Thursday, December 27, 2012

78. A Conspiracy of Kings - Megan Whalen Turner

With Attolia and Eddis having gotten rid if the Medes by any means necessary, now comes Sounis and a new king who needs to figure out a way of getthing them to leave the much smaller country alone. Gen, of course, is in the thick of things. Sadly, the last of the series, currently. I'm going to miss every one of these characters.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Review–The King of Attolia–Megan Whalen Turner

77. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

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So hard to say much about this as everything is a spoiler. So suffice to say the series has become one of my favorite ever.  Gen is such a terrifically complex and surprising character. His schemes and plans are always so complex that although you know he's up to something, it's never quite clear just what until the whole thing falls into place.

This book shows him through the eyes of a guard who, the poor thing, has no clue who or what Gen is, but has to find a way to deal with him. At first hating him, as do most of his fellows, and then coming eventually to a fierce loyalty even he can't explain.

On to the last current book [Conspiracy of Kings].

Sunday, December 16, 2012

75. Queen of Attolia–Megan Whalen Turner

Oh my!  Even better than the first of this series, The Thief. 

Eugenides is captured again, this time by the Queen of Attolia. When he’s returned (after nearly being hung) to his Queen Eddis, Eddis declares war on Attolia.

Eugenides, meanwhile is badly broken, in spirit and body.  He’s afraid, feels worthless, and is more a danger to himself than to anyone else, although Queen Attolia isn’t convinced, and continues to fear him dreadfully.  As part of her plan to defeat Eddis, she allies with the Mede kingdom outsiders, who want to not only invade Eddis, but control Attolia.

What a terrific book. It’s hard to talk about it without a ton of spoilers, but this series is such a terrific read!  The writing is first-rate, the action constant and exciting, the characterizations are deep and believeable, and the plot twists, wow!

Highly recommended.

 

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Also, I’ve met my 75 book challenge for the year!  Wow!  Last year, my previous high, was 43. I never expected to read 75 books in one year, and was merely hoping to make 50.  But I’ll take it!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Review: Cocaine Blues–Kerry Greenwood

 

What a surprise. Quite different in the way of cozy wealthy women detectives.  Phryne is sassy, savvy and modern. She has few illusions about the world or about herself. She leaves England headed to Australia to find out if a woman is being poisoned by her husband (at the behest of the woman's parents).  She arrives and immediately becomes embroiled in the search for a killer abortionist and the King of Snow.

Interesting look at the times, and colorful Melbourne.  Will definitely continue the series.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

73. Review: Silent in the Sanctuary–Deanna Raybourn

 

Despite coming perilously close to being too romancy for me, I do enjoy the characters. Lady Julia is in Italy, recovering from the previous book’s events. One of her brother marries without daddy’s approval so daddy angrily calls them all home for Christmas. They obey and bring along Alessandro, their Italian friend, who is sweet on Lady Julia although she is busy denying it.

When they arrive, guess who is there as another house guest. Of course, the mysterious and sexy private inquiry agent, Brisbane.  Julia and he heat the house up and hunt a murderer, a ghost and a thief.

The best part of these books for me, is the mad March family, who are all delightfully ‘odd’.

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Review: The Rule of Four–Ian Caldwell

A college student, whose father was an obsessed researcher, meets a would-be disciple of his father’s. Their frendship grows and  both young men are drawn into the same obsession, trying to figure out an ancient book written in code.

 

This book reminded me a  lot of A.S. Byatt’s Possession. The same sense of nearly mad obsession, the same sense of needing to solve the puzzles and devote all of one’s time and energies to the mystery.

I personally loved it, but  can see why others might not. I’m all for puzzles, bibliomysteries and obsessions!

Friday, December 07, 2012

Review: Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot: Being the Correspondence of Two Young Ladies of Quality Regarding Various Magical Scandals in London and the Country

 

What a great fun read!  It is 1817 and one young lady is off to London to do the season. The other stays at home, and their correspondence begins.  The one in London meets the odious Marquis, the one in the country learns of a magical plot connected with the Marquis, and both young women are drawn into retrieving the magical chocolate plot as well as trying to figure out just who is the bad magician and what is he/she up to.

