Dina

Full review at SFF Book Review.

While I consider this the weakest instalment of Robin Hobb's trilogy of trilogies, I can't deny that anything the woman writes is beautiful. The language is precise, yet gorgeous, the characters don't need introduction at this point.

But as the plot goes, it was pretty weak, and most of the book is spent setting up events that are probably going to happen in the next - and final - volume in the Tawny Man trilogy. There were some action-filled moments and even though I've never needed a lot of fast-paced action to be happy with a book, the conversations, intrigue, and introductions of new characters became tedious very fast.

So all of that said, instead of a fantastically great book, this is merely a very good one.

As the series goes, this was by far the soppiest, easiest happily ever after.

I am thrilled of course that two characters finally got together properly but I would have expected it to be way more complicated. After an absence of several years, things just fall into place. Everybody is nice - Prince CHARMING is nice, for frak's sake.
This happy ending came too easy to have the impact it should have had and that's a shame.

The storylines involving more action (especially Cinderella's snarky tale) made up for it, however, and I'm still as hooked as I was many issues ago.

Wow. What a painful reading experience. If it hadn't been a e-ARC I wouldn't have finished the book at all. Following an incredibly stupid protagonist around as she and Naji try to break a curse might have been interesting. But the author's amateur writing style, the lack of plot and story arc made this no fun at all. Plus, there is no ending to this. The story stops mid-plot and nothing that happens has any impact on anything... what a waste of time!
Read a full review on why I hated this so much over at the SFF Book Review

Full review over at the SFF Book Review

Who would have thought I would develop such a regard for 11-year-old, pigtailed crime solvers with a passion for chemistry? But Flavia de Luce and her utterly charming and funny voice have captured my heart. I normally don't even read crime fiction and it wasn't the plot or the mystery that kept me going with this book (and, indeed, its successor) but the character of Flavia. Her eccentric family, her small town with all its inhabitants and her sense of humor have all convinced me that these little, light adventures are worth reading. Even when not on holiday.

Full review at SFF Book Review.

This is just a very quick impression. I could talk about Scott Lynch for days.
If you loved The Lies of Locke Lamora as much as me, you will feel an equal reluctance in returning to that universe of awesome fantasy places, quippy con men and a group of guys who are like brothers. Too much has been lost at the end of book one, too many things were still resonating with me and so I took a break.

The break lasted until now - another publication date set for The Republic of thieves (October 2013) and my boyfriend reading Locke Lamora for the first time, chuckling and shouting “That is so awesome” on every other page.

Scott Lynch has managed something very few authors do. To bring back a sense of the known and beloved characters and world he set up in book one, and to add something entirely new, to thrown even more difficult situations their way and have them get out by the skin of their teeth - if at all.
This swashbuckling adventure on the high seas and in the vibrant city of Tal Verrar was possibly even more fun than our first stop in Camorr. Please don't make me choose!

If you're just looking for a hint whether to pick up the second book at all: DO IT!
It's the same humor we learned to love in book one, the same great characters, just new adventures, cleverer tricks, cons within cons and - a special bonus for me - kittens!

9,5/10 stars

Full review at SFF Book Review

I love Jane Eyre. So any retelling would have a hard time convincing me - but the science fiction idea tickled my fancy and I dove right in.

This is a good book that stays very true to the original. Perhaps too much so. While the story of Jenna Starborn and Mr. Ravenbeck is almost as enchanting as that of the original Jane Eyre, there wasn't anything new brought to the table. The science fiction element was, to say the least, disappointing and took a background role.

It's worth the read but rather than a sci-fi version of Jane Eyre, this is just another Jane Eyre with a couple of hovercars and a space ship thrown in. Personally, I didn't feel the repercussions a society like this should have on characters and everyday life.

Full review at SFF Book Review.

Another one of those over-hyped YA books that have no substance.
There are a lot of things wrong with this and since I just wrote a long review on my blog, I don't feel like going into detail again here. It was just a bad book. It's insta-love, the characters are flat and incredibly stupid, there was not much plot to begin with and what little there was turned out to be badle written. The narrative doesn't work.

After finishing this, the book goes on my stack of books that have been churned out because there was a hype going on and the marked wanted more of the same. Lazy writing, no real story to tell, and the blandest characters on and off Earth do not make a good book.

The two star rating is based solely on the first chapter - which was good - and some sparks of ideas that could have been good, had the author (or her editor) put a little more work into it. Instead, I suppose all the money went into marketing to make all the young girls run out and buy yet another piece of bad YA literature.

Full review at SFF Book Review.

I feel like I'm repeating myself when it comes to Jim Butcher's books. But I have to say it, again: This is my favorite book of the series - so far.

I wasn't a huge fan of the first book but continued anyway. With every volume in the Codex Alera series, Jim Butcher has stolen my heart a little bit more. Book three, Cursor's Fury, decided it for me with its brilliant military aspect. It's as if the author knows which parts I like best and writes each book with only the best ideas from the preceeding novel.

