Rabia: I hadn’t intended to read The Way of Kings–at least not yet. For one thing, it’s the first book of a projected 10 (ten!)-book series. Book 2 has not been written and won’t be out until 2013 at the earliest. I’m a late adopter when it comes to series, because a) I am impatient and b) I forget things. Since I don’t want to end up like GRRM’s teeth-gnashing fans, I stay away from series that aren’t complete, or close to complete. Secondly, The Way of Kings is HUGE. It has a prelude, a prologue, several interludes with characters you see only once, and over a thousand pages. Forget the whole series–just reading book one is a big commitment.

So why’d I read it? Because my husband did, loved it, and told me I should read it (which is not something he does lightly). And it’s also written by Brandon Sanderson, author of the wonderful Mistborn trilogy. I know this guy can write a good story. I also know he doesn’t want to leave his readers hanging, so I’m willing to follow along for the decade or so(!) he needs to write this series.

David: I have to start with a confession. I’ve actually never read this book (cue gasps of shock and confusion). On the other hand, I’ve listened to it four or five times now. (Had you going for a moment, didn’t I?) My lovely wife got me the audiobook for Christmas, and I do a lot of driving, which gives me plenty of time to listen. Of course, The Way of Kings is a large book; it takes up 36 CD’s–almost 80% the size of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (46, for those playing at home). They used two narrators, and generally used them well. The only problem is that the narrators apparently didn’t consult with each other on how to pronounce High Prince Sadeus’s name; since he’s a fairly important character, this was rather jarring.

One of Sanderson’s greatest strengths as a story teller is the amount of effort he puts into the world building, and this really shows in The Way of Kings. A minor example: most of the world is battered periodically by high storms, and the plants and animals have evolved to deal with this–except for the plants in Shinovar, which is protected geographically. So, for instance, the plants in most of the world retract when someone draws near, so they’re constantly walking on rock; the grass in Shinovar, however, stays in place, and the Shin people feel that it is profane to walk on rock–which puts them at odds with pretty much everyone else. Small details like that abound, bringing the world to life. Of course, since this is the first book in a series, not all of the details are explained–but they’re there (unlike some series where details appear only in later books, making it clear when the author thought of them!).

Rabia: I’m glad David brought up the worldbuilding, because it’s the reason why–for such a big book–not much happens in The Way of Kings. The world is a character in and of itself, and Sanderson reveals it layer by layer.  Because it is so alien, he needs to take a lot of time to show it to us. He does it skilfully, weaving it into the action, and by the end I felt both immersed in Roshar and knowing that there are great swathes of it still unrevealed.

Most of the story is told through the eyes of three POV characters: Shallan who embarks on a dangerous deception in order to restore her family fortune; Kaladin, a surgeon-turned-spearman-turned-slave who fights to save the men under his command; and Dalinar, a high-caste warrior and brother to the late king, struggling to unify his people. Of the three, I found Kaladin’s journey to be the most compelling. Sanderson pays a lot of attention to the internal as well as external struggles of his protagonists, which affects the pacing as well.

David: I have to disagree with Rabia’s statement that “not much happens”. The three main characters don’t do much travelling–Shallan spends almost the entire book in the city of Kharbranth, while Kaladin and Dalinar’s stories are mostly on the Shattered Plains–but physical location is pretty much the only thing stable for all three of them. This is a fairly strong contrast to the Lord of the Rings, where there’s a lot of physical movement, but the characters change slowly, if at all (think about it: does Aragorn undergo much of an arc? He’s a great warrior and leader throughout the trilogy; all that really changes is that he gets more people following him). I won’t go into details–for those, you really ought to read it yourself!–but none of the three main characters end the book with the same worldview as they start with.

I would like to note one other detail: as much as I like the story, the actual book is a work of art in its own right. The maps, the artwork throughout, every detail has clearly been carefully crafted to make reading this a truly unique experience. I hope (and assume) that they’ll continue this throughout the series, and I look forward to owning them all. These books are what traditional publishers need to produce if they want to give readers reason to buy the original, rather than (or in addition to) the e-book or audiobook formats.

Rabia: Since I always have to have the last word (sound familiar, David? ), I want to point out that the ending of The Way of Kings absolutely delivers–and then some. There are several like-a-punch-in-the-guts revelations, questions answered, and more questions raised. Sanderson manages the difficult task of wrapping up this book satisfactorily while setting the stage–and raising the stakes–for the sequel.

If you like epic fantasy, you should definitely try this book. In hardback, since having the map is really useful for keeping track of everything!

Azula first shows up in Iroh’s recounting of Zuko’s duel with his father in Book One. Azula’s the girl sitting behind Iroh during the flashback. While Iroh averts his gaze from the fire-blast that scars Zuko, Azula watches with avid glee. She is not nice. The next time we hear of her, it’s from Zuko–she’s the prodigy, the gifted firebender, the one to whom everything came easy. Yes, the creators make it easy to dislike her already.

Azula’s scary. At this point, she’s powerful enough that she could take down any of Team Avatar in a one-on-one fight, maybe including Aang himself. She’s also smart and proactive–she certainly kept Aang and co. on the run in “The Chase”. She understands people–and manipulates them to further her own ends. She plays on Zuko’s longing for acceptance and approval from his father like a master violinist.

In the beginning episodes of Book Two, Zuko’s hit rock bottom He’s conflicted and struggling; he’s gone from banished prince to fugitive criminal, and he and Iroh have to hide as simple peasants in the Earth Kingdom. Meanwhile, Azula is strong, confident and on top of her game. She has many admirable traits, but, unfortunately, they’re combined with ruthless ambition, a conviction of her own superiority, and a lack of compassion and empathy.

Why did she end up like this? I’m going to do some armchair psychology here, based off of the flashbacks in the episode “Zuko Alone”. Turns out the young Azula was a manipulative, eavesdropping, taunting brat.  My guess is that Azula’s firebending gift threw her into her father’s orbit really early. Ozai’s certainly proud of Azula–and how her skills reflect on him–but he’s much more concerned with his own ambitions, and isn’t around actively parenting either of his children. Zuko, meanwhile, is in his mother’s sphere of influence; he probably learned to have a heart from Ursa. Azula’s left to her own devices pretty much and seems to have very little adult oversight. She’s picked up Ozai’s values–she prizes strength, firebending ability, ambition.

Azula's a win-at-all-costs type of gal

She’s so self-assured and unfazed, it was rather satisfying to see the look on her face when Iroh tosses her into the water early on in Book Two. Which might be why she went for him with her lightning strike in the Wild West town episode.

In Book 2, Team Avatar is joined by a new member: Aang’s earthbending teacher, Toph.

Toph ROCKS. (I know, I know, *terrible* pun, but Sokka’s humor must be rubbing off on me.)

After King Bumi (I always think it should be spelled Boomi–because he’s an earthbender, right? And rocks earthbended to hurl through the air go BOOM when they land, right? get it? BOOM, BOOMI? Oh never mind), gets put into an iron coffin by the Fire Nation, he tells Aang to find an earthbending teacher who waits and listens. In “The Blind Bandit”, Aang finds just who he’s looking for.

Toph was born blind, and is treated as helpless and fragile by her parents. Unbeknownst to them, she’s a great earthbender who loves to fight, and is the reigning champion of EarthRumble (the earthbending equivalent of a WWF tournament). However, her parents cannot see her as anything other than delicate, so she runs away from home to join Aang–something which leads to compications later on.

Now, Katara’s got the whole maternal, peacemaking, cooperative thing down pat. Toph’s more of an independent, don’t-sweat-the-small-stuff type. She’s not used to being a member of a team–she never even had friends before–and that leads to some friction early on. Toph and Katara are very different, especially when it comes to their handling of Aang’s training (love that the Avatar has two girls teaching him ). Toph’s got a drill-sergeant tough-love teaching style.

Toph’s a great earthbender and has such a strong personality that her blindness isn’t much more of a problem than say, Sokka’s lack of bending. In fact, it gives her an edge in earthbending since she’s had to learn to “see” with her feet. She’s steady and reliable, and after that one time she left in a huff, we know we can count on her in a fight. She also has her vulnerabilities, which make her more relatable.

Oh, yeah. Toph knows she's cool

We’re almost to the walls of Ba Sing Se in our watch-through. Sokka’s found out about the Day of Black Sun and Appa’s been kidnapped on Toph’s watch (okay, she was a little busy trying to keep a gigantic library from sinking into the desert, taking her friends with it). Oh, the rest of this season’s going to be on-the-edge-of-your-seat fun! My son, though, is very distressed that Appa’s gone missing.

