Annie's 100 in 2011

Reading more than 100 books/year is normal for me. Posting about them - not so much. So let's see if that will work.

I do not really know how may books I read in a year, so one of my goals is to keep track of all the books I read in 2011. I thought that this would be a good place to keep the list.

Yep - that's the main idea. I know that I read at least 100. But any list I try to make stops either in April (or March..) or at the first time when I am off home and on business travel for more than 2 weeks in a row.

I find the comments and conversation very inspiring to keep me posting! Good luck!

Keeping track of my reads here on LibraryThing was the first time I had ever succeeded for the full year, and I have the partially filled out book logs to prove it. Moving from paper to the computer, and then to the groups, gave me the motivation I needed to follow through, and this is my third year. Last year I also kept track of purchases of books for the first time ever.

I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy too, so have starred your thread so I can check out your reads.

I've starred your thread as well. Looking forward to hearing about your books.

>5 ronincats:

I started pretty well last year, then things got strange in my life (relocation and so on) and all fall apart :) So trying again this year - need to get the few already read in here (none is SF/F though)

>5 ronincats:&6
I read all over the genres so there will be SF and F but also a lot of other stuff.

We don't expect you to be exclusively SFF, Annie--we just figure that means we are likely to have some similar tastes overall!

I better start before I forget what I had been reading :)

1. The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley - full review: here

Starting the year with a Young Adult novel set in Elizabethan England. And it was a good start - the novel is interesting, the main character Kat is likable without being a washed-out never-do-bad all-good-doer. The novel plays on one of the history mysteries and does it successfully - there is no contradiction, no reversed historical truth just to get the story right.

It does have its low points and issues (the main one for me being the removal of any obstacles in front of Kat in any way needed - letters being received and hidden from her and given in the last moment, people dying so she does not need to make a choice - but even that does not change the fact that it is a good novel); a few things could have been handled better.

2. The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper - full review

The story of Elizabeth's Governess told by herself. It is a good book overall but a few things bothered me (the portrayals of Seymour and Dudley being the main ones). I would still recommend it to anyone interested in the period though -if we exclude these, the book is fairly historically accurate which is pretty good for a novel - the author knows her history pretty well and does not try to go around it. One of the things that initially stroke me as an issue with the book is actually one of the strengths - Kat is way too naive and innocent in some moments. But that is the story written by herself... and when people look back at some memories, they tend to forget the bad parts. So an excellent work from the author on that :)

3. The Tudors for Dummies -full review

I had never read a book in this series before. So I had no idea what to expect.

The book is funny and witty for the most part; it does serve its purpose to explain the Tudors and their times in an easy way. It might not be my first choice for introducing the Tudors if someone is interested in history but if they are not - yes, I probably would. It is objective enough, it is full and what is most important - it is readable.

I better update this one before I forget what I had read - and then will catch up on reviews.... one day

4. Elizabethan House of Commons by J. E. Neale

Non-fiction. Pretty heavy if you do not have interest in the period (but why would you read it if you don't?). Neale relies on the reader's knowledge of the period a lot so he does not get into long explanations who is who from the main characters of the era. The book is interesting though - it is not a parliamentary history, never had been intended to be. It is a history of how both houses had been elected, who won in which year and why and how the parliament worked as a whole (with some examples of bills and laws being passed but they are there for illustration purposes). And as strange as it may sound for such a serious book, it did make me more than once - some of the pre-election shenanigans had not changed at all.

I had wanted to read this book for a a long time (and it is kinda out of print) so I am happy I did. And I have Neale's parliamentary history tomes lined up (and a few newer researches on that as well -- this is Tudor England, the historians change their mind every generation... Neale started all the work on the parliaments but a few of the newer historians decided to keep digging. Whose conclusions are the correct ones does not even matter -- the fact are there in all books (the good ones anyway) so everyone can make up their own mind) :)

5. Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

#4 in the ongoing series.

Meet Cat - half-vampire, vampire-hunter, kinda married to a vampire and trying to decide what exactly she is doing.

