The beginning of this novel is much like starting a new job. You think: Who are these people? Why are they so paranoid? Why are they so neurotic? But slowly, slowly you get sucked into the insanity. For really, what is work without the insanity? Then We Came to the End is engrossing the same way that workplace gossip is an addiction.

This novel focuses on a Chicago advertising firm that is consistently laying people off in an attempt to keep itself afloat. The timeline jumps back and forth which may be confusing to some, but is reminiscent of how you learn about your co-workers: one story about what they’ll do this weekend, one story about a project from a year ago. This keeps the book populated despite the layoffs that are occurring, but also brings us into the fold. We are learning about these people, these teammates the same way that we would if we were working with them. They are interesting and once we’ve become part of it we can’t help but want to know more.

There is a heart breaking middle section to the book that is extremely well written, but seems to come out of nowhere. It is a completely different pace than the rest of the book and focuses on one particular person’s issues rather than the groups. At the end of the book this section is tied back in, but it still does not seem to entirely fit with the rest of the writing.

In the end, both section of this book are engaging and touching, although in vastly different ways. This book is worth reading for anyone who has ever worked in an office and thought they knew everything about those around them, until they find out they know everything but what matters.

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- Kristin
Diverxtrme

Queen Holly Blue knows that the fate of the Faerie Realm is at stake, and it is up to her to declare war on the Faeries of the Night. Much to her sunrise she receives word of a non-aggression treaty proposed by their leader, her Uncle, but can she trust him.

Meanwhile Henry Atherton is still at home in the human world dealing with his mother’s new girlfriend and interrupts his father’s very young girlfriend when emerging from the shower. He is obviously under a lot of stress and assumes that he imagined a stress related fantasy of a realm of faerie. After a three day disappearance, which leaves is memory blank except for a flying saucer and little green men, Henry is suddenly transported back into the Fearie Realm. And he is reminded it isn’t a fantasy at all.

On her visit to verify the intentions of the Faerie of the Night, Blue is kidnapped by Henry. It seems that the little green men weren’t a figment of his imagination but a guise for the Demons of the Faerie Realm so that they could use Henry to get the Blue. It seems that they are plotting their own takeover!

Ruler of the Realm is the third book in The Faerie Wars Chronicles. The first book is Faerie Wars and the second is The Purple Emperor. Both are fantastic books! I don’t think my lousy summary does this book any justice, I mean little green men? But there is much more too it than that, and it totally plays nicely into the story! So, don’t let that stop you. This book and series is
a combination of magic, futuristic technologies everyday realism, plus adventure and excitement! The plot is completely enthralling and unpredictable, right down to the climax! This is an awesome fantasy series! I can’t wait to read the next book, Faerie Lord!

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She is beautiful, she is a princess, and Aphrodite is her favorite goddess, but something in Helen of Sparta just itches for more out of life. Unlike her prissy sister Clytemnestra, she takes no pleasure in waving and embroidery. And despite what her mother says, she’s not even close to being interested in getting married. Instead, she wants to do combat training with her older brothers, go on heroic adventures, and be free to do what she wishes and find out who she is.

Not one to count on the gods—or her looks—to take care of her, Helen sets out to get what she wants with steely determination and a sassy attitude. That same attitude makes Helen a few enemies—such as the self-proclaimed “son of Poseidon” Theseus— it’s also what intrigues, charms, and amuses those who become her friends, from the famed huntress Atalanta to the young priestess who is the Oracle of Delphi. (summary from book)

I enjoyed Friesner’s rendition on the story of Helen’s youth. I really liked getting to know more about the ancient Greeks and their customs. The plot flows well and is interesting throughout the entire story. I can’t wait to read more about Helen’s character and her adventures in Nobody’s Prize. If you enjoy historical fiction or mythology, I think you would enjoy this book!

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Henry returns to the Faerie Realm after a visit from Pyrgus, an elder Pyrgus. A disease has hit the realm, temporal fever. It causes the host to fall into a coma, living years of their life within the trance, and waking up visibly older. Henry returns to the realm at the request of Mr. Fogarty, who has contracted the fever and doesn’t have much time left.

