Get Lost in Literature

  "The hairs stood on the back of my neck. All who were wise feared the god Apollo's wrath, silent as sunlight, deadly as plague." Circe is born to the sun god Helios and the nymph Perse. As far as goddesses go, she is unremarkable in every way; no beauty, no powers, and the insufferable voice of a mortal. She is the shame of her family and seems destined to remain so... Until the day comes when she realizes she can use herbs to bend life to her will. Circe isn't just a goddess, she's a witch and like most witches she must be punished for it and is sentenced to exile by Zeus and her own father. In college I had The Odyssey and The Iliad as required reading for a literature class that I had thought I'd enjoy taking at the time I enrolled in it... Spoiler alert, I finished neither the story nor the class. Thankfully Madeline Miller managed to write a Greek epic that was told in relative time lapse, meaning just because a story spans a thousand years doesn'...

The Mongoliad (Book 1) by  Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo "Boys who had been brandishing wooden swords a moment ago were suddenly armed with long steel." I don't know why, in my head, I thought this story was going to be a fantasy. Not that it wasn't fantastic, it was just surprising to find this is more along the lines of historical/speculative fiction. And there's a lot going on this book. Mongol's have taken over Europe and Asia. Cnan a Binder--a Binder is someone who helps people find their paths--is sent to guide a small band of knights on their quest to overthrow the Khan of Khans. Gansuhk, is a mongol warrior, ordered away from his comforts of roaming the steppes on horseback to the court of the Khan of Khans...Why? To control the Khan's drinking habit. I admit, I'm not familiar with any of the authors of this book, so I have the luxury of not being able to pick out one author...

The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss This was an awesome sequel, despite being over 1000 pages, I flew through it. I also laughed hard when I flipped past Chapter One Hundred and Eleven and saw there were quite a few chapters to go...Who writes a book over 111 chapters long? Patrick Rothfuss, that's who. As to the actual story: The story picks up pretty much where the last one left, Kote the Innkeeper, telling the story of his days as Kvothe the student. Kvothe is back at school, still looking for information on the Chandrian and the Amyr, trying to find the mystery of who killed his family. He gets in a bit of trouble (no big surprise) and is asked to take a vacation. He travels in search of answers and a patron, one adventure leading into another. I loved and hate that we got to know Denna...In the previous book, I noticed how many strong female personalities were involved in the story and speculated that Denna didn't really add...

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) by Patrick Rothfuss I feel like an idiot for being so hesitant to start this story. This story is just... clever beyond belief. The story of Kvothe is story within story formatting but the jump between present and past is as smooth as the transition between dark and light. There is no confusion in that area. The present time, Kvothe is a dark, mysterious inn-keeper. In the past he's the bright eyed school boy surrounded by tragedy. I see a lot of comparisons to "Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings" and I don't really understand comparing apples and oranges. Yes, Kvothe is surrounded by tragedy, but unlike Harry Potter he isn't sitting around waiting for the villain to come and get him, he's being proactive about it. Kvothe doesn't feel the need to prove himself, he knows he's a genius destined for greatness and dares anyone to challenge him in this. As far as Lord of the Rings goes, this ...

The Mongoliad: Book Three (Foreworld #3)  by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo, Mike Grell The final installment was very exciting. Cnan and her group of Shield-Brethren finally arrive at the Khagan's camp...to complete their mission of assassinating the Khan of Khan's or die trying. The Shield Brethren, the Rats, and the Livonian knights, finally rise up in an effort to take back Hunern from the Mongols and kill Onghwe Khan. Lian and Gansukh must decide where they stand. In Rome, the Cardinals must decide on a new pope, while Ocyrhoe must find her kin-sisters and Ferenc has to decide where his path lies... POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW . SKIP TO NEXT BOLD PRINT TO AVOID. There are lots of characters and lots of battles in this one; a violent end to a grand adventure. For the most part, I loved every rebellious, bloody, and occasionally heartbreaking moment. The ending is where I struggle. It was left really ope...

The Mongoliad (Book 2) by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, Nicole Galland, Cooper Moo, Mark Teppo, Mike Grell Overall, I enjoyed Book 2 of the Mongoliad. The problem with writing a trilogy like a round-robin-campfire story, is that Book 1 appeared to be the beginning and climax of the story without an end and Book 2 seems to be the transitional phase between climax and resolution...and that's just kind of hard to get into, especially when the main characters from Book 1 are reduced to subplotting, to introduce new characters that may or may not play a pivotal role in Book 3... I didn't really understand the beginning, what was the point of showing Raphael's backstory? The adventure is still interesting, but now there is an air of confusion as well. No questions were really answered and more questions were revealed. Or maybe I waited too long in between reading the 1st book and the 2nd...A mistake I won't make again. My next read will be Boo...

The Mongoliad (Book 1) by  Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo I don't know why, in my head, I thought this story was going to be a fantasy. Not that it wasn't fantastic, it was just surprising to find this is more along the lines of historical/speculative fiction. And there's a lot going on this book. Mongol's have taken over Europe and Asia. Cnan a Binder--a Binder is someone who helps people find their paths?--is sent to guide a small band of knights on their quest to overthrow the Khan of Khans. Gansuhk, a mongol warrior, ordered away from his comforts of roaming the steppes on horseback to the court of the Khan of Khans...Why? To control the Khans drinking habit. I admit, I'm not familiar with any of the authors of this book, so I have the luxury of not being able to pick out one author's hand from the other. But with quests, assassination attempts, gladiators, and half-assed romances (I...