The Hobbit (1937) J.R.R. Tolkein
My father gave me my first copy of The Hobbit and I quite literally read it to pieces. I read it at least once a year up through my late 20s. Then I suddenly had lots of books to read, and didn’t get around to rereading The Hobbit for quite awhile.

In [...]

Hellboy Vol 4: The Right Hand of Doom (2000) Mike Mignola
Have I mentioned that I am really enjoying the Hellboy books? I am. They’re a lot of fun.
Like The Chained Coffin and Others, The Right Hand of Doom is also a collection of short stories centered on Hellboy.
The first story in the [...]

The Shadow Roads (2004) Sean Russell
The Shadow Roads is the final book in Sean Russell’s ‘The Swans’ War’ trilogy.
Having escaped the Stillwater (those who survived) the children of Wyrr now prepare for battle. In the realms of the Renee and the Wills mortals prepare for war, even without Hafydd there to control and guide them.
Taken [...]

The Isle of Battle (2002) Sean Russell
The Isle of Battle is good book. However, it is a middle book in a series; although the tale continues forward, the book doesn’t have the momentum of the first book. The characters are still good, the intrigue is still good, but the characters spend much of the [...]

The One Kingdom (2001) Sean Russell
I love Sean Russell’s writing. I’ve read everything he’s written that I could get my hands on, including the mystery series he co-wrote as T.F. Banks. The One Kingdom and the other books he has written are very different from the supernatural fantasy that I most often scarf down. Sean [...]

Hellboy Vol 3: The Chained Coffin and Others (1998) Mike Mignola
Unlike the previous two volumes, which were along the lines of novellas, The Chained Coffin and Others is a collection of Hellboy short stories. As I’m a big fan of short stories, I really enjoyed this collection.
And as a fan of folktales and folk lore, [...]

Infernal (2005) F. Paul Wilson
The next book (9th?) in the Repairman Jack series, Infernal again contains little but misery for Jack. A visit from Jack’s father turned terribly wrong turns into the visit from hell from Jack’s brother Tom.
It’s actually impossible to say anything more than that, without giving away the main parts of [...]

Hellboy Vol 2: Wake the Devil (1997) Mike Mignola
In the second volume of Hellboy stories, it is believed that someone is trying to bring the vampire Vladimir Giurescu back to life and health, so Hellboy and several others from the BPRD are sent to Romania to find out what is really going on.
Needless to say, [...]

Girl Genius Vol 7: Agatha Heterodyne and the The Voice of the Castle (2008) Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, Cheyenne Wright
It’d been so long since the last Girl Genius volume came out, I’d all but forgotten about it. So I was very excited when my copy of Agatha Heterodyne and the The Voice of the [...]

Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs
I really like Patricia Briggs writing, so when I saw she had a new book coming, I ordered it without knowing anything about it.
CryWolf is set in the same world as her Mercy series, and many of the characters carry over, although Mercy does not make an appearance. Which is a [...]

Hellboy Vol 1: Seed of Destruction (1994) Mike Mignola and John Byrne
After starting my comic reading life with Sandman, it’s been hit and miss for me since then. I love Ex Machina and Fables. But didn’t care for Preacher or Lucifer or Constantine. Michael reads and likes almost anything he picks up, but it’s been [...]

Iron Hunt (2008) Marjorie Liu
I picked this up partially because the story looked interesting and partially because I loved the cover. Plus I read several recommendations and thought I’d like it. And I did like it, but there is one major drawback.
It’s one of those books that doesn’t really end. Yes, there is a conclusion [...]

Runaways Vol 8: Dead End Kids (2008) Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan, and Christina Strain
Finally! The next installment of Runaways! And boy have things changed.
First and foremost, Brian K Vaughan gave up his writing duties on Runaways to Joss Whedon. Second, the format changed, and instead of the little tiny book, Dead End Kids was published [...]

Crisscross (2004) F. Paul Wilson
Jack is still in the Repairman business, despite the fact that Gia doesn’t like the way she never knows if he’ll return safely from his fix-it jobs. And with Gia’s pregnancy (Despite the fact this is a multi-book pregnancy, Gia is only at 20 weeks. She might be pregnant for years [...]

