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David McK (3562 KP) rated Silk Road (Epic Adventure #1) in Books
Jun 29, 2025
This was what I would probably term a 'chance read', in that it was by an author I knew nothing about, had never read any of their works, but same it on Amazon prime reading and thought I might as well give it a go as I was between books at the time.
I'm glad I did.
Set (initially) in the Holy Land not long after the Third Crusade, this follows Templar Knight Josseran Sarrazini as he is tasked with accompanying the Domincan Friar William as an envoy to the Mongols, just as their previous Khan dies necessitating a journey along the Silk Road of the title towards the Mongolian capital Xanadu - further than either have ever travelled before, and with new experiences for both - and just as a civil war is about to break out amongst the Mongolian nation itself over who will be next Khan.
I may read some more of Falconers's 'Epic Adventure' series in the future.
I'm glad I did.
Set (initially) in the Holy Land not long after the Third Crusade, this follows Templar Knight Josseran Sarrazini as he is tasked with accompanying the Domincan Friar William as an envoy to the Mongols, just as their previous Khan dies necessitating a journey along the Silk Road of the title towards the Mongolian capital Xanadu - further than either have ever travelled before, and with new experiences for both - and just as a civil war is about to break out amongst the Mongolian nation itself over who will be next Khan.
I may read some more of Falconers's 'Epic Adventure' series in the future.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Alanna: The First Adventure in Books
Apr 16, 2018
The Song of the Lioness quartet is Tamora Pierce's first set of books. I read her latest trilogy (the Beka Cooper trilogy) first, which didn't exactly prepare me for The Song of the Lioness. It's obvious, going from the latest trilogy to her first writing, how much her writing has matured since the 80s. My first thought upon completing Alanna: the First Adventure was "I'm very glad she's gotten better at writing!" The story itself is still interesting and worth reading, but the style is a little difficult to read when I KNOW how well she writes now. The characters are mostly one-dimensional; few of the side characters seem to have plots going or events happening to them when they're not with Alanna. Characters pop up, have a significant interaction with Alanna, and are gone again, with no indication they exist outside of their usefulness to the main character. This is in stark contrast to her latest work, where every character that has a significant role to play has a history of their own, and thoughts and feelings of their own. They're much more fleshed out in her recent books.
That complaint aside, the Alanna books are really the foundation that the rest of Tortall was built upon. It's interesting to see how Pierce has fleshed out some of the concepts she touched on in the Alanna saga, and it's fun to see where some of the things from the Beka Cooper trilogy originated. It also pays to keep in mind that though the Alanna books were written first, the Beka Cooper trilogy is based two hundred years earlier. We learn a lot more about the office of The Rogue in the Beka Cooper trilogy, something that isn't explained very well in the Alanna quartet, even though one of Alanna's main romantic interests is George Cooper (yes, a descendant of Beka!), the Rogue. Pierce also never explains the origins of Alanna's cat, Faithful, in the actual Alanna books. That explanation lies in the Beka Cooper books as well.
The Song of the Lioness quartet is the story of a girl who decides to rebel against tradition and follow her heart to become a knight. In her time, ladies simply do NOT become knights. They learn to organize households and marry well. Alanna, however, is lucky enough to have a twin brother who does not want to become a knight; instead Thom wants to be a mage. So when they're sent off to face their futures, they switch places, with Alanna becoming "Alan", the younger twin. (Thom stays Thom; the school that ladies are sent to is the same school mages start at.)
Alan/Alanna begins as a page, then moves to squire, and eventually a knight. Her secret is discovered, but due to her influential friends, most of whom knew she was a girl by then, she is able to keep her status. Her adventures take her from uncovering a plot against the royal family, to being adopted by a desert tribe, to recovering a magic jewel of prosperity, with many small adventures in between.
I love reading Pierce's heroines; both Alanna and Beka have problems reconciling their feminine natures with the work they've chosen. The scenes where Alanna's love interests see her in a dress for the first time, instead of her normal boy-garb and armor, is heart-warming in one case, and sad in another. In both womens' lives it's the man who can accept all of their aspects who ultimately wins their heart, which is a wonderful message.
Ultimately, the technical flaws in the writing of the Alanna saga faded as I became absorbed in the story. I'll be requesting more Tortall books from the library in the near future!
