Recent Reads

Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones- sequels to Howl's Moving Castle. These were fun and entertaining overall. I was disappointed Howl and Sophie weren't the main characters and only featured in these tales, but you do still find out more about their lives together, and the books were good. Thumbs UP.

Crown Duel and Court Duel by Sherwood Smith- About a brother and sister who promise their dying father they will do all they can to overthrow the king, protect their lands from being taken or destroyed by the king, and one of them then ruling the country. These are told from the perspective of the sister. Okay stories. These don't fall into the predictable story mold of either of them becoming king or queen, but I can't decide if it was intentional or the story ran away from the author. But I did enjoy them. Thumbs UP.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (greek gods not athletes) 5 book series by Rick Riordan-- Because I'm #230 something for the last book I'll go ahead and review this series without knowing how everything turns out. Percy thinks he's a normal boy until he discovers his father is really Poseidon. Then he has to go to demi-god camp to learn about the new world that he must now join to protect himself. In each book he either goes on a quest or helps a friend with a quest to save the world from Kronos, the father of Zeus and the other gods, who was banished by Zeus long ago, but is now trying to take over again. Not being very familiar with greek gods didn't stop my enjoyment of these books, but I suspect more knowledge would help a reader pick up foreshadowing, etc. And there is an overall prohpecy involving Percy and other kids who are illegitimate children of the 3 big gods, Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, that ties all the books together. The whole "illegitimate children" thing isn't "in your face," though Percy does deal with emotional issues about being abandoned by his dad, and not seeing or getting to talk with his dad much. Thmubs UP

Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde- love these and will probably blog more about them in future, but must now rescue Jolie from "crib of death" or so she probably thinks it is.