Upon his arrival Henry is transported to the desert, by Madame Cardui, without a viable reason! In the meantime the usual villains, Chalkhill, Brimstone, and Hairstreak are up to now good. Calling up mythical creatures trying to overthrow the Queen, the usual.

Queen Blue herself, distraught with Henry’s predicament sets out to rescue him, and finds out the truth of his sudden transport. Will she be able to save Henry and the realm before the plague ravages them all!

The Faerie Lord is the fourth book in The Faerie War Chronicles. This was an excellent final installment! The multiple plots weave together to form a story full of suspense and action! I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Although the story seemed predicable at times, I never saw the ending coming! I was happy to finally see some closure between Henry and Blue, it wouldn’t be a faerie tale without a happy ending!

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Princess Ben short for Benevolence is orphaned after the assassinations of her uncle, the reining king, and her mother, her father’s body is not found. As the last remaining member of royal blood, Ben is forced to move into the castle and endure her aunt, Queen Sophia. Sophia insists that Ben act like the princess she should and insists that Ben learn to dance, sew, proper penmanship, and control her appetite. She later learns these “lessons” are to make her appealing to a suitor, so that the queen may marry her off! Once Ben learns of this notion, she is anything but cooperative. The Queen, upset by Bens actions locks her away. But in her moment of despair Ben discovers a room that may be her escape from Sophia and an unwanted marriage, perhaps even provide vengeance for the death of her parents.

After reading Murdocks’s other books, I was expecting a lot from Princess Ben. Not only did this book meet my expectations, it extended far beyond them! It is beautifully told in a way that only Murdock can. She is able to create such characters that you can’t help but admire. The growth that Ben undergoes throughout the story only increased my admiration for her. The plot was beyond captivating!! It was full of magic, adventure, and fantasy!!! I absolutely recommend this book!

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Rescuing the Queen was easy, now Tania has to save the entire faerie realm. Now they must rescue King Oberon if there is to be any hope of winning the war. He is bound in an amber prison surrounded by bars of Isenmort, which will make his release very difficult, if only they knew where to find him. Tania, Edric and Tania’s two sister Cordelia and Zara set off on a quest to Ynis Maw, the end of the faerie world. They hope to find King Oberon, release him from his prison and join his power with Queen Titania’s to over throw the Sorcerer King. The journey is far and there are many obstacles to face. Will they rescue King Oberon in time and lead them into victory?

The Sorcerer King was my favorite book of The Faerie Path series. The characters were finally well defined, maybe it helped that I had gotten to know them in the three books. Even though the book is predicable at times, I still enjoyed the adventures to Ynis Maw and the new characters that were introduced. I loved the exploration into the faerie realm, as well as the never-ending supply of action and adventure around every turn. If you are a fan of the first two books, you will not be disappointed with the third.

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Tania and Edric return to the mortal world to locate Queen Titania, but that is the least of her worries. Her three day disappearance into the faerie realm, has left her parents in a whirlwind of despair and worry. There isn’t much surprise that when she returns home with a story of running off to find Evan that she is grounded. She may be in trouble with her parents but she still finds time to pursue the missing queen. Tania and Edric are able to locate the lost queen after they find that she is working for a law firm, but unfortunately she is away on business. Making contact with the lost queen takes a back seat when Tania’s sister appear in her bedroom and inform her of the doom that had fallen on the faerie realm. A doom that may crossing the realms to come after them.

The Lost Queen is book two of the Faerie Path. I did enjoy this second installment, but I felt that the story was a little rushed. Everything just happened so quickly, I think it would have been better if the plot would have been more drawn out. I realize that this is a fantasy but some of the actions and decisions that Tania’s mortal parents made seemed a little bit to convenient to the plot. I mean really, if I ran off for three days and asked my parents to go to Florida for two weeks, they would laugh in my face. This book may not be as complex as some other stories that involve faerie references, but there is a strong enough pull for me to want to read the next book in the series, The Sorcerer King.

