Book 17: Goddess of Light by
P.C. Cast – 329 pagesDescription from bookdepository.co.uk: ( Read more... )Thoughts:This is the third of the Goddess Summoning series, starring the mythological twins Artemis and Apollo, an interior designer called Pamela and a rather bombastic science fiction author. This was an enjoyable enough read, but I didn’t necessarily like the characters. Apollo was paternalistic and chauvinistic, Artemis arrogant and a meddler, Pamela kind of pathetic and easily led, and the author (who’s name fails me) somehow managed to not notice all that was going on, which just seemed ridiculous. Also, it kind of annoyed me how Cast described Vegas. Yes, I know its seedy, I’ve been there, but its definitely got its own charm about it, that I didn’t think Cast quite got across. Finally, the ending was way too convenient, wrapping everything up when five second before there’d been no foreseeable resolution – a little to deus ex machine if you ask me. Ultimately, it wasn’t the best of the series but it wasn’t the worst.
17 / 50 books. 34% done!
6687 / 15000 pagess. 45% done!
Book 18: Abandon by
Meg Cabot – 304 pagesDescription from bookdepository.co.uk:Last year, Pierce died - just for a moment. And when she was in the space between life and death, she met John: tall dark and terrifying, it's his job to usher souls from one realm to the next. There's a fierce attraction between them, but Pierce knows that if she allows herself to fall for John she will be doomed to a life of shadows and loneliness in the underworld. But now things are getting dangerous for her, and her only hope is to do exactly what John says ...
Thoughts:This is another go at the retelling of the myth of Persephone and Hades, though with a darker turn than Goddess of Spring which I read a few books earlier. This one is a teenage version in which the main character dies temporarily after a ridiculous swimming pool accident and manages to escape Hades and wake up. Though in this version, Hades is neither Hades nor the forever ruling God of the Underworld but something akin to an heir to the role (though who he inherits it from remains to be established – something for Book 2) and he goes by the name John Hayden – I mean seriously, she could have at least made his first name Hayden! It’s not a bad book, it reads reasonably well, but John was all over the place, temperament wise, and Pierce (this version’s Persephone) was strangely attracted to him, in an almost Twilight fashion. There was a mystical necklace (there’s always a talisman), an atypical setting (Florida Keys) and estranged, divorced parents…not to mention the usual teenage hijinks that bring everything to a head. I can see that Cabot is looking towards the sequel, and I’ll read it, as it isn’t bad per se, more just done before. It could have been darker, more plot driven and less Edward Cullen dramatic and been a much better story, though not necessarily a pass up because of the lack of these qualities.
18 / 50 books. 36% done!
6991 / 15000 pages. 47% done!
Book 19: Goddess of the Rose by
P.C. Cast – 342 pagesDescription from bookdepository.co.uk:It's not green fingers that have kept the Empousai family's roses blooming for centuries - it's the drops of blood that their women secretly sacrifice for their gardens. But Mikki would rather forget this family quirk and lead a normal life. Until the day she unwittingly performs a ritual and ends up in the strangely familiar Realm of the Rose. As its goddess, Hecate, reveals to her, Mikki has the blood of a high priestess running through her veins. And the realm has been waiting for her ...In a long ago flash of temper, Hecate cursed her Guardian beast with a slumber that only her priestess can undo - and Hecate is counting on Mikki to set things right. At first the beast terrifies Mikki - but soon he intrigues her more than any man ever has. But the only way he and the realm can be saved is for Mikki to sacrifice her life-giving blood - and herself ...
Thoughts:Beauty and the Beast was one of my favourite Disney movies as a kid (it has epic music – Angela Lansbury and the little Teacup singing ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – oh I love that song!) though the beast at the beginning always scared me (and since re-watching as an adult – well Gaston was akin to a stalker now wasn’t he?). I actually hadn’t realized the age of the story of the beautiful girl and the rose and the beast and the witch and all that, and it was only in picking up this book that I learnt that. This one doesn’t really fit into the rest of the ‘Goddess’ series either as it seems to live within a slightly different pantheon – this time it employs the goddess Hecate. I quite liked this one, especially the beast. I have an affection for atypical male leads – though it bugs me when they’re overly romantic or sensitive (you can be sensitive and still have it come across ‘manly’ – take Booth in Bones as an example, who balances the two perfectly!). For the most part, Cast got it right in this one, and I especially appreciated the almost violent nature of their sexual relationship, as these affairs often descended into soppy messes once the sex comes into it (Laurell K. Hamilton is the Queen of violent sex to my mind, though she often takes it a bit too far into ridiculously unbelievable). Somehow soppy romance just doesn’t fit when you’re dealing with blood letting and horns! Ultimately, though the end seemed a little too neat (I like it when the ending isn’t a 100% happy – feels more real), this was one of my favourite of the series.
19 / 50 books. 38% done!
7333 / 15000 pages. 49% done!
Currently reading:
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Homer – 408 pages
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Eric & D’eva Redding – 239 pages
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Liz Maverick – 327 pages
And coming up:
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Stephen Donaldson – 500 pages
- The Other Queen by
Philippa Gregory – 437 pages
- The Odyssey by
Homer – 324 pages
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