Fantasy
The Crack at the Heart of Everything by Fiona Fenn
I like it okay as a redemption story but it hasn’t really struck any deep seated chord with me. The ending is somewhat interesting but I’m not sure what it does for the story exactly.
An exchange of Gifts by Anne McCaffrey
Okay for a fantasy novella aimed towards the younger ages (the foreword just said this is for her grand daughter and it felt fairly YA), I was really trying to read the Pern series but too popular so I just browsed some of her other titles and came up with this.
Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake
I think this is urban fantasy but is really a sibling drama type of book. I had thoughts of giving it up to be honest except that there is a question underlying the story that ‘hooks’ me into continuing. And then work overflooded me for two days and that forced break made me lose interest in it and so I abandoned it.
The Hills have Spies by Mercedes Lackey
Somehow I’m in a fantasy mode and the name Mercedes Lackey popped up in my mind. I don’t think I have read any of her novels and I have enjoyed my first foray into the Valdemar setting. I was expecting somewhere else for the ending but I can’t say I’m actually disappointed.
Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey
This is again a good YA fantasy set in Valdemar, not as exciting as the first of the trilogy but good enough in its own right. Not many complaints and I think I will go onto the last of the trilogy.
Spy, spy again by Mercedes Lackey
The structure of this trilogy reminds me of a bridge with a sagging middle in that the premise of this novel has become exciting again compared to the middle novel. The narrative has also gone back to being a divergent one because there are two perspectives that make up this story (this also happened with book 1) and I enjoy the way that it’s not always alternating between the two perspectives but that it flows more organically depending on events.
Overall, a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
The Last Herald-Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey
This is an omnibus version that my local library stocks in ebook form. Going from the Family Spies to this, I was much taken aback by the starting story for the legendary Vanyel. I also somehow had the expectation that this would perhaps be a tight-knit trilogy as opposed to standalone due to a recurring element described in book 1 (and book 3 somehow did tie back in with book 1 due to this precise element in an oblique way but it still wasn’t a tight-knit trilogy where the three tells a single story as opposed to three different stories) but I’m not too disappointed by this. Overall, a satisfying read.
Moonlake's Fiction Space 