Anyway, they might be safe from the Fire Nation for all of one episode, but personal crises are in store for Sokka and Katara. Sokka falls hard for the moon-haired Princess Yue–and she likes him back, except for one teeny thing. She’s engaged to another guy in a politically advantageous match (they never say how it’s a good match, but the fiance is a complete doofus, so it can’t be for his brains). Yue is sweet and shy and dutiful and gorgeous, but there’s a very ethereal, out-of-reach quality about her that forebodes… well, you’ll see.

Aang finds himself a waterbending teacher, but snooty Master Pakku refuses to teach Katara as well. In the Northern Water Tribe, you see, women waterbenders are dismissed to the healing huts. In a really short-sighted move, Pakku declares he’ll no longer train Aang after he discovers Aang has been passing his knowledge along to Katara. (I mean, really, this is the Avatar! What if the Avatar were a woman, huh? You’d refuse to teach Kyoshi, eh? I’d like to see that happening).

Anyhow, Katara is totally non-apologetic about flouting the Northern Tribe’s customs, and challenges Pakku to a duel. He won’t deign to fight her, but she forces the issue. She puts up a good fight, but is defeated.  However, Pakku agrees to teach her because she’s determined, driven and talented she’s the granddaughter of his lost love, who ran away from an arranged marriage with him because she didn’t love him.

O-kay. I suspect the writers made that up then and there. Because there is nothing before this episode to indicate that Gran-Gran was ever in the North Pole. Remember the Fire Navy ship in the first episode? Remember Katara saying how it had been there since her grandmother was a little girl?

And really, if Gran-Gran had come from the North Pole, it would have been common knowledge in the tribe. Why would she have bothered to hide her origins? And when she knew Katara was off to learn waterbending at the North Pole, wouldn’t Gran-Gran have warned her that they have dumb customs up there? Why send Katara off with no clue about what to expect?

And, really, who runs away from an arranged marriage with the betrothal necklace carved by the jilted fiance and then hands it down to her daughter and granddaughter as an heirloom? “Oh, yes, this necklace has a lot of sentimental value. I ran away rather than marry the man who made it for me.”

Riiiiight.

Okay, rant over. Back on track now.

Meanwhile, Admiral Zhao has collected a massive armada and comes calling on the Norther Water Tribe. Aang’s been goofing off in his waterbending classes, but Katara’s finally impressed Sourface Pakku with her drive and talent. (I really enjoy seeing Katara grow in her powers this series, btw. The things she does at the end–well, they’re a far cry from the girl who could just make a wobbly water bubble and then soak her brother with it).

Fire Nation and Water Tribe engage in some skirmishes. Yue’s dad puts together a special mission led by his boneheaded future-son-in-law, that fails miserably. Luckily, Sokka gets kicked off the mission, and assigned to protect Yue instead. One wonders if Yue’s father deliberately wanted to clear the way for Sokka–but no, that’s just my nasty Machiavellian mind talking.

Aang realizes he can’t take out the Fire Navy all by himself (just you wait, my child, just you wait) and needs help from the Ocean and Moon Spirits—hopefully a powerful Spirit attack, but wisdom would be good, too. So off he goes into the Spirit World. While he’s in there, Zuko shows up to snatch his body and he and Katara fight it out. Katara freezes him to wall in the moonlit night, but in two seconds the sun’s back up and he jumps out, knocks her out, and runs off with Aang. Our Heroes go off in search for Aang, find him and Zuko out in the blizzard and bring him back. Aang comes out of the Spirit World–turns out the Ocean and Moon Spirits aren’t there after all! Oh noes!

But Admiral Zhao knows where they are–in the sacred pond where Aang crossed over in the first place, disguised as fish (er, the Spirits are disguised as fish. Aang is not. Yet.). He takes out the Moon Spirit, which causes the moon to vanish from the night sky and the waterbenders to lose their powers. That angers the Ocean Spirit (hey, it’s stuck being a fish all by itself now? I’d be mad too!), and Aang combines with it to become this giant glowing fish thing which goes on a rampage and sinks all of the Fire Navy ships. By slashing at them with its giant glowy fin-arms. Powerful, but not as cool as bending.

Aang merges with the Ocean Spirit to become a glowing fish thing and unleashes an awesome spirit attack! Wisdom is overrated.

Angry Ocean Spirit also takes out Admiral Zhao personally, which is just as well. His preening and posturing didn’t make him a very scary villain, so his disappearance paves the way for a much more formidable opponent–for next season.

Of course, destroying the Fire Navy fleet doesn’t bring the moon back, but Yue has some of the Spirit in her from when the Moon Spirit saved her as a baby. So she dissolves into mist and becomes the new Moon Spirit (but not a fish) and balance is restored to the world, if not to Sokka’s heart.