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
That complaint aside, the Alanna books are really the foundation that the rest of Tortall was built upon. It's interesting to see how Pierce has fleshed out some of the concepts she touched on in the Alanna saga, and it's fun to see where some of the things from the Beka Cooper trilogy originated. It also pays to keep in mind that though the Alanna books were written first, the Beka Cooper trilogy is based two hundred years earlier. We learn a lot more about the office of The Rogue in the Beka Cooper trilogy, something that isn't explained very well in the Alanna quartet, even though one of Alanna's main romantic interests is George Cooper (yes, a descendant of Beka!), the Rogue. Pierce also never explains the origins of Alanna's cat, Faithful, in the actual Alanna books. That explanation lies in the Beka Cooper books as well.
The Song of the Lioness quartet is the story of a girl who decides to rebel against tradition and follow her heart to become a knight. In her time, ladies simply do NOT become knights. They learn to organize households and marry well. Alanna, however, is lucky enough to have a twin brother who does not want to become a knight; instead Thom wants to be a mage. So when they're sent off to face their futures, they switch places, with Alanna becoming "Alan", the younger twin. (Thom stays Thom; the school that ladies are sent to is the same school mages start at.)
Alan/Alanna begins as a page, then moves to squire, and eventually a knight. Her secret is discovered, but due to her influential friends, most of whom knew she was a girl by then, she is able to keep her status. Her adventures take her from uncovering a plot against the royal family, to being adopted by a desert tribe, to recovering a magic jewel of prosperity, with many small adventures in between.
I love reading Pierce's heroines; both Alanna and Beka have problems reconciling their feminine natures with the work they've chosen. The scenes where Alanna's love interests see her in a dress for the first time, instead of her normal boy-garb and armor, is heart-warming in one case, and sad in another. In both womens' lives it's the man who can accept all of their aspects who ultimately wins their heart, which is a wonderful message.
Ultimately, the technical flaws in the writing of the Alanna saga faded as I became absorbed in the story. I'll be requesting more Tortall books from the library in the near future!
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
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Where do the world’s smartest people get their ideas? From great books! Blinkist distills the key...
Merissa (12969 KP) rated She's the One Who Can't Keep Quiet (War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters #5) in Books
Feb 24, 2022 (Updated Jul 3, 2023)
SHE'S THE ONE WHO CAN'T KEEP QUIET is the fifth book in the War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters series and we get Celestine's story, the twin of Olivine.
Out of all the stories so far, Celestine is the most 'normal'. She doesn't have a genius brain, isn't a luskie, doesn't have long eyes, and she isn't a warrior.. Her ability is to be social, to read a crowd, to bring them on-side, and to sing with a beautiful voice. As with the other stories, it takes place at the same time, so some of the stories overlap and situations become clear from other books, for example, with Davor accepting Coral's luskie abilities.
We also learn more about the mum in this story. We already knew the relationship with her mother-in-law had been turbulent, but now we find out even more. We find out that she was a jewellery maker in her own right but had to give it up when her daughters came along. Not only that, but the things her husband has promised her when they got married never happened to her, but to her daughters instead. That's got to hurt! Up until now, my sympathy wasn't with the mum. I thought she was 'just' an ambitious mum who wanted her children to marry well. Now, I understand more of where she was coming from. And the comment about her children becoming her jewellery was heartfelt.
The other thing (amongst many) that deserves a mention is how hard it was for Celestine and Firuza to be together, openly. Both of them were concerned with appearances, although Firuza had more reason than most to be cautious. I thought this was written in an empathetic manner, giving the two ladies the support they needed.
Although all these books cover the same timeframe, I would recommend you read them in order as you will have the best reading experience that way, reading and learning about people and situations at the right time.
A brilliant addition to a fantastic series. I really can't recommend these highly enough and can't wait for Gypsum's story to come next.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 24, 2022
Out of all the stories so far, Celestine is the most 'normal'. She doesn't have a genius brain, isn't a luskie, doesn't have long eyes, and she isn't a warrior.. Her ability is to be social, to read a crowd, to bring them on-side, and to sing with a beautiful voice. As with the other stories, it takes place at the same time, so some of the stories overlap and situations become clear from other books, for example, with Davor accepting Coral's luskie abilities.
