Winter Kill : A Mediocre Tale of Earth Witches.

Winter Kill By Laurell K Hamilton Smoothie review

The last three novels haven’t been too amazing for me. What I’ve read have range from descent to absolute stinkers lately. So I must say I was very hesitant about starting another novel right away. Instead played it safe and went with a short story. This one is Winter Kill by Laurell K Hamilton.

So what is it about? It is a story set in a medieval sort of world. It focuses on the on the Earth witch Jessa. She is a witch hunter. But when she was a child a witch murdered her family and when she grew up to be a assassin, she killed him in return. But there was a catch. His mother is a very powerful witch and is slaughtering those in villages to find the witch that killed her son. To set things right, Jessa heads out to kill her and stop the madness with the aid of her friend Gregoor.

So the good and bad? I guess I’ll start with the good. Detail is great, and the snowy icy hell tundra is easy to picture. Also even though the character of Jessa is cold, there’s a little humanity in there. Especially in the parts that had to do with her mother who never wanted her to be evil or use magic to help others. Its interesting how she accepts and regrets the fact that she continue stood is a point her own family as she avenged her.

The bad? Not much. It was sad that Gregoor played such a small roll that he became the cliché side kick. Also, there was not much originality here. Everything in this story you have read before in something else.

Overall, its simple and fun. Its not a must read by any means. If you happen to stumble upon it, give it a read. Just don’t pay anything for it.

2 smoothies out of four.

Overall Rating : A Mediocre Tale of Earth Witches.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Mirror Mirror : A Terrible Retelling Of A Classic

Mirror Mirror Smoothie Review

For the longest time by best friend has been trying to get me to read Wicked. The darker the Wizard of Oz centered on the wicked witch. But considering I had so much to read already, I never got a chance to. But years later I got a free copy of the book Mirror Mirror, which happened to be darker more realistic tale of Snow White, written by the same author who wrote Wicked, Gregory Maguire. I know its not the famous “Wicked” but I thought that whatever charm this author had may translate into his version of Snow White.

So what is it about? Well it is the tale of Snow White. The setting is slightly different set in the back drop of a fractured and at war Italy of the 1500s. The tale itself focused on Bianca de Nevada who is a helplessly isolated girl who lives on a bit of farmland called Montefore. There she lives with her father, a elderly caretaker, and a priest. Things changed when a couple siblings, a daughter and son of the pope come to ask a impossible task of her father. They force him to take a quest to find the apple of Eden as Lucrezia (the pope’s daughter) is to stay behind to watch over the estate and Bianca de Nevada. Lucrezia fills in as the wicked step mother and surely it can be assumed from there where the story is going.

So now the good and bad? Sadly, I have to start with the bad because there is so much of it. The first big complaint about the book is that it is not the so called “darker” version this supposed to be. I feel that the author needs to look up the word “dark.” because for this book I feel he went for shock value trying to make things supposedly dark. Let list the things that he added to the tale of Snow White to make it darker, heavy doses of incest, child rape, a old woman who loves to have sex with a squid, a very disgustingly detailed scene about Bianca’s first period and the list goes on. All of this portrays all of it in a fashion of “Oh my god!” shock value. All of which has nothing to do with the story and many of the scenes concerning those points comes up as a “Yuck I didn’t need to read that” rather than “This story is so dark.” The tone was just very awkward more than anything else as this would come up randomly without any reason. The detail is poor. So poor that there are pages when it is hard to know what is going on or where they are. There are chapters that randomly jump to first person but failed to address who’s point of view it is coming from and from the detail in the chapter I failed to even have a good guess of who it is coming from. The characters are shallow. The one that is the most detailed is the villain and she still has very little to offer. The character who fills in as the prince is barely there and acts so oddly, that I got a sense that he was handicapped. Bianca is helpless to a fault making her step backward from strong female leads. Her role in this, is beauty and stupidity. Her story is both embarrassing and depressing. And don’t get me started on plot holes. That’s a topic for another whole essay.

The good? I give the rather credit for putting up a effort, but it is done so badly. Nothing here is good. People are better reading the old fairy tale because he has nothing new to offer at all. The only creepy element was a single scene. Soldiers who came back from war had the ‘rot.” The rot, was a infection that made the men decay while alive in a since. Very creepy stuff that’s only mentioned once.

