I’m not sure whether it’s the book, or whether I was just in the perfect mood for it, but regardless, the result is the same. The Fourth Bear is my favorite of the seven Jasper Fforde novels I’ve read. The first five Thursday Next Novels are fun but can be a bit overwhelming, and sometimes downright confusing, and the first Nursery Crime book, The Big Over Easy, does a little bit too much work setting up the Nursery Crime world to really enjoy its premise. But […]
A Summer of Exceptional Fantasy – 5 Must Reads
I consider myself more of a Cannonball “book idea getter” and “occasional commenter” than a “book reviewer” but this summer was stuffed with so many excellent fantasy books that I had to make an exception. Words of Radiance Brandon Sanderson (first of his name) came out with book two of The Stormlight Archive this summer. If it’s not clear, you should definitely start with book #1 (The Way of Kings), not because you couldn’t comfortably jump in with book #2, but because you would be […]
Kate Daniels’ world just keeps getting bigger and badder
Okay, so I’ve been reading this “urban fantasy” series the wrong way, I’ll admit. Picking up what’s available, in whatever order I can find them, and then moving on. But it’s not like this series is Game of Thrones or something, with story lines too dense and complicated to follow if you miss one. While it would be nice to read the Magic series from start to finish, I think I’ve managed to fill in the gaps as I read along. The plots are clever, […]
Short but sweet take on Rapunzel.
Rapunzel is my favorite fairy-tale, so you can imagine my skepticism learning the Rapunzel in this version has no hair. Absolutely none at all. But I was charmed by the author’s way with words, and by the end, she had me with her version of this story (even if I loved it for very different reasons than I love the original tale). I read the whole thing in about an hour and a half. It’s not very long, but it packs a nice little punch. […]