Children of Scarabaeus (Scarabaeus, Book 2)
Not quite as compelling as the first book and the romance is underdeveloped, but still a satisfying conclusion to the Scarabaeus duology.
When Edie is recaptured by the Crib, she discovers they’ve been grooming four Talasi children to become cyphertecks for her former mentor’s pet project, Project Ardra. Edie is torn between her freedom, her obligation to free Finn, her desire to save the children, and as she learns the motives behind Project Ardra, to find a way of preventing colonised planets turning into uninhabitable mush.
This book is a continuation of the events in Song of Scarabaeus, and it’s best to read the books in order. Unlike its predecessor, Children of Scarabaeus relies on a series of smaller arcs and plots to keep the momentum going. The pacing isn’t as strong, nor are the conflicts as compelling. There are a lot of antagonists, and they’re not all well developed enough to be interesting.
There’s a bit of deus ex machina in the resolution, which is disappointing given that, for the most part, it wasn’t easy to predict how the story would go. The world building in this book also becomes mired in twists and complications.
Read the rest of this post.
Song of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy (Scarabaeus, Book 1)
A page turner for science fiction readers who like a bit of romance, not the other way around.
Edie is desperate to escape her life of service to the Crib empire, so when she’s kidnapped by mercenaries and forced to cooperate with their plans, she’s worried but not exactly anxious to get back to the Crib.
But when she’s leashed to Finn, an ex-slave who turns out to belong to a group of highly trained fighters, she’s given no choice. If she ventures too far—for example, in an attempt to escape her new masters—Finn dies. If Edie refuses to help the mercenaries, they’ll both be killed.
Edie is a cypherteck, and her job for the Crib was to help seed newly discovered planets in order to make them viable for human occupation. After the planet is occupied, the Crib charge its inhabitants to keep the seeds viable. The mercenaries want her to extract keystones from existing planet seeds, which are then sold to Fringe planets so they can be free of the Crib’s control.
Read the rest of this post.
Heart Search by Robin D. Owens (Celta's HeartMates, Book 10)
A good addition to the series for Celta fans who are curious to see how characters have evolved and want to catch up on previous characters’ lives.
I first read Robin D. Owens’ HeartMate earlier in the year. Within the next month I managed to collect every single book in the Celta series by visiting random bookshops in the Philippines and through some creative used book buying via @GirrlitsBooks. Needless to say, I love everything about this series—even the apostrophes.
Laev T’Hawthorn was stupid a few books ago and, as a twenty-year old, married the wrong girl, thinking she was his HeartMate. She fucked him over, to put it in simple terms, and later died when a devastating illness swept the land. Laev, now head of his family after the death of his grandfather, has since discovered that she stole family heirlooms and sold them. He is determined to get them back, and in doing so right some of the wrongs he felt he has brought upon his family by choosing the wrong woman.
Read the rest of this post.
Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison (Elder Races, Book 2)
My new auto-buy author. Even if the hero had turned out to be a wimpy web-footed shapeshifter from outer space whose non-human form was even weirder looking I’d probably still buy it.
Tricks, former head of PR for Culebre Enterprises, has come out of hiding after the death of the Dark Fae King to reveal herself as the heiress to the throne. Not surprisingly, people are trying to kill her. Enter Tiago Black Eagle, wyr sentinel sent by Dragos, her ex-boss who gave her refuge (see previous book), to make sure she’s okay and find out who tried to kill her. They haven’t had much interaction until now, but they make up for lost time pretty quickly. Can Tricks and Tiago find out who’s trying to kill her before she ends up dead, and still have time for some nookie?
I think I’ve written a similar summary before. Hell, I think I might have done it for Dragon Bound, the first book of this series. But hey, why ruin something that works?
Read the rest of this post.
The Girl In The Steel Corset by Kady Cross (The Steampunk Chronicles, Book 1)
Delivers a good mystery at the expense of world building and character development.
This book has everything going for it. Look at that gorgeous cover. Check out the gushing reviews online. It’s teen steampunk—two of the subgenres du jour in popular fiction. I squealed in delight when the folks at Mills and Boon were kind enough to send me a review copy.
In hindsight, I should’ve known better than to raise my expectations to a level that few books could possibly attain. The Girl In The Steel Corset might have worked for me ten years ago, but now I’m just left wanting more.
