Thirteen - Kelley Armstrong

Dutton / Penguin, 2012, 442 pages

ISBN: 978-0-525-95283-1

Read: November 2024, age 46

Women of the Otherworld, book 13

A reasonable end to the series, but I felt authorial intent a little too much - it ended this way because the author wanted it to, rather than it feeling inevitable.  Fun, but flawed - and that's pretty much how I felt about the whole series.

Rating: 4

Spell Bound - Kelley Armstrong

Random House, 2011, 339 pages  

ISBN: 978-0-307-35760-1

Read: November 2024, age 46

Women of the Underworld, book 12

 

Unlike most of this series, this book, the previous one, and apparently the next one read more like a single story in three books.  They're short books, so it's not a bad thing - it's just surprising at this stage of the series.  The story was fine, it was very readable, and it got me to go straight to the next one.

 

Rating: 4 

Waking the Witch - Kelley Armstrong

Penguin, 2010, 309 pages

IBSN: 987-0-525-95178-0

Read: November 2024, age 46

Women of the Otherworld, book 11

 

... and now we can add 'age gap' to the list of unhealthy but somehow working out okay relationships in this series.  Sigh.  Savannah is a fun main character, though, and the mystery in this book was nicely done.  Fun.

 

Rating: 4

Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb (Audiobook)

Tantor, 2010, 29.3 hours

Original copyright 1999

Read by Paul Boehmer

Listened to: January 2024, age 45

 

The Farseer, book 2

Fitz just can't get out of his own way.  It's getting a bit old, he's (justifiably) wrong so often, and he suffers so horribly for it.  The story is very well-written, and passably narrated, but emotionally draining.

 

Rating: 4

Annihilation - Jeff VanderMere (Audiobook)

Blackstone Audio, 2014, 6 hours

Original copyright 2014

Read by Carolyn McCormick

Listened to: January 2024, age 45

 

Southern Reach trilogy, book 1 

 

Creepy, surreal, very atmospheric, but mostly existential horror.  I bounced off of this book a bit.  It was really good, but not so much the style of book that I enjoy.  Short, and lots of story and development in that time.

Rating: 4-

The Quick and the Dead - Louis L'Amour

Bantam, 2020, 184 pages

Original copyright 1973

Read: December 2024, age 46

This is the first L'Amour book that I've read - it was surprisingly good.  It was a bit a product of its time, but also significantly less sexist and racist than I was expecting. Mostly, I wanted more details - the book was very short, and reading more about the trials of running a wagon across the untracked prairie, and of setting up a homestead and all of that would be a book that I'd like to read.  This one basically glossed over all of that in favour of a few gunfights.  

 

Rating: 3+

Dragon Planet - Dan Wells (Audiobook)

Audible Originals, 2019, 3.75 hours

Full cast production

Listened to: August 2024, ages 46, 46, 15, 13, 9

 

 Zero Chronicles, book 2

 

Just as good as the first one, the kids were all excited to listen to this one, as well.  We basically turned it on right after the first book ended, and everyone had fun.

Rating: 4