I got back yesterday, after a rather hectic trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo. In the past week, I reckon I’ve spent more than 40 hours in airports and on planes – and then there were the trains and taxis and… let’s just say I’ve spent more time travelling than I care to remember in the past seven days. It was my first time in Tokyo, so that was pretty cool – but then again, I didn’t really get to spend much time sightseeing. It was very much hotel-office and vice versa. Surprisingly, I didn’t really get jetlag apart from the first night, when I woke up at 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Anyway, I’m very very glad to be home again – and also that my broadband access is sorted out!
Despite the long flights, I spent more time sleeping than reading – the only book I finished was Dave Duncan‘s “Children of Chaos”. I loved his King’s Blades novels, so bought this a while ago and decided that it would make a good airport book. Err… that would be if you didn’t mind the typical fantasy cover, with a large furry grey monster and half-clad girl on it. I’m not easily embarrassed – though I certainly didn’t wave it in front of my work colleagues *grin*.
“Children of Chaos” is the first of a duology, and follows four siblings who were taken as hostages in order to guarantee their father’s good behaviour - their father being the Doge of Celebre. I find Mr Duncan’s books very readable and this was no exception – though the scenes where he described the effects of prolonged shape-shifting may not be your thing if you’ve a weak stomach. It’s an very interesting and imaginative world, and I’ll be picking up the second book “Mother of Lies” to find out how the story concludes. Excerpts here on the author’s website if you’re interested.
I also picked up Colleen Gleason‘s “Rises the Night” in HK – this is her second book in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles series (five books in total, IIRC). The first book wasn’t really my thing – to me, Victoria seemed just a bit too modern for the Regency setting. But “Rises the Night” has been getting good reviews, and so I decided to give this series another go. I’ve just read the first couple of chapters so far, and it appears to be a bit more angst-y, with Victoria struggling to get over the events in the first book. Whether I still feel if she’s too modern for her times remains to be seen. Oh, and like the first book, this one has a great cover.
Other books read in May – Charlaine Harris‘ “All Together Dead” – not the best in the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I’ve got a thing for Eric. Oh, and a new (to me) gem – Jacqueline Winspear‘s Maisie Dobbs books. These mystery books are set in the 1930s after WWI – I read the first book (“Maisie Dobbs”) and immediately picked up the next two in the series, “Birds of a Feather” and “Pardonable Lies”. More about Maisie Dobbs to come…