Lots of wry comments regarding the mores of the era with an alternate world including the College of Wizards.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Review: A Test of Wills–Charles Todd

Ian Rutledge survived WWI with body intact, but his mind is very nearly broken to pieces, His lover left him because she was afraid of him, he has a voice in his head, and he's tempted to self destruction, In an attempt to piece his life back together again, he returns to his job at Scotland Yard,  He doubts himself, is fragile and vulnerable, but needs to see he can again have a productive life,

The case is complex, with lots of possible suspects, but the main one is a hero of the war, winner of the Victoria Cross, and there's pressure from London and even the King to find anyone else guilty of the crime,

Rutledge, knowing his life never mind his job is on the line, tries desperately to reconnect with his instincts and identify the killer,

Great atmosphere and descriptions. Rutledge is likeable and sympathetic, and the mystery is awash with possible motives and perps. I'll definitely be continuing on with this series.

Monday, December 03, 2012

Reviews!

I see I haven’t posted about my reading lately. We’re traveling (at Cape San Blas in Florida) and getting lousy reception and only intermittent internet connectivity, so we’ll see if I can even post this when I get done.

 

Firstly, I’m on target for reading 75 books this year, which blows my mind. I thank LibraryThing.com for all the lunatic reader friends I’ve found there.

#63    Newton’s Wake – Ken McLeod -  Fairly standard Space Opera, with political overtones and some intriguing ideas regarding interstellar/intergalactic travel.

#64  The Ships of Merior – Janny Wurts  I have become a HUGE Janny Wurts fan. This is the second book in her Wars of Light and Shadow series.  Fascinating and deeply drawn characters, complex world building, and lots of plot twists and turns. And somehow, things never work out quite like the ‘heroes’ plan.   And speaking of heroes, they are multi-layered and nobody is ‘good’. Mostly they’re just trying to figure out how to survive in a hostile environment, or are being misled by a curse and/or someone else.

#65 The Thief -  Megan Whalen Turner -   Terrific ‘young adult’ fun read. Not really sure why it’s listed as ‘young adult’ other than no sex, but it is still a great book. I love, love, love the main character and will be happy to read the rest of this series.

#66 A Beautiful Blue Death -   Charles Finch – Period mystery with some great descriptions of Victorian London. Atmosphere is terrific, the amateur detective is interesting, and the mystery itself is complex enough to keep you wondering.

#67 Terovolas – Edward M. Erdelac – This was a free book I got through LibraryThing.com ‘s Early Reviewer Program. Have you ever wondered what happened to Van Helsing after Transylvania?  He went to Texas, got mixed up with a mysterious woman on a train, some wacky Norse cowboys, a couple of Red Indians, a drunken trapper, and oh, yeah, werewolves….

#68 Death Warmed Over – Kevin J. Anderson – Another Early Reviewer win.  - Finally, a Zombie I can relate to. This one is a private eye who got wacked and came back. Well, it seems a lot of folks are coming back. As Zombies, ghosts, vamps, and a few other species.  Ever since the “Big Uneasy’ when the necronomicon got exposed to moonlight, a virgin’s blood, all while there was  a special arrangement of the planets.  New Orleans will never be the same….

#69 Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer  - What happens when a 12 year old chooses ‘criminal mastermind’ as his career field?  Well, he was following in Daddy’s footsteps. But then Daddy never attempted to kidnap a Leprechaun and start a race war. Atemis is a hoot. And the fairy was not amused.

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Currently reading: A Test of Wills by Charles Todd – period mystery with shell-shocked Inspector. Pretty good so far.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Review: The Bonehunters–Steven Erikson

 

The sixth book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. 

Epic, complex, heartbreaking. War rages not merely among the living, but now the gods are at war. Choose a side. Or can you even tell what side you’ve chosen? 

