The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

The Queen of Attolia

When Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis, stole Hamiathes's Gift, the Queen of Attolia lost more than a mythical relic. She lost face. Everyone knew that Eugenides had outwitted and escaped her. To restore her reputation and reassert her power, the Queen of Attolia will go to any length and accept any help that is offered...she will risk her country to execute the perfect revenge.

Eugenides can steal anything. And he taunts the Queen of Attolia, moving through her strongholds seemingly at will. So Attolia waits, secure in the knowledge that the Thief will slip, that he will haunt her palace one too many times.

When Eugenides finds his small mountain country at war with Attolia, he must steal a man, he must steal a queen, he must steal peace. But his greatest triumph, and his greatest loss, comes in capturing something that the Queen of Attolia thought she had sacrificed long ago...

After loving The Thief so much, its sequel wasn't going stay long on both the wishlist and the TBR pile. I was expecting more adventures with Gen, more of his awesomeness, more of the mythos of Eddis, Attolia and Sounis, and, going by the name of this book, a lot more about the queen of Attolia.

What I was not expecting, though, was to like this one even more than the first.

The Thief was amazing, introducing Gen and his quirks and cunning and cleverness. But it was focused mostly on Gen. I am not complaining, but the rest of the characters of this series are quite good as well. In this book, the queens of Eddis and Attolia get more air-time, and they are quite different from Gen. They are complex and, being queens, there is a lot about them that has to do with how they rule. (Oh, and they rule!)

And if, to those two queens, we add one king, one pesky foreign ambassador and a whole bunch of disloyal barons and ministers, we get a lot of political intrigue. And I really like that. The expression that comes to mind about this book is "political machinations".

And to do yet another comparison with The Thief, in the first there was a lot of cunning on Gen's part, a lot of twists, and a lot of surprises. So this time around, I was on the lookout for those, having learnt to expect the less sensible course of action from Gen. But that doesn't mean that it didn't surprise me here and there (it did, and especially at the beginning that I was afraid of the direction the story was going), but there was nothing really major as on the first book. But I did spend a lot of the time trying to figure out how exactly Gen would get out of his troubles.

So, to summarize, I loved this book and will keep on reading (the next book is on its way!).


Rating: 5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing | Emily and Her Little Pink Notes | Fyrefly’s Book Blog

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co

So long, and thanks for all the fish by Douglas Adams

So long, and thanks for all the fish

After being slightly disappointed with the third installment of university Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, I picked the fourth one up mostly because it was small and also because I didn't want to damage the other book I was reading by carrying it around with me.

Surprisingly, I liked this one better than Life, the Universe and Everything. I say surprisingly because the reviews lead of to believe it would be worse than that one.

So long, and thanks for all the fish is a bit different from the previous books, as there is a lot more of plot in it, and a lot less of nonsense. There are still jokes and stuff that makes little sense,though.

This book focuses more on Arthur Dent, and that might explain why there is less of crazy stuff going on. Usually all this stuff was someone else's fault (or the Universe just being difficult).

It ended up being a rather nice book and it restored my faith on the trilogy (of 6), so I'll keep on reading.


Rating: 4 out of 5

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones

What a great book!

The first book of A Song of Ice and Fire series gives an excellent first taste of what this series has to offer. This, of course, doesn’t mean it’s just a taste. This a thick book (a door stopper, actually), and it’s not just introductions.

A Game of Thrones is very plot-y. Full of political intrigue, and characters with different motivations, it is a dance to follow every single one of them.

The family that we follow more closely is the Stark family, from the north, hard and honourable, who like to keep out of the plots and schemes of court. But they are forced to deal with them when Lord Eddard (or Ned, as he is usually called) is appointed as Hand of the King.

There are more families, of course, and there are a lot of characters. Their relationships are anything but simple, I loved their interactions, how some valued family higher than anything else, others wealth, and others honour. I enjoyed discovering how each of them grew and changed, how they faced what was happening.

