I’m back! Well, not that I was actually away, though it may have appeared to be the case – I’ve just been spending way too much time watching tennis. And with the Olympics coming up, I suspect this rather infrequent posting schedule is set to continue for a while. Bear with me.
Not very many things have caught my eye around the internets recently – though a free Archers Beach story by Sharon Lee @ Splinter Universe was one of them. I haven’t read it yet, but as I really enjoyed CAROUSEL TIDES, which was set in the same universe, I’m expecting to like it. And also looking forward to the upcoming sequels.
I also liked this interview with Kristin Cashore @ Helen Lowe’s blog – she talks more about BITTERBLUE, and there are some excellent questions and equally fantastic answers.
And as for what I’ve been reading – I finished Lisa Shearin‘s Raine Benares fantasy series. Confession: I stalled a few years ago in the middle (or so I thought) of the third book, but as the sixth and final book in the series had just been released, I wanted to know how it ended and decided to re-visit the book that had been giving me trouble. So I dived back into THE TROUBLE WITH DEMONS and was surprised to find out that I had actually stopped in the second chapter. I could have sworn I was much further in. Oh well.
I’ll get around to posting reviews eventually, but while the books were generally an easy read, they wouldn’t be a re-read for me. I’ve been pondering why I’ve failed to connect with the series – it has a lot of things going for it, not least the modern urban fantasy-like take on the traditional sword-and-sorcery fantasy genre. I think it probably boils down to what I see as lack of character growth or development in Raine. Five books in, and she’s still in the same place mentally (generally long-winded internal debate around the lines of “arrrghhh, I’ll be evil and corrupted forevermore if I use the Sarghred’s powers” followed by “but I have to protect the weak and defenceless” – major paraphrasing but you get the idea) as she was in the first books. At least the dreaded love triangle was resolved in the fourth book.
I also read Veronica Roth‘s DIVERGENT (SF YA), primarily because of all the hype around the release of the second book. I can see why it’s getting a lot of attention, and I was certainly fascinated by her dystopian world. Ultimately though, the story fizzled out for me towards the end – I wasn’t invested enough in the main characters and the romance felt a bit forced to me. I’ll probably get around to reading the sequel, but am in no rush.
So a pretty quiet couple of weeks when it comes to reading – I’ve not fallen in love with any new books, but haven’t hated any either. What about you – any recs or rants?