Tag archives for Magic
Blood Faerie by India Drummond [Book Review]
Blood Faerie by India Drummond My rating: 4 of 5 stars I picked this up on kindle on a special offer, and finally got round to reading it over the summer holidays. I've enjoyed the Iron Druid stories, and it seemed to share some level of realism with those. Not exactly the same, but not a sparkly urban fantasy tale either. The faerie lore was quite different, and so were the druids. Blood Faerie is set in the real world, and magic happens without us noticing. So worth a read, especially on special offer. Blood Faerie Review I enjoyed it quite a lot. I would certainly read more in this world. The premise of the story is that there are some kinds of magic that the faeries don't tolerate. The Blood magic in the title being one of those forbidden…
The Nightmare Stacks by Charlie Stross [Book Review]
The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross My rating: 5 of 5 stars The Nightmare Stacks is another turn in the Laundry series, which has moved firmly away from following Bob Howard to being about the world that Bob inhabits. The main point of view in the Nightmare Stacks is Alex, one of the vampires from The Rhesus Chart. We also see some from Cassie's point of view (a new character) and Pinky & Brains return and play a strong supporting part in the story. We also see Pete the Vicar as Alex's mentor. The Nightmare Stacks Alex is not a cynical snarky commentator. Instead we have a primary character that is focussed on work and lacking some of the social skills, especially in dealing with the opposite sex, that are more commonplace. Alex is getting used to the changes of being…
Five Days in January by R.T. Lowe [Book Review]
The Felix Chronicles: Five Days in January by Lowe My rating: 4 of 5 stars Five Days in January is the second in the Felix Chronicles series and follows on from where The Felix Chronicles: Freshmen left off. Five Days in January Felix and his friends return in early January for the new semester, amid a backdrop of world-changing events. One of the aspects of Five Days in January that intrigued me was the development of Felix as a character. Initially Felix annoyed me, he was killing casually. The internal monologue though showed that Felix was starting to feel uneasy about this. Allison and Harper encouraged him though, keeping him steady and ensuring that he didn't lose the plot. As Five Days in January progresses Felix changes. As do the other main characters. The world around them is getting more…
The library of Triamore: Mundane tractatus
Last night I joined in with Simon Cornelius's Ars Magica campaign. My character is a female Mage (aka Maga) called Lumen, she's a younger daughter of a French baron in the early thirteenth century. Blond, blue-eyed and slightly elfin like, the picture I have in my head of what she looks like is of the actress Laura Harris. Lumen is current a visitor to the Triamore Covenant and brought some books with her in exchange for being allowed access to their library. She appears to be in her early thirties and has not yet settled down and got her own lab yet. Her primary interest is in learning her arts better by reading up, followed by a little practise. She prefers Spring and Summer and gets a little sad in the winter time, being a sunshine sort of person. Apart…