A Song of Flight (Warrior Bards #3) by Juliet Marillier

  

 My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

After a violent encounter with masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, Prince Aolu of Dalriada disappears without a trace, and his companion Galen is seriously injured.

Liobhan and the Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's abduction. For Liobhan this mission is personal, as Galen is her beloved brother.

While she and her team investigate, Liobhan's younger brother Brocc is in serious trouble. Brocc's secret attempt to communicate with the Crow Folk triggers a shocking incident, and sends him on a path which endangers the one he loves above all else.

What brought the Crow Folk to Erin? And who plots to use them in an unscrupulous bid for power? As Liobhan and Brocc seek the truth, it becomes clear the two missions are connected - and an extraordinary mystery unfolds.

 

I've enjoyed this trilogy right from the beginning, and this book was no exception. I ended up loving the characters so much. I think Marillier does an excellent job with her characters, from the humans down to the little fae creatures that inhabit her books. I especially enjoyed getting to see Blackthorn and Grim from her previous series again. I really liked how both series dealt with the individual struggles each of the characters had. I felt like Blackthorn and Grim had an overall message of redemption and forgiveness, and this series seemed to have an overarching theme of being true to oneself, and I enjoyed that very much. 

I liked Brocc's story the most in this book. He remained stalwart through all the trials and disappointments he went through and I felt for him. I admired his devotion to doing what he felt was right, and the love and care he had for his daughter was heartwarming. The thing with Eirne was incredibly sad to me, although not really surprising considering what happened in the last book. I struggled to understand her character, as she felt distant to me, but I'm wondering if that wasn't the point.

Liobhan and Dau were still my favorite characters of the series and I liked the way the author showed how they struggled to be apart while on their separate missions. I also thought their story-line ended perfectly in the book. The resolution with the crowfolk was also nicely done. It was nice to be able to come to understand them and what was happening with them.

This was a good conclusion to the trilogy. I think everything was wrapped up nicely, although there is definitely more room to expand on this world if the author chooses. I'm looking forward to whatever she writes next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with and ARC of this book.

Cork O'Connor series, books 1-4 by William Kent Krueger: Iron Lake (Cork O'Connor #1), Boundary Waters (Cork O'Connor #2), Purgatory Ridge (Cork O'Connor #3), Blood Hollow (Cork O'Connor #4)

I started reading this series a little while ago with a mystery buddy read group on Goodreads and so far I like it a lot. The first book, although a little rocky at times for me really held my attention. I wasn't crazy about how Cork's wife was portrayed and wondered why the author chose to make her so unlikable when he intended to keep her around for the rest of the series. She does some incredibly stupid things in the first book, so she's had to grow on me as a character in subsequent books. It's been a slow process, and so far I like her sister, Rose much better. 

I think the set up for the mysteries in these books is really good, but sometimes the execution of the stories haven't been as good as they could have been. I like Cork's mix of the Native American and Irish ancestry, and the Native American lore and culture that's included. It reminds me slightly of Longmire, the TV show. I have no idea how much that show actually resembles the books since I haven't read them yet, but I like the Native American elements in that show.

Overall I'm liking this series and it's gotten better as I've read on. Here are my ratings for the first 4 books in the series:

 

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, some descriptions of sex acts, off page sex

Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Cork is having difficulty dealing with the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, getting by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt.

Once a cop on Chicago’s South Side, there’s not much that can shock him. But when the town’s judge is brutally murdered, and a young Eagle Scout is reported missing, Cork takes on this complicated and perplexing case of conspiracy, corruption, and a small-town secret that hits painfully close to home.

 

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language

 

The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh -- a country-western singer at the height of her fame -- has disappeared. Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire Cork O'Connor to find his daughter, and Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on her trail as well -- men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.

As the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town's snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork's team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death -- violent and sudden -- stalks them.

 

 

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language

 

Not far from the small town of Aurora (population 3,752) lies an ancient two-hundred-acre expanse of great white pines, sacred to the Anishinaabe and known to them as Minishoomisag (Our Grandfathers).

Wealthy industrialist Karl Lindstrom does not have a reputation as a sensitive environmentalist, and some members of the Anishinaabe tribe are concerned about the proximity of the trees to his lumber mill. So when an explosion at the mill results in the death of a night watchman, it's obvious whom suspicion will fall upon.

Cork O'Connor, in the throes of straightening out his life and repairing his marriage, is asked by his successor as sheriff to help with the investigation. His sense of community obliges him to accept, but Cork has distinctly mixed feelings about the case. For one thing, he is part Anishinaabe himself. For another, his lawyer wife, Jo, represents the tribe.

