February Reading Challenge

 

 

In February the challenge was titled Short Month, Short Books, and we read as many short stories and novellas as we could. I had quite a few of them on my to-read list, and while I didn't get to all of them, these are the ones I did read.

 

First, I picked up Small Magics by Ilona Andrews. It's a compilation of all their stories related to Kate Daniels and a couple of unrelated ones. I had read most of them but had missed reading the prequel story to Magic Breaks in the Curran's POV Collection, Grace of Small Magics, and Of Swine and Roses. 

 

Grace of Small Magics by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

Grace has always known she wasn’t like everyone else and that her family has magic abilities. After flying to meet the head of Clan Dreoch in order to fulfill her families’ “duties” as servants, Grace finds herself in the middle of a mage clan war…

 

I enjoyed Grace of small Magics, but I think it would have been better without the rushed romance, or instalove. Since it's a short story it's too hard to fully develop a romance and have it feel believable. I would have probably liked it better if there had just been the beginnings of romantic interest between the characters without them acting so in love so quickly.

Of Swine and Roses by Ilona Andrews

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

A young adult short story about a girl, a pig, some magic, and the worst date ever.

Chad Thurman is a thug, who carries brass knuckles in both pockets and lays magic traps for intruders into “his” neighborhood. The last thing Alena Kornov wants to do is to go on the date with him. But when her family pressures her, she can’t say no. Now the ice-cream is absent, the pig is running for its life, and we won’t even mention the dead guy… 

 

This was a really cute story and I think the only YA story I've ever seen by Ilona Andrews. The magical mafia type culture was kind of interesting. I especially loved Alena's personality and how she took it upon herself to save the pig.

There are a lot of stories I've yet to read in Arcanum Unbounded but I did get a few more of them read in February. I always enjoy reading the author notes that Sanderson includes with his stories.

 

The Hope of Elantris (#1.5) by Brandon Sanderson 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

"There were always a few holes in the manuscript where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the name of streamlining, particularly at the end. In the back of my mind, I knew what happened. This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be read after you've finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax. In the annotation, I've written a further explanation of why I wrote this piece. Some of you may find it interesting to read this ahead of time; I put it in the annotation, however, as I know others would rather enjoy the story without bias beforehand, then read my thoughts afterward."  ~ Brandon Sanderson.

 

It's been a long time since I read Elantris, but I remembered enough to read this and place it in the context of the story. It's from the point of view of a girl who was not in the book, and while I thought the story was very enjoyable, it was made even more enjoyable after I read the annotation Sanderson included afterwards, which tells why he wrote the story in the first place.

 

The Eleventh Metal (Mistborn #0.5) by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

"This story was written specifically for the Mistborn Adventure Game, a tabletop RPG. Please keep in mind that the story was intended to help a GM bring his players up to speed on the world if they haven’t read the books. There are a few goodies for those who want to know more about Kelsier, but this story is not meant to stand wholly on its own."
~ Brandon Sanderson.

This was an enjoyable glimpse of Kelsier before the events of Mistborn. It shows how he gets the whole idea for his plan and also introduces us to his mentor Gemmel.

 

 

 

The Debt Collector: Lirium, Season One (Debt Collector #1-9) by Susan Kaye Quinn

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language, Prostitution, Sex

 

What's your life worth on the open market?

In this sexy, gritty future-noir, debt collectors take your life energy and give it to someone more "worthy"... all while paying the price with black marks on their souls.

Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat and jackboots—he's just in it for his cut, ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, people who will make the world a better place with their work and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja's girls keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane... until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone—a dark pit he's not sure he'll be able to climb out of again.

 

I wasn't expecting to like this nearly as much as I did. I picked up the first story, Delirium for 99 cents because it sounded interesting. I knew it would be dark and gritty, so I wasn't sure about it, but the dark, gritty, noir-like setting really pulled me in. This was a cool mash up of urban fantasy and cyberpunk (a genre I haven't had a lot of success with), and it worked so well for me. The story overall had a sexy feel to it, in the vein of noir type fiction. After I finished Delirium, I saw that all 9 books of Season One were free in this omnibus, so I downloaded it and kept reading. I believe this was originally published as a web serial, so each part is pretty short, with the whole season being around 430 pages. I'm not going to review each one of the stories separately, because they work well as one volume. Some stories I think are worth 4 stars and some 3, so my rating as a whole is 3.5.

 
I enjoyed the main character, Lirium a lot and also the side characters, especially Elena, or apple girl, as Lirium likes to call her. After Delirium, there is the second part called Agony where Lirium meets Ophelia. I thought the parts with Ophelia were good and I liked her character, but the feelings developed there felt unnecessary to the story arch. I think he thought he was falling in love with her, but I don't think he really was. I kept waiting for him to get back to apple girl, so I was a little impatient through these parts of the story.

Overall I enjoyed this, but I do feel like there were several flaws in the story as a whole. I won't get into them because of spoilers, but honestly I didn't really care. I just went with it and, for the most part, enjoyed the ride.

 

Professional Integrity by Michael J. Sullivan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language 

 

Several years have passed since the war-weary mercenary Hadrian and cynical ex-assassin Royce joined forces to start their thieves-for-hire organization better known as Riyria. Things have gone well enough for the team as they do "jobs" for various nobles throughout Elan. Usually that means stealing something, but when a young heiress asks them to steal her…well, that's a first for the pair. All is not as it seems, but Royce is determined to get the bottom of what's actually going on. After all, he has his professional integrity at stake.

 

Next I picked up this one short story I had missed reading in Michael J. Sullivan's world of Riyria. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but then I always enjoy reading about Royce and Hadrian. There were some very amusing parts and a nice twist.

 

 

 

  

The Last Witness by K. J. Parker

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

When you need a memory to be wiped, call me.

Transferring unwanted memories to my own mind is the only form of magic I've ever mastered. But now, I'm holding so many memories I'm not always sure which ones are actually mine, any more.

Some of them are sensitive; all of them are private. And there are those who are willing to kill to access the secrets I'm trying to bury...

 

I liked the concept a lot, but the main character wasn't very likable. The story overall was a bit sad and depressing. I also found my mind wandering throughout the story for some reason, and I would have to backtrack to see what I had missed. So, a bit of a disappointment for me, but I did like the narrator for the audio.