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Review Date: 11/13/2011
Helpful Score: 1
This is the weakest book in the Chicks in Chainmail anthology series, but it's still very enjoyable. This volume is almost exclusively humorous stories in fantasy trappings, rather than straight fantasy with some light moments, and due to the title of this volume most of them have BDSM as either a punchline or a main theme. Since I do not find BDSM interesting or amusing, the stories that focused on it didn't grab me or make me smile, but they were still generally well written, and the stories that left it as a side note or a one-time joke were great.
Review Date: 5/12/2016
This book starts with a story cleverly crafted as an article and editorial in a scientific journal for those who study and translate animal speech. It ends with a matter of fact re-telling of a group of wealthy South American women's decision to mount a secret expedition to the South Pole completely on their own. If there is an overarching theme it is most likely communication and compassion, but that is really a theme in all Le Guin's work. These are beautiful stories that have entertained me, comforted me, and made me think for over 20 years.
Review Date: 12/27/2014
Slightly more confusing than the first book in the series, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. The voices of the two main characters were much more distinct in the first book; in this one they blended together and made it hard to pick out who was speaking. I also found the characters of the two men more similar, and had trouble remember who was married to whom. An enjoyable story nonetheless.
Kate & Cecy have married the two eligible bachelors they assisted in the Chocolate Pot affair, and set off on a joint honeymoon across Europe, where they stumble across a new magical plot, this one involving no less than the subjugation of the entire continent.
Kate & Cecy have married the two eligible bachelors they assisted in the Chocolate Pot affair, and set off on a joint honeymoon across Europe, where they stumble across a new magical plot, this one involving no less than the subjugation of the entire continent.
Review Date: 10/30/2013
This book is wonderful! The basic premise, that the collective imaginings of everyone who's read a book creates a storehouse of magic that a gifted libriomancer can use to pull items from the book into the real world, is fantastic on its own. The book's story, about an exiled libriomancer called into active service when a series of strange attacks damage the network of underground magicians working to keep book leakage at a minimum, is action-packed, exciting, and thoughtful. The world and the plot are beautifully imagined and crafted. I got an extra kick out of the settings based on actual places in Michigan. An excellent book I would recommend to anyone; can't wait to read the sequel.
Review Date: 4/7/2010
Helpful Score: 3
I liked this book very much. I thought the integration of society romance and fantasy was very well done. There were a lot of deep undercurrents to the story, and although the main conflict is successfully resolved, there is a sense that possible sequels would have plenty of territory to cover. Even though the first third seems predictable, it is very enjoyable, and then, bang, what you predicted is turned on its head. :) I love fantasy, but the pseudo-medieval/anarchy-ridden worlds it's usually set in get boring. I enjoy prim, proper romances, but nothing ever happens in them. This book is truly the best of both worlds.
Review Date: 7/2/2011
Rose Cottage is the story of a young widow in post-WW2 England. This is one of Mary Stewart's later books (copyright 1997) and is not up to par with her fabulous novels from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Her skill for capturing a place and its people is still present, but rather than a breathless, mysterious adventure we have a mild puzzle that the reader will solve days before the gossiping village does, and the romance has been dialed back to merely a re-awakening of interest in the boy next door. The dedication is to friends "met again in my stroll down Memory Lane", and it truly is a pleasant stroll of a book. I did enjoy it; the worst Mary Stewart is head and shoulders above the standard modern romance; but I'm far more likely to re-read The Moon-Spinners or Airs Above the Ground.
Review Date: 11/15/2011
I don't believe this book has been reprinted as much as more suspenseful or action-packed Charlotte Armstrong novels, since I've had such difficulty finding it, and I can see why. It spends much more time on the philosophical musings that give even her most hectic novels an extra something special, and the focus of most of these musings is the decidedly unpopular population of widowed women. Women who have raised their children and outlived their husbands, trying to find a new shape to their lives. Sans Souci is a tired apartment building in a city in Southern California, shabby and small, but inexpensive and most importantly, respectable. Because of these points it seems to always end up with widows in its 17 open apartments. Being written in 1959, few of the widows have a career or consider finding a job to fill their time, and so they often spend it in the most stereotypical (and true-to-life) type of gossip and fluttering. Personalities rub, and then grate. Petty squabbles turn venomous. In the end, several crises are reached, a few stories tied up and neatly closed, and the newest widow finds herself able to contemplate a future as herself, rather than a cancelled wife or finished mother. I love Charlotte Armstrong's writing and found it well worth the time, as well as filling that nagging hole in my collection :), but I can sympathize with those who might find it a little slow or boring.
Review Date: 6/23/2012
Patricia C. Wrede is a wonderful fantasy writer who, like so many others, gets hidden away in the young adult section far too often. This is the first book in the "Frontier Magic" trilogy, and that name really sums up a lot. It's set in an alternate, magical USA where Lewis and Clark's expedition met with tragedy, and Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were two of the many hero magicians who created a giant barrier along the Mississippi River, to keep the extremely dangerous western fauna and flora at bay. Eff and her twin brother Lan, born in a large eastern city amidst a huge extended family, have more than the usual amount of magic; he is the fabled 7th son of a 7th son, while she is the cursed 13th child. Luckily, their parents don't believe these superstitions, and when they realize how much both prejudices are harming their youngest children, they decide to take the plunge and move out west, to the edge of civilization, next to the Great Barrier. Here in a rougher, looser world, Lan shines as just another gifted boy, but Eff still worries about the evil she might accidentally do. She worries so much, she manages to repress her magical potential for years. In their late teens, a new kind of danger threatens the settlements on the other side of the Barrier, and the Barrier itself, and it's Eff's study of the natural world and her talent for "coaxing instead of ordering" that save the day.
This book can definitely be enjoyed by kids and teens as a cross between Laura Ingalls and Harry Potter, but there is a lot more happening beneath the surface to keep adults interested. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!
This book can definitely be enjoyed by kids and teens as a cross between Laura Ingalls and Harry Potter, but there is a lot more happening beneath the surface to keep adults interested. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!
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