Sumiko's Reads ~ The Hunger Games

There was some amount of arm twisting (just kidding, Sumiko!) to encourage my very good friend (and occasional bus rider) to send me a new post. Something told me Sumiko would have read these books. And I was right. Let's hear what she has to say about these dystopian trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

 I don't even know why I haven't written about these books before--possibly because it felt like they were so prominent in the zeitgeist that there was no need.

There is nothing obscure about Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games trilogy. The trilogy consists of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Monkingjay.

Set in a dystopian near future, it follows the life of a young woman who volunteers to take the place of her baby sister as a tribute from her district to the capital of the country. The tributes take part in a giant live-action reality TV show where the prize is their life and the cost is also their life.

I came to them [books] late -- via recommendations from friends around the time that the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire, was published. So I was lucky enough to gobble up the first book and then move right on to the second. Now that all three are handy, I highly recommend having all three on hand if you are planning on reading them. Find yourself an open weekend and read, read, read! The plot is fast paced and very engaging: the characters are well-written and you care for them so the story moves along at a sprightly pace -- all of which encourages the reader to dive in and become engulfed in the story. The story itself brings up questions and situations that are both familiar and yet far enough removed to inspire thoughtful discussion. I imagine that these books would be good to read with your child should that be you situation.

I highly recommend them.

And there you have it from my very good friend Sumiko. She has not steered us wrong yet! Thanks Sumiko!

Who Let the Zombies Out? ~ Sumiko's Reads!

Foreword:    Sometimes Sumiko surprises me with what she is reading. Sometimes she inspires me.   Sometimes I worry about what she's got going on her kindle. Should I?
I went to Amazon and read the first line of Feed, I could see this was going to be tongue in cheek . . . um . . . well, you get what I mean.

Note: Mira Grant is the author of the Newsflesh Trilogy and she is also Seanan McGuire who writes the Toby Daye books.

And I then totally realized that I promised you zombies. .. well not zombies exactly but a write up of the Newsflesh trilogy.  These things are connected:  Seanan McGuire and Mira Grant are the same person.

And as such:  the newsflesh trilogy is quite as much fun to read asher Toby Daye books.  

How to describe them:  they are series of political/medical thrillers disguised as zombie novels.  The characters are vivid and so is the writing.  The books are fast paced and very enjoyable.  I think that they are by far the most enjoyable zombie books I've read.  (And I have tried quite a few - there are quite a few out there now!)

The books are:  Feed and Deadline - which are out now and Blackout which will come out in the Spring of 2012.  There is also Countdown ~which is a prequel that was released electronically only.  Very interesting to read that after having read the first two books and a nice way to assuage hunger from that 'verse while waiting for Blackout.

The books feature siblings Georgia and Shaun Mason and their friend and blogging partner Buffy M.  They get hired by an up and coming politician to blog his presidential campaign and wackiness ensues . . . in an adrenaline/danger filled sort of way.

Sumiko

Sumiko's Reads ~ Shades of Milk & Honey - Not So Charming

Hi, everyone, well, it's been a little while since Sumkio has sent me a review, and since I saw her throughout the week while driving her to work, I encouraged her to send me whatever she wanted. Today is another review, and this was not one of her favorite books.

You know how it is when someone recommends a book to you, and it turns out that you really didn't like it, for one reason or another? Well, Sumiko has read such a book  recently and she's here to tell you what and why.

I read Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal on the recommendation of friends who found it charming.  I was most convince to try it because she has invented a game as an extra to her book.

http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/fiction-collectio/shades-of-milk-and-honey/the-shades-and-glamour-game/

But I found myself disappointed by the book for two reasons:  the setting draws obvious comparisons to Jane Austen - whom I love but I felt that her characters and some of their situations were much too close to some of Austen's.  And the changes she made did not make them better.  And in use of magic in that setting, I prefer Galen Beckett's books "The Magicians and Mrs. Quent" and "The House on Durrow Street."

