From the Stacks: Tigana

All right, well here were are for another From the Stacks post. This time I'm talking about a really great standalone epic fantasy with an interesting premise revolving around a county of people that no one remembers and the country itself is one that no one--aside from those born to that country--can speak its name.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
ISBN: 978-0-451-45776-9

Summary:

Taken from the back of the book

"This is that rare, spellbinding novel in which myth comes alive and magic reaches out to touch us. Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel, despotic king that even the names of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered....

But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embarks upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name: Tigana.

Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction."

My thoughts:

I would love to give this book a 4.5 or even a 5 but I think considering how long it took me to read it, I'm going to have to go with a 4/5. The concept was unique and the world was an intriguing one and it was interesting to constantly wonder what was going to happen next, but I can't say that this book grabbed me with the same fervor that a number of books I read do. Typically a book of Tigana's length (673 pages paperback) would take me a couple days max, even with work and other stuff, but I started reading this book back in June.

I kept reading about ten pages and then I would be pulled away to do something and then I would think that I have time to read a little more and then I would go back to my bedroom and pick up another book. The book was split into several parts and I liked the characters in the prologue but then (SPOILER) they all died just after the prologue and the first main part deals with a group of characters a number of years later. Then, when it was time to jump into part two, we left those characters behind for a time and moved onto another main woman from Tigana and the people around her. In some ways it felt like there was too much jumping around. I hadn't quite expected that.

So, overall I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy, but I don't think I would give it to someone who was looking for a book to introduce them to fantasy, both because of how slow it could be at times and because of the length.

Tigana at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tigana-guy-gavriel-kay/1103274431?ean=9780451457769

Tigana at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tigana-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/0451457765/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347646087&sr=1-1&keywords=Tigana

Other readings:

I am making more progress with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, but at the same time yesterday I was at the library and picked up Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, and let me tell you I think I'm addicted to this book already. I've only read three chapters and right now I feel like I have to finish this post up quickly so I can get back to reading. It may be that I'll be reviewing it with next week's post, but we'll see what happens.

Music of my Madness

Okay everyone, so this is going to be a fairly short post. I did not get as much editing/writing done in the last week as I wanted to, but I did finish the chapter I had been working on so I made just a little bit of progress.

For those paying attention to the overall totals now as compared to last week, there's only an increase in a little more than 800 words. While this was not exactly what I was aiming for, it is still progress so I will take it. I am hoping that more progress will be made in the coming week.

As for the title of this blog post, I wanted to write a little bit about my Project Death music playlist. There are probably songs that have come out recently (as in the past year or so) that would fit in with the mood and inspiration for these novels, but I just cannot bring myself to edit the playlist. So, here it is:

"If I Die Young" by The Band Perry.
"Gorecki" by Lamb
"Playing God" by Paramore
"Amaranth" by Nightwish
"Misguided Ghosts" by Paramore
"Never Enough" by Epica
"Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence & the Machine
"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence
"What Have You Done" by Within Temptation
"Drumming Song" by Florence & the Machine
"Even in Death" by Evanescence
"Blinding" by Florence & the Machine
"Monster" by Paramore
"Haunted" by Kelly Clarkson
"Die Alive" by Tarja
"The Voice" by Celtic Woman (specifically Lisa Kelly)
"Terrified" by Katharine McPhee (it is the version featuring Zachary Levi)
"It's the Fear" by Within Temptation
"This is How You Remind Me" by Nickelback
"Second Chance" by Shinedown
"Gunslinger (Runnin' Out of Time)" by Over It
"The Other Side" by Evanescence
"O Death" by Jen Titus

Yes, the playlist does work for me for the entire series, or at least it has so far. I know that "Bring Me to Life" is my main inspiration song for Project Death: Revelation (book two) but I'm still trying to figure out which individual songs are the basis for the other books. Like I said earlier, there are some newer songs which would probably work just as well in my list, but at the same time, I find that some of these songs work for multiple different book playlists so when possible I save them for another time because occasionally it is frustrating to always have the same songs over and over again. As much as I love these songs, sometimes I do need some variety.

So there we go, my progress with editing as well as another behind the scenes look into some of the things I do or listen to while I'm writing. On Friday I'll be back with another book review and next week I'll have another writing update, hopefully one that will show a lot more progress.

