The Literary Lucy

Let's start with the positives.  The illustrations in this book were really well-done.  The dragons as they were described seemed realistic, and you can tell that Mr. Lockwood put some time and effort into designing a world that could support them as a species.   Maia dreams of one day having a dragon of her very own from her family's breeding grounds but most of the hatchlings are already spoken for by the government to be trained for the war effort.  One day, while she is out exploring with her brother, they see an ancient wild dragon supposedly a harbinger for change.  Unknowingly, this sighting embroils Maia in not only the ongoing war, creeping ever closer to her home and dragons, but also in an internal religious schism with the potential to be just as deadly. Okay, here's what I didn't like:  the story seemed geared towards adolescents, so I think it was mis-shelved from the YA section.  Maia is very clearly a teenager trying to nav...

Here we have book six of the Fallen Blade series.  I previously reviewed book 5, Drawn Blades , and mentioned that you don't really have to read them in series order but it helps. Especially to get the context for why it's a big deal to take on the Son of Heaven, which is what (finally!) happens in this book.   Aral Kingslayer is directly charged by the dead goddess Namara to kill the Son of Heaven.  But taking on the supreme secular and religious leader is a hugely dangerous undertaking and Aral now has people who depend on him.  He decides to reform the order so the rescued novitiates --like his adopted daughter Faran-- can finally become fully invested with Namara's blades, which are unbreakable, bonded to their wielders, and are instantly deadly against the risen dead.  Seeing as the Son of Heaven is a new breed of undead himself, that proves to be pretty handy.  Aral also has to compromise in his choice of allies, putting his trust in trai...

Oh man, I really hated this book.  I could barely get through it.  It turns out I am not a fan of historical romances.  At least not when something isn't exploding or getting stabbed every other page. The narrative follows the Savage family through time from Elizabethan England as touring performers to a reunion of Italian and English branches in 1752 as well as some meddling in the future American Revolution, then a jump forward to the Frisco quake of 1906 and the rise of vaudeville, a brief brush with alcoholism and McCarthyism, and finally back to the West End in 1978. It's trying to  examine actors as artists and the personal and political trials overcome through the centuries but the focus on a pair of will-they/won't-they lovers in each epoch became mind-numbingly boring after about forty pages.  There's a decent attention to detail but nowhere near the level of Anne Lyle or Diana Gabaldon, there's no sex, very little blood, and the whole thing ...

This is the second book in the Night's Masque trilogy so minor spoilers for book one might follow. Mal Catlyn is braving out his exile in France as best he can when he is once more drawn into a vast conspiracy.  Hidden in Venice is a powerful guiser, an ancient soul of the New World denizens known as skraelings born into a human body in violation of the law.  Mal and his twin brother, Sandy, share one of these souls belonging to a murdered skraeling.  Mal weathered the revelation, making him uniquely suited to serve the Queen's spymaster, Walsingham, as a liaison and operative for English interests but the lure of the guiser known as the Merchant of Dreams may be too strong for Mal to overcome. So book one, The Alchemist of Souls, set up the alternate history of the world but kept the action confined to just England.  Book two expands to an actual global conspiracy reaching through time, which I like.  The world-building is excellent and you can really s...