• 911 and counting …

    Finished Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson. This is the first book in her Tairen Soul epic fantasy romance series. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about the series and thought I’d try it. Warning: There be spoilers ahead.

    The book is about Rain Tairen Soul, the king of the Fey who can shapeshift into a tairen (think a black panther with wings and purple eyes). Rain’s people are dying, and he’s searching for a cure to save them — which leads him to Ellysetta Baristani, a woodcarver’s daughter who has powerful magic she doesn’t even know about. Rain claims Ellysetta as his mate, which immediately puts both of them in danger from evil Eld mages bent on war and destruction …

    The book is an interesting mix of epic fantasy (humble, orpahaned woman discovers her great power/destiny) and romance (the Fey have soulmates and serious desires to claim/protect their mates that you see in a lot of paranormal romances). The world-building was solid, and you’ve got several nice characters without getting into the tough-to-keep-track-of cast of thousands that often populate epic fantasy books. (Seriously, you need a scorecard to keep track of characters in books like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series).

    I liked Ellie’s character a lot and look forward to seeing her grow and become more powerful in future books. I wasn’t as keen on Rain, mainly because he spends a lot of the book being an overly possessive alpha male (which, as I’ve said before, isn’t one of my favorite character types). I also really enjoyed the members of Ellie’s guard and her twin sisters and hope they get more chances to shine in the future.

    However, I had one problem with the book, and that was the ending — or lack thereof. The book ends with Rain and Ellie strengthening their bond after a disastrous dinner at the royal palace. But there’s no resolution to the other plot threads, and the story cuts off in mid-stream, while several important things are cooking. (I mentioned I was reading this to a fellow romance writer, and she warned me about the ending. Now, I see what she meant).

    I realize this is a series, and there will be some cliffhangers, but there wasn’t even a note at the end that said “To be continued.” The second book in the series came out almost immediately after this one, but still, I would have liked a note or some indication that this was the end, and I didn’t have any missing pages. I’m wondering if the book was originally longer and got split in two pieces. Does anyone know?

    Overall, if you like an epic love story with your fantasy, you’ll probably enjoy this one. Still, I have to go split decision on this one. Thumbs up to the overall story and world building, thumbs down to the abrupt ending. But I’ll be getting the next book to read because I want to see Rain and Ellie kick some Eld mage ass. 😎

    Up next: Goblin War by Jim Hines.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 15.

    What about you guys? What are you reading right now?

  • To trust or not to trust …

    So yesterday, I put up a post about a Fan History wiki project per an e-mail request that I got. And someone left a comment with a link because there’s some controversy about the project (which I didn’t know about). So, I’ve decided to just take down the whole post because I don’t want to get in the middle of anything.

    And it’s made me think about how trusting I am. You see, I often get e-mail requests for things — bookmarks, guest blogs, blog posts, charity donations, etc. I try to be as accommodating as I can, but I just don’t have time to research/vet everything that comes my way (like the wiki post).

    Here’s another example. Recently, I received an e-mail from a man who asked for a free book for his autistic son because his son loved to read but he just couldn’t afford to buy books. Was this guy scamming me? Was his son really autistic? I don’t know, but I sent him a book anyway. Because a) I could afford to and b) it seemed like a nice thing to do. 

    Does all this make me gullible? I don’t know. I suppose I like to believe in the good in people — just like Wonder Woman does. Although I think I’m going to be more wary in the future. Sigh …

  • I did a bad, bad thing …

    6 Comments

    I decided not to read a book I bought.

    It’s a romance by an author whose books I’ve previously enjoyed. But the book in question has gotten so-so reviews, and I skimmed through the first chapter and wasn’t hooked. Too many names and a little more cutesy-ness than appealed to me at that moment in time. So, I’ve decided to give it to my local library, where hopefully someone will get more enjoyment out of it than I did.

    Is this wrong of me? I don’t know. The money from the book’s sale went to a charity cause. But every time I look at the book, I just don’t want to read it. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for that genre right now.

    I use to read every single book I bought all the way through. Even if I didn’t particularly care for it, I’d still finish it. Most of the time, I still do that. I can only remember putting one other book down in recent memory and not finishing it. I got about halfway through when I realized that I just didn’t care about the characters enough to see how it ended.

    Maybe I’m just becoming pickier about how I spend my reading time. Ah, well. At least if I give it to the library, I might get around to reading it someday … or not.

    What about you guys? Do you always read every book you buy? What makes you quit reading a book? Share in the comments.

  • The election is finally over …

    And I, for one, am glad. Maybe now the media will talk about something other than politics. You know, other important things that are happening in the world, along with arts and books and movies and music.

    A girl can dream anyway … :rolleyes:

  • Get out and vote today …

    3 Comments

    Because you have the wonderful freedom to.

    Because folks have died and sacrificed so much so we can have this right.

    Because people in other countries don’t have this choice.

    And because you’ve got no right to bitch about things if you don’t. :joecool: