Queen of Storms is the second volume in Raymond E Feist's trilogy, The Firemane Saga. The book picks up shortly after the end of the first volume, King of Ashes, with Hatu and Hava having settled down as innkeepers in Barons Landing.
BOOK REVIEWS
The Tower of Fools
PREAMBLE I read The Tower of Fools on its release in October 2020; I had it on pre-order and finished it in two days. I'd planned to write a review as soon as I completed the book. Then, out of the blue, I hit a wall. Sometimes, it happens to me; one year, I'll read eighty books, … Continue reading The Tower of Fools
Book Review: King of Ashes
Title: King of Ashes Series: The Fireman Saga # 1 Author: Raymond E Feist Publication: 2018 THE BLURB For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient … Continue reading Book Review: King of Ashes
Five Books: I Enjoyed But Didn’t Review
I read a lot more books than I review. There are many reasons I choose not to talk about a book on this blog. Time is the obvious one. I read seventy-seven books last year; even if I did this full-time, I couldn't write that many reviews. Another might be that I didn't enjoy the … Continue reading Five Books: I Enjoyed But Didn’t Review
Book Review: The Gospel of the Eels
Don't let the subject or non-fiction part intimidate you. This book is so much more than a dry textbook about eels. It tells a sprawling, thoughtful, philosophical, provocative, and emotional story.
Book Review: Die for Me – Killing Eve 3
There are times I wish it were forbidden to adapt a story before it's finished. That an author should be allowed to complete their story in peace before other writers begin to change it to fit a new medium.
Book Review: The Henna Artist
The Henna Artist is precisely the type of story I love: deceptively straight forward but with a hidden depth that's slowly uncovered.
Book Review: The Binding
THE FACTS Title: The Binding Author: Bridget Collins Published: 2019 BLURB Imagine you could erase grief.Imagine you could hide the darkest, most horrifying secret.Forever. Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and … Continue reading Book Review: The Binding
The Discworld Reviews: Guards! Guards!
THE FACTS Title: Guards! Guards! Place in series: #8 in The Discworld Series, #1 in the City Watch Collection Author: Terry Pratchett Published: 1989 Concerning spoilers: The Discworld Series is made-up of forty-one books. Most can be read as stand-alone novels, but they are all connected. There will be no spoilers for this particular book. … Continue reading The Discworld Reviews: Guards! Guards!
My 2019 in Books: My favorite reads of the year
I really enjoyed my 2019 in books. Most of the books I've read this year have been good. Some were average. Many were fantastic.
The Witcher Reviews: The Lady of the Lake
The Lady of the Lake, the last book in The Witcher Saga, is a novel focused on concluding this intricate story. It’s one of the things I genuinely love about this series: The End isn’t hastily handled in a few short pages: it’s an entire book. All of the conflicts, schemes, confrontations, battles, and fights that have been plotted and foreshadowed will come to a close.
The Witcher Reviews: The Tower of the Swallow
The world has fallen into war. Ciri, the child of prophecy, has vanished. Hunted by friends and foes alike, she has taken on the guise of a petty bandit and lives free for the first time in her life. But the net around her is closing.
The Witcher Reviews: Baptism of Fire
Baptism of Fire is the fifth book in the story about the Witcher Geralt and his child of destiny, Ciri. When we left them at the end of Time of Contempt, both found themselves in less than ideal situations.
Why I’ll Never Write a One-Star Review
Despite having a pretty good idea about what kind of books I gravitate to, occasionally, I come across books that I think I'll enjoy but don't. Other times I tell myself I'm missing out on great books because I'm so set in my ways with what genres I like, and I should try something new; sometimes it works other times it doesn't.
Book Review: The Spider – Under the Northern Sky # 2
The first book in this planned trilogy, The Wolf, ends with a foreboding epilogue. The Spider, picking up just days after, begins with an equally foreshadowing prologue hinting at the disaster about to strike. With both epilogue and prologue in mind, it's no surprise that this story begins with a funeral.
Book Review: The Wolf
This is the type of book where almost everything feels familiar or reminds you of something. But not in a way that it feels like a carbon copy. There is a personality in his writing, the author has a voice.
Book Review: No Tomorrow – Killing Eve 2
One thing I really enjoy about the writing is that, because of the very different personalities and lives these two women lead, it never feels repetitive. For example, a part of the book takes place in Venice, you have chapters from Villanelle's POV, and then you have Eve retracing her steps, and yet it feels new.
The Discworld Reviews: Pyramids
We are finally here! At long last, it's time to review, Pyramids. This was the book that sold me on the Discworld series and showed me the magic that can happen when Terry Pratchett hits all my buttons.
