The premise of Not On The List is pretty straightforward: the Nubian god of incense Dedun is killed in Madison, Wisconsin and not by Death. Death wants to know what happened so 2 Unseen private investigators are hired. They are Ed and Phil. At the same time, Jules Sallie has just been let go from his low-level corporate job (not his fault this time)and after getting drunk and then hanging out with a bunch of homeless guys, he ends up as an Unseen with no […]
And the Streak of Disappointment is broken!
I have been on a roll lately and not in a good way. It seems like nearly everything I’ve read the past two months or so has been somehow disappointing. I’m very pleased to announce that the losing streak is over thanks to The Rook. And what’s better, the sequel, Stiletto, is coming out in a matter of weeks (June 14 to be exact)! I’m so excited!! Myfanwy (she pronounces it to rhyme with ‘Tiffany’, although the authentic Welsh pronunciation would be different) Thomas suddenly […]
The British in the Sky with Dragons vs Napoleon
After reading and loving Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, I decided to check out her other series. While the first Temeraire novel does not have the level of clever dialogue and characterization of Uprooted, nonetheless, His Majesty’s Dragon is a decent adventure/historical fiction/fantasy. The basic premise is that a British naval captain Will Laurence captures a French ship that has on board a dragon egg about to hatch. In a nod to Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series, the dragon must bond with a human almost immediately after it […]
A Book Without Character(s)
I don’t understand how it is possible for a novel about time travel back to the Middle Ages can be so boring. And not just dull, but hard to read. Doomsday Book is supposed to be a classic work of fantasy that gets realistic with its presentation of the Middle Ages. An Oxford student (Kivrin) wants to visit the Middle Ages for study which have finally been made available for study, having been previously been deemed to dangerous (plague, wars, bandits, etc.) Her mentor Dunworthy […]