Felicia Day

I wanted to mention a few books I’ve read the past few weeks that I think are worth noting.

I collected quite a number of comics from ComiCon because me knowledge of that area of literature is woefully ignorant. I’ve read a few in my very spare time and wanted to mention them.

First, Scott Pilgrim was recommended to me by Joss Whedon himself, so I totally put that on the top of the stack. And I’ve already ordered all the rest of the series, it’s so great! Short description: “Scott Pilgrim is a 23-year-old guy living in the big city with his gay roommate, just trying to make his way in this crazy world.” It’s cool to have such a hip, regular-world venue and have it be so incredibly interesting. The characters are so engaging. I look forward to eating up all the rest of the series very quickly.

Next, I met the “Looking for Group” guys in their booth at Comicon and they traded my their lovely hardback for a signed headshot. Nice trade! I had read this comic before online, so to get a nice hardback copy to peruse (Nice, thick, luscious paper, oh and the comic is awesome too, hehe). If you’re a gamer or a WOW player, definitely check out their site. I’m partial to them because they have an actual page called “Codex”, thus they know where that name came from, rather than making “Kotex” jokes.

I have more comics to go through from Comicon, so stay tuned for more stuff I’ve glommed onto.

Other books: I also got a preview copy of the forthcoming novel “I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER”!!!!!

The testament to the power of LOL Cats is that any visitor I’ve have over in the last week who has seen the book, promptly squeals and then reads EVERY PAGE SLOWLY and giggles to themselves in the corner. It’s weird and creepy and fantastic. I read this book with my boyfriend together before bedtime. I might do it again tonight. When this book comes out I will be buying many copies and spreading the gospel of Kitteh Talk. Thanks for the preview!

Next, I finished the GREAT Duology “Hunter’s Oath” and “Hunter’s Death” by Michelle West. I love this author, she writes under the name Michelle Sagara too, her “Cast” series has a new one coming out at the end of the month and I’ve pre-ordered it for months. That series is more urban-fantasy-romancey, but this duology is thick, complicated Epic Fantasy at its finest. There are a lot of characters, and sometimes the lore gets a little heavy, but I really enjoyed the world and the plot twists. I will be reading the other books she has in this world focusing on one of the characters.

Last but never least, my blog readers know I’m crazy about Lisa Shearin’s Magic Lost, Trouble Found series. If you like adventure, romance, girl fighting action, a great sense of humor, definitely pick up this series. However, you know that I haven’t been a huge fan of the cover art. (I believe I referred to it as vaginal pink or something insulting, and Lisa commented and I was ashamed, haha). Well, the cover art for book #3 is out and….

YES! No pink in sight! Raine is finally bad-assed like she is in the book! She’s wearing leather, she has skinny thighs! She’s carrying a dagger, and her ears are attractive and pointy. I love orange, my favorite color, so I can’t tell you HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS BOOK! Finally it doesn’t scream 12 year old girl. It says there will be fighting and magic and sexy hunk elves and goblins galore. Yumz.

So Lisa and Lisa’s cover art maker, I salute you. I only ache inside I have to wait until next year to read this. Where can I pre-order?!!

After a three day marathon reading session that included a lot of late nights (and dark circles under the eyes) I have finally finished Joe Abercrombie’s Trilogy “The First Law”.  Two separate blog readers, Paul and uber author Patrick Rothfuss sent me copies of the third book “Last Argument of Kings” because it is only available in pre-order from the states.  Thank you to both of you.  You may ask, why would I accept two copies, isn’t that piggish?  Because my brother “borrowed” one copy and, in fear of never getting it back again, I accepted the second out of self-protection.  I’m not shameful of it, because the stakes were high.  I needed to finish.

And boy did this series finish!   After reading the third book in the trilogy, I definitely have to say that this  is one of my top 10 favorite series of all time.   It’s that good.  The finale pays off all the genre-bending plot twists and crazy left turns that occurred in books one and two, and in a way that will leave you gasping.  I could not have looked up from the last 100 pages if you had paid me!

This series has a very “sword and sorcery” feel to it, but the author makes a conscious effort to reinvent the cliches of the genre, and the more cynical viewpoint makes the books feel modern and new.  I found myself rooting for the most unexpected characters, which I suppose was the whole point, to explore the “grey” areas in a very black and white genre.   Particularly I was struck by the immaculate plotting and character arcs for all three books.   Some of the “huh” moments of certain character choices in earlier books were totally explained as he wrapped up all the loose plot points (and there are a lot of them!)  I would definitely recommend this series to George RR Martin fans and other epic fantasy lovers.  And I can’t wait for the next one! (Yes, it SAYS it’s a trilogy…)

You guys know how much I love Magic Lost, Trouble Found,Lisa Shearin‘s fantasy series about elven sorceress and seeker Raine Benares. Flatteringly she’s nominated me (and Miranda Otto, who…ok she’s great, I have to second that one ) as her dream leads for the movie version of Magic Lost, Trouble Found! Yay! Check out the entry on My Book, The Movie, a pretty cool blog! Thanks Lisa!

Of all the Social Networking junk I’m a member of, none feels as functional and “ah, I love having that!” as Goodreads. For those who don’t know, it’s a social network for book readers, where you can tag and review books you’ve read and connect with your friends and other readers. I struggled with other ways to share the books I’ve read and this is the perfect solution. The interface is very easy to use, and adding/reviewing books is so satisfying. I feel like it’s a real, functional catalogue of something that I’ll appreciate having in 5 years, unlike most. And it has great portability, so I can add the widget to my Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and this website. Anyway, if you love books and read a lot of them, I urge you to create an account and friend me!

