Review: Outlander (Outlander #1)

Outlander
By: Diana Gabaldon
Website: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/
Release Date: June 1, 1991
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
Series: Outlander Series
Award: RITA Award by Romance Writers of America for Best Romance of 1991 (1992), Puddly Award for Romance (2001)
Rating:


 Not only is this book series originally published before I could pronounce the word Outlander it was published at perhaps the perfect time to receive the acclaim that it did. Now, with the books adapted to Starz as a regular series the popularity of the books has again been brought back to the forefront which is how I happened upon them. 

Diana Gabladon took a concept and literally ran with it throughout this series and I can safely say that I will be reading all of them. In the first installment we are asked to believe quite a bit but as a fantasy/sci-fi reader at heart I readily believed that the events in this book could happen and were indeed worth reading about. The question to everyone who is considering reading this series is can you believe in Gabladon’s story? 

Review: Nearly Found

Nearly Found
By: Elle Cosimano
Website: http://nearlygonebooks.com/
Release Date: June 2nd 2015
Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books
Series: Nearly Gone #2
Rating:


Nearly Boswell cannot catch a break! After the murder mystery in Book #1 of the series we see Nearly try, yet again, to keep herself focused on her future but trouble always finds her and this time it’s dragging her classmates and her family into it. 

In all seriousness this book was a good follow-up to book #1 Nearly Found and it helps give us some answers we didn’t get in the first book. Aside from a few questions I have that I’ll admit are me nitpicking at things that bothered me on such a minor level that I’ve decided that I need to get over it. Still, with more murders and more questions in her life it takes a huge effort by Nearly and her friends to once again help solve murders and get answers. 

Review: Nearly Gone

Nearly Gone
By: Elle Cosimano
Website: http://nearlygonebooks.com/
Release Date: March 25th 2014
Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books
Series: Nearly Gone #1
Award: 2015 Edgar Award Nominee
Rating:


What draws you to a book? Is it the cover artwork? The title? The cover tagline? The synopsis on the back of the book? For me this time around it was all to do with the cover. The art was intriguing, showing only a portion of our main character Nearly Boswell’s face and, while her lips are on the cover it isn’t explicitly sensual. I tend to grow tired of the covers with beautiful girls in beautiful clothes in a beautiful scene somewhere. We all know that for most of those books the beautiful, idyllic cover is a lie. This time around, the haunting cover tells you everything you need to know, that nothing is okay and you’re in for an intense ride. 

Let me also state that this book has a very Pretty Little Liars feel to it in that teenagers are solving crimes and, in the process, getting themselves into trouble/making matters worse. Now that that’s out of the way let’s talk about the book itself. 

#ThrowbackThursday Review – Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Wizard's First Rule
By: Terry Goodkind
Release Date: January 1994
Publisher: Tor
Series: Sword of Truth, Book #1
Award: Locus Award Nominee for Best First Novel (1995)
Rating:


I finally did it. I finally read Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule. I meant to read this for years. It’s my husband’s favorite book of all time. We own two physical copies and an ebook version. And, finally, after years of nagging, I sat down and read the whole thing. At once. All the way through. All 800 some odd pages. In less than 24 hours. It was just that good. I love high fantasy and this one certainly satisfied that itch.

Review – Overlord, Vol. 1: The Undead King by Kugane Maruyama

Overlord, Vol 1: The Undead King
By: Kugane Maruyama
Release Date: May 24, 2016
Publisher: Yen On
Series: Overlord, Book #1
Rating:


When I saw Overlord, Vol 1: The Undead King by Kugane Maruyama sitting on the shelf at the book store I just had to have it. I couldn’t help myself. It isn’t every day you find a translated light novel with breathtaking artwork (and hardcover no less!) just sitting around in the wild like that. Not unless you’re at a specialty book store. Sure, they have manga most of the time, but they’re usually usually way in the back and resigned to only one shelf, two if you’re lucky. And even they usually only have the old standards.

Okay, so, first. For those who don’t know, light novel is a term for a Japanese novel which is more or less the length of a long novella or a short novel, and is almost always part of a series. Overlord is one of these. This is the first volume, and, as of the time of writing this review, the only one currently available in English.

Review – The Zodiac Legacy Vol 1 by Stuart Moore

The Zodiac Legacy Vol 1
By: Stuart Moore, Stan Lee, P. H. Marcondes
Release Date: August 2, 2016
Publisher: Papercutz
Series: The Zodiac Legacy, Book #1. Based on The Zodiac Legacy novel series
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


The Zodiac Legacy #1 is a graphic novel by Stuart Moore, Stan Lee, and P. H. Marcondes based on a series of young adult novels of the same title. This is the first in a series of graphic novels involving characters with superpowers based on the Chinese zodiac.

Review: Champion by Marie Lu

Champion
By: Marie Lu
Release Date: November 5, 2013
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Series: Legend, Book #3
Rating:


Again, this time I didn’t tear through Champion. I was anxious to read this book and finish the series so once I got past the second chapter I went through it fairly quickly.

We open with Day and June apart, Day working within the military and June as the Princeps-Elect. As the Republic struggles towards a peace treaty with the Colonies a biohazard plague starts ripping through the Colonies.

Review – Beacon 23: The Complete Novel by Hugh Howey

Beacon 23: The Complete Novel
By: Hugh Howey
Website: http://www.hughhowey.com/
Release Date: August 12, 2015
Publisher: Self-Published
Series: Originally a series of short stories.
Award: Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction (2015
Rating:


So, I’ve had a Kindle for years. Somehow, I missed that you could check out a book from the Amazon store as a library book. Once I figured out that (a) this was a thing and (b) how to do it, I borrowed Beacon 23: The Complete Novel by Hugh Howey. Despite actually owning his first novel, Wool, this is the first of his books I’ve read. (I know, I know. I’m a serial tbr pile neglector.)

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

Legend
By: Marie Lu @marielubooks
Website: http://marielu.org/books.html
Release Date: November 29th, 2011
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Series: Legend, Book #1
Rating:


I freely admit that sometimes I try to avoid new series. Not because I don’t love series (let’s face it, I adore series) but sometimes you aren’t ready to commit to a new series just yet. Every time I’d gone into Barnes and Noble I’d look at Legend by Marie Lu. I’d read the book jacket, the quotes from the New York Times review and other authors and I’d read a few lines on the first page. I just couldn’t commit to the series yet.

The fact is, I’m mad I waited to read this series! I know I’m a bit behind in joining the Legend fandom and if you’re waiting to join in and read the series please don’t wait much longer.

#ThrowbackThursday Review – Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Guards! Guards!
By: Terry Pratchett
Website: http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk/
Release Date: 1990
Publisher: Random House
Series: Discworld Book #8, City Watch #1
Rating:


Happy Throwback Thursday!


Here’s an embarrassing admittance for a self-dubbed fantasy aficionado. I’ve never read Discworld. (Which probably means my dream of being the foremost knowledgeable human on fantasy novels is just a fleeting dream I’ll never really achieve. Not with this kind of performance). Not one of the forty some odd books. I’ve read Good Omens, Terry Pratchett’s collaborative work with Neil Gaiman. But I’ve never picked up a single Discworld novel.

So, what did think of my first foray into Discworld?