Amazing how seemingly disparate storylines fold together at the end, setting up the next book in the series.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Reviews: The Alexandria Link and Old Man’s War

 

The second of the Cotton Malone series, The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry is a thriller with twists and turns. Cotton’s bookshop is attacked with rockets just before he learns his son has been kidnapped. He’s maneuvered into a race to find  the hidden scrolls and papyrii from the Alexandria Library have been hidden.  Fast paced and entertaining.

 

The first book of the Old Man’s War series, John Scalzi posits the idea of a world where 75 year olds enlist and fight the wars of humanity. Humans are colonizing the galaxy but there are other races doing it too. So, when humans on Earth become old they are offered the opportunity to join the Colonial Defence Forces and fight to protect the colonies. That must mean that the CDF has to rejuvenate them somehow right?  So off they go to war.

A romp across the galaxy with lots of shoot ‘em up action and some interesting forays into alien thinking, and a re-evaluation of just what it means to be human.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Review: Box Nine–Jack O’Connell

A very noir mystery, with scifi aspects. A new designer drug is on the streets which is set to create havoc. The narcotics squad hopes to find the distributors and cut off the supply before too much damage is done.

The tale is told mostly in stream-of-consciousness through the eyes of several of the cops and several civilians involved.  Most fail to appreciate the horrors of this drug, as all are jaded and focused on their own problems and issues and believe they’ve seen it all.

Gritty, all too realistic in nature.

Monday, September 10, 2012

E-Reading and E-Readers

 

I vastly prefer virtual books to dead tree editions. Primarily because I have arthritis in my hands and forcing open a paperback makes my hands ache. Hardbacks are even more difficult for me to read in bed, although they work okay when I’m sitting in a chair.

I’ve had a number of e-readers, being a gadget girl from the get-go. And now I’ve taken the step of getting a tablet to use as an e-reader.  I chose the Nexus 7 which is new, bright and shiny.

Thoughts on using it as an e-reader-

It is noticeably heavier than my Nook with Glo-light. But not so heavy that I can’t read it in bed. It is very very bright but tuning down the brightness lets me read for a goodly long time with no sign of eye-strain or tiredness vs reading on the Nook with e-ink.

The Nook, and the Sony e-reader I also have, obviously go far longer without a charge. The Nexus needs a charge every night/day.

I had some issues with trying to find a good and easy way to add books to the tablet (this was far easier with the e-readers).  Calibre would not see the tablet at all, but I found a solution, by buying a Calibre app in the Google Play store that lets Calibre see the Nexus wirelessly, which is great. I can now sync with either my desktop or my laptop and all I have to do is have it nearby either one.

As for actual reading apps, at the moment I’m using the Sony app from the Google Play store which works great, but I also have others on there, like the kindle app etc. But since calibre can, with some help, convert all my books to epub, I can read with whatever reader I prefer.

Bottom line: with prices dropping for tablets, a tablet as an e-reader works fine in my opinion, so long as it is smaller and lighter than the 10 inch tablets that are out there.

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Review: A Shadow of Summer- Daniel Abraham

  

Set in a vaguely Eastern sort of world, where thoughts can be made flesh by ‘poets’ who then enslave the resultant creature. The creature, an andat, is then held captive and forced to act in ways to increase the power of the city-state the poet serves.

One young man in training to be a poet, leaves the school because he finds the brutality of the training unacceptable. He eventually meets up with a young man he’d himself trained and who is now a poet, and finds himself drawn into a mystery involving murder and disappearances and treachery.  And even discovers the andat is somehow involved.

Complex plotting, very well drawn characters, and an intriguingly different world.  I enjoyed this greatly and plan to continue the trilogy.

Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice–Laurie R. King

Enjoyable pastiche wherein a retired Sherlock Holmes meets up with a precious teen, who then becomes his apprentice. Russell and Holmes strike up a surprising relationship which grows over time.