Overall, I found the finale of book 1 satisfying, save for some minor plotting and timing issues. We’re into book 2 now, and the kids are enjoying Toph and (*sigh*) Azula.

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher: The long-anticipated sequel to Incarceron (which I raved about here). While the plot threads were nicely wrapped up, I was disappointed with the lack of character development, both internally and relationally. It was not an emotionally satisfying book.

The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg: I LOVED this book. It might be the best book I’ll read all year, and if not, it’ll at least make my top five. This strong second book of a trilogy delivers and satisfies. In fact, so many of the plot threads from the first book are resolved, I’m curious to see what Berg will do in the third book. I do know that I have a most intriguing narrator to look forward to in book 3. Squee!

Son of Avonar by Carol Berg: I didn’t like this one quite as much as The Soul Mirror. A large part of the book alternates between past and present, and that’s a storytelling device that I personally do not prefer.

Eagle Dreams by Steve Bodio: This book is about falconry (eaglery? *grin*), Mongolia, dreams and cross-cultural connections. Very well-written and enjoyable.

Have you read any good books recently?

I found Lois McMaster Bujold’s first Miles Vorkosigan book, Warrior Apprentice, over at the Baen Free Library. I’ve been meaning to check out the series for a long time, having heard so many good things about it. I liked the first book well enough to get the rest of the series, especially since Baen has them as attractively-priced e-books on their site.

Other Kindle books:

Rakes and Radishes by Susanna Ives– I was looking for something Regency and romantic and frothy, and this fit the bill until it got really emotionally intense halfway through. There’s nothing wrong with tortured characters, but it wasn’t the tone I’d been looking forward to.

The Trouble with Kings by Sherwood Smith: Fun, light, romantic YA.

Spellwright by Blake Charlton: High-concept fantasy debut, but it took me a while to get over the cleverness of the magic system and into the story. While there were lots on interesting plot things happening, I didn’t connect emotionally with the characters.

Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion by Jane Austen: Why, yes, I’m filling up my Kindle with freebies. Sense and Sensibility is the only Austen I somehow missed reading, but I’ve corrected this oversight. I got so much into it that I had to re-read Persuasion next. Persuasion is my favorite Austen. I’m a sucker for second chances, mature protagonists, calm sensible heroines, and a hero in uniform. 

I love how Austen creates small-scale and yet meaningful stories. She barely touches upon the war, social reform, or high-living celebrity aristocrats, and is content to stay in the quieter world of baronets and gentleman-farmers. Her books are a soothing interlude between all the Save the World fantasies I read.

My classics reading this year seems to have fallen into the Nineteenth Century Women Writers category. I already downloaded Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell and Middlemarch by George Eliot. Any other recommendations? *ears open*

Next up, my non-Kindle reads.

The Hollow Crown by Diana Pharaoh Francis: I didn’t like this as much as the first two, but it’s not the end of the Crosspointe saga.

The Magician’s Guild and The Novice by Trudi Canavan: My interest in these books rises and falls, directly correlated to how much agency Sonea–the main character–displays. Mixed feelings about these.

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry: A surreal literary detective story. Different from my normal fare, but I enjoyed it.

Sea Glass by Maria Snyder: Poor Opal. Pushed around, tortured, betrayed, shows spine (yay!), more betrayal… Still having a hard time relating to her. And the contemporary tone at one point through me completely out of the story. “Looking too young to have even graduated from high school” is not a comparison I expect in a fantasy, especially after most young people are shown to be doing apprenticeships rather than attending educational institutions.

Indulgence in Death by J. D. Robb: These books are super-quick fast-paced reads for me. I skip all the smoochy romantic stuff (yeah, yeah, you’re in looooove) and go straight for the mystery. *delicious shivers* One thing though—how come Roarke has all this time on his hands to work on Eve’s cases? Empires don’t run themselves, you know!

At Home by Bill Bryson: This is subtitled “A short history of private life” but Bryson devotes quite a far amount of time to large-scale public projects like the Hudson Canal, the Eiffel Tower, and the estates of aristocracy. Aside from that minor quibble, I enjoyed this whirlwind tour through the history of various domestic spheres.

The Laurentine Spy by Emily Gee: This is more a romance than a spy story in a fantasy setting. I liked the characters and premise, but I thought that the protagonists didn’t act very spy-like at times. I guess I expect spies in deep cover to be more capable of controlling their emotional responses… hmm, I wonder what personality types spies tend to be?

