Troubled Waters by Sharon Shinn

Troubled Waters
by Sharon Shinn
October 2010
Ace Hardcover

A world in which people believe that five essential elements rule all things and guide their lives.

Don't be fooled by the title of this book.  Rather than scaling a mountain only to push her readers off, Sharon Shinn takes you on a ride down an easy, peaceful river with occasional rapids, but never anything more violent than a touch of whitewater.  No race to the waterfall.  No careening over the edge only to be dashed to bits by the rocks at the bottom.  Sometimes it really bothers me when authors (*cough* Robin McKinley *cough*) do this; however, this time I very much enjoyed the ride.

Zoe Ardelay is living peacefully in a village, mourning the death of her father when a man comes from the capital and declares she is to be the fifth wife of the king.  Zoe has other things in mind, however, and she walks away from the promise of her new life to blend into the crowded streets of the capitol.  But what she learns about herself and her powers, and the darkest secrets of the kingdom forces her to take part in the political facade and intrigue running rampant throughout the palace.  I love the depth and design of the world that Shinn has created for Troubled Waters.  I only hope that someday she will remove this novel from her list of standalone fiction on her website and place it in a series.  There is definitely room (and demand) for more of Zoe's world.

Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Pegasus
by Robin McKinley
November 2010
Putnam Juvenile

Because she was a princess, she had a pegasus.

As a young adult, Robin McKinley introduced me to the world of fantasy.  I have read every book she has ever written - even the truly awful ones.  McKinley both amazes and frustrates me.  As the years go by, her books are getting harder and harder to get into.  So much so that you can read 300 of 400 pages before anything beyond environmental descriptions take place.  But you keep reading.  And you do it because her descriptions of different lands, people and species haunt you.  She pulls you into worlds so unlike your own, and yet so heartbreakingly similar that you can't stop, can't let go, can't simply chuck the stupid book against the wall and read something you actually want to be reading.

In Pegasus, McKinley has crafted just such a world.  Here, however, is a kingdom where Pegasi and humans have a treaty that allies and binds them to one another.  Being such different species, however, they are unable to speak except through translators.  Until the day that Sylvi meets Ebon.  The floating, dream-like feel of this book was reminiscent of Ursula K. LeGuin and Madeline L'Engle's classic fantasies.  The ending, however, was all Tokien as McKinley herself admits on her blog that she has crafted a cliffhanger that mimics Tolkien's end to The Two Towers:

"It’s going to be a sequel like The Return of the Kings is a sequel to The Two Towers.  Remember the last line of Two Towers? ‘Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy’? Yes… You’re going to hate me for the ending of Pegasus."

Pegasus II is set to come out in 2012.  I suggest you wait until then to read Pegasus.  Then again, it might just take you that long to finish book one . . .

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz ★

Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
December 2003
Bantam

"The dead don't talk.  I don't know why."

This book has a certain notoriety in my family.  My mother read the book first a few years ago and used an entire box of tissues in order to actually see the last few pages. My father, who rarely reads anything, let alone novels, read this book at work, hidden under his desk.  He cried like a baby when it ended.  My brother and sister- also not big readers were so bored one time in a hotel on a military base that they read it too.  And sobbed into their military issued pillows that night.  Needless to say, I have put off reading this book for as long as possible.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for happy endings.

I got through about three fourths of the book without crying.  As I began the last quarter of the book I turned to my husband and said "I'm going to do it!  I'm going to get through this just fine!"  I continued reading and the tears stayed at bay while I read the final chapters and then the final pages of the heart wrenching tale of Odd Thomas.  I read the last sentence, then the last word.  I closed the book.  I looked at my husband.  I exhaled.  "See?   I did it.  I didn't cry at all."  And then I burst into tears.

I don't know what it is about this book, but Dean Koontz has taken the "I see dead people" theme and breathed so much realism and emotion into it that you can't help but contemplate the tragedy and joy that is the human experience.  I highly recommend this book.  I don't guarantee that you'll cry, or that you'll even like it, but for my family, Odd Thomas is unforgettable.