We also learn more about the mum in this story. We already knew the relationship with her mother-in-law had been turbulent, but now we find out even more. We find out that she was a jewellery maker in her own right but had to give it up when her daughters came along. Not only that, but the things her husband has promised her when they got married never happened to her, but to her daughters instead. That's got to hurt! Up until now, my sympathy wasn't with the mum. I thought she was 'just' an ambitious mum who wanted her children to marry well. Now, I understand more of where she was coming from. And the comment about her children becoming her jewellery was heartfelt.
The other thing (amongst many) that deserves a mention is how hard it was for Celestine and Firuza to be together, openly. Both of them were concerned with appearances, although Firuza had more reason than most to be cautious. I thought this was written in an empathetic manner, giving the two ladies the support they needed.
Although all these books cover the same timeframe, I would recommend you read them in order as you will have the best reading experience that way, reading and learning about people and situations at the right time.
A brilliant addition to a fantastic series. I really can't recommend these highly enough and can't wait for Gypsum's story to come next.
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Feb 24, 2022
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires #3) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
This is my favorite book in the series so far because the plot FINALLY focuses on Claire's schooling. When her schedule got replaced with harder classes, I went just a bit green with envy - I'm a nerd at heart, even though I haven't been to school in years. I also love that we get more background information about the town of Morganville, such as its purpose and an explanation of the more mystical aspects of the town. Myrnin was quite a fascinating character, and I would not have minded if the text spent more time on Claire's studies with him, as well as her advanced class studies. (And yes, my favorite parts of the Harry Potter series was the classroom stuff.)
I didn't like that this book did not have Eve's journal entries at the end like previous books have done. Those previously gave me clues into her mind and her relationship with Michael, as well as a taste of what happens in the next book, so I was rather disappointed when I realized it was missing.
I'm hoping that future books go into more detail about what the journals cover as well as what exactly the red crystals are and how they affected Claire. I'm hoping that the drama with Eve's brother Jason gets resolved quickly as I find him just plain annoying and obnoxious. The ending had me exclaiming out loud, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, Book 4).
I didn't like that this book did not have Eve's journal entries at the end like previous books have done. Those previously gave me clues into her mind and her relationship with Michael, as well as a taste of what happens in the next book, so I was rather disappointed when I realized it was missing.
I'm hoping that future books go into more detail about what the journals cover as well as what exactly the red crystals are and how they affected Claire. I'm hoping that the drama with Eve's brother Jason gets resolved quickly as I find him just plain annoying and obnoxious. The ending had me exclaiming out loud, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, Feast of Fools (Morganville Vampires, Book 4).
Sam (74 KP) rated Attachments in Books
Mar 27, 2019
I’ve wanted to read Attachments for the past few years, but I’ve always managed to find a book I wanted to read more, and it got forgotten about until I was looking to see what books I wanted for Christmas. I’m so glad I did finally get around to reading it.
Attachments follows the life of Lincoln, a man who works in IT at a newspaper office in 1999. Lincoln is a loner who works night shifts mainly monitoring ‘WebFence’, checking that employees emails aren’t inappropriate. This is where he discovers Beth and Jennifer – two best friends whose emails are constantly being flagged up. Lincoln finds himself reading these emails and falling for one of them.
I never expected this novel to be very deep, after all, it’s about a man who stalks the emails of two women. However, it goes into the issues both Beth and Jennifer have in their lives such as their relationships and happiness.
Lincoln is such a lovable character. He’s nerdy, rubbish at making friends and still lives with his mum.
I was shocked when I saw that the Goodreads rating for this one is only 3.9 because I actually preferred it to any of her other books I’ve read. I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve only ever read her YA before but I just thought this was so much better. In some places, it did feel a little bit slow, but it soon picked up again. It’s definitely better than Rainbow Rowell’s YA novels.
Attachments follows the life of Lincoln, a man who works in IT at a newspaper office in 1999. Lincoln is a loner who works night shifts mainly monitoring ‘WebFence’, checking that employees emails aren’t inappropriate. This is where he discovers Beth and Jennifer – two best friends whose emails are constantly being flagged up. Lincoln finds himself reading these emails and falling for one of them.
