The Demon and the City, by Liz Williams
pros: great idea; interesting characters and plot; Chinese culture and mixture with Indian pantheon; Zhu Irzh; the badger/tea pot; the guild of dowsers; Mhara; Robin Yuan; the forgotten temple; the ultimate fate of the angry dowser and his goddess
cons: very violent; the demon’s lover is just unlikable, although a bit sympathetic; too much mayhem and collateral damage; reality is very dark and ugly; what happened to the second celestial being?
misc: Singapore 3; meridians; Chi and feng shui lines; viral drugs; wealthy society vs. working and poor; earthquakes; Celestial boat; Celestials; Jade Emperor; demoted goddess; Bad Dog City; Chinese afterlife; Detective Inspector Chen; Sergeant Ma; exorcists; sorcerors; black pill; devas; Hell money
ISBN 1597800473; 256pp; pub. 2007
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The Troll’s Grindstone, by Elizabeth Boyer
pros: Norse mythology; complicated situation with complicated characters; grand scale; simple and complex heroes; lots of scenery and imagery; Fridmarr and Gotiskolker; Thurid; characters have flaws; the Rhbus; the water sisters; the dogs
cons: a bit old-fashioned with the stoic hero and the beautiful, strong, tragic heroine; strong, tragic heroine only has a small part in the story, mostly as inspiration for the heroes
misc: Alfar; alar; scipling; heart of the mountain; mines; limp; Elbegast; Leifr; swords/knives, etc. not keeping an edge, crumbling; Pentacle; Sorkvir
ISBN 0345012046; pub 1989
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling
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SPOILER WARNING!
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pros: it’s more of Harry; it’s resolution, finally; doesn’t coddle the reader – bad things happen; Snape, after all; Neville; Ron; the final resolution wasn’t exactly what I was expecting; the house elves; mobilized Hogwarts
cons: the very last part could have been left out and story would have been more powerful for me; so many deaths; the Malfoys don’t get destroyed; the wrong heroes get most of the glory; Dobby’s fate; how did Neville get the sword?
ISBN 0545010225; 2007
Immortals series, by Tamora Pierce
pros: interesting, likable characters, good female lead; suitable for YA; beast talking; action-packed; lots of transformations and maturing of characters
cons: some predictability in villains and plot; a little juvenile for my taste
ISBNs: Wild Magic, 1416903437; Wolf-Speaker, 1416903445; Emperor Mage, 1416903372; The Realms of the Gods, 141690817X
Tomoe Gozen, by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
pros: Japanese mythology/pantheon; plot and premise; women are powerful and not just decorative; reads a bit like a quest without being drawn out; some good fight scenes
cons: some stereotypical villians; maybe too self-consciously clever; Tomoe was annoying at times when she’s so self-absorbed
ISBN 0441816533; 274 pp; pub. 1984
The Mirror Prince, by Violette Malan
pros: interesting enough story; interesting characters, even the villian; additional characters are as interesting as the main characters; descriptive; good female lead; interesting twists in typical faerieland setting; good new author to follow
cons: hero wasn’t very sympathetic; dilemma was contrived (wouldn’t they have noticed something wrong a lot sooner?)
ISBN 0756403391; 320 pp; pub. 2006
Nine Layers of Sky, by Liz Williams
pros: romance worked; use of angst wasn’t overdone; bad guys were sufficiently creepy; interesting ideas and play on Russian folklore/mythology; very descriptive
cons: sketchy details; I’d have liked to see more about the bogotyr and at least a little more about the parallel world and the colonel
ISBN 0553584995, 448 pages, pub. 2003
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