Overall this book is a disaster. It should be avoided. And after reading this, I have no intention of reading anything else by this author. Not even Wicked.

½ smoothies out of four.

Overall rating: A Terrible Retelling Of Snow White.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Fire at The Center: An Old Fashioned Scifi Tale Missing a Purpose

Fire at the Center BY Geo. W. Proctor

This is another book giveaway gem. This one, I just grabbed for the hell of it. It’s a ancient paperback featuring image of a dinosaur in chains, and astronauts on the cover. And as crazy as it sounds, I figured it could be fun. Plus its a science fiction novel and as much as I like science fiction, really good books are hard to find. So I gave it a chance. It’s called “Fire at the Center” by Geo. W. Proctor.

So what is it about? Well its set in the far future where the human kind has populated many planets, yet human kind is divided. One side are a bunch who believe that a united dictatorship like government should rule everything. Of course it is a scifi space opera tradition and the faction have silly names I can’t remember. Then there’s group two with another silly name that makes up of free independent. The story focuses on Kendlers a man who is a member of the free thinking side who works for psi corps agency that uses psychics for multiple purposes. Kendler can read and take over minds. After returning from a time travel trip on earth to help scientists study a dinosaur he receives a new assignment. He is given a partner to investigate odd events on another planet. People are randomly going insane for no reason for hours at a time. They must sneak in, as silly name group number one suspect that Kendlers’ silly name group is at fault. So they must spy on others to find this source.

So the good? Well I must say its imaginative. I always like that. But one thing I must give them credit for is explaining everything thoroughly. These space things always lose me, because I don’t care about the politics, space crafts, ray guns and star fighting. I feel that it just did the right thing by staying focused in a realistic manner and telling the reader only what is important. The author also goes through the trouble to add detail and explain the scifi elements in the story to allow the readers to understand what it is like.

The bad? Well this story has too many ideas. Its short two hundred page read and the author tries to shove way too many topics in one book. It would have worked better if he focused on one and elaborated on it. Also the pacing is weird. The beginning with the time travel was long, extended with a lot of action, and character development and detail. Yet the most interesting part, the investigation with strange riots was extremely rushed, which was quite disappointing with little detail at all. And at the end was rushed even more taking place in twenty five pages. Overall the story starts off with a great concept but the wanders around aimless, back and forth between a lot of concepts with no real sense of story progression what so ever.

Overall, the writing it self is confident but the story seems t have little purpose. It saves itself because it does not fall into the world of nerdy star wars or star trek, but it just didn’t live up to its potential like it should have.

Overall Rating: A old school space opera missing a purpose

2 smoothies out of four.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Here Be Dragons : Dreamscapes and Murderers Make Up a Unusual But Astonishing Scifi Tale.

Here Be Dragons By Laurell K Hamilton

Once again, I’m in between books so I resort to shorts so I went to my current favorite short story collection call Strange Candy where all tales are written by Laurell K Hamilton. This time around the book is call “Here Be Dragons.”

Given the title, “Here Be Dragons,” the reader would automatically assume the it is a fantasy, but that not is the case. It is a science fiction actually and is as Hamilton says in the intro, her only science fiction piece. The story focuses on a phenomena that is happening. Children are being born with powers. Telekentetic. Telephatic. Dream control. That sort of deal. When they develop these powers they go to the “school” where children are evaluated and trained to operate in society and if they are considered too dangerous they are killed. The story focuses on Jasmine Cooper, a successful empath (Dream controller), who has the job of torturing sociopath murderers in prison as punishment. She gets a call from the “School” she went to as a child for a case about a girl killing other students by controlling their dreams. Jasmine arrived to meet the girl and having the ability to see pure evil in anyone, she sees it in this ten year old girl. Yet refusing to believe that the little girl is so shallow and sinister in nature, she tries to “fix” her. She tries to prove she is a person, not a sociopath to not have her killed by the school.

The good? This story has so much depth that no one would expect in a short. It has theme of what is evil? Can a sociopath be anything but evil or is that just their fate? The murderers are considered evil from the beginning but given that Jasmine has a shallow personality and tortures people for living she holds what seems to be sociopath tendencies as well. She even seems to struggle with it, but finds a lighter side of herself when she helps this girl. This girl was like Jasmine once, hurt others for fun, despite how innocent she seems. The idea and concept is very compelling it makes the reader think. It is also very dark. Though it is not graphic, there are things that happen in this story is not suited for anyone other than adults. And even then its not for everyone.

