Felicia Day

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed books  here ( you can keep abreast of more current reviews/reads I have on my GoodReads account!) But since I read all five books in this series in three days, I felt the obsession bonus was worth a blog entry.

Yeah, this cover is awful.  The pink font in the trees, the kitchy Meg-Ryan-Movie quote, the chick UNDER the horse (I mean, that just looks UNSAFE!), ugh.  Thank god for my Kindle, I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to pick this one up live.

There are five books in Moira J Moore’s “Heroes” series.  I picked this series up on a whim from an Amazon List (honestly, I find the best books that way! Thank you Amazon contributors!) It looked to be something I wouldn’t necessarily love (a bit twee from the descriptio)n:

In a realm beset by natural disasters, only the bonded Pairs–Source and Shield–make the land habitable and keep the citizenry safe. But can Dunleavy Mallorough and Lord Shintaro Karish put aside their differences to defeat something even more unnatural than their reluctant affections for each other?

Luckily I quickly fell in love with the characters and the world.  It’s the perfect light romantic fantasy I was in the mood for as I’ve been traveling.  Reminded me of one of my fave series by Lisa Shearin, so if you picked that up and liked it, this will be for you.

This is a light fantasy romp that really hangs it hat on the characterizations of the two main characters, Lee and Taro. It has a lot of romance, but there’s enough in magic and the mystery of the plots to not define it WHOLLY as that kind of book.  It’s not a cookie cutter relationship between the two leads, often they’re quite maddening, which is what I found refreshing. It’s just so sweetly and cleverly done.

What really carries the series through is the POV of the main character, Lee. The books are written in first person from her point of view. When I first started the first book, I first thought it was a bit simply written, like a Young Adult novel. But as I progressed through the book and into series, I realize it’s because the author was being so faithful to the first person view. Lee is naive, not experienced, and very stubborn, so, even if I, the reader, knows something is up with a secondary character or plotline, Lee doesn’t necessarily do the sensible thing or add it up, which can be annoying, but makes it REAL.  The main character grows through the series, but is never going to be terribly insightful, by definition of her character and the world the author built, which is part of the fun. I just have to admire that.

Also the relationship between the two main characters is very interesting, they are both VERY flawed, so the story (and their relationship) goes through unpredictable and interesting, real twists. I really loved that there isn’t some fairy tale happiness between them, and that is even more endearing.  To have a character admit in a “romance” book that she enjoys not being around her amour all the time, that she likes to enjoy her own company sometimes, is just so much fun compared to the obsessive “we’re in love so we always can’t get enough of each other forever” sort of attitude in most romance novels.

Also, the books are quite funny at times, because Lee is snarky and amusing.  Some lines had me laughing out loud.  Anyway, I would highly recommend the books, they are very very enjoyable light reads and get better and better as the series goes on.  Will definitely stay on my “OMG THERES A NEW ONE OUT!” list.

First, let’s get this first piece of new over with:

I’VE MADE IT!

How exactly is that you ask? The Guild getting popular? An awesome role in the 13th episode of Dollhouse? Something bigger? Oh yes. Take a gander at this recent piece in the NEW-frikkin-YORKER:

“The success of the ebook is being fueled by the romance and erotic romance market,” Peter Smith, of ITworld, reports. Smith cites the actress and Kindle enthusiast Felicia Day, of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” who has been bingeing on paranormals like “Dark Needs at Night’s Edge.” “I’ve read like, 6 books this week and ordered about 10 more,” Day blogged. “It’s stuff I never would have checked out at the Barnes and Noble, because the gleaming and oily man chests would have made me blush too much.”