The book packs quite a lot of action (as usual) - Cat meets someone from her past (and of course he is not exactly the nicest person in the world - actually he kinda makes Max look good (if you had not read the previous books Max is Cat's father who tried to kill her a few times)), trust between Can and Bones is a big issue (again), they both meet a powerful person in New Orleans (and knowing the author that someone will probably be quite important for the next book), and Cat makes an important decision... except that things do not turn as expected (what a surprise). But the master vampires battle toward the end was fun - good thing that the author do not need to bother with gravitation, what a human body can do and some other things though :)

If you had read the previous books you know that you should expect some heated and quite graphical sex (not as bad as in some of the earlier books though) and a lot of the regulars make appearances. If you had not read the series before, book #4 is not the place to start

I like the series - it is not high literature but it makes me smile and relax which is what I search in it :)

6. Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman

#3 in the Decker/Lazarus series

Our favorite detective Peter Decker finds a small girl just staying outside in her blood-stained pyjamas in the middle of the night. The LA police tries to figure out what happened and it will lead Peter and his usual partner Marge to a small oasis just outside the big city where the time had just stopped.

Rina is still in New York but she does come back in the middle of the investigation and things start moving in the right direction.

PS: When Rina exited the plane she said she had not checked any luggage. Then later she said her gun had been in the packed luggage. Unless if I am mistaken and packed does not really mean checked, then the author seems to have forgotten the lack of luggage on arrival. Not that it really matters...

7. Day of Atonement by Faye Kellerman

#4 in the ongoing series
Peter and Rina are now married (the author can fit a full book in between each of her books - so many things happen and just get mentioned) and they will spend their honeymoon in New York - with her family (her dead first husband parents) - noone said that this is an easy relationship. And as little fun as such honeymoon is, a boy disappears and there went the honeymoon. The action soon moves to LA (how convenient - after all Peter is a detective there.. seriously though the explanation why LA is pretty good :) ) and the police thriller is in full swing again. But not before Decker meets his biological mother (and talk to her) - in a totally strange way.

Nice and enjoyable read.

8. False Prophet by Faye Kellerman

#5 in the ongoing series
A woman attacked in her own bedroom, stolen jewelery, stolen manuscript, a fading Hollywood star, a woman believing in her psychic powers to see without her eyes... all that could have made a great story. Except that it did not.

The story itself is not bad and could have worked but the cast of characters just does not work. A convoluted family history in the middle of everything was to be expected but some of the relationships inside of it are beyond belief - not to mention some of the relationships outside of it. And then all family secrets just coming up after so many years? Could have been handled but the writing was simply missing something.

On the Rina/Decker part - she expects their first child and is moody and almost invisible for the most part. Cindy (Decker's daughter) makes an appearance (for the whole summer), Rina's boys live with them and the family seems to be getting used to each other.

Not the best in the series but not a reason to drop the series - at least for me.

9. Grievous Sin by Faye Kellerman

#6 in the ongoing series

Rina gives birth to her daughter (and things do not go very well for her for a while but she survives it). And then a baby that had slept next to her daughter just disappears together with one of the nurses . And it's Decker's team that need to figure out what happened.

Old secrets get revealed, family tragedies need to be revisited -- and a baby life might be the price of that all.

This time the book cast was better and things were going much better overall - the book is an obvious improvement over the previous book and a return to the style that I like.

And after 4 books in the same series in a row, I decided to move to something else - not because I am tired of the author or the series - but simply because if I do not stop at one point, I will go through the whole series in a row... and then I won't have any time to read other books. So I will be back to that one in a few weeks I suspect but for now, no more Rina/Decker for a while.

10. Blood Heat by Maria Lima

#4 in the ongoing series (Seems like #4 had been the number for January...)
If you had not read the first 3 books, don't even start that one. It simply won't work.

Keira and her companions are back in Texas... as the co-ruler of all the non-human entities in the region. Of course things will get interesting pretty fast. The book is the preparation for the big meet-up where everyone should come and introduce themselves to the rules and finishes with the meeting. But the preparation goes anything but calm -- there are entities that do not like them, some other have secondary motives, Tucker turns berserk for a while (and for a good reason), Nico gets himself in a big problem, apparently Tucker and Nico managed to marry in Canada and Texas (or at least the part where they live) is not exactly the most progressive state for such things and both of them do not bother to hide their feelings (not that they had ever done it... but before that book they were rarely being shown in front of normal humans) and things just get from bad to worse for everyone. A lot of dead bodies (anyone surprised?), some old characters are back with new problems and the sidhe are here to screw up everyone's good time of course.

