Theft of Swords

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Hadrian and Royce, two expert thieves for hire, find themselves framed for the murder of a king, they are thrust into a political conspiracy to keep the newly crowned king safe from assassins and even his own family.

This was a very enjoyable fantasy adventure, with several political twists and turns. I liked Hadrian’s and Royce’s characters immediately and enjoyed reading of their adventures. Each country was well thought out and the characters were real and relatable. I was impressed with the level of detail that went into crafting each city/region and the diversity of each realm. It felt fleshed out, as every province and land had their own customs and traditions. The political side of the story did not detract from the characters, which was nice, and while there were a lot of characters to keep track of, each one was a vital part of the storyline. This volume contains two separate books. Both were excellent, though I think I liked the second ever better than the first. The final chapters were so action-packed that I was glued to my Kindle until I finally finished the story.

I loved Royce. I think he was easily my favorite character. The banter that took place between him and Hadrian are some of the highlights of the story. Overall, highly recommended for adventure/epic fantasy fans. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Random Thoughts

Random thoughts for today, May 28, 2013:

– Benedict Cumberbatch is quite possibly the best British name in the history of British names. Seriously. You cannot say it without a British accent; it would be sacrilege.
– I can’t wait to see Star Trek, a large part because of Benedict Cumberbatch.
– I received some really sound advice today from a little old lady who used to work on the phone for credit card companies, “Keep a smile on your face as you talk to your customer, no matter what. When you hang up the phone, then you can tell them what an idiot they are.”
– I like to think that I have a fairly witty comeback when people ask me if I have kids. I usually smile and say, “Just the furry kind.” The same little old lady mentioned above had the best response ever to that. She just laughed and said, “I take it you haven’t taught your daughter how to shave her legs yet?” Made my day.
– Downton Abbey is uh-MAY-zing. Enough said.
– I’m running out of random thoughts. That didn’t take long.

Hmm. I guess that’s it for now. I’ll be sure to keep you all informed of the next random thoughts that run through my head.

EDIT TO ADD: Wait a minute, why is it telling me that my post is dated the 29th? What time zone is my blog in? I know for a fact that it’s the 28th…maybe. *Twilight Zone music here*

Insignia

Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. LOVED it. Set in the not-so-distant future, World War III has finally arrived, and instead of destroying planet Earth, the human race has found a way to make war without human sacrifice.

Or so they think.

The planet has been separated into different governmental factions that control the earth’s remaining natural resources, and they’re at odds against one other. The whole world is literally fighting, but the battles now take place in space or on other planets. War is still war, however. Tom, a fourteen-year-old gamer genius, is stuck finding money and random hotel rooms wherever he can with his gambler father until the day that the government notices his incredible reflexes and quick thinking. Now that wars are fought with machinery light-years away, they need the best of the best to control those androids and ships. And that’s just the first couple of chapters.

I couldn’t put this book down, it was such a thrill ride. It reminded me a little of a cross between Ready Player One and the Artemis Fowl series, probably more for the teen crowd than tween. Loved the protagonist, loved the premise of the story. It was fun to watch as Tom learned how to be in the military, futuristic-style, and discovered what it was like to make real friends, complete with typical embarrassing teenage moments.

An excellent read and a major page-turner. In fact, I may have a new favorite YA author to add to my Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer list. Looking forward to reading the rest of this series!

May the 4th be with you!

Another Happy Star Wars Day to you all! I can’t believe it’s come around yet again. By far the best part about this year’s Star Wars Day is that BROTHER IS COMING HOME FROM COLLEGE. *squee!* Yes, this is the same brother who plays video games for me. He’s my favorite sibling! Okay, so he’s my only sibling. But he’s still my favorite.

I don’t know about you fellow geeks, but I am positively quivering with excitement over the movies coming out this summer. We’ll have Iron Man 3, the new Star Trek, and (my personal favorite) THOR 2! What’s a fangirl to do? (The correct answer to that is watch them all.) Seriously. Amazing. Have you seen the trailer to Thor 2? Have you? HAVE YOU? My favorite part is knowing that Loki will be in it, however small the part. I heart Loki. Yes, I have a bit of a villain fetish. They’re usually such wicked cool characters. Literally.

I have no idea who drew this awesome picture, but I love it. Love, love, love!

