The Language of the Bees

I put off reading this book for some time. When I read on Goodreads that Ms King was writing a new Russell/Holmes book, I was thrilled. Ecstatic. But for some reason, I hesitated to pick up the book.

Perhaps it was the length of the book? I think not. Lengthy tomes have never daunted me before. I think that it was more the fact that it had been some time since Ms King had written a book about Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. I know I am not alone in the fact of being disappointed before while reading sequels upon sequels to beloved books. I didn’t want to become bored with this series. I have a special place in my heart for Mary Russell…

Russell and Holmes have been abroad for several months. Mary couldn’t wait to get home to Sussex and to her studies. And Mrs. Hudson’s cooking. But their arrival wasn’t quite as tranquil and welcoming as they could want it. Mrs. Hudson was away, and her assistant, Lulu, told them of a visitor. This visitor turned out to be Damian Adler.

They get caught up in a case filled with danger, intrigue, weird religious cults, artists, Bohemia, and sacrificial rights. So, basically, just an average case for the Russell/Holmes team. But not quite, for Damian Adler, the man who comes to Holmes for help to find his missing wife and child…Damian Adler is Sherlock Holmes son.

Like I said, I really didn’t want to read this book. I was afraid of not liking it. However, I couldn’t put it down! I loved every minute of it, my favorites being, I suppose, when Mary is actually alone, and Holmes and Damian are off searching on their own, or when Mary is going over the livestock death list in Mycroft’s flat. In past books, it always seemed to drag when Mary and Holmes were apart. But in this one, I actually rather enjoyed it. Perhaps it’s because Mary has grown up quite a bit. So have I J

I can’t wait for the next installment…that ‘To be continued’ at the end made me want to break into song…for it means that I get to enjoy another of Ms Kings delightful books.

My new book list

Well, I’ve come to the decision that it is time to clean off my ‘Currently Reading’ list. It is past time to be done with my Mercedes Lackey re-read and start a new list.

So, I’ve been perusing my bookshelves, and have come up with a few books that I have either never read, or never finished.

Sir Apropos of Nothing, by Peter David.
The Accidental Sorcerer, by K.E. Mills
An Earthly Knight, by Janet McNaughton
The Language of Bees, by Laurie R King.

There is nothing to tie these together really. One YA book, one mystery, 3 fantasy…just a hodge-podge list this time J

So now I must put my nose to the grindstone and finish ‘Foundation’ and ‘By the Sword’. (I know, I know, I should have had these read LONG ago…)

SO happy reading!

Cheers!

First Rider's Call

This is the sequel to ‘Green Rider’, and a well done sequel at that.

Karigan G’ladheon had gone home to follow in her fathers footsteps, to be a merchant, determined to leave the world of kings, advisors, and Green Riders, behind. Everyone told her she wouldn’t be able to resist the call of the Riders, that once chosen, you stayed chosen, but she would have none of it. She didn’t want to be a Green Rider, she didn’t want to be a messenger. The brief period she had spent finishing the job of a dead Rider was more than enough for her, thanks.

But when she wakes up half-way to Sacor City in her nightgown, atop her horse, not remembering how she got there, she decides that it is useless to fight.

And so she enters training to become a Rider.

Ever since an evil mage, that had since been defeated, had managed to put a crack in the D’Yer wall, the wall that protected the land from the evils of the Blackveil forest beyond, things hadn’t been right. Groundmites kill villages, people and wildlife alike were turning to stone, and the Rider’s magic brooches were failing.

To make matters worse, there are wraiths on the loose. Wraiths that were once men, men who had been second in command to Mornhaven, the evil mage that they had defeated over 1000 years ago in the Long War.

When the First Rider, Lil, begins visiting Karigan in her ghostly form, she thinks she is going crazy. The First Rider had come to try and help Karigan bring the few riders left together. She brings Karigan back in time, to view how things were when they defeated Mornhaven before. With the help of a 1000 year old ghost, Karigan must figure out how to fix what is wrong.

This book was good! I normally don’t expect too much from a sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised this time!