The book ends up with a huge cliffhanger - which kinda sets the premise for the next book (or so it seems - I won't be surprised if Lima resolves that in 2 chapters or off books and then do something else). So we will see.

PS: And anyone having issues with alternative marriages (because in addition to Nico/Tucker, we also have the twins that kinda like to share everything in their life - including a wife) is in the wrong series. The book does not have heated sex scenes though -- the whole series is pretty clean (not children suitable but clean enough anyway) short of the visual Keira got somewhere in book 1 or 2 when she was having her change...

11. Wednesday Comics

What? You expected that I am off comics reading? :)

Collecting the 12 issues from the series, that is a HUGE book -- and they decided to reprint with glossy paper instead of the newspaper ones that was used for the original issues. For anyone not knowing what is all that about -- DC Comics decided to make a small nod to the comics of the days past and have a newspaper sized weekly series for 12 weeks (the size of USA Today or Financial Times or any of those huge ones). Every story had a page per issue (with a few shorter ones to serve as filling when one of the stories is shorter. All the big guys were there - Batman in a classical tale, Superman in a story about home and love, Supergirl (trying to deal with the super-animals that are a bit in a strange mood - the very last panel of this story made me laugh), Green Lantern in a classical Jordan story, Flash (Barry, Iris, the gorilla Grodd and some time traveling- that just does not get better than that), Metamorpho (Gaiman makes a really good story out of it and Java's comments are priceless), Wonder Woman (in a "how she became Wonder Woman" story), Deadman (haven't seen him in any comics I read for years now...), Kamandi (he even meets a girl), Teen Titans (with the art that seems to be so liked by some and I just do not like this modern animation-like way), Adam Strange (in a story where he realises who he is), Metal Men (they are always hilarious), Sgt Rock (in a classical WW2 story), Catwoman (and a demon and some magic), Hawkman (one of the panels made me think of Lost immediately -- I need to check if the plane is not in the exact same position -- and it was hilarious when he asked JLA for help more than once and was getting "Only Aquaman is available" until he decided that he won't harm and better come - and just in the best moment), Plastic Man (just for a page thankfully) and the Creeper (for a page).

And each author chose their own way to deal with the huge page -- from Sgt Rock that just expanded the usual 9 panels to bigger ones to Wonder Woman that had as many panels as the artist managed to put there. And in the same way most of them decided to deal with the whole concept differently - the Metamorpho story is written in the way it would have been written back in the days - with a lead to a next week's story even on the last page and with comments in the middle while the rest of the stories simply finished on their last page.

Were there any great stories? Well - not really. Some good ones, some decent ones, some that are not exactly in the good category but had their moments (Robin's "I hate Wednesdays" in Teen Titans is priceless). Overall though it was a good book - meeting some old friends, meeting some new ones (and the back story for the more obscure characters is there) - overall a successful experiment from DC.

12. Superman: Earth One by J. Michael Straczynski

Every few years someone decides to redesign one of the big DC comics heroes origins. It is J. Michael Straczynski's turn to tackle Superman and he even have a full new Earth to make it - Earth One from the 52 earths in the new DCU Multiverse

No surprises here - Ma and Pa Kent exist, Pa Kent is dead, Clark is moving to the big city - except that he does not want to be Superman. Except that it turns out that if he does not become Superman, the Earth will die because he is on it and someone from somewhere away wants him.

It's a good story and it stays true to the Superman cannon - so most of the stories that are still cannon after all the crises can work on that Earth. I am not sure what else DC have planned for the Earth One storyline - there are a few projects announced but nothing is commited as dates yet so we will see... But the way they assign Earths left and right, I suspect that the 52 will very soon be gone... which might lead to a new crisis with a new multiverse -- just in case someone thinks that things are not complicated enough now.

13. Werewolves of Montpellier by Jason

If someone likes Jason, that one will be a treat. Full color (as most of the new ones), his signature style, the story is actually fun - what's not to like :) A bit too much talking for what I am used to from him but that seems to be what he does lately.

For a newcomer in the Jason works that one might be a bit overwhelming though - he tends to jump from one sub-story to another while following the life of the main character.

14. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Vol. 1 by Tardi - full review

Kinda mixed-bag. I liked the art (it definitely shows its age (these stories were published in 1976 initially) and the whole premise but the storytelling was a bit strange (especially in the first story). I will be picking up the next volume when it is published but I am not quite sure of most people will like the first volume...

15. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I was staying away from that series until now - too much hype and lately if a YA book is so liked, it almost never worked for me. So when I got my kindle I decided to try it -with the full intention to stop reading after a few chapters if it is bad. Except that it was not bad - it is actually quite good.

A post-apocalypses world in which a new country exists in some of the US territories - 13 districts and a capital. By the time the story opens, one of the districts is wiped out from the capital because of a rebellion... and the rest of the districts are forced to send 2 children each every year for the Hunger Games - a Survivor type of a game where you get voted out by being killed... literally.

That's the premise. And the characters do not disappoint - brave or witty - they all just add flesh to the bare bones of the novel.

Of course the novel has its issues -- Katniss never really make any hard choices - she never gets into a situation where she should kill a friend for example -- but that seems to be the usual way for YA novels these days.

Overall a very readable book and I will be picking up the next ones - but probably not for a while - I liked the world and the story but did not fall in love with it. :)

#17> Oh hurrah, I hadn't heard about anything from JMS for the longest time! Good to hear it was just me who was out of touch, and he is actually still writing.

>20 wookiebender:

It's a pretty decent read so you might want to check it - even if you do not like Superman :)

He is also doing the current arc in the Superman monthly ("Grounded") and the current arc in the Wonder Woman monthly.

No idea what's next for him although as far as I know he is supposed to be doing one more OGN this year for DC (not sure if it will be in DCU or one of the imprints though)

even if you do not like Superman

*laugh* I didn't think it showed! :) He's my least favourite superhero, because he's super everything, and nigh on invincible. I prefer my superheroes not quite so ... *super*. (My favourite is Green Arrow. Although Spider-Man's pretty good too. And I'm hardly an expert in the genre, I'm probably neglecting all sorts of brilliant heroes!)

Now I need to laugh... If it was not for the Spidey comment, I would have checked if I am not typing from two different accounts

The comment was based on my own preferences - Superman is part of everything in DCU so I kinda follow him but I much prefer anyone else... You know - both stories that JMS do are kinda... different - the OGN is the beginning of all (even if he is supermighty and all) and the Grounded storyline is actually nice (Superman walks... that's what he does in 7 issues so far - he does some people saving and so on but he is not flying around saving the world and staying unharmed...). Most of the fans hate the story, I love it.

Green Arrow is one of my favorite DC guys (together with good old Travis Morgan (the old Warlord)). I am a bit behind on the whole Blackest Night/Brightest Day reading so I am not even sure where we are with the Green Arrow at this point... - last time I saw him he was a fugitive.

I am not much a Marvel girl except for Daredevil (and the FF a bit). Spidey is not even interesting for me... not sure why but I never got into his story (although I follow him in the Ultimate Universe but that is because they make so many crossovers there that otherwise I get lost)

16. Mystery Society by Steve Niles - full review

A graphic novel, collecting the 5 issues from the miniseries by the same name published by IDW last year. Poe's skull, Jules Verne's brain, a ghoul, a rich couple in love, 2 girls with psychic abilities, Area 51 and the Pentagon -- all in the same story. Add a robot, flying objects, few psychos and a prison and the story starts to shape itself -- and things are not always what they seem to be. It is a great premise, the story is not that bad (could have been better though) and I am really sorry that it is just a miniseries. :)

16.5 Elf Love - an anthology - full review

Marked as half a book because I had only a few stories to finish this year (and it took me a while).

Small press. Anthology of short stories. This is something that almost always makes me try the book. So no big surprise that I requested it as ER and then I actually won it. So far so good. Reading it was another story. When a 300 pages book (in a big font) take me 2+ months to read, something is obviously wrong. Most of the stories are bad from the beginning. A few start well and fall badly at the end. I have the full review posted.

I am not unhappy that I got and read the book - I am kinda used to this type of anthologies -- small presses can be miss or win. But that book could have been much better, some of those stories could have been saved... if only an editor had decided to work with the authors -- because for a new author, that is also important.

