Category: Fantasy

Book Review: The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young AdultLeave a comment

I’m still continuing my way through Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series, and have finished through the fourth one, The House of Hades. The series continues to be excellent fun! Spoilers to follow for the earlier books…

The last book ended with Percy and Annabeth falling into the pit of Tartarus, the darkest, deepest, most horrifying part of the underworld. Their friends must continue their quest to reach the House of Hades and close the Doors of Death, so that monsters can be killed and Gaea, the terrifying Mother Earth, can be prevented from rising up and destroying humanity. Percy and Annabeth, meanwhile, are searching for the Doors in the Tartarus, to complete the other half of the quest and close them from that side.

Let me just say first, while we’re up here at the top near the image–I love this cover.  That’s Percy and Annabeth there, and I love that you can’t really tell who’s holding up who.  Because they both lean on each other throughout the book.  Which always makes for a good romantic pairing. 🙂

All right, on to the text…  This was a big character growth book. Frank, the shape-shifting son of Mars, grows into his strength as a warrior. Hazel embraces new abilities and new confidence.  And Hazel and Leo come to a new understanding that helps resolve their uneasy triangle with Frank—and wise-talking Leo gets a more serious side, and a chance at an eighth-wheel to balance out his seventh-wheel status. By which I just mean he finally gets a bit of romance of his own! Continue reading “Book Review: The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus)” →

Book Review: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult1 Comment

After reading the Roman-set Mark of the Thief, I was happy to turn to another Roman-inspired book…and one I had more confidence in!  The Mark of Athena is Book 3 in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series, modern demigods who have to save the world from monsters and villainous gods.  I enjoyed and reviewed the first two books (The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune) and was happy to find the third book equally satisfying.  Some spoilers to follow for the first two books…

This third book opens with the Percy/Annabeth reunion I felt cheated of in Book 2, so that was a good way to begin the story!  The Greek and Roman heroes of the first two books are finally united here, to set off in their flying ship, the Argo II, towards the ancient lands of Rome and Greece.  This will be the battleground to try to stop the waking of Gaea, a very unmotherly Mother Earth who wants to destroy humanity.  Obstacles come thick and fast, from tensions within the group and from monsters at every turn. Continue reading “Book Review: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus)” →

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” →

Book Review: Loose Changeling

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews2 Comments

How can you lose with this premise?  Nicole always thought she was normal, until she catches her husband in bed with another woman, and in a fit of anger–turns the other woman into a mouse.  And that’s only the beginning of Loose Changeling by A. G. Stewart.  So, a disclaimer: I’m friends with the author, a member of my writing group.  But that really just means that I have a fuller appreciation for what an amazing writer she is!

So after the mouse incident, Nicole finds out that she’s a Changeling, a member of the Fey raised by humans–the only Changeling, since Changelings were banned more than a thousand years ago.  Nicole is plunged into Fey politics, a lot of monsters want to kill her, she can only use her magic when her soon-to-be-ex husband is in the room to make her angry enough, and her only guide through it all is a Fey bodyguard who is distractingly attractive and, even more problematic, keeps getting caught in lie after omission after half-truth.  All she really wants to do is go back to her desk job, where all her office supplies are perfectly lined up and the world makes sense.

This is a fast-paced, exciting book with a lot of twists that held my interest with never a falter.  There are some exciting battles and confrontations, but the book is just as engaging when Nicole is learning magical abilities or trying to process the emotional roller coaster she’s going through.  It’s a nice balance of action, character development and, as I always appreciate, dots of humor here and there too. Continue reading “Book Review: Loose Changeling” →

Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews1 Comment

You all know how I am about retold fairy tales, especially ones with a twist.  I certainly couldn’t resist The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling, retelling Cinderella from a very unusual perspective.

Kat is a typical modern teenager…who suddenly finds herself trapped inside the world of a storybook.  Specifically, Cinderella–but not as the heroine.  Kat is one of the stepsisters, and she won’t be able to get out of the story and go home until the book achieves its happy ending.  But the other stepsister is gorgeous and vying for the prince, the prince has no interest in balls or marriage, quiet and obedient Elle definitely won’t be pursuing the prince herself…and also, it’s hard work being in Society.  Kat could desperately use a fairy godmother, but none seems to be in sight.

I enjoyed the fish-out-of-water aspect of this, as modern Kat tries to cope with a (more or less) Victorian world.  Between corsets, curtsies and dull society calls, not to mention watching her modern slang, Kat struggles to find her way.  Her anachronistic status takes a more serious turn when she ends up confronting the harshness of child labor in the factories.  Her modern sensibilities drive her towards efforts at reform. Continue reading “Book Review: The Ugly Stepsister” →