Post-Vacation Round Up

Yes, I know I’ve been horribly off-topic lately what with the blog awards and such, but since my photo/vacation posts seem to be popular I’ll stay off-topic for another day.  As you may or may not know, I was in Costa Rica for two weeks on the Pacific side of the country.  And because Andy begged me, here is a picture of the first excursion I did: ziplining.

ZipliningYes, I had an awesome time.  11 lines through a beautiful rainforest…what more could you ask for in an excursion?  In addition to that, I met my match when it came to certain female competition: Continue reading →

The Liebster Award

Thanks to Kelley from Another Novel Read for nominating me!

Liebster AwardOkay, so apparently the rules for the Liebster Award are as follows:

1.  I have to say 11 things about myself.

2.  I have to answer the 11 questions posed to me.

3.  I have to make up 11 more questions.

4.  Finally, I have to nominate 11 other bloggers who will answer my 11 questions.  (And let them know, obviously.)

Apparently the Liebster Award is for up and coming bloggers with a following of less than 200.  At 251 followers at the time of writing this post, I’m over-qualified, but I’ll do the award anyway to highlight some of the great bloggers out there with less than 200 followers.

11 Facts About Me

1.  I really dislike my first name (Carrie), but wouldn’t really consider changing it.

2.  I once considered doing a spin-off blog called The Mad Photographer to showcase my photography. Continue reading →

Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess by Carolyn Meyer

anastasia the last grand duchess by carolyn meyer(Cover picture courtesy of Beauty and the Armageddon.)

25 April 1914—Livadia

Papa took us on another long walk.  Mama and Alexei joined us later for a picnic, although Mama was feeling weak and needed her wheelchair.  An odd thing happened.  My sisters and I were picking wildflowers in a meadow, and Alexei was lying on a blanket nearby staring up at the clear blue sky, when suddenly he said, “I wonder what’s going to happen to us?”

We asked him what he meant, and he couldn’t explain it—just that he had a strange feeling something was going to happen, and that next year we wouldn’t be here.

“Nonsense,” Mama said, but I wasn’t at all sure that he was speaking nonsense.  Alexei has a way of sensing things.

There are very few books in The Royal Diaries series that I hate, but this is one of them.  That is surprising because this one was written by Carolyn Meyer, a normally very good writer of young adult/tweens historical fiction.

What was my main reason for hating Anastasia:The Last Grand Duchess?  Anastasia.  Sure, I can tolerate some whining when a situation is truly bad, but oh my word does this girl ever whine!  Life is horrible: her sisters are terrible, she never gets to do anything, her father is always gone, etc.  I’m sure the real Grand Duchess Anastasia was spoiled to a certain extent, but the whining of Carolyn Meyer’s Anastasia could not compare to even the most spoiled princess.  Yes, this is obviously aimed at a younger audience than myself, but even at that age I would have liked to reach into the book and slap Anastasia.

Part of my problem with The Last Grand Duchess is that Carolyn Meyer tried to cover too long a period in too short a book.  She covers the time from 1914 until 1917, when the Romanovs are placed under house arrest in Siberia.  That’s a lot of time to cover in less than 200 pages and it makes Anastasia’s diary really jumpy, meaning there are no entries for months at a time and Carolyn Meyer does a lot of telling rather than showing to help readers catch up.

However, my main gripe with the book was Anastasia herself and in diary format, if you hate the writer, you’re going to hate the rest of the book.  Everything is told in the writer’s perspective, so if that writer is a whiny, angsty preteen, things are going to go very badly.  And they certainly did in this book.

I give this book 1/5 stars.

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*Only available as used.

The Skystone by Jack Whyte

The Skystone by Jack Whyte(Cover picture courtesy of Jack Whyte’s website.)

Born of the chaos of the dark ages, the dream of eagles produced a king, a country and an everlasting legend—Camelot.

Publius Varrus is a veteran Roman officer and a maker of swords.  In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxonx, Picts and Scots, he and his former general, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King we know today as Arthur.

A Dream of Eagles is yet another series that I didn’t start at the beginning.  Instead, I received one of the spin-off books, Uther, for my birthday.  I loved Uther, which made me track down The Skystone, the first book in the series.  But in the back of my mind I was wondering if I would like Jack Whyte’s earlier writing just as much as I liked his later writing.

The answer?  Absolutely!  Jack Whyte’s A Dream of Eagles (or The Camulod Chronicles, depending on when it was published) is a series that documents how the Arthurian legends could have really happened.  That means there’s no magic and a bit of historical speculation, but otherwise the series is accurate.  Rome really did withdraw from Britain in the late 300s AD when the Motherland was being threatened (hint: it didn’t help).  Before the chaos of Roman withdrawal, we meet Publius Varrus, our narrator, and his best friend, Caius Britannicus.

Publius is an amazing man, but is also a flawed character.  He can be incredibly wise and Jack Whyte has given him an unique voice, but he does things that will make you want to reach in and slap him.  Publius is far from perfect, but I guarantee you’ll love him anyway.  Caius doesn’t feature nearly as prominently as I would have liked, but he undergoes an amazing transformation in the last hundred pages or so.  And the ending was fabulous, tying together the mystery of the skystone and one of the very, very important parts of the Arthurian legends.  I can’t wait to read the next book, The Singing Sword.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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The Path of the Fallen by Dan O’Brien

The Path of the Fallen by Dan O'Brien(Cover picture courtesy of a page on ASMSG Author’s Books that does not exist anymore.)

Set against the backdrop of the tundra and a world desperate for hope, the journey of a young man, E’Malkai, will come to define a realm that has been broken by an evil that does not sleep.  A bitter betrayal, and the inception of a war that will consume the world, forces E’Malkai to confront the past and undertake a pilgrimage that is his by birthright.  Follow him on his journey and be transformed.

[Full disclosure: Dan O’Brien sent me a print copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

After not reading epic fantasy for a very, very long time, I had a hard time getting into The Path of the Fallen, even if it’s a mixture of science fiction and fantasy.  Still, as the pieces of the narrative fell together and we got a bigger picture of E’Malkai’s world, I began to really get into the book.

The Path of the Fallen is, quite simply, not a book for everyone.  Avid readers of epic fantasy will love it for its unique ideas and the combination of technology and magic.  However, if you don’t read fantasy as a rule, it’s probably best to read some so you can keep up with all of the names, the rich history and the complicated plot.  I personally had a hard time keeping track of all of the names in the beginning because they all seemed to have apostrophes in them or were unpronounceable (although the main characters have reasonable names).  But once you get into the book and learn the personalities of the characters, the names won’t distract you at all.

What I liked most about The Path of the Fallen was the fact that there was technology in an epic fantasy novel.  This is not your regular swords-and-dragons epic fantasy, oh no!  Dan O’Brien has crafted a new world based on both technology and magic and it blends well together.  What explanation does he have for this interesting mix?  A very good one that makes complete sense in the context of the book, as it turns out.  Although there’s not much science, per se, I would still classify this as a fantasy/sci-fi crossover novel.

E’Malkai is actually a hero I can identify with.  No, he doesn’t experience a lot of Young Hero Angst, but he does deal with inner struggles as well as his outer struggles.  He’s sympathetic because he really does try to do the right thing, even at a cost to himself.  The villain, Fe’rein is not your stereotypical black-wearing, mustache-twirling fiend, but he’ll never be among my list of best villains either.  Still, he does have depth and a believable backstory, so I’ll give Dan O’Brien props for that.  And for keeping track of all the plot lines and mostly tying them up without going for the cliché completely happy ending.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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