In Kowal's book magic is a frippery. A useful accomplishment for a young lady but not something a gentlemen would bother with.  And the magic in this book . . . well, why not make it a talent for art?  It would not change the story. I suppose I was disappointed that the characters were not as charming or as original as I would have wished and the fantastic elements were not fantastic enough.

Compare that to the use of magic in Beckett's books:  it occurs in a number of different ways and levels.  It can be as small as adding something additional to decor for a party or as grand and dangerous as the sort the magician's study to defend the empire.  And then there is the magic of the witches - more tied to natural features of the woods - both feared and not understood. I feel that the magic or fantastic element in Beckett's books are much fully realized and integral to the story.

So, if a light Regency Romance is what you're after perhaps you will enjoy Shades of Milk and Honey - but if you want a little more of a fantasy, I believe that Beckett's books - still set in a "Regency-like" setting will be more intriguing.

Sumiko's Reads ~ Desappearing Act

Hi! You may be wondering where I disappeared to post "Fever" - I have been reading - but mostly I have been re-reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I started the re-read in anticipation of HBO's
series based on the book and then when the publication date for A Dance With Dragons was announced I wanted to reread to be up-to-speed and ready to dive into ADWD as soon as it comes out.

I have to say that so far I am very pleased with the TV adaptation. This is based purely on the first episode. (Which, by the way, covers to only about page 71 in the hardcover edition of the book.) They are
planning on 10 episodes for the first book and they've just been renewed for another 10 episodes which, I believe, is going to cover the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire. (The Song of Ice and Fire is the name of the series of books - A Game of Thrones is only the first book in the series.) It is visually pleasing and well-cast and just fun to watch.

If you have HBO - I totally recommend it and if you don't have HBO definitely watch the DVDs or Bluray when they come out. (Probably not until just before the premiere of season 2!)

And if you haven't read the books: give them a try. They hooked me in with the first chapter. (There is a prologue and then a chapter.) Some haven't been hooked until approximately the chapter where the
pilot ended. These books are epic in scope - involving many characters and the characters are interesting and I have found that characters that at first I had very little time for became more interesting as time progressed. (Although two of my original favorites are still my favorites.)

One of the benefits of the media campaign for the show is that there are some good interviews with George R.R. Martin and Jame Poniewozick of Time Magazine has posted a 4-parter that is well worth reading. You can find links to each part at the link below:

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/tag/game-of-thrones/

The books are definitely worth a try: Martin doesn't make his world easy or pretty: evil isn't always obvious. He tells the story from a multiplicity of points of view so you get to know the "P.O.V." characters. I think this forces you to see the action from different sides so that you can't just dismiss any one side as good or evil.

And bonus: if you start reading now - you know you'll have five very long books to look forward to.

Sumkio's Reads ~Karen Moning Fever Series are "Fevercrack"

I just finished the Fever Books by Karen Moning. As the friend who recommended them to me said - they are crack. Fevercrack.

I bought the sample of the first book: Darkfever - on my kindle and read it and immediately downloaded the book. Let's see . . . that would have been on Thursday, and I finished the last book late last night. Yes, just like that. Although, given that I read them all on my kindle I'm really not sure how long they are. The five books are really all one book - which is why reading it in one big gulp is so easy. Each book from 1-4 ends on a giant and evil cliffhanger. So you get that urgency to read the next one right away. Friend described them as "dark urban fantasy" - dark because bad things happen. And they do. I cried a lot during the 4th book. Of course, that could just be my general emotional state but I cried and I read and kept going. So, Mac Lane is a sweet southern girl. She grew up in a small town in Georgia and never had any ambitions to leave but her older sister Alina was more ambitions and when she got into Temple University in Dublin she left for the great big world and was murdered. Mac is not convinced that the local authorities really did all they could to find her killers so she goes to Dublin and gets embroiled in things that she never imagined existed. The five books are about her figuring out who she really is, what the truth really is - and all the fallout from that.

