Susan Hated Literature

Author: Maria V. Snyder
ISBN: 9780778302438 DDC: 813.6
LibraryThing ; Other reviews

“We’re here,” Irys said.
I looked around. The surrounding jungle bulged with life.

This is the sequel to Poison Study and is the second in the Study trilogy. After the events in the first book Yelana, at the start of this, is on her way to meet her family for the first time in fourteen years. Leaving Ixia she heads for Sitia, where she can learn how to control her magical abilities. But of course things don’t go smoothly, if they did I guess there wouldn’t be much of a story, now would there.

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Author: Naomi Novik
Book 4 in the Temeraire series.
ISBN: 9780007256747 DDC:
See also: LibraryThing ; Other reviews ; Novik’s LJ

“Send up another, damn you, send them all up, at once if you have to,” Laurence said savagely to poor Calloway, who did not deserve to be sworn at: the gunner was firing off the flares so quickly his hands were scorched black, skin cracking and peeling to bright red where some power had spilled onto his fingers; he was not stopping to wipe them clean before setting each flare to the match.

Dragons and the Napoleonic wars. What could possibly be better? Well, I suppose there really isn’t too much of the Napoleonic wars in this book. Laurence and Temeraire are back from their trip to China, but they had returned to a plague. The dragons of Britain are ill; some are dead and more are dying. So off they head to maybe track down a cure. And of course they get embroiled in plenty of adventures along the way.

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Author: Benjamin Black (aka John Banville)
ISBN: 9780330445320 DDC: 823.92
Book 1 in the Quirke series
See also: LibraryThing ; MetaCritic ; Grumpy Old Bookman ; PopMatters ;

She was glad it was the evening mailboat she was taking, for she did not think she could have faced a morning departure.

Supposedly this is the first book in a series of crime novels by John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black, but to be honest there really isn’t that much crime in it. A few people being beaten up, some documents being faked, but it is a long way from the murder-thriller that readers may be expecting.

Christine Falls is set in 1950’s Ireland, so right away you know to expect the Catholic Church to be the “ebil authority” for our protagonist(pathologist Quirke) to rail against. And we even have the nun-run “laundries” for unmarried mothers and the whisking away of babies to the United States of America.

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Author: Scott Lynch
ISBN: 9780575079755 DDC: 813.6
Book 1 of The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
LibraryThing ; Scott Lynch’s site ; Shards of Delirium ; Ficsation ; The Core Dump ; Speculative Horizons ;

At the height of the long wet summer of the Seventy-Seventh Year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.

Locke Lamora doesn’t meet the usual standards of fantasy hero. He is slightly built, doesn’t have much skill with a sword, and then of course there is the fact that he is a thief and a conman. A conman even to the other thieves of Camorr. To them he is a small time gang leader, competent but insignificant. And if they were to learn that he was the real person behind the legendary Thorn of Camorr he’d be in quiet a bit of strife. He, and the other Gentleman Bastards spend their lives hiding who they really are, and the fortune they have amassed through their cons. But trouble is heading their way. Capa Barsavi, leader of the thieves of Camorr, is facing an outside threat. A figure known only as the Grey King is killing off various gang leaders. And pretty soon Locke finds himself trapped in the middle of the conflict.

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Dir & Writ: Chris Weitz
Based on book by Philip Pullman

• Dakota Blue Richards … Lyra Belacqua
• Nicole Kidman … Marisa Coulter
• Daniel Craig … Lord Asriel
• Freddie Highmore … Pantalaimon (voice)
• Ian McKellen … Iorek Byrnison (voice)
• Eva Green … Serafina Pekkala
• Sam Elliott … Lee Scoresby

I read, and really enjoyed, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials a while back, so I was really looking forward to this film, the first of three. Unfortunately it just isn’t very good. It should be. The story is a wonderful one, Kidman and Craig are fantastic, although Craig isn’t really on screen for all that long, and Dakota Blue Richards is wonderful as Lyra. Some of the other kids aren’t too great, but we’ll let them away. The special effects are, for the most part, superb. The polar bears in particular are fantastic.

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Author: Maria V. Snyder
ISBN: 077830163X DDC: 813.6
Group read with FantasyFavorites
See also: LibraryThing ; anidori-isilee ; Karissa’s Reviews ; Shantyrant

Locked in darkness that surrounded me like a coffin, I had nothing to distract me from my memories. Vivid recollections waited to ambush me whenever my mind wandered.

The monarchy of Ixia has recently been overthrown by Commander Ambrose and is now ruled by the Code of Behaviour. Punishments are absolute; there is no leeway or excuse that will save you if you break the rules, whether you simply didn’t wear the correct uniform or killed someone. So Yelena expects nothing but a hanging after she killed the son of a high ranking General. But she is offered a slight chance when she is given the choice of either accepting her hanging or becoming the food-taster for the Commander. She accepts the position, and so is poisoned to ensure her loyalty, she’ll need access to the antidote that only Valek, the Commander’s second-in-command can provide.

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Dir: Paul Greengrass
Writ: Tony Gilroy ; Scott Z. Burns ; George Nolfi & Tony Gilroy
Based on the book by Robert Ludlum

• Matt Damon … Jason Bourne
• Julia Stiles … Nicky Parsons
• David Strathairn … CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen
• Scott Glenn … CIA Director Ezra Kramer
• Paddy Considine … Simon Ross
• Albert Finney … Dr. Albert Hirsch
• Joan Allen … Pamela Landy

Bourne is back. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to say taht he never really went away, as this film picks up even before the second in the series, The Bourne Supremacy, has finished. So it is worth your while making sure you’ve seen that before you take a look at this one. That being said it isn’t vital, you’ll pick up on a main plot soon enough, and while what you miss out on does add to the film it isn’t totally necessary as there is plenty of back story floating around in this film.

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