin the memory of Wicked further with what would probably be another horrendous muddle up of The Wicked Years.

Well guess what. A Lion Among Men… fabulous. I did not want to put it down. Loved it. And because I loved it, it was worth it to read the hated Son of a Witch (without it, Lion Among Men would not have made sense.)

Yackle, Nor, The Dwarf – they all come together in The Cowardly Lion’s story. Nice. Very nicely written.

A Lion Among Men Read More »

Lamplighter

2 Comments / 2009, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Lamplighter is a Cybil. We first got it on audio but after a few minutes gave up on it – we realized that without reading book one, we were completely clueless about what was happening. There are a lot of made up words that make absolutely no sense on audio.

So, I grabbed the first book (Monster Blood Tattoo) and read it awhile back. It was good. Prince J liked it too. TW didn’t read it then, but I grabbed it again and she read it earlier this week.

I knew what was “different” about Rossamund in book one. But TW and Prince J seem unaware.

Book two, Lamplighter… it all comes out. Well not all of it, but there are clues and clues all the way through, leading up to Rossamund (and others) figuring it out. (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here folks – sorry!)

Anyway, the only problem with book two is that book three appears to have not been published yet. And I really want to know what the heck is going to happen NOW.

Lamplighter Read More »

Tender Morsels

1 Comment / 2009, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Tender Morsels scared me. Which might be why it took me so long to read a relatively short YA fantasy novel.

The first 50 pages were violent, ugly, depressing as anything I’ve ever read and not at all compelling. They just made me ill. Snow White and Rose Red my butt…

TW had really liked the book, even with the incest and the rapes and the forced abortions. So I kept reading… a few pages a night.

Until finally, the world shifted and everything was nice. Except when the world would shift just a little bit and the ugliness would wander in.

The ending… excellent. It wasn’t a happy ending at all, well not to me. But it was a satisfying ending. Unfortunately I finished it at 11pm last night and proceeded to have horrible nightmares about the book.

This is not YA fantasy for the faint of heart.

Tender Morsels Read More »