The books are: Darkfever:

MacKayla Lane's life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words she's your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks... until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death-a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone—Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister's killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed—a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae .. .

Bloodfever:

Mackayla Lane's ordinary life underwent a complete makeover when she landed on Ireland's shores and was plunged into a dark, deadly realm unlike any she ever imagined. In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubh—a million-year old book of the blackest magic imaginable that holds the key to power over both the worlds of Fae and Man. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by two deadly and irresistible men:V'lane, the insatiable Fae, who can turn sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman; and the very-inscrutable Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious.

Faefever

When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister's journal, she is stunned by Alina's desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister's killer is close. But evil is closer. And Suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.

Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V'lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind and soul.

Dreamfever:

MacKayla Lane lies naked on the cold stone floor of a church, at the mercy of the erotic Fae master she once swore to kill. Far from home, unable to control her sexual hungers, MacKayla is now fully under the Lord Master's spell. In the New York Times bestselling author Kare Marie Moning's stunning new novel, the walls between human and Fae worlds have come crashing down. And as Mac fights for survival on Dublin's battle-scarred streets, she will embark on the darkest-and most erotically charged-adventure of her life.

Shadowfever:

MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.

Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister's murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals that have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.

What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief, while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King that contains the power to create and destroy worlds.

Author's website: Karen Moning

Mutterings and Musings

What a difference a day makes! Some days are cherries, and some days are the pits. Well, yesterday was the pits. It was cloudy, gloomy, I was aching everywhere. Not in the mood to be driving a bus, I'll tell you that. But I got through it. We both did. My husband's bus broke down on his very last run. He turned the corner and smelled smoke. The wind was blowing it back into the bus. He stopped and realized the smoke was coming from his bus! He opened the doors and evacuated the bus.

No. This time his bus was not on fire. Although, that has happened once, or twice. Anyway, there was some hose that just blew and I mean it blew, and all the—whatever the heck it was—went all over the engine and that's where the smoke came from. The whole episode put us back several minutes getting back to base. And then, to top it all off, I miss-placed our keys. I thought I'd handed them to my husband.

Nope. I didn't. Where were they? They weren't in my purse—which is where I always keep them (why does he have me carry them? Duh, I've got the big honking purse, of course). Well, after checking everywhere, I pull off my coat and find they were in the pocket of my sweatshirt. Talk about having a senior moment!

So, yesterday ended like that. But today, the sun was out. The sun always makes you happy in the Spring. The temperature was going to be in the 50's and no rain!

I had been reading a Tony Hillerman book I'd bought in 2001. I began reading it and didn't remember it. I have several of his books, and I remembered each one, but not this one. I may not have read it. I finished it last night and it had me thinking about the southwest and while driving to the student center to begin my day I superimposed places I've been in the southwest, like Gallop N.M., over the drab DeKalb, Illinois town. It sort of had me pulled away for a short while. Like I was there.

Hillerman's novels of police procedural mysteries on the Navajo Reservations was always interesting to me. Helps me get reacquainted with Native American thought a little bit. I have other non-fiction books on this too. But this was a good start.

So, this was the beginning of my week. I hope to get through the rest without too much mishap.

Speaking of which, here is my line up for the week here on my blog.

Sumiko's Reads is a new one, and I think will be very interesting. She's actually found a series more addictive than candy. She has discovered Karen Moning novels, which she calls “Fevercrack”. Tune in tomorrow to find out why this series pulled her in. I also plan on posting each of these dark fantasy book's description along with the book covers. Should be good, a post you won't want to miss!

Meanwhile, I'm awaiting an article in the NIU paper, the Northern Star to come out. Have been for months, actually. Tony Martin, an English major, has been my passenger for the whole year, and when I learned that he wrote for the Star, I had to approach him about my book. He was enthusiast. So enthusiast, he bought my book, telling me he would read it over Spring Break. I know that the article will be out soon, because he asked me a question on Monday for it. This is not going to be an interview, but a review. Tony reviews mostly bands, or albums for the paper. He is quite honest. He has not told me if he liked my book or not. I'm a bit nervous. Hopefully I'll at least have 4 stars from his review. I will post this when it comes out, or at least the link to it, of course.

