Summer reading

I just created an account on Goodreads, and I think it will end up being fun to track the books I'm reading in a slightly different forum. I'm also hoping to find some good recommendations there.

This is a brief list of books I've read recently. I had actually saved up about 5 or 6 to read during the long flight to/from japan for vacation, but ended up not reading many of them. Seems I just needed some sleep!

Yesterday, I finished reading Under the Dome: A Novel by Stephen King, of course. I had not read any of his books since the gunslinger series, so it was refreshing to get back to the classic King, although I find that I have to be in a certain frame of mind to really tackle his books.


I really enjoyed this series by Jeri Smith-Ready, mainly thanks to a quick read through her prequel: The Wild's Call, which explains that this is an alternate future. However, you don't really need to know that to enjoy the series.
Eyes of Crow, Voice Of Crow (Aspect of Crow), The Reawakened (Aspect of Crow, Book 3)

I also read the The Reluctant Swordsman (The Seventh Sword Trilogy Book 1) series by Dave Duncan.
This is an alternate universe where the main character finds out quickly that he has destiny. Of course, I make it sound unoriginal by typing that, but it was a nice step away from some of the formulaic novels i come across.

I had been waiting to read Faith Hunter's Bloodring (Rogue Mage, Book 1) , but gave up on waiting for book 1 to be on Kindle, so I read 2 and 3. It was the classic bad-ass witch/heroine living in a small town, but the fun part is that there are angels and demons. I really enjoy the differences that each author creates to make their own version unique.


While Cast in Chaos (Chronicles of Elantra, Book 6) was a good addition to the series by Michelle Sagara, I have finally decided that the series is probably best read by young adults because the violence is limited, and you have the tough heroine who comes from a poor background.

Although I have purchased it, I have not read Pray for Dawn (Dark Days, Book 4). Jocelynn Drake is clearly in the supernatural/paranormal romance world with this one, but I really enjoyed her Macchu Picchu talk in the previous books. It vaguely reminds of me of Laurell K. Hamilton, but without the overbearing men-with-long-hair loving, short heroine with high heels, and .. then again, maybe it doesn't remind me of that. Maybe it's just a writing style thing.

In July, I read S.L. Farrell's Cloudmages series, starting with Holder of Lightning (The Cloudmages, Book 1).
I really enjoyed reading that series. A bit of alternative magic.
I was just surprised to note that I have read all of his books that were published on Kindle to date...

Going back to May/June, I was doing a bit less reading. I was not surprised to learn that Karen Hancock's Light of Eidon (Legends of the Guardian-King, Book 1) series was Christian fantasy, but I was baffled because I thought that many serious Christians thought magic was the devil's work. I guess it's part of the shades-of-gray because the 'magic' was believing in the One God..