Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland

I can’t remember when I had as much fun as I did reading Star of the Morning, the first of Lynn Kurland‘s Nine Kingdoms novels.   The king is annoying, but Miach and Morgan are likeable.  There is plenty of sword fighting, magery, and romance (but no sex).  I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books about Morgan and, I hope, Miach:

• The Mage’s Daughter
• Princess of the Sword
• A Tapestry of Spells

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

I don’t remember having read anything by Lois McMaster Bujold before.  I enjoyed The Curse of Chalion and finished it in less than 24 hours.  I’m glad I didn’t stop reading it after the first chapter as I was tempted to do.  As Jo Beverley is quoted in a blurb on the back cover  “It is a truly enthralling story with a wonderful hero, dire challenges, and a subtle but thoroughly satisfying love story.”  I’m looking forward to reading the other books set in this universe, Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt, as well as other books she’s written.

The Siren Depths by Martha Wells

The Siren Depths (San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2012), Book 3 of Martha Wells’ Books of the Raksura, is the best of the three books in the series.  (I wrote about The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea last month.) Moon and the reader learn about his early life and how he ended up being alone in the Three Worlds.  In this volume, Wells does more in the way of character development, though her imagination is still obvious.

The cover of this book has a similar problem to the last one:  The Raksura, if it is Moon, is the wrong color.

I’m planning to read Wells’ Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy next.

The Serpent Sea by Martha Wells

The Serpent Sea (San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2012) is Book 2 of Martha Wells’ Books of the Raksura. I can’t say that I liked The Serpent Sea as well as The Cloud Roads, which I wrote about earlier this month, but I can say that Wells has a marvelous imagination, especially the location of the city Moon and the other Indigo Cloud Raksura visit.

My primary criticism is that the colors of the Raksura on the cover are wrong (I believe) if they are supposed to be Jade and Moon.

The third book in the series is The Siren Depths.

Crown of Vengeance by Mercedes Lacky and James Mallory

Crown of Vengeance (New York:  Tom Doherty Associates, 2012) is the first book of The Dragon Prophecy series.  It “is set in the same world as the Enduring Flame and Obsidian Mountain trilogies” by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory and before the other series.

In Crown of Vengeance, “readers will learn the truth about the Elven Queen Vielissiar Faricarnon, who was the first to face the Endarkened in battle and the first to bond with a dragon. She worked some of the greatest magics her world has ever known, and paid the greatest Price” (“Crown of Vengeance“).

I’ve read the other two trilogies and much preferred the Obsidian Mountain series, which was written and set before the Enduring Flame series.  I actually like Crown of Vengeance better than any of the books in the other two series.

I discovered from looking at James Mallory’s blog, that there is a wiki with reference information about the novels in these series:  The Obsidian Wiki.  It’s clearly not up to date.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately, particularly young adult fantasy.  Since I enjoyed all of Rachel Neumeier‘s books, I decided to take her recommendation to read Martha Wells‘ Books of the Raksura, which Neumeier wrote that she’ll “be pushing . . . on everybody who loves great writing, ornate worlds and wonderfully-drawn nonhuman characters.”

I’ve only read the first book so far, The Cloud Roads (San Francisco:  Night Shade Books, 2011), but I’m looking forward to the next two books in the trilogy:  The Serpent Sea and The Siren Depths.

The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan

The Serpent’s Shadow (New York:  Disney-Hyperion Books, 2012), is the third and, I hope, the last of Rick Riordan‘s Kane Chronicles.  As I’ve written before, I like the Kane Chronicles better than Riordan’s series about Percy Jackson.  However, the plots of the Kane Chronicles are so complicated that I’m rather tired of them, though I would want to know what happens if there’s another book in the series.

The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede

The Far West (New York:  Scholastic Press, 2011) is the most recent (last?) and best book in Patricia C. Wrede‘s Frontier Magic series.   On her website, Wrede links to this book trailer to the Frontier Magic books.

I’m going to try Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, at least the first book, next:

• Dealing with Dragons
• Searching for Dragons
• Calling on Dragons
• Talking to Dragons

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede

I liked Across the Great Barrier (New York:  Scholastic Press, 2011) better than Thirteenth Child,  the first book in Patricia C. Wrede‘s Frontier Magic series, probably because the second book doesn’t try to cover so much time in Eff’s life.

The books remind me of Orson Scott Card‘s Tales of Alvin Maker, particularly Seventh Son.  Wrede’s series is better, at least so far.  It’s certainly more original.  Card drew a lot on LDS history for his book.

Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

I recently discovered that Rick Riordan had written two of the Kane Chronicles since  I read The Red Pyramid in 2010.  I just finished Throne of Fire and am looking forward to reading The Serpent’s Shadow.  I still like the Kane Chronicles better than the Percy Jackson series and strongly recommend both series.