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Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan

A Crown of Swords (Wheel of Time, #7) A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
So we are inching back to four stars with this Wheel of Time book, but only inching. We saw some of the far-flung plots reach some conclusions; Nynaeve and Elayne have the Bowl of Winds, and an army, more or less; Matt is heading for his long-forshadowed run-in with the Daughter of the Nine Moons; and one more Forsaken is dead. We have a few new wild cards in Sevannah and the gholam, and some of the same old antagonists (when will he actually kill Padan Fain??) but overall stuff happened in this book.

What kept it in the 3-star range for me is how in one chapter or less he storms into Illian and takes out a Forsaken. I still get the sense that he isn't a match for one of them in a fair fight, and this didn't convince me otherwise. The only thing I was convinced of is that Jordan needed to end this book quickly, so he cut to the chase. Very dissatisfying. Still, I have hope for the future... This was an improvement.

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The Sea of Monsters by Rick Rioridan

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Continuing with the saga that began with Lightning Thief, which introduced us to the characters and setting, The Sea of Monsters took us on a voyage that showed the real conflict. Good vs. evil will meet again in this series, and we met a few new characters along the way to that discovery. I can't wait to find out what happens next. Another delightful quick read that no one in the family can put down.

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The Lightning Thief by Rick Rioridan

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Yes, we are jumping onto a bandwagon here. We saw the movie trailer some months ago, and we decided to read the series. So did everyone else who visits the public library. After months on a wait list we finally got our hands on this book, and from me to our 8 year old, everyone fought for their turn to read it. Solution: Audio book. My wife reports a week's worth of the calmest, quietest trips to and from school, scouts, and other errands as the boys sat enthralled by this story.

I enjoyed this, as it departs from some of the classic themes of magic and introduces a new generation to ancient Greece myths. The characters are real enough, although not as deep as JK Rowlings' or Garth Nix's characters. Definitely worth the few hours it takes to read this before seeing the movie (I believe in always reading the REAL story before being brainwashed by whatever Hollywood has done with it.)

And we now own the whole series in hardback. That is a recommendation within itself.

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