Melanie's Week in Review - August 18, 2013

I read some really great books this week. First, I waved good-bye to Hadrian and Royce as I finished the last book of the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. So here endeth my Riyria reunion. The Heir of Novron  re-affirmed everything I loved about this series. It was an amazing book, or in fact 2 books. So much happened in this final episode. It was one twist, turn, heart break and triumph in every chapter. You can check out my review of The Riyria Chronicles which was posted yesterday (8/17), which kicked off my Riyria reunion in the first place.


I started to read A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon but had to stop reading it when this arrived from the lovely Qwill. What a fantastic box of goodies. Even though I knew what I was going to get it was still a surprise to see them there in the flesh...or should I say in the print. You might notice Magic Rises on the top of the pack...well...I was really looking for that to arrive and anything else I had on the cards to read got sidelined for the latest from 'chateau Andrews'. I am going to be reviewing Magic Rises so I won't let anything else slip.

I will however, tell you about A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenyon. I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. I hadn't read anything else by this author. I got the book from the lovely people at NetGalley and I became instantly gripped. The story is set in the late 1800's in a steampunk version of England - referred to Anglica and moves quickly to Bharata (India) where the young, aristocrat, Tori, searches for the 'golden lotus'. Tori hopes to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather, who is a renowned scientist, by becoming the first woman to be admitted into the the Royal Society for finding and documenting the golden lotus. Anglica is rich but resource poor with a love of science whereas, Bharati is rich both in resources and in magic but where people are poor and deemed by the Anglica's to be uncivilised. Those in Tori's world shun her belief in magic but she is determined to find the flower of the gods and prove the existence of magic. Betrayal, political revolution and forbidden love are all in store for the intrepid, budding scientist. I really enjoyed A Thousand Perfect Things. I read it quite quickly, despite the interruption. I thought that Kenyon was very clever in her depiction of Bharati.  It was very colourful and you could almost feel the heat and smell the rich, pungent spices. There were distinct parallels to the British rule of India over the period and their desire to rid themselves of foreign rule. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book it did have some minor faults. I felt latter part of the book was rushed. There was one specific scene where one of the characters just died without really any explanation of how they were killed. Then at the very end nearly a decade passes one scene and the next and it felt a bit contrived. On the whole I liked this book and thought it was a great depiction of two intriguing worlds.

I just started Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong. I forgot that I hadn't read this final book of the Otherworld series yet. So far so good but don't want to give too much away as this is another review. Still so many books to read and so little time but until next week Happy Reading!