Discussion: Book Memes

A lot of bloggers do memes and book bloggers are no exception.  Waiting on Wednesday, Musing Mondays, Top Ten Tuesdays, the list goes on and on.  But memes are interesting in that not all bloggers do them or even like them.

As you guys have noticed, I’ve kind of stayed away from memes (other than my failed attempt at a Spotlight one).  This is not because I hate them but rather there are other things I want to talk about.  I want to do my own thing; I always have.  If I want to post a discussion on a Friday rather than a Saturday, I can do that.  If I want to do a top ten list, I can do it whenever I feel like it.  I know you’re not obligated to post memes weekly, but it is sort of expected.

As for other blogs, I don’t mind memes.  If someone does only memes that gets rather annoying, yes, but for the most part I see nothing wrong with them.  I just don’t want to do them.  They’re not for me.

But what I want to know now is: If you’re a blogger (particularly a book blogger), do you do memes?  Why or why not?  As a reader, do you like reading meme posts?

Éire’s Viking by Sandi Layne

Eire's Viking by Sandi Layne(Cover picture courtesy of NetGalley.)

Beginning ten years after the end of Éire’s Captive Moon, this is the story of how Agnarr Halvardson returns to Éire with the intention of settling there, marrying, and siring sons.

It is also the story of Aislinn, who was a child in Ragor when the Northmen raided eleven summers prior but is now a working physician in her own right. She spent a year in Bangor Monastery and became a Christian before Cowan and Charis returned to take the children to Cowan’s village in the kingdom of Dál Fiatach and returns there a decade later to finish learning all she can from the monks about their healing practices.

When Cowan brings her a patient, injured and temporarily unable to speak, she can’t help but find the strong, tall man attractive, even if such feelings unsettle her.

Although sparks fly immediately, Agnarr’s idea of wedding Aislinn—the physician who heals him when he is injured—is hampered by many factors, including language and cultural differences. There is also the matter that he is the man who kidnapped and enslaved Charis years before.

Believing strongly that God gave Agnarr to her as a patient, though, Aislinn does her best. Her knowledge of who he is wars with her unwilling attraction to him. That he makes his interest in her clear doesn’t help, as he goes so far as to seek her father’s permission to wed her. Can she forgive him for what he did to her village? Can she love him if she does? And will she be willing to accept a life at Agnarr’s side even if he does not love her?

Meanwhile, other raiders from the North come to Éire’s green coasts. Pledging his loyalty to the new king, Muiredach of Dál Fiatach, Agnarr prepares to defend his new home.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

After enjoying the first book, Éire’s Captive Moon I thought I might as well give Éire’s Viking a try.  Charis was a great character in the first book and carried the story on her shoulders, but maybe Aislinn would be just the same as her foster mother.  In the end, I wasn’t disappointed.

I like how Aislinn is similar to her adopted mother in many ways and yet so different.  Whereas Charis is an agnostic sort of a character, Aislinn is firmly Christian and it really shows in her day to day activities.  Her belief is sincere and I love how she still keeps some of Charis’ old ways despite the disapproval of the monks in the area.  So imagine Aislinn’s dilemma when Agnarr comes knocking, looking to settle in Éire peacefully.  Can she forgive him for what he has done?  Can she reconcile his past actions with this seemingly changed older, wiser man?  And can she find it in her heart to admit that she does love him?

I’m not a big romance person when it comes to fiction, but I liked Aislinn’s and Agnarr’s relationship.  There was that initial spark of attraction, then they stepped back and were sort of wary of each other and then they tried to reconcile their differences.  It wasn’t a straight and narrow path to romance, but it was filled with some very realistic twists and turns.  Romance is hardly ever straightforward and Sandi Layne did her readers a favour by not making it that way in fiction.

The other thing I felt was improved since the first book was the fact that we get to see some of the greater politics at work.  We bring in the Danish as well as the Vikings and the Irish and I liked the subtle political maneuverings that accompanied the changing worldviews within all three countries.  I can’t explain this really but I also felt much more immersed in Aislinn’s world than I did in the first book.  Maybe it was the added detail, maybe it was just the change of setting but I really felt like I was there alongside the characters.