I never expected this novel to be very deep, after all, it’s about a man who stalks the emails of two women. However, it goes into the issues both Beth and Jennifer have in their lives such as their relationships and happiness.
Lincoln is such a lovable character. He’s nerdy, rubbish at making friends and still lives with his mum.
I was shocked when I saw that the Goodreads rating for this one is only 3.9 because I actually preferred it to any of her other books I’ve read. I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve only ever read her YA before but I just thought this was so much better. In some places, it did feel a little bit slow, but it soon picked up again. It’s definitely better than Rainbow Rowell’s YA novels.
Makes you think (2 more)
I really connected with pretty much all of the characters
Very good attention to detail making it easy to picture yourself in the story
Left some questions unanswered for me (1 more)
It could have gone on a lot longer and delved into the characters’ lives after the main plot came to an end
Brilliant read
Every so often I go through a spell where I can’t connect with the books I’m reading (through no fault of the books), yet this book snapped me right out of that. I was reading it at every available moment and found myself really thinking about it in the times when I wasn’t reading.
This book tells the story of a ‘family’, particularly focusing on three children; Green, Toby and Blue. This ‘family’ is a community of people who live together in an old, crumbling house and who indulge in very understandable superstitions and rituals to keep all things bad at bay.
As well as a thrilling, charming and downright unsettling premise, this book very cleverly looks at family ties and how love can be so closely related to what can be described as nothing less than torture and torment.
There is no way that I could possibly sum this book up in a few paragraphs, all I can do is wonder why this book doesn’t have more recognition and implore you to find out for yourself all about Green, Blue, the Bad and how much ‘silly’ superstitions can take hold and rule people’s lives.
This book tells the story of a ‘family’, particularly focusing on three children; Green, Toby and Blue. This ‘family’ is a community of people who live together in an old, crumbling house and who indulge in very understandable superstitions and rituals to keep all things bad at bay.
As well as a thrilling, charming and downright unsettling premise, this book very cleverly looks at family ties and how love can be so closely related to what can be described as nothing less than torture and torment.
There is no way that I could possibly sum this book up in a few paragraphs, all I can do is wonder why this book doesn’t have more recognition and implore you to find out for yourself all about Green, Blue, the Bad and how much ‘silly’ superstitions can take hold and rule people’s lives.
Kate (493 KP) rated The Dark Web Murders in Books
Feb 6, 2020
I like the twists and turns in this book and the motive. You can guess the motive from the beginning of the book but you can't guess the true ins and outs. There were a couple of different stories going on which helped the story unravel.
I usually read this kind of genre - crime. It was one of the good ones which you couldn't guess.
I was hooked from the first chapter and sometimes crime books take me a few chapters to get into. I couldn't put the book down.
The story flowed really well. The only thing I didn't like was the descriptions of people at the beginning of the book - some of the information was not relevant and never came up in the story. Also I get a feeling for the characters and learn about them as I read. With so many characters described I quickly forgot the information about each character. I understand the author had done this as people had commented that they would prefer this but me personally I didn't like it.
Some of the information that came to light in the book shocked me and the book is definitely not for the faint hearted. Although it is fiction it does remind you that this stuff really does go on.
The audience is definitely adults due to the content which was shocking.
I would 100% read the other books in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.
I usually read this kind of genre - crime. It was one of the good ones which you couldn't guess.
I was hooked from the first chapter and sometimes crime books take me a few chapters to get into. I couldn't put the book down.
The story flowed really well. The only thing I didn't like was the descriptions of people at the beginning of the book - some of the information was not relevant and never came up in the story. Also I get a feeling for the characters and learn about them as I read. With so many characters described I quickly forgot the information about each character. I understand the author had done this as people had commented that they would prefer this but me personally I didn't like it.
Some of the information that came to light in the book shocked me and the book is definitely not for the faint hearted. Although it is fiction it does remind you that this stuff really does go on.
The audience is definitely adults due to the content which was shocking.
I would 100% read the other books in this series.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.
Kaypu Goods
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Kaypu Goods is all for quick and deliberate purchases in one app! There is a barcode scanner, shops,...
The Vanishing Season
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Winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition, Joanna...
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