I’m not much of a shopper. I don’t like the busy high streets, popping in and out of every other store, dodging the tourists and other busy shoppers. The whole rigmarole is just too tiring and most of the time not even worth it. But book shopping? Now that’s a completely different experience.

I can spend hours in one bookshop, browsing through all the shelves, trying out new authors, hoping I’ll find some hidden gem. And when I’m tired with that store, I’ll hop on to the next one. And then the next one. Being a student, I already don’t spend that much on books, but there will always be that book that “I’ve been waiting for more than a year” or “is the final part of a series”. There are just certain books I’ll always have to get.

A couple of years ago I forced myself to a simple challenge for a year: I was not allowed to buy books from authors that I didn’t own yet. But having more than 500 books, means having a lot of authors I still could choose from. And after a time I just forgot about the challenge to myself. The main problem isn’t buying books though. It’s buying books, while still having a huge pile of books you’re supposed to read. And never reading all those books, because there’s always a “better” book.

So after seeing Shannon’s post about the Ban On Book Buying Challenge, I decided to step up to the challenge for the upcoming four months (until the end of this year). No buying of new books until I’ve finished the list of books I’ve setup. The rules are quite easy:

Guidelines for the 2008 Ban on Book Buying Challenge:

1. No purchasing books for yourself until all the books listed are gone. No purchasing books for other people with the intention of reading them after they are finished. Library or other borrowed books can’t be listed.

2. Any books won in a raffle or given to me as a gift will be added to this list.

3. Books to be reviewed for promo companies, other blogs, authors, etc. do not count and are not added to this list.

4. Start anytime and list as many or as few books as needed. Once all books are checked off from the list, the ban is lifted and the spending can begin again.

5. The ending date for each person can vary to a few weeks or months as long as it doesn’t exceed December 31, 2008. This ban can be lifted earlier if all books listed have been read or donated.

6. If you don’t have a blog and would like to still join, list your books in the comment section below.

Simple, right? So here’s my list of books I have to finish:

Myrren’s Gift - Fiona McIntosh
Demon’s Kiss - Maggie Shayne
Lover’s Bite - Maggie Shayne
The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
The Day Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

The Wind Dancer - Iris Johansen
Storm Winds - Iris Johansen
Reap The Wind - Iris Johansen
Magic’s Silken Snare - ElizaBeth Gilligan
Cast in Shadow - Michelle Sagara

The Briar King - Greg Keyes
Fool’s Errand - Robin Hobb
The Golden Fool - Robin Hobb
Fool’s Fate - Robin Hobb
American Gods - Neil Gaiman

The Summoner - Gail Z. Martin
The Blood King - Gail Z. Martin
The Rule of Four - Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomas
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan
The Draycott Legacy - Christina Skye

It’s “only” 20 books, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to finish them all before Christmas. There are a couple of books in between them though, that I know will cost me some time to finish. Not because the books are so thick (there’s no such thing as “too many pages”), but because you have to invest so much time into the world and the story, it’s hard to get into.

I’ll try to give a monthly update, to show how I’m progressing with my list. Anybody else want to join me in this challenge?

Since a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been hearing more and more about Shomi books (Book Binge has had a Spotlight series on Shomi the past month). I had been meaning to blog about them for a while and then this contest came along, giving me the perfect opportunity to do so. All I have to do, is pimp the contest on my blog (check, done that) and show which Shomi books I’d like to read in the future. 

So what exactly are Shomi books? They’re a new line of speculative romance books from Dorchester, all not bound to the rules of our reality. Some of them are futuristic, some time-travel, some paranormal. It’s a great mix of a different kind of romance novel. So far there are 9 books out and two coming out in the next two months.

While they’re not all my cup of tea, some of the stories look great… and completely different to any previous romance books I’ve read. Here are a couple that grabbed my attention:

Countdown (Michelle Maddox)

A romance novel with a plot most similar to Cube and Saw? Interesting (sometimes I wish I could embed voices into this text. That ‘Interesting’ definitely had a mad Transylvanian scientist accent to it.) Set on a post-plague Earth, Kira Jordan is a thief with a wicked sense of humour. The book starts with her waking up, handcuffed to a wall in the dark. And she’s not alone. Chained to the opposite wall, is the convicted mass murderer, Rogan Ellis. With only 60 seconds to escape, Kira is forced to work with him, if she ever wants to make it out of there alive.

