Review | The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaign #1) by Diango Wexler

Author: Diango Wexler
Published: July 2, 2013
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 528
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, War
Rating: ★★★★☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
Enter an epic fantasy world that echoes with the thunder of muskets and the clang of steel—but where the real battle is against a subtle and sinister magic....

Captain Marcus d’Ivoire, commander of one of the Vordanai empire’s colonial garrisons, was resigned to serving out his days in a sleepy, remote outpost. But that was before a rebellion upended his life. And once the powder smoke settled, he was left in charge of a demoralized force clinging tenuously to a small fortress at the edge of the desert.

To flee from her past, Winter Ihernglass masqueraded as a man and enlisted as a ranker in the Vordanai Colonials, hoping only to avoid notice. But when chance sees her promoted to command, she must win the hearts of her men and lead them into battle against impossible odds.

The fates of both these soldiers and all the men they lead depend on the newly arrived Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich, who has been sent by the ailing king to restore order. His military genius seems to know no bounds, and under his command, Marcus and Winter can feel the tide turning. But their allegiance will be tested as they begin to suspect that the enigmatic Janus’s ambitions extend beyond the battlefield and into the realm of the supernatural—a realm with the power to ignite a meteoric rise, reshape the known world, and change the lives of everyone in its path.

Review
I fell into this book pretty quickly. The story was structured fairly well, but seemed loose in some places. The pathetic map at the beginning didn't help my impression much. I really enjoyed Winter's portion of the story and would have enjoyed the story more if Marcus was given less of the book and was featured more as a secondary character rather than on the same level as Winter.

I just felt like his story wasn't as captivating as Winter's. If an author is going to write parallel stories, both stories need to be equally captivating and important. I found myself skimming more during Marcus's story to get to Winter's, and I feel like my skimming didn't really make me miss anything of the whole story, which tells me that there was a lot of fluff or at least unimportant things written in.

Review | The Way of Shadows (Night Angel #1) by Brent Weeks

Author: Brent Weeks
Published: October 2008
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 645
Format: Paperback
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist. For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint. But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

Review
Yes! Assassins, magic, and secret organizations. I thought all the Japanese names were kind of interesting. Kind of reminded me of a dark version of Naruto.

Durzo and Azoth were awesome characters. Durzo kind of frustrated me until I learned more about his back story. Azoth's development was kind of typical for a story. From streetrat to deadly assassin feared by all. He seemed to learn and adapt so easily that I could wait to see what he would do next.

I felt sorry for the people around Azoth though, for the most part, he gets through things unscathed, but the people around him always seem to get hurt.

The universe created for this story seemed to be well thoughtout and planned. It was very structured and easy to follow. It also made the story more interesting and exciting. I would love to read another story line placed in this universe.

Review | The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss

Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Published: March 2011
Publisher: DAW
Pages: 1088
Format: ebook
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★★

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
In "The Wise Man's Fear," Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of his family, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived...until Kvothe. Now, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

Review
This book seemed to be on par with the level of adventure and excitement that was in the first book. If it wasn't for the fact that life got too busy for me to continually read, I would have read this just as fast as the first one instead of it taking the week that it did. The story line is finally starting to progress more and become more interesting. Kvothe finally starts to see more of the world rather than just the academy. At the same time, there are some things that are just becoming more and more annoying.

Review | The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Published: April 2008 (2007)
Publisher: DAW
Pages: 722
Format: Paperback
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★★

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

Review
I couldn't believe how good this book was! It is the best book I've read since the beginning of the year. I couldn't put it down and ended up reading the whole thing in less than 2 days.

I really liked the opening and was hoping the story was starting from there, so I was a little disappointed when the story actually did start, but it didn't take me long to get into the new storyline. The plot kind of reminds me of Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones. The bulk of the story takes place in a magic school and has some of the intricacy of Game of Thrones along with the adventure and enemies.

