The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
Publication: Hyperion Book CH (April 8, 2008), Paperback, 336 pages / ISBN 1423101480
Genre: Adventure, Urban Fantasy, YA
Rating: 
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge (#10)
First sentence: The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school.
Series: Book #1 | Book #2 | Book #3 (you’re here!) | Book #4
Warning: This review has definite spoilers in it. If you haven’t read books #1 & #2 before, please do! (Unless you don’t care about spoilers, I guess.)
Though the second book was a little disappointing, I had high hopes for this one, especially since it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I like this installment the least of all of them!
Summary from Amazon:
When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped. And now it’s up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the titans. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared-a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.
I did like some things. There’s some interesting new happenings in The Titan’s Curse, the best of which is Percy’s prophecy dreams. I’m sure those will come in handy later, for sure. I also liked some of the new characters, like the Hunters, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a feisty redhead who helps save Percy, and the Ophiotaurus, the cow-fish thing that turns out to be important later. Tyson comes back, and there’s some great fight scenes again, plus we get to me Annabeth’s father finally. Also, fatal flaws show up! Those’ll come in handy later, too.
That’s where the good things ended, though. I hated Thalia, Zeus’ kid who used to be a tree, and I didn’t particularly like the di Angelos either. Story points seem even more disconnected here than in the last book, and an alarming amount of characters come into the story only be be killed off halfway through. If a book was like a ball of yarn this one would be half unraveled and tangled around a thorn bush.
The bad guys were meh, the new gods introduced were meh, and everything else that I’ve forgotten about since I’ve read it must have been meh as well.
I was just dissatisfied with this book. It wasn’t nearly what I was expecting, and if I hadn’t already checked out the fourth one from the library, I probably wouldn’t have read it. (I did read it, however, and, sneak preview: I liked it much better than this one!) This one seemed like a stepping stone between #2 and #4, and not like a proper book in its own right. I hope that makes sense; I’m not sure how else to explain it!
Also, I couldn’t help noticing that Percy has a strange habit of saying that he won’t see something “for a long time,” and it’s always just a week or something. I think he said that three times in this book alone, and for sure he’s said it in the previous two books, too. Overdramatic, much?
And to compound my dislike of this book, near the end someone let through “assume” instead of “as soon.” WHOOPS.
In one sentence: A disappointing installment in an otherwise wonderful book series.
Other reviews: If you’ve written a review, let me know so I can add your link here!
Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt
Publication: eBook / ISBN 0553589989
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Rating:
Find free ebook @ Suvudu or paper book @ Amazon
First sentence: Marla Mason crouched in the alley beside the City Lights bookstore and threw her runes.
I read a review recently where the author said that “there’s also a frustrating place between good enough to enjoy and bad enough to put down without guilt or curiosity,” and that’s exactly how I feel about Blood Engines.
Summary from RandomHouse:
Meet Marla Mason–smart, saucy, slightly wicked witch of the East Coast.…
Sorcerer Marla Mason, small-time guardian of the city of Felport, has a big problem. A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla’s life–and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla’s only chance of survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere in San Francisco. But when she arrives there, Marla finds that the quest isn’t going to be quite as cut-and-dried as she expected…and that some of the people she needs to talk to are dead. It seems that San Francisco’s top sorcerers are having troubles of their own–a mysterious assailant has the city’s magical community in a panic, and the local talent is being (gruesomely) picked off one by one.
With her partner-in-crime, Rondeau, Marla is soon racing against time through San Francisco’s alien streets, dodging poisonous frogs, murderous hummingbirds, cannibals, and a nasty vibe from the local witchery, who suspect that Marla herself may be behind the recent murders. And if Marla doesn’t figure out who is killing the city’s finest in time, she’ll be in danger of becoming a magical statistic herself.…
I’ve been steadily working my way through the fantasy offerings at Suvudu, and for the most part I’ve found them ranging from SUPER AWESOME to very good. Blood Engines falls a little bit lower on the scale, unfortunately, though I don’t mean to say it wasn’t entertaining.
