Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Fire Study

When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire,
people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before....

Honor sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself—and save the land she holds dear.


*Warning: Spoilers. And Rant.*

I was going to start by saying this book was a disappointment, but that is not quite right. I started reading this with (very) low expectations, after being more than warned that it was bad. But it was worse than I thought.

This book starts badly. The first half of it is filled with recaps from the previous two books in the form of infodump (and even though I didn't remember that much I only needed a little prodding to get my memory), inane and pointless chitchat between minor characters and a plot that is told more in a fashion of a book plan than of an actual book. I mean, it seemed to be the early stages, with plot holes appearing to be badly covered on the next paragraph. This all meant that I regarded the first 150 pages or so as a complete waste of paper and ink.

But eventually it got better. Or I got used to it. I'll choose to believe it got somewhat better. There was more action, and a more logical flow of events. Characters from the previous books appeared and for a short while it seemed it was shaping up to be alike the previous adventures. It was just a short while, and it was then that I realized what the problem was. Yelena. It wasn't only that the main character simply didn't captivate me anymore, but she bore little resemblance to her previous incarnations, and worse of all, had become a Mary Sue.

So, no longer liking the main character, I focused on the story, because there was some mystery regarding the Magic of the Ixia/Sitia world and some hints about Valek. My mind was going around and around trying to solve these problems. I shouldn't have done that.

Regarding the Magic, about where it all came from and its nature, when it was explained, I got this nagging feeling: “Where have I seen this before?” And then it hit me. Final Fantasy VII. And done so much better. Only then there were some things that didn't quite add up, namely the fate of the big bad guys. Although I could have misread the entire thing based on wishful thinking that it would be as awesome as FFVII.

As to Valek, there were so many little hints and comments, that I conjured a big mystery about his immunity to Magic, something that happened in his past. The inane chitchat of completely unimportant stuff should have warned me that the little hints would mean nothing. The real reason was nowhere near where my mind went, and in my opinion, pretty lame. But then again, it was dealt with in a couple of dialogue lines, and that was it. So at least there was no waste of paper there.

In the end, I was just happy I was done with this book. I should have heeded my friend's warnings that it would be bad. This is a book that could have been half its size without losing anything, that could have had a little more thought put into it, and where the best character is a horse, only this time it is because the others were really bad.


Rating: 2 out of 5

Other Reviews: Cuidado com o Dálmata

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My Reviews of: Poison Study | Magic Study

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

Palimpsest

Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.

Palimpsest is a very weird book. I knew that before I started, and that was probably the reason I didn't pick it up sooner. It is a good kind of weird, but I definitely needed to be in the right state of mind to read it.

It's not only weird, but complex. There are many stories interwoven in Palimpsest, far more than the back cover promises. At first I was utterly lost. Lost about what was happening in the story, where it all was supposed to go, or even if it was supposed to go anywhere.

But this is the kind of book that you discover slowly. Slowly you unravel the story of each character, just as you slowly discover the city of Palimpsest and the book becomes more clearer. And this is the kind of book that needs attention while being read, every detail is important. I admit that at first I was not as attentive as I should, and I missed some things. But as I became more and more engrossed in the story, I started to see the connections and details.

Even though this book is confusing at first, and it takes some time to start to understand it, it is a pleasure to read because the writing is excellent. Poetic and vivid, I could see the pictures it painted in my mind very clear; beautiful, terrifying and surreal. It was the writing that made me read on, until I started to have characters I loved, characters I liked, and characters I disliked, until the mystery city of Palimpsest was not confusing but intriguing.

I enjoyed this book a lot, although I kept waiting for the ending to blow me away, it never really did. I will be re-reading it some time in the future, to pay attention to the details I missed, to the ones that only make sense once you know the ending... But that's a plan for later. For now, I can say it is a good book.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: starmetal oak book blog

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My Soundtrack for this book: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ (mostly East Hastings and Providence)

July Ins and Outs

It's summer time, which means holidays, which means more reading time (and less online time). So here are the Ins and Outs of July!


INS
Bought

John dies at the end by David Wong
Revelation by Carol Berg
Looking for Jake and other stories by China Miéville
The bloody chamber: and other stories by Angela Carter

Bookmooch

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
Artemis Fowl : the opal deception by Eoin Colfer


OUTS
A game of thrones by George R. R. Martin   [Review]

Rating: 5 out 5


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

Rating: 4 out 5


Buffalo gals and other animal presences by Ursula K. Le Guin
A collection of short stories and poems, featuring animals and plants. Some are Fantasy, some are Science Fiction, some just regular fiction (and some just plain weird). The stories I liked, the poems not so much.

Rating: 4 out 5


The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner   [Review]

Rating: 5 out 5


Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente    Review to come
This is a very strange book, and I am sure it will benefit from a second read. That said, I enjoyed it, especially the writing.


Rating: 4 out 5


A verdadeira invasão dos marcianos by João Barreiros
This is actually two related stories, showing the two different points of view on the same theme. It's Science Fiction, with a dash of Historical Fiction. The presence of H.G. Wells, and even some quirks of language reminded me of The Map of Time. This is not as good as that book, but it's also quite a different kind of book. Still enjoyable.

Rating: 4 out 5


Assassin's apprentice by Robin Hobb    Review to come
A classic of fantasy, with its share of intrigue and mystery. It's a good introduction to a series, and there are enough loose threads to make me want to read the next one.

Rating: 4 out 5



TBR Variation: -2 (From 205 to 203)

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

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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

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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)

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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

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