Early Review & Book Release | The Angel Stone (Fairwick Chronicles #3) by Juliet Dark

TO BE RELEASED TUESDAY!!
Author: Juliet Dark (pseudonym of Carol Goodman)
Published: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House)
Pages: 288
Format: ARC/ebook
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural
Rating: ★★★★☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
For Callie McFay, a half-witch/half-fey professor of folklore and Gothic literature, the fight to save the enchanted town of Fairwick, New York, is far from over. After a hostile takeover by the Grove—a sinister group of witches and their cohorts—many of the local fey have been banished or killed, including Callie’s one true love. And in place of the spirit of tolerance and harmony, the new administration at Fairwick College has fostered an air of danger and distrust.

With her unique magical abilities, Callie is the only one who can rescue her friends from exile and restore order to the school—a task that requires her to find the Angel Stone, a legendary talisman of immense power. Propelled on an extraordinary quest back to seventeenth-century Scotland, Callie risks her life to obtain the stone. Yet when she encounters a sexy incarnation of her lost love, she finds the greater risk is to her heart. As the fate of Fairwick hangs in the balance, Callie must make a wrenching choice: reclaim a chance for eternal passion or save everything she holds dear.

Review
I received this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.

I loved this book! I was surprised by how much I liked it, especially since I'm not into fairies that much, but it mostly had to do with witches. It was also really easy to follow the story even though I hadn't read the first two books. I hadn't realized this book was part of a series when I requested the egalley. It kind of reminded me of A Discovery of Witches. There were witches and vampires; they were college professors; it had time travel; and of course, they're battling evil.

The writing style was very descriptive. Enough to draw you in but not so overpowering so as to make you bored. For the most part, the story was very seriously written--the college has been taken over, and she's recovering from lost love, but it wasn't dark or dismal.

Review | The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell, Alison Fraser
Published: July 17, 2012
Publisher: Random House Audio
Format: Audiobook
Length:  11 hrs 9min
Genre: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Romance
Rating: ★★★★☆

[Show Synopsis]
Synopsis
(from Goodreads)
When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost.Flash forward to the present, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents’ ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed the “Ottoman Annex,” Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura’s grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family’s history that reveals love, loss—and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations.

Review
I'm kind of mad at myself for not writing this review earlier when I finished the book. I had a whole page of notes and comments about this book, and I can't find it. I think I must have left it in the book when I returned it to the library.

This book was somewhat of a shock to me. It was recommended to me by my Grandmother. I knew it was about a world war and since she is so interested in World War II, I thought it was going to be another escape the Nazis book, so I was really surprised to find out it was about World War I. Most people don't know too much about the first World War. The Holocaust is so publicized that they don't realize that the first World War also contained a genocide of massive proportions. As it was called in the book, "The Genocide You Know Almost Nothing About."

Shadow of Night (All Souls #2)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
My Rating: ★★★★☆

(finished April 19th)
Another awesome book! I couldn't put it down. It's been a while since I've read a book as fast as I've read these two.

During the beginning of this book, everyone is still trying to catch Diana. I was still rather confused as to why they were chasing her. Yes, they wanted the manuscript, but it never really said why no one else went after the manuscript themselves after they found out it was at the library. Why didn't they just break into the library and try to steal it? The book was so focused on having to catch Diana than the manuscript itself that it made me suspicious as to the enemies' true objective.

Since I didn't read the book description before reading, I wasn't aware of the time traveling. Typically, I don't really go for the time traveling stories, but this one was absolutely wonderful. Probably because they aren't traveling all over the place and just stayed in one past time.

I really enjoyed the time period Harkness chose. I found it more interesting since I just recently went on a vacation to the outer banks and visited Roanoke Island. If you don't know some of the details of the characters Diana and Matthew meet in the past, I would suggest you do some research on them as you are introduced to them.

A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy

My Rating: ★★★★★

The best book of the series so far, and the best book I've read so far this year!!