The bad? I would have to say is detail. There is very little detail about what the school looks like and less about the dream realm. The dream stages were dying for detail and tended to move too quickly.

So “Here Be Dragons” has no fantasy or dragons. But it has a strong psychological factors that makes the reader think. And that is exactly what science fiction should do. Leave the reader thinking what if? Its not a bunch of space opera or explosions. Its real world with deep problems explored in a scifi setting. I really wish Hamilton would explore the scifi field a bit more, since good scifi authors are lacking at the moment. I recommend this to the adult crowd out there who are not afraid to read something dark, yet intriguing.

Overall rating: Dreamscapes and Murderers Make Up a Unusual But Astonishing Scifi Tale.

4 smoothies out of four.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Shadow Of The Lion: A Historical Soap Opera Told Against the Backdrop of Venice’s Magic, Religious Intolerance and a Upcoming War.

The Shadow Of The Lion smoothie review

I had a friend in high school who loved Mercedes Lackey. She always had a book in her hand reading her latest fantasy adventures. Oddly enough as I was just discovery Crichton and Ludlum, she was always pushing this author onto me. “Read them! They are so good!” she said. Now five years after high school I finally got a hold of one of her fantasies and took my friend’s advice. The book is The Shadow of The Lion By Mercedes Lackey which is also co written with Eric Flunt and Dave Freer.

So what is it about? Well that’s a bit complicated but let’s start. It starts with the crumbled version of the Holy Roman Empire, where the emperor has little control over the divided regions that can still be called the empire to some extent, as the church, or the holy trinity knights hold the most power spreading the word of god and burning anyone in relation to the northern Germanic pagan clans as witches. (As someone who took two years of European history, that info really helps with understanding the setting) Magic is seen as evil. This ideology also leads holy trinity to killing pagan gods, in the name of the Christian god. Meanwhile, a man from the north Japellion who made a deal with a demon and wants to take over Venice, sends a shaman, using the power of the demon Churnobog to spy on Venice. The demon is up to something very dark in the north. Also a Icelander Erik is hired to take care of the emperor’s nephew. The two soon go under cover as the holy knights discover odd things are brewing in Venice. There are magical murders that Venice is tying to solve. Then there are the Casa Veches, the of the noble families of Venice that play a big role here. Marco and Benito are the Voldosta brother, long lost members of one of the noble families. Benito is a skilled thief as Marco is honest hiding in the marshes. They hide who they are as there is another Casa Veche trying to kill them. After a assassination attempt the two hide under the over of the great assassin named Ceasure Aldonta. Katerina is a girl who works the canal and is a part of a financially dying Casa Veche family. She smuggles shipments with Benito, but builds a stronger relationship between a prostitute name Francesca and Marco over the story. The third noble family is Dorma. Marco is welcomed into the family as he fell for the daughter through leaving her poems, as he ignores him to be with Ceasure which causes a bad relationship between his girlfriend Maria. There is also a amnesia struck assassin named Bespi put under a spell by a friend of Marco’s in the swamp to protect him. Francesca holds a strong piece of the puzzle finding that she has noble blood as well. And through the story, war, and religious intolerance dances in the background. This also takes place over a number of years. And yes, this is the simplest way I could have explained it all.

So let’s start with bad? The story is very convoluted from the setting to the characters and there is not a flow chart detailed enough to make sense of everything. The only reason I could understand the politics and world, is I took the years of European history. I can’t think of what it would be like for someone who didn’t. As for the characters? Who’s in the council? Who’s part what family? Who’s partnered with who? It is a lot. Even at a point on the story, Marco tries to figure all out, and gives up because it’s too confusing. Also there is too much talk of politics too. They spend so much time talking about politics, that it is ridiculous. I mean there are a couple who talk about politics during a sex scene for crying out loud. They couldn’t stop for those five pages without inserting that politics. Also the last complaint would be very little does happen. The reviews that said “Fast pace and intense” on the back cover are lies. The book also has very little fantasy to it. It is overall historical fiction more than anything else. Magic shows up rarely.

