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This is the first paragraph of my review of a book the author sent me requesting a review: Goblin Night Fever by Indigo Lane... According to folklore, goblins are evil spirits that cause mischief and harm. Indigo Lane proves that theory erroneous in this amusing and bewitching self proclaimed children's story. Wait, did Indigo call this a children’s story? Well, I say this novel is way too scary for a topsider child, it maybe okay for a baby trogg, or murkan. Here is what I would do... I would ditch the cartoon cover, and reclassify this book as young adult literature ( 12-18 years old ). In my opinion YA fiction is the hottest genre in literature today. Come on Indigo, you say this is “the first of three planned books in the Underkingdom series”, so lets make this first book a sort of prequel to the ensuing Underkingdom tales. Didn’t J.R.R. Tolkien’sThe Hobbit just come to the movies as a prequel afterThe Lord of the Rings ran it’s course? And what about a Mountain Orc look-alike on the book’s cover, instead of a cartoon. Okay, enough advise, I’m just a reviewer. I did enjoy this first effort by Indigo Lane even though my child years are far behind me. There were some flaws; such as, too many supplementary characters with names to remember, and not enough pages to get warm and fuzzy with most of the characters. But was this a valiant effort? Absolutely! 4 out of 5 stars.
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
I just finished "Lie Down In Darkness" by William Styron - excellent. I must now read his other book - having read Sophie's Choice a few times a number of years ago...
 
THE AGE OF MIRACLES
Earth’s rotation is really slowing down! Don’t get alarmed, because it slows down 1.7 milliseconds every 100 years, or so. But in Karen Thompson Walker’s debut novel, the day grew 56 minutes before the scientists even noticed, and when they did a scientist said on TV “To a certain extent, we can adapt, but if the earth’s rotation continues to slow-and this is just speculation-I’d say we can expect radical changes in the weather.” Adapt to what? This is a novel that proposes a unique event, while at the same time follows the life of our narrator, Julia, through her adolescent years known as the age of miracles. Somehow the author succeeds in uniting these two subjects into a peculiar and unparalleled story. The story did stall about midway, but thankfully it then took off to a interesting, but somewhat heavy-hearted and pessimistic conclusion. Walker’s character development was a little weak, except for Julia and her want-to-be paramour, Seth Moreno. In this reviewer’s mind, these two flaws keep this unusual novel from five stars. 4 out of 5 stars:D
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
John Green, An Abundance of Katherines

Colin has a problem called Katherine. Every single one of the 19 girls who have dumped him was a Katherine. His best mate Hassan decides he needs a change of scene and takes him on a road trip leading them to a tiny town in Tennessee, where Colin (yes, he's quite the nerd) mostly wants to work on his Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability and ends up doing things he's never done before, including a wild-hog hunt.

A sweet and funny story of the joys and pains of teenage love. It goes ahead a little slowly, but the characters are likeable and I loved Colin's smarty-pants-ing.
 
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES: Another classic from the gloom and doom meister, Cormac McCarthy. Not as much doom as normal since this novel is more of a study of evil. Published in 1992, this is the first volume of his famous The Border Trilogy. This was an incredible story and exciting and hard to figure out the ending and finally well written. I didn’t make a mistake with the previous sentence, it’s Polysyndeton syntax at work. Originally created by the great Ernest Hemingway, it elongates the sentence using several conjunctions in close succession without a break, thus creating a kind of urgency to continue without the reader having a chance to catch their breath, and/or analyze what was just said. Not that there is going to be any quotation marks, commas, or apostrophes to help you make sense of it. Somehow, Cormac induces, or seduces the reader into totally understanding what is being said, and who said it! This man can write beautiful prose, and his descriptive writing is right up there with an author, such as, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote The Scarlet Letter, and The House of the Seven Gables. How is this for an example of Cormac’s descriptive writing: “She looked up at him and her face was pale and austere in the uplight and her eyes lost in their darkly shadowed hollows save only for the glint of them and he could see her throat move in the light and he saw in her face and in her figure something he'd not seen before and the name of that thing was sorrow.” As I always say ( at least since I’ve understood him )... This man can write! :)
5 OUT 5 STARS
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 4/5
Enjoyable fantasy, love story set against a magical circus and a combat by proxy of two Old Masters.
If you go to the BOTM for April...you'll see some widely varying views on this book. :)

and...


Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 5/5
Beautifully written. Mantel's style is conversational, with a biting and sardonic flavor I found most refreshing. An amazing personalization of Thomas Cromwell, Mantel's research is flawless.
Highly Recommended.
 
The Book and The Sword by Louis Cha / Jin Yong. If you have seen "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" you will have seen an adaption of this book to screen. Jin Yong is the father of Wuxia. Wuxia is the martial arts equivalent of a sci-fi/fantasy. Those martial arts movies with crazy weapons and lots of flying around are all Wuxia films. The book reads just like a Wuxia film - the action darts all over the place complete with flying characters. There is love and comedy and tragedy and drama dripping off every page along with lots of action. If you are in anyway a fan of martial arts movies, reading this book is a must. This is where it all started.
 
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. 5/5

Mantel's continuation of her trilogy featuring Thomas Cromwell. This one carries us through the execution of Anne Boleyn covering the territory from Cromwell's point of view, possibly a bit differently from what we have read before.

I enjoyed reading Cromwell's reasoning for the spate of executions that surrounded Boleyn's. Mantel is imaginative, but sticks very close to historical fact.
 
pontalba said:
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. 5/5

Mantel's continuation of her trilogy featuring Thomas Cromwell. This one carries us through the execution of Anne Boleyn covering the territory from Cromwell's point of view, possibly a bit differently from what we have read before.

I enjoyed reading Cromwell's reasoning for the spate of executions that surrounded Boleyn's. Mantel is imaginative, but sticks very close to historical fact.
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This time I'm writing down the name of the author. Thanks!
 
The Snow Child: Even Eowyn’ first name ( pronounced: A-o-win ) conjures up a sort of mysterious tint on her somewhat mystic first novel. Actually, her first name is based on a character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I found this novel haunting and thought-provoking, especially after I finished the novel. I asked myself: Who was the snow child? Was she real? Does she symbolize the Alaskan wilderness, or the struggle between life and death? This is the kind of symbolism that classrooms could analyze and debate forever. Dan Brown’s fictional character Robert Langdon would have quite a task explaining the hidden meanings of this novel to this reviewer. Wait a minute, maybe Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot can figure out this befuddling conclusion for me. Whatever, this novel is quite a trip.:D
4 out of 5 stars
ricksreviews.blogspot.com
 
Even Eowyn’ first name ( pronounced: A-o-win ) conjures up a sort of mysterious tint on her somewhat mystic first novel. Actually, her first name is based on a character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
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Actually, not to be pendantic, but because Eowyn is a character in Lord of the Rings thus she is named AFTER the character, not based on the character :p
 
technically still busy as I am on book two of the series but Raising Atlantis by Thomas Greanias, despite some glaring factual errors (note to budding authors RESEARCH! if you don't know how long an average climbing rope is or how heavy it is CHECK! :p the author has his characters use a rope several hundred meters long CUT it, miraculously without any mention of carrying more rope which is heavy, have another several hundred m's which they cut AGAIN (you NEVER cut your rope!) and still have more later despite having been through several adventures involving water) it was an enjoyable adventure read. Definitely Dan Brown inspired though.
 
ricko said:
The Snow Child: . . . Dan Brown’s fictional character Robert Langdon would have quite a task explaining the hidden meanings of this novel to this reviewer. Wait a minute, maybe Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot can figure out this befuddling conclusion for me. Whatever, this novel is quite a trip.:D
4 out of 5
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Actually put it on my Transcendent list not so long ago, meaning sort of like 6, or 7 or 8 stars out of 5 stars, which shows how widely opinions can differ. I was completely absorbed and thought it beautiful.
 
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