So much has happened it hard to remember it all. There is lots of action, weddings, and betrayals. Many of the character meet there ends throughout the book. Definitely not as long winded as book 2 was.

My favorite characters changed in this book. In book 2, everyone was planning and moving around while Arya and Bran horded much of the action. In this book, all the plans came to fruit or failed while Bran and Arya for the most part moved around. My favorite characters this time around were Sansa and Jon and to a lesser degree Jamie and Tyrion.

The story at the wall builds and breaks during this book. I love how Jon's story finished in this book. I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out in the next one!

So much was going on and so many secrets were reveled that it was hard to put the book down! I can't wait to read the next book, but I'm forcing myself to hold off. With book 6 not due to be published until 2015 and book 7 not until 2019, I really need to pace myself if I want to drag out the enjoyment of this series. I don't see myself holding back for more than a month though. :)

Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2)

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Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆

One of the most imaginative and captivating books I've ever read! But only 4 stars because of how long winded he was. I've found my favorite characters and my least favorites. My least favorites as you can imagine are the ones that seem to drag on the most. My absolute favorites right now are Bran and Arya. I much prefer the way Martin wrote their activities at the end of the book than how they were enacted at the end of season 2 of the TV show.

The first book of this series was amazing--lots of action, lots of drama. The second book...not so much. Even though I understand that drama after drama can get repetitive, boring, and cluttered, I wish more had happened. The second book largely seemed to move characters around and explain situations. It wasn't until the last third that the pace picked back up to where it had been at the beginning of the book.

I highly recommend reading first before watching the TV show, otherwise you're fingers are going to itch and want to turn the page and skip ahead.

All-in-all, an amazing book. Heading straight to book 3 now!

The Hobbit

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Classics, Fantasy 
My Rating: ★★★★☆

This book wasn’t as good as I remembered. Maybe it’s because I’m also reading Game of Thrones which is very action packed, but the story of The Hobbit just kind of…went. It was kind of like: “This happened, then this, oh and this also happened, and that happened, but that’s another story.” It was like a monotonous journal or a documentary. I wasn’t drawn into the story, I was able to recognize the words. Normally when I’m reading a good book, I don’t even realize that I’m reading.

Conrad's Fate (Chrestomanci #5/#2)

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Genre/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★☆

To clarify, this is book 5 in the series/published and book 2 in chronological time order.

I'm glad I decided to read this series in chronological order rather than published order. I think there were some things that just made more sense doing it that way. The end was definitely a twist. I didn't expect it. And to some point the twist was almost too much. The end also finished rather suddenly. Everything was solved in the last 15 pages and then a short summation about the future events of the characters. With the rest of the book being so drawn out, it was like the author was given a set amount of pages and then realized she needed to finish the book quickly. If it wasn't for that, I'd have given 5 stars.

The Capture (Guardians of Ga'Hoole #1)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The movie was so much better.  There are a lot of potentially exciting events in this story, but the writing style is so amateur and flat that I was practically bored to tears reading this. There are also a lot of weird things about St. Aggies and the songs were...interesting. It was like she was trying to make a complex novel like Game of Thrones or something but over simplified it or didn't know how to correctly go about it.

I understand that this is supposed to be a children's novel, but I've read many children's novels that just completely drew me into the story. You know that point that you just stop noticing the words and the story is just running through your head? I didn't get that here. The Borrowers did a great job of that for example.

Game of Thrones meets The Little Engine That Could

Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★★

I'd never heard of this series until the TV show started. Once I got about 50 pages in, I was completely drawn in and couldn't put it down. It did kind of slow off toward the end though, and I just wanted it to end in the last 100 pages so that I could move on to the next book. So far, my favorite character is Arya. I wish they would show her more. Arya and Nymeria are also my favorite names in the book, so it makes it even more fun for me to read. I love the creativity in the name and place choices.