And, just in case you have not heard, I will be on Fangtastic Books blog on April 10^th. There is going to be a contest for an eBook of Vampire Ascending, so if you are up for this, you will want to come by. I will have the link posted on the tenth.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and listening to me muttering to myself. Hope you all have a great week, and stop by throughout the week for more updates, and fun stuff.

Sumiko's Reads ~ In A Tizzy Over What To Read

I've been attempting to write my review of Midnight Riots but I cannot seem to get the words out. So - here I go again.

I've been in a bit of a tizzy. I had no sooner discovered the October Daye books and Katharine Kerr's new book -which I hope is a new series when I got an email newsletter from i09. The main article was a piece about Ben Aaronovitch and his Peter Grant books. The two things that caught me were that Aaronovitch has written for Doctor Who and that his Peter Grant books were compared to the Dresden books. The major differences being that Grant is a policeman not a consultant. If the Dresden and Toby Daye books are detective novels with magic than the Grant books are police procedurals with magic. They have the added attraction of being set in London - so even the police work has that exotic nature.

Peter Grant is a young policeman—the book starts with him at the point in the training where he and his classmates will be assigned to their units. He??? comes across a body under unusual circumstances and this brings him to the attention of DCI Thomas Nightshade who leads (wee, he is . . .) unit of the Met that deals with crimes involving magical and other uncanny circumstances. He is, in fact, a magician and by joining his unit Peter Grant becomes his apprentice.

I have such an appetite for this sort of book that I'm sure it will come as no surprise that I lapped it up and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm very happy to report that one of the MANY books that I received in the past week was the second book in the series so I am looking forward to getting started on that.

Yes, the beginning of March has brought a number of long expected books including the 4th book in the Toby Daye series which I finished yesterday: thoroughly enjoyed too, and the second book from Patrick Rothfuss. It is quite the tome and I have just started it. I also discovered Galen Beckett's The Magicians and Mrs. Quent—which was very entertaining—via Ravelry (the social networking site for Knitters and Crocheters).

It is like a combination of Austen and Bronte set in a world with magic. More Austen-y in tone but there is a middle section which cannot help but remind you of Jane Eyre. The second book came out last September so I am looking forward to continuing the
adventures of Mrs. Quent and her friends. The biggest news, however, is that George R.R. Martin announced the release date for the fifth book of The Song of Ice and Fire. July 12th is the date. Mark your calendars if you haven't already. I am incredibly excited about this and plan to start rereading ASAP. I hope to finish my A Game of Thrones reread in time for the premiere of the HBO series (April 17th.) If you are also anticipating this series - don't forget to tune in to HBO on April 3rd at 10 pm Eastern for a 15 minute Sneak Peek of the first episode. There is also a 30 minute "making of" show that is scheduled to air April 6th.

Link to "The Game Begins" trailer:

http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/2011/3/4/the-game-begins-preview.html?cmpid=ABC587

Man, I cannot wait for A Dance with Dragons. I hope that he has a significant amount of material done for the next book too. ASOIAF is a series that I'm very glad I got in on 3 books in. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to read "A Game of Thrones" when it first came out and to have been reading and waiting for each book thereafter. I had no idea: I thought that the wait between finishing A Storm of Swords and waiting for A Feast for Crows was long: ha! I came in on the end of that wait. It's been a long, long time. But at least this series moves. I gave up on the Wheel of Time because it really seemed to not move. And I don't recall the characters being nearly as interesting.

Next time: possibly the second Aaronovitch, more on Toby Daye and possibly an update on the new Rothfuss.

