Arms & Armor of the Medieval Knight

by Rh Value Publishing
Finished on February 28th 2007
Rated by saturnine13:

Little Sister

by Kara Dalkey
Finished on February 7th 2007
Rated by saturnine13:

Tigana

by Guy Gavriel Kay
Finished on August 29th 2006

Hard to get through until the last hundred pages. The plot moves glacially, the narrative gets mired down by reflection and flashbacks, and some scenes and characters were superfluous. I had trouble understanding Dianora -- there just wasn't enough to convince me that a woman could come to love the man who destroyed her family and home. I didn't hate any of the characters, but I never connected to any of them or their struggles. However, it's masterful world building, so believable and consistent that it feels more like history than fantasy. This is a guy who really knows what's he's talking about. There's a lot of interesting world building out there, but not all of, in the end, manages to create a believable world that you feel you could actually live in. Kay achieves that, mostly because he gets his ideas from real history. I am definately going to read more of his work, because even if Tigana did little for me, I like what he's doing here. Which is why I've given the book such a high rating -- it was worth it, in the end, I was glad I pushed through the turgid parts. And that last page was a cruel surprise. So cruel it was AWESOME. Bravo.

The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing, Book 1)

by R. Scott Bakker
Finished on August 12th 2006
Rated by saturnine13:

Transformation

by Carol Berg
Finished on July 12th 2006
Rated by saturnine13:

Vincalis the Agitator

by Holly Lisle
Finished on July 7th 2006

Briskly paced and action-packed with an obvious ethical standpoint. I found the characters unsympathetic and the plot twists unsupported by foreshadowing, and in many places the book felt rushed, as if the author worked too fast at it and didn't put the careful thought and craft into it that it deserved. The literal deus ex machina bothered me. However, the moral of the story is extremely relevant, and the ending blew me away. Book contains some sex.

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was

by Barry Hughart
Finished on June 27th 2006
Rated by saturnine13:

Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China

by Jeanne Larsen
Finished on May 29th 2006
Rated by saturnine13:
Read saturnine13's review of Silk Road: A Novel of Eighth-Century China

When Rabbit Howls

by Truddi Chase
Finished on May 29th 2006

Disturbing sexual content, which might bother even otherwise impeturbable readers. Reads like fiction, which required me to constantly remind myself that this was supposedly real.