No Buffy in sight, just a fairly enjoyable fairy tale about princesses and dragons. I had fun, but the characterisations didn’t go far enough beyond caricature and the plot didn’t have enough depth to it to make this a keeper. Ended somewhat rushed, too.
Shadow’s Son – Jon Sprunk
A bit of a BSF (Bog Standard Fantasy). Again, enjoyable enough for what it was, but nothing special.
Sword of Shadows 1: A Cavern of Black Ice – J V Jones.
Definitely a keeper. The pace was a little slow in the middle section, but the characters were fascinating enough to overcome that and I’m looking forward to reading the others in this fantasy series.
Rogue Angel #1: Destiny – “Alex Archer”
I wasn’t expecting much from this one. Given what I’d read of this large series on Wiki:
Quote
Rogue Angel is a paper back series of novels published bi-monthly since July 2006 by Harlequin Publishing's Gold Eagle division and written under the house name of Alex Archer. Actual authors are credited with small notes inside the books, but not on the front covers or spines. The main character is Annja Creed. Each novel offers an adventure based on history or mythology, with a heavy fantasy slant. Annja Creed is a world-travelling archaeologist with a penchant for adventure, lost cities, mysterious codes and puzzles, and shadowy history that was never recorded. Heir to Joan of Arc's mystic sword, Annja finds herself drawn into the webs of darkest villainy with lives on the line.
I was expecting no more than a lightweight, fast-paced romp, full of lightweight, 2-dimensional characters. A Lara Croft-lite clone. But to my surprise this one had a lot more depth and much more rounded characters than I was expecting and that comparison does it a great disservice. I’ve several more logged onto my Kindle, so I’ll be reading more. Rather enjoyable.
Rogue Angel #2: Solomon’s Jar – “Alex Archer”
This second book in the series suffered from what I assume to be the problem with varying authors writing the books. I got tired of our heroine being attacked by gangs of angry, machete-wielding locals practically every two pages, only to be rescued by an unlikely ally at the last minute. Essentially, it was the same scene repeated endlessly. In between, there seemed to be an awful lot of dialogue about things that didn’t interest me. So too much repetition in the plot and way too much boring exposition. A bit of a disappointment. Roll on book three!
LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
