Books

Well, looks like May is just blazing on by. Fun times.

Anyway, I've been enjoying some books and thought I'd add commentary:

Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence

The third and final book in Lawrence's Ancestor trilogy, it brought an end to Nona Grey's story which started in "Red Sister" and then continued in "Grey Sister". I have to admit that, while I enjoyed "Holy Sister", I found it a bit rushed for my taste. The book did a bit of a jarring jump that felt out-of-place given the tight time-frames and story details that were in the previous two books. Still, I enjoyed it all the same.



Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

I picked this one up having read a review on io9. It was billed as a classic space opera, complete with a space princess and a rogue. I decided to give it a chance.

Can't say I regretted it. It's a bit romance-novel but has some cool space opera in there. I genuinely enjoyed all the characters and their interactions. There were cliches galore, but it is space opera,and the cliches were done quite well. I may have to try more of Ms. Mahalik's works.



One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence

I had to return to Mr. Lawrence's works to see his take on weird science fiction set in the 1986. I truly enjoyed this book for a variety of reasons. Lawrence did a marvelous job capturing the angst of a teen learning he's dying of cancer (yikes!) without completely soaking the story in hopeless angst. He also captures the feel of some eighties teens playing D&D along with young love and all that stuff.

Oh, and there's time travel. That was good times too.

A fun read. I look forward to the other books in the series.



A Time of Blood by John Gwynne.

Sequel to "A Time of Dread", which is itself a sequel to his first Banished Lands series, there was more of the schemes of the evil Kadoshim as they fight against the forces of the Bel-Elim and the descendants of the heroes from the first series. I have to say that this book really didn't grab me like the others. I felt a bit like this one retread a lot of stuff I've already read a few times in his other works. While a fun read, there was nothing in this book that really stood out. I'm hoping Gwynne has a fresher idea for the next book.