The Odd Thomas Series - I may or may not finish the series.  Not sure if my heart can take it.

Odd Thomas
Forever Odd
Brother Odd
Odd Hours
In Odd We Trust (Graphic Novel)
Odd Is On Our Side (Graphic Novel)

The Darkest Powers by Kelley Armstrong ★

The Summoning: Book 1
by Kelley Armstrong
July 2008
HarperTeen

This series can proudly set up its float in the teen paranormal literature parade as it takes yet another spin on a popular theme.  When Chloe is sent into rehab for seeing dead people she ends up in a group home with other "screwed up" teens.  What she finds, however, is that rather than being schizo or autistic, all the teens in the home have special powers- powers that are being monitored and experimented on by the doctors who claim they're helping.  Even better, the element of romance in this series is surprisingly refreshing when compared to most young adult literature.  Overall, a very satisfying (if not too short) series that kept me from doing any homework whatsoever for at least three days.

Pros:  There are no vampires in this series as the doctors in charge of "creation" thought they were rather silly creatures.

Cons: The concept of stunningly attractive werewolves (Jacob Black, anyone?) is a little lost on this author.

The Darkest Powers

The Summoning

The Awakening

The Reckoning

Also be sure to check out the follow up series Darkness Rising!

Read-a-likes:

Maximum Ride by James Patterson

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry

Having only read Lois Lowry classics such as The Giver and Number the Stars, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book titled The Birthday Ball.  Working somewhat off of the classic Prince and the Pauper, the book starts out with a very bored princess, a nearly deaf queen, a king who sits in his counting house admiring his butterfly collection, three horrifying suitors, a handsome village schoolmaster, a variety of singing household staff and a very fat, lazy cat named Delicious.  This zany cast of characters makes for a fun, if extremely silly read.  I would absolutely recommend this book to little girls who love princesses and mothers who love introducing new vocabulary to their young readers.

If you enjoyed The Birthday Ball, try Tales from the Five Kingdoms by Vivian French - another silly tale with princesses.

I'd absolutely give my neck virginity to a Vampire

If you loved Twilight, you're not alone.  Publishers love Twilight too, which means there are plenty of vampire tales to keep your blood pumping until your very own hot, sexy vampire boyfriend shows up to suck you into immortality.  Click on the links below to learn more about each book or series.




For Children:
Dick and Jane and Vampires  by Laura Marchesani

For Teens:
House of Night by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
Blood Ninja by Nick Lake
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Bloodlines Series by Richelle Mead
Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight: The Graphic Novel by Stephenie Meyer and Young Kim
The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith
The Eternal Kiss by by Trisha Telep

For Adults:
Insatiable by Meg Cabot
Overbite by Meg Cabot
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Sunshine by Robin McKinley
Dracula by Bram Stoker

To learn more about reading lists, browse the about pages.

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

As is often the case in life, there's good news and there's bad news.  The good news is, this book was much better than the first one - and the first one was good too!  It may have been that I was just more familiar with Catherine Fisher's unique steampunk world the second time around, but overall things were less confusing and I was able to focus more on the characters and less on struggling to understand the environment.  The bad news is that Fisher truly does not currently plan on making this into a trilogy or longer series.  According to the FAQ on her website, Fisher left many things in the book loosely tied not to leave room for sequels, but to allow the reader to finish the book themselves.  Similarly, Fisher did not describe a few of the characters in the book so that the reader could create the characters themselves.  The most incredible thing about this is that I hadn't even realized until I read the FAQ on Fisher's website that she had done this.  Which means, of course, that the characters that I had seen running around the pages of these books had been entirely of my own creation.  This was a fun and unique approach and with the confidence I've gained from creating my own characters, I think I'll go ahead and finish the book in my head the way I feel it should have ended.

Many thanks to my friend Amber for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this months ago.  This book was published in December 2010 but you all would have been really impressed if I'd blogged about it last year when I first received it, eh?

Incarceron (Book 1)
Sapphique (Book 2)