I had some favourite characters and was pleased, for most part, to see what happened to them. But there were a few that I really enjoyed, more than the others, and want to see where they go next. Jon Snow, Arya and Bran Stark, and Tyrion Lannister feature high on that list, because I, like Tyrion, also have a tender spot for cripples, bastards and broken things (and little people with a lot of spunk).

But there were also some characters I felt needed a good slap, and that is a rare thing for me, to think like that. This award goes to Sansa, who couldn’t have been more different than the rest of her siblings, and, to some extent, Viserys, although I’m not sure a slap would have helped on his case.

I was a bit shocked with the fate of some of the characters, and especially one of them. I can’t say I was expecting it, because I wasn’t. I felt safe that nothing terribly bad would happen, because it wouldn’t be fair. Well, I was wrong, and even though I didn’t particularly like it, it wasn’t out of character or somehow unfitting to the story.

And now I want, cross that, I must know what happens next!


Rating: 5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Baú-dos-livros | Estante de Livros | Floresta de Livros | Fyrefly's Book Blog | Stuff | To Read or Not To Read

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co

Comment on the TV series: As for the TV series, because I watched as I was reading (always careful never to let the series go ahead of the book), I can say liked it, but it doesn’t really compare to the book. Like much of adaptations, it has been toned down. But to be fair, in some cases a chapter of the book had enough stuff in it to make a full episode.

I liked the casting, especially for my favourite characters (although while I read I imagined Ned Stark as Robert Downey Jr., as Ironman. I blame the last name). The thing that bothered me a bit was that they decided to age the characters. They were consistent, and I do understand that it is shocking to have 14 year olds getting married (and have all that sex they were having) and marching to war or fighting undead in freezing temperatures. But that shock was part of what made the book so good, that it didn’t age characters to an acceptable age to go to war or be king.

June Ins and Outs

June has come and gone, and I have bought a LOT of books this month. Most were on Porto's Book Fair, but I still bought others on the side. On the plus side, I also read quite a bit.


INS
Bookmooch

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett (LT|GR)
I already read this one in Portuguese, a long time ago. I am now re-starting my collection in English, because there is only so much a translator can do with a book (and a series) full of puns. There were quite a lot of translator's notes trying to explain the jokes lost in translation, but I think that by book 5 or 6 he started to get tired of it and let some of them pass. (So much that only years later I understood the pun of Bad Ass in Mort.)




Bought
A game of thrones by George R. R. Martin (LT|GR)
I've been meaning to read this one for ages! Ages! Since I first started on Fantasy. But it was so big and daunting and I never bought the books. Now with the series and everyone singing its praises, I figured I would have to do it.






The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (LT|GR)
Second book on the Thief series, because I loved The Thief so much. Enough said.








Bought on the book fair (just the list, for comments on the books here is the post about it):

• The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
• Escritos dos Ancestrais by Rodrigo McSilva
• Minotauro: A Batalha do Labirinto by Gabriel García de Oro
• Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott
• Temeraire by Naomi Novik
• Bibbi Bokkens Magic Library by Jostein Gaarder
• Brasyl by Ian McDonald
• The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
• A verdadeira invasão dos marcianos by João Barreiros
• The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
• The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
• The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
• Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
• Os Ossos do Arco-Íris by David Soares
• O Décimo Terceiro Poder by Madalena Santos
• The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven
• The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein

OUTS
La hormiga que quiso ser astronauta by Félix J. Palma
Review

The thief bt Megan Whalen Turner
Review

Three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome (LT|GR)
This one I read in ebook, and it took quite a while.

It was ok, a very episodic recounting of the a adventures of three very silly and idiotic and lazy men, and their dog, as they go upriver for holiday.

It was amusing at first, but just nothing that would overwhelm me in any way.

(3 out of 5)

Os Ossos do Arco-Íris by David Soares (LT|GR)
I have another book by this author on my wishlist, but after this first encounter I am not in a rush to get it.

It was a strange book, horrific and gory, dark and disturbing. But that was not what bothered me more. It was actually the writing that I didn't exactly like, the use of certain words that completely broke the flow of my reading.

As I said, I am not writing this author off (yet), but it might be sometime before I buy that other book.