Peter Grant's blog: http://westendblues.blogspot.com/

Galen Beckett's website: http://www.galenbecket.com/gb/LatestNews/LatestNews.html

Ben Aaronovitch's blog:http://temporarilysignificant.blogspot.com/

Sumiko's Reads ~ Katharine Kerr

http://www.deverry.com/ensorcell.html

I was most familiar with Katharine Kerr as the writer of the Deverry books. Not that I had read all of them but quite a few. So when I read, a number of months ago that she had a new book set in a contemporary setting coming out I was very excited and pre-ordered it from Amazon. It arrived last week and I read it almost in one sitting. San Francisco must be a natural setting for noir-type books.
Perhaps it's the fog. Not that I've been there (darn the luck) but like Seanan McGuire's books this one features a strong female protagonist with unusual abilities. In License to Enscorcoll magic or psychic abilities exist . . . not that most people realize it. Nola O'Grady works for an un-named government agency that employs licensed magic users to solve various magic-related crimes. She is more of a spy than a cop. She gets saddled with a non-agency operative named Ari Nathan (of Mossad) in an attempt to solve some sort of international (possible) serial murder case.

Nola, Ari, Nola's mysterious boss, Nola's gifted clan – excellent characters. I was very happy to discover that there is another book coming out in August. This may be another case of potato chip reading.

I came across an interesting column on the Tor website (http://www.tor.com) about "Urban Fantasy and the Elusive Male Protagonist". Apparently, Nola and Toby are actually typical of urban fantasy. I didn't notice possibly because having a female protagonist totally makes sense to me. I mean, I'm female and why shouldn't the protagonist in books of my favorite genre (fantasy) be female too. I suppose it flies in the face of what the general population think of the main audience for fantasy fiction. I can only think of this as a positive trend. (The Tor blog post does mention one of my favorite male urban fantasy protagonists – namely: Harry Dresden of the Dresden Files.

Cryoburn & Bards of Bone Plain ~ Sumiko's Reads

It's been a long winter's nap, and Sumiko is raring to go on giving us a look at two author's books!

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (lots of info on Bujold and the Vorkosigan Saga online)
Her blog:http://www.myspace.com/loismcmasterbujold/blog/540756904
Cryoburn is the latest addition to the Vorkosigan Saga. In this case we are treated to the further adventures of Miles Vorkosigan in his position as Imperial Auditor rather than as his alter-ego Admiral Naismith. The Vorkosigan books are excellent space adventures with interesting characters who you care about. They follow the adventures first of Cordelia Naismith and Lord Aral Vorkosigan and then later of their son Miles. They live in a future where humans have spread out across the galaxies and thrived devising all manners of systems of living/governance.

The first book is Cordelia's Honor which is about Cordelia and Lord Aral. I love the character of Cordelia so much and yet, she is actually a supporting character in the series which is really about her son Miles. The saga traces Miles life from his birth onward. In Cryoburn, Miles arrives at Kibou-daini (a planet) ostensibly as part of a diplomatic trip but actually to investigate a "cryo-corp" that is trying to expand into Barrayan territory. The book is fast paced and fun to read. I am trying to decide if it is something that you could read without earlier introduction to the Vorkosigan Saga but really, Bujold is such a wonderful storyteller that I encourage anyone who hasn't read the Vorkosigan books to at least try to dive in with this one or go find the earlier ones. The publishers of Cryoburn have made this delightfully easy by including a CD that has all of the Vorkosigan books on it including this one. They encourage their readers to burn the disk and give it to friends - which I thought was an interesting plan on their part.

In contrast, the Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillip is very much a fantasy. The author has been a favorite of mine since I read the Forgotten Beasts of Eld and the Riddle of Stars Trilogy in high school. Actually, the trilogy was still coming out and I'm not sure that the final book didn't come out until I was in college. It is possible that the Riddle of Stars is in my mind because this book reminds me of those ones. It could be the setting, the importance of music and language in this world. It is the story of a[Scholar] Phelan Cle a young man who is researching Bone Plain as his final project prior to graduating the bard school, his father Jonah Cle an archaeologist who is excavating sites around the city and Princess Beatrice who is assisting him. To me it felt as though this was a world similar to that of The Riddle Master books but much further along in time. The lives that people lived were an interesting mix of contemporary and fantasy/medieval. I really loved the setting, the characters and the language.