Would I call this the book of the year?  Not really, but it is a pretty good book.  Put it on your wish lists because it comes out on January 23, 2014.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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*Not available yet.

Mine to Tarnish by Janeal Falor

Mine to Tarnish by Janeal Falor(Cover picture courtesy of YA Bound Book Tours.)

Katherine’s place is the same as any woman’s—on the shelf next to the dresses and bolts of cloth. When she’s sold to a warlock, life grows even bleaker. Her new owner is as old and rancid as he is cruel, driving her to do the unthinkable: run.

Nothing prepared her for being on her own. And she’s definitely unprepared for the warlocks hunting her down. But she must stay one step ahead because if caught, the best she can hope for is death.

[Full disclosure: Janeal Falor provided me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.]

A lot of times I’m not a big novella fan, I admit it.  Even when they’re prequels or just extra information about characters.  Sometimes they’re repetitive, but sometimes like with Mine to Tarnish they add a whole other dimension to the rich world the author has created.

I was always fond of Katherine in You Are Mine, but seeing her story through her own eyes is so much better than having it secondhand through Serena.  Serena and Katherine are very different people to start out with, but their situations are remarkably similar.  It’s just how they deal with those situations that I found fascinating.  For instance, when Katherine chooses to escape I was cheering for her the whole way!  In a world where violence against women is the norm and women are nothing but property, I had a hard time finding hope for poor Katherine’s life even outside of marriage but it was better than the alternative.

You can technically read Mine to Tarnish before you read You Are Mine, but I’d recommend sticking to the publishing order.  It’s nicer to go back and hear Katherine’s backstory because then you at least have a better grasp on the world she’s living in from the full length novel.  At the same time, you can get a pretty good taste of the terrifying world of the Mine series by just reading the novella first.  It really depends on your personal tastes.

The novella was fast-paced and well written.  There wasn’t really any time when I was tempted to put it down because I liked the faster pacing.  That, and it helped that Katherine’s story is pretty remarkable for a woman in that world.  You can’t help but like the feisty Katherine who was raised by a remarkable woman who believes in true equality, even if she hides it.

Really, what more can I say?  If you read and liked You Are Mine, you’re going to love Mine to Tarnish.  If you’re new to the Mine series, let me say welcome and I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

I give this novella 5/5 stars.

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*Unavailable.

Éire’s Captive Moon by Sandi Layne

Éire's Captive Moon by Sandi Layne(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Éire’s Captive Moon, the first book of Sandi Layne’s Éire’s Viking Trilogy, brings you to the unsettled era of the early Viking raids along the coast of Éire – today’s Ireland.

A wounded refugee from the violent Viking raids on Éire’s coast is healed so well by Charis of Ragor that Agnarr captures the moon-pale woman for his own and takes her home to Nordweg to be his slave.

Also captured is Cowan, a warrior gifted with languages. He is drawn to the healer of Ragor and finds himself helpless before her. In more ways than one!

Through the winter, Charis plans a fitting vengenance upon her captor for the men he killed. She also prepares to return to Éire and the children she left behind.

But will her changing feelings interfere with these plans? When two men vie for her heart, will she give way before either – or both?

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

When I requested this book I was sure it was going to be a captive-captor love story.  Books like this usually are, after all.  And that was fine for me; I need some guilty pleasure.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Sandi Layne put some excellent twists into what I thought was a dead horse trope.

Charis is a great character and even though I liked Cowan as well, she of course stole every scene she was in.  She’s tough but vulnerable at the same time, especially when you see her love for her twin husbands.  And even though she’s taken as a slave she retains some individuality and never gives up hope for an escape.  I especially liked how, at the end, you still weren’t truly sure of what course of action she would take.  The ending was very much in doubt, believe me.

I know very little about Vikings or the 9th century in general, but I can tell you what little I do know says that this book is pretty historically accurate.  Would an authority on the matter say the same thing?  I’m not sure.  But for your average person’s purposes, there is more than enough history in here to keep you immersed in Charis’ world.  It’s a harsh world where the strong kill the weak with frightening regularity, but Sandi Layne’s writing does make you feel like you’re immersed in that world.