Oh yes, I’m the “oily chest” chick.  My Dad is proud all right. Er….whatever. Onto the book reviews I’ve accumulate for the past month or so:

Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, #2) – Richelle Mead
My appetite for the “tough paranormal chick” literature has waned in the recent months, namely because I think I’ve read them all. Like, hundreds this year it feels like. But this series really caught my interest with the first book, Storm Born. The second book, Thorn Queen, after a slow first couple of chapters lived up to expectations. Eugenie is a cool character, a real-life working Shaman but who is connected to the Faery world as well.  What I like about this series is that some takes place in “real life” and some in the Faery land.  It’s what the Merry Gentry series from Laurell Hamilton COULD have been (other than porn with lots of guys, bleck).  I really liked how the characters developed in this second book and a few twists in the romance were very satisfying.  I can’t spoil anything, except to say I really really hope that the ending isn’t a feign, and that a key character who’s yummy doesn’t turn bad in the third one!  If you like Laurell Hamilton, or Jeannie Frost or Lillith Saintcrow or Rachel Caine you’ll like this series.  Also, for a time the Kindle edition was free download on Amazon, not sure if it’s still free but check it out!

Naamah’s Kiss (Kushiel’s Legacy, #7): Jacqueline Carey

I loves me some Jacqueline Carey.  I mean, I even turned into a blithering idiot getting a video with her at last year’s Comicon.  Whatever.  She’s had two books come out lately, Sainta Olivia last month (which I liked a lot as well) and just recently Naamah’s Kiss, which I went out and bought in hardback because I need her on my “keep you long time” bookshelf.  So, if you’ve read the first 6 you’ll know the world, and this book is the start of a new series in the same world.  This time the heroine is Moirim, who turns out to be er… *slight spoiler*

a hot bisexual druid.  You read that right.

*end spoilers*

The world is lush and awesome, I love love it as always, and after we visit familiar territory we take a jaunt outside of the worlds that have been established towards the end of the book.  I enjoyed it a lot.  It’s hard to live up to Phedre and Jocelyn from the first trilogy, but this had enough intrigue and definitely set up for some tussles down the line.  There are a BUNCH of (awesome) racy scenes in this, so if you’re not into that…who’s not into that again?  I just think this author is the bomb and would read her grocery list if I could.  The book has a lot of romance in it, but the world building is so rich and thorough it’s really epic fantasy at its best.  I would compare her to Guy Gavriel Kay with way more naughty bits.

Desperate Duchesses: Eloisa James

Ok, boys look away.  This is pure romance crap coming towards you.  Eloisa James’ Duchess series, starting with Desperate Duchesses is crack, pure and simple.  Think “Pride and Prejudice” meets “Sex and the City” or the “OC”.  It’s amazingly addictive.  I’ve tried a lot of other authors in this historical romance genre lately, and none of them capture the flirtation and wit that this author does.  It’s just really enjoyable to be frivilous with these aristocrats.  I’ve read pretty much all her Duchess books and am working my way through her other series as well.  They’re all very similar, but enjoyable as the characters weave in and out and pair up book after book.  Fun reading.  I enjoy them with no shame…because I have the Kindle to hide behind.

Best Served Cold: Joe Abercrombie

Boys, you can come back now. If you follow my reviews you already know my love for the First Law trilogy by Abercrombie.  Well, his latest installment, Best Served Cold, just is….as awesome.  Whew!  Cool thing is, a few of the secondary characters from his trilogy come back in this book and are much more fleshed out.  It’s a very cool way to expand the universe. If you like grit and blood and nastiness and double crossings, this is the author for you.  The realism of his descriptions and his world is really intoxicating.  After I read this book I wanted to log onto a FPS game and shoot me some zombies.  There’s no “romance” in this book, Abercrombie busts any of that into bits, and it’s so fun to watch!  I really loved it and hope to make a drooling YouTube video where I look like an idiot with him one day as well.  If you like George RR Martin, or Stephen Erikson or Brent Weeks or Richard Morgan’s SF books, try Abercrombie, you will not regret it.

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book 1): Lian Hearn

So, do you like Kung Fu or Samurai films?  Did you like Memoirs of a Geisha?  Would you like those things combined and then some magic thrown in?  Then try this series starting with Across the Nightingale Floor.  I have a weakness for any movies involving Asian Martial arts, so I was sucked in big time!  The books are set in a nebulous country, but it’s so similar to Japan you might as well say it’s Japan.  There are feudal lords and women held hostage, orphans and assassins…it’s got it all.  Boys and girls will like this.  I will be continuing this series!