Captain's Fury has everything a great fantasy novel needs. Wonderful characters who we have come to know and love over the course of several thousand pages, a great world that seems to be in constant conflict with someone or something. There are some of the most engaging and thrilling action scenes in these books that I have ever read and I honestly can't imagine going to bed every night without at least a little bit of Tavi.

8,5/10

A full review can be found at SFF Book Review.

China Miéville's brain must be an awesome and terrifying place.
Un Lun Dun is a young adult adventure that takes place in a city that is so original it could be a character of its own. I cannot put into words how original and fun and clever this book is.

Over 500 pages long, it reads like it's half that size. I was surprised how much I cared about all the characters (especially the milk carton Curdle) and delighted at how the author turns fantasy tropes on their head.

One of the coolest and most fun YA books I have ever read.

The full review can be found over at the SFF Book Review.

A fresh writing style, some cool ideas, and a fire-spider called Smudge. These were the things I loved about the books. I hated the romantic interest, Lena. You can tell the author was trying hard to create a “strong, female character” but she ended up as a flat creature who is only there to give the protagonist a boner and save his ass occasionally. I still don't understand why there had to be romance at all - and the way that “romance” ends was just so wanna-be special. It made me groan.

That said, there are great things about this novel. It is a quick read, even though there are some pacing problems in the middle, and some side characters are deliciously likable. Smudge is my favorite but I also like Ponce de Leon's mysterious nature and some of the vampires.
The idea of taking objects out of books via magic is intriguing and I hope the author will explore it more in the next book. Because even though we get a lot of libriomancer-talks-to-dryad info-dump, the world building is not that great. Or at least, we don't get to see much of it.

In conclusion, this could have been a much better book. But it made me want to check out some of the author's other works. After all, he did make me laugh!

Gail Carriger is back!

The Finishing School series is set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, only 20 years earlier. We follow 14-year-old Sophronia Temminnick (don't you love that name?) through her first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School, where she learns to finish... everything.

I adored the writing, Gail's quick wit and humor are fantastic, the characters are lovable and get themselves into exceedingly ridiculous situations. There are new gimmicks and old friends, there are mechanimals and eyelash fluttering classes. Whether you know Gail Carriger's writing or not, pick this up. It's a lot of fun.


My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.

Find a full review (me raving about how much I love it) over at SFF Book Review
It's mid-year and this is still one of my top books so far.
What an interesting take on steampunk. The language blew me away and I still catch myself pondering about the characters and their intricate relationships. This is a beautiful book, beginning to end, and I wouldn't change a thing. In fact, I want to re-read it. Right now!
Und für die deutsche Rezension, einfach hier klicken. Dieses Buch sollte auf jeder Wunschliste stehen. Ich hoffe, es wird bald übersetzt und erobert den deutschsprachigen Raum. Dann habe ich noch mehr Leute, denen ich davon vorschwärmen kann. ;)

Full review at sff book review

I think I'm just not meant to understand hyped books. I've heard left, right, and center how great this trilogy is and how everybody loves it. It was cute, sure. But it was terribly lacking in character growth and even plot - so I don't see why people rave about it so much.
Maybe I am simply too old for YA literature?

That said, I did enjoy the second half of this book, when the story finally takes off, when we get to see more of the Leviathan, a great and original idea, by the way, that made the read well worth my while. Three stars only but I will read the rest of the series.

As someone who doesn't usually read poetry, I must say I really adored this!

Not every poem or song was up my alley, but the ones I liked - I fell in love with them. The Bluebeard tale has such an amazing twist, The Sea-King poem at the very end was probably my favorite because it is quirky and romantic and true and so full of pretty images.
I also met the Flabberghast again - one of the coolest characters in Cooney's collection Bone Swans (go check that one out, it blew my mind).

So yeah, this is a little book filled with poems and songs, all dedicated to Cooney's friends. I'm not surprised to find many familiar names among them - they all happen to be authors I equally love.

If I had to rate this trilogy by how much I liked each book, it would go like this:
1. The Broken Kingdoms
2. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
3. The Kingdom of Gods
However, this does not mean that this is a bad book. Far from it. It was beautifully written, had incredible character depth and development and a great ending. It's just that the plot was kind of all over the place at times. You didn't know which thread to follow or whether there even was a thread, other than Sieh's journey.
I liked this book a lot and will read anything N.K. Jemisin writes in the future.
For a full review, go to SFF Book Review

My full review can be found at SFF Book Review.

The short version is:
I liked the book, although it didn't live up to its hype for me. I loved the characters and would have liked more focus on the “original” three - Adoulla, Raseed, an Zamia. It really bothered me that mid-book, two more view point characters were introduced. They slowed down the plot and took away “screen time” from Zamia whose character development suffered in turn.

Qualms aside, this was a fun adventure with a cool setting that I recommend for a quick read in between chunky epic fantasies.

7/10