The good? Well it’s original. The setting is great. What makes this book strong are the characters. The are developed fleshed out and grow as the story goes on. They are done with great detail. The idea in this book of merging Christian and pagan beliefs were amazingly original. It brought about something I never seen in a book before and is one of the few fantasies that made me stop and think. Detail is fantastic. The world is fully explained, and the ending gives an appropriate fate to a surprising villain in the story.

Overall, the book is a historical fiction drama sat in the back drop of world where magical paganism and Christians must come together to save Venice from the darkness that growing in the north. There are not so many monsters. It had very little action that doesn’t show up until toward the end of 905 pages. Relationships and drama between the characters in the course of roughly three years and watching them become stronger people is the heart of the book. It’s not bad. It was not just my kind of book. I felt it was drug out of bit. But I’ll be generous with my ratings. Personal opinions aside, it wasn’t a bad book.

3 smoothie out of four.

Overall Rating: A Historical Soap Opera told against the backdrop of Venice’s magic, religious intolerance and a upcoming war.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Carrie : A Tale of a Lonely High school Student In a Bland World

Carrie By Stephen King Smoothie review

Okay. Where did the book came from? I’m not sure. I just kind of found it. It had yellow pages and a battered paper back cover that made me wonder about it’s origins, but the mystery does not spark any interest enough to pursue why and how it ended up in my house. I just read the darn thing. The book is a very old copy of Carrie with a photo of Sissy Spacek on the cover covered with blood. The title had big drippy front and another bold message saying “Soon to be a motion picture.”

So in case you know absolutely nothing about the literacy world, Carrie is suppose to be a literacy horror “classic” by Stephen King. The film is also considered to be a sort of a cult classic too. I never saw it. So the book held all the surprises for me. The story of the book focuses on a teenager named Carrie. A girl who has been tormented and picked on by those around her, class mates usually and is obedient to her abusive psychotic overly religious mother. Carrie takes torment from everyone, that is until one day she discovers that she had telekinetic abilities. Meanwhile after treating Carrie badly, a girl named Sue, wants to make it up to her. But it was not like Carrie will take a apology. She had be abused and pranked too long. So she lines her boyfriend up to take Carrie to prom. She wanted to at least give the girl one night where she is not the butt of some joke but someone special.

Also during this Christine, a girl who hates Carrie because she lost her prom tickets for torturing the girl, wants to get revenge. She and her boyfriend intend to ruin her night unaware of the new power Carrie can now fight back with.

So the good? It is a interesting promise. The general story contain concepts and imagination that is wonderful. The potential is great. Also the layout of the story it self is that of third person and news reporters, scientific essays, and interviews with survivors after the fact. This is something I found a bit intriguing.

The bad? Well there wasn’t anything real bad. It was just overall bland. Given that Carrie is a neglected, abused teenager and the world hates, I was so surprised at how shallow of character she was. Most authors would try to make the reader understand the character. Show the humanity of her so you can feel pity. But it was so hard to feel sorry for a girl when the only emotion king decides to reveal for Carrie is rage. I wanted to know more about Carrie. I wanted to see a human being not a cardboard cut out, King created. The other characters were just as shallow with the exception for Carrie’s mother. Which brings another issue. Why is it that King’s novels there is always a psychotic evil Christian at work? I’m not religious, so I’m taking offence, but it is cliché that is very old. Also I felt the climax is a bit over the top. At the midway point of the book Carrie can barely levitate a hair brush, but just a couple days later at the Prom, she has powers that are godlike. Though this is ridiculous story not based on facts, it still stands the author put a little effort into logical reasoning behind this evolution so the reader will not be pulled out of the tale. The power is described as a muscle, but you can’t work a muscle up to do that much in two or three days. I felt it was too much to be taken seriously. Also interviews and news reports scattered through out the story foreshadowed things to come. They sometimes foreshadowed way too much. Such as who will live and who will die. It took away the shock value of any deaths. Also in her rampage, Carrie is evil, which was out place as she was portrayed as victim until that point.

Overall, the story wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It was just meh. Maybe with stronger and more developed characters I might have enjoyed it more. It’s something to pass up and skip reading. I only suggest this your one of those Stephen King fans.

Overall Ratting: A Tale of a Lonely High School Student In a Bland World.