Whew, that’s a lot of reviews (and only a fraction of what I’ve read this summer)!  Books I read that I hate, I simply let the experience go off into the ether.  I know how hard it is to create things, so who am I to dissuade people from trying an author, or trash someone’s creation?  Everything is subjective.  I do add a lot more books than I blog about to my GoodReads account, occasionally those are a little more critical, but I only list ones I would want other people to try.  Here on the blog I try to feature my very favorites.  Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!

My Kindle has smoke coming out of its ears I’ve been reading so much lately.  A 12 hour plane ride to England and back helped me polish off quite a few exciting reads I was itching for!  Most of them lean towards the girl bent, and I promise to delve into more man-friendly literature in the next few months, if only for a personal change of pace.  I read a bunch of great books though, starting with the latest installment in the Raine Benares series The Trouble With Demons!  I think I love this series so much because:

a) It’s written in the tone of all the popular urban-fantasy that are the rage now, but it’s set in a believable, not cheesy “olde fantasy” world.  Not many series pull that off. The magic system is well thought out and the elves aren’t poncey.  Bonus.

b) The writing has an unforced sense of humor which makes the characters very likeable and believable.  I actually laugh out loud sometimes when I read these, not common with me.

c) The plotting always feels like a romp.  The adventures and conflicts the characters fall into remind me of playing a great video game or D&D game. I always feel like I’m present in the action.

c) There is a believable sustained love triangle that has lasted 3 books without the characters hopping all over each other, GASP!  Delicious romantic tension that makes me eager for more!  (I’m rooting for the paladin of course )

BONUS:  Even though I read this on the Kindle, the cover art has improved immensely from the first two (less pink FTW!), so read away!

Next, as a refreshing rinse from all the vampire/fantasy stuff I’ve been reading, I picked up a mystery series with three books (so far) starring Lady Julia Grey. The series has a strong romance plot, but I wouldn’t pigeonhole it only as romance because the mystery is very good and the characters are great, very involving.  I read these in England, and the author clearly loves Jane Austen and Wuthering Heights and Rebecca and I found it very evocative to read them while hearing people with British accents, LOL.  Fortunately for me, I read these again on my Kindle.  Look up at the cover art and you can see why I’m relieved.   Book 1 has a great cover, books 2 and 3 want to make me slit my wrists.  A dismembered man hand and cheap flammable prom lace do NOT help sell these books!  For God’s sake, go back to the original cover art, it’s much more appropriate!  Love the series though, will be looking for more.

Last (but certainly not least, check my GoodReads account for all my latest updated books) I read the third in Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series.  At this point you probably can’t suggest an urban-fantasy/urban-paranormal-romance series I haven’t at least TRIED to read.  If it isn’t on my GoodReads I probably forgot to add it (or wanted to forget it).  Most of these books aren’t that great and seem like Buffy rip offs.  Maybe because I was ON the show, my patience runs thin and if I see another description of a dark tormented vampire who makes a gun-toting, leather-pants-wearing heroine light-headed with desire while she’s kicking his ass…well, I’ll do something bad   but this series definitely is one of my favorite of the genre.  There are vampires and werewolves and werelions, etc, but the world is so well put together and justified, and, more importantly, the characters are believable and have real relationships and care about each other.    The writing is witty and exciting and the series seems to BUILDING to something rather than just being stretched out for sequel after sequel.  Thumbs up in a very crowded genre!

I read about 8 other books on the trip, a few about the Black Plague because…I love the Black Plague, LOL! Now I’m planning to focus on some Sci-Fi now, or some straight mystery for a change of pace.

With my obsession with fantasy books, the opportunity to interview a successful author could not be passed up for The Flog! Patrick Rothfuss agreed to do an interview for me (And a mutual one with me will be posted on his site early next week.) He’s fascinatingly erudite and articulate. I hope everyone enjoys!

Give a brief lowdown on who you are and tell everyone about your book and a few of its successes.

