100 Ghosts, by Doogie Horner

When Quirk offered me a chance to review this book, my inner macabre child jumped for joy. This book is pretty simple, and what you see is what you get. 100 adorable drawings of ghosties. You'll definitely be able to pick out the one that haunts your house. It's a great coffee table book, very good for starting up conversations.

There is the slight matter of the $10 price tag, which, at first, I thought was a little unreasonable. But when you look at the quality of the book, you'll understand why it's there, and why it's so worth it. Instead of an abundance of book glue, the pages are actually attached with string. The paper and ink quality are superb, which is really a necessity for a book like this. No matter how much time you spend flipping through it, the ink doesn't bleed onto your fingers.

I'd recommend this book for all lovers of adorable ghosties. You really need this book, especially if your inner macabre child is anything like mine.

The Resurrectionist, by E. B. Hudspeth

The wonderful people at Quirk sent me a copy of the gorgeous book to read and review, so let’s not waste any time!

Just like the information on the book says, it’s really two books in one. The first half of the book is a biography of fictional scientist Spencer Black. (He has a brother named Bernard Black, and all I can think of is the BBC comedy Black Books.) The biographical information is presented so well that sometimes I had to remind myself that I was reading about a fictional person.

In full disclosure, I have to say that I was a little disappointed by some of the story’s progression. Without spoiling anything, I can say that things lean persistently to the scientific angle, and less of a fantasy angle. This is not bad, just not what I was expecting.

The second half of the book, Spencer Black’s Codex Extinct Animalia, is really the selling point of the book. The illustrations are amazingly beautiful, and look just like anatomical illustrations. They look as though they could be plastered around a doctor’s office, right at home with a drug label on them.

But what is possibly the best part about the illustrations is that their realism can be seen as a resource. Artists and authors could find them very useful in giving their art and stories a little more practicality. It is from this that Hudspeth’s books gets its real beauty. After finishing the book, I feel as though my knowledge has been expanded, and what I read really matters.

The only real problem I had with the book was some lack of detail in the biography. I feel as though some aspects weren’t explored as well as they could have been. Hudspeth has a neat trick for leaving out some of the details – he chalks it up to lack of historical evidence. It works well for the story, but it still leaves me feel as though there’s more to know. it could even be on purpose. I would definitely buy a sequel, were one to be written.

The bottom line is this: The Resurrectionist is a beautiful book with an engaging storyline and in depth, realistic illustrations. All lovers of books, fantasy, and mythological creatures, need this on their shelves. I’m very proud to give it a home in my collection.

Banewreaker by Jaqueline Carey–Chapter One

In this chapter we are introduced to the people who, I assume, are going to be the major players in the story: Tanaros, Cerelinde, Aracus, and Lilias, who just might be my favorite. I won’t go into details about all of them, but they’re quite an interesting little group.

I am already loving the characters. They feel very real, and I can’t wait to get to know them better and watch their adventures. So far I know a bit more about Tanaros than anyone. His backstory is revealed to us more gradually, giving it more weight to the story. Lilias’s backstory is given in a more straight forward manner, which I like because it means we aren’t given any superfluous information so early in the book.

Anyway, that’s enough about chapter one. I’ll see if I can read at least one more chapter tonight.

(P.S. – These updates will be getting shorter as I get further into the book. As always, they will remain spoiler free, so don’t worry! And yes, I will be doing a comprehensive final review when I finish the book.)

Banewreaker by Jaqueline Cary–Prologue

I’m not one hundred percent sure how much immediate impact the prologue is going to have on the story, but it was really interesting. It explains the creation of the world, and the Gods. It was a lot like reading a story of Greek Mythology, and it really gave me a deeper understanding of the world.

All in all, so far a good read. Looking forward to reading more.

And in case you’re wondering – yes, that is a Magic: The Gathering Card. There was no bookmark close enough, but I’d just opened a pack of Gatecrash cards I got a birthday present. The token was a red/white, so I used the land instead.

Go geek!

A bunch of updates in one post!

As it’s Monday, that means it’s time for update the eager masses on what I’ve been up to over the weekend. I played Guild Wars 2 far more than was good for me, and I got very little writing or reading done. But that’s what weekends are for, right?

I’m actually a bit behind on the updates regarding my starting and finishing and buying of books, so here is all it to catch you up.

We took my grandma to a new Dollar General that opened up nearby, and I found three books that I just couldn’t resist. That’s them in the top row. As for the second row, February 28th was my birthday, and I got two books as gifts. On the left is a book a friend got me, knowing how much I love Steampunk. The one on the right is from my parents, which I actually picked myself from Dollar Tree.

(The Cover fell off. It’s not my fault, I swear.)

I finished the Hobbit. I am unhappy. Watching the last film is going to kill me. [Of course I’m not going to spoil it, although it was actually spoiled for me, even though the book has been out for decades.] [And thanks to my friends for not confirming the spoiler, and letting me live in hope. It hurt less.]

So with the Hobbit complete, I needed to choose a new book to start. I didn’t feel like jumping straight into Fellowship of the ring, which has a little bit to do with that fact that my copy is OLD and it smells kind of weird. There was a particular book I had in mind, so I just went with it.

You might recognize it from that photo above. Banewreaker by Jaqueline Carey. Have you ever looked a book and just known that you had to read it? It’s kind of like that for me and this book. the cover is gorgeous, and I can’t wait to find out which scene in the book it depicts. I read the prologue before I went to sleep that night, and my thoughts on that will come in my next post [I don’t want to put everything in the same post, after all].

In the meantime, I should wrap up this post because I should really do some editing, and then I’ll get snuggle under my blankets with Banwreaker, so I’ll have even more to tell you about!

Happy Reading!