Here are the final three mini reviews of books I read in November.

Daughter of the Blood (2000) by Anne Bishop Genre: Fantasy

Blurb: Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophecy come to life in her web of dreams and visions. Now the dark Kingdom readies itself for the arrival of its Queen, a witch who will wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell himself.  But she is young, still open to influence – and corruption.

Whoever controls the Queen controls the Darkness. Three men, sworn enemies, know this. And they know the power that hides behind the blue eyes of an innocent girl. And so begins a ruthless game of politics and intrigue, of magic and betrayal, in which the weapons are hate and love – and the prize could be terrible beyond imagining…

My Take: Daughter of the Blood is the first book in Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy. The world building is excellent, as is the characterization. I found some scenes to be highly disturbing and this affected my grade as I assign grades on the basis of my overall impression of a book after I’ve finished it. Judged on its own merits, it’s probably deserving of a higher grade, but I was sickened by a couple of scenes involving – or heavily implying – paedophilia. The subsequent books in the trilogy are supposed to be less dark than this one and I look forward to reading them. Jaenelle and Daemon have the potential to be a great couple – she just needs to be a little older to suit my tastes. My Grade: B-

Grimspace (2007) by Ann Aguirre Genre: Science Fiction

Blurb: By all accounts, Sirantha Jax should have burned out years ago… As the carrier of a rare gene, Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which cuts into her life expectancy, but makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. But then the ship she’s navigating crash-lands, and she’s accused of killing everyone on board. It’s hard for Jax to defend herself: she has no memory of the crash.

Now imprisoned and the subject of a ruthless interrogation, Jax is on the verge of madness. Then a mysterious man breaks into her cell, offering her freedom—for a price. March needs Jax to help his small band of rogue fighters break the Corp monopoly on interstellar travel—and establish a new breed of jumper.

Jax is only good at one thing—grimspace—and it will eventually kill her. So she may as well have some fun in the meantime…

My Take: I’ll say straight up that I’ve never been a fan of science fiction. I don’t think I’ve managed to sit through an entire episode of Star Trek and I’ve fallen asleep the couple of times I attempted to watch Star Wars. The SciFi element put me off trying this series for the longest time, despite the glowing reviews. Although it took me a couple of chapters to get into the flow of the story, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I’d expected to. Jax grated on my nerves at first, but I’d grown to like her by the end of the book. As this is a story told in the 1^st person from Jax’s point of view, it’s important to have a sympathetic lead character. The plot was interesting and I’m curious to see where Ann Aguirre takes the storyline from here. I’m hoping the saintly Kai turns out to be a traitor! My Grade: B-

Storm Front (2000) by Jim Butcher Genre: Urban Fantasy

Blurb: Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things — and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.

There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get… interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

My Take: Storm Front is the first book in Jim Butcher’s bestselling Dresden Files series. It’s an interesting mix of hardboiled mystery and urban fantasy. Although I liked both the premise and the protagonist, the story failed to grab me and it took me a few days to finish this book. I’ve heard from several sources that the later Dresden Files books are stronger, so I would be willing to give one of those a try at some point. My Grade: C+

Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs is the stunning sequel to Dragon Bones. Together, these books form the Hurog Duology. This review is rather short as revealing much more about the story would spoil the plot of the first book in the duology – in other words, who lives and who dies! While Dragon Bones can be read as a stand alone story, Dragon Blood assumes the reader has already read Dragon Bones and is familiar with its characters and the political structure of the Five Kingdoms.

It is four years after the events in Dragon Bones. Ward of Hurog is now the undisputed Hurogmeten, or head of the family of Hurog. He has spent the last few years rebuilding his keep and earning the trust and respect of his fellow Shavig noblemen. He is aware of the rumblings of rebellion in the Five Kingdoms, but he wants no part of it. His goals are to restore his keep and his lands and to achieve prosperity for his people.

Ward’s peaceful existence is brought to an abrupt halt by the sudden appearance of his old friend, Tisala. Tisala escaped the High King Jakoven’s torturer and is on the run. She has joined forces with rebels seeking to put Jakoven’s younger brother, Kellen, on the throne. Kellen has been imprisoned in the royal asylum for almost a decade and his health is deteriorating rapidly. His supporters need to get him out fast and Tisala thinks Ward is just the man they need to help them.