Meanwhile, in a secluded house that overlooks the lakeside home of the Lindstrom family, a reclusive shipwreck survivor and his sidekick also seem to be harboring some resentment of their own against the industrialist. And it soon becomes clear to Cork that harmony, both at home and in the town, will be on the back burner for some time.

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong language, off page sex

When the corpse of a beautiful high school student is discovered on a hillside four months after her disappearance on New Year's Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, local bad boy Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn's self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O'Connor, Aurora's former sheriff, isn't about to hang the crime on the kid, whom O'Connor is convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn's name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some he knows all too well -- small-town bigotry and bureaucracy foremost among them. What Cork isn't prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment hailing from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that's when the miracles start happening....

 

 

 

 

September 2021 Book Club: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

  

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Strong language

 

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crew mates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

                                                  ***

 

"Another day, another staff meeting. Who would have thought saving the world could be so boring?"

 Who would have thought a book about it could be so boring? 

I admit I went into this book knowing that I would probably have mixed feelings about it. I had already read The Martian and liked certain things about it and disliked others. It's hard sci-fi and that's not really my thing. Sorry but I prefer space adventure to scientific research.

Structurally this book was a lot like The Martian, with the exception of the dual timelines. Things pretty much happen in the same kind of order in both books, and Ryland Grace felt exactly like Mark Watney, only with no family and friends. The exact same things I disliked about The Martian were here, only in spades. I thought The Martian was tedious in parts and didn't have enough adventure at times, but at least Mark Watney went out and explored the planet. The main character in this book does almost nothing but sit in a lab on a space ship. I mean sure, he's doing stuff, stuff to save the world, but not exciting stuff.

There is so much scientific research and experimentation in this book. It's interesting to a point, but this whole book is full of it. It was like sitting in a physics class and trying not to fall asleep. I was ready for something exciting to happen, and it took far too long for anything remotely exciting to happen. Even then it was only mildly exciting. I was at least 60 percent into this before it stopped boring me to death with the science and actually did something. For me, there is just not enough character, plot and story in this book to make up for all the scientific textbook-like facts. I would much rather read about the results of the science than the science itself, and I would rather read about the people and what makes them who they are.

Ok, so those are my complaints, but I do think it's a well researched book. I can see why certain personality types or people with certain interests would like it, and I still liked things about it, despite the parts I found boring. I enjoyed the bits of humor that were sprinkled throughout, and the banter between characters, so amidst the boredom I would occasionally smile or laugh. That was the only thing that kept me going. I also started to enjoy the book more when Rocky was introduced. He was interesting and I liked the friendship that developed between him and Ryland. These are the only reasons I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2.

I would only recommend this if you like hard sci-fi with lots and lots...and lots of scientific research and experimentation, and maybe also are a math and science geek. 

As with most of our book clubs, one of the best parts is coming up with the refreshments that fit the theme of the book. 

Here are some photos of what we came up with this time:

 

Jello with round candies in it: Astrophage being consumed by Taumoeba

 

Hamburger patties shaped like men: meburgers

Chocolate candy that looks like rocks.

 

Burritos

Hummus: To represent the paste that was in the food paste tubes.

Bayou Born (The Foundling #1) and Bone Driven (The Foundling #2) by Hailey Edwards

 

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Deep in the humid Mississippi bayou, a half-wild child is dragged from the murky waters. She has no memories, no family and is covered in mysterious markings. Adopted by the policeman who rescued her, Luce Boudreau follows him onto the force, determined to prove herself in the eyes of those who are still suspicious.

However, there's more of a battle ahead than Luce could possibly imagine. She may be an orphan without a past, but no one - including Luce herself - could ever be prepared for the truth of her dark, powerful destiny...

 

I've been wanting to try this for a while, mainly because it's set in Mississippi and I haven't seen very many books set there. I also lived within driving distance from the town this book is set in so I was interested in seeing how things would be portrayed in this book. I thought the overall atmosphere of the bayou and Mississippi in general could have been better described. There are names of several towns that I lived near in these first two books, but there wasn't quite enough to differentiate it from anywhere else. No one in the book felt truly Southern to me, but it didn't bother me too much. 

Most of the paranormal/urban fantasies I've read lately have been rather mediocre, especially the self published ones. I think they've all just lacked some character depth, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I ended up really liking it a lot. The characters were well written, except for maybe, as I said before, not feeling very Southern. 

There were a couple of twists that I thought were well done. I didn't see one of them coming at all. I was a little disappointed, after the main character's identity is revealed. It wasn't really a direction I was wanting or expecting the book to go in, but after I got used to the idea it grew on me.

There were certain aspects of this that reminded me a lot of the Crow's Curse series by Laura Bickle, but I'm liking this better. Mostly though, this felt pretty unique and I liked it enough to read the second book, which I've added my rating and the description to below. As of now, I'm planning to continue on with the series.

