Month: October 2012

A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold – George R. R. Martin

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Winter is certainly coming and I’m eager to crack on with the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. So it’s about time to write about George R. R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords Part 2: Blood and Gold. I read it back when summer was coming, so this really is late! (NOTE: If you have not finished A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings or A Storm of Swords Part 1: Steel and Snow, you will find some spoilers in this post).

What has made Martin’s series so popular is that fact that he is not afraid to kill off main characters, or generally shock his readers. This has never been so true as in Blood and Gold. If you thought the previous books contained bloodshed, you should be prepared for much, much more in this book.  Continue reading →

The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen

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This is the sixth book I read for the Pay It Sideways Challenge. I doubt I would ever have picked The Sugar Queen up if it weren’t for this review at Trees and Ink, which makes the story sound  intriguing, magical and ‘sweet’.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many good things to say. I should have listened to my gut instinct because this is really not my sort of book. I was hoping for a subtle magic in the storyline, but instead just got silly magic – a lucky cardigan that mostly works to attract a man that the main character has fallen in love with. It’s the sort of magic that you would read about in a romance novel for teenagers, and indeed everything about the storyline felt childish and naive. Continue reading →

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

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I was so excited when The Night Circus dropped through my letterbox. This review at Top Floor Corner was the first of many that intrigued me. This is the fifth book that I read for the Pay It Sideways Challenge.

I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but there’s something about this simple yet elegant front cover that made me want to start The Night Circus immediately. And it turned out to be the perfect book to read as autumn approached.

The Night Circus is everything that I had been promised. It’s enchanting, bewitching and all sorts of other magical words. The book is long and detailed enough for the reader to fully lose themselves in the world of  the circus and the main characters. In fact, I could quite happily have carried on reading forever… or even better, ran off and joined the circus!  Continue reading →