Meanwhile, Jakoven has a grudge to settle with Ward and his family. Soon after Tisala seeks protection at Hurog, the king’s forces arrive to escort Ward to the royal asylum. While his abusive father was alive, Ward had feigned stupidity to protect himself and his siblings from their father’s wrath. Now that his father is dead, everyone has come to realize that Ward is intelligent and perfectly capable of running Hurog. Jakoven, however, wishes to use Ward’s reputation as ammunition to destroy the family of Hurog. Using his latest lover, the evil mage named Jade Eyes, Jakoven plans to torture Ward with magic, then call him before an assembly and have him declared incompetent. Ward realizes that his only chance to save his family and Hurog is to join forces with the rebels and go to war against the king.

Dragon Blood is an excellent Fantasy featuring magic, dragons, dwarves and political intrigue. For romance fans, there’s a very nice love story between Ward and Tisala, but this is not the central theme of the book. Although I don’t read much Fantasy, I adored both Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood. They’ve earned a special place on my Keeper Shelf and I look forward to re-reading them in the future. Grade: A

Also Reviewed:

Dragon Bones (2002) by Patricia Briggs – Book 1 in the Hurog Duology

Once again, the quality of Patricia Brigg’s writing wins me over to a genre I don’t normally read. Dragon Bones is a wonderful Fantasy novel and the first book in the Hurog Duology.

Dragon Bones is set in the world of the Five Kingdoms. In this world, magic still exists, but barely. It has all but died out, along with the dragons and other fantastical creatures of old. The Five Kingdoms are Avinhelle, Oranstone, Tallven, Vorsag and Shavig.  They are ruled by the cruel and capricious High King Jakoven, King of Tallven. He administers through fear and intrigue. His fickleness and depravity have earned him more enemies than friends, but Jakoven is too arrogant to care.

At the start of the story, Jakoven is aware that the kingdom of Oranstone is besieged by Vorsagian raiders. He doesn’t feel the need to bestir himself to protect the Oranstonians as he is still bitter over the failed rebellion they led against him a few years previously. As far as Jakoven is concerned, a few more dead Oranstonians is a good thing. Naturally, there are those at court who disagree, and fear further incursions into Oranstone could lead to an all-out war.

The hero of this story is nineteen-year-old Ward of Hurog. Hurog is located in Shavig, the northenmost and poorest of the Five Kingdoms. The crumbling keep has little to recommend it, but it guards a precious secret: magical dragon bones. Ward’s abusive father tried to kill him when he was twelve years old. As a result, Ward was left badly concussed and has suffered from slow speech ever since. Recognizing an opportunity to protect himself from his father, Ward decides to feign stupidity. He’s played the role of simpleton to perfection, thus allowing him to protect himself and his brother and sister from their father’s violent temper.

Upon his father’s death, Ward becomes the new lord of Hurog. Along with the keep and the lands, Ward inherits Oreg, the Hurog family ghost. It is Oreg who shows Ward his true legacy, the dragon bones located under the keep. Ward is horrified to learn that one of his ancestors killed one of the last dragons in order to harness its power. Ward has always loved the tales of the old days when dragons ruled the skies and dwarves the underground. Mankind’s greed saw the destruction of the dragons and drove the dwarves deep under the earth.

Ward is determined to do better by Hurog than his predecessors. Unfortunately, a combination of mischief and distrust of his uncle Duraugh leads him to delay in making his intelligence known. A delegation from the High King arrives at Hurog, ostensibly to search for a fugitive slave, but also to escort Ward to the royal asylum. Duraugh and his sons are to rule Hurog in Ward’s place. A few loyal servants help Ward escape along with his sister, Ciarra, and the runaway slave, Bastilla. They collect Ward’s brother, Tosten, along the way, bringing their number up to seven.

Ward realizes that playing the fool was true stupidity and it has lost him his home and his freedom. Determined to win back his inheritance, Ward decides the best way to do so is to gain a reputation as a war hero. What better place to find a war than Oranstone? It doesn’t take long for Ward and his motley crew to discover that the raiders in Oranstone have a diabolical agenda. They are stealing magical objects of worship. Somehow, the raiders have discovered the existence of the dragon bones at Hurog and appear to be heading North…

Dragon Bones is an excellent story of action, adventure and intrigue. As usual, Briggs makes her characters come to life. Ward is a brilliant hero. He struggles to find his true identity. He’s played a role for so long that he’s no longer sure who he really is. His youth leads him to make mistakes, but his bravery and kindheartedness render him a very sympathetic protagonist.

The cast of secondary characters is also excellent. The reader is kept guessing as to who is good and who is bad right up until the very end. In this story, nothing and no one is as they seem.

For Fantasy fans and skeptics alike, I can highly recommend Dragon Bones. I stayed up late finishing it and was very pleased to have the sequel, Dragon Blood, already on my bookshelf. Grade: A