From the Stacks: Iron Druid Chronicles

It seems almost unfair to title this review as being for the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne, seeing as how I've only read the first two books, but I can honestly say that I absolutely adore these books and I can't wait to dive into the third and fourth installments.

Sorry for the bad picture. I took it from my cell phone and then had to increase the size so it looks pixelated.

The first book is Hounded and the second is Hexed. The next book, which I will probably be reading sometime soon is Hammered and the fourth is Tricked. Book five, Trapped, will be released November 27, 2012, and then the final book, Hunted, is expected sometime in 2013.

Summaries

Hounded

"Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil."

Hexed

 "Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.

With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex."

My thoughts:

I definitely give both of these books 5/5. I've never been to Arizona but the details infused in the story definitely make the setting feel very very realistic. I love the narrator, Atticus, and I especially adore his dog Oberon, who is a very amusing companion and often has some lines that made me laugh quite loudly. There is a nice blend of action, emotional scenes, and humor throughout these books. I especially enjoyed how believable Atticus is as both a 2,000 year old Druid and acting as a modern-day 20-something. 

As I said before I cannot wait to dive into the next couple of books, though I think part of the reason why I haven't already is because I don't want to be as disappointed when I have completely finished them. It is a habit I have had with several series I have enjoyed; to keep from being devastated by the end I just stop and hold off on reading the last book or two for as long as possible so I can savor the experience. However, unlike some of the other series I have done this with, I know I will be pulled in by the adventures of Atticus and will have to set aside a couple hours to read Hammered. Perhaps I will simply have to save Tricked until it is closer to the release of book five.

Iron Druid Chronicles at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=671364

Iron Druid Chronicles at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kevin-Hearne/e/B004FR1V8O/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Other Readings:

I have made more progress with Tigana and with any luck I will have it finished in time for next week's From the Stacks. Right now I am trying to figure out a decent schedule so I can get in both writing and reading time, situated around my hectic work schedule and of course time to sleep. I have also found a couple more books that sound absolutely fascinating so hopefully I will have some more fun reads to recommend here in the future.

Edits, Plans, and Book Excitement

All right everyone, here is my first writing update post-Camp NaNoWriMo. Before I get to talking about Resurrection, I'll first mention everything else going on. I have my confirmation as ML for my region for NaNoWriMo 2012 in November and I have already ordered my kit, complete with stickers and such for the participants. I think a little bit of money from the next couple of paychecks will have to go towards getting the 2012 NaNo shirt and quite possibly the new thermos they came out with because it is really kind of awesome.

I know that I still need to do some planning for Battle of Dreams, my NaNovel this year, but my main focus for the next two months is on finishing up with the editing of Resurrection. Based on my averages for the chapters I have already gone through, I predict that my final word count will be somewhere around 100,000 so I have set my target as such on Scrivener. That means that you guys will get awesome little pictures to back up my progress instead of just words:

69,039 words so far and I still have 15 more chapters to edit. It is slow work but I am confident that I will be able to get through it all. The great part of working on the Project Death series is that I already had a playlist built and so from now until I finish my edits I will have the entire playlist on repeat for inspiration. I listen to it while writing as well as when I am driving to and from work, just so I can mentally prepare myself to write when I get home.

Today was also a fun day because I received two packages in the mail and both contained books. One package came because of a giveaway I entered on Goodreads. The book is The Other Half of Me by Morgan McCarthy. It is contemporary domestic fiction, so not really my normal cup of tea but seeing as how I'm not making a lot of money right now, I will accept any free books I can. This is one I am going to try to get to reading fairly soon so I can write a review up on Goodreads. They say if you review then you are more likely to win future giveaways. The other package came from Amazon as a gift from a very good author friend of mine. We had been talking about an e-mail I received from author A.E. Marling in regards to his book Brood of Bones. I had asked Marling about getting his book on NOOK and apparently his contract with Amazon doesn't allow him to do that, but I still thought the book was interesting and I planned on buying a copy as soon as I could afford it, but my friend beat me to it. Completely unexpected but I am thrilled and can't wait to get reading.

Well, I still have a couple hours before I'm meeting up with my writing group (aka the group of fellow Wrimos from my region) so I think I will spend that time working on more edits. Don't forget, on Friday I'll be back with my first post for "From the Stacks."