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Showing posts from December, 2014

Merry Christmas

Sorry for any glitches in this post. I write it from the mobile app, but this is perfect for today. What better Christmas Eve story to read than Lily Stargazer? This review will be brief because the story is brief but filled with the spirit of the holidays. Chasing Christmas Past by Melanie Karsak That's right. Melanie Karsak has given us a short story about my favorite airship crew on Christmas Eve. It is an excellent little short and a great introduction to the series if you haven't started it yet. We get to meet the full crew gearing up for the annual Yuletide Airship Race and see how some of our favorite relationships began. I love these little short stories in between publications; they keep my excitement from fading and the series on my mind. This is seriously one of my favorite series. Earlier on my blog, I reviewed both C hasing the Star Garden and Chasing the Green Fairy so read through those if you are curious about this great series. I am also very much looking

Peculiarity abounds through time and space

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This review is for the second book in a series! I will not be divulging any spoilers to the initial plot, but please be mindful that Hollow City  will not be as much of a fun read if you do not start with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children , of which I gave 3 stars. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was an excellent first novel. Of course it had its limitations and growing pains of a fledgling book, but I appreciated the new story and unusual gang of characters. There is a sideshow, vaudeville theme combined with creepy photos from history. The main character is dealing with tragedy and new found extraordinary life. Young adults, of a sort, coming of age, of a sort (oooo--mystery), while they travel across South England. These ragamuffins are actually quite endearing. The second book is even quite the improvement on the first gaining it an easy 4.5 stars. This is not a horror story; this is not a pee-your-pants, bone-tingl

Seriously awesome magic here

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Phew, that is over. As much as I love the success of our conferences at the day job, they are a bit exhausting. I end up with very little time to read. I need to have a new resolution for next year--find more time to read and find someone who will pay me to do so. I am unfortunately going to fall short on my reading goal of 75 books as well this year. Plus side to this, promotion at work is what is eating up my time. This week, b ack to Netgalley for some of my standard fair--epic fantasy!! The Fifth Vertex by Kevin Hoffman I got an email from Netgalley about a great new Young Adult writer who is going to compete with the big dogs of epic fantasy. After reading this novel, I believe they got it right. I would easily give The Fifth Vertex 5 stars based on its writing and fantasy creation. This is a great fantasy novel with some seriously awesome magic. You don't see the standard elf/dwarf/magician dynamic in this story and that is refreshing in itself, but what I absolutely lov

Quantum mechanics in modern fantasy

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What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I am grateful to have had such a relaxing break from work with my family. It really recharged my soul. I was also able to read quite a bit. One of the books from the weekend was a gift from the author. I really liked the concept of the plot so was pleased to be invited to review it. I think it could be placed somewhere in between the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres; it definitely has aspects from both present. The novel should appeal to quite a large crowd. The Branches of Time by Luca Rossi I found this book to be very intriguing. The first couple of chapters were a little rough as I got used to the author's writing style. The flow and language didn't pull me in right away (which could be caused by some translation struggles), but I am glad I continued reading. The pacing evens out and we get to the meat of the problem for the protagonists pretty quickly leaving plenty of pages for the actual development of characters and plot. I was extr