Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Wow, again. I tried reading Dune by Frank Herbert, but I couldn't stop myself from reading Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. I went to Barnes and Nobles to read Dune and I did for a little bit, until I got caught reading Magic Bleeds. I ended up buying the fourth book from the Kate Daniel's series and couldn't stop reading it for a while as I sat in the book store. It got to the point where I had to do my homework, but I just didn't want to because I got so wrapped up in the story. My mind was totally engrossed in the action, drama, adventure, and bit of romance. So far I think The Kate Daniel's series I by far my favorite. I normally don't normally pick out favorites when it comes to books, but this one is pretty good in my opinion. It suits me well and not everyone will love it, but I do. I soooo admire the mystery and detective part of these novels. It's what keeps me reading. The case that Kate faces in this book is just so creepy and you don't know why these events are happening at first. Then more of Kate's family ties are revealed in this book, which is what I have been waiting for to happen! It is awesome! It's funny how I love any stories that relate to ancient gods or gods in general. It is what I find most interesting. You get little tastes and tid bits of Kate's family history in the earlier books, but not much. The information hinted leaves you hanging and a little confused about where she came from. Like in the first book Kate has to burn her bandages and purify or destroy anything her blood touches because of the amount of power contained in her blood. She is very secretive, protective, independent, and tough. I like her character a lot. I would love to be in her shoes for a day or two otherwise I don't think I could handle living in that kind of lifestyle. It's nice to fantasize about not actually live that way. I just got so distracted read this book and totally forgot about Dune. Which is a book that I really want to read, but apparently the time just wasn't right. I am glad I read Magic Bleeds. It was a perfect ending to a good weekend. :)

The Edge of the World

The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson was okay to read. I guess you could say it wasn't my cup of tea. I read about a good two hundred pages, but I just couldn't get into it. This book is the first out of three in the Terra Incognita series. It started out pretty good and I really like how Anderson told the story from multiple views of characters and not just one character. I wished he would have focused a little bit more on one character's story while incorporating the other characters point of views as well. His writing style is good and easy to pick up on. The plot was a too slow for me though. I do realize that there is about six hundred seventy something pages in the book, but it wasn't catching my interest that much. It felt like Anderson was explaining the religion too much. I can see how an author feels the need to explain everything especially in a science fiction fantasy novel, but after a hundred pages of explaining how their religion works is enough for me. The religious item felt too repetitive for my taste. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. The war between families versus the war between the two religions. The idea of having a charts man with a photographic memory is awesome!! I love that concept. I think it would be amazing to sail around on a ship, explore, and find new worlds. The idea of having all of that information and pictures in your head that can be accessed at anytime you need is very cool. It would be very useful in times of need. The exploration, adventure, and science fiction fantasy is why I was originally attracted to reading this book, but unfortunately it turns out that I did not end up liking it very much. I will finish it later on, but as of now I can wait to finish it.

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

They have got to be my all-time favorite authors so far this year. I just recently figure out after reading this book that Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife that write novels. I know I raved about Lev Grossman and his style of writing earlier in my posts, but seriously Ilona Andrews is awesome, at least from my perspective. The Kate Daniels book series contains: action, mystery, knowledge, and a little bit of romance. When I say a little bit I mean it. She hasn't had any ferocious scenes of romance that last pages long, she has been modest and kept PG 13 rated, only kissing so far. The Kate Daniels series is a little bit dark science fiction and humorous. Kate Daniels the female protagonist is a mercenary that lives in Atlanta. She is also an expert swordsman, which is very cool because if I had to master one skill in the entire world before I die, I would pick swordsmanship. Because of obvious reasons learning that trade wouldn't be much help now, but it's still awesome. What I love best about her novels is that she doesn't make vampires look like some pretty boys that seduce you to them in fashionable ways. No, she keeps them ugly, crude, creepy, and bloodthirsty. They are also controlled by necromancers. YES! Finally I have been waiting for someone to do that. The book I read is the third novel to the Kate Daniels series and there are two more as far as I know. The book series goes in order from Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, and Magic Slays. In Magic Strikes Kate is a liaison for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, in which she has to take care of the paranormal problem no one wants to take care of in Atlanta, unofficially. The third book leaves off two months after the second. Kate gets caught up in the Midnight Games, which leads to a lot of bloody fights and drama. What also catches my attention in their novels is the alternate world that Kate lives in. It is very similar to our world, but different in its own magical way. I love it. It isn't they typical vampires and werewolves novel, it has a quirky kick to it. The random magic outbursts is pretty funny, but then it makes Kate's job harder because she has to help all the people in need of help. Curran, the Beast Lord of the shape-shifters, is hilarious. He teases Kate so bad and she doesn't give in. She keeps her class which is one of the reasons why I admire Kate's character so much. I don't want to say anything else much to try and not spoil everything. Just keep reading through the first book, it might be a little hard to get through, but it is worth while.  