Sixteen-year old Finley Jane knows something lurks inside her—something strong and dark and unpredictable. She tries to hide it, but she can’t always control it. After Finley escapes an assault, she’s taken in by Griffin and his friends. She doesn’t want to cause them any trouble…and yet they, too, seem to have their secrets. And their abilities.
Read the rest of this post.
Wandergurl’s recommended reads from 2010 and a self-imposed challenge to conquer her TBR pile.
Book picks for 2010
The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne
Effectively the prequel to The Spymaster’s Lady, this equally wonderfully written novel is about ‘Maggie and Doyle’. Marguerite de Fleurignac, a French noblewoman, encounters William Doyle in her burnt out chateau. They both pretend to be people they are not, as she is trying to desperately smuggle out people during the revolution and he is an English spy looking for her father. The romance is lush and lovely, the spy plot moves around nicely, and I was kept captivated. Highly recommended.
Feet of the Chameleon by Ian Hawkey
This is a largely anecdotal history of modern African football and how it has shaped various countries’ political histories. I read this book during the football (soccer) world cup while in Africa so it was especially poignant. It explained a lot of things that were interesting to me, and would be interesting for anyone with an interest in Africa, its people and its history.
Read the rest of this post.
HeartMate by Robin D. Owens (Celta's HeartMates, Book 1)
A well crafted book that will appeal to fans of Jayne Castle’s series. Just ignore the attack of the apostrophes.
Rand T’Ash is a member of one of the Great Families on the planet of Celta, colonised by the people of Earth many years ago during a search to find a suitable location to develop their psychic gifts. Formerly a street rat he is now a respected nobleman with a talent for shaping stones. He has crafted a necklace as a HeartGift, as is customary in their culture, for his HeartMate, the woman who is destined to be his. Danith Mallow walks into his shop one day and is drawn to the necklace, but after some alpha grunt-type discussion and a bit of chaos caused by other customers, she leaves, and T’Ash has to find her and somehow convince her that they are destined to be together. Thus the story and the apostrophes begin.
Read the rest of this post.
In keeping with Halloween, this month’s Mixed Bag is a mix of (mostly) otherworldly books by (mostly) Australian authors.
Fallen by Lauren Kate (Fallen #1)
Fallen by Lauren Kate (Fallen, Book 1)
When Luce starts senior year (year 12 for us) at a boarding school for troubled teens, she discovers that her classmates aren’t, well, normal, and that the reason the school hottie is avoiding her at all costs has something to do with her destiny—until for some reason her destiny doesn’t happen on schedule.
I might have enjoyed this story more if I hadn’t already read the many—oh, so many—teen urban fantasy books with similar characters and conflicts. The brooding, I’m-no-good-for-you-so-I’ll-turn-down-your-advances-by-being-rude-and-offensive hero just doesn’t work for me anymore. At least, not unless the heroine calls him out on it—and Luce doesn’t do it enough. It got interesting towards the end, but the main characters didn’t have enough shades of grey for me.
Read the rest of this post.
Blameless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate, Book 3)
After the cliffhanger that was Changeless, the latest instalment in the Parasol Protectorate series brings us back to romance territory.
After Changeless, I was very frustrated. It was a total cliffhanger, and I went as far as DMing Gail Carriger on Twitter to ask what was going to happen next. She very nicely replied, I’m very sorry but I can’t tell you. Fortunately, Kat got a review copy of Blameless last Friday, which coincided with Carriger’s visit to Galaxy to randomly sign things. She assured us that, as a believer of happy endings, she always makes sure everything ends with a HEA.
Read the rest of this post.
A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire (October Daye #2)
A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire (October Daye, Book 2)
Toby Daye is sent by her liege, the Duke of Shadowed Hills, to the County of Tamed Lightning to check on his niece, the reigning countess. Toby thinks that this will be an easy job, but once she and her assistant Connor arrive, she finds it more complicated than that—people are dying and their souls aren’t being carried away by shades, the traditional soul bearers of the fae.
Toby has grown from the previous book, and it shows—I liked how her character didn’t remain static and bitter. She has become more stable, has found herself on more solid footing. She even has girlfriends and goes on night outs. Her situation (explained in the previous book, Rosemary and Rue) sucks but she’s learnt to deal with it better. She’s still a strong character and you can’t help but barrack for her.
Read the rest of this post.