I'm definitely not you in disguise - I'm sad to say that I can never even remember which superheroes are with Marvel and which are with DC! :) And my superhero reading is much more confined to grabbing collected graphic novels if someone I like is writing (JMS is a confirmed favourite of mine; and I think it was Kevin Smith who introduced me to the Green Arrow). I did collect briefly, but having kids put the kibosh on that (didn't have the spare money or time!).

17. Dead Center by Joanna Higgins - full review

My ER book from the December batch -- a family story under the disguise of a mystery/courtroom drama. Or vice versa - whatever you prefer to look at it as. I've never read the author before and if that is her usual style, it does take a while to get used to. But then it just works - I enjoyed the book. It is not the next bestseller but it is not bad either and the characters come up as live people with their bad sides and dark secrets.

A 20 years old murder, the "murderer" now happily married to the widow, 2 girls that lost one father and found another, an old man searching justice for his son (or does he?) and a family where there might be nothing left to be destroyed. Emphasis on might.

>26 wookiebender:

Not that it is easy sometimes... :)
I like collected editions but sometimes they simply do not collect what I want to read... :)

#17, #20, #21> JMS
sigh.
i still miss B5 & Sinclair.
and Londo and Vir and G'Kar and Delenn.
and Garibaldi and Ivanova.
sigh.

>29 CynWetzel:

I think I need to watch B5 one of those days (don't throw stuff at me - I've seen a few series but never watched the whole thing - the only time they aired it back home was at 3 am or something like that (and if they ever repeated, it was in same type if insane hours - midnight or 3 pm (in a working day)). I liked what I've seen from it...

18. 7 Psychopaths by Fabien Vehlmann -full review

Yeah... seems like I am on a roll with graphic novels.:)
Is there a way the WW2 to be stopped? Obviously killing Hitler might help. Or will it? That's the premise of the graphic novel (originally written in French and then translated) and the way to kill Hitler is to find 7 insane people (thus the title) and send them on a suicide mission. Except at the end the things turn out to be a bit more complicated.

A nice story, nice art (by Sean Phillips) and a good introduction to a comics writer I've never heard of before.

Edit: Fixing a touchstone

Wrapping up February (reviews later)

19. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton

#21 in the series. Kinsey dealing with her family and strange cases. I like the series so it should be a really bad book not to enjoy it. And that one is not bad.

20. About Face by Donna Leon

#18 in its respective series. Brunetti is always amusing and the way Venice is almost the main character in all these books is awesome. Note to self: read the books in the series you had not...

PS: The TV series based on the books series is also pretty good. Too bad it is not available in USA as far as I know (it is a German one).

21. Gantz, Volume 1 by Hiroya Oku

Time for some manga. I am not sure how I feel about that series - the idea is great, the execution... something is off. I will still pick up the second volume - and I hope that either what bothered me is missing there or that I am able to pinpoint it. There are some very disturbing images but they do not bother me - I knew they are there; they are part of the story.

22. Black Butler, Volume 1 by Yana Toboso

More manga. That's one is a lot more toned down. Sebastian reminds me of Jeeves somewhat - always finding a solution, always there to help. Except that he is not exactly human :) And his master is a child. The other servants are really pissing me off though - silly, stupid, no good for anything - you name it. And they are not even amusing. I am keeping up the series :)

23. MPD-Psycho, Volume 1 by Eiji Otsuka

More manga. Dark. Disturbing. Very disturbing. If you cannot stomach images of tortured people (really bad tortured), stay away from the book. However - if you can, you might want to try it. I actually like the story, even if all these psychopaths are a bit too much. And I want to know what was all that with the Eye Bank so... getting next volume... as soon as I get TBR mountain to stop rivaling Everest. :)

Other from that - a few single comics issues (which I am not listing here), started a tone of books so I suspect I will start ending them soon enough.

24. The Norton Edition of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - full review here

I had been thinking of rereading (and reading for the first time the ones I missed) the classics and when the Author of the Month forum chose Austen for March, I could not resist. And then decided that I can as well read the Norton editions - and get some more than the works themselves. Sense and Sensibility had always been my favorite of the Austen novels - and I had always been afraid to reread it- in case it had lost its magic. It had not.