The Witcher Reviews: Blood of Elves
What I love about this book is that it is not afraid to take the time needed to establish essential relationships, while also being an action-packed, adult story. Sapkowski takes his time explaining why Ciri is unique, why everyone is interested in her; she not made into a "special girl with special powers" she's a person.
Book Review: The Essex Serpent
Once in a while, I'll choose a book without really paying any attention to book blurbs. In the case of The Essex Serpent, it was one of those books I'd noticed in passing on lists over Best Books of 2017. I'd been drawn to the cover in books stores, and at one point I think I must have read the blurb even though when I, on a whim, decided to read it I couldn't remember much about it.
The Discworld Reviews: Wyrd Sisters
Wyrd Sisters begins with the murder of King Varence I by his cousin Duke Felmet, a crime in large planned and orchestrated by the Duke's ambitious wife. During the commotion, a servant manages to escape with the king's infant son. Realizing the danger, the three witches hide the boy with a group of traveling actors trusting that, when the time is right, destiny will bring the rightful king back to Lancre to overthrow the Duke.
My 2018 in books: Last day of the year
At the beginning of 2018, I decided to, once again, sign up for the Goodreads reading challenge. After successfully completing my 2017 goal of reading thirty books I challenged myself to read thirty-six books during 2018. On September 29th, I officially completed the challenge, and I'm ending 2018 with fifty-three books read.
The Discworld Reviews: Sourcery
There was an eighth son of an eighth son. He was, quite naturally, a wizard. And there it should have ended. However (for reasons we'd better not go into), he had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son ... a wizard squared ... a source of magic ... a Sourcerer. Sourcery sees the return of Rincewind and the Luggage as the Discworld faces its greatest - and funniest - challenge yet.
The Witcher Reviews: The Last Wish
Geralt was always going to stand out, with his white hair and piercing eyes, his cynicism and lack of respect for authority ... but he is far more than a striking-looking man. He's a witcher, with powers that make him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin - his targets are the vile fiends that ravage the land.
The Witcher Reviews: Introduction
The Witcher video game trilogy is one of my favorite storytelling experiences of all time. I've sunk hundreds, upon hundreds of hours into that world and Geralt of Rivia is more dear to me than most living men. That's why it's so embarrassing to admit, that although I've played all three games numerous times, and own more than one (or twenty) collectible item, I've not given the book series it's based on the attention it deserves.
Book Review: The Gospel of Loki
There was a time I knew the more well-known stories of the Norse mythology by heart and could name all the major characters. Today, I've forgotten a lot, but my love for the stories have remained, even grown as I've become older and understand them better.
The Discworld Reviews: Mort
"“I? KILL? said Death, obviously offended. CERTAINLY NOT. PEOPLE GET KILLED, BUT THAT'S THEIR BUSINESS. I JUST TAKE OVER FROM THEN ON. AFTER ALL, IT'D BE A BLOODY STUPID WORLD IF PEOPLE GOT KILLED WITHOUT DYING, WOULDN'T IT?”
The Wheel of Time Reviews: The Dragon Reborn
I concluded my review of the previous book, The Great Hunt feeling optimistic. I felt energized, believing that after a fifteen hundred page introduction and “setting the scene” the story was now finally kicking off. I was wrong.
The Wheel of Time Reviews: The Great Hunt
The Forsaken are loose, the Horn of Valere has been found, and the Dead are rising from their dreamless sleep. The Prophecies are being fulfilled - but Rand al'Thor, the shepherd the Aes Sedai have proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn, desperately seeks to escape his destiny.
The Discworld Reviews: Equal Rites
There are some situations where the correct response is to display the sort of ignorance which happily and wilfully flies in the face of the facts. In this case, the birth of a baby girl, born a wizard – by mistake. Everybody knows that there’s no such thing as a female wizard. But now it’s gone and happened, there’s nothing much anyone can do about it. Let the battle of the sexes begin…
The Wheel of Time Reviews: The Eye of the World
This was, without a doubt, one of the most frustrating reads of my entire life! I can say, with absolute certainty, that had it not been for the audiobook I would never have finished it; I would have thrown it into the nearest wall and never picked it back up again.
The Wheel of Time Reviews: Introduction
I wasn’t going to do an introductory post to this series because honestly, I’m still not sure I will read the whole thing. But, then I began an outline for the reviews of the two books I've read so far, and it just got out of hand. So here I am, writing this introduction. It’s for the best; no one wants to read a 10K book review.
The Discworld Reviews: The Color of Magic & The Light Fantastic
The story begins in the city of Ankh-Morpork just as it's inhabitants are about to experience something new and unfamiliar, a tourist.
The Discworld Reviews: Introduction
I thought it would be fun to share my journey through this universe by reviewing the books as I go.
Xenodike 