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

 

Life as a cop in Canton Town, Mississippi, is never dull - particularly when hiding deep within you is a demon bent on the apocalypse. Luce is doing her best to pretend her two worlds aren't crashing into each other, but what should be a routine arson investigation takes a shocking turn when Luce discovers a link between the suspects and her own dark secrets. There's no turning back, even though her search for the truth threatens to burn her old life down around her.

Lines are being drawn in a war Luce barely understands, and she just might be on the wrong side of them. Now she must embrace her powerful destiny, or the ones she loves most will pay the ultimate price.

 

 

Nolyn (The Rise and Fall #1) by Michael J. Sullivan

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

After more than five hundred years of exile, the heir to the empyre is wary about his sudden reinstatement to active duty on the Goblin War’s front lines. His assignment to rescue an outpost leads to a dead-end canyon deep inside enemy territory, and his suspicion turns to dread when he discovers the stronghold doesn't exist. But whoever went to the trouble of planning his death to look like a casualty of war didn't know he would be assigned to the Seventh Sikaria Auxiliary Squadron. In the depths of an unforgiving jungle, a legend is about to be born, and the world of Elan will never be the same.

 

This is a hard review to write. I love Michael J. Sullivan as an author, and I love this world that he has created, and I liked parts of this book, but I never felt very attached the characters the way I usually do when I read a MJS book. I thought everything felt a bit rushed and we didn't have the opportunity to dig deeper into the characters and who they were. The characters that I did feel a connection with were the side characters Amicus and Arvis. I really would have liked more about Amicus and the other Teshlors. I also would have liked more about Arvis as well. Her story really is heartbreaking. In the afterward at the end of the book, Robin tells us to go back and read the first two paragraphs of chapter 10. I did that and it was heart wrenching to read after knowing what I knew at the end of the book.

Overall I was a bit disappointed in this book. What I liked the best about it was the way things ended and the lessons that were learned, albeit some of them a bit too late. The main characters Nolyn and Sephryn were not all that likable to me. It's funny how the children of really great people can sometimes not be all that great, or not live up to what their parents were. I think this book illustrated that really well. I wondered why it took them 800 plus years grow up. To me they felt way too juvenile and naive for their ages. I think some of these realizations that made the ending so good could have happened much sooner in their lives. Both Nolyn and Sephryn have good intentions and I admire that they are fighting for humans to be treated right, but they are still weak characters compared the other leading characters I've read in Sullivan's books.

On another note, I'm not crazy about some of the real world words and phrases that have been incorporated into the story, like protests, and "social justice" and "equal doesn't mean the same" etc.. For me it makes the story feel like it's a thinly veiled commentary on what's happening in the real world, and I would rather forget the real world when I'm reading a book. I did however really like this quote from the book:

"Words came and went, and with time many changed their definitions.  The intent behind the words was what mattered.  Sephryn knew that if everyone took offense at everything society was doomed."

 

Even though this book disappointed me a little, I still enjoyed reading it and I still want to read the next two books. I've been looking forward to reading Esrahaddon's story since The Riyria Revelations series.

 

 

The 3:00 a.m. Series (Books 1-5) by Nick Pirog

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Content: Strong Language

 

Henry Bins is only awake one hour a day. 

Can you imagine only being awake for one hour each day? Can you imagine having to cram your entire existence into 60 measly minutes? (Two minutes to shower. Three minutes to eat. Five minutes to watch TV.) And in that 3600 seconds you have awake, imagine that you have to figure out:

- Who murdered the woman across the street? (You suspect it was the President of the United States, but can you prove it?)

- Why your mom abandoned you when you were six years old? (Was it because she worked for the CIA? Or was it because of your condition?)

- What caused your strange condition where you wake up at exactly 3:00 a.m. then fall asleep exactly an hour later, then sleep for twenty-three hours? (Were you experimented on? If so, by who?)

- And most importantly, what is Project Sandman?

Welcome to Henry Bins's life.

 

I had never heard of this series until I saw it on Book Bub for 99 cents. It looked interesting so I decided to go ahead and buy it. From reading the description I thought it was going to be a darker suspense thriller, which is what I was looking for. This however, ended up being an odd mix of mystery and suspense with some cozy mystery aspects to it. The latter is mainly due to the fact that the main character talks to his cat like he can understand what he's meowing at him, and the cat seems to understand him too. The cat behaves in many other ways that are not realistic for a cat at all as well, and I think it was an odd choice to include this in the series. It's hard to categorize this because there are F bombs thrown in at times along with the cozy mystery aspects, and that just makes it feel off kilter to me. It could have been a really good suspense thriller, but unfortunately I think the attempt at humor with the cat just made it seem far too unreal. 