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Orphaned at an early age Mary Seymour’s life isn’t luxurious or pampered as you would think the daughter of a queen’s life would be. Her mother died shortly after she was born and her father was sentenced to death for betraying the crown, leaving Mary to become nothing more than a seamstress in a duchesses’s household. Soon after the death of her guardian, Mary discovers that she indeed has a destiny all her own. “Fetch the red queen’s daughter from the house of shadows. Bring her to your home beside the dark wood. School her well in the white magician’s wisdom so that she may go forth into the world and fulfill her calling when the virgin queen ascends the throne.” Lady Strange becomes Mary’s new guardian and she trains her in the ways of the white magicians.

When Mary reaches the age of sixteen she is invited to court by Queen Elizabeth and is soon made a lady-in-waiting. The queen’s court, however is even more corrupt then Mary initially believed. And the person that may possibly be the most dangerous of all, is none other than her very own cousin, Edmund Seymour.

The Red Queen’s Daughter is a perfectly blended masterpiece of historical fiction and fantasy. Although the real May Seymour, I found in research died in infancy, Kolosov’s story made me believe that she might have lived an extraordinary life. At times I thought the plot was becoming predictable, but it continued to surprised. The ending is very open, I would love to know more of the story. Perhaps there will be a sequel in the future, I can only hope! I immensely enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to all fans of historical fiction and fantasy.

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Anita is on the verge of turning sixteen, and her life couldn’t be any better. She has wonderful parents and friends, she has the lead in the school play, and she has caught the eye of the new boy Evan. On the day before her birthday Evan takes Anita out for a surprise, but the evening lands the two in the hospital. They both seem fine, but Evan has yet to wake up from the trauma. Anita on the other hand is having wonderful dreams of growing wings and flying out windows and receiving wonderful but mysterious gifts! She is visited by a young man in one of her “dreams” and is transported to the world of Faerie. Anita comes to realize that she isn’t dreaming at all. She is actually in the land of the Faerie and she is the long lost princess Tania. The man of her dream is faerie lord Gabriel Drake whom she was to marry before she disappeared into the moral world a mere 500 years ago. And that her boyfriend Evan is really Gabriel’s servant, Edric. In the sting of Edric’s betrayal Anita/Tania turns to Gabriel for comfort, but does he truly love her or is he after nothing but her power.

I really liked this book, I won’t say that I loved it but I did enjoy reading it. It is also the first in a series and from experience it seems that they get better as they go along, so I am hoping that I will enjoy The Lost Queen and The Sorcerer King even more. I felt sorry for Anita’s character, she really wanted to belong to the Faerie world, but I understood how she just couldn’t let go of everything that she knew. Some of the characters at times were a little transparent it wasn’t too hard to figure out who the bad guys were. Even so, if you like the fantasy genre I don’t think you will be disappointed with this book.

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Jordan’s life is a mess. It all started three months ago when her dead ex-boyfriend shows up outside her winder. Yes, he is still dead, but he didn’t commit suicide like everyone thought, he’s a vampire. Every night it is the same routine, Jordan let me in, you know I’ve always loved you. Jordan despite fantasizing that he does still love her can’t bring herself to let him in. She is afraid. She doesn’t go out after dark because she knows he will be there waiting for her. Jordan has three good friends but she doesn’t really feel like she fits in. She has social anxiety and finds it hard to deal with people at school, so she misses a lot of class, adding to her messy life. But then there is Danny, the boy that she liked before Michael and the boy that she may still like, he might just be worth living for. When Jordan realizes how evil Michael really is, it may be too late.

Uninvited didn’t really do anything for me. It was a really quick read, and the storyline lacked real strength. The characters were mediocre and lacked depth. I can’t say that I really related to any of the characters either, they were all complete messes. I think this story could have been better if it would have actually started when Jordan met Michael, so you would have some real insight into their relationship. I didn’t understand why she thought she still had feelings for him, when he just went around and slept with all the girls in school after they broke up. I was hoping for a good read and I was left very disappointed.