The only criticism I have about the book is that we’re introduced to a lot of characters quite quickly and everyone calls them different names.  For example as far as I can tell Cowan is called “Kingson” and “Geirmundr” later on in addition to his other name.  This may not sound like much, but I would have liked for a little bit of a slower pace at some points in the book so I could keep up with this information.  The voyage of Cowan and Charis as captives was very quickly described and I felt there was a different need for expansion because I was still trying to gain my bearings.

In short, Éire’s Captive Moon is a pretty good book.  It’s not perfect and still needs a little bit of editing, but overall I enjoyed it.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater

The Last Bastion of the Living by Rhiannon Frater(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

The Bastion was humanity’s last hope against the fearsome undead creatures known as the Inferi Scourge. A fortified city with a high wall, surrounded by lush land rich with all the resources needed to survive, protected by high mountain summits, and a massive gate to secure the only pass into the valley, the Bastion became the last stronghold of the living on earth. But one fateful day, the gate failed and the Inferi Scourge destroyed the human settlements outside the walls and trapped the survivors inside the city. Now decades later, the last remaining humans are struggling to survive in a dying city as resources and hope dwindle.

Vanguard Maria Martinez has lived her whole life within the towering walls of steel. She yearns for a life away from the overcrowded streets, rolling blackouts, and food shortages, but there is no hope for anyone as long as the Inferi Scourge howl outside the high walls. Her only refuge from the daily grind is in the arms of her lover, Dwayne Reichardt, an officer in the Bastion Constabulary. Both are highly-decorated veterans of the last disastrous push against the Inferi Scourge. Their secret affair is her only happiness.

Then one day Maria is summoned to meet with a mysterious representative from the Science Warfare Division and is offered the opportunity to finally destroy the Inferi Scourge in the valley and close the gate. The rewards of success are great, but she will have to sacrifice everything, possibly even her life, to accomplish the ultimate goal of securing the future of humanity and saving it from extinction.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I love zombies.  I love a good action movie.  I also love a good story with a well-developed protagonist and excellent world-building.  The Last Bastion of the Living is all of the above in one awesome, heart-pounding package.

Maria Martinez is a kick-butt protagonist.  Not only can she literally kick butt, she can think her way out of most situations.  She’s not always the perfect obedient soldier that everyone wants her to be, even if she appears to be on the outside.  At the same time, all she really wants to do is protect the Bastion and those living inside of it.  Even if it means sacrificing herself to do it.  Maria can be emotionally vulnerable, but I love how she’s also capable of sucking it up and just continuing on when work needs to be done.  And even though she tries her best to ignore the facts staring her in the face during her mission, when there’s no way the inevitable can be denied she throws herself into the situation to work for the greater good.

Even if the rest of the book was awful, Maria would more than make up for it.  Except that Rhiannon Frater has created a fascinating world of scary, futuristic zombies (staying true to the novel’s tagline).  The technology is advanced, but is decaying within the Bastion as the living lost access to their natural resources outside the main citadel.  There are signs of decay throughout the novel, both cultural and technological and it makes for a dark, brooding sort of atmosphere.  Even though there are happy moments and glimpses of hope, Rhiannon Frater maintains that brooding atmosphere throughout the novel and I have great admiration for that.  She does things like have Maria’s crew joke around without really breaking the tension she slowly builds up in the background.

The world-building here is amazing.  The Last Bastion of the Living is no typical zombie novel, believe me.  The combination of technology and plain old-fashioned zombie killing makes for a thoroughly enjoyable, refreshing sort of zombie novel.  I never have pretended that I’m strong in the sciences and I never will, but I loved how Rhiannon Frater did include some scientific explanations for how Maria and her comrades can possibly succeed in their mission to kill all of the zombies.  In addition to the science, the history leading up to this awful zombie apocalypse was well thought out, if not extraordinarily detailed.  Really, I didn’t feel the need for a lot of detail and most of my questions were answered, but I just love the ending’s potential for a sequel.

If you love zombies and/or science fiction or have ever even thought of trying a zombie novel, this would be a great introduction.  You couldn’t ask for a better one, believe me.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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