Some of you may know that I had major surgery a while ago. Although the recovery isn’t fun, it’s going very well. Nevertheless, I’ve been forced to slow down a bit from my normal energetic pace. I’ve had more time to read, which has been lovely. Here are a few of the books I’ve been reading: Spindle by W.R. Gingell – I have discovered another favorite indie author. This was the first book I read by Gingell, and it’s a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. That was never my favorite fairytale, and I haven’t really jumped into the fairytale retelling trend anyway. But I decided […]
Books I’m Reading
17 posts
These are a few of the books I’ve been enjoying lately. The Worth of a Shell by M. C. A. Hogarth – This is not light reading, although it’s not “difficult” in the sense of reading level or language. It’s a story of consent and culture and the value of a person as an individual, not for the role in society they occupy but simply for existing. I discovered the book when it was included in the StoryBundle last year with The King’s Sword and only recently got around to reading it. Color me impressed. Hogarth managed to present an alien society as […]
Here’s a bit of what I’ve been reading recently: Cruxim – Karin Cox – I got this free on Amazon; I’m not sure if it’s permafree or just a temporary sale. I wasn’t sure what to expect – I don’t read a lot of paranormal fantasy, but I did like that the cover didn’t scream cheesy vampire romance. it’s a particularly lovely cover, I think, especially for having the overdone man-with-wings as the main figure. It’s ranked on Amazon as a gothic romance, and there was romance, but there was plenty of other action too. I thought of it more as […]
This is some of what I’ve been reading lately: Realmgolds – Mike Reeves-McMillan – I think I got a copy of this during a free promotion months and months ago, but I forgot and bought it on Amazon a few weeks ago. Oh well. Mike has reviewed several of my books (all in the Erdemen Honor series), coining the term cheerybright to describe what I (and he and a few other people) write. I’ll write a separate article on cheerybright soon – it’s basically the opposite of grimdark. He didn’t know I was reading his book. This is Mike’s first book, […]
This is some of what I’ve been reading lately: The Legend of Eli Monpress series – Rachel Aaron – I just finished Spirit’s End. If you’re looking for a break from grimdark, you should really check out this series. There’s plenty of death, destruction, and high stakes, but it’s told from a lighter perspective, with characters worth loving and rooting for. There is real loyalty and self-sacrifice, along with some really fantastic and inventive magic. As a random aside, I have no idea why the covers are so different. They’re obviously part of different editions, but I don’t know why. The second […]
I try to keep up with my reading on Goodreads, but I thought I’d put a few mini-reviews on here as well. This is some of what I’ve been reading lately: The Blue Sword – Robin McKinley – I read it a long time ago and remembered really enjoying it, but not much else about it. A sword? A girl kidnapped by magic desert-people? I reread it and yes, I enjoyed it just as much the second time. It’s not my favorite book ever, but it’s one of the earliest fantasy books I remember reading, so it was fun to rediscover […]
Have you ever avoided a book or series because you irrationally thought you wouldn’t like it, and then finally read it and realized you loved it? Yeah, that’s me. For some reason I just knew I wouldn’t like the Dresden Files and have been avoiding them for years. I’m not big on crime novels, I’m not big on urban fantasy, I’m not even a huge fan of magic as a big part of fantasy novels (I like new worlds more than the magic, generally). I finally decided that I couldn’t call myself a fantasy author if I hadn’t read at least […]