I’m Pat Rothfuss, author of The Name of the Wind.

Ummmmm…. Line?

LOL! Pat’s book "The Name of the Wind" was lauded as the best fantasy book/debut of 2007, winning:

Quill Award (2007)
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Best Books of the Year (2007)
Publishers Weekly
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

It is currently #11 on the New York Times bestseller list for paperbacks!

Continue

Tell us why you decided to write a fantasy novel.

Honestly, that’s a decision I can’t even remember making. Growing up, all I read was fantasy. So it just seemed natural to start writing it in high school. I did stories, some poems, and the beginning of a really awful novel based on a D&D campaign….

Then, later on when I was in college, I started writing the book that would eventually become The Name of the Wind.

What are some of the challenges of building a good fantasy world?

The biggest challenge, I think, is that you have you have to know a lot about a bunch of very diverse subjects: politics, economics, agriculture, sociology, religion, history, linguistics….

If you’re writing a book set in Paris and you want to know how much a house costs, or what their currency is called, or what sort of a government they have, you can just look it up on the internet.

But if you’re making your own world, you need to figure all of that out on your own. And it needs to make sense, or critical people like me will notice….

What books inspired your love of fantasy? Authors, characters?

Narnia was a big influence. And Pern. I read Tolkien too, of course.

Oh, and there were these picture books about a teenage witch who always had mis-matched socks. I haven’t thought about those for years. I think her name was… Dora? I loved those books, I wonder if I could still find them?

Hmm, I searched and couldn’t find them. Couldn’t be Miss Piggle Wiggle could it? Damn she was scary.

Nah. It was more lighthearted. She was cool, and kept getting into trouble by messing around with various types of magic that she wasn’t supposed to….

Do you have any rituals when you write? Do you outline?

I don’t outline. But I do have a little stone Buddha that sits on top of my computer. Sometimes, when the writing isn’t going well, I offer him something to eat. Like a cookie. Or a Dorito.

How do you plan out a 600 page book and not get intimidated?!

Well, saying that I planned it is rather generous. I just wrote at first. I didn’t start planning for years.

I think not knowing what the hell I was getting into was a big help. I didn’t know how much work writing a novel was going to be, so I just jumped in and started doing it.

What do you start with when you create a character? A personality trait? What they look like?

It really depends. Sometimes I have a "maybe it would be cool if" moment, and I base the character around that cool idea.

Sometimes I need a character to fill a specific role, like when I needed a loan shark for the book. In that case, I think about what the stereotype for that character would be. A big thick-bodied guy, thuggish but cunning, maybe cruel, maybe a sadist…. Then I do my best to make a realistic character that avoids that cliche. That’s how I got Devi….

What irritates you about the fantasy genre?

The biggest thing that irritates me is that so many people seem to believe that fantasy is just simpleminded kiddy crap. It’s bad enough when readers think this, but obviously some fantasy writers do too. Sometimes I pick up a new book and it’s obvious that the writer is just phoning it in. They don’t care about producing something worthwhile because fantasy is just silly bullshit about wizards and unicorns… right?

No. There is room in fantasy for real drama, human conflict, gorgeous language, truth, beauty, humor…. But readers need to demand it, and some of the authors out there need to quit half-assing it. They’re making the rest of us in the genre look bad.

Any clichés you can’t stand?

Any cliche bugs me to some extent… the whole list would take me hours to write. The loyal companion animal. The prophecy of the chosen one. Elves with bows. Gruff dwarves. People trying to destroy the world. "Evil."

Most of all, I hate dumb characters. It’s okay if your characters make mistakes, but they shouldn’t be stupid. I hate reading a book and thinking, "This person is too dumb to live. If this was the real world, they would kill themselves using a can opener or just wander into traffic and die."

Best Rant Ever.

Are you planning on branching out in the future to other kinds of writing?

I’m going to be doing a graphic novel version of my book before too long. That should be fun.

I also think it would be cool to take a stab at some screenplay writing at some point. Just to try it out.

What are your favorite movies? What movie would you love to have written?

