The Librain……retired

Happy New Year to you all! And Happy Reading too!

Yes, this is the first Reading Roundup post of the year and also this blog’s second birthday. I have read the most fabulous trilogy over the holidays, which is just as well because I was extremely ill over Christmas and at least these great books helped to distract my mind.

Red Rising, Golden Son and Morning Star by Pierce Brown are the first three books in his Red Rising Saga and they are the first main story arc of the series. For once, I am going to do things a little differently to usual. Normally, as I finish each book I write a short and very basic review on the Goodreads site. This time I decided to wait until I had finished all three books in this story arc and write a collective review at the end. I am so glad that I decided to do this!

Anyway, first of all I will show you each book’s cover and blurb…

Red Rising:

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

Golden Son:

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.

And Morning Star:

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within.

Finally, the time has come.

But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.

So, what is my verdict of this trilogy? Well, please bear in mind that I am not a sophisticated reader. I read for escape, for excitement, for adventure, to be taken out of myself, to dull physical and mental pain, for sheer enjoyment of a story and characters. I need something to happen and, boy, do things happen in these books! Once you start reading you are on a rollercoaster, a huge wave that carries you from scene to scene, from book to book. I love how the characters, particularly Darrow, develop across all three books. I love the huge surprises, the political machinations, the unpredictability and twists in the plot. This writer is talented and very clever.

Now that I have written this much, I am going to go to the Goodreads pages about each book and read the reviews. Then I will come back to this blog post and, perhaps, add some more of my own thoughts. As you can see, I am struggling to describe how much I like love these books (yes, I have already ordered book four, Iron Gold, from the Library). ➡️➡️➡️

↪️ Right, I am back again. Please go to Goodreads and read some of the reviews of this series for yourselves. Some of them are brilliant. But, be aware that, unlike many book series, this one gets better and better with each book. Those people who didn’t get on with the first one have really missed the fantastic developments in books two and three. The whole story progresses well across all three books and Darrow’s development as a person is impressively written. We can see him growing into adulthood and learning from his mistakes. The world building is also excellent and detailed, the books blending elements of fantasy as well as science fiction.

So, I think you will have got the idea – I highly recommend the Red Rising Saga! Now, I must tell the library staff when I visit on Friday…

Best wishes,

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One fairly long book again this week! I think that I am spending a lot of time watching TV via Amazon Prime and following feminists on Twitter.

The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett

This was an easy read: The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett, #02 in his Demon Cycle series. Here is the blurb (by the way, the book has the Painted Man, rather than Warded Man)…

The sun is setting on humanity. The night now belongs to voracious demons that prey upon a dwindling population forced to cower behind half-forgotten symbols of power.

Legends tell of a Deliverer: a general who once bound all mankind into a single force that defeated the demons. But is the return of the Deliverer just another myth? Perhaps not.

Out of the desert rides Ahmann Jardir, who has forged the desert tribes into a demon-killing army. He has proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer, and he carries ancient weapons–a spear and a crown–that give credence to his claim.

But the Northerners claim their own Deliverer: the Warded Man, a dark, forbidding figure.

Once, the Shar’Dama Ka and the Warded Man were friends. Now they are fierce adversaries. Yet as old allegiances are tested and fresh alliances forged, all are unaware of the appearance of a new breed of demon, more intelligent—and deadly—than any that have come before.

I was a bit stingy with this book and only gave it three stars. This is my review on Goodreads:

This is the kind of book where you need to suspend several critical faculties in order to just go along with the adventure. I enjoyed the story, despite several reservations: my Feminist hackles rose very high indeed, my grammar and nit picking side had to be tied up and put in a cupboard and my sense of historical accuracy (what! This is a fantasy novel!) had to be put aside. I also had to put blinkers on to get through some of the nasty sexual side.

I love a good story with lots of unexpected twists, and this fits that description. I also like interesting characters, and there are plenty of those. But, some of the characters are a bit stereotypical and the plot has huge holes in places.

I think the plot is supposed to take place in some kind of medieval world after some massive catastrophe, but some of the discoveries and inventions are very anachronistic: molecules?

Despite these misgivings, the ideas behind the series are quite inventive and I did enjoy the adventure. Yes, I will read another book in the series, so perhaps that shows that my final verdict is positive!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

I am now reading the first book in a new (to me) series: Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I liked the look of the blurb and requested the next two from the library, so I am going to read these over Christmas. If I run out of print books during the holidays, I will be able to access the library’s ebook service via BorrowBox either on my iPad or phone. I have never read a book on a screen as small as that, so I may stick to the iPad!

I am not sure if I will post a Reading Roundup post next week as I may be too busy, so look out for my next one in two weeks. Until then…

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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I have only read one book this week, but what a book! American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a huge read and I nearly didn’t finish it. I used to be able to devour long books with no issues at all, but these days my concentration is poor even though I have lots of time available.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Anyway, here is the blurb!

If you are to survive, you must believe.

Shadow Moon has served his time. But hours before his release from prison, his beloved wife is killed in a freak accident. Dazed, he boards a plane home where he meets the enigmatic Mr Wednesday, who professes both to know Shadow and to be king of America.

Together they embark on a profoundly strange road trip across the USA, encountering a kaleidoscopic cast of characters along the way. Yet all around them a storm threatens to break.

The war has already begun, an epic struggle for the very soul of America, and Shadow is standing squarely in its path.

I had so much trouble trying to think how to review this. As you will know, if you have being reading these roundup posts, I am not the world’s best reviewer. I cannot write long and profound, or even short and insightful, responses to books. In fact, I must be one of the few librarians without A Level English Literature. So, if you want to read some great reviews, please look on Goodreads or other book sites and blogs!

Here is what I did manage to write:

This is so hard to write as I am struggling to find the words for my response to this book. Gaiman has written some of my favourite works of all time, such as The Sandman graphic novel series. I am also aware that American Gods has won massive acclaim and awards and has also been turned into a TV series. But I found it so hard to read!

I was “lucky” enough to have a copy from the library which turned out to be the extended version and I usually dive into very long books without any hesitation, but this one was daunting. Some parts were very gripping and I enjoyed many of the side stories set in the past or about mythological beings. As a former student of the ancient world, I love reading about the old gods, goddesses and fantastical creatures. Somehow, a lot of this book became a chore to read and I had to battle to get to the end. I am not totally sure why that happened. The characters were interesting, the events often intriguing and exciting, the settings were well-drawn, and the writing was very skilful.

Would I read the book again? I doubt it. Will I watch the TV series? Probably. Would I recommend the book to my friends? Well, some of them have already enjoyed it, so I think so.

I have given the book four stars because I think that it deserves at least that, but equally I could have given it two or even one!

So, make of that what you will!

The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett

I have now changed the pace and am reading the second part of the Demon Cycle series by Peter V Brett:  The Desert Spear. My verdict will be given next week.

Until then, Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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