This review has spoilers for previous volumes in the Fables series, but no real spoilers for Homelands. 

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Rating: four and a half stars
Length: 192 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Other books I've read by this author:

Next I will be reviewing Timeless by Gail Carriger

xposted to temporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads

Anyone have recommendations for superhero books?

Not any comic books or anything about the big names in Marvel or DC, but fiction, please. Thanks all!

A fictional memoir based on a real-life spy, brilliant literary fiction with a gay flair but not much excitement.

Victor Maskell has been betrayed. After the announcement in the Commons, the hasty revelation of his double life of wartime espionage, his photograph is all over the papers. His disgrace is public, his position as curator of the Queen’s pictures terminated… Maskell writes his own testament, in an act not unlike the restoration of one of his beloved pictures, in order for the process of verification and attribution to begin.

( Kind of like John Le Carré without the suspense. )

Verdict: I remain lukewarm about most literary fiction, and decidedly lukewarm about John Banville, who writes circles around most genre writers but fails to give me characters I care about or a story that engages. This fictional memoir is a finely-crafted piece of historicized fiction, and Banville is a writer to study and appreciate for his gifts, but even though I like spy stories, I was left admiring but not enjoying The Untouchable.

Also by John Banville: My review of The Sea.

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My complete list of book reviews.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been assassinated, putting Europe on a march towards war. On one side lie the Darwinists (including Great Britain), who have used their knowledge of genetic manipulation to create giant beasts ideally suited for war. On the other side sits the Clankers (such as Germany), who ride into battle on giant war machines that walk on two legs. In the middle of this are two teenagers, Prince Alek, who is still recovering from the death of his parents, and Deryn, a girl who disguises herself as a boy to join the British Air Service.

Leviathan is the fourth book that I have read by Scott Westerfeld, and the first book in the Leviathan trilogy. While none of his works have really blown me away, I have to admit that there are certain things that Westerfeld does very well. With the Uglies Series, I really enjoyed how the author was able to create a rather plausible, and therefore terrifying, dystopia based on our obsession with physical attractiveness and popularity. Leviathan has equally inspired worldbuilding. Using the beginning of World War I as a backdrop, Westerfeld crafts a fascinating, steampunk fueled alternate history. I enjoyed how just a handful of changes in history (for example, Darwin’s discovery of DNA) could lead to a very different past. It also resulted in a book with some really interesting visual elements, and some great action sequences.

Like many young adult books published these days, Leviathan alternates back and forth between two protagonists. I found I connected to Deryn quite well right away, as I’ve always enjoyed stories about girls who disguise themselves as boys in order to infiltrate areas that are otherwise barred from them. I found some of her attempts to hide her gender (such as the shaving scene) to be rather humorous. Alek on the other hand, didn’t grab me as much. At first, he just seemed to do a lot of running around. Fortunately, once the two characters meet, and the Darwinists and Clankers begin to interact, the book really picks up.

After hearing that actor Alan Cumming was narrating, I knew that I had to give the audiobook a try. I was quite happy with the results, as the Cumming does a really good job of creating a variety of accents. I can see why his performance has won awards. Although it took a little while for the book to grow on me, I’m glad that I ended up picking it up. Leviathan is an all around solid adventure story filled with tons of action and drama. For those (like me) who prefer their stories well contained, I must warn you that not much is resolved by the end of Leviathan, making it at times feel like more of a set up for later books in the trilogy. Still, I found it to be an overall satisfying novel and plan on picking up the second book, Behemoth, in the future.

Rating: four stars
Length: 448 pages
Source: Lewiston Public Library
Other books I've read by this author: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras

Next I will be reviewing Fables Vol 6: Homelands by Bill Willingham and Timeless by Gail Carriger

xposted totemporaryworlds, bookish, and goodreads

Two book reviews for the price of one!

Wolfbreed and Wolf’s Cross by S.A. Swann
Genre: Fantastical romance

Both books take place in the same universe, Wolfbreed set a few years before Wolf’s Cross. There is a very thin line connecting the two together but it is not necessary to read Wolfbreed first, to which I say ‘Thank goodness!’ Skip Wolfbreed and just read Wolf’s Cross; it has a lot more to offer than its predecessor.

Wolfbreed by S.A. Swann
My rating: One and a half out of five stars

She is a monster, trained from birth by her master to be a killer. She knows no other way to life. And yet she escapes from him, searching for freedom from her captivity. He is an orphan who carries with him the scar of the massacre that destroyed his childhood. He lives his life as well as he can, though his past haunts his every step. What happens when the two meet in the woods?

The story is as cliché as possible. As soon as you read the set up, you can easily guess at everything that comes. Nothing is a surprise. You can predict the twist ending in an instant

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Wolf’s Cross by S.A. Swann
My rating: Three and a half out of five stars

A girl with her heart torn in two directions. To one side, the caring soldier who offers her a life of safety and normalcy. To the other, the passionate werewolf who offers her excitement and the key to her true self. Who will she turn to in the end, who will claim her heart as his?

A far superior story to its predecessor, Wolfbreed. The characters are fleshed out much better than the original cast, and the story much more engaging. Definitely a step up for Swann.

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Kelley Armstrong – Spell Bound
Series or stand alone: part twelve of the thirteen part Otherworld series, part two of the Savannah trilogy within that overall series
Genre: fantasy, mystery, urban fantasy

Tagline: They took everything Savannah loves. Now she wants it back.

Reason for reading: I have liked, if not loved, all of Armstrong’s books and, what with the final part of the series being released in the summer, I thought it was time to get my bum in gear and read this

Challenge: The 12 in 2012 Challenge (fantasy) and The TBR Pile Challenge (fourteen more to go!)

Blurb: Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she’s powerless to help herself. At the conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would help a young girl. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise.

And now, witch hunting assassins, necromancers, half-demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Spell Bound gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jaime, Hope, and others, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

Verdict: okay, leaning heavily towards good – the ending almost made up for the beginning

( Thoughts: )

This is not a book review. I was not able to finish the book or even get farther than three chapters. This is because Trickster’s Girl is kind of awful. It is a “gee, why don’t I write a fantasy with a completely random non-specific hodge-podge of Native American mythology and then completely disrespect it via my heroine!” kind of book. It is a “why don’t I glom together a bunch of Native American belief systems then randomly throw in new agey ley lines!” kind of book. It is a “I have never heard of The Tough Guide to Fantasyland and therefore do not realize how badly I needed it!” kind of book.


Of course, I had my general misgivings just from the summary, which involves "the mythological creature Raven" wanting the female protagonist to help him avert some kind of ecological disaster.

( Alan Dean Foster has got bills to pay. )

Previous Saturday Book Discussions.

I guess the general idea of what I'm looking for would be along the lines of those Pride and Prejudice sequels. There's so many of them, I was never able to figure out where to start! Surely there must be Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes, and Wuthering Heights sequels out there, too - I'd be interested in any noteworthy adaptation of a famous work, and if anyone knows where I could find some kind of list of these, I'd be very grateful. I've also always had a soft spot for adaptations of fairy tales and myths (or even Shakespearean works) as well, and I know concepts like "a darker retelling" of Alice in Wonderland or Little Red Riding Hood are fairly overplayed, but I still enjoy that sort of thing.

I'd rather read something original (so to speak) than say, the same story but with vampires pasted in at humorous intervals, but admittedly, you don't have to worry much about quality - I think something along the lines of the infamously terrible Scarlett or Cosette could be entertaining too.

Thank you very much!