Hmmmm…. I don’t know if it counts as a movie, but there was a series back in the 80′s called "The Storyteller." It was put out by the Henson company. The writing for that was brilliant, I’m re-watching it right now.

But movies…. Fight club was brilliantly written. Same thing with Pan’s Labyrinth.

Are you interested in exploring other genres?

Nah. Fantasy is where I live. I’m happy here.

Why do you think fantasy is so popular in book form but is more problematic when dealt with in movies and television?

I think part of the problem is that anything done in movies or television is collaborative. There’s a whole team of people working together, and any one of them has the potential to ruin the project. You can have a great script and great actors, but a bad director will ruin things. Or maybe the actors view it more as a comedy, the director sees it as a chick flick, and the producers see it as a drama. You can tell a story a bunch of different ways, but not all at the same time.

Look at Waterworld, for example. Was it a post-apocalyptic thriller? A drama? A comedy? An action move? It tried to be all of those, and so it ended up being a jumbled mess.

I remember hearing that in Hollywood, someone can go in and re-write 25% of your screenplay before they even have to list a person as a writer in the credits. Do you know if that’s true?

That is absolutely true. That’s why some writers get so mad when the script is criticized in movie reviews. I know big blockbuster movies would have 10-15 writers if they counted everyone who took a stab at a screenplay.

I couldn’t handle that. Seriously. I would lose my shit. All of it. I would be horrified to the point of shitlessness.

In the novel world, if my editor changes one word of my book without my permission. I’m well within my rights to freak the hell out. Now she can, and does, suggest changes. Sometimes she ever really firmly, vehemently suggests changes. But ultimately, it’s my book, so it’s my call. I have trouble imagining it any other way. I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to the book….

I think that’s why we have more brilliant fantasy novels than brilliant fantasy movies. Movies and TV are done by committee. But with a novel, it’s really just one person running the show. That allows for a clarity and unity of vision that’s pretty unique, artistically.

Do you have any general advice for someone who would like to write a fantasy novel?

Read a lot. Not only will it improve you as a human being, but it will keep you from looking like an idiot.

For example, after my book came out I was off doing a signing at a bookstore. Nobody knew who I was then, so I was just sitting around bored. So I picked up a book called Storm Front and started to read it.

(If you haven’t read the Dresden Files books, you really should. They’re great stories about a modern day wizard who is also a private investigator living in Chicago.)

On the first page I read what is written on his office door:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations.

Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.

No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment

In my book, I had something very similar written on the side of a wagon.

ABENTHY: ARCANIST EXTRAORDINARY

Scribe. Dowser. Chemist. Dentist.

Rare Goods. All Alements Tended.

Lost Items Found. Anything Mended.

No Horoscopes. No Love Potions. No Malefaction.

Now I obviously didn’t rip off Jim Butcher. But parts of it are close enough so that it looks like I did. If I’d read his stuff earlier, I would have been able to tweak things so that I could avoid *looking* like I was stealing….

Leave us with two of your Guilty Pleasures.

Boy that’s a tough one. Generally speaking I don’t feel guilty about anything I do. I once ate an entire cake. Does that count?

Sure, but that was only one!! Ok, how about: Perfect Patrick lazy Sunday. What do you do?

(I answered this one as if you asked, "Describe your perfect day…" because honestly, a lot of my days are lazy Sundays. And "I sit around in my underwear and play Puzzle Pirates just wouldn’t make that interesting an answer….)

Wake up without the alarm clock feeling refreshed. Crawl in bed with my lady friend for quality snuggle time. Walk to local coffee shop. Have spirited conversation with a lovely, sharp-tongued woman who secretly adores me. Come home and write 5000 words in Wise Man’s Fear. Lastly, I discover a friend has come to visit from out of town. We settle down to a late night of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, eating pistachios, and give each other backrubs.

Then, before I go to bed, I eat an entire cake.

Thank you so much!

And thank you. This was fun.

I have 9 Paperbacks of "The Name of The Wind" to give away as well! Please post in the comments that you’d like one and the first 9 will be contacted and sent a SIGNED copy!