The characters are well done, the world certainly believable. I found the mysteries a bit light and easily seen through, but everyone tells me the series gets better so I shall plod onwards and read more  Russell and Holmes adventures.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

August Reading Summary and September planned reads

August summary:

The Eight - Katherine Neville – thriller
The Mysterious Lady Law - Robert Appleton – steampunk
The Killing Moon - N.K. Jemisin  (a Library Thing  ER read) – fantasy
Mission to Paris -  Alan Furst (a Library Thing  ER read) – espionage
Medicus - Ruth Downie – historical mystery
The Iron Wyrm Affair - Lilith Saintcrow (a Library Thing ER read) – steampunk

I had a great August reading experience. I enjoyed everything, but particularly [The Eight] and [The Iron Wrym Affair]

 

My planned reading for September:

A Shadow of Summer - Daniel Abraham (TIOLI 17, and Reading thru Time Seasons) – fantasy
Box Nine - Jack O'Connell - (TIOLI 8, and 12 in 12 monthly challenge) – sci fi mystery noir
The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell (TIOLI 6 and Quarterly Challenge Medieval Times} – historical novel
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R King (TIOLI 4) – Sherlock Holmes pastiche
Tooth and Claw - Jo Walton (TIOLI 14) – steampunk

Each also works for my LT 75rs group reads for  September Series and Sequels.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Review: The Iron Wyrm Affair–Lilith Saintcrow

 

 

The Iron Wyrm Affair is a terrifically mad romp through Londinium, a place riven with magic, the force of which renews itself with the tide of Londinium’s great river Themis.  The young Queen Victrix, inhabited by Britannia’s living spirit, requests one of her Primes, particularly potent sorcerers, to investigate the sudden murders and attendant disappearances of her mentaths, who are brilliant thinkers.

The Prima, in this case a female, sets off with her Shield, the mysterious and oh so sexy Mykal, to ensure one mentath’s safely, arriving only moments before he too would have been killed. The three of them set out to discover who is killing the mentaths and just what he and his cronies are up to.

Terrific world-building, innovative and complex characters, and an intriguing plot.  Highly recommended.

I can’t wait for book two.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Review: MIssion to Paris by Alan Furst

 

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and it is part of an on-going series, but didn’t suffer from that at all.

Very good spy mystery with great atmosphere and intriguing twists and turns. Very likeable characters as well.

Set in Paris just before WWII when the Nazis were busy attempting psychological warfare on France. An Austrian émigré to the US, goes to Paris to film a movie and finds himself being forced into a position to seem to be backing the Nazis.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Review: The Killing Moon–N.K. Jemisin

N.K. Jemisin creates a world dark, complex and intricate. The magic is based on dreams and is different enough to make a reader pause and have to consider it deeply. The characters are written with depth and compassion, and are fully realized. They're put in a world we don't understand, and one they, also, don't fully grasp.


If you like your fantasy dark and deep, characters you can nearly see standing before you, and a plot that confounds, but delivers in the end, then The Killing Moon is for you.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Review: The Eight by Katherine Neville

The Game. Played by kings and generals and grand masters.  The game of strategy taking intellect and concentration and dedication to truly understand it.

Catherine hasn’t ever paid much attention to chess, although she knows several competitive players, mainly a young woman she finds annoying.  So when Lily invites her to go to the latest chess match Cat is less than interested.  But then she keeps seeing this man in a white hoodie riding a bicycle, and its disturbing, since she’s been painting the guy for weeks. She finally follows him.  And thus, she enters the Game.

Who are the players? Who’s white, who’s black? What are they after?  What’s the endgame they’re playing for? And why, suddenly, is Cat finding dead bodies strewn around New York?