2 smoothies out of four.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Bourne Deception : A Disappointing And Brainless Bourne Novel

The Bourne Deception By Eric Van Lustbader Smoothie Review

Okay, the reason why I am reading this book is not as random as usual. Yes. I did get it used from a odd source, but my reasoning for grabbing it went well beyond “Hey, why not?” The book is The Bourne Deception, a Bourne novel written by Eric Van Lustbader who bought the rights to the series shortly after Robert Ludlum died. (RIP Mr. Ludlum. I adored your work.) And I read his first Bourne novel (where he continued off of the original series) a while back called the Bourne Legacy. I had low expectations at first with this, “How dare they!” attitude of taking the work of my favorite espionage writer, taking it as his own, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I love it. So I decided to try another.

So to start off with, before I go into detail about the review, I want to get something clear. Lustbader Bourne is not the Ludlum Bourne. Ludlum Bourne was serious, was written with deep knowledge of the CIA woven in, and was set in the sixties and seventies. The last one he wrote, the Bourne Ultimatum was in the seventies focusing on how Bourne is getting too old to do thins anymore. The Lustbader Bourne is magically young again set in modern day as well as the fact the characters from Ludlum’s books with the exception of his wife and kids are dead. It’s more fun dumb action scenes in exotic locations. They are nothing like the earlier novels so you can’t expect the same thing from the two.

So as I started reading I realized that there apparently a book of two between the last one I read and this one. (a very annoying thing I hate about book series. I try to read stand along more often a than not because of this.) Jason Bourne is on the tropical island Bali with his new girlfriend Moira. His wife Maurie is not mentioned other than the fact he mourns her, so I could only assume she is dead and there’s no mention of his children at all. And while there Arkadan, Bourne’s arch enemy from Treadstone (Introduced in the previous books I assume), sends a man to kill him. Bourne’s shot right in the chest and among the chaos it assumed (except for Moira who knows the truth) that Bourne is dead. But of course Bourne is not dead. A doctor and old friend from Treadstone got him in a hospital where he went through multiple surgeries to get the bullet out of his chest that graze his heart.

Meanwhile Moria goes back home. She hears from a friend that there is something she needs to know only to see him shot but not before getting a thumb drive from him. From there on out, she is on mission to find out what is happening as men from Noah Pearl’s government agency Black try to kill her every step of the way. Meanwhile Soraya another government figure heads to Egypt with a team, to arrive at a suspected terrorist attack on a plane. But as she investigates, she find that it might not be Iranians as they first thought, but Americans behind it falling into a web of conspiracy. Arkaden meanwhile is viciously training a army for a secret mission with the help of some their crooked Russians allies. And for the first half of the book Bourne is in Bali recovering on a spiritual journey annoyingly pondering questions about his identity (which were all answered in the Ludlum novels) until someone sends a man to kill him again making him seek revenge finally to track down his killer. All of this does oddly tie up into one web of conspiracy thankfully.

So the good and bad. First, I think I will start with the bad. It is sticking in my mind so much better than the good right now. The first thing I must mention is that this is a Bourne novel with very little Bourne at all. It is much more about Soraya and Moira. Bourne’s spiritual journey and reacting to the fact that his fate is the same as that of Shiva, the god of death and resurrection, did not fit. And once the ball gets rolled on the action, Bourne is in only two fight scenes. Also I wonder if Lustabador read Ludlum’s books at all, because if he did, he would realize that all of Bourne’s questions of identity were answered. Believe it or not he did get his memory back in Supremacy. So playing the confused tortured soul in book seven or in this case four of Lustabador series seemed silly to me. The pacing was disjointed making it boring and there was huge problem with this book, was the lack of realism. I know I’m not expecting this author to live up to Ludlum but there’s a difference between dumb fun and insulting stupidity. For being a spy as clever as Bourne, he makes some of the dumbest decisions and the people around him were just as stupid. Not to mention some of the things done in this book was absolutely ridiculous. Like there is scene where Moira’s locked in a closet. They tape it off leaving a crack. Then crank the vacuum to suck the air out. But excuse me, what kind of house vacuum does that? Even if it was a secret government weapon of some sort, it would have to have a fitting that is air tight in relation to the opening. Highly unlikely . And the key hole anyone? And then as the book builds up the tension in this scene. Guess what? There’s air vent like in every room in a house has. So there is name chance of suffocation. Just one example of a stupid area showing this author’s mistakes, not just with the spy themes, but just physics to general. Also the climax is disappointing.