It took some getting there, but I eventually stopped gripping about the things I didn’t like (well, for the most part) and got into the story. However, I didn’t reach that point until chapter 10, when things started actually picking up and getting interesting. I nearly gave up around chapter 8, but decided to keep going for rather lukewarm reasons. Blood Engines is in that gray area between “good” and “bad,” and I tend to get trapped in it pretty often.
My biggest problem was unfortunately with the writing. It’s not horrid, but Pratt gives us these infodumps like it’s stuff we should already know from a previous installment, except that this is the first book! I constantly felt like I was playing catch-up and it got really annoying really fast.
And it’s also really weird that Marla keeps going on and on about how much she loves the town she runs, except the entire book is spent in San Francisco! All we get about town-that-I-already-forgot-the-name-of is unflattering second-hand descriptions from various characters, and for something that seems to be such a big part of Marla’s personality, it’s…strange that the first book in a series would take place away from it. Again, had to keep going back and seeing if I had missed a previous book or something. GAH.
The whole book is typical urban fantasy fare, with nothing really new or exciting except maybe the characters; heck, even the scenes spent at a BDSM sex party were boring. Not that I was expecting erotica or anything, but if I’m going to spend one or two chapters reading about people wearing saran wrap as clothing, I’d like a little something more…interesting. Less blasé, for sure.
So why did I keep reading it ’til the end? Dunno. I think it was partly because I liked B, the gay ex-actor/super-seer, and I wanted to read more about him. In an vague sense I admired Marla, who’s feisty and kick-ass and has a surprising talent at bullwhipping her name into dudes’ buttocks. And though I didn’t particularly like the writing I wasn’t repelled quite enough to stop reading. I may not have enjoyed myself all the time, but I don’t think I necessarily wasted my time, either.
I do kinda wanna read the next few books in the series, mostly because I want to see if B shows up again. Love him! But I don’t think I’ll be buying them, and I don’t think it’ll be anytime soon.
In summation: I didn’t hate it, but neither did I get all OMG AWESOME. Most worth reading for the unusual characters (plus, it’s free).
Other reviews: Books Worth Reading/Places Worth Going (or NOT) | Strange Horizons Reviews | MentatJack
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Publication: Miramax (March 20, 2007), Paperback, 304 pages / ISBN 1423103343
Genre: Adventure, Urban Fantasy, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge (#9)
First sentence: My nightmare started like this: I was standing in the middle of the street in some deserted beach town.
Series: Book #1 | Book #2 (you’re here!) | Book #3 | Book #4
Note: There’s some possible spoilers in here, mostly just character related.
The second book of a series that has such a kick-ass beginning will inevitably never be quite as awesome as the first, and that’s unfortunately true here. It’s not as bad as some other second books, but the repetition of themes from the first book and weird plot points that go nowhere were disappointing. Overall, though, I had fun reading it, and despite my disappointments it’s nowhere near bad.
Summary from Amazon:
Percy Jackson’s seventh-grade year has been surprisingly quiet. Not a single monster has set foot on his New York prep-school campus. But when an innocent game of dodgeball among Percy and his classmates turns into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, things get . . . well, ugly. And the unexpected arrival of Percy’s friend Annabeth brings more bad news: the magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and unless a cure is found, the only safe haven for demigods will be destroyed.
My main problem with the book was that it didn’t seem as tightly-woven as the first book. Tantalus, who briefly replaces Chiron as activities director, is mean and evil and I don’t get the point of him being there. He doesn’t do anything except cause hurt feelings, and it’s never really explained if he’s actually a spy for the baddies or just a grouch. He’s pointless.
Little things like that, things that seem to have no point and are just there to take up space, seriously annoy me and unless they pop up again in a later book, I don’t want to see them in this one. Bah.