Of course, reminding me of the earlier books didn't hurt but I felt like these characters and this story was much more memorable to me than most of what she has written in between. I love the way she writes families and schools and I love her use of language.

Sumiko

Sumko's Reads ~ Broken Kingdoms

I just finished Broken Kingdoms by NK Jemisin.  I came across this book via a review. I recently signed up for their newsletter and that is how it came to me.  

Here's how this goes:  I skimmed the review and it intrigued me.  They reviewed the second book in a trilogy and I went to Amazon and ordered what I thought was the first book.  But alas - it is not.  I actually ordered the very book they reviewed and I have to say that despite being the middle book of a trilogy where I have not yet read the first book - I enjoyed it very much.  The protagonist is a young woman, Oree,  who is an artist, although blind.  However, she lives in a world where "godlings" walk among mortal folks and unlike most people the one thing she can see is the divine magic that they work.  The city she lives in is on a giant world tree.  I don't think that the entire world is on this tree because she travelled there from somewhere else.  The book begins with the the murder of one of the godlings and with Oree taking in a foundling.  I really enjoyed the world, Oree and her investigation of the events which lead to revelations about herself and her family.  

NK Jemisin's website:  http://nkjemisin.com/books/the-inheritance-trilogy/

Sumiko's Reads ~ A Bibliophile's Foibles

I wanted to talk about the Jane Lindskold trilogy that starts with Thirteen Orphans, continues with Nine Gates and ends with Five Odd Honors. But this brought up another issue: I discovered Thirteen Orphans at the library, and I loved it so much that when I saw it was out in mass market paperback I bought it. Then I went on a bit of a reading hiatus and when I came out of it (like coming out of hibernation - starving for good stories) I found that Nine Gates was available in mass market paperback so I bought that.

And loved it. . .and the third book Five Odd Honors is out - but in hardback. Now, I love having related books all in the same format.(This is the reading adjacent bit.) You can shelf them or stack them together. Chances are the artwork will also be related so they look like they belong together too. Sensible people are now saying: get it out of the library - buy the paperback later! But my reading hibernation incident means that I owe my library big bucks and two books. And I keep not going there. Sigh. And I want that book.

Now, I have broken my matched series thing lately with both the Dresden Files books and the Sookie Stackhouse books. . . but they are long, long, multi-book series and not so much a set as a neat little trilogy is. What shall I do? Am I just trying to talk my self into breaking the set? And does anyone else out there have similar book
foibles?

Sumiko's Reads ~ Cold Magic

My friend, Sumiko, has been busy. Besides reading her books she is also busy knitting a sweater. I almost fear she may loose herself in the knitting and reading and we'll never see her again. Just one large sweater walking about the campus with a book in her hand.

Without further ado . . .
Hi everyone!

I finished Cold Magic in a rush of adrenaline. And it was both enjoyable and very satisfactory. As I may have mentioned last time, I was a teensy bit worried about finishing the book and then having an unspecified time to wait for the next one to come out due to my experience with her Crown of Stars series. (That one was originally planned as a trilogy and wound up as a series of seven books.) I think that anyone with similar fears should not worry. Cold Magic ends with our heroine in a pretty good place. You can definitely see where the story continues but it is by no means a cliffhanger.

Moving from an incomplete trilogy to a finished one - on Sunday I read Fire Study, the 3rd book in Maria V. Snyder's "Study" series. I am serious - I received the book sometime last week and started reading Sunday morning and stayed in bed 'til I was done. My cat was not pleased but I was happy and possibly a bit sad to be leaving the main character. I know that Snyder is writing another series set in the same 'verse but it just won't be the same, will it?

I will post Sumiko's comments on Maria Snyder's series on Saturday, so please swing by for that.

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.