Mystic and Rider- Sharon Shinn

Senneth is a powerful mystic traveling with a servant boy, Serramarra (Lady) Kirra a fellow mystic and healer, Kirra's loyal servant, and two of the King's Riders. The king has sent them on a mission to travel the country and report back to him on any dissent among the houses. As they travel, they notice a war is brewing, a war over magic. Mystics are tolerated differently throughout the land, but some houses are kinder than others. Now, the house of Gisseltess is making their view quite clear as mystics are continually turning up dead and priestesses of the Pale Mother have swollen in number. It will be up to Senneth and the others to see themselves back through a country filled with animosity and intrigue in order to return safely to the capital.

Overall Merit: The strongest points in the book were the characters. For any fans of the the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce, Senneth was a very near match to Alanna. As far as plot was concerned, there wasn't enough, but the characters were superstars and that was what kept the pages turning for me. If you are ok with character driven literature then definitely read this. Score- 9

Characters: As I said earlier, this book was largely plot driven, I loved the protagonists, mainly Senneth and Kirra, and even though the plot was lacking I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened to them. The antagonists were not as strong as I would have liked. Coralinda Gisseltess wasn't nearly as evil as she could have been and I thought that was a major weak point in the novel. You will very likely fall in love with the protagonists and root for them, but I felt like sometimes they were able to get out of trouble too easily. Score- 8

Blush Factor: This was there, but at barely more than a whisper. Tayse and Senneth's romance was not all it could have been by any means, not to mention it came out of nowhere and the build up wasn't believable in my opinion. As far as the other characters are concerned, there is nothing at all, maybe a few minor flirtations here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. I thought that Shinn should have either gone full out for Tayse and Senneth or just not included it at all. Score- 6

Structure: This was linear and third person nothing new here as far as structure. It was easy to follow and the story moved along in a traditional fashion. Score-8

Plot: This was where I had my largest overall issue. There was essentially very little plot, this wouldn't have bothered me quite as much but there was potential for plot that Shinn completely ignored. The characters were never in nearly enough danger, and there was never anything at stake. I think she should have made it more difficult for the group to pass through "mystic-hating" regions and there definitely should have been some hardcore kidnapping involved. The plot was weak and underdeveloped and without the characters I probably would have stopped reading halfway through. Score-5

In spite of the flaws, the characters were pretty amazing and for that reason, if nothing else, I do suggest picking up this book if you have the time.

Foxmask- Juliet Marillier

This is a companion book to Wolfskin, however this novel can stand alone just fine. It is the story of young Creidhe, a talented weaver who follows her best friend and love interest Thorvald on a quest to find his father who was banished from the Light Isles in disgrace. Thorvald and his friend Sam set out in Sam's fishing boat and Creidhe stows away in the hold--she is convinced that Thorvald needs her even if he refuses her help. Sounds like a healthy relationship, I know. Anyway so per maritime tradition, they get caught in a storm and wind up on another island, where the people are living in terror of the Unspoken (a mysterious people, desperate to find their missing seer called the Foxmask). Thorvald and Sam are put to work to "earn" the supplies they will need to repair the ship. Creidhe, on the other hand, is taken away to stay with the other women in isolation. However, evil is brewing as "The Hunt" approaches and the men are determined to find the missing Foxmask before another sacrifice is made.

Overall Merit: I didn't love this book as I found the premise confusing. It took me a while to actually wrap my head around the whole Foxmask concept and  I found some of Creidhe's inaction to be slightly out of character. The romance was also a bit disconcerting and while I enjoy Marillier's writing as a general rule, this was not one of her stronger books. Score- 6

Characters- I don't know if the author intended for the male protagonist (Thorvald) to be so utterly irritating. I did not like him at all and I think she tried to make him somewhat sympathetic, but I could not make myself like him. Creidhe was muddled, sometimes her voice was clear and other times she sounded like a different person entirely. By the end she also started to irritate me. The main antagonist, the chief of the Long Knife People, got to be annoying as well, he was too cliched suave villain stereotype. Definitely not Marillier's best characters. Score-5

