Get Lost in Literature

  "The world changes, Glokta, the world changes. The old order crumbles. Loyalty, duty, pride, honour. Notions that have fallen far from fashion. What has replaced them?" He glanced over his shoulder for a moment, and his lip curled. "Greed..."  This book was a collection of fascinating characters. There's Logan the Bloody Nine, a barbarian warrior who has lost everything. Bayez, First of the Magi, wise and powerful. There's Jezal, spoiled rich boy who's in love with Ardee, a woman who hides her feelings behind alcohol and cruelty. There's Glokta the torturer and Ferro the escaped slave, and Ferro's rescuer Yulwei who may or may not also be magi.  With characters such as these you'd think the plot would be outrageous, and in a way, it is...As far as I could tell, there is no plot. Bayez calls upon Logan for help but doesn't explain with what and Logan never asks. Yulwei saves Ferro in return for a favor, but we aren't told what the f...

  "They stepped into the chilly November afternoon, the tangerine and gold of the setting sun at odds with all the darkness in their lives." This is a story about Salem, an agoraphobic cryptoanalysist, and her best friend Bel. Their mothers Vida and Grace go missing one night, leaving behind clues as to what happened to them. It's up to Salem and Bel to crack the code and find their missing moms. The first thing that stands out to me is how fast-paced this is, unlike the few follow-the-breadcrumbs stories I've read. Salem and Bel discover a clue and immediately decode it to move onto the next. In fact, it seems almost too easy; too easy to find the clues and too easy to break them. Jess Lourey knew the story she wanted to write, but I'm not sure she made the puzzle hard enough... Or maybe the speed is a blessing, the story not taking up too much of your life to be worth reading. In between clues, the story keeps itself moving by the switching of the POVs. There...

  "Worrying about another man's motives was a sure way to drive yourself crazy in this business. All you could complete your own mission." Jess Lourey, Salem's Cipher. Thursday Quotables invented/hosted by  Bookshelf Fantasies .

"Right now we were hunting the wights, but if they ever realized it, they'd start hunting us right back." The Conference of the Birds by Ransom Riggs The plot of this story isn't that spectacular. Jacob rescues Noor and helps her look for the mysterious V, with the usual fights with hollows and wights mixed in. Oh yeah, let's not forget the love at first sight teen romance that's about to unfold. That's pretty much it. I'm not sure that this plot offered enough, I certainly expected more from it. The previous stories have been so successful with Jacob and his friends, I didn't understand the sudden teen romance that pushed all these other great characters into the background.  With every book the photos are fewer and fewer, so if pictures are what you're after, don't depend on it. That's fine by me, because with every book the author is pulling more and more from imagination, and I'll give credit where it's due: he's got ple...

   Happy Sunday! Welcome to my Sunday Post, a weekly blog news meme hosted by  caffeinatedbookreviewer . My blog is on the small side, so I decided I'll only be posting the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The month of February has been eventful. I've had some wild weather in my neck of the woods: real feel listed as 11 degrees one day, switching to 60s and endless rain, and then to dry windstorms that brought trees down. I successfully managed not to freeze, drown, or fly. I became an aunt to a beautiful niece, who just narrowly escaped being a leap year baby, and I'm pretty excited about her arrival. My Kindle Touch was finally lost to the ravages of time but was replaced swiftly with a Kindle Paperwhite. I also reviewed the following stories: Lethal White by Robet Galbraith Training Strategies for Dressage Riders by Charles de Kunffy What Feasts at Night by T.Kingfisher (just released!) Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith I originally planned to ...

Book Blogger Hop Q: "What was your gateway book—the book that made you want to read more—into reading or into a specific genre?" -- Submitted by    Meezan @  Caboodle of Cozie . A: OMG, what an interesting question. I honestly don't know what made me develop my reading bug, I've been reading for as long as I can remember. But I remember certain books that made me develop a liking for certain genres. Mattimeo by Brian Jacques got me into fantasy and Dracula by Bram Stoker got me into horror. The Secrets of Belltown by TM Murphy got me into mystery, and Call of the Wild by Jack London mostly got me into trouble. What are you reading this week?