Fantasy

In many ways, Blood of the Four is an amazing story. There are Four gods buried below the city.  The priesthood protects and grows powerful from their magic. The monarchy is descended from the Four and the blood of the gods flows in their veins. A mad queen wants all … Read More

Have you noticed the tendency of authors to focus on books and reading? Take The Reader by Traci Chee as an example of this self-reflective preoccupation. This is not surprising given that writing and books, and readers and reading, are at the center of an author’s life. However, there are … Read More

I listened to the audiobook version of The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler, read by Kate Rudd. The story opens with the Duke of Kiskaddon returning home from battle. His side was victorious, but there was a small problem, or rather a major problem. At a crucial point in the battle, … Read More

I’m a big Scott Westerfeld fan and was pretty psyched to start reading Zeroes. It is the story about 6 teenagers who each have a unique, special power. I wouldn’t call them “super powers,” though they were pretty cool: Flicker is blind but can see through other people’s eyes.Crash is … Read More

The Star-Touched Queen takes place in the milieu of Hindu mythology: the worlds of gods, goddesses, demons, illusion, and reincarnation.  The story is about Maya, a young princess in a kingdom that has long been at war with the many surrounding kingdoms.  In a bid to bring peace, her father … Read More

The Fifth Season is a compelling and multifaceted story set on a geologically unstable and volatile “Earth”.  Earthquakes and volcanoes are a constant threat and if severe enough can cause a fifth season, or extended winter, due to the amount of dust and ash sent up into the atmosphere.  Tsunamis … Read More

I just finished listening to The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman.  The narrator, Fiona Hardingham, an accomplished actress and reader, picked me up, transported me to Regency London and set me down among the aristocracy. It is 1812 and Lady Helen Wrexhall is 18 and ready to go out … Read More

I was immediately hooked by The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.  As an anthropologist, I had read a number of works by “armchair anthropologists” that tracked the history of science through the Victorian era, the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, the gradual unearthing of fossils that called into question … Read More