Well, bugger me
Jan. 7th, 2015 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mindsplintersI kind of read 12 more books before I got to the end of 2014 and forgot to post about them in the push through the holiday madness. So we'll do an abrupt, possibly bratty drive-by. (You know I sometimes read absolute nonsense, after all.)
41) Willow by Wayland Drew - Yes, exactly what you think. It seems one of my aunts had a weakness for movie tie-in novels and, as I love the movie Willow, I could not resist. Not a bad fantasy yarn. Keeps to the movie but adds things in. The extra backstory on Madmartigan especially is interesting.
42) Holiday with a Vampire III by, eh, 3 different romance novelists - Three novellas of varying vampirism, holiday feeling, and quality. I hate the trend of making vampires just super-powered humans without any of the drawbacks. Dude, you're dead, you need blood/life-force/etc. Get over it.
43) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - OMG, wonderful and messy and emotional. Just like the series. Though I have to say that at least one death felt terribly contrived and done solely for Impact. I wasn't dreadfully annoyed like when other books do it but... Eh.
44) The Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher - Very interesting concept, very well-written. A mixture of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and, I don't know, Freemont Jones perhaps. Some very lovely period work and it was refreshing to see a detective (even one so loosely defined as a man appointed to determine the nobility's sanity and competence) with a set of real, grounded family and professional and personal relationships. Even if I could see some of the things coming, it was still a great read just for that. No man is an island, dammit.
45) Hard Magic by Larry Correia - I stayed up until about 3am to finally finish this book so you know it's good. There might have been a bit of padding and heaviness here and there but you hardly minded. Interesting characters, interesting world, fantastic name-dropping. Fast and violent and passionate. It made me think of all the best bits of WildCards.
46) Royal Romances: Titillating Tales of Passion and Power in the Palaces of Europe by Leslie Carroll - Pretty standard run with some new information but a definite noticeable bias. Fun read but nothing particularly shattering.
47) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - It's Gaiman. So I liked it and it was good. However, it was vague even by his standards and was definitely not a children's book despite the size and simplistic language. YA, I would say. I would not call it his best work, though, and I feel that, if I was in the mood to read about a child thrust into a strange world with adult themes and scary adults, I would re-read Coraline instead of this one.
48) A Perry Mason Omnibus: The Case of the Singing Skirt, The Case of the Blonde Bonanza, The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner - Fun reads, fast reads, basic Perry Mason. I love it when Della is super sassy.
49) Mirror, Mirror: Forty Folk Tales for Mothers and Daughters to Share by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple - A really interesting collection of tales
50) A Marriage of Inconvenience by Elizabeth Mansfield - I rather like Mansfield and I'm glad I rescued as many of her books from Grammy's attic as possible. They're not perfect but they have a lot of charm and the heroines usually have some sort of sense.
51) The Grand Passion by Elizabeth Mansfield - Then you get to Tess here and, boy, she's a dangerous sort of obsessive and slightly brainless lunatic. Yes, let's start a complete vendetta against a man you have never met before but who you think drove the coach during the accident that killed your fiance (who you were tepid to, anyway), take on a false persona, make him fall in love with you, fake your death... Yes, it's just as bizarre as it sounds.
52) My Lady Scapegrace by Lisabet Norcross - Generally cute but severely lacking in the falling-in-love arc of things from the heroine's point of view. She goes from loathing to loving... All at the gossip of her finishing school comrades. On the other hand, gawd, I love her parents. They are hilarious and brilliant and sneaky and charming and so very much (and believably) in love.
41) Willow by Wayland Drew - Yes, exactly what you think. It seems one of my aunts had a weakness for movie tie-in novels and, as I love the movie Willow, I could not resist. Not a bad fantasy yarn. Keeps to the movie but adds things in. The extra backstory on Madmartigan especially is interesting.
42) Holiday with a Vampire III by, eh, 3 different romance novelists - Three novellas of varying vampirism, holiday feeling, and quality. I hate the trend of making vampires just super-powered humans without any of the drawbacks. Dude, you're dead, you need blood/life-force/etc. Get over it.
43) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - OMG, wonderful and messy and emotional. Just like the series. Though I have to say that at least one death felt terribly contrived and done solely for Impact. I wasn't dreadfully annoyed like when other books do it but... Eh.
44) The Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher - Very interesting concept, very well-written. A mixture of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and, I don't know, Freemont Jones perhaps. Some very lovely period work and it was refreshing to see a detective (even one so loosely defined as a man appointed to determine the nobility's sanity and competence) with a set of real, grounded family and professional and personal relationships. Even if I could see some of the things coming, it was still a great read just for that. No man is an island, dammit.
45) Hard Magic by Larry Correia - I stayed up until about 3am to finally finish this book so you know it's good. There might have been a bit of padding and heaviness here and there but you hardly minded. Interesting characters, interesting world, fantastic name-dropping. Fast and violent and passionate. It made me think of all the best bits of WildCards.
46) Royal Romances: Titillating Tales of Passion and Power in the Palaces of Europe by Leslie Carroll - Pretty standard run with some new information but a definite noticeable bias. Fun read but nothing particularly shattering.
47) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - It's Gaiman. So I liked it and it was good. However, it was vague even by his standards and was definitely not a children's book despite the size and simplistic language. YA, I would say. I would not call it his best work, though, and I feel that, if I was in the mood to read about a child thrust into a strange world with adult themes and scary adults, I would re-read Coraline instead of this one.
48) A Perry Mason Omnibus: The Case of the Singing Skirt, The Case of the Blonde Bonanza, The Case of the Horrified Heirs by Erle Stanley Gardner - Fun reads, fast reads, basic Perry Mason. I love it when Della is super sassy.
49) Mirror, Mirror: Forty Folk Tales for Mothers and Daughters to Share by Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple - A really interesting collection of tales
50) A Marriage of Inconvenience by Elizabeth Mansfield - I rather like Mansfield and I'm glad I rescued as many of her books from Grammy's attic as possible. They're not perfect but they have a lot of charm and the heroines usually have some sort of sense.
51) The Grand Passion by Elizabeth Mansfield - Then you get to Tess here and, boy, she's a dangerous sort of obsessive and slightly brainless lunatic. Yes, let's start a complete vendetta against a man you have never met before but who you think drove the coach during the accident that killed your fiance (who you were tepid to, anyway), take on a false persona, make him fall in love with you, fake your death... Yes, it's just as bizarre as it sounds.
52) My Lady Scapegrace by Lisabet Norcross - Generally cute but severely lacking in the falling-in-love arc of things from the heroine's point of view. She goes from loathing to loving... All at the gossip of her finishing school comrades. On the other hand, gawd, I love her parents. They are hilarious and brilliant and sneaky and charming and so very much (and believably) in love.