Anyhow, backing up a few months here, all the way to… October? November?… here are the books I read:

Breath and Bone and Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg: Berg writes these immersive, slower-paced fantasies that I just love getting into. She takes the time to lay out her world and her story, building them up, drawing you in, shading in the illusions, really letting you get inside her story. Her books may deal with large-scale events, but they don’t *feel* epic. Rather, you get inside one character’s head so intimately that the story feels much closer and finely-detailed than sprawling and far-flung.

Wish they came with a map, though!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said ten times over by reviewers all over? Yes, it is a departure in tone and content from the other two books, and yes, Collins chose to make it much darker and yes, Katniss’ emotional unraveling is painful to watch. I can understand why Collins chose to go this route, and despite some quibbles over the way certain plot twists played out, I was gripped by this final installment. Not the kind of book that I’ll ever re-read, though.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde: This book is weird and whimsical and delightful and dystopian. It’s sorta like a fantasy of manners set in a post-apocalyptic color-conscious society. One’s status, job, and marital prospects are determined by where one falls on the color perception spectrum. This is a future society you’ve certainly never seen before in fiction.

Alcatraz and the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson: Woohoo, Alcatraz (and therefore, the reader) have finally made it to the Free Kingdoms. But Alcatraz is about to find out that being famous is not everything, and the evil Librarians are plotting… something… in the Free city. It’s up to Alcatraz to find out what and why and thwart their plans. Underneath the laugh-aloud fun is a vein of seriousness, underneath Alcatraz’s bravado is just a kid struggling with abandonment  and figuring out how to be a hero.

Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors: Well, here’s something a bit different. Teenage Shakespearean actress Mimi would rather wield a scalpel than be on the stage. During a production of Romeo and Juliet designed to keep her family’s theater afloat, Mimi and her co-star, rock star hunk Troy Summer, stumble from snowy Manhattan into Shakespeare’s Verona and straight into the midst of the Montague and Capulet feud. Mimi might not be able to escape her fate, but she’s determined to help Juliet escape hers. This story *almost* works–there were definite moments that this time-travel/crossover-to-secondary-world was hard to swallow.

Whew. More books to come…

Way back in August (that was summer! this is fall!), I read:

Academ’s Fury and Cursor’s Fury by Jim Butcher: Still reading the series, so no comments yet. Let’s just say that I have to pace myself with these books or else dirty dishes will pile up, my children will be neglected and no one will see me for about a week.

Alcatraz vs. the Scriverner’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson: David and I are reading the Alcatraz books to each other irregularly, which is why it takes us soooo long to get through one. These are just quirky and lol-funny, but also touch on more serious matters on occasion.

Norse Code by Greg von Eekhout: The story seemed too large for this size book. It felt as if it had gotten stomped on and sat upon to make it fit the page count. Less compact, more sprawling, please.

For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer McCauley: Sometimes I need to fill my head and heart with a gentler, low-stress, old-fashioned parenting style.  For my children’s sake. *grin*

And… September reads:

Storm Glass by Maria Snyder: I prefer the Poison Study series. Yelena is a more compelling character than Opal. But I will read the rest of the trilogy because the library has them all, and I want to encourage the librarian to keep ordering fantasy books.

How Children Learn by John Holt: One of those child development classics. Which I have now read.

NutureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman: Ha! People titter when I tell them one of the reasons I homeschool is so that my kids can sleep in. The chapter The Lost Hour proves what I’ve always known: less sleep does not equal more virtue. Oh, and there’s some other stuff in there, too.

Hearing Birds Fly by Louisa Waugh: A British woman’s year living with nomads in western Mongolia. It’s about MONGOLIA. Of course I’m all over it!

Captain’s Fury and Princep’s Fury by Jim Butcher: Still reading the series, still not making any comments, except to say book 5 co-inspired by latest rant. I’m going to devour that last book just the same. Once I feel safe getting it, that is.

Read anything exciting, fun, thought-provoking recently?

