Iron Kissed

Author: Patricia Briggs

Decent, if cheesy. The best part about this book is that the author refrains from making the protagonist the most awesome fill-in-the-blank ever, as many fantasy writers are wont to do. Though surrounded by werewolves, vampires, and fairies, the sum total of the protagonist's powers are that she can turn into a coyote and back, has a heightened sense of smell, and some resistance to magic. As a result, we are spared the main-character-realizes-full-extent-of-powers-and-blasts-enemies-to-smithereens scene that seems to be so prevalent in fantasy fiction. Yay.

Bel Canto

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back. While travel interferes with your blogging, it also gives you time to read.



Author: Ann Patchett

Possible spoiler: The ending would pack more of a punch if it weren't so inevitable. Hostage situations are just not long-term stable.

Other than that, this book was reasonably good. From reading the back cover, I knew the hostage situation spanned the length of the book, and at first I wondered how on earth it could make a whole book. Kudos to the author, though; it does.