I don't give book reviews very often, but this one definitely deserves a mention.
Sherry Ficklin is the author of The Gods of Fate series, a young adult fantasy trilogy, following Grace Archer. I read the first book in the series, Foresight, last August, and loved it. So I was excited to read Second Sight as soon as it came out last week. I'll try to avoid giving too many spoilers...
Grace Archer is the daughter of Pandora and Prometheus, friend to the fey, and demi-goddess in her own right. In Foresight, Grace learns of her heritage and discovers her powers as a demi-goddess, as she fights to protect her mother's urn. Along the way she falls in love with Chris, one of her guardians and a fey warrior. Unfortunately, he's killed during the big battle scene (sorry...trying to avoid spoilers here...but I can't avoid them all...) but she brings him back to life and they live happily ever after...
...For awhile in Faerie. This is where book two, Second Sight, begins.
By saving Chris and bringing him back to life, Grace stole his soul from Hades. He was safe in Faerie, but as soon as they leave, Hades returns to collect the missing soul and take Chris to the Underworld. Grace is devastated. What choice does she have but to bribe Charon, barter with Hades, and bring Chris home? Of course, it's all a lot more complicated than that, and Grace is forced to make decisions that change everyone's lives, while narrowly avoiding destroying her own. Friends and relatives -- people she should be able to trust -- want to use and control her (and her growing powers), and she must navigate the traps and schemes to become the woman she wants to be.
Overall, I loved Second Sight as much as I loved Foresight. Sherry Ficklin does a fantastic job bringing together modern, contemporary fantasy with Greek/Roman mythology. Though the book is being marketed as YA, the complexity of the story, and the maturity of the lead character kept me entertained and turning the pages. In fact, I felt it was a much more mature novel than some other YA stories I've read.
I highly recommend picking up this series. But you have to read Foresight first. Second Sight is equally as good, but it's not truly a stand-alone novel. Start with Foresight, read them both, and you won't be disappointed.
(P.S. The final installment of The Gods of Fate trilogy, Hindsight, is slated to be released early next year. I can't wait to read the completion of the saga!)
Final Rating: 4 out of 5
Showing posts with label recommended reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommended reading. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Friday, September 3, 2010
Farm City
As many of you know, gardening is a significant hobby of mine. Particularly vegetable gardening. I grow tomatoes, zucchini (which unfortunately have done very poorly this year), cucumbers, beets, arugula, bell peppers, hot peppers, and strawberries, plus an assortment of herbs and random veggies that get thrown in the ground once in awhile. So it's not surprising that I picked up a copy (rather, I downloaded on Kindle) Farm City by Novella Carpenter.
I don't often read non-fiction, but I'm glad I chose this one.
Novella's urban farm is located in downtown Oakland, CA. She starts out with a few pots in her own backyard, but quickly realizes that the empty lot next door would be a fantastic site for an urban farm. She becomes a squatter - at least with her garden. Her first addition beyond the regular veggies is a "poultry pack": chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. After several adventures and one fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, she adds bees to the mix. Then it's rabbits. Then pigs.
Not only informative, Farm City is entertaining and Novella's voice comes through loud and clear. She has a great sense of humor, even while performing activities that modern day urban dwellers might not find the most appealing. I, on the other hand, found the book inspiring, and hope to one day have a little farm of my own.
Rating: 4.5/5
I don't often read non-fiction, but I'm glad I chose this one.
Novella's urban farm is located in downtown Oakland, CA. She starts out with a few pots in her own backyard, but quickly realizes that the empty lot next door would be a fantastic site for an urban farm. She becomes a squatter - at least with her garden. Her first addition beyond the regular veggies is a "poultry pack": chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. After several adventures and one fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, she adds bees to the mix. Then it's rabbits. Then pigs.
Not only informative, Farm City is entertaining and Novella's voice comes through loud and clear. She has a great sense of humor, even while performing activities that modern day urban dwellers might not find the most appealing. I, on the other hand, found the book inspiring, and hope to one day have a little farm of my own.
Rating: 4.5/5
Monday, June 21, 2010
Reading outside my genre
Last week I took a trip to London for work. Thanks to long waits and longer flights, I actually had time to get some reading done. I finished Ariel a few weeks ago and needed something new, so I went on my Kindle and downloaded a bunch of samples. I ended up buying The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.