Blush Factor- This was definitely PG-13 (I'm going off the fact that they let Breaking Dawn slide through those cracks), there was a sex scene between Creidhe and an unexpected character. However, in terms of the quality of the romance, I found the sequencing frustrating. True, people are often dense in terms of feelings, but Creidhe was literally beating Thorvald over the head with a valentine. It annoyed me. There was an unexpected plot twist, which helped make up for it a little bit, but even then, this new relationship was creepy and based purely on physical attraction. Score-6

Structure- The structure was linear, switching perspectives between Thorvald and Creidhe. It was easy to follow, but as always I find myself more enamored with one perspective over the other. While I didn't love either narrators, Creidhe was definitely more interesting. The writing was succinct and crisp as expected from Marillier. Score-8

Plot- It was definitely original, there was no lack of creativity in the world or the story, but at some places it seemed very forced and there were some things that didn't quite do it for me in terms of "suspending my disbelief". One such example is the protocol followed for the Foxmask, I didn't quite buy the whole leg breaking, eye gouging bit. Either way, points for creativity. Score-8

In summation, I'd only suggest reading this book if you read Wolfskin first and feel compelled to follow the world a little bit more. Otherwise, probably not worth your time. You'd be much better off with any of Marillier's other books.

You're still here?

Oh dear, you mortals really don't want to leave, do you? I do have things to do, you know. It's really rude to overstay your welcome. What did you say? Yes, I suppose you would be skewered if you set foot outside my library...no help for it then. Make yourselves comfortable, but if you think I'll be accommodating you for much longer, think again. Ugh, sometimes I wonder that I'm not a Seelie. I'm far too nice for all this. Please, tell me if there are any books you would like to hear about, I've no trouble coming up with my own ideas, but it would be lovely to have some input. I mean you're here, you might as well save me some trouble.

The Infernals- John Connolly

I'm going to be perfectly honest--or at least as honest as an Unseelie can be--this book made me laugh. For all it's faults I could not bring myself to dislike the work. While this is a sequel to The Gates (which I highly suggest reading first), I'll give you a brief overview of the events. In the last book, The Great Malevolence gained power and tried to take over Earth, using his agent Mrs. Abernathy (or rather, a powerful demon using the form of a woman who in life was Mrs. Abernathy). The Great Malevolence was defeated by a young boy named Samuel, his dog Boswell, and Nurd (Scourge of the Five Deities). Now we return to the current story where The Great Malevolence is cowering in the bowels of Hell and Mrs. Abernathy is in utter disgrace for her failure to take over Earth. She knows that the only way for her to get back in the good graces of The Great Malevolence is to capture Samuel and drag him down to Hell, a task in which she succeeds (with the second part at least). So through a series of events involving the Hadron Collider, Nurd and a car stolen from Earth, and several evil dwarves who would prefer to be called elves, we traverse the wasteland of Hell.

Overall Merit: The saving grace of this book, if you pardon my irony, was the humor. Connolly did a wonderful job inserting witty quips whenever I felt myself falling into a lull. Unfortunately, the plot isn't anything so novel and neither is the image of Hell, but if anything this book gets a decent score on pure chuckle power. The only true negative is the occasional use of scientific terminology that gives me a headache, but it's easy enough to ignore those footnotes for the most part. Score-8

Characters: No one really stood out as anything super special, although I couldn't help but love Nurd, he was by far my favorite character in the two books. The main protagonist, Samuel, was kind of non-descript. The best I could do for him would be to  call him a slightly nerdy, awkward kid, which I could use to describe basically 80% of characters in young adult fiction. Mrs. Abernathy, the main antagonist was funny too in a quirky sort of way, and she was actually difficult to dislike to the point that I found myself liking her better than Samuel at times. Score-6/7

Blush Factor: N/A

Structure: The story had a linear plot, which switched between three or four main perspectives. It was easy to follow and the only thing that was kind of distracting was the constant usage of footnotes. Score- 7

