Trillian711's blog

This blog can now be found on Blogger

http://trillianbooks.blogspot.com/

Hard Magic - Laura Anne Gilman

 Bonita is a Talent, the politically correct way of saying magic user. She is offered a job in a new team of investigators, Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations (PUPI), the first to use their talent in such a way - forensic magic. The team are learning as they go, using spells in different ways and adapting them to suit their needs. Their first case is important - to prove that the job can be done. There's people in high places who don't want them to succeed.

Generally I thought the plot was okay. I believe this is the first book of a series and as such part of the book was taken up with setting the scene. This was however largely related to the main character's background rather than the idea of magic itself. At times though I felt like I'd picked up the book half way through and missed out the part that explained how the Talents fitted into the world.

I loved the idea of forensic magic and at the start of the book I was please that there was detailed descriptions of how the magic works. However, as the book progressed, this sometimes got a little bit annoying, mostly because I couldn't really follow it - maybe that was just me expecting to understand it completely though. 

I liked that each of the characters had their own special talent and that the investigators progressed as a group but I don't think the characters were developed as much as they could have been. I didn't particularly grow to like any of them all that much. I'd liked to have known more about the supporting characters. I'm sure they'll probably be developed more over future books but I think that a little more was needed to start with. On more than one occassion I forgot who was who because I didn't feel like I knew them at all.

While not one of my favourite reads, I'd probbalky read future books in this series. If you're interested in fantasy fiction and like the idea of an unusual take on magic use then you'd probably enjoy this book

The Prophecy - Gill James

Set way in the future, Terrestrians had gotten used to living underground due to a poison cloud that surrounds the planet. Miraculously the cloud lifted and slowly they are getting used to living above ground again.

Kaleem and his mother still live in one of the underground caves though. He doesn't know why they live there and he doesn't know who his father is. These facts along with his unusual looks makes Kaleem different. On Terrestra, different isn't a good way to be.

The story follows Kaleem as he finds out about his past, as well as trying to help Terrestra's future. This journey takes him to another planet in a quest for help.

I really enjoyed reading this book. There's loads of great descriptions about future technology and how different people live. The main character is likeable and although he's the hero of the story he makes mistakes which he learns from and isn't perfect, making him much more realistic.

In places the plot was a little bit predictable but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as the predictable elements were things I wanted to happen. The story was more about how these things occured than the end point.

I was pleased to find out that the book is the first in The Peace Child Triology and I'll definitely be reading the next one!

Book giveaway!

There's a contest over at Storywings. Some of the books being offered:

• Going too Far by Jennifer Echols
• City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
• Ballad by Maggie Steifvater
• Shiver by Maggie Steifvater
• Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
• Firespell by Chloe Neil
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
• Darklight by Lesley Livingston
• Fallen by Lauren Kate

It's international and ends 3/19. 

Review: What's new, Cupcake?

 

Awesomely cute! There's not many cooking/baking books you can actually look through from cover to cover like a 'normal' book but the amazing creations, vibrant colours and yummy pictures makes this book stand out from the others.

An essential for any cupcake maker!

Review: Secret Army - Robert Muchamore

A sign of a good book? Reading it straight through in an evening, pausing only to grab a drink or food. Well, that's what I did with this one because I literally couldn't put it down!

The Henderson's Boys series is pretty much a prequel to the CHERUB series. CHERUB is an organisation that was set up by Charles Henderson during World War II, training youngsters to become secret agents - because no one suspects a kid. The first two books have had Henderson, along with a handful of war orphans, scuppering the Nazi's plans to envade England. they have now made it back to Britain and set up a training facility. Secret Army folllows the first lot of kids through their training and a final test which will enable them to be allowed to be dropped into occupied Europe on actual missions.

Really great plot, combining the exciting adventure I've come to expect from this and the CHERUB books as well as loads of great detail about how the CHERUB organisation came to be.

*Squeeees*

Massively excited because the new Henderson's Boys book "Secret Army" came in the post today! The Henderson's Boys series is kind of a prequel series to CHERUB, telling the story of how the organisation came to be.

Better still, I thought this one was going to be the last of them but at the front of the book there's another one listed as coming soon! Yay!

Currently Reading: Hard Magic by Laura Ann Gilman

Review: Princess Academy - Shannon Hale

I actually enjoyed this book more than I expected. The title and cover put me off a little but the plot summary caught my attention so I thought I'd give it a try. 

The main character, Miri, has wonderful depth, making you care about what happens to her. The descriptions are detailed enough that you can imagine the village and the academy without being over the top. The back-story is interesting and the concept of the plot is well thought out and written. 

This is definitely a book that falls in the fantasy genre rather than the fluffy romance genre which first impressions may suggest. A recommended read.

Review: Moon Called - Patricia Briggs

Mixed opinions about this book. It had a reasonably good plot with a few twists and turn and is clearly well researched but I wasn't so keen on some of the characters. In fact the main character, Mercy, annoyed me a lot of the time - she just seemed a little bit too "I'm the main character, I have to do everything on my own". Even some of the werewolves seemed a bit blah. Some of the relationships between the characters were a bit unbelievable as well. 

Stefan the vampire was pretty cool though, even though in this book he was kind of just a secondary character - I believe he's more important in the next of the series though. 

An okay read if you like supernatural stuff.