So now I’m moving onto the good. Even after I just butchered the book, you’re probably asking what could be good? Well there are a couple redeeming qualities and that comes in from of a couple side stories later in the book. The first is Arkadan tries to help a abused wife and child after he fails to stop the killing of her son. Though it has nothing to do with the main story, its nice to see another side of the bad guy. I always love it when the author is bold enough to blur the lines between good and evil. It Reminds us all, that not all bad guys are pure evil and are human in some sense. It was interesting. Another side story is a girl Bourne meets. She’s delivering a painting, and is oddly suspicious, is lying to Bourne, just as Bourne is lying to her.

……………………………..Spoiler alert……………………..

It turn out she is a spy as well, living a double life just as Bourne is never being herself. She double crosses Bourne leading to her death. As she dies she talks to Bourne. “Why is it people feel they have to lie with each other?” she begins the scene with. It is such a moving sub story. At her death, I thought I might have been reading a different book. It was done so well another compared to the rest, which only frustrates me. Why couldn’t this be the central story of the novel? A story where Bourne ran into a femme fatale double agent maybe. It just had so much more substance. Collectively this is above thirty pages out of six hundred though.

……………………………..End of spoiler…………………………………

The only other interesting element is Bourne trying to limit what he can do. But this is not used to potential it had. It is only mentioned off and on here and there.

Overall, the book biggest crime is, as it tries to be smart, the dumber it becomes. Simple fun like his first novel the worked perfectly, but the entire book here was ultimately horrible and the exception of the two tiny subplots. I have another Lustabader Bourne novel somewhere and now I’m afraid to read it. That’s how bad it was. And if for some crazy reason, you have it laying around, I say rip out those tiny substories and read those only. Other than that I recommend you to avoid this novel. I read reviews of this on Goodreads after finishing and a reader said, “Ludlum would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what became of his work,” and sadly I must agree.

Overall Rating: A Disappointing and brainless Bourne Novel.

1 Smoothie out of four.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

House Of Wizards : Something That Could Be So Much Grander Than A Short

House of Wizards By Laurell K Hamilton

I just finished another long book so that means it’s time to take break with a short story. Once again I’m pulling the tale from my favorite shots story collection. Strange Candy By Laurell K Hamilton. This time is a short story called House of Wizards.

So what is it about? Well imagine you’re a plain Jane American woman who has just married the man of your life and he happens to be a wizard. After the marriage, the two you decide to meet his parents and announce the news. Only thing is, non wizards and wizards do not intermarry normally. Also, wizards never do anything themselves. They have spells and magic that do everything for them. They live in a chaotic almost ‘Harry Potter’ world like environment. So what would that be like for you? Certainly very interesting and that is what this story does. It explores that concept.

So the good? Wildly original and simple concept. I loved the characters. The vast differences between the life styles were interesting. The fact that she has to show them that things can be done without magic is interesting and comical. I would live to see a idea alike this expanded into a novel or some other sort of media.

The bad? Well, it did not live to its full potential. Quirky and fun it was, but so much more could have been done with it. There was no drama. The conflict was chaotic. And once the reader is pulled into the story it ends. As much as I love this piece, I see no point to it rather than the author playing with a fun idea.

Overall it’s a great piece. Fun and imaginative. I just wish it was longer.

2 smoothies out of four.

Overall rating: Something That could be so much grander Beyond A Short

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Geese : A Dark Yet Charming Masterpiece About A Swan Princess.

Geese By Laurell K Hamilton Smoothie Review

Just finished another long book, so I decided to read something short. Once again I read a short story from Laurell K Hamilton’s Strange Candy collection. And yes I know, I said I would alternate through these but as I reach for my short story collections on my book shield, this has been my favorite anthology so far. So sorry for what should I call it? Repetitiveness. Anyway, the story is called Geese.

So what is Geese? It is about a young sorceress called Alatir and is set in a medieval fantasy sort of world. As a child the evil lord Madaux killed her family and took the kingdom. Being extremely powerful, Alatir challenged him. She lost and for that, he cursed her. He puts a “geas” spell on her, where she will keep trying to kill him even though he is more powerful and she will die. It’s a uncontrollable urge of a curse. She does the only thing she knows to do to escape it. She turns into the only animal immune to it. A goose. And among the geese, she loves the free life with no worries. She even falls in love. But after a many years pass, she see children captured by Madaux men who returned into the county side. And seeing this Alatir leaves her new life and accepts her fate in order to save the children.

