"The Gathering" By Kelly Armstrong

Kelly is best known by her "Women of the Other World" series.
All though, she has three different series, they are all based in the same reality, and are more or less parallel to each other. (So far as a am aware, non of the characters in each series have met each other yet.)
"The Gathering" is the first book in Kelly's most resent series, "The Darkness Rising Trilogy". I am unsure of exactly where "The Gathering" is in the timeline Kelly has for all three books, because I haven't yet read the other two books and the characters start off very isolated from knowledge of whats actually happening around them.
In fact, the only reason that I know for sure that they are actually in the same reality as the other two series, is that two of the characters happened upon the word cabal. And because it's been a while since I've managed to get my hands on any of Kelly's books, I actually carried on reading one or two paragraphs before my eyes snapped back up to the word and I realised I'd seen something very significant.

If this book wasn't a part of a series, I think I would be very annoyed with it's end. I'd be going 'Nothing's really happened yet! The climax is only beginning.'
It's very much a book that is a first book. Like a really big introduction to the characters and whats going on in there lives. Giving you just enough to know that there HAS to be more. But not so little that you want to ask what the point of the book was.
Definitely engrossing, I enjoyed every minute of it. But if Kelly hadn't already had the next to books up in book stores, I currently be muttering about how there better be a sequel.

That said, it's not one of my favorite books of hers, mainly because I don't feel like I've finished it yet, so maybe after I've gone through the whole series I'll give you an overview of all three of them. See what I think then.

"Wee Free Men" By Terry Pratchett

I first read this book (Or rather, my mum read it to me then) when I was 8 years old, and I still love it as much today as I did then.
My favorite in the series is actually the forth and last one "I Shall wear Midnight"

Tiffany Aching is a great character. I love the matter of fact way she approaches life and the world in general.
She has such a clever yet somehow innocent mind. Especially in the first book.

My favorite line of hers will always be when she gets made Kelda of the Feagles, and she has to answer something before it can be official. With the wee birdy and the granite mountain. (In mind of not turning this into a spoiler version I wont say more then that.) I love it.

And the Wee Free Men (aka Nack Mac Feagles) are always a pleasure to read about. I like all there lines. Especially Daft Wallies, and Not-So-Big-as Medium-Size-Jock-But-Bigger-Then-Wee-Jock-Jock. (I'm surprised I remembered all that.)

I'd recommend this book to anyone.

"Tangle of Need" by Nalini Singh SPOILER

Note: I'm Sorry there's been such a big gap between posts. My Internet has been down for the past two weeks or so, and I just got it back this morning.


"Tangle of Need" is the much awaited latest book in Nalini's Psy-Changling series.
You can find it in amongst the rest of the Romance genre. Same as her Guild Hunter Series (that's the one with Elena, I'm sure I've mentioned) That in itself tells you allot about the main focus of Nalini's books, but it is not why I like them.
Nalini's style, especially with her psy-changeling series, is to focus on one new couple with each book and tell an underlying story through that. And she's very good at it.
I'm not sure if I can give you a good impression of my thoughts on the book without giving too much away. Considering that this is the 11th one in the series... what the hell,(I'll go back and do one about the first book some time I promise) SPOILER ALERT STOP READING
I'm starting to have a fairly good idea as to who the Ghost is. I've narrowed it down to two suspects. One more likely then the other, but I'm not ruling 'the other' out yet.
It's getting exiting.
I liked what happened with Henry Scott. Good riddance. And I think Vasic needs to spend some quality time Sascha. I don't think he's as lost as he thinks he is. (Sascha is an empath and can heal "non-phisical" wounds. Just in case some of you who haven't read any of the other books decided to read past the spoiler alert anyway..)
My favorite line in the whole book is when Aden tell's Adria and Riaz that "We appreciate the assistance" as the two of them are leaving, and Adria looks back over her shoulder and "wondered how often one of these men said that to anyone." It just manages to sum up the entirety of what the Arrows are. You can just feel it in your bones as she thinks it. Their utter isolation and loneliness, with the weight of so much responsibility to so many people pressing down on their shoulders. Just the image of him standing there watching them go, with Vasic behind him, quietly beginning to clean up of the killers remains. Pretty powerful if you ask me.

I like the ending to this one as well, with Adria and Riaz. It's not as predictable as it usually is in all the other books that have come before. It's good to have a bit of verity.