I also thought this was a complete series when I bought it, but when I got to the end there was a cliffhanger and a couple of other unresolved things. The author has said there would be two more books in the series, but it's been 5 years since this last book was published, and all the other books were published within a year of each other, so I'm not holding out too much hope for an ending at this point. 

Overall this series was enjoyable, but not very realistic, and definitely not what I was hoping for when I picked it up. There is a nice message about time and how we choose to spend it because, of course the main character here has very little of it to spend with the people he loves. Realistically, I think him having a relationship that lasts would probably be next to impossible, even though he does find someone in the series who loves him enough to try. On a deeper level I don't see how a relationship could work and the challenges with this are not really addressed.

Apparently this been optioned by Sony Pictures, and I can see the appeal of making this into a suspense thriller type movie or TV show. I'm wondering how much it would end up resembling the original product if it ever gets made though. I think it could definitely be improved upon. 

As a whole I'm giving the series 3 stars because although it wasn't what I thought it would be it still kept me entertained and wasn't bad to read. Also these are short novella length books so this really just read like one whole book, but I'll go ahead and add my rating for each individual story here:

3 a.m.: 3 stars

3:10 a.m.: 3 stars

3:21 a.m.: 2.5 stars. This felt like a lot of filler to me, so it didn't get 3 stars.

3:34 a.m.: 3 stars

3:46 a.m.: 3 stars

 

Winterlight (Green Rider #7) by Kristen Britain

   

 My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

After her capture at the hands of Grandmother and the Second Empire, Karigan G'ladheon is making halting progress towards recovery. Karigan takes on increasingly dangerous missions, haunted by the specter of her torturer, Nyssa, and sinking ever further into the mire of her recollections of the past and the losses she's sustained.

Meanwhile, the forces of the Second Empire are moving on Sacoridia and their primary target is a vulnerable garrison that guards a crucial mountain pass. Faced with new fatherhood and a country on the verge of war, King Zachary sends a contingent of soldiers and Green Riders to the pass--but his own recovery from the events of the north is not yet complete either.

Reunited with her fellow Riders at the pass, Karigan takes on a leadership role, but quickly finds that the Riders are not as she last left them. As tension mounts and war draws ever closer to the heart of Sacoridia, Karigan must discover what it truly means to be a Rider and a hero of the realm--and what sacrifices must be made to truly heal from her past.

 

I can't begin to tell you how much I look forward to these Green Rider books. It's so hard to wait 3 to 4 years between them, but also so worth it! So of course I was thrilled when I received an ARC of this seventh book in the series. After the events of the last book I was eager to find out what was going to happen next. Honestly it's like that after I finish every one of these books, and I was happy the book pretty much got right into things. 

This is supposed to be the second to last book in this story arc that's been going on for 7 books now, and it feels like there is still a lot left to be done in book 8. I'm curious to see how the author wraps things up. And don't worry, book 8 will not be the end of the series, just this story arc. I was very happy that some conflicts got resolved in this book, but we are still waiting for what will happen next with Mornhaven, although some set up was established for how they will deal with that conflict. I really can't wait to see how things will play out, especially now that dragons have been introduced into the world.

This book had me biting my nails a few times wondering what was going to happen to some of these beloved characters. There were several points of view covered in this book and some of them got a lot more attention than others, but that didn't bother me. I did really want to know more of what was happening with Captain Mapstone though! Obviously the next book will be more about that, but it's hard to wait. There are also a couple of points of view that didn't seem too important to the story line in this particular book, but I feel like the author is probably setting up some threads that will have something to do with the next story arc down the road. 

There were a couple of nice surprises in this book. I didn't expect the story to go the way it did regarding King Zachary and some of the choices he made involving Karigan, and I'm not talking about relationship stuff exactly, but just certain things he has her do in the book before and during the battle. I really loved seeing them fight together and I looked forward to their interactions throughout the book. I also really enjoyed how some of the relationship stuff played out, but I also have some mixed feelings about how it's being handled.

Overall this was my favorite book I've read this year, probably because I love this series so much. It included heartbreak and sorrow, and love and triumph, just like all the previous books, but this one, I felt ended on a lighter note than most of them. There was no huge cliffhanger, we know where the story is headed, even though there are a threads that are left dangling that involve some important people. But for the first time since I began this series, I didn't feel like Karigan was a complete punching bag. I was thrilled that despite all the trials that she has endured, some good things actually happened for her in this book and that made my heart happy.

I desperately want to include quotes from the book in this review, but because it's an ARC I can't until I check them against the completed version of the book, so I may come back and tweak this review later.

Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for providing me with an ARC of this book.