The Magicians by Lev Grossman

A forlorn and alienated teen discovers real magic and is enrolled in a school which has little or no resemblance to the currently most famous magic school, Hogsworth. Brakebills is a school for the very gifted, bright and magically talented. Quentin Coldwater discovers he is no longer the brightest person he knows and comes to terms with who he really is. There is a requisite magic quest, a coming of age and a final acceptance of identity.

Sometimes hype can ruin a book. My anticipation of this book was dramatically higher than the reality of the book. It was a good story but I wanted and expected a terrific, can’t put the book down story. Perhaps that is what the less sated fantasy lovers found but for those of us who have been reading fantasy for over 55 years, the book was just ok. The characterizations were fine, there was color and magic and violence. If you have read any of my reviews, you know I am a serious fan of anthropomorphism. This book had talking, thinking animals. I should have loved it. I just liked it. BTW in a recent story reading session with my grandson’s 5th grade class, I was delighted to discover that when I asked for a definition of anthropomorphism, they knew what it is and were able to define it. I suspect that Miss Allen, the teacher’s obvious love of reading may have contributed to that delightful revelation. You should probably read this book just to discover what all the hoopla is about. It is worth reading but not reading twice.

I recommend the book.

Body of work of Lev Grossman

Review

Web Site:

The Family Bones by Kimberly Raiser

The book started with a mystery and proceeded to become more mysterious. My initial reaction was that it was going to be a “slasher” book, you know, Jason in a hockey mask kind of thing. That is a venue I am not overly thrilled with but I proceeded. Much to my pleasant surprise it wasn’t the simplistic psycho running wild plot but much more thoughtful. I admit finding my self a bit uneasy in some of the scenes. The characterizations were good and I enjoyed the mysteriousness of the setting. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, I could practically picture the locale. The introduction of an alien influence provides a nice twist to the characterizations. An entertaining book to read, my biggest complaint is that it could have been bumped up another hundred pages and maintained my interest. I recommend the book. Look for an interview with the author in January on my blog, Pick of the Literate.

Body of work of Kimberly Raiser

Reviews: http://ruthiesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-family-bones-by-kimberly-raiser.html

http://kylees2009.blogspot.com/2008/12/review-of-family-bones.html

Web Site: http://www.kimberlyraiser.vpweb.com/

The dust of other days by Bob Lock

I stumbled on this blog while looking through blogcatalog, he had visited someone else's blog and Bob's sounded interesting. Well, that was a worthwhile stumble. I haven't read all his work yet nor have I looked at all of his blogs. If this story is a taste of his work, I am looking for a full course meal. The story reads well with a nice twist at the end. I liked it and I am not a big fan of short stories. Better yet, I commented on it and got a nice return email from the author. Try that with one of the big name authors, you will wither away and die before they ever respond to a reader. Kudos to Bob Lock and check out his blogs.

http://bob-lock.blogspot.com/http://www.scifi-tales.com/

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.lock2/07-V2/index.html

http://www.flamesofherakleitos.com/

http://www.screamingdreams.com/