Topic: What have you recently read?

[LHW]

If you PM me your mailing address, I'll mail you my paperback copy when the hardcover set I ordered arrives.

[LHW]

Just finished The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory.  WONDERFUL book!  This is the first of three in The Enduring Flame series, which takes place about 1,000 years after their previous trilogy, The Obsidian Trilogy.  I liked this one so much that I plan on getting the other 2 in this series, as well as the first trilogy.  I've been laughing about the way this one ended for hours, and I LOVED IT when the main characters met their first dragon!  It was hilarious!!  I highly recommend this one to anyone that likes Fantasy.

[LHW]

Just finished book 2 of The Enduring Flame, The Phoenix Endangered.  This one starts about 2 minutes after the first book, and is just as good, if not better.  The ending definitely took me by surprise.  I can't wait for the third one to arrive...it won't be released in paperback for another week yet.  I've got it pre-ordered, so it should arrive here somewhere around August 3rd.

In the meantime, on to book two in the Septimus Heap series, Flyte...

[Miraenda]

Great on the sending it to me, sorry just read this. Will PM you my address, thanks!

[LHW]

No worries.  It'll go out in tomorrow's mail.   

[LHW]

Flyte was an enjoyable read...I'm really getting into all the characters in the stories.  A lot of what happened was pretty predictable, but enough wasn't to really make ya want to keep reading.  I'm now going to start the third book in the series, Physik.

[BigGunn]

btw, all of James Patterson's books are like that. I'm on an Alex Cross kick, so I've managed to get over the (sometimes) one page chapters, but he's a good story teller.

[LHW]

Good to know.

I just finished Physik.  I LOVE temporal paradoxes, and this one didn't disappoint.  In fact, it continues in the next book, Queste.  I can't wait to find out how Nicko and Snorri make it back to their own time.  Should be good readin' for the weekend. 

[LHW]

Today I finished Queste, and also How to Live with Your Kids When You've Already Lost Your Mind by Ken Davis.  Both were good books in their own way.  The former wrapped up the temporal paradox that was incomplete at the end of Physik, and the latter had a lot of good Biblical advice on parenthood.  I highly recommend both.

[LHW]

Well, I just finished Syren.  While still a good read, I didn't find it quite as interesting as the other four.  Which, I guess, is to be expected when there are multiple books in a series.

I'm going to take a break from Septimus Heap for a bit (I'll save The Magikal Papers for lite "bathroom reading," as it's a type of guide to the series...the next book in the series, Darke, doesn't come out until next April), and finish up The Enduring Flame series (with The Phoenix Transformed).

[LHW]

Just finished Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papers.  Unless you're REALLY into the Septimus Heap series, you can skip this book.  It was published between books 4 and 5, and contains very little "new" information.  It's primary goal appears to be a platform to show off the artwork of Mark Zug...and to possibly have an "Official Guide" before someone printed an "unofficial" one.  Instead of the b&w drawings in the books, you now get full-color, painted images of everyone, and various surroundings.

I love the series, and am glad this came in the set I bought...if I'd've bought this separately, I'd've been extremely disappointed.  If you can get it on the cheap, go for it...but don't pay full price unless, as I said, you REALLY like the series, and just want it to complete your collection.

[LHW]

Just finished The Phoenix Transformed.  IMO, this wasn't as good as the previous two books in this series.  About half of it was spent covering about six months worth of travel in the desert...it had a LOT of repetition.  Then, in the last quarter of the book, when it was reaching the climax, months of travel were covered in just a few dozen pages.

Add to this that one of the two main characters seemed to go through a personality change, while the other hardly did more than mope it the background, it just wasn't as interesting as the first two.  Once it neared the climax, though, things picked up, and moved along relatively swiftly.

For a novel of nearly 800 pages, it could have easily been reduced by 1/4.  If it had been, it would have made for a faster paced story, and wouldn't have been bogged down with so much repetitiveness.

[BigGunn]

For a novel of nearly 800 pages, it could have easily been reduced by 1/4.  If it had been, it would have made for a faster paced story, and wouldn't have been bogged down with so much repetitiveness.

Sounds like a Tom Clancy book. We get it Tom, you know a lot. But Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ, you don't have to describe every nut and bolt on a helicopter to us.

[LHW]

Yeah, except this was a desert trip, fights with demon-spawn, hot weather (no s***, right?), and water issues.  Kinda gets redundant after awhile.  Still, it was a good story...especially if you only read the first and last quarters of the book.  

Oh yeah...

Finished reading Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Demigod Files.  This was cute.  It came out between the 4th & 5th books of the series, and had 3 new short stories in it.  It also had some humorous "interviews" with some of the major characters; full-color pictures of them; and some puzzles at the end for kids to complete.

Not a bad book, really, as long as you don't expect a lot of filler.  This is by no means a "guide" to the Percy Jackson series...it's just a little "extra" the author put together for his fans in appreciation, and that comes through as you read it.

[LHW]

Just finished the book Charlie St. Cloud that Eis loaned me.  Not bad.  Not my typical kind of book, and parts were semi-predictable, but it's a nice story.

Now I'm gonna start The Obsidian Trilogy with The Outstretched Shadow.  This is the series that takes place 1,000 years before The Enduring Flame series (see above).

[LHW]

I just finished The Outstretched Shadow and am now about to start book two: To Light a Candle.

TOS was kinda slow to start out, but picked up fairly fast...especially once Kellen met his long lost sister.  I've already read the first couple chapters of TLaC, and it picks up exactly where TOS ends.  I'm looking forward to the story, despite knowing how it ends...since I read the second trilogy first.

[LHW]

Just finished reading To Light a Candle.  So far, I'm liking this series better than the sequel.  It really seems to pull you in more, and feel more for the characters involved.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it concludes in When Darkness Falls.