January Book Review

Now that I'm just catching up with my blog postings, it's going to be difficult to write reviews on books I read nearly a month ago, especially as I've read a multitude of great books recently. So, this will be an "edited for television" book review (which no doubt will please some of you no end..!!).

Marianne Curley

Guardians of Time: The Named, The Dark and The Key
This trilogy is about 16 year old Ethan, who discovers he has the ability to travel back in time. The plot concerns Ethan learning to use his skills to intercept the dark forces intent on unraveling history for their own purpose...of course, an evil purpose. At the same time, Ethan is a normal high school kid, with all the problems associated with being a teenager, without adding in the "save the world" bit. It was a good series: complicated, tense, exciting, with lots of action and suspense.

Alison Croggon

Books of Pellinor: The Gift, The Riddle, The Crow and The Singing
This was an amazing quartet. It was supposed to be "young adult" reading, but heck with that. The plot was very intricate, loads of passionate, inspiring characters, really thrilling, scary moments, a vividly described world of monsters, magic and Darkness. All 4 books are nice and thick, too, so I could really get absorbed into the story. Maerad is a young slave woman who gets accidentally rescued early in the first book, by a mage, Cadvan, who discovers she is magically gifted. Through fair means and foul (good guys and bad), it's determined that Maerad is the only one who can restore the balance in the Seven Kingdoms. The quest involved is to find the Treesong, the only thing able to defeat the Dark. Everyone thinks Maerad is the one to do so, though she doesn't have a clue what the Treesong is, or where to find it. The 4 books roam all over the Seven Kingdoms, and the longer the quest goes on, the more Maerad learns, not only about the Treesong, but about herself, and her abilities. This was such a wonderful, lengthy, great read. I was really sorry when I finished the last book.

Christopher Ransom

The Birthing House
I'm not sure what I think about this book. The writing was excellent, so I kept reading, though wasn't too sure where I was going. It was a surprisingly creepy story about a couple, Conrad and Jo, who move into an historic Victorian house, looking for a new start. Conrad is given an old photo album with pictures of the early Victorian inhabitants of the house when it was used as a home for unwed mothers. Things start to take a Stephen King turn for the worse at this point when Conrad seems to recognize one of the women in a group photo: his wife..!! My only complaint was the ending. I swear, either I'm losing it, or my brain functions on a different level than other people, because damn, I didn't understand the end at all. According to the book jacket: "The Birthing House grips from the first line to the terrifying final twist." That's all well and good, and yes, the end was really scary and twisted, but the deal is: I didn't get it....!!!!!