Plot: Nothing new here. It was a typical protagonist gets put in a sticky situation, gets help along the way, and vanquishes evil. The end. The strong points were really the supporting characters (Nurd) and Mrs. Abernathy. Everything else was rather trite. Score-6

Song in the Silence (The Tale of Lanen Kaelar)- Elizabeth Kerner

Dragons have been done to death. Point blank, this story didn't bring anything new to the table, but it was a nice fluffy romantic fantasy. Lanen is a twenty-four year old horse farmer's daughter with a tendency to forget her expected femininity. This of course is not helped by her towering height, which is mentioned a few times too many in the novel. When Lanen's step-father dies, leaving her alone with the farm and the horses, she decides that it is time for her to go out into the world and fulfill her dream of meeting a real dragon. She packs up her things and heads to the nearest port city in order to secure a position on board one of the few ships to the Dragon Isle.

A quick note about scoring if it isn't clear enough in my commentary: 1-5 avoid
6-9 if you have time
10-13 definitely read
This can mainly be applied to the Overall Merit category.

Overall Merit: This was a sweet love story, albeit a slightly creepy one. As far as plot is concerned, it was relatively predictable, but still enjoyable to read. I did like the characters and found them easy to care about, even if they weren't the most complex souls out there. Overall, I'd recommend this book for any romantic (not erotic) fantasy fans out there. Score-8.5

Characters: Lanen is a feisty female heroine with a longing for adventure (then again I feel like every book with a female protagonist has one of these). I did like her and her voice was strong, you can really get a feel for the character. The only thing I didn't like about her was that she seemed incapable of getting out of trouble on her own. Sure she fought her captors and gave a few black eyes and bruises, but she never seemed to be able to get out of a situation without additional assistance. The main male protagonist, Akor, is an interesting character in theory (he is a dragon), however, his actual personality was a bit bland. As far as antagonists were concerned, Marik was kind of pathetic and at times you almost felt bad for him. The other main antagonist of the series doesn't really show up all that much in this book so I'll save him for another review. To sum it up, the characters were solid, but didn't bring anything new to the world of fantasy. Score- 8

Blush Factor: There wasn't really any smut in this book and while the romance was sweet, it did get to be a bit too gushy at times. Not to mention a good portion of the time it felt very contrived (interspecies conflict) and left me wondering just how Kerner was going to pull it off in a believable manner. Score-8

Structure: The one thing I didn't love about the structure was that it kept switching perspectives and at times it almost felt like too many characters were getting a say in the story and a good amount of the time I found myself skimming when I was on a perspective that I didn't really care about. Score- 6

Plot: I liked the plot--if I didn't I wouldn't have finished the trilogy. It was an interesting concept if not the most interesting of worlds. It was simple and not all that difficult to follow, I would have liked it better if it was a little bit less predictable. True, there was a somewhat complex subplot going on with demons and dark sorcery, but again it's been done.  Score-7

For summation, read this book if you have time and enjoy a simple, rather sappy romantic fantasy.

It was a dark and stormy night...(if I ever read a book that starts like this I will give it the lowest ranking possible)

Welcome unlucky travelers, to the Unseelie Realm. I apologize because it seems you have stumbled upon the wrong court of Fey--not that we aren't thrilled to have you--we really are. However, if you wish to delight in the wonders of music and merriment, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. You see, here in Unseelie we like to amuse ourselves at the expense of hapless mortals. Never fear, never fear. They'll not find you in my library. So please, stay a while and I'll captivate you with my horrifically critical opinions on the literary endeavors of your fellow humans.

All verbal vomit will be ranked on a scale of 1-13 (1 being fit only for those varmints in the Seelie Realm and 13 being so deftly written that I would stoop so low as to say I might have even enjoyed reading the work). I will post twice a week with commentary on different books in the fantasy genre.

Categories:

Overall Merit

Characters- The character development and "likeability"

Blush Factor- Level of romance/smut--pretty self explanatory

Structure- Technical proficiency and believability within the novel

Plot- Development of a believable and exciting story

One further note: should any brash humans wish to request a review, they may do so at their own risk...