An exiting thriller, covering a wide canvas in both time and distance. The Game takes Catherine from New York to Algiers, following in the footsteps of a French Nun from 1792,  as she searches for the pieces of a very special chess set,  to find and protect a secret that’s threatened the world since Charlemagne.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Review: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

The power vacuum left when the Romans retreat from Britain, had been filled by kings and warlords who not only fight amongst themselves but also fight off invading Saxons and Irish warbands. One king, Uther, manages to cobble together a group of kingdoms. But he's dying, and leaves behind him only one legitimate son, Mordredd, born with a club foot. He gets a promise from one of his allies, that he will marry Mordredd's mother, Uther's queen, and act as regent until Mordredd, then only a baby, comes of age.
When Uther dies, the king betrays his promise and attacks, killing Uther's widow and attempting to kill Mordredd. But Merlin's band of Druids and outcasts manages to save and hide the future king.
Into that tableau comes Uther's bastard son Arthur, who had been banished to Amorica and who is now a warlord of great renown. Arthur promises to protect Mordredd and hold the kingdom for his half-brother.
Following the actual historical record (what there is of it), the tale is unlike all the other Arthurian books I've read. There's little brightness in the world of the Dark Ages. It is full of betrayals and endless wars and few men of honor to be found. Even Arthur is flawed and despite his desire to war for peace, he's foiled at almost every turn if not by his own flaws, then by betrayals and impossible odds.
An amazing book. ( )

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Review: Full Dark House–Christopher Fowler

 

What a terrifically fun book. It’s 1940, London. The Blitz is on. One morning, making his way past the destruction from the bombers the night before, a young man makes his way to his new job at the Peculiar Crimes Unit. 

Thus begins the joint detective work of May and Bryant.  May, a few years younger, logical, practical, feet firmly planted on the ground, and Bryant, the dreamer, the thinker, the guy who calls in mediums and witches for consultant work.

The dialog is sparking with wit, lots of dry humor and lots of atmosphere, not only with regard to the Blitz but also the theatre.

Highly recommended.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Review: Crucible of Gold – Naomi Novik

Crucible of Gold is the seventh in the Temeraire series - Napoleonic Wars with dragons.

The tale finds Laurence and Temeraire, who had been drummed out of the military because of rank insubordination (mostly on Temeraire’s part), still stuck in Purgatory (in this case Australia), and doing what they could to make the most of it. Laurence was mostly just glad neither of them had gotten shot.

Suddenly the British ambassador to the Chinese crown turns up with papers saying Laurence is reinstated (grudgingly) into the Aviator Corps. He also brings orders for Laurence and Temeraire to board the dragon ship still docked in Sydney and head to Brazil where Napoleon is attempting to destroy Rio.

Glad to be back in harness, glad to be doing something useful, both are eager to find themselves back in the war.

Naturally things go very very wrong.

I found Crucible of Gold to be as enjoyable as the first of the series, His Majesty’s Dragon, was. I did find Tongues of Serpents, book six, to be a bit of a slog, but this one is right back up there, with Temeraire being his usual mouthy and opinionated self, Iskierka driving him nuts, and the dragons’ captains doing whatever it takes to keep their dragons focused on the big picture: Napoleon.

(I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Dogs of Riga- Henning Mankell

 

 

When a raft holding two dead well-dressed men washes ashore in Skane, Kurt Wallander finds himself in the midst of an international mystery. Latvia? He knows nothing of Latvia, yet first finds himself partnered with a Latvian police major, and then has to travel to Riga to find the beginnings of the mystery.

I love these mysteries. Wallander is no hero, he’s not psychic, he’s not gorgeous, he’s not sure of himself. He’s just a guy doing the best he can dealing with a changing world he hardly understands.

Monday, July 09, 2012

Comments on Wolf Hall–Hilary Mantel

I’ve decided to write an actual review. A zillion have already been done. Instead a few comments regarding the book.

Firstly, it was certainly a different take on things, to look at Henry VIII from, of all people’s viewpoints, Thomas Cromwell’s. I knew little about him as an individual before I began the book, so not sure how close to what we really know Mantel stayed. But the character she created was certainly interesting, with depth and intelligence. He certainly changed throughout the book, growing to fit his increasing stature and importance.

Second, why the heck did she call it ‘Wolf Hall’?  Yeah, I get that the Howards etc were really important, but still…

Thirdly, I found the writing style very off-putting at first. I had lots of trouble with dangling ‘he’s and was confused a lot as to who was speaking, who was acting. I had to go back and re-read to figure it out.  I also didn’t much care for use of present tense. I dislike it in most books, but combined with the ‘he’ problem, it made reading the book more difficult and pulled me out of the atmosphere all too much.