I also recommend readers to watch the TV show if you haven't yet. Although not as good as the book, it is very well done. Also visa versa, I would recommend watchers of the show to read the books. There are quite a few things that were done in the show that are explained in the books. Some of them, you don't even realize they need explaining until you read about it in the books.

I found it funny that they casted Northern Inuits as wolves in the show. It was one of the breeds I was looking at to adopt 5 years ago before I adopted my husky. But you can't seem to find them in the States.

Peter Pan

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Get if for free from BooksShouldBeFree!
Genres/Themes: Adventure, Classics, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★★

I'm glad I finally read this book. I didn't think it would be as good as it was. I was surprised at how much adult content was in the book. Fairy orgy!? I was sad about the ending, but I already new how the story ended. I think the way the book was written though made it sadder.

The Lives of Christopher Chant (Chrestomanci #4/#1)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★☆

I wanted to read this again since the last time I read it was in junior high. I decided that I would read this series in chronological order rather than published order, hence the funny numbering in the title. It was as good as I remembered it. I love her books. They're so creative!

Christopher lives in a world where magic is possible. Unknowingly to him, he has the potential to be the strongest magician in all the worlds. Without realizing it, he taps into that magic and is able to travel to other worlds while he sleeps. 

Jones' worlds are wonderfully creative, full of dragons, mermaids, and other creatures. You are pulled right into the story, and when you're done, you're left with the feeling of wishing you could be magical and visit the worlds she's created.

The Borrowers (Borrowers #1)

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Genres/Themes:  Adventure, Classics, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★☆

I was in the mood to read a book from my childhood and chose this one. I read it when I was in second grade. It was pretty good, but not as good as I remembered it to be. I think it was because it was such a quick read (which for a child, is sometimes better I know). I think another reason I didn't find it as good as I remembered is because of the recent release of the movie Arietty, which was absolutely amazing.

Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Moving Castle #1)

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Genres/Themes: Adventure, Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★★★

I was kind of worried about reading this since I'd already seen the movie. I didn't even realize there was a book until I just happened upon it, and then I had to laugh when I saw it was written by Diana Wynne Jones. I've found more of her books because I happened across them, read them, liked them, and then put two and two together.

Anyways, even though I've seen the movie, I really enjoyed the book. It was just different enough and had enough extra details that weren't in the movie to keep me reading. It was fun to see what details were used and how they were used in the book versus the movie. Often I find that the writing style of books-turned-into-movies isn't as gripping as the movie. Not so here! Now I can't wait to read Castle in the Air and compare it to Castle in the Sky!

All-in-all, I thought this was the best book-turned-movie that I'd read after seeing the movie first. I'm glad I did it that way. I don't think I'd have enjoyed the movie as much as I do if I had read the book first.

When My Name Was Keoko & Young Deputy Smith

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Genres/Themes: Historical Fiction, World War II
My Rating: ★★★★★

I read this a couple of years ago and really loved it. I often heard about Japan's occupation of Korea, but never really heard too many stories about it. This is one of the best books that I've ever read.

During Japan's occupation, Korean's were forced to learn Japanese. This had to discard their heritage and customs. All Rose of Sharrons (Korea's national flower) were removed and replaced by Japanese cherry trees. To survive, Koreans had to follow the Japanese as Keoko and her family did, but in following the Japanese, they were shunned by their own people and treated as traitors of Korea.

I highly recommend this book to people interested in history, especially pertaining to East Asia and World War II. If you're interested in this theme, check out the kdrama Bridal Mask (Gaksital) on viki.

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Find Young Deputy Smith on Goodreads
Genres/Themes: Adventure, Western
My Rating: ★★★★★

This has been one of my favorite books since I was in junior high. Although it seems unrealistic now, it was fun to read about the young boy who ran way from home and made it big.

I would recommend this book to people interested in Western Fiction, especially if you like Wyatt Earp. If you like John Wayne movies, you'll probably enjoy this book.