Tag Archives: fantasy

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Now the problem with this post is that I must publicly admit that not only have I read all the twilight books but that I was interested enough to check out this “eclipse novella.”  Yup, I read them, and I liked them. I did not start until after they were all written and I had a few friends rave about them, but I did eventually cave, and I was addicted, and I read them all back to back, and my husband has teased me about it ever since. I have not however gone to see any of the movies. How you can make a movie out of a book where the main character just talks about how beautiful her vampire boyfriend is and then not have that beautiful of a guy acting as the vampire is beyond me, but I digress…

This book takes one very minor character from Eclipse and gives you her whole story.  I think I can do no better than what Stephenie Meyer says in the forward:

“I hope you end up caring about Bree as much as I do, though that’s kind of a cruel wish. You know this: it doesn’t end well for her. But at least you will know the whole story. And that no perspective is ever really trivial.”

I think it exemplifies the part of authors that awes me. To create and know your characters so well that you have all these back stories in your head, to not only choose what goes in a book  and what doesn’t, but to have enough knowledge of your creation that everyone no matter how small a part acts accordingly, whether we as readers know it the first time we meet them or not. It amazes me.

Would I recommend it? Now I feel sort of silly, and maybe I’m not making any sense tonight, but my answer to this is no. This isn’t really a book to pick up just to read, if you have read the rest of them then sure, its a fun (OK,well not super fun it is a very short life) read. But I didn’t think it was awesome in itself or a necessary addendum to the books.  It is what it stands for that amazes me, the actual book not so much.

There is no picture, becuase the book is black and shiny which I find mostly impossible to photograph. Not only that it is highly recognizable from afar as a Stephenie Meyer book, you don’t need my poor picture to find this one on a shelf!

Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb

I’m not sure how much there really is to say about the third book in a trilogy, either you are going to read them all or you aren’t. Stopping after number two would be foolish and this one had dragons and love and concludes 5 books worth of material, if you’ve gone this far you better finish!

*This picture was shrunk so as not to hurt your eyes too badly. It’s bad, really bad, I have no idea how to take a picture of a black book with a shiny cover on it, sorry!*

Also to be a tad more technical and less sassy with my comments I thought Robin Hobb did an excellent job of pulling in secrets and plot lines from all over the last five books, unraveling them and then weaving them back up into a very nice final book.  Stuff was revisited I never thought to hear mention again and it made for a better ending than I was expecting!

Would I recommend it? Yes. I’ll say it one more time, Start with Assassins Apprentice, and just keep going, they are some pretty dang good books!

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb

This was book two of the Tawny Man trilogy (see this for book one) and it  defiantly had a book two sort of feel.  Lots of stuff happens, you get thrown a few small bones of plot at the end, but overall not a lot gets resolved.  Not my favorite of hers so far but it’s not dulling my impatience while I wait for the next one!

Would I recommend it? Yes. Just be sure to read at least Fool’s Errand first if not the whole Farseer trilogy !

Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb

This is a fantasy book, hopefully that won’t put you off, they are my favorite genre so while this is the first that I’ve read since starting the blog there are bound to be more of them.  Robin Hobb (who also writes books under the name Megan Lindholm neither of which are her real name!) is an awesome writer but let me try to explain what I loved best about this book.

This is the first book in the Tawny Man trilogy which is a trilogy that follows The Farseer trilogy.  Sometimes when you start reading trilogy’s that follow trilogy’s (and for those of you who don’t read much fantasy that isn’t uncommon) by the time you hit the first book of the second trilogy you have a list of characters that goes halfway down your arm and you hardly get to hear about some of your old favorites. Or there are authors who just keep cranking out books and by the time you reach book 12 you have three thousand characters an entire world of intrigue, plotting, religions and wars that only really serious fans can possibly keep straight and then you up and die before the last two books are finished leaving it up to a different author to finish up for you. And if you think that is some crazy story I made up check our Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books, The Eye of the World is the first, and a great book, just don’t say I didn’t warn you!  On the other hand reading Fool’s Errand was more like sitting back down with old friends.

Would I recommend it? Yes, but first you really need to read Assassins Apprentice, and then Royal Assassin and then Assassin’s Quest, and I promise they are worth it! Also I’m sure her Liveship Traders trilogy factors into all this somewhere but they are still on my to read list.