Other things, instead of showing up only once, are repeated from the first book: Percy at new school, Percy getting into trouble for something a monster caused, Percy’s new friend actually being a monster, Percy going on a quest to fight a thing that can’t be beat, etc. etc. The repetition isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just frustrated me that there wasn’t anything new except the situations surrounding them.
But there’s a lot of things I liked, too! Like I said, even though the structure is the same as the first book, the details are different and it turned out to be just as exciting as the first book. I really do like the new character introduced, Tyson-the-nice-cyclops. He’s so cute! The contrast between him and the evil cyclops was interesting, especially considering how everyone except Percy considered cyclopses to all be evil and eat people, etc. Tyson doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, and it was quite refreshing to see a monster not actually act monster-like.
I also liked that we got a closer look at Clarisse, Ares’ daughter who previously bullied Percy (and isn’t all that nice in this book, either). She’s mean, but I kinda like her and I think there’s more to her than just “bully.”
And there’s new mythological creatures whose names I can’t pronounce, ghosts, sword fights! Lots of danger! More prophecies that don’t make sense until after everything’s done! Lots of fun, yay! And like the first book, this one really moved. I think I read it in an afternoon, it went by so quick.
To sum up: less tight than the first book, but still a lot of fun to read.
Get your own copy from Amazon or your favorite indie bookstore!
Other reviews: Wands and Words | Rainy Books | Reading Sarah
Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the will to answer some very simple questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.
I’ll try to get this up sooner in the following weeks, darlings. Right now I’m just trying to survive the last of my midterms and distracting myself with fantasy books.
Disclaimer: This is actually not my glass of tea.
The tea: I was going to make some of this fancy blood orange tea I got in my Stash order earlier this month, but it seemed a bit morbid considering my current read is (well, was; I finished it a few hours ago) Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. And I’m not that gruesome! So instead I’m just sticking with some iced tea I found in the fridge earlier. It’s a mix of English Breakfast and Earl Grey, and it’s delicious with dinner-type food.
The book: Technically I already finished reading this, as I said earlier, but since I was still in the process of reading it when I started drinking my tea, I decided to count it. Here’s a summary:
Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him sectetly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill–and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.
I enjoyed reading it, though the overall tone is rather melancholy and the ending was decidedly down beat. Further thoughts will be in my review, though at the rate I’m writing them now it probably won’t be up until, oh, July. (I’m really behind and am full of shame.)
Do they go together? Not really. The iced tea is cool and refreshing and the caffeine makes me perk up, while the book is dark and made me a bit depressed. Maybe next week’s book/tea will be a better match!
What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?
Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
Publication: HarperCollins (2006), Paperback, 224 pages / ISBN 0552139262
Genre: Sci-Fi, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
First sentence: Johnny bit his lip and concentrated.
This was a slightly disappointing book, mostly in that it’s nowhere nearly as elegant as Nation. It’s a decent read, with an interesting plot, but it seemed heavy-handed and out of touch with modern teenage readers. Seeing that it was originally written in the early 1990′s, that’s not entirely surprising.
Summary from Amazon:
Johnny Maxwell, 12, thinks he’s a loser. People don’t seem to notice him, his parents are threatening to split up, and he’s not very good at the shoot-up-the-bad-guys computer games that he and his friends are always playing. But after his hacker buddy, Wobbler, gives him an illegal copy of Only You Can Save Mankind, strange things happen. The captain of the alien fleet that Johnny is supposed to shoot up surrenders to him–unheard of in a computer game–and soon after that all of the aliens from all copies of the game have vanished. Players looking for someone to shoot at sail through light years of empty space and return the game to the store, demanding their money back. Johnny also discovers that he is able to enter the alien ship in dreams and grows convinced that the aliens are somehow real, and are actually dying when human players shoot at them. And soon the day arrives when the humans can resume their shooting.
Continue on under the jump to read the rest of my review!
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More about my rating guide, including the buy/borrow/bin rating system used Sept. 2010-May 2011.
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