I'm worried about Ming. He's the biggest immediate threat. He could (and probably will) do some serious damage. Though I do also wonder what Tatiana and Shoshanna are up to. Especially Shoshanna. It's not like a Counsil member to go all quite and mousy. This is I think the 2nd or third book where we've heard nothing about what she's up to. It's making me suspicious.

To be honest though, Kaleb is the one who worries me the most. He means well I think, but then some of the worst kind of monsters in the world come into being by being when people think that they are doing what is right and necessarily. He'd never do anything to hurt the psy-net. He would do anything to help his people. But what does he consider helpful? I don't know.

I was going to also tell you who I thought the Ghost was, but I'm not sure if anyone would want hear what I think on that one, it might influence you're thinking until you can't come up with you're own guesses. So let me know in the comments if you do want to know and I'll answer when I see it.

"The Magicians of Caprona" By Diana Wynne Jones

You can tell I have had nothing much to do but read these past couple of days, since this is going to be my 3rd post in 30 or so hours.

The Magicians of Caprona is a very entertaining story that starts -note I say starts- off a bit like Romeo and Juliet, with to very respectable feuding families. But it's not about romance at all. It  focuses on the younger members of each family as they try to stop the adults from being stupid, and Chrestomanci is once again left with a big mess to clean up.

If it were juice I would have dipped in a straw, and sucked steadily down to the last dregs. Barely pausing to breathe.
I live for books.

The Fellowship of the Ring. by J.R.R. Tolkien

Two days ago, (I didn't have a computer on me at the time, so I wrote what I thought down on a note book. Which I will now copy onto here.) I finished reading Part 1 of "The Lord of the Rings", and I tell you it was a bite and a half.
It took me 5 days to finish. Though even with the fact that it had small font, usually that size of book would only have taken me 2, maybe 3 days at most.
Having said that though I did enjoy it very much.

For years, people have been telling me that it is a great book but really hard to read, and that Tolkien rambled on a bit about scenery etc., taking ages to get to the point.
I did feel this a bit as I was reading. Though I think it does make sense, as he originally made these books as a place for his made up language (the eleven language) to exist. In a sense the world and the culture of the people where more important then the main characters.
In opposition to that theory however, there was a jarring note when it came to directions. To give you an example; In the beginning when the four hobbits are going through the Old Forest, they start off facing East, then turn 'right' towards North.
If you are facing East and turn right, you are going South.

This, among other things, makes me think that Tolkien was a person who "heard the words" (in his mind as he read) rather then saw the pictures that they represented.
What I mean, is that when reading most people(as far as I know most people) picture what is happening in their mind. This way, it can be almost as though they are watching the story rather then reading it.
Tolkien on the other hand was, I think, among those who enjoyed the flow of the words and how they formed ideas. - As I am not one of these people, I'm not rightly sure how it works. -

I must admit, the way he strung the words together was beautiful. Lord of the Rings is one story which I wouldn't mind getting in audio. Though usually I like to read the book myself, I have a feeling that it would be great to listen to.

I loved his songs. One person who told me about the books described them in the same category as his long descriptions of the scenery's, but I loved them. I could almost hear the people singing.
Every time I came to the songs, I would sing them out loud just to hear them, and they would make their own rhythm on my tongue. No effort required on my part.
-Side Note. Maybe Tolkien would have been able to become a great Bard if those things were still around.-

As to the movie, I haven't seen it in a while, but I still think it is one of the best book based movies ever to be made. And maybe Tolkien's slow but steady pace had something to do with that.

NightSeer by L. K. Hamilton

This book is the Debut Novel by one of my favorite author's.
I've been curious for some time about it, and so when I saw it at the book store I couldn't resist.

I am Happy to say that I liked it very much. The only problem I had with it was that it didn't really feel finished to me, and I know it doesn't have a sequel.
I would like to see a bit more of the relationship between Keleios and Lothor. Also, I would like to see him defend his actions in the beginning of the book a bit. Because under all that devil-may-care attitude, I think he does have his reasons, (what is happening back home for example) and I think he actually does care for her very much.
Otherwise yeah, I loved it.

"The Da Vinci Code" By Dan Brown

This book has the potential to deeply offend some, highly intrigue others, and simply not interest most of the rest.

Which opinion you'll have is based, I think, very much on your belief in religion(or lack of it). But either way, I can promise you that it is not a book to take lightly. And if you are of the religious kind, I would strongly suggest reading it with and open mind, and the knowledge that when push comes to shove this is a FICTION book, and that Brown never claimed that it was fact. Or you simply won't enjoy it.

