| When I hear the phrase "time travel" I have to admit I'm not usually inclined to read the book. But, in the case of Marianne Curley's Guardian's of Time trilogy I'm really glad I made the exception. The named starts off from the point of view of Ethan, who learned at a very young age that he was one of the Named when his sister was murdered by a monster. The named is a group of preordained people who would save the future of the world by making sure that the past is not tampered with. It is now years later and Ethan is a teenager. His mentor, Arkarian, gives Ethan the task of training a newly discovered member of the Named, Isabel, who is the younger sister of his best friend, Matt. The adventures of the members of The Named continue on through The Dark and The Key and throughout the books you get to hear the story told by the different members of The Named. The characters in these three books are all well written and believable. I have to admit a particular fondness for Arkarian, the blue haired, violet eyed mentor of Ethan. I also love the subtle difference in grammer and names which comes from Ms. Curley being Austrailian. I am also recommending Ms. Curley's first book Old Magic. It was a delightful adventure, also with a time traveling component. My only complaint was that the book ended. |
| JENINE'S AMAZON.COM REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS PAGE 2 |
| Stories of vampires have always fascinated me. Stories of twins have also always fascinated me. Therefore the story Shattered Mirror was a tale I could sink my teeth into (please pardon the pun). This book follows the quest of witch/vampire hunter, Sarah Vida, for the reviled vampire, Nikolas. What Sarah finds are two "weak" vampires, a brother and sister, at the high school she has newly started attending. Despite her own reservations, and the constant warnings of her family, Sarah befriends the vampires. Although Shattered Mirror takes place in the same setting as Amelia's other vampire stories, it is a wonderful, stand alone read. It was the first of her vampire stories that I read and my personal favorite. Amelia truly shows that characters are rarely as good, or as evil, as they may appear on the surface. There are many shades of gray in between and they are explored in depth during this story. I also have a particular fondess for Demon In My View which is the story of Jessica who, unknown to her fellow high school students, is the writer of popular vampire stories under a pen name. Although the stories she writes are happily received by her peers, Jessica is not. She is routinely ostracized at school and could care less. When Jessica meets a new student named Alex, he immediately reminds her of someone else, namely a vampire from one of her books. Is it possible that Jessica is writing true stories of vampires in our midst? I would highly recommend Shattered Mirror and Demon In My View to anyone interested in the vampire genre or anyone who is simply looking for an enticing distraction from reality. |
| Shattered Mirror and Demon in my View Amelia Atwater-Rhodes |
| Guardians of Time Trilogy and Old Magic Marianne Curley |
| City of Bones Cassandra Clare |
| Clary just thought that her and her best friend, Simon, were heading out to a club for the evening to do a bit of dancing and have a bit of fun. Little did she know that she would witness a boy being murdered (or so she thought). Instead Clary discovers a world of fantasy and violence that she never dreamed existed. The worst part about her discovery is the knowledge that her past, present and future are intricately intertwined with this world and now nothing will be the same for Clary again. Although this book has received some bad reviews I really believe this story is undeserving of the negative comments that have been made about it.This story is a debut novel for Cassandra Clare and she has done an admirable job of creating an urban fantasy of demon killers, demons, werewolves, vampires and warlocks that is action packed and she does a great job of holding your attention. I enjoyed her characters and look forward to reading the next book in the series. I suspect they will only get better. |
| Tithe, Valiant and Ironside Holly Black |
| Tithe is the story of Kaye who is a teenager who has found herself having to grow up too fast. She takes care of her mother who has abhorrent tastes in boyfriends. When one night after a gig her mother's boyfriend tries to stab her, Kaye and her mother return to her grandmother's house. When Kaye returns she reunites with the faerie folk who had been her companions since she was a young girl. Soon Kaye finds herself in the center of a faerie consipracy of which she is a major part. On the surface Valiant is the story of high school student, Val, who runs away to the city to escape the humiliation of having walked in on her mother and boyfriend getting down and dirty on their living room couch. This causes Val to fall in with the wrong crowd and become a drug addict. But, in addition to the grim realistic storyline there is also the fantasy of the sidhe, the mystery of the dying creatures in the city, the troll under the bridge and the intrigue of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Ironside primarily returns to the story of Kaye and Roiben although there is some input from our Valiant friends as well. While Kaye is still trying to come to terms with her discoveries about herself and the faerie realms she is tricked by a sidhe. This deception sets in motion a quest that appears to impossible, but is one Kaye cannot give up on. I really enjoyed all of these stories, although they are darker in content than most all of the other books I've suggested in my recommendations. The depictions of the fairie folk is consistent with Grimm's Fairy Tales and the majority of them are not very nice folk at all. These books are intriguing and if you enjoy urban fantasy I would highly recommend them. |