Nicholas Sparks is well-outside my normal genre. However, some writers and publishers advise reading outside your genre to learn new voice techniques, writing styles, character development, and world building techniques. Since I've been reading science fiction and fantasy almost exclusively for the last ten years or so, I decided to branch out on this trip and try something new, hopefully learning a thing or two in the process.
Since my novel is told in multiple first person, I wanted to learn how to avoid confusing the reader in regards to which character is speaking. The Last Song is written in multiple third person, so I thought it might be a good choice. Granted, being told in third person instead of first makes it easier for the reader to remember who's speaking, but Mr. Sparks does a wonderful job of changing the tone of voice depending on the character that is being followed. Each character is distinct. You can tell from the language used that the father is older, while the daughter is in the midst of teenage angst. However, as she grows and matures through the course of the novel, so does her voice. Word choice is critical, helping to develop the character while also engaging the reader.
As is typical of a novel by Nicholas Sparks, the ending was a tear-jerker. I even cried a little. I'm going to re-read some of the novel to try to understand how and when I became so emotionally involved with the characters. I want to learn how to create that same emotional tie between my characters and the readers. I'm sure there's an element of innate ability, but I hope I can learn more from a master by reading his books.
Nicholas Sparks is well-outside my normal genre. However, some writers and publishers advise reading outside your genre to learn new voice techniques, writing styles, character development, and world building techniques. Since I've been reading science fiction and fantasy almost exclusively for the last ten years or so, I decided to branch out on this trip and try something new, hopefully learning a thing or two in the process.
Since my novel is told in multiple first person, I wanted to learn how to avoid confusing the reader in regards to which character is speaking. The Last Song is written in multiple third person, so I thought it might be a good choice. Granted, being told in third person instead of first makes it easier for the reader to remember who's speaking, but Mr. Sparks does a wonderful job of changing the tone of voice depending on the character that is being followed. Each character is distinct. You can tell from the language used that the father is older, while the daughter is in the midst of teenage angst. However, as she grows and matures through the course of the novel, so does her voice. Word choice is critical, helping to develop the character while also engaging the reader.
As is typical of a novel by Nicholas Sparks, the ending was a tear-jerker. I even cried a little. I'm going to re-read some of the novel to try to understand how and when I became so emotionally involved with the characters. I want to learn how to create that same emotional tie between my characters and the readers. I'm sure there's an element of innate ability, but I hope I can learn more from a master by reading his books.
Friday, May 7, 2010
The Art of War for Writers
Yesterday I bought a book that was recommended for new writers. Thanks to my free trial of Amazon Prime, and good luck that I live close to one of their major distribution centers, the book was delivered today. Oh happy day!
As I'm sure you could tell from the title of this post, the book is called The Art of War for Writers, and you guessed it, it's sort of an adaptation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (which I've never read, but am thinking I probably should). The author, James Scott Bell, keeps the themes limited to three main subjects: Reconnaissance, Tactics and Strategy.
I've only read a few pages so far, but here's a quote that I already love:
...write what you love with your eyes wide open.
Another tip that I shall be enforcing on myself is to write a quota of words each week and record what you've written each day. Quotas can be adjusted as necessary for times when there's a heavy workload at the day job, or there's traveling and things, but by setting quantitative goals, I'll be forcing myself to get my butt in a chair and just write. To further enforce my goals on myself, I'm going to post my weekly word count here every Friday.
Current count on the novel: 23,780 words
As I'm sure you could tell from the title of this post, the book is called The Art of War for Writers, and you guessed it, it's sort of an adaptation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (which I've never read, but am thinking I probably should). The author, James Scott Bell, keeps the themes limited to three main subjects: Reconnaissance, Tactics and Strategy.
I've only read a few pages so far, but here's a quote that I already love:
...write what you love with your eyes wide open.
Another tip that I shall be enforcing on myself is to write a quota of words each week and record what you've written each day. Quotas can be adjusted as necessary for times when there's a heavy workload at the day job, or there's traveling and things, but by setting quantitative goals, I'll be forcing myself to get my butt in a chair and just write. To further enforce my goals on myself, I'm going to post my weekly word count here every Friday.
Current count on the novel: 23,780 words
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