Sackett by Louis L'Amour

Tell Sackett tends to get in the middle of things without meaning to do so but always comes out if not sound at least alive.  The challenges of settling a new country, weather, people, conditions, al seem to all come together at once.

As always L'Amour tells a good story but the writing is often disjointed and choppy.  Read it as a whole and do not reflect on the writing to much and you will enjoy it.

Air Apparent by Piers Anthony

Wira and Hugo are ready to summon the stork but Hugo never comes back from the wine cellar where he went to get a bottle to celebrate.  In his place is what appears to be a dead body.  A mystery!

This would be easy to solve except Magician Humphrey's Book of Answers is scrambled.  A quest is in order!

Filled with the usual puns the story drags at times then picks up and drags again.  I am not a fan of all the worlds of Ida and they play a major part.

The Adult Conspiracy plays a major role but in this I find it has a bit of a molester feel which was very off putting.  Innocent is not always innocent and this is something that creeps into Anthony's writing in other books also.   If not for this it would be a typical enjoyable Xanth novel.

Coming Home by Lauren Brooke

The first installment in the Heartland Series the appeal is to horse loving young girls.  Other than the obvious family tragedy that seems to be standard fare for this genre there are a few other problems. 

There is no way that an Olympic caliber horse will be turned over to a fifteen year old girl to train.  Waiting thirty minutes for a storm to pass makes more sense than trying to load a horse in the middle of a storm.  A pony would not live more than a week without drinking and although depression in horses is a reality one person singing one time does not cure it.

Just a bit to much of the "joining up" and herb remedies for me.  Girls read this type of junk and think this is really how you deal with horses.  It is not all false but there needs to be some reality thrown in also.

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Book Four of the Heroes of Olympus

Greek and Roman demigods work together trying to defeat Gaea, the Earth Mother, before she wakes.  A quest, prophecies, random minor gods, you know the drill.

What I really liked is how the character of Nico de Angelo really develops along with Frank Zang, without either one doing anything on purpose.  Expect to see more from these two.

If more is told to much is given away, you just have to read it for yourself.

Murder Me Now by Annette Myers

This is the first introduction I have had to Olivia Brown and at times I like her, most of the time she strikes me as drunken slut that will sleep with anyone. 

Set in the Bohemian community of Greenwich Village during Prohibition little work is completed by anyone but a lot of gin is consumed.  Miss Brown is a poet, of some reckoning, that has a taste for drink.  The story opens and ends with drinking and in between is a murder, some mystery, cops, robbers, thugs, and gangs.

The writing is good, I just have no love of the characters.

I finished it six months after I bought it if that says anything about my feelings.

The Wizardof London by Mercedes Lackey

Children with certain talents must be trained and if their parents magical or psychic talents do not match with their offspring then they must send them to someone to train them, for the safety of all.

The Harton School is ran by just such a couple. Although it is in a seedy part of London the school itself is a haven for all who enter.  Sarah Jane Lyon-White comes from Africa and has an extra sense with the dead.  Nan comes from streets of London and has her own powerful abilities. Together they help to avoid disaster on the metaphysical plane.

An Elemental Masters novel that does a good job of introducing one to the world and contains characters that appear in other novels as well.

Legends edited by Robert Silverberg

Three short novels from Terry Goodkind, George R. R, Martin, and Anne McCaffrey are well written and provide a nice fantasy fix in small doses.

Each tell a full story and leave the reader wanting just a bit more information even though the story is complete.