Moongazer (Marianne Mancusi)

I’m not completely sure what the setting of this book is. It seems to be a paranormal/other dimension type of story. Skye Brown is a normal girl in New York, with everything she wants: a cool job, a boyfriend, a great apartment. But at night she has weird dreams. Of a post-apocalyptic world with a bleak futuristic wasteland. In them, she’s not Skye, but Mariah Quinn, a Moongazer. It sounds kind of fun, right? Is it another world? Are they messages from the future? I can’t wait to get my hands on this.

Phenomenal Girl 5 (A.J. Menden)

If it wasn’t for the Book Binge’s spotlight, I most probably would have ignored this book completely. Lainey is Phenomenal Girl 5, a superhero with great strength and the ability to fly. She’s just been made a member of the Elite Hands of Justice, but before she can go on active duty, she’ll have to complete her training with one of the toughest superheroes around: the Reincarnist. It sounds a bit cheesy, but after reading an excerpt Book Binge posted, I just knew I had to put this on my To Read list.

Check out the Shomi website to see all the books (and excerpts). If you want to read reviews about some of the books, the Book Binge blog has got some interesting ones.

My reading patterns are way weirder than my TV/movie habits. Sometimes I’ll go days without picking up a book, other times I’ll be completely immersed, reading at every opportunity I can get (much to the delight of Cristiano who yesterday discovered me with a book in my hand while preparing dinner). I’m currently in one of those book devouring moods: I’ve finished three books in the past three days, two of which I actually started in these three days. I also tend to read multiple books at the same time, choosing the one that best fits my mood at that moment (right now I’m stuck in 5 different books).

I thought I’d share with you my thoughts on the books I’ve been reading the past months, doing a sort of mini review structure like what I did with the movies a couple of weeks ago. I’m going to try to do this more often; it’s a great way for me to keep track of which books I’ve been reading, plus I’d like to see what other people think of these books.

Belladonna (Anne Bishop)

While I loved the first part (Sebastian), this second and final book just fell a bit flat for me. I love Bishop’s world building and mythology (both The Black Jewels Trilogy and The Tir Alain Trilogy feature original and complex worlds) and Belladonna doesn’t disappoint in that area. The world of Ephemera is shattered and needs Landscapers and Bridges to connect and hold the pieces together. Glorianna Belladonna is the strongest Landscaper and has been prophesied to stop an ancient evil. I’m not sure why I didn’t like this book as much as the others; it somehow felt a bit more rushed and less thought-out than her previous books. [Anne Bishop's Website]

Heart Dance (Robin D. Owens)

Heart Dance is the sixth book in the Celta Heart Mate series. It’s set on the planet of Celta, a place where Flaired (psychic) humans settled after fleeing Earth. Since then generations have passed, and the world of Celta has developed their own traditions and customs, all revolving around Flair (psychic ability/magic). Heart Dance is about the “courtship” between two Heartmates, soulmates destined for each other: Dufleur Thyme, a scholar, determined to clear her father’s name as a mad scientist, and Saille Willow, a Flaired matchmaker, spurned by his mother, who didn’t believe men could wield the matchmaking magics. I didn’t like this book as much as previous ones, but it’s a nice addition to the overall story line. [Robin D Owens' Website]

Feast of Souls (Celia Friedman)

This is the first book in The Magister Trilogy, the first fantasy series from Celia Friedman (she has previously written SF works under CS Friedman). In this world magic is linked to your life force; witches can do magic, but with every spell they do they use a bit of their own life force, their own life, thus aging quicker and dying sooner. Magisters (male witches) though don’t have this problem, their magic supply is unlimited. Kamala, a witch, wants to become a Magister, even though there comes a terrible price in becoming one.

