Deluded Visions

When I picked up this book, I was expecting a cheese-tastic steampunk romp through New York. That was exactly what I got with The Falling Machine.
 
It centers around Sarah, daughter of the superhero known as the Tycoon. He happens to be the leader of a steam-age Justice League. The League has a bit of a corruption and a vision problem. Unfortunately, the only ones who see this problem are Sarah, the Automaton, the Sleuth and Professor Darby.
 

I am generally not prone to unmitigated and spontaneous squeeing except on rare occasions or when presented with almost anything that may be described as “adorable.” Since “adorable” is what I use to describe baby octopi and itty bitty corn snakes as well as my chinchilla, you can take that as you will. Nevertheless, I was in a major tizzy of anticipation over this book. Quite possibly my biggest book tizzy of the year.
 

When I pick up a book set in Victorian England and purporting to have fairies in it I come to it with a few expectations regarding the social class of the people involved, the nature of the fairies, and the setting of the story involved. I have to report that With Fate Conspire managed to overturn each and every one of those expectations and I couldn't be happier about it.
 

Over the weekend I went to Wondercon in Anaheim, California. Since none of my family was able to secure a ticket to the more local San Diego Comicon and since I am the default SFF convention scout for my family, I drove up to the Anaheim convention center with my sister on the one day my work schedule would allow me to.
 

Quite a few of my friends also read the fantasy genre and I love them to pieces for it. But now and then someone will mention George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire and this puts me in a bit of a pickle.
 
You see, I've never read any of his work. More to the point, I've never had any real desire to start reading them either.
 

Since I liked the Wee Free Men, I thought I would continue with Tiffany Achings adventures with the Nac Mac Feegle.
 
A Hat Full of Sky is about Tiffany as she begins her training in witchery. Unfortunate;y she's beeing hunted by something unpleasant and of course the Nac Mac Feegle have to try to rescue her. Unfortunately the Pictsie way of trying to stop something that cannot be seen, smelled or touched by beating it to a pulp might not be the best tactic here. But don't tell them that.
 

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this book. More to the point, I'm not entirely sure why I read it in the first place or how I finished it. Nevertheless, on to the review!
 
So Glitter Rose is not about a glam rock band (although it would be an awesome name for one). It's about a woman who is dealing with the unexpected death of her child. She decides to do this by taking an extended vacation on the island of Carmine. However, the island is host to strange glittering spores that do weird things to the people who stay there for an extended period of time.

I picked this up because I thought that the pretense sounded interesting. A library full of working magical items? I am so there.
 
So the story is about Elizabeth, a new student page at the New York Circulating Material Repository. There are some particular esoteric collections of stuff from the descendants of the Brothers Grimm, among others (don't go into the Lovecraft Collection). Needless to say, there are those who would like to abuse their lending privileges.
 

As is my habit, when I find someone writing stuff I find intriguing I want more of it (hence my patience in waiting for Nick Harkaway's next book). Since the alternate history presented in Cold magic was really interesting with all kinds of far reaching effects, I went and picked up Cold Fire.

Some might think it strange that I haven't really read “the big names” of epic fantasy. I've no real desire to read George RR Martin's doorstops or Patrick Rothfuss's material and I have stalwartly refused to read the Wheel of Time because I know my attention span (while improving) just isn't up to the task. Nonetheless, I do find things that intrigue me in the epic fantasy subgenre, without taking the road more traveled. So I decided to read Dangerous Waters.