Emma Newman / Any Other Name /// Martha Wells / Emilie & the Sky World /// Second Books Did Not Disappoint

HEADS UP

Any Other Name
The Split Worlds book 2
Emma Newman upped her game

I loved book one
Between Two Thorns   (post)

Any Other Name
Every plot issue, more complicated
Every character, more complex

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YA Steampunk with a lovable heroine

Emilie & the Sky World
Martha Wells
Sequel to Emilie & the Hollow World   (post)

I am still totally loving Emilie
A stand up girl
Always trying to do the right thing

Angry Robot and Strange Chemistry
Consistently publishing what I want to read


Music
Here to Stay: best of 2000 - 2012
John Hiatt

Anna Kashina / Blades of the Old Empire / Terrific Fantasy

Blades of the Old Empire
Majat Code, book 1

Anna Kashina has my full attention
This fantasy has it all
Politics, Religion, Magic, Manners, Romance

Convoluted twists of plot
You know where the book is going
You know nothing of the sort

The characters are a riot
Flawed Humans One and All
You can't help but like them

The Majat are an elite group
Hired as assassins and body guards
Living a strict code

The Church is plotting against the King
The King is trying to save his son
The Son if falling for a Majat Warrior

Simply said
Too Much Fun!

Pierce Brown / Red Rising / Class Struggle On Mars

Superlatives for Red Rising
Are echoing across the web
I agree with them
Pierce Brown has written a zinger
Book 1; The Red Rising Trilogy

Darrow is a Red
Lowest of the low
All but slave in name

Darrow is a sensitive guy
A smart guy
They, the Golds
Highest of the high
Kill Darrow's wife

Darrow is a mad guy
Willing to do anything
Willing to become a Gold
Willing to wait

Tightly paced
Always near the edge
Totally engaging

I needed to set the book down
I needed to get some air
I needed to relax my muscles
I needed to relax my mind

Lots of comparisons
Babbling Hunger Games
Sorta, Kinda, Maybe
But no
This is Darrow's story


Music
Honky Tonk by Son Volt

Francis Knight / Fade to Black / Living Vertically

Fade to Black
Book 1 Rojan Dizon Series
Francis Knight

Rojan Dizon finds things
Objects, People, Things

Rojan Dizon lives in a vertical city
The very privileged on high
The very oppressed deep below

Rojan's magic
Pain Magic
Ouch!

Rojan's niece has been abducted
Taken to the very bowls of the city

Secrets are revealed
Secrets are reviled

Necessity of corruption?
Necessity of oppression?

Give me a break
No breaks were found

Broken people trying to do the right thing
Broken people not doing the right thing

Twisted layers of plot
A mobius strip of honeyed filo dough
Bitter under tones
Delicious

Where is Francis Knight going from here
I have not a clue but I'm going with her

Something different in music
Foreverly Billie Joe + Nora
Billie Joe Armstrong
Nora Jones