Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter

I loved this book.  It was so silly and tongue in cheek but yet historically accurate enough that one could almost believe that Abraham Lincoln (who is like my great great great great great grandpa) was indeed a Vampire Hunter.  I especially like that the author made John Wilkes Booth a vampire, how perfectly chilling to think that our 16th president was murdered by the hand of a vampire.  Of course if it were real I am pretty sure Mr. Booth would have bitten and then drained the president and we all know that Mr. Lincoln was shot while watching a play.  Seems a very cowardly way for a vampire to kill someone.  All in all it is a fantastic read, part historical non-fiction, part vampire mythology and a lot of blood and gore.  Now that is my kind of book.  I really loved the pictures depicting vampires and Mr. Lincoln, marvelous idea. 

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Book one of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.  A Great and Terrible Beauty is a young adult book, which is industry lingo for lots of teen angst.  The angst is alive and well but in a different way because the novel is set in the early 1900's, when women were mostly another possession.  Instead of the normal teenage girl problems the majority of the angst is about being married (sold) off to an older, pudgy husband.  The majority of the story takes place at Spence academy, which is a finishing school for girls.  Not an educational school but rather a school that will teach young ladies how to snag a proper husband.  God it is any wonder people managed to make babies in this time period.   

Anyway, the story revolves around Gemma and her mysterious new ability to reach the realm of lost souls.  Of course in order to fit in she brings along her friends and there is always that one girl who is power hungry and things get out of hand. 

The writing was lacking unless the author was speaking about emotions, then the writing came alive with the fears and triumphs of these poor girls.  One line I particularily loved was one girl wanted to not be beautiful any longer - her reasoning - because people (especially men) always want to possess beautiful things.  Very true. 

The book was alright, I did put the other two novels in the series on my hold list at the library - mostly to find out what happens in the end.  I am sure it is going to be pretty melodramatic but sometimes it is nice to have a little fluff book that isn't too serious.

The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

This Quote on the back of the novel "I loved this book.  What else is there to say?" by Patrick Rothfuss pretty much sums up how I feel about The Way of Kings.  But I will say a little more, after all this is a blog.
I have never read a Sanderson novel. I know he took over the reins of Jordan's Wheel of Time series after his death but the series seemed long, played out and I was afraid I would eventually get bored.  When I spotted this behemoth of a novel at the library I could not pass it up.  The book is over 1000 pages, which doesn't seem like much until you start to read it.  It took me a good week and a half to read this novel, mostly because of personal issues and because the book is that good I didn't want to waste time reading it unless I could give it the attention it deserved.  Not to mention the many rests in order to prevent carpal tunnel in my wrists from holding the book up. 
Of course this is a first novel in a series, but it is a very good first novel.  I loved the characters, the world that Sanderson has created is impressive and the scope of this story is amazing.  Guess I didn't have much else to say after all.  I loved this book.  I cannot wait for his other novels to find out what happens to this mess of characters I have fallen in love with, once again I can only hope it will not be a long wait.   I just might pick up the Wheel of Time series.  Maybe.

The Company of Strangers

I liked The Company of Strangers.  The ending was predictable but it was still a well written suspenseful novel about a network of spies during WWII.  The deep betrayal and intricate levels that Mr. Wilson creates in this novel are amazing.  It is not a simple story of sides and double crosses because everyone it seems is working for someone else, and sometimes that person is working for someone else.  It is a very tangled web. 
The characters are well defined, but then again everyone is very busy trying to be someone else so it is difficult to truly delve into the depth of a spy.

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Brisingr is the third book in the Inheritance series.  Little unknown fact about the author, he was 16 when he wrote Eragon.  The book was fantastic, which he then followed up with Elder (also great).  Someone out there decided to make a movie of Eragon which was horrid, even for the low standards I place on movies based on great books.  But do not let that stop you from reading this series. 
The character of Eragon matures more and more each novel (as he should) along with Paolinis writing.  Brisingr is the longest of the three books, having more pages than the first two combined, but the author still keeps the story moving along.  Once again we are invited in the world of dragon riders through Eragon and Saphira but also into the very human world of Roran and Katrina.  Roran is Eragons only surviving relative and they have a very close bond.  Roran and Katrinas love is a much needed breath air in this heavy on the war and fighting book. 

It was a great read and I look forward to the fourth and final novel in the series.  For a novice and young writer Paolini is truly special and I look forward to reading his novels for years to come.

A Dangerous Climate by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

I grabbed this book on a whim while on my most recent library trip.  I was unprepared but had a few seconds without kids and therefore ended up wondering up and down the stacks trying to find a book to read. 

I was not crazy about this book, mostly because nothing happens.  At all.  The names were long and impossible to pronounce.  The main character is a vampire, who agrees to go undercover in Saint Petersburgh as a spy.  His disguise is the husband of a young Poland woman whose husband has disappeared.  The exact mission is never explained because the Count is on a need to know basis and his "wife" never decided he needed to know. 

The novel was full of very proper dialogue, boring histories and letters about Czar Peter and Saint Petersburgh and relationships that were lacking any sort of affection.  I kept waiting for something to happen, anything.  But nothing did, ever. 

A very strange dry book.