(3 out of 5)

Snow white, blood red by Ellen Datlow
Review to come. A collection of retellings of fairtales, with a bit of horror added in.


Plain Kate by Erin Bow
Review


TBR Variation: +14 (From 191 to 205)

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Plain Kate 
(Also published as Wood Angel)
Plain Kate lives in a time afraid of magic. She has a gift for carving 'lucky' wooden-charms. Known as Witch-Blade, her unusual gift attracts dangerous attention in a place where witches are burned. When her village falls on bad times, suspicion falls on Kate. Scared for her life, she seeks the help of a mysterious stranger. In exchange for her shadow, the stranger will assist her, but Kate becomes part of a terrifying plan, darker than she ever dreamed.



I read this book in the right time, and it doesn’t always happen like that. This was exactly the story I wanted to read. I wanted something fairy tale-ish, something dark, something new and fresh, something that would sweep me away, and that was what I got.

Plain Kate is like a fairy tale, it has all the right ingredients, and it draws a lot from folklore (both Russian and Gipsy). But it keeps the darkness of original fairy tales, it doesn’t sugarcoat things, it doesn’t try to make it all about rainbows and sunshine. It did surprise me a bit, as it is for young adults, and lately all the YA I’ve read is quite upbeat (even the darker ones).

I loved the story. The story of Kate and how she was looking for her shadow, and of how she tried to fit in. She is a marvellous character, strong enough to go by herself, smart enough to know when she needs help, yet still needing to learn a lot, still making mistakes.

It was not only Kate that was an amazing character. All of them were so real, even the most fantastical ones. Besides Kate, I loved Taggle and Linay, and my heart jumped at every mishap, at every twist. And speaking of twists, there are some of those, some I could see coming, some I didn’t want to see coming, some surprised me. Exactly in that order.

Another thing that really pushed my buttons were the dubious characters. Dubious in the sense that you are not quite sure if they are the good guys. It’s not even that, is more like what Kate was going through, not knowing whether to help them or fight them, I was torn between rooting for and against them.

The writing was really good, it sucked me in from the first chapter. It Sucked me in all throughout the book, until the bitter end. And bitter end is not just an expression. I was not expecting the way it ended. It has been ages since a book has made me cry as much as this one did.

I really loved this book, bittersweet (and more bitter than sweet for me) ending and all. A marvellous story.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Eating YA Books | Pure Imagination

This book reminds me of: Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier (LT | GR)

Book Trailer

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The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief

Gen, a thief that likes to brag about being able to steal everything, is stuck in prison, and it isn't a pleasant experience. But his luck changes when the king's magus comes to him with a task that will make all his troubles go away. The ultimate theft, the hardest of all, one that no one has been able to do. So of course Gen accepts the challenge.

This book incited some curiosity from me a long time ago. It was fantasy and with a thief, it seemed nice. But it wasn't until a friend pointed me to literary showdown of characters that I wanted to really read this one. Because, you see, Gen was the winner, and the final battle was against Howl! Who was this Gen that could be more awesome than Howl? So I set out to read this book to find out.

And I have to agree with all the voters. Gen is more awesome than Howl.

But let's get back to the book. It is fantasy, but there is a Greek influence, which was really nice. There are no clear references, but something about the plethora of gods and their stories, of mountains and hot weather, of old stones and temples, and the sheer amount of olive trees just screamed Greece to me.

The story kept me on my toes, reading page after page, chuckling a lot, and always wanting to know what would happen next. And I say chuckling because this book is also extremely funny. Gen is an amazing character, as I said before. Just because he was getting a ticket to walk out of jail, he didn't make the life of his rescuers/jailers any easier. He was obnoxious and impertinent and insufferable and an wise ass all the time. But it was an act, with him always thinking what else he could do to further annoy his companions.

His voice throughout the book (he tells the story) is amazing, and gives little away of what will happen next, or what the conclusion of the story will be. And concerning that, although the ending did not exactly surprising me, I didn't see it coming either. It made so much sense that it happened like that, that the only surprise was that I didn't notice it or figured it was going that way.

