Feb. 17th, 2016 04:00 pm
What Am I Reading Wednesday, February 17
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hoursgonebyWhat I Just Finished Reading: Flight of Magpies, by K.J. Charles. This was my favorite out of the series. It brought some of the plot threads from the first two novels, particularly the first, and featured a lot more of the other characters, especially the other justiciars. Also Saint! Lots of Saint, who has been learning to fight from Merrick: "...she is now able to flip herself through the air like a dervish and kick a man in the face three times before landing."
I like Saint.
There's a bit more detail about the different kinds of practitioners, and an introduction to the protagonist of Jackdaw that's threaded rather nicely through the plot. There's a touch of romantic conflict, but not so much romantic misunderstanding as two people being bullheaded.
Feast of Stephen, by K.J. Charles. A short story set immediately after Flight of Magpies, it's just a short slice-of-life story. I remember thinking it was cute but can't recall anything about it.
The Otherworld, by Mercedes Lackey. It's books 2 and 3 of SERRAted Edge, both dealing with children who are victims of abuse. The 2nd book/half of Otherworld deals specifically with child sexual abuse, and contains quite a bit of violence as well, fair warning.
Both books are told from the elves's point of view, which is interesting. It's not totally alien because they've lived here and interacted with humans for quite some time, but you do get the feeling you're dealing with someone not quite human, rather than just a ditzy human. (Though Mac, book 2, honestly does slip into that territory sometimes. Sweetie, you've been here how long and you don't know not to put plastic under a heat source?) It's also set firmly in the early 90s: I can tell from the reference to 'horrendously pink' slouch socks. (Mine were tie-dye.)
Elvendude, by Mark Shepherd. This is listed as SERRAted Edge #6 but it doesn't have any of the characters from the first four books. (I think 5 might be an art book? It's out of print, certainly.) It's pretty much an 80s anti-drug PSA in fantasy novel form.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley. *sigh* Even better the second time through.
SPECTR: The Complete First Series (SPECTR 1-6), by Jordan L. Hawke. While this was written as six separate books, I think it reads better in this form, because it really is one continuous story. The romantic subplots feel rather arbitrary, but I did like seeing Caleb's developing relationship with Gray. I wish we'd seen more of Kaniyar: she's the kind of person I'd take pains not to come to the attention of, while taking notes on how to handle people from afar. Tiffany too: actually her entire family has a very interesting backstory that is also a major spoiler. The books are short, about 100 pages or so each, so I went through the whole thing in about 6 hours. I described it as feeling like hard candy, which is true, but there's nothing wrong with a piece or two of candy now and then.
What I'm Currently Reading: Spiritride, by Mark Shepherd. This takes place a year or so after Elvendude and, it's just not kept my interest so far - though to be fair I did stop for Watchmaker - but I expect I'll pick it up again now that I'm done SPECTR.
What I'm Reading Next: Not sure yet. Possibly Jackdaw by K.J. Charles, or The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, if I can figure out why the DRM on the library loan doesn't want to cooperate. Then maybe the rest ofThe Inheritance Trilogmn, which I also have in omnibus form, plus one more novel, which I desperately hope I do not drop on my foot.
I like Saint.
There's a bit more detail about the different kinds of practitioners, and an introduction to the protagonist of Jackdaw that's threaded rather nicely through the plot. There's a touch of romantic conflict, but not so much romantic misunderstanding as two people being bullheaded.
Feast of Stephen, by K.J. Charles. A short story set immediately after Flight of Magpies, it's just a short slice-of-life story. I remember thinking it was cute but can't recall anything about it.
The Otherworld, by Mercedes Lackey. It's books 2 and 3 of SERRAted Edge, both dealing with children who are victims of abuse. The 2nd book/half of Otherworld deals specifically with child sexual abuse, and contains quite a bit of violence as well, fair warning.
Both books are told from the elves's point of view, which is interesting. It's not totally alien because they've lived here and interacted with humans for quite some time, but you do get the feeling you're dealing with someone not quite human, rather than just a ditzy human. (Though Mac, book 2, honestly does slip into that territory sometimes. Sweetie, you've been here how long and you don't know not to put plastic under a heat source?) It's also set firmly in the early 90s: I can tell from the reference to 'horrendously pink' slouch socks. (Mine were tie-dye.)
Elvendude, by Mark Shepherd. This is listed as SERRAted Edge #6 but it doesn't have any of the characters from the first four books. (I think 5 might be an art book? It's out of print, certainly.) It's pretty much an 80s anti-drug PSA in fantasy novel form.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley. *sigh* Even better the second time through.
SPECTR: The Complete First Series (SPECTR 1-6), by Jordan L. Hawke. While this was written as six separate books, I think it reads better in this form, because it really is one continuous story. The romantic subplots feel rather arbitrary, but I did like seeing Caleb's developing relationship with Gray. I wish we'd seen more of Kaniyar: she's the kind of person I'd take pains not to come to the attention of, while taking notes on how to handle people from afar. Tiffany too: actually her entire family has a very interesting backstory that is also a major spoiler. The books are short, about 100 pages or so each, so I went through the whole thing in about 6 hours. I described it as feeling like hard candy, which is true, but there's nothing wrong with a piece or two of candy now and then.
What I'm Currently Reading: Spiritride, by Mark Shepherd. This takes place a year or so after Elvendude and, it's just not kept my interest so far - though to be fair I did stop for Watchmaker - but I expect I'll pick it up again now that I'm done SPECTR.
What I'm Reading Next: Not sure yet. Possibly Jackdaw by K.J. Charles, or The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, if I can figure out why the DRM on the library loan doesn't want to cooperate. Then maybe the rest ofThe Inheritance Trilogmn, which I also have in omnibus form, plus one more novel, which I desperately hope I do not drop on my foot.
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Also, since I seem to be in Victorian m/m mood, I went and checked and it turned out the library has Watchmaker of Filigree Street in ebook, so I should be reading that soon.
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was really good, and I say that as someone who doesn't like vampire novels in general. I hope you are able to get it working! (the one time I couldn't get a library book to open on my Kindle, it turned out that this was because when I went to Amazon that time to retrieve the book, my husband was logged in to his account rather than me into mine, and the DRM was set to his device. I never did manage to get this working properly, and had to return it and re-check it out myself.)
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