Whom the Gods Love (1995) Kate Ross Alexander Falkland has been killed. His head smashed in with a poker while one of his famous parties rages upstairs. But Alex is the darling of the ton (it took me awhile to figure this one out; the ton is the bon ton, or high society in London) […]
A Broken Vessel (1994) Kate Ross The second Julian Kestrel mystery, A Broken Vessel looks at prostitution in 1800s London, and the Reclamation houses that existed to recover these women. Julian is introduced to this world through his manservant Dipper, who discovers his lost sister, who is working as a ladybird. One of the most […]
Green Rider (1998) Kristen Britain Karigan G’ladheon is on her way home after getting suspended from school when a Green Rider, arrows in his back, comes across her, and begs her to carry his message satchel to the King. Meanwhile, in various spots throughout the kingdom, bad things are happening. This is an interesting story, […]
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (2004) Isabel Allende Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden Alexander Cold asks his grandmother, Kate, if he can accompany her on her latest expedition for International Geographic, this time to a remote country in the Himalayas. A country nicknamed The Forbidden Kingdom, because of its far location and the fact that […]
The Summer Country (2002) James A. Hetley The deciding factor for buying this book was the fact that there was a blurb by Chares de Lint on the cover. Since I love his writing, I was curious as to what he would like enough to blurb. Maureen Pierce isn’t quite right. That’s what her family […]
Dead Beat The Dresden Files Book Seven (2005) Jim Butcher I had Michael read this book first, so he could warn me if it had a cliffhanger ending. He doesn’t mind being left hanging, whereas I hate it with a passion. But Michael said I’d be okay with this, so I dove right into the […]
The Dragon Queen (2001) Alice Borchardt Usually when I don’t like a book, there’s something specific I can point to, to say, “THAT horrible thing is what ruined the book for me.” Not so for The Dragon Queen. It was more like the death of a thousand paper cuts. A whole bunch of little things […]
Rearranging bookshelves requires a will of iron. Unfortunately, when it comes to books, I have a will of aluminum foil. Let me repeat what I said the first time I read these: Wow. All I wanted to do was update my book database and rearrange a couple of bookshelves. However, I foolishly opened Born in […]
Cut to the Quick (1993) Kate Ross Reading the T. F. Banks books put me in the mood for another Victorian mystery, and lucky for me, I had one waiting here to read. Julian Kestrel is a dandy. He’s making his mark on London society by being a sharp dresser, and the perfect gentleman–even if […]
The Black Forest 2 (2005) Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell, Neil Vokes I read The Black Forest in January, and liked it. We’d picked up The Black Forest 2, but I’d somehow forgotten we had it, but when I was putting Hellraiser away, I noticed it and picked it up. Although it took me a bit […]
Hellblazer: Rare Cuts (2005) various Rare Cuts is a collection of John Constantine stories spanning 1988 to 1994. It is my understanding that Rare Cuts was published after the movie Constantine came out, as an introduction to the comic, and written by Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, and Garth Ennis. These stories cover a lot of […]
The Emperor’s Assassin Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner (2003) T.F. Banks aka Ian Dennis and Sean Russell Although this book was as well written as the previous, I found myself disappointed in the ending. The mystery was perhaps even better than the first book, however, it was a Hollywood ending, with guns a-blazing, shots […]
Hellblazer: Original Sins (1987) Jamie Delano So. Well. I first came across Constantine in the Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, when Constantine helps Morpheus get his bag of sand back. He was a strange character, and I wasn’t sure about him. But I was curious. Then we watched “Constantine” which was an okay action movie, although […]
The Thief Taker: Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner (2001) T.F. Banks aka Ian Dennis and Sean Russell I was browsing Sean Russell’s web page, when I saw two books listed that I didn’t own: The Thief Taker and The Emperor’s Assassin. My immediate reaction was one of shock: Sean Russell had co-written a series […]
Definitely Dead (2006) Charlaine Harris First things first, this book had me laughing out loud, and reading passages to Michael. That usually only happens for Steven Brust books, but in multiple places Charlaine Harris nailed the dialog, and forced me to keep interrupting Michael game so he could laugh with me. Additionally, for those of […]
Moon Called (2006) Patricia Briggs I have to say, Moon Called was a lot of fun to read. I had no expectations of the book at all (I bought it because I liked other books by Patricia Briggs), so everywhere the story went was a surprise. And a pleasant surprise at that. Also, this book […]
War for the Oaks (1987) Emma Bull Wow. I’ve been bypassing this book for years. Initially, because wasn’t on the shelves. Then when the reprint came out, because the cover made it look like something I wouldn’t like. Boy was I wrong. And I shouldn’t have been, because I liked Freedom & Necessity, which she […]
Path of Fate (2003) Diana Pharoah Francis This book had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, when it lost my attention in the beginning of the book, it never really regained it, even though the story got better. Reisil is a tark. (Actually: A healer. Why they just couldn’t call her a healer is beyond me.) […]
Blood Rites The Dresden Files Book Six (2004) Jim Butcher This must be the point at which Jim Butcher started getting really popular. Because we’ve suddenly switched from having the title at the top of the page, to the author name at the top of the page at double the font size of previous books. […]
Death Masks The Dresden Files Book Five (2003) Jim Butcher Interestingly, I liked this book more once I put it down and started thinking about it, than right after I closed it. Not that I didn’t like it before–I just liked it better after thinking about it. One of the reasons is that (in case […]
Summer Knight The Dresden Files Book Four (2002) Jim Butcher Okay, so apparently the last book, Grave Peril, was a fluke, because I really enjoyed Summer Knight. Harry’s has spent his time since the events in Grave Peril searching for a way to cure Susan. Without luck. He has also been ignoring the fact that […]
Past the Size of Dreaming (2001) Nina Kiriki Hoffman The sequel to A Red Heart of Memories, Past the Size of Dreaming is superior to its predecessor. Which is impressive, because A Red Heart of Memories is very good. Edmund and Matt and Suki are back at the House, and are gathering together Edmund and […]