Behind Blue Eyes

Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb My rating: 4 of 5 stars I see that I still haven't reviewed this, and I'm already 40% into the second one. Well, there isn't a lot to say, really. If you like Hobb and her previous two trilogies about the Elderlings Realm, you'll want to continue. Here, we're back to the first person narrative of Fitz himself, and it's great to catch up with old friends. The story itself is decent enough, but what struck me about this particular book was the slow build. True, this is a staple of long Hobb books, but here is where it really works. Not a lot happens for a long time, but with Hobb, that's ok. She doesn't make it boring, but rather gets us into a comfort zone from which we can branch when it is time for stuff to happen. So there, not a lot to review. Just enough to say yeah, I liked this and I'm moving right into the next one... View all my reviews

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wait, what? What did I just read? Yeah, something like that, Captain. I tell you what though. I liked it! If this was a series, I'd read more of them. Yeah, if you write a Malazan Book of the Windup, I'll damn read it. Because there was so much I didn't understand. There was so much I scratched my head about and wondered WHY?! But I was engrossed. The future Thai Kingdom depicted here and the world it's set in are brilliant. I felt like I was there. I didn't always get what was coming, but if you saw someone with a white shirt, you want to blend into the crowd. I wonder though, what those white shirts were made of. I mean, as hot and sticky and humid as it was, how did they stay white? Mr. Bacigalupi is definitely on my radar. View all my reviews

Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. What a satisfying read. Imagine an alternate history where Rome didn't fall, and was responsible for leading the age of discovery into the New World. How would their early encounters with the Native Americans go? This book turned out to be much more than a "what if?" situation, developing into a richly constructed historical fantasy. While the author mentions it as the first of a trilogy, the story here is pretty much self-contained. Still, I'll definitely want to read more! The pacing is good, though a bit on the slow side. It feels alright though, as it takes time to properly world-build and to get the key players into place. Smale does a good job keeping it interesting even at points where he has to make brief info-dumps. It's a little a time, and is interspersed with bits of humor and action scenes. And the battles! Oh yes, Bernard Cor

Once Upon an Ever After by Angela N. Blount My rating: 4 of 5 stars Here is the disclaimer that Angela N. Blount is a friend of mine on Goodreads, and that she provided me a free ecopy of this book. I will say that I like the author's writing style quite a bit, and not just because she is my friend. Though after reading these, I would want her to be my friend if she wasn't already - the autobigraphical character in her stories really rings true, someone that I would like to know. As such, it's a character driven story and Blount's skill at bringing out her characters echoes heavily. This was a shorter book than its predecessor, Once Upon a Road Trip . It was longer than an epilogue but shorter than a sequel of equal importance to the original story would have been. It completes the story (for now) begun in the first book and is good closure after reading that. That said, it's not quite as engaging for me as the first book. It's just as well-written, but I thi