On to reviews. These are by no means all the books I’ve read the last 2 months, but they’re the ones that stand out as shareworthy.

I reviewed the first book in this series earlier this year, The Blade Itself and the fantastic thing is that the second book, Before They Are Hanged, meets and exceeds what I enjoyed about the first one! The characterization is fascinating and gripping. Joe Abercrombie really masters the “grey area”, where no one is a two-dimensional bad guy, and you’re constantly questioning the motivation of people who you thought were on one side or another. I really enjoyed the “foppish” nobility being made fun of, and there are twists here that make you go “WHOAH! I didn’t see that coming!!” There are some main characters who seem a little underrepresented in this one who were very prominent in the first book, but that only adds to the depth of the whole cast, and I can’t wait to see how these ends are ultimately tied up in the trilogy finale! I sense a very dark path going in unexpected directions. If you enjoy George RR Martin or Stephen Erikson, I would definitely recommend this series. PLUS, the cover art is really top notch! It is very classy, implies a Dumas-like adventure, and doesn’t have badly-oiled pecks or men with shields. Not only that, it has a great textured paper you don’t see very often, nubby and parchment-like, and I really enjoyed holding it, so + 2 to superficial appeal!

“The Blade Itself” epitomizes the more gritty fantasy approach that is emerging as the standard for epic fantasy. I have a theory about this. The emergence of Harry Potter and other “lighter” fantasy, with magic and wizards and more tongue in cheek attitudes, coupled with the more urban “romance” fantasy genre (more angled towards women), has caused the epic fantasy to go towards a more man-appealing direction. Less frou-frou and more blood, hair and guts in the vast sweeping epic-type of series. Tell me what you think about this direction, do you like it? Do you miss the more Robert Jordan approach?

The chest-hair type epic is also the kind of book Winterbirth, by Brian Ruckley is. I have to admit, this was a much harder read for me. It’s very interesting from the world-building angle, Gods abandoning the world after a huge genocidal war. I enjoyed the history and detail in the backstory. Also, it’s SUPER LONG, which never turns me off as I tend to love books thick enough to kill cockroaches with, but I really had a hard time connecting with these characters. It was almost TOO vast in scope, too many points of view going on. I tended to skip whole sections, eager to land back with the characters and plotlines that held my interest. I think it’s a tough balancing act to have so many angles of storytelling going on, and naturally ones will be more interesting than others, but it was still difficult for me to finish the book. I think better editing could have improved this book a lot. If you are a big fan of machismo sword and shield fantasy, I still think you’d enjoy it, (it’s been very well reviewed across the web) but personally, I will be on the fence for the follow up. The cover art is great, very “300″, and the font is nice and simple. See, I’m not a total negative Nancy!!!

Another interesting grey-area book I just finished is
“Empress” by Karen Miller. I haven’t read her first series, the Innocence Mage, but I am going to pick it up based on this one. This is a book told from the angle of the “bad guy”. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s a very interesting character study into the mind of religious zealotry and meglomania, and seeks to explore the question “How does that evil genius become that way?” This is not a book for everyone. I admit, I skimmed the middle quite a bit, but I was definitely invested in seeing where in the world this completely heinous character was headed, lol. I hear the sequel is done from a completely different angle, and I am interested to see how they support each other.
When I picked it up, I was expecting a much different story, a story following a woman who would become leader to a warring nation, faced with challenges. It’s SORT OF starts out like that, but then you realize, “Wow, this character is…not a good guy!” Interesting experience.

Lastly, men and women…it’s Vaginal Fantasy time!!! “Armed and Magical”, by Lisa Shearin (Who has a great blog BTW) is the sequel to the MUCH raved-about-by-me first novel in the series “Magic Lost, Trouble Found”. The adventure starts almost continuous from the ending of the last book, and I’m glad because I don’t want to miss one minute! Guys, this series is like chocolate to me, I just can’t get enough of it. The author strikes a balance of adventure and fun that is the very reason I love reading in the first place, and the second book serves up a dish of enthusiasm and magic and touches of romance I ate up like a little literature-piggy! Nom nom nom! If I had my druthers, I’d have this on Sci-Fi channel with me starring in it. I’ve always wanted to wear a Jerkin. Make no mistake, this series is not deep, it’s not dark, it’s a magical romp with fun characters. It encompasses the best of the urban fantasy genre that is so popular right now, combined with a whimsical sense of humor. I really, really want the love triangle to be fleshed out in the next book, oh and for Raine to kick more ass. Again, if you like Buffy, definitely check out this book!

Sadly, I’m going to have to say it again, this cover art is…not good. If you compare this cover to the last one, besides the much-improved ochre tones instead of blinding pink and purples, it looks like Raine has gained a little weight in the thigh/butt area. I guess the ship voyage over to the island didn’t allow her to exercise or something. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure the way Raine is described in the book has NOTHING to do how this chick looks! Maybe I’m biased because I worked with someone who looks like this, Sami from Days of Our Lives (first Hollywood job, not the best experience). Anyway, the book rox.

That’s it! Please post any books you guys have enjoyed lately, I’m on the prowl!