Camelot’s Blood (2008) Sarah Zettel
I’ve been waiting for this book since before Luna lost it’s collective mind and dropped Sarah Zettel and this series. (And if anyone from Luna reads this, it’s made me more reluctant to buy books in the Luna line, wondering if another series I like will be summarily dropped.) But finally [...]

House of Cards (2008) C.E. Murphy
Book two in the Negotiator series, House of Cards, continues the story of Margrit Knight, who has stumbled upon the existence of the Old Races: gargoyles, djinn, dragons, selkie, and vampires remain hidden in the world, although their numbers are diminished.
I enjoyed this book as much as I did Heart [...]

Heart of Stone (2007) C.E. Murphy
I inadvertently picked up the second book in this series, so being me, I had to go back and find the first book in the series, and by then I’d gotten sucked into the Repairman Jack series and the Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries, and pretty much forgot about this [...]

Fables Vol 10: The Good Prince (2008) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Peopy

I’ve been reading Fables since 2005. And since then, I’ve pre-ordered the next in the series to get it the day it was released. Which tells you that this series is pretty fantastic.
For those who haven’t been playing along from the [...]

City of Bones (2007) Cassandra Clare
I picked this up based on a review I read (I’m embarrassed to say I can’t remember where it was, just one of the book sites I peruse), and decided to check it out.
Then I got the book and it languished on the shelf for several months. First because it’s [...]

Dog Days (2007) John Levitt
The only thing that made me pick up Dog Days was the blurb by Rob Thurman. As I love her writing, I decided to take a chance on Dog Days, especially since I was taking advantage of Amazons 4-for-3 deal. So looking for something light and picked it up and was [...]

Bad Magic (2004) Stephan Zielinski
I had Bad Magic on my wish list for a long time, and finally I got it for Christmas from my brother. I put off reading it, because it’s hardback, and I just don’t find hardback books comfortable to read. But being home with the flu seemed like a good time [...]

The Man with the Golden Torc (2007) Simon R. Green
Eddie Drood is a field agent for a family that knows more secrets than anyone else, and has magical and mechanical powers that would make mages and mad scientists drool in envy. Unfortunately for Eddie (known on the streets as Shamus Bond) there’s trouble in [...]

Blood Engines (2007) T.A. Pratt
Nathan raved about Blood Engines a couple months ago, so I decided to move it higher in the list, based on his recommendation.
Marla Mason is guardian of Felport, but is off the ranch in San Francisco, searching for a Cornerstone–a magical artifact that will give her the power to fight [...]

Witchling (2006) Yasmine Galenorn
This book came up as recommended for me several times, and the story looked interesting, but something kept me from reading it.
That something ended up being indifference.
Which is really to bad, because this book had some definite strengths. The world in which the characters lived is an interesting one. The Fae have [...]

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (2007) Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
I love short stories. Aside from collections by Charles de Lint, I best love anthologies by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling best. Their books are like comfort food, and I save them up for when I’m sick or feeling low.
In the same vein as The [...]

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats (2006) Mario Acevedo
Michael was actually the one to pick this up, and was also the first to read it. When he finished it, he said it was funny, and that he thought I would like it.
Well, it is funny. And I did like it. But I didn’t love it.
Felix Gomez [...]

Gateways (2003) F. Paul Wilson
In this seventh Repairman Jack novel, Jack receives a call from his brother, saying their father is in the hospital in Florida, and Jack needs to go down to take care of their father.
While there, Jack must discover not only what placed his father in the hospital, but why. And he [...]

The Haunted Air (2002) F. Paul Wilson
The sixth Repairman Jack novel, Haunted Air takes place a year after the events of The Tomb. Jack is still in turmoil after the events of Hosts as he attempts to deal with Kate’s death.
Like the previous books, Jack is still learning more about The Otherness, and still unhappy [...]

Hell To Pay (2006) Simon R. Green
Now I’m back to waiting for the next Nightside book to come out in paperback.
I hate waiting.

Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth (2006) Simon R. Green
John Taylor finally deals with his mother. The story arc is over!