Smoke by Dan Vyleta is one of Cindy's favorites in our Hugo reading quest. She spoke so highly of it that I thought I should read it also. I started off with the first disk of the audiobook, but when that had to be returned to the library I continued with the hardcover. The audiobook...
This young adult book was a great read and should satisfy teens and young-at-heart adults who yearn for adventure, humor, close calls and an engaging fast-actioned book set in an original and well-constructed world. Safiya is a Truthwitch. She can tell when someone is telling the truth or lying, which makes her valuable to those...
A Court of Thorns and Roses is a young adult fantasy / romance by Sarah Maas. The story opens with the central character, Feyre, out hunting. It is winter, her family is hungry, and she has tracked her game deep into the wilderness, near the border of the land of the fairies. There is no...
I just finished listening to the audiobook Smoke by Dan Vyleta, read by Allan Corduner, and I must say it is one of my favorite “listens” of the year. There is nothing better than the perfect pairing of a great book and a talented narrator who can capture the essence of a story. Smoke takes...
More and more we find ourselves living in a time of “full-disclosure”; an era where the notion of privacy is quickly becoming an alien concept. Much of this invasion of our privacy is beyond our control: cameras are ubiquitous and are found in most businesses, in many private homes, and on practically every street corner; our online activities...
I really enjoyed reading this book. The Abyss Surrounds Us takes place in the future where the political landscape has changed and giant sea creatures, Reckoners, are bred and trained to protect ships from pirates. The story is about Cass, who has studied her entire life to learn how to raise and train Reckoners to protect...
Sabaa Tahir made quite a splash last year with her debut young adult novel, An Ember in the Ashes. Her book has been in my “To Be Read” pile for quite a while, and now that I’ve finally read it I can go right into book 2, A Torch Against the Night. This dystopic tale...
The Dragon Round by Stephen S. Power is my first book to read in anticipation of the 2017 Hugo Awards. To choose it, I went to the “New Shelf” at the public library and looked for books with a fantasy or science fiction sticker on the spine. The Dragon Round is a plot driven story set in an...
Paladin: a warrior dedicated to the light, to protecting the people and fighting against evil. Imagine you grew up on a small sheep farm. You told your father that you did not want to marry, but he made arrangements anyway and the dowry has been paid. What do you do? Do you begrudgingly marry when...