Boring. Boring. Boringboringboringboring. This novel is the start of an epic fantasy series and the entire time I was reading it I was either bored or annoyed, and frequently both annoyed and bored. Epic fantasy should not be boring. I don’t know, am I just past the stage where epic fantasy appeals to me? Surely that can’t be it, I’ve read epic fantasy in the recent past that didn’t irritate me. Perhaps I’m just getting picky in my old age. Yes, lets go with that. […]
The Woodcutters and Their Messes
Trix and the Faerie Queen is the second book staring Trix Woodcutter, and the sixth book in the books of Arilland. This is one where you will probably need to read at least Trixter to follow what is going on, but for someone who has read all of the previous books this is a nice addition. Trix Woodcutter is the youngest son of the Woodcutter family, not the youngest child as that honor goes to Sunday, but the youngest son. In a family with many […]
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy fairy tale retellings?
Tales of Arilland is a collection of short stories, ostensibly set in Alethia Kontis’s fictional world of Arilland where she has set her set of fairytale retellings. Like most short story collections this one is uneven, and the stories range from decent to quite good. While I don’t believe you need to have read the previous Arriland books, a series of fairytale retellings staring a very peculiar family-the Woodcutters, and in fact I think this could be a very good introduction to the series. Reviewing short […]
Repetitive sequel adds nothing to the series
Shifter is the third book in Alma Alexander’s Were Chronicles, and is unfortunately the weakest book so far. The first book, Random, is the single most unique were-story I’ve ever read and I’ve read a lot of them. Wolf, the second book was equally as fascinating, though less unique as the were-creatures in this book were of the were-wolf variety. However, it was still a really good sequel to Random. This one? I don’t know, it was disjointed and very repetitive for the events in both […]