This is the beginning of a series, one that I'll keep on reading, for sure, but is a book of his own as well, not just an introduction. It ends with hints for the next book, but the thief's story is (more or less) finished (at least this first adventure is, I hope there are a lot more).

It's safe to say that I loved it.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing | Fyrefly's Book Blog

Book recs for this book: Graceling, Poison Study, Crown Duel, Howl's Moving Castle

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Gam.co

La hormiga que quiso ser astronauta by Félix J. Palma

La hormiga que quiso ser astronauta [The ant that wanted to be astronaut]
(Only available in Spanish)

The countdown begins. Put aside for a moment the heavy burden of that attachment to the reality that has been so hard to reach and remember when your first love was a siren, your best friend a Jedi Knight and it was snowing in Seville in the summer. When concerns were removed by chemistry-modified eels, and your lovers included a painter who was, literally, your soul mate, and an angel (well, a seraph) exiled from Heaven. When the pizza delivery boy conspired to write your unauthorized biography, and an old rigged recorder could be used to retrieve and make sense of the words spoken during a split. When Death walked the city with a list of victims that, if you were fast enough, you could alter. When ants aspired to reach the stars. Remember? Yes? Now, wake up!

La Hormiga que quiso ser Astronauta was Felix J. Palma's first novel (although not his first book), and I couldn't help but compare it to The Map of Time, which I loved. In a way, much of the things I loved on that book can be found on this one, even if in an earlier version. There is good writing, and twists and turns to the plot. Which means this will be an hard review to write without giving it all away.

And since it is not easy let's start with the basics: I liked this book. Did I love it? I'm still not sure.

What the synopsis promises, the book delivers. Yes, it is as surreal as it seems, to tell the truth, it is waaay more surreal than that at times. There are sirens and Jedi Knights, soul mates and angels (well, a seraph, to be exact). Death walks the streets and even rides the bus.

At first, this book didn't surprise me, and that is to say, it didn't overwhelm me like I was expecting. The writing was good, but I knew that it could be better (I should have reminded myself that this book was written 15 years ago, and that is enough time for an author to perfect the art). I was lost on what was happening, on the episodic fashion of this story. Because, more than a love story, this is a series of love stories.

But I got invested on the main character, on the things that happened to him, on his conquests and lovers. And I started to care about what was happening. Which brings me to the ending. Well, a bit before the ending.

This was the part that I least liked about this book, and the one that I'll probably remember the most. This is when I was almost screaming at the pages, saying "No, no, no, no, please don't go that way, please don't do that.", and this words weren't aimed at the character but at the author. This happened because what I wanted, what I expected to happen, was not what is right, what should happen. And what the author chose was the right thing and that broke my heart.

And that's when the ending came. It's not perfect, it was not what I wanted, but thinking about it, I wouldn't have it any other way. It fits the story just fine, with enough hope and possibilities for the reader to think that everything will be all right, not in the happily-ever-after way, but in the real life all-right-with-its-ups-and-downs way.

And to end this review, I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes of this book, that is the best way to define it (without spoilers):

"And the thing is that there are women and women and men and men, and it is not enough to just shuffle and pick one card from each deck and believe that the result is a couple."

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

The All Mighty Pile - Book Fair Ins and Outs

This is a special edition of The Ins and Outs. These are the books I bought on Porto's Book Fair. Meet the pile:

Whoa!

But lets start by the beginning. Being away from home means being away from the events happening at home. Which means there was not much chance of me going to this year's book fair in my city. That is, unless I could find a good reason to go home.

Let me check: Easter? Too late. Birthday? Too Late. Off days from work? Yeah, right (actually I managed to get some of those. On Easter and my birthday). Fall of the national government and elections? Oh yeah!

So, I went home last weekend to vote. I could have done it by post, but now I had an excuse to be home and use that time to go to the book fair. I had less than 1 day and a half to do all I wanted to do.

Saturday afternoon and night were devoted to the Book Fair, to buy books and look at books and buy some more books. Also, be with friends and meet fellow bloggers. But, mostly buy books. Because, you see, I had only one day. I had to make all my purchases on one day (not really, I have a friend on duty that goes check the books on discount and buys me stuff I want). And so I did a lot of book buying.

