Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Book Review: Mark of the Thief

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

I loved Jennifer Nielson’s False Prince (and liked its two sequels reasonably well), so I really wanted to love Mark of the Thief.  And from that, you already know it didn’t go all that well, right?  There were a lot of good things in here–but somehow I could never quite get into this book.

The story is centered on Nic, a slave in a Roman mine a few centuries after Julius Caesar.  Nic is sent into a secret chamber deep in the ground to seek Caesar’s bulla, a kind of amulet.  Not unlike Aladdin, Nic manages to take possession of the bulla himself, and finds that it grants powerful but unpredictable magic.  Soon Nic has a price on his head, with powerful Romans from the Emperor down chasing him, and the fate of the Roman Empire at stake.

Ancient Rome is an era I enjoy, and I like the concept of a scrappy, defiant slave seizing power and freedom.  There’s lots of conspiracy and mystery in here, with neither Nic nor the reader always sure who can be trusted.  We also get a cool griffin, a tough girl Nic gradually builds a relationship with, and plenty of displays of magic.  Because also, magic in ancient Rome?  Very cool.

So.  Where did I run into a problem?  It never quite felt like ancient Rome.  Continue reading “Book Review: Mark of the Thief” →

Blog Hop: Bookmarks

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop3 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you use bookmarks? If so, do you match them to the book you’re reading or do you use random scraps of paper?

I have a bookmark collection, and have been mostly using the same ones for ten years or so.  They’re all home-made, and I remade some just a  few months ago because they were getting rather tattered around the corners.

My bookmark collection, essentially, reflects some of my very favorite characters…

Bookmarks (1)Mostly, it’s the characters I wrote stories about in my fanfiction days–and so they continue to live in my head (and the books I read) in a way that other much beloved characters do not.  The exception to that rule is the Doctor Who bookmark, which I created new when I was refurbishing the others.  That’s also my only two-sided bookmark…

Bookmarks (3)When I’m thinking about it, I like to match characters to the book I’m reading (a couple of recent reads involving Rome were definite Kirk books, for instance, while Peter Pan usually lands in the kids books).  But I don’t always think about it, and end up using the same one for weeks!

Do you have favorite bookmarks you like to use?  Any particular habits around them?

Reading Challenges, Mid-Year Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations4 Comments

We’re a little past the midway point of the year (how did that happen?) so it’s a good time to check in on reading challenges.  I’m being laid-back this year, which is a good thing since I started a new job about four months ago and it’s been distracting me!

One of my reading goals was to do more rereads of sort of…second tier favorites.  Books I like a lot, but don’t frequently think of rereading.  That’s been going along well, especially on audiobooks, where I’ve been working through the Harry Potter series and The Little House series, alternating books (one Harry Potter takes me about three weeks; Little House tends to be one week or less…)  I’m enjoying them both, however different they are, and I highly recommend The Long Winter as a good COLD read during hot weather!

I also realized that I’ve neglected two of my first tier favorite books for almost five years, and promptly reread L. M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle and Star Trek: First Frontier by Diane Carey and James I. Kirkland.  Both of them wonderful character studies with excellent setting descriptions!  Continue reading “Reading Challenges, Mid-Year Update” →

Blog Hop: Hearing a Story

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop5 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you listen to audiobooks?

I do!  I only started in the last few years, which I largely account to reading other bloggers’ accounts of listening to audiobooks.  I also started a new job a few months ago with a longer commute, so I get more audiobook time in.  I only listen to audiobooks in the car, and out of respect for the fact that I am, after all, driving, I tend to listen to rereads rather than new books.  And preferably ones that won’t be too suspenseful.

Though I also have a habit of listening to Agatha Christie novels, which are both new to me and suspenseful so…I can’t explain that. Continue reading “Blog Hop: Hearing a Story” →

Movie Review: V for Vendetta

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews2 Comments

v_for_vendetta_ver4I didn’t quite get around to rewatching V for Vendetta last Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th), and have been meaning to watch it in a vague way ever since. I finally did recently for a movie night with friends—and I think a good time was had by all!

V for Vendetta is set somewhere in the future, when England is run by an oppressive government that has sacrificed freedom, dissent and civil liberties in the name of safety, unity and strength. Onto this scene stalks V (Hugo Weaving), a cloaked figure in a Guy Fawkes mask, incredibly erudite and possibly mad, who at midnight on November 5th blows up the Old Bailey (with fireworks and the 1812 Overture), then broadcasts a message to the nation explaining his intentions: to oppose the oppressive government and demonstrate the power of the individual by blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, one year away. Evey (Natalie Portman) crosses paths with V by accident and is drawn into his world, literally and philosophically, while Chief Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) tries to find “the terrorist code name V,” but stumbles on pieces of a much bigger puzzle about power, corruption and the pervasive influence of fear.

This is a hard movie to summarize! Complex and multilayered, even small pieces turn out to be important or to have immense impact. The movie also features Stephen Fry as Gordon, a flamboyant talk show comedian; John Hurt as the terrifying Chancellor Sutler, who draws from both Hitler and Big Brother (making a mind-breaking reversal of his long-ago role as Winston in 1984); awesome stylized fight sequences; a heart-breaking lesbian love story; a host of incredibly brilliant quotes; and did I mention the best explosions ever? Continue reading “Movie Review: V for Vendetta” →