I was intrigued by way the magic works here. It comes with a way higher cost of using it than with other fantasy books and that makes it so much more interesting. Would you heal someone, knowing that because of it you’ll die sooner? I can’t wait till the next one comes out; I want to know how this continues! [Celia Friedman's Website]

Vampire, Interrupted (Lynsay Sands)

The Argeneau Vampire Series is the funniest vampire romance series out there. Vampire, Interrupted is the ninth book and features the final Argeneau, Marguerite. Finally, after a couple of centuries, all of her children are married, so she’s decided to start a career as private investigator. Her first assignment is to help another immortal find his mother. It seems simple enough, but soon she finds someone wants to kill her. I loved this book! It’s one of those reads you just can’t put down and have to finish in one single setting. [Lynsay Sands' Website] [Argeneau Series]

Kushiel’s Justice (Jacqueline Carey)

I don’t get why the Kushiel series is often classified under Erotica. Yes, you’ll find sex in the story, but way less (and less descriptive) than your standard romance book. Plus it isn’t the main plot of the book; it’s a real fantasy epic with political intrigue, battles and mysteries. I love these books; I think they may be my favourite fantasy series. Kushiel’s Justice is the second in the series about Phedre’s son Imriel (the fifth in the complete series; the first three Kushiel books were about Phedre). I always thought the Imri books would never be as good as the Phedre ones, but this one proves it’s worth. Bring on the next one! [Jacqueline Carey's Website]

Lover Enshrined (J.R. Ward)

Yes, another vampire series (do you notice a trend?). What I like of this series though is the way the story is delivered. Most romance series revolve around the two main characters and only feature view points from those two main characters. Here it switches way more often and there’s a subplot through-out the whole series about newbie John (aka Tohrment). This book is about Phury, who is now the Primale in charge of the procreation of the Brotherhood bloodline. Again, not the best book in this series, but I’m looking forward to the next one. [JR Ward's Website]

Acheron (Sherrilyn Kenyon)

This is the 20th story in Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series (14 novels, rest anthology/ebooks) and the most anticipated. The Dark-Hunter books are one of the best romance series I’ve read, interweaving vampire lore with Greek mythology (I’ll do a longer blog post of this whole series in the near future). Ever since the character of Acheron was first introduced as the leader of the Dark-Hunters (5 years ago in Night ), everybody has wanted to see his story. Fans have been wanting to know for ages what his mortal life was like and, of course, who he be paired up with. And it doesn’t disappoint.

The first half of this book is set in Ancient Greece (and Atlantis), chronicling Acheron’s life as a human; it’s darker and not as pleasant as Kenyon’s standard fair, but it’s all necessary to show us why Acheron has become the man he is. The second half of the book is set in our time and Kenyon is back to her normal self with a mouthy heroine, funny lines and (most of all) a great story. Highly recommendable, but if you haven’t read any of the series yet, I’d suggest you start at the beginning. [Sherrilyn Kenyon's Website]

Guardian of Honor (Robin D. Owens)

I was already a fan of Owens’ Celta romance series (see above) and wanted to see how this series would be. It’s about Alexa, a human lawyer, who gets summoned to the world of Lladrana to fight in their war. I’m not completely convinced by the series yet, but I’ve heard the second one gets better. [Robin D Owens' Website]

The Innocent Mage/The Awakened Mage (Karen Miller)

These two books revolve around the kingdom of Lur, a country inhabited by two races: the Doranan, a magical folk, who form the nobels and elite of the country, and the Olken, magicless commonfolk. Asher, is an Olken fisherman from a small coastal village, who moves to the main city to find his fortune, but gets involved into the politics between Olken and Doranen. 

I had heard a lot of good things about these books, but I wasn’t that impressed by them. I first thought it felt as if it should have been one book that was just split right in the middle into two books; the first book doesn’t really climax (only a minor cliffhanger), and there’s no build-up to what would make Asher the Awakened mage. After finishing the second book though you notice that it remains like that throughout the whole story; this was one of the worst endings I’ve ever read. Not so much in plot, but just the way it was delivered: no build-up, no emotional depth, no fun. [Karen Miller's Website]

I linked to this project about a week ago, but We Tell Stories is interesting enough to dedicate a complete post to it. The idea of We Tell Stories is to tell Six Stories by Six Authors in Six Weeks inspired by Six Classics, with each story using a unique presentation form. It’s created by Six to Start in partnership with Penguin Books and at the end of the six weeks there will be a contest to win 1300 (!!) Penguin Classics.