Here is the all mighty list of books:

1. The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
   The review by Ana@Floresta de Livros made me want to read this one.
2. Escritos dos Ancestrais by Rodrigo McSilva
3. Minotauro: A Batalha do Labirinto by Gabriel García de Oro
4. Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott
   I have the second on the series, and I'm not reading it until I read the first. But I didn't have the first. Now I do.
5. Temeraire by Naomi Novik
6. Bibbi Bokkens Magic Library by Jostein Gaarder
   I used to read a lot of books by Jostein Gaarder and then stopped altogether. This is a children's book.
7. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
   This is what you get when you don't read the synopsis properly. The name in Portuguese is Brasil. It says it's science fiction. I took the giant leap of believing it was related to the movie Brazil. It's not.
8. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
9. A verdadeira invasão dos marcianos by João Barreiros
   Another result of a review by Ana@Floresta de Livros
10. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
11. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
12. The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano
13. Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson
14. Os Ossos do Arco-Íris by David Soares
15. O Décimo Terceiro Poder by Madalena Santos
    This is a different kind of rec by Ana. I needed a 4th book for the promotion of buy 3 and take 4. I didn't know which book to choose, so she gave me this one.
16. The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven
    Jen@Cuidado com o Dalmata saw this one, and since there was a tattoed man on the cover she showed it to me. I decided to take the book, even though it talk about martial arts. For some reason it gave me a The Crow vibe.
17. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein

Yep, 17 books. And number 17 is divided in 2 volumes (2 very small volumes). So, 18 books. 18 books I had to carry around, and drag home. My hands are still a bit sore. And my hands hurt. And my TBR list has gone over the 200 mark. Should the Zombie Apocalypse come, I can always get myself and my books into a bunker and I have reading material for the following 2 or 3 years.

May Ins And Outs

INs

Bookmooch
Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences by Ursula K. Le Guin
I really like Ursula K. Le Guin's books, and didn't have this one. Now I do :D

Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
This one I'm not sure how it came to be on my bookmooch wishlist, but it became available so I snagged it.

Bought
Contos Carnívoros by Bernard Quiriny [Carnivore Short Stories]
I found this one on a bookstore. I picked it up because of its title and the pretty cover. It promised surreal short stories, so I had to have it



The Year of the Hare by Arto Paasilinna
While looking for books for SantaThing on Librarything last Christmas, I came across this one. It is supposed to be the most famous Finnish book, and quite good so I'll give it a try.





La hormiga que quiso ser astronauta by Felix J. Palma
By now I am a fan of Felix J. Palma, so I'm buying anything of his I can get my hands on.






North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
I've meaning to read this one for ages (ever since I saw the mini-series). Now I have no excuse






Plain Kate by Erin Bow
I saw the book trailer for this one aeons ago. It has been on my wishlist ever since, and now I finally bought it






The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Good reviews, pretty cover, cool sounding name, a lot of nominations to all kinds of awards. I had to have this one (and I still don't know what it's about.)





For Review
El derecho ambiental como instrumento de gestión del riesgo tecnológico by Paula Cerski Lavratti

Won this one in Librarything EarlyReviewers program. Something that interests me, but it's a technical book.

OUTS
El menor espectáculo del mundo by Félix J. Palma
This a collection of short stories, a bit like snapshots into everyday life, where the surreal, strange and fantastical seems to enter. A lot of the stories deal with problems of marriage, of disgruntled couples, and betrayals. Most are about problems of the heart, whether in married couples or not. A few give an outlook into the life of elders, and their solitude.

[Full Review]



Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
This is the third on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I loved the first one and liked the second, but this was just kind of meh...

It's still funny, but it's just more of the same. Also there was a lot of cricket-related stuff that I'm sure went over my head. So, meh...





Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith

This one was an insistence from a friend. I'm glad that I paid some heed to my friend's constant nagging, because it was an excellent book.

[Full Review]








TBR Variation: +6 (From 185 to 191)