So the good? It’s just so simple and fresh. Yes it has some swan princess elements in it, but it is a great tale. Everything worked so well. Even the love story aspect worked. Sure falling in love with a goose may seem weird, but told from her perspective with a fantastic ending it didn’t seem weird at all.

The bad? It’s so short. This is such book material. I feel Hamilton needs to take a break from her erotic stuff she’s doing to write a amazing novel like this. It holds so much potential. Such a shame. I an only hope she’ll return to it one day.

Overall, it’s a wonderful story. I loved every bit of it. And its is just so darn charming. I recommend it anymore. Well not children of course. Hamilton always has a preference to throw something dark here and there. Anyone ever thirteen I would say. It’s such a great read.

4 smoothies out of Four

Overall Rating: A Dark Yet Charming Masterpiece About A Swan Princess.

P.S. If you like books then check out my book and ebook website Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Red Pyramid : Ancient Egyptian Magic Brings Out a New Exciting Adventure

Red Pyramid By Rick Riordan

Did I ever mention I love the Percy Jackson series? I think it might have came up a few times as I made multiple references in my smoothie reviews as well as left positive reviews for all five books. Well I do. So when I heard Rick Riordan was starting a new series. A trilogy set in a brand new mythology all together I was excited. So I went out and bought a copy of the first book in the Kane trilogy called “The Red Pyramid.”

So what is it about? It is a epic fantasy set in deep in ancient Egyptian mythology. It starts off with a broken family. The mother is dead as the siblings are separated by a legal battle after her death. Carter is in the custody of his father, who is a Egyptologist which means the two travel all over the world always on the road. Then his sister Sadie is under the custody of her grandparents in London living a very normal life. They have very different up bringing as well as being complete strangers.

Anyways Julius (their father) and Carter only have visitation rights twice a year. And one of the days is Christmas eve. As they spend the day together, Julius takes them to the museum. There he seems edgy and once inside they witness him performing a spell just as a great explosion happens, releasing Egyptian gods that have been locked away for thousands of years.

As this happens Sadie and Carter are thrown into a world of ancient Egyptian magic. The god of chaos Set is building great red pyramid that will on completion will give him power to rule the world. There is a secret order of Egyptian magicians called the first nome seems to welcome them at first but once discovering that they may have strong Pharaoh blood that can host gods, they are labeled as enemies. Julius is taken by Set locked away and buried in a coffin. Also gods beside Set are trying to possess the siblings. So as they run from everything, they find that they must defeat Set to stop everything. The only ally they have with them is a cat goddess Bast, who promised their father that she would watch over them. Wow a lot to explain there. But hopefully it made sense to you.

So the good and bad? Well start with the bad. There was nothing terribly bad, but there was enough to bother a reader a bit. The problem being this focused on Egyptian mythology. And it seemed it took every long time to explain this world. Gods were talked about many times, but seem to take the longest explain how the hosts worked. There seemed to be lacking explanations of what the demons were. Were they existing inside hosts as well? I’m still not sure. There’s another dimension where gods thrive, a sort of spirit world called the Duat. And then when channeling god, such as Horus, the host can control this nine foot giant puppet form of the god. Nothing terrible here. Lots of good ideas, but it’s a rough first say 170 pages explaining until it actually made sense to the reader. This seems so strange to say as he did the same in the original Percy Jackson much more quickly, but then again maybe Greek mythology is easier because the general audience is exposed to that world so much more. The next thing. I have to say is a major side character is a baboon. And baboons are, have you seen them? They are gross. It’s the last animal I would want with me on a adventure.

Now the good? Despite its bumpy start, once the mythology was all laid out I got into it. It echoes some things form Percy Jackson, but it is in no way the same book. It had new rules, new villains and new fun characters. The author even went far out of his way to make them not resemble characters from the first series in the least which is great. Action is paced perfectly. It jumped back and forth between Sadie and Carter giving the alternation chapters very interesting perspectives.

Overall, in the end it fun. It delivers the exciting adventure it promises and does live up to the author reputation. The only thing that holds it back is the bumpy start.

Overall Rating : Ancient Egyptian Magic Brings Out a New Exciting Adventure

3 ½ Smoothie out of Four

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