The first story The 21 Steps came out two weeks ago and is written by Charles Cumming. It’s inspired by The 39 Steps, but you haven’t had to read that to understand this story. The story is told through Google Maps, showing the places the character goes to and giving the reader the ability to follow his journey.

The second story came out this week and is called Slice. It’s written by Toby Litt and is inspired by The Haunted Dolls’ House. It’s about a girl named Lisa, nicknamed Slice, who had moved to London with her parents to separate her from bad influences. Her story is told through her blog, her parents blog and their Twitter feeds (Slice and her parents).

The next four stories will each be coming out in the next four weeks and I’m curious to see what type of form these will be in. So far it’s been interesting to see these different type of methods of storytelling and it gives the stories a whole other perspective.

Besides the six features stories though, there is a cleverly hidden seventh story with more ARG elements, inspired (of course) by Alice in Wonderland. The first clue that there was a seventh story is through this blurb when you sign up for the Google Group:

Over six weeks, six authors will write six stories designed for the internet, from Booker-shortlisted Mohsin Hamid to prize-winning Naomi Alderman and bestselling thriller authors Nicci French.

The six authors featured on the We Tell Stories site are: Charles Cumming, Toby Litt, Kevin Brooks, Nicci French, Matt Mason and Mohsin Hamid. So what story was Naomi Alderman working on? It’s also interesting to know that Alderman was the lead writer for Perplex City, a previous ARG the founders of Six to Start were involved in.

If you want to catch up on the seventh story, check out this forum. A lot has happened already, but I don’t think it’s too late to join all the fun. I know I’m going to try and figure it out! Let me know if you’re playing too; it’s always good to join forces.

Welcome to this new recurring topic PageTurner, where I will be reviewing books (and in some cases book series). I mainly read fantasy, preferably with a touch of romance (in other words some love plot, but not too gooey and corny) and a well defined world and mythology. First up is The Runelords Series by David Farland [Official Website].

The complete series is supposed to be ten books long with the first four books forming the story of the Earth King, Gaborn, and the remaining six books about his son, Fallion. The sixth book has just come out in hardcover and I read the fifth book last month, but I’ll be only covering the first four books here. The plot and characters are significantly different, so it’s better to split it up. In the future though I will review the newer books; I just don’t want to start with my reviews in the middle of a series.

The Plot

The series begins with Gaborn Val Orden, a young Runelord and a prince of Mystarria, seeking the hand of Princess Iome Sylvarresta, the daughter of the King of Heredon. Both nations are part of the kingdom of Rofehaven, a peaceful medieval-like land. While traveling from Mystarria to Heredon, the prince’s party learns that Raj Ahten, the most powerful Runelord in existence, is leading his army into Heredon, his first step of invading all of Rofehaven. Raj Ahten has already conquered all the nations of the neighbouring Indhopal and Gaborn realizes he must be stopped at all costs. Along the way though, Gaborn and his companions find out that Raj Ahten is not the only threat - their world is threatened by a race of resilient subterranean creatures: the Reavers.

The World

The Runelords contains one of the most original and creative forms of magic and powers I’ve ever seen. Everything is based on “endowments”, a magical transfer of a sense or an attribute from one person to another. The transferred sense or skill is amplified in the receiver, the Runelord, while the giver, the Dedicate, looses it completely until the death of one or the other. For instance, if someone gave you an endowment of sight, you would be able to see twice as far, but you would leave the other person blind. If that person dies though, you loose the double sight. If you die, the Dedicate receives his sight back again.

The transfer is done through a magical ritual of branding, leaving runes on the skin (hence the name Runelords). Besides sight, endowments can be given for voice, smell, hearing, touch, brawn, grace, stamina, wit, metabolism and glamour. The weirdest is metabolism which slows down the world for the receiver, granting him increased physical speed. It also reduces your lifespan though, cause you’re living your life twice as fast.

Most kings and warriors in this world are Runelords, all receiving their strengths from Dedicates. This creates a complete new type of context for ethics, social hierarchy and battle strategy, producing a wonderful different world.