25.Sense and Sensibility - the Graphic novel -review here

Could not resist and I am happy I read it. Faithful to the novel, translating well words to pictures, it was a nice read - of course it had its strange errors but overall, quite a nice introduction to Austen for a new reader... or a new meeting with her for an old fan.

26. A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen by Richard Jenkyns - review here

I haven't enjoyed a book of literary criticism that much for a while. He knows what he wants to say and he makes no excuses about his views. Add to that the fact that he does not forget for half of the characters simply because they do not fit his framework and I really had fun reading the book.

27.Jane Austen: a Life by shieldscarol::Carol Shields (Review here) which despite being a pretty nice biography made me wonder if some authors edit their text. You cannot start a book with one idea, do something else in the middle and finish so away from where you started that you make your readers go check if they remember Chapter 1 properly. Ignoring that (and I always fail to understand why authors seem to find it necessary to tell us what they are trying to do -- go ahead and do it and leave the reader to judge what you are doing), it is a good book actually - short and sweet and well-researched.

28. Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon by austenjane::Jane Austen (Review here) is one of those books that everyone that enjoys Austen should read. I liked all three pieces - Lady Susan is hilarious, The Watsons is a great beginning that I wish it had been finished (but then I am not sure that Emma and Mansfield Park would have looked exactly as they look today) and Sanditon is just the sketch of a novel but even as such it is delightful.b

I have Lady Susan, the Watsons, and Sandition planned for later this year (I'm re-reading all the rest of her work too). Glad to see that they are good - I was worried.

>35 jfetting:

If you like her style, these are little gems. Had been reading some reviews of Lady Susan and seems like generally is it considered a not-so-good one. But I really liked it (besides the end) -- it is a bit different but it is Austen's style. Oh well - have fun with it :)

29. Talking About Detective Fiction by P. D. James (review here )

A short non-fiction book from one of the Queens of the British Detective fiction about her genre, her thoughts about it, laced with history, nostalgia and a lot of personal examples. If you need a history of the genre, look elsewhere; if you want to read an author's thoughts and influences, it is a good book :)

Last year I stopped updating my thread because I fell behind on my books recording and never picked it up. This happens again. So instead of trying to catch up and then stay current, I will just stay current and then post about the books I skipped whenever I have the time for that :)

30. Diamonds for the Dead by Alan Orloff

For a change I am trying to read some of the Agatha Award nominees before the results get announced. :) I almost never manage to guess who will win but I enjoy the type of mysteries that get nominated so it's as good way to read new books as any. Diamonds for the Dead is nominated as first mystery novel and it is a delicious read. No detectives. No police procedures and cases. Just an old fashioned mystery about a guy whose father is dead and things are not what they seem to be. I really enjoyed the book - it was a refreshing one and it is well written (not to mention that the mystery actually was mysterious enough and did not end up in a "huh? where did that come from?" or a "not this end again" moment. Which is almost surprising.). The reviews is in the book page.

(M/A) means March/April - posting the ones I managed to miss posting about after 29.

31. Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas (M/A)

History book written more in a journalistic (non-flashy) way than as a straight history. Spain in 1981 and the last attempt there to bring something like a Francoist regime back (or that was the plan of some of the participants anyway).

I really liked that book - despite it being somewhat strange. Full review in the work page. And next thing I did was go and search for other books for Spain in that time.. guess the work did its work :)

32. The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE by Ian Tattersall

Review is in the work page. I actually enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I will - I grabbed it simply because I had not read anything for the period for a very long time. And was pleasantly surprised. Now I have two problems: I like the author's style (so I will probably pick up another of his books) and I actually got interested in that part of the history (so I will be looking for more books about that). Which is a problem because my TBR pile is big enough as it is :)

33. The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama-- review here

If that cannot make someone think, I don't know what can. The review says it all I guess (what is not said by the title). One of those books that I am happy I somehow stumbled upon.

34. Merry Devils by Edward Marston -review here

#2 in the mystery series set in around the Elizabethan times Theater. The style is a lot cleaner from the first book, the slowness from the introducing of all characters in great details is not here as in the first book (which makes the book not ideal for a newcomer to the series) and the Elizabethan world comes alive. A very enjoyable series (at least for someone that likes the Elizabethan times).

Great review of #33, AnnieMod. Now I want to read it!