Cold Magic ~ A Review

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott was one of those reads where you can loose yourself in the story easily. I like to read before bedtime, and found that I could open the book back up and be quite lost in it's richly researched alternate history, great characters and fantasy/Steampunk elements in this book.

It's quite a concoction.Elliott herself calls it a "mash-up" of "Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency novel with airships...". Elliot somehow makes this Steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi so realistic you can taste the coal smoke on the air, feel the sting of cold on your nose and fingertips. When I read where the girls were in massive factories, she didn't nice it up at all, there were beleaguered workers that were treated more like slaves. As you read through this alternate history world, you come across pieces of information which links what you know as history of our world and the world within this book and it is done with such exacting measure a laser could not have done better.

The adventure is continuous once our main character, Cat Barahal is forced into marriage to a powerful cold mage--who is arrogant to the extreme. Cat, and her cousin, Bee, seem to be typical teenagers who are experts at sneaking through windows when they should be in bed. But the adventure starts when Cat is taken from the home of her aunt and uncle, and later feels betrayed, after the mages discover that they have the wrong daughter and decide the only way to end a magical marriage is to kill her.

I don't come across  a book so well written that I look forward to reading it every night--and this was a large book. When I do enjoy a book this much, I call it my "Top Shelf".

If you love alternate history, Steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, adventure with some (light) romance involving young adults, this is an excellent book to get your hands on. I'm looking forward to Elliott's second novel Cold Fire.

Busy Day & Advice from Kate Elliott (you don't want to miss)

I was an angel today. As much as I wasn't in the mood for it, I hemmed my husband's jeans--which takes me about 45 min. now because I do it so often I know what I'm doing. I then had some house cleaning to do while he went off and mowed the park and did some other things he does out there.

My bathroom was scum on scum after two days of unusual heat and the toilet sweated. YUCK! I don't know about you ladies, but the silly wet pads that they've come out with are worthless! All it really ever does is pushes the dirt and crap around. That's not cleaning the floor at all. My husband bought me this great mop at the hardware store made by Rubbermaid. Now that was a mop! I don't mind filling a bucket and swishing it around the place at all. There's an old saying that I actually adhere to: If it ain't broken, don't try and fix it.

I mopped the bathroom floor first and I was certain it was clean after finding that the other stupid worthless wet pad left everything. Then, on to my new kitchen floor to get up at least some of the heavier spots. I wasn't prepared to do the whole floor as yet. I went on and got some dirty spots by the front door, and did some vacuuming, and that was all the time I could devote to the house. I had several things to take care of on the blogs today and get back to my publisher for an interview. But before I did that, I went and cut myself some lovely lilacs for the house.

I'm currently reading through my second book and that's going fine. But today I barely got to that because of everything I had to take care of today. So, feeling somewhat distracted I went to my favorites center and went to Kate Elliott's web site. You'll want to go to to the top and hit on "The writing Life". If you are a writer, beginner especially, or one who is in need of some sort of strategies on how to get back on track, you'll want to visit Kate's site. I've been there a couple of times reading her essays on writing, and find that she understands what it takes.

If you get distracted, like I do (I've got ADD), her essay on "Strategies for Writing" is one you might want to check out.And if you are writing any sort of fantasy, you'll need to read her piece called "The Fully Realized World" especially if your novel takes place in centuries past. There are things you might not have considered, and she makes a case for why you need to take certain things into consideration before you make a blunder.

And her piece on "Advice for SFF (first time) Novelists" shouldn't be missed.

I've yet to read anything by her, but my pal, Sumiko, has recommended her books, and I must take her up on these. They sound wonderful.

Welcome Sumiko to My Blog!

I want everyone to welcome Sumiko to my blog. She loves to read. She told me she can read a book in a week. I told her that I just don't have the time to read that much, but would love to be able to post more often about books, and asked her if she would like to do this. She accepted. I swear I didn't bribe her.

So, without further adue . . .

Hi everyone!

I am Sumiko - a friend of Lorelei's. My qualifications for this are mainly that I am her friend and that since I was first taught to read, I have been reading almost constantly. I read many things - fantasy, mystery, romance, literary fiction and non-fiction. Of course, what I most want to talk about are the fantasy novels that I am ingesting like potato chips!

Currently, I am reading Kate Elliott's novel Cold Magic. This was a recommendation from an online friend. She had just finished the book and was enthusing. I checked it out and when I saw it was by Kate Elliott I HAD to have it. Elliott is an author I've read for a number of years. The first books of hers I read were the Jaran books. I read those so long ago that the most I can say about them was that they were intriguingly set in a world that was based in Russian culture rather than the more usual Germanic-Celtic culture.

Then I fell into her Crown of Stars books - loved them. Did the whole - read the book, wait for years for the next one, re-read incessantly, etc. with that series. It was intended to be a trilogy and wound up as a series of 7 books. I can't say that they all stayed at the same high level as the first couple but they were good.

She has a gift for creating characters that you love and then doing horrible things to them. I am in the middle of Cold Magic and there has just been one of those exciting turns of events that makes me wish that I didn't have to put the book down!

According to her website, this is the first book in a trilogy. Oh dear, I fear I am in for another round of read, wait, re-read, wait, etc.

Kate Elliott's website is http://www.kateelliott.com and she is also on facebook and twitter.