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman was awesome amazing. :) I wish I had enough time to finish it without killing myself because of working too much. Neil Gaiman can write really, really well from what I have read so far. I have only read half of the book and it is amazing! His characters are so thought out, but he only tells us enough to get the gist of their nature and leaves the rest in mystery for us the figure out. He doesn't even describe them that much just gives you an overview and their names. It took me a while to figure out that the main characters in the book were black. I was 30 pages in and I found myself wondering about the characters. I was thinking he really didn't give us that much information. I finally decided to look up Anansi online because Mrs. Higgler told Fat Charlie that he was a god's son. I found out that name Anansi originates from West African folklore and is also known as the spider-god. When I first started reading the book I was a little confused because it was hard for me to understand what he was talking about. It starts off with Fat Charlie's dad in a bar singing karaoke songs. Then jumps over to Fat Charlie's life with Rosie talking about getting married. I soon figures it out and had my “ah ha” moment. It's funny how the brothers are nothing alike. Spider gets all the awesome powers and gets to do whatever he wants, when Fat Charlie is the one who has to work hard, not embarrass himself, and is more of a gentleman than his brother. Charlie has been with his fiancee for six months, which doesn't really seem that long for dating someone and becoming fiancees. The fact that Spider shows up in Fat Charlie's life and after two dates with her he cons Rosie to have sex with him, while he is disguised as Fat Charlie. That is just hilarious. I feel so sorry for Fat Charlie, but I am at the part where he is trying to fix everything. The part I like most about the book is the back story about the African god Anansi. I guess I am just a sucker for mythology. The talking to spiders is just an awesome idea. When Mrs. Higgler tells Fat Charlie that he has a brother he never knew and told him to talk to a spider to get a message to him was really funny. I thought she was kidding at first, maybe she was drunk or something, but it actually worked. Overall, I can't wait to finish this book to see how it ends. The fact that I can't tell what is going to happen next is awesome because I love that in a book.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

This book was awesome to read. I haven't heard about Lev Grossman at all before reading this book, but after reading The Magicians, I feel like I am missing out on so much fiction/fantasy novels and authors I have yet to discover. I have heard of The Codex before, but never knew he wrote it. I felt The Magicians had everything I ever wanted in a book: the drama, suspense, romance, mystery, and action. The drama was consistent in the novel. At first Quentin, the main character, really likes his best friends girl friend and when he goes off to Brakebills, an American Magicians Academy, he falls in love with a girl named Alice and forgets about his old friend. After he graduates he unfortunately cheats on Alice with a girl named Janet, who was also a student at Brakebills a year ahead of them. Wow, I did not see that coming in the book and I was pretty upset myself because he was acting so childish and asinine at the time. Then they discover Fillory which isn't what they expected and I thought that was really cool. I like how Lev Grossman took the Fillory Novels written by Christopher Plover and put his own spin on it. I noticed how similar The Fillory Novels are compared to the Chronicles of Narnia, which is a little freaky. I never read the books, but I have watched the movies on the Chronicles of Narnia. The suspense from the random beast that cracks into the school was awesome! It sucks because of the tragedy, but then it makes sense in the end why that happened. The fact that he ends the book with me wondering, “What the heck. Where is the rest of the story?” I forgot that there was a second book to it. Thank goodness because I need an ending of some sort. The characters in the The Magicians were entertaining throughout the story. I especially liked Alice, she was awesome I can really relate to her character. Her level of knowledge is insane amount to have, I only wish to have such an accomplished mind as hers. My second favorite character was Quentin and lovely his mood swings. It always seemed like he had something wrong or that he was complaining about things. Yes, he had his moments of glory, but I still think Alice could kick his butt any day. Overall, I really liked the book, but if I had to comment about one thing in particular, I thought it was a fast paced written book. I would have liked to see more research into the spells, more history about the school. Why Quentin was chosen. Why was he so great? Maybe about some other events that happened at the school. I felt like he moved through the five years at Brakebills a little too fast. I didn't mind the quick transition into the school, I actually liked that part because it captured my attention quickly. I can't wait to read the next one. :)