fantasy

Review: Royal Assassin

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Royal Assassin
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love every single thing about this book! The storytelling is so masterful that I feel like these are real events and real people. I have all these emotions rolling around in my heart, and I’m still completely immersed in the Farseer world.

Fitz is the perfect main character. I can’t even explain to you how much I adore this person! He’s doing his assassin thing, and plotting and spying and fighting; but he’s also trying to have his own life, and keep his relationships with friends and family intact through all the upheaval.

The evil Red Ships are attacking the coast, and Fitz is caught up in the battles, with a unique perspective since he knows most of the undercurrent of politics and scheming that is going on. Continue reading →

Review: Redwall: The Graphic Novel

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Redwall: The Graphic Novel
Redwall: The Graphic Novel by Stuart Moore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Matthias Mouse, whose home is being attacked by the evil rat Cluny the Scourge, is on a quest to recover the legendary sword of Martin of Redwall, so that he can meet Cluny in battle. There are riddles and secret passageways, old enemies and unexpected friends, and of course, several mighty battle scenes!

I adore the full novel, Redwall, so seeing it in graphic form was exciting! There is so much more depth to the story that couldn’t be included in this format, but it still managed to fit most everything in there, although it feels a bit rushed. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Dragon’s Child

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The Dragon's Child
The Dragon’s Child by Jenny Nimmo

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a sweet little story about a dragon child who can’t learn to fly and gets left behind when all the other dragons migrate to other lands. Poor little dragon child has a hard time because his wings are too small, and everyone is exasperated with him and losing their patience waiting for him to fly.
He befriends a bird, who tries to teach him flying lessons, and an orphan girl, who brings him a lot of comfort in friendship. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home

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The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home
The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite by accident, September has been crowned as Queen of Fairyland – but she inherits a Kingdom in chaos. The magic of a Dodo’s egg has brought every King, Queen, or Marquess of Fairyland back to life, each with a fair and good claim on the throne, each with their own schemes and plots and horrible, hilarious, hungry histories. In order to make sense of it all, and to save their friend from a job she doesn’t want, A-Through-L and Saturday devise a Royal Race, a Monarckical Marathon, in which every outlandish would-be ruler of Fairyland will chase the Stoat of Arms across the whole of the nation – and the first to seize the poor beast will seize the crown.

A perfect ending to this magical series! I am, as always, enchanted with Valente’s writing style, and surprised by the plot twists, and utterly in love with every character!

I don’t understand why the GoodReads description says “A-Through-L and Saturday devise a Royal Race… in which every outlandish would-be ruler of Fairyland will chase the Stoat of Arms across the whole of the nation…”
That’s completely opposite to what actually happens in the book! No one chases the Stoat of Arms, and it is NOT A-L or Saturday who think up the race. That makes no sense. Who wrote this description?

One of the best things, of course, is all the little bits of wisdom and philosophy peppered through the story. There’s a sweet pathos and melancholy through all the series. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Dark Portal

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The Dark Portal
The Dark Portal by Robin Jarvis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had to DNF this one. It’s boring, and the plot is trite, and the pacing is weird. I didn’t care about any of the characters, so after I stuck with it through 100 pages, I called it quits.

The writing is really condescending, and points out the obvious over and over. Continue reading →

Book Review: Black Water

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Black Water
Black Water by D.J. MacHale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this exciting, fast-paced book, Bobby Pendragon is once again fighting against the evil Saint Dane, this time in the jungle territory of Eelong. Bobby is half-killed, nearly eaten by wild animals, thrown into jail, starved, beaten up, and nearly poisoned, so you know…. just a normal day for him.

This book, like all the others in this series, had me on the edge of my seat, clutching the book with white knuckles. The action just keeps coming, and the mystery unravels little by little. Just when you think you have it figured out, something smashes through the plot and turns everything upside down. Continue reading →