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This book has a lot of potential. It filled my mind with questions, and urged me to read on. However, those answers finally came, they seemed ill-thought out and rushed. It was as though the authors of House has chosen the first clichéd ending that came to mind and rolled with it.

The book centers on the story of a married couple who are facing issues in their marriage, as well as their own personal demons. They become stranded and venture to a nearby house to use a phone. There the meet another couple in the same situation. Their brief attempts to find rescue go nowhere, and soon they find themselves in a confusing world with a man intent on killing them stalking them through the house.

Needless to say, this is no ordinary house. If it were the book would probably have gotten a different title. The house becomes an entity in and of itself, changing to represent each person’s individual nightmares. This is intriguing. You think you’ll find out more of their character by what they see, you’ll get more back story, more depth. Sadly, I never really felt that I did. Again, facts are thrown out but they never truly seem to explain the characters’ motivation or history.

I was strangely hopeful that this book would continue to be as compelling as it started out to be, but I was disappointed in the final forty pages. This would make for a good plane read if you like the supernatural.

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- Kristin
Diverxtrme

I have read several Patricia McKillip books and really enjoy the imagery and poetry of her books. The prequel to Solstice Wood, Winter Rose, is one of my favorite books by Patricia McKillip. Unfortunately, Solstice Wood did not meet my expectations.

The story takes place in a modern setting instead of a far off place and time. Sylvia is the distant descendant of Rois Melior from Winter Rose. Solstice Wood in turn is a distant descendant of Winter Rose. Instead of drawing me in, the story felt disconnected and remote. I couldn’t relate to the characters or feel their emotions in the way I have come to expect in Patricia Mckillip’s books.

The story is told from the viewpoint of several different characters adding to the disconnected feeling. Just when you start to get used to a character and the way the think and feel, the story switches gears and you have to start seeing things from the view of a different character. Because of this, you never really get attached to any one of the characters.

Solstice Wood was a disappointment when I was hoping for a story that would pull me in and make me feel the characters longing and hunger and anger and love. Try instead some of Patricia McKillip’s other books such as The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and Winter Rose.

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Some novelists darken with age, expressing ever deepening gloom about the human condition as they glimpse the bigger picture. (Exhibit A: Philip Roth.) Others, unaccountably, soften. In the latter category is Ian McEwan, the British writer who began his career in the 1970s and ’80s with a string of macabre books about incest, depravity, and murder, but whose more recent work glows with a sweetly romantic faith in the human potential for happiness. In particular, domestic happiness. It is not easily attained, however, this happiness of McEwan’s. And it is almost always under assault — by the demented stalker of Enduring Love, by Saturday’s disenfranchised intruder. In his latest novel, the exquisite On Chesil Beach, the threats to the good life are more prosaic but no less deadly: immaturity, impatience, the impulsive wrong decision.
”They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible,” begins this compressed, crisp, but warmly specific fable. The year is 1962, and Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting are dining in their hotel suite on England’s Chesil Beach. They are deeply in love, a state that McEwan treats tenderly and with utmost respect: ”They had so many plans, giddy plans, heaped up before them in the misty future, as richly tangled as the summer flora of the Dorset coast, and as beautiful.”
Moving gracefully between the two, McEwan captures both their shared joy and their terrible private worries, almost exclusively about what will transpire when they approach the ”four poster bed, rather narrow, whose bedcover was pure white and stretched startlingly smooth, as though by no human hand.” Edward — eager, ordinary — fears ”arriving too soon.” Florence agonizes not about arrival, but the journey itself. Sexual squeamishness has never been written about more adroitly or sympathetically. In a wedding handbook Florence finds ”certain phrases that almost make her gag: mucous membrane, and the sinister and glistening glans. Other phrases offended her intelligence, particularly those concerning entrances: Not long before he enters her…”
Put like this, you can hardly blame her. But toward that portentous bed and their future they proceed, Edward and Florence, with their anxieties as well as their ardent, fragile love. To reveal what lies in store would lessen the pleasure of reading this small masterpiece, though it’s hard to imagine that anything could spoil it. “A”

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