The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk: Writer claims that how we turn out is based on a complex interaction between genetics and the environment. I could’ve told you that. *grin*. Anyway, Shenk attempts to debunk the myth of innate giftedness, pointing out that deliberate practice reshapes our brain. He shows how child prodigies like Mozart are actually a product of their own drive, environment and parental influence, rather than springing out of nowhere. Seems commonsensical to me, really…

Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin: I wanted to like this book more than I did. It’s a decent story competently told, but it has an urban fantasy tone to it that doesn’t work for me (I’m not a big fan of UF). I found the voice and attitudes to be really contemporary and jarring in their otherworld setting. But if you like urban fantasy, I think you’ll like this one more than I did.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Heiber: I thought I was picking up a fantasy with a romantic subplot, but what I got was really a romance with a fantasy subplot. The protagonist, Miss Percy Parker, is timid and passive and doesn’t *do* anything besides swoon and shrink and cling to her One True Love. The lyrical prose turned overheated and cloying pretty quickly. I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this one. Pity, because that Gothic/Victorian setting was such a draw.

The Drowning City by Amanda Downum: Ah, finally a fantasy I could really get into–I was beginning to think my vacation reads were all going to be disappointments! The tropical setting, with its canals and jungles and monsoons grabbed me, and I liked the way the POV is passed around among three women on different sides of the multifaceted political situation in Symir. Some things that didn’t work for me: I felt like I didn’t get much of a handle on how the gem-based magical system really works and Issylt didn’t live up to her billing as super-spy. But she’s a sympathetic enough character that I would follow her into a sequel. Also, as a fun aside, I was rather taken aback when one of the Middle Eastern-inspired character names was my maiden name–I don’t expect to run across my name in fantasy novels!

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher: First off, a BIG thank you to my wonderful husband who drove most of the way home from Maine so I could finish reading this first volume of what promises to be a sweeping epic story. The Alerans are furycrafters, using the spirits of air and water, fire and earth, wood and metal, to protect, fight and build. But their homeland is in trouble as a rebellious High Lord works to overthrow the First Lord Gaius, and the savage Marat are on the move against them. Young Tavi, at fifteen, is unusual in that he has shown no ability to furycraft. When he finds himself thrust into the affairs of lords and armies, he must rely on his wits and courage. Tavi was a wonderfully sympathetic character (I really liked how he operated without the benefit of furycrafting), and the rest of the characters, both protags and antags, were compelling if not always likeable. This was the best of my vacation reads and I’m happy to note that all the books are out and waiting for me on bookstore/library shelves. Definitely recommended.

Any good reads this July?

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher: Why, strangers on the Internet can find a perfect literary match for me. One of the DGLM agents ran a personalized book recommendation extravaganza several months ago, and this was my match. Featuring likable but deeply flawed protagonists, a bleak and brutal prison world sealed off from the Outside, a static politics-and-poison society stuck in the seventeenth century by royal decree, and twists aplenty (save for one which everyone could see a mile coming), this YA fantasy is a winner in my book. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood by Susan Linn: Documenting the pervasive and destructive influence of commercial advertising to children, this is the sort of book to raise any parent’s blood pressure. I’m so glad we live where we do (no television programming, no billboards, limited shopping outlets).

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford: Who can resist a title like that? Secret histories? Mongol Queens? I’m all over it. Weatherford’s enthusiasm for his subject might cause him to view them through somewhat rosy-tinted glasses, but he’s written an accessible and easy-to-read book about these fascinating people from the steppes. I especially loved the cultural details, which brought this history alive to me.

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix: Good, but I didn’t like it as well as the other books in the series. It’s a bit hard to put my finger on why. Nix certainly did a good job describing the destruction of the House, the convergence of three armies on Sunday’s domain, and the ripple effects of the denizens’ meddling in Arthur’s world. Perhaps it was because Arthur was so removed from much of the action and spent a large part of the book in forced inactivity (being a prisoner will do that to you!).

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson: Unusual magical system? Biochromatic Breath, check. Humans transformed by magic into gods? Returned, check. Twisty politics? Check. Yep, that’s a Brandon Sanderson novel all right, but don’t be fooled into thinking this book is formulaic. Sanderson throws two sisters from an austere kingdom into the tropical flamboyance of  the city of T’Tiel, right into conspiracy and moral conundrums. A satisfying read, and one that deserves a sequel.

The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge: Awesome! Unusual cultural inspirations and a mythology that is shaped by the volcanic landscape of a tropical island. I loved the concrete sensory images and the worldbuilding details. Oh, and a really *good* story, too. Hardinge packs the narrative with action and conflict and emotional turmoil.

Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto: This book surprised me by being more thoughtful than I was expecting. From the title I’d expected Gatto’s tone to be more strident and hostile. This is a rather strong indictment against school as a government institution from an award-winning teacher, but Gatto couches it in a way that shows his passion and genuine concern over an educational system that teaches a child to be a mere cog in the machine.

Did you read any good books this June?