Anyway, I know what I’ll be saving my pennies for this summer. Sure, we might be poor, but dang it, these movies were made for the big screen. It would be an insult to the special effects crew to watch them anywhere else first. So says me. I’m even thinking ahead to next year’s calendar. I have an awesome Legend of Zelda one at work right now, but perhaps a Thor one will be there next year. Must ponder that.

These are the kinds of movies that make me wish that someone would snatch up Prince of Light. I can picture the special effects in my head already, and I just know that if it was in the right hands, it would be incredible. The biggest challenge that I’ve had in writing book two is making sure that the action level is just a great if not better than book one. I almost outdid myself with the first book’s action sequences, and now I find myself staring at my Word document and thinking, “How am I going to top that? It was epic.” I’ll manage, I’m sure. (If not, the readers will let me know.)

I’m still too giddy from all the fantasmic movies coming out this year. I think I’ll go re-watch The Avengers to satisfy my palette a little until then.

Obviously I do not own Star Wars, Thor, or any of the images. I only wish that I had thought up ideas that cool. I know you know that, but I still have to cover my behind. 😀

Animals do the darndest things.

Alrighty, then. *dusts off blog* I guess it’s been a while. I’d like to say that I’ve been oh-so busy with writerly-related things…but I haven’t really. I’ve just been busy. Though I am now on about chapter 12 of the sequel to Prince of Light, so it hasn’t been a total waste. I think.

I’m not entirely sure how much writing I’ll get done this weekend, either. I get to dog-sit for some friends of ours, which is great, but time-consuming. Hunter’s a good dog, don’t get me wrong. But I’ll have THREE dogs to handle all by myself for three days, which makes me inadvertently twitch just a little. That’s right, Husband will be out of town, so it’s just me. All. By. Myself. *twitch*

She looks so innocent, right? Queen of the Puppy Eyes, that’s what she is. Until she turns into barking, spinning, furry pile of evil.

Last week, I had the brilliant idea to start training my dog, Samus, to be a licensed therapy dog after watching a really cool video of therapy dogs that visit our local hospitals. Samus absolutely loves people and gets along well with other animals. She has an alpha personality, so she’s not afraid of new places or situations, and she’s pretty obedient. In my confidence, I proudly posted the idea on Facebook, relishing in the fact that it garnished some “likes” and supportive comments.

Which is precisely why Samus decided to act like she was on speed when our friends came over to introduce their dog to ours. Spastic doesn’t even begin to cover it. I tried to nervously laugh it off while they were there. You know how it is. There I am, “Heh heh, she’s usually so obedient! Samus come here. No, really. She almost never barks…“ – cue deranged barking for no reason whatsoever – “…and she’s usually so laid back…” – this is where she starts spinning in circles over and over without stopping – “…She’s just a gem! Ha ha, Samus come here. Uh, yeah this was the one that I was thinking of training to be a therapy dog. SAMUS. COME. HERE.”

Aaaaaand that’s pretty much how it went the whole time. She couldn’t stop dancing around when Hunter came close to her, like “I HAVE A NEW FRIEND I HAVE A NEW FRIEND I HAVE A NEW FRIEND…OMG OMG OMG!” (Gretchen, Husband’s German wire-hair, just did her own thing like usual. She doesn’t really care one way or the other about other dogs. She might sniff a friendly “hello,” but then she’s off to explore wherever she feels like.)

Seriously, it’s not like Samus hasn’t ever seen any other dogs. We’ve had so many random dogs dumped on given to us by other people, well, I’d say it wasn’t even funny anymore, but all I can do is laugh at this point. We’ve found homes for all of them, thankfully, but it does mean that my dog has, in fact, interacted with other animals before. So why she decided to prance around like a freak is something I’ll never quite understand. Other than to embarrass me, of course.

We might give her a couple more years before we try the therapy dog thing. A couple years and a lot more training. And she will like it. Or else. *glare*

In the meanwhile, I’m going to prepare for this upcoming weekend. Which, of course, means lots of cupcakes. (Chocolate or candy bars just don’t cut it for me. It has to be cake of some kind, and cupcakes are THE BEST.) Wish me luck, and while you’re at it, check out the awesomesauce review that the lovely Nayu posted on Prince of Light. It made my day! I still go back to read it every so often, especially when I need a little encouragement.

And if you like anime (probably more along the shojo lines of things) and book reviews, start following her blog. She has some great info and her posts are always entertaining!