I'm baaaacccckkkkk! Did you miss me? I had hoped that in the last 2 weeks that I would have read more books than I did but hey, I was sight seeing in the lovely Edinburgh for a few days. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it. So what did I manage to read?
I got Empress of the Sun which is the third book in the Everness series by Ian McDonald from NetGalley quite a few months ago. If you have a really good memory you might remember that I finished Be My Enemy and discussed it in my last WIR. I had convinced myself (although I am sure that I had read it somewhere) that Empress of the Sun was the final book of the series. I spent the whole book thinking 'oh McDonald is really wrapping things up well' until I got closer and closer to the end when I started to think the exact opposite. By the time I finished I was quite disappointed that this wasn't the final book and I need to read more about the plucky, teenager Everett Singh.
Empress of the Sun is split between telling the story of the original Everett Singh who finds himself ship wrecked on a disc shaped planet surrounded by murderous bird/robot-like aliens. Everything seems quite bleak as the airship Everness has taken quite a beating and Everett feels responsible for what has happened to her (the ship) and to her crew. The story then alternates to Everett M Singh, the genetically enhanced 'other' Everett introduced in book 2. Everett M is doing everything he can to blend into the original Everett's life while at the same time trying to control the Nahn who he encounters in book 2. I really looked forward to the Everett M chapters, much more so than the original Everett. I didn't really engage with the original Everett story line and thought the Jiju. These were the dominant species on this new world who decide to help Everett. They reminded me of JaJa Binks from Star Wars for no other reason than I found them irritating. Everett M however, was quite amusing especially the parts where his ass is getting more hits on Facebook than he is. These chapters were convincingly written from the viewpoint of a troubled teen.
Overall, I was a bit disappointed mainly because I thought this was the end of the series. The final pages end with a good twist but getting there was a bit too much of a struggle and I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.
My flight back to London was delayed by over an hour and on top of doing some impulse shopping I also purchased a book that I later regretted. I found Touched by Darkness, the first in the Sentinels series, which was recommended to me on Amazon. Boy, did Amazon get that recommendation completely wrong. I was just lucky that this book was free as I would have had to complain if I paid for it. I am not going to go into too much detail but this book verged into the ridiculous category for me and had I saw the cover before I downloaded it I wouldn't have have wasted my time. Is he wearing a wig?
I then started to read The Dark Defiles by Richard K. Morgan. I am writing a full review of this book so can't say too much plus it is very long and I am only about a quarter of the way through.
I started to get a bit desperate that I wouldn't have that much to tell you about as The Dark Defiles was taking me so long to read so I quickly went back to my Amazon recommendations. They didn't let me down this time as I found Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartsrikers 1) by Rachel Aaron. You might remember I read this author's sci-fi series (under the pseudonym Rachel Bach) and I also started the first of her Eli Monpress series. NDFL (can't type the whole thing...sorry) was a great reprieve from the intensity of The Dark Defiles and was very amusing. This is the story of Julius who is the runt of a dragon clan who has spent most of his life avoiding the rest of his family until his mother seals him in a human body and leaves him to fend for himself. Julius is too nice to be a dragon...just as a the title suggests but delivers some PDF (public displays of funny) lines which I have highlighted for future reference. His task is to hunt down another dragoness and redeem himself in his mother's eyes. This isn't an easy task for Julius as he isn't your typical dragon. With the help of a human mage, Marci - Julius finds his way in the world and off his mother's hit list (for the time being anyway).
I quit enjoyed this book and there was some public chortling at some of the lines. Aaron needs to watch Julius as he can be a bit too virtuous at times which made the story a bit dull at points. Also, avoid too many fight scenes as this also gets a bit repetitive. Other than that this is a great start to what I hope is a light hearted, amusing series. Go Julius Go!
That is all for me for this week. I hope you are all enjoying whatever it is you are reading. I am hoping to keep the momentum going and have more to tell you about next week. Until then Happy Reading.
Empress of the Sun is split between telling the story of the original Everett Singh who finds himself ship wrecked on a disc shaped planet surrounded by murderous bird/robot-like aliens. Everything seems quite bleak as the airship Everness has taken quite a beating and Everett feels responsible for what has happened to her (the ship) and to her crew. The story then alternates to Everett M Singh, the genetically enhanced 'other' Everett introduced in book 2. Everett M is doing everything he can to blend into the original Everett's life while at the same time trying to control the Nahn who he encounters in book 2. I really looked forward to the Everett M chapters, much more so than the original Everett. I didn't really engage with the original Everett story line and thought the Jiju. These were the dominant species on this new world who decide to help Everett. They reminded me of JaJa Binks from Star Wars for no other reason than I found them irritating. Everett M however, was quite amusing especially the parts where his ass is getting more hits on Facebook than he is. These chapters were convincingly written from the viewpoint of a troubled teen.
Overall, I was a bit disappointed mainly because I thought this was the end of the series. The final pages end with a good twist but getting there was a bit too much of a struggle and I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.
My flight back to London was delayed by over an hour and on top of doing some impulse shopping I also purchased a book that I later regretted. I found Touched by Darkness, the first in the Sentinels series, which was recommended to me on Amazon. Boy, did Amazon get that recommendation completely wrong. I was just lucky that this book was free as I would have had to complain if I paid for it. I am not going to go into too much detail but this book verged into the ridiculous category for me and had I saw the cover before I downloaded it I wouldn't have have wasted my time. Is he wearing a wig?I then started to read The Dark Defiles by Richard K. Morgan. I am writing a full review of this book so can't say too much plus it is very long and I am only about a quarter of the way through.
I quit enjoyed this book and there was some public chortling at some of the lines. Aaron needs to watch Julius as he can be a bit too virtuous at times which made the story a bit dull at points. Also, avoid too many fight scenes as this also gets a bit repetitive. Other than that this is a great start to what I hope is a light hearted, amusing series. Go Julius Go!
That is all for me for this week. I hope you are all enjoying whatever it is you are reading. I am hoping to keep the momentum going and have more to tell you about next week. Until then Happy Reading.
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