Green Rider

I picked up this book several years ago, while browsing at the library, checked it out, and read probably 4 or 5 chapters before getting distracted and forgetting about it. A good year or so later, a friend called me from the bookstore and asked if I had ever heard of the book called ‘Green Rider‘, and was it any good?

I sat there and thought about it, vaguely remembering two eccentric old sisters, a room full of magical objects, and the girl, Karigan, having a journey suddenly thrust upon her. Going off of that, I told my friend that she would probably love the book. So she bought ‘Green Rider‘, and its sequel, ‘First Rider’s Call’ and took them home, and promptly devoured them.

After hearing her talk about them, years later I asked my friend if I could borrow them for a road trip. Having just put down ‘Green Rider’, I’m now sitting here slightly giddy, as I always am after reading a good book.

Karigan G’ladheon,, of Clan G’ladheon is a merchants daughter who is supposed to be at school. But, after a fight which leads to her suspension, rather than face her father, and have to look at everyone, she runs away. Determined to make it home before the Dean’s letter reaches her father, she sets out right away. A day or two into her journey, she comes across a young man wearing green, wounded and all but falling off his horse. He makes her promise to bring the message in his satchel to the King, and with his last breath, warns her of the danger of the road, and to beware the shadow man. He then hands her his brooch, a small gold winged horse. The brooch of a Green Rider.

Thus begins the adventures of Karigan. She sets off, unsure of what she is doing, or where she is going, is hindered by dark forces determined to keep her from delivering her message, fights unheard of evil creatures, all the while keeping hold of her message. All she wants to do is go home…but will the brooch let her?

I can’t wait to start ‘First Rider’s Call’, and see what happens to Kari and her friends…!

A Fatal Waltz, Lady Emily book 3

I couldn’t wait to read this book. And with a title like “A Fatal Waltz”, I was really hoping for some good stuff. And I was not disappointed!

Lady Emily is now engaged *squee!* to Colin Hargreaves. However, their wedding has been delayed (two days before the day) and he is sent on assignment. But not before Emily meets his former…uhm…mistress. The Countess Von Lange, who is just as beautiful as she is devious, has worked with Colin for years, of which Emily had no knowledge.

While at a house party in the country, Ivy Brandon’s husband, Robert, is framed for a murder of the political giant he had been following. Knowing that he is innocent, Emily embarks on a journey to Vienna, the land(apparently) of suicides, along with her dear friend Cecile, and her lifelong friend Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, to absolve her friends husband.

She gets herself embroiled in the dealings of anarchists, artists and poets. She is stalked, tricked, scared and yet still determined to discover who is culpable.

There are some very touching moments between characters…Colin and Emily, Jeremy and Emily, and even (although not witnessed first hand) the estimable Davis and Cecile’s maid.

I read on the back of this one that the author is working on the next installment…hopefully to come out soon…I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

A Poisoned Season

Having enjoyed very thoroughly my introduction to Lady Emily Ashton in “And Only to Deceive”, I was a little hesitant to start book two. I was anticipating in some ways, a repeat of book one, and I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy another mystery about Greek antiquities. After all, having found out her love of them in book one, WHILE solving a mystery about them, and studying ancient Greek…What else could the following books be about?

However, the lure of Victorian England (and Colin Hargreaves, I’ll admit it) drew me back in. Emily, now out of mourning, is very unwilling to give up the lifestyle she has become accustomed to…the studying, the reading, all of it. However, as she is young, widowed, and wealthy, she must, to some extent, dive back into the London Season, and all it brings(and her mother, of course, there to make sure she does it!).

This Season, no one can stop talking about two things: Charles Berry, who claims to be the heir to Marie Antoinette, and a cat burglar who steals all things that had once belonged to her. Emily is nonplussed, until a pair of earrings that now belonged to her dear friend Cecile, are stolen right out of her own home.

And so, here begins Emily’s next case. She is determined to figure it all out, but is hampered by many things…her mother, dead ends, and society beginning to shun her, to name a few.

I will say that I am so glad that I picked this back up. I can’t wait for the next installment…especially after what happens right at the end of the book…*swoon*! J