The plot itself isn't hard to follow, but it can get a little heavy, for lack of better words. Because of some of the things it deals with. -love, religion- And the fact that it is based around what is to many of us, our own beliefs. Or at least something that we grew up hearing about, and were taught to take for granted.
I will not get into my own beliefs in religion, but I will say that I had to put this book down and walk away for a while half way through, and that I am not one to put books down lightly. - So that's saying something.
It is like the difference between eating a fudge cake, and eating a sponge cake I guess. Both are delicious, but one you have to eat slowly, and the other you can take it in at what ever pace you like.

On a purely technical note however, the story is written well, and I believe is well worth reading.
Brown did tend to drag on a bit with his descriptions, but then may a great authors do.

So, yeah.

I enjoyed it, and so did my acupuncturist.

Saaski.

"The Song of the Lioness" Quartet, by Tamora Pierce

For those of you who don't already know of her, and because this is the first time I'm posting about any of her books, I think I should tell you a bit about how this author writes first.
The first thing I'll say, is that Tamora writes series among series. Now, what I mean by that is that her series are connected. (Another person who does this is Terry Pratchett.) For example, her main character in this series, -Alanna- is the mother of the main character in her forth series, -Alianne- which is based almost 20 years after Alanna's series. Alanna is in her mid-to-late 30's, and it is Alys' turn to find her place in the world.
And so on and so forth...

As far as I can find, Tamora Pierce has created 2 main worlds in which her story's grow.
I will also note that unlike Pratchett's "Disc worlds", and the alternate worlds that the manga authors of CLAMP creates, Pierce's two worlds are not connected and have nothing to do with each other. They are entirely separate.

The best way I can describe Tamora's writing, I think, lies in telling you how I myself was first introduced to the books.
I had just finished reading half of "the Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan, and anyone who has read them can tell you just how mind numbing that series can be, even if taken in s slowly. Let alone at the almost inhaling pace I'd been going. So, needing a break but still wanting to read something, I asked my friend if she knew of a series or book that didn't force you to think too much, but at the same time wasn't boring or predictable. She showed me Tamora Pierce, and I fell in love. (Cheesy line yes, but none less true.)
I would not hesitate recommend her books to anyone who doesn't hate Fiction. It is good for all ages. And by that I don't mean that parents won't get bored reading it to their kids. (Though they won't. My mum and I are reading them to my little sister now and are having a great time.) I truly mean it's good for all ages. My mum is 41 and she loves them as much as I do. My sister is 11. My friend, that I mentioned earlier, read them when she was even younger.

And now, I shall talk about what the title of this post says I am talking about.

As far as I can find, this series is the first of all the books that Tamora Pierce has ever sold. It started out as one book, titled The song of the Lioness, and was later split into 4 separate books at the recommendation of her agent. Now, I can't tell you if it is better as 4 different books, because I never read it as 1 book. But I can tell you that I was caught immediately by Alanna and her struggles, as she strives to become a knight while unable to tell anyone that their little guy friend or student Alan is actually Alanna, and not a guy at all.
And I know now, you're probably staring at your screen wanting to yell at me, "Hey! Did you just give the plot away!?"
I promise you no, I didn't. Everything I've said, you find out in the first chapter, and isn't even the beginning of what makes it such a good series.
Hmm.. now I come to the difficult part. How do I tell you what does make it a good series Without doing what just I promised you I wasn't doing. Which is tell you the whole story.
I guess I go back to saying what I did before, in explaining the whole of Tamora's writing. "The Song of the Lioness" Quartet is very good in that it doesn't twist your brain around with convoluted plots, and/or have you wanting to scream at the characters and call them every name under the sky for not seeing what's right. Under. Their noses. But at the same time it is interesting. It can have you chuckling and wanting to cry, or even rolling your eyes at times. Tamora paints her worlds clearly. But she doesn't go on about them either. You can see everything she wants you to see clearly in your minds eye, including which way North, South, East and West are. But you'll never find yourself skipping paragraphs to get to the juicy bits.

It's based in a world that's not our own. Some can use magic, and the Gods speak to their people. Legends happen, and immortals are real. No such thing as electronics. That kind of thing.

Alanna is as stubborn as they come.

No, it's not all innocents and fairy tales.

And that's it I think - all I can tell you of what I thought without giving anything away. I'll do a Spoiler version some other time.

Sincerely, Saaski.