The Verdict

These books can not be missed from any fantasy lover’s library. Besides a refreshing original world, the story flows smoothly from one chapter till the next. The characters are likable and you can easily imagine yourself reacting the same way in some situations they are in. This was one of those book series I couldn’t put down, reading all four books in one weekend. At the time though I thought that the fourth book was the end of the series. Thinking this, the last book felt very incomplete. Farland raises certain questions and at the end of the fourth book they are still not answered. Knowing though that these four books are only the start and that the world will be revisited in subsequent books, I am sure these loose ends will be tied up in the future. All in all, it’s a great read that can’t be missed.

Rating:

Take a look at the books on Amazon:

The Hollywood Reporter has just reported that Sam Raimi is producing a new TV show based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. It’s going to be a live-action weekly series about (if you don’t know the books:) Richard Cypher, a woodsman, who teams up with the mysterious Kahlan on a quest into another realm (that’s all I can tell without giving too much of the plot away). The production of the first 22 episodes will start beginning of May.

This is great! I’ve been saying for years that they shouldn’t try to make movies of fantasy books. Most stories are way too complex for a movie from 3 hours long and they always get trimmed wrong. Did anybody here see The Golden Compass? The last scene of the book, which was what made the book so good, got completely left out of the movie. So, I’m glad that for once they’re going to take the time make to make a proper TV serie.

I’m only worried about the quality of the show:

Raimi is executive producing the hourlong series with Robert Tapert (”The Grudge”), Joshua Donen (”The Quick and the Dead”) and “Xena: Warrior Princess” production executive Ned Nalle. Disney-ABC Domestic TV is distributing, and ABC Studios is producing.

Okay, they’ve got one of the guys from Xena and Sam Raimi himself worked on Young Hercules. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’re not going into the direction of those type of series. It could easily become too cheesy and for once I want a good grown-up fantasy series. Is that too hard too ask?

I’m also not sure how they’re exactly going to do the episodes. Most TV shows are episodic and studios really want stand-alone episodes. The article says:

In discussing these incredible story lines and rich characters with my friends and partners Robert Tapert and Josh Donen, we agreed that ‘Wizard’s First Rule’ would make an amazing television series — one that could be produced with compelling, self-contained episodes.

So do they mean that the events in the book can be correctly translated to self-contained episodes? Or does it mean that it leaves room over to create stand-alone episodes and thus doesn’t follow the book? I hope it’s the former, cause I’m not sure it would benefit the storyline to have the main character do “other” stuff.

Now, I’m most curious to see who they’re going to cast for Richard and Kahlan. I always pictured Richard as someone sturdy (does that make sense?), so not some pretty boy like Milo Ventigmilia (Peter in Heroes). More someone like a younger and brunette (is it still “ette” when you’re talking about a guy?) Kiefer Sutherland. For Kahlan, I picture someone like the Claire Danes’s character in Stardust, only less chirpy and sweet. Kahlan is tough, regal and strict and they need someone who can pull that face off. I’m guessing they’ll go for completely unknown people, but still it’s great to speculate.

So what do you guys think? Psyched for the series or scared that it could completely flop?

It’s been a very busy week for me and I haven’t had time yet to post about any of the stuff I’ve done. So here’s a quick overview of what I’ve been doing. Reviews will come soon, I promise.

Tuesday: Went to Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix
Thursday: Moo’s Hot and Sticky Summer Party
Friday: Read all the summaries of Harry Potter Books 1 to 5 and reread Book 6 (in 9 hours!)
Saturday: Patiently waiting for HP Book 7 and then madly reading once it was delivered :D.
Sunday: Still reading HP7, went to an evening preview of Transformers (very cool!!), continued reading HP7 till 4am and finished it

I just watched Jonathan Ross (BBC interview show) and this time Bob Hoskins and JK Rowling were two of his guests. During his interview with Bob Hoskins, Jonathan mentioned it was weird Bob had never starred in any of the Harry Potter films. Bob then told about a previous encounter with JK Rowling, where she had promised to write a character for him. Cut to: JK Rowling who kind of cringed, clearly having forgotten that she had ever promised that. She did, however, say that there will be a new character in book 7: a older male wizard, which could be played by Bob Hoskins. This could be only useless interview prattle, but it might turn out to be an actual casting.

Update: I sent this same bit of info to AICN and they’ve actually posted it!