Started Reading: January 30, 2008
Finished Reading: March 9, 2008

This is probably one of the better fairy-tale retelling I’ve read (I remember reading one retelling of A Little Mermaid and the story was so awful — I can’t, for my life, remember the title or the author). It took me a long time to finish this because the first part was a bit dragging for me so I stopped, and read other books, until I read it again today. The best parts were when the Beast was finally in the picture — though I wish there were more about him to read. I felt the same with Sunshine, where I wanted to learn Constantine’s POV because he had become such an interesting character. The same with the Beast.

Although the characters in Beauty are more fleshed-out, seeming to be more three-dimensional than two, the story or plot itself didn’t veer away from the original fairy tale. The ending was too hurried for my tastes, with everyone just coming to the castle and everything resolving on its own. Nevertheless, as a whole, this book was very nice. Probably not something I’d reread, but it was a simple enough story that I enjoyed.

Started Reading: March 8, 2008
Finished Reading: March 8, 2008

The cliffhanger ending. D: I want to read the next book now.  The book has a very interesting plot, and it brings  cross-dressing-during-a-medieval-like-era into a new perspective. I really like Tobin, as well as the other characters like Ki and Brother (they have such a love/hate relationship that I wonder what would happen if they separate) and Tharim, etc. I wonder how things will work out for Tobin to rule since it would conflict with the role he wants to live and the beliefs he upholds.

I didn’t find the story/characters creepy at all. They seem to possess the same darkness  as V.C. Andrews‘ novels, only in a more fantasy setting.

Started Reading: January 12, 2008
Finished Reading: Januay 12, 2008

The world in which The Black Jewels Trilogy takes place is dark, filled with sadists, masochists, sex, violence, and ambition. Thrown in this epic are a lot of characters - demons, slaves, witches, the undead, and other different races. It has a good plot but –

The characters are terribly generic and it’s easy to get bored with their reactions from time to time. Saetan is always surprised at the things that Jaenelle does when really, he should just get used to it. He’s always stopping himself from wringing her neck, it’s ridiculous.

And it’s irritating that Jaenelle is such an omnipotent Witch. She goes to places that none of the supposedly powerful lords have ever visited. I mean, I wouldn’t mind if she did have every kind of ability out there but please, shouldn’t her guardians and mentors at least have some experiences with the unknown? The older characters needn’t have the experience on everything but at least they should know just a part of what Jaenelle has seen, experiences evenly distributed among them so that they’d have enough knowledge and background to make their reputations believable. Their inexperience and, yes, ignorance makes them seem toddlers as compared to Jaenelle who’s always surprising everyone.

And the only thing that the males know are sex and violence. As if we haven’t got enough of that in Daemon.

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Started Reading: July 1, 2007
Finished Reading: July 1, 2007

Is there something more to the fairy tale about the six brothers turned into swans and their sister weaving them garments to break the spell? Juliet Mariller adds more magic to this old mystical tale. I’m glad she had picked a tale that wasn’t universally common already. Cinderella and Snow White have been told and retold countless of times, that the tale about the swans and their sister becomes a refreshing change.

The book was very enjoyable, and it does a good job of developing its characters. Seven siblings may be hard to handle, but they all developed into individuals with unique characteristics that even though Sorcha is the main protagonist, they manage to have their own, little stories incorporated as the plot progresses. It would never be easy to forget even one character, no matter how significant or not they are. Mariller manages to create characters that make lasting impressions on the readers, and this is one of her strong points because without it, one may have easily missed important details in the web of the story.

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I’ve always loved The Immortals quartet, written by Tamora Pierce. Numair and Daine are my favorite characters in the older Tortall stories and nothing would make me enjoy the characters more than by fan fiction that ships my OTP!

Sonnet Lacewing has written a couple of Numair/Daine fics that I enjoyed very much. She is a wonderful writer, and Numair and Daine deserves fan-love. LOL. (These are all completed works.)

1. Two Weeks in Carthak - This is The Emporer Mage from Numair’s POV. Some fluff via dreams and definite Daine & Numair foreshadowing. There are also new powerful spells and a rather nasty execution.
2. Mitigating Circumstances - A tangled story of peace negotiations, seduction, thieves, the death of a beloved character, and undeniable feelings, all subject to mitigating circumstances. Set between EM and ROTG. Forshadows Daine & Numair.
3. ENEMIES - In a time when Tortall is already suffering plots from Immortals, unseen enemies prepare to destroy Tortall from the inside out. Who are enemies and who are friends? Sequel to Mitigating Circumstances. Foreshadows Daine & Numair
4. MAELSTROM - After the barrier fell, Tortall was inundated with a maelstrom of immortal mischief. Ozorne schemes, battles rage, and Daine & Numair struggle to deal with unvoiced feelings. Sequels Enemies
5. TAKEN - This is RotG from Numair’s POV. Expect big magic, heavy introspection, and a nice, fluffy ending. This sequels MAELSTROM. And it is, of course, Daine & Numair