I expect I’ll read the follow on ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ at some point or other. Because the story is interesting from this different viewpoint.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

My Reading Year to Date

 

Just a note regarding the first half of the year.

I've read 40 books. Eeek!  In January, I HOPED to read 50 for the year.

In 2009 I read 24.
In 2010 I read 32.
In 2011 I read 41.

So 50 for the year seemed a reasonable figure. Now I've officially upped it to 75 for the year. Not sure I'll make it but I'm on track right?

I'm thinking the main reason for the change is that I've added mysteries to my reading. Over the previous years I was reading almost all fantasy and a bit of sci fi, mostly tomes. I tend to get caught up in them and daydream about them and have to stop reading a lot to think about fantasy and sci fi. Mysteries, not so much.

Looking at my list, the ones that have stuck with me most (for various reasons) in the order I read them rather than any order of precedence:

1. Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood] - way too close to reality not to think about.
2. The Alienist – Caleb Carr - Jjust plain fascinating look at the beginnings of deductive detecting.
3. Heresy, Prophecy, and Sacrilege by S.J. Parris.. Just a well-written, well-conceived series of historical mysteries.
4.Blackbirds – Chuck Wendig - Great book. Interesting premise, interesting characters. Bloody though.
5.The Crossing Places – Elly Griffiths - mainly because it so well used the setting of the book as a character.

And, I am out of control on buying books. In my defense, the were almost all on sale when I bought them but still! I need to avoid the shiny new (to me) and read what I have!  Argh!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Reviews:

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe:

An amusing tale of a sword-jockey, a sort of private detective. He’s drug back, against his better judgment and wishes, to help his childhood friend (who happens to be a king) find out why the Queen murdered her son. Action packed adventure ensues, with lots of flashbacks to Eddie’s past which he’s been trying to avoid for years.

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The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl

In the last year following the Civil War, Longfellow and his fellow poets and friends, set about translating the Commedia by Dante into English in order to introduce it widely to America. Harvard’s powers that be are NOT happy about this and are trying to do everything they can to block him.  Might this include murder? The Dante Club, as they call themselves, begin to wonder, as two murders take place in Boston that enact two of the punishments Dante details in the Devine Comedy. Can they solve the murders, and catch the murderer and keep the police in the dark about the connection to Dante?

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Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance

A terrific romp through the Vorkosiverse with Ivan at his best.  I generally want to kick Miles when the story’s about him, but I almost always want to hug Ivan. The poor guy has spent his entire life trying to hide in the shadows and keep his abilities hidden under the nearest bucket. But he’s forced to step up his game when his ‘friend’ Byerly asks him to help out a damsel in distress. What’s Ivan to do (other than fall in love with her)? And when he finds out who she is, and just why assassins are on her doorstep, well, he takes drastic action.

A delightful book that had me quite often laughing out loud!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Review: Requiem for a Mezzo–Carola Dunn

 

This is the third of the Daisy Dalrymple series set in the flapper era in London. Nicely written fluff mystery, with good period details and interesting characters. Pretty good mystery too!

Certainly not difficult to read but good fun nonetheless.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Reviews:

 

Scourge of the Betrayer (Bloodsounder's Arc) by Jeff Salyards

What the heck is the Veil, why did the gods leave, what the devil is Braylar up to?
A scribe is hired by a group of infamous men led by a 'Black Noose' to record their actions as directed by their King. LIttle did the scribe know what he was getting into. And what few answers he might actually be given.
I enjoyed the characterizations, and the dialog, and the action. I was disappointed that the book itself offered no real resolution. I'll have to read the follow on in hopes of that. Still, a good read that left me wanting more. ( )

 

 

The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths

Atmospheric and intelligent, The Crossing Places is about character and setting, The mystery is tied up with the setting deftly and altho I figured out most of the mystery fairly early on, I was unsure about much of it, enough to want to hurry through the book to find out how it all fit together.
Will definitely continue the series! ( )