Review: Fearless

Fearless by Cornelia Funke
Series Information: 2nd book featuring Jacob Reckless

Original Title: Lebendige Schatten
Original Publication Date:  September 6, 2012
English Publication Date: April 2, 2013


My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I loved Cornelia Funke's Inkheart books and was a bit disappointed by Reckless, the first book in Funke's new series. I liked it but something seemed missing. I just finished the second book and liked it much more. The story continues where the first book left off. Jacob tries to find a way to counter the fairy curse that will kill him if he doesn't succeed. He is accompanied by the shapeshifter Fox. After every other measure Jacob knows of and tries fails to help against the curse, his last option is a magical crossbow. According to legend this crossbow can kill whole armies with one shot; but the legends also tell that the crossbow may save a person's life when it is used out of love. But to find the crossbow Jacob first has to find a hand, the heart and the head of an ancient sorcerer and reunite those with his body. His search is made even more difficult by the fact that another treasure-hunter wants to find the crossbow and is determined to beat Jacob.

In this book Cornelia Funke shows again how much imagination she has. The world she created behind the mirrors is loosely based on our own, but it is also a world where fairy tales are real and a part of everyday life. Although she draws from the real world and common fairy tales, this doesn't prevent Funke from creating her very own world with vivid characters. I enjoyed every sentence of this book.



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Review: Glory in Death

Glory in Death by J.D. Robb

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Glory in Death is the second book of a series of futuristic mysteries featuring Eve Dallas. This time she has to find a serial killer who is preying on successful, strong women who are well-known in the media. As the number of victims rises, Eve is put under more and more pressure. In addition to this her relationship with Roarke also undergoes some struggles.
This is a good average for a book. It was clearly written for entertainment, so I didn’t expect more and wasn’t disappointed. Eve is a character one can like and relate to, Roarke is a great love-interest for her (who doesn’t want a boyfriend who just takes you to a villa hundreds of miles away for a night to relax and forget about your job). I found the mystery part of the book a bit weak this time. It was mysterious enough in the beginning, but it soon became clear to me who might be the murderer and that really made me wonder at Eve not catching on to it sooner. The redeeming part to the mystery was Roarke saving the day at the end.
And as a sidenote: I really liked the narrator of this audiobook.



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Review: Kalter Mittwoch

Kalter Mittwoch by Garth Nix

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the third volume in Garth Nix’ series about Arthur and his adventures. Arthur has already defeated Monday and Tuesday, which brought him two of the seven keys. Now he has to face Wednesday. Wednesday governs the large sea of the House that can even be expanded to reach into the human worlds. Arthur learns this the hard way when his hospital room is suddenly flooded. He and his friend Leaf are drawn into the world of the House, in the middle of the ocean, where they have only Arthur’s hospital bed to prevent them from drowning. But the bed won’t stay above water for long.
In comparison to Nix’ other series I’ve read, the Abhorsen books, this series is aimed at a younger audience. Having read it so far, however, I think that those books belong to those that can be read and enjoyed by all ages. Nix creates a vivid world with wonderful characters. They can be funny, scary, sympathetic or just plain disagreeable.
In this respect Drowned Wednesday didn’t disappoint. After having already read two books in the series that had the same basis: Arthur has to go into the House to find the ruler of the part of the House that is the current topic of the book. In this book Nix introduces a slightly varied background in this respect and I really enjoyed that. I also liked to see old characters return (especially Susi).
I listened to the German audiobook read by Oliver Rohrbeck. Rohrbeck is a great narrator and gives life to those books. As such those audiobooks are highly recommendable for Germans. The only downside of the audiobook is the fact that it is an abridged production. I got the audiobook from the library, which is the only reason I listened to this abridged production (I refuse to buy any abridged audiobooks). Considering that the books aren’t that long in the first place the abridgment is probably not as severe as in other books. Not having read the books before listening to the audiobook I can’t say whether the abridgment affects important parts of the books. At least there weren’t any abrupt changes or scenes where I thought there was something missing.
The books only exist as an English audiobook production, which as far as I can tell is unabridged, but not having listened to that, I can’t say anything on its quality.



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Review: Bound for Eternity

Bound for Eternity by Sarah Wisseman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Bound for Eternity by Sarah Wisseman and narrated by Priscilla Holbrook, published by Iambik Audio in 2012 is one of the shorter audiobooks I have listened to in the recent past with only 6 ½ hours.
It is the second part of a series of mystery novels whose protagonist is Lisa Donahue (the first book in the series, The Dead Sea Codex, isn't available as an audiobook; but I've seen it available for Kindle, so I might get that). In Bound for Eternity Lisa is curator at a museum for historical/archaeological artefacts. Normal work routine is interrupted when one of the museum employee’s is found dead in the building. As things progress it becomes more and more obvious that one of the other employee’s must be the murderer. While trying to plan the next exhibit Lisa notices that some artefacts are not where they are supposed to be and even begins to suspect that some of the items might be forgeries. Are both incidents connected?

The Welcome Post

At the moment this new blog still looks a bit empty and you might wonder what you'll find here once the content starts coming?

Pages

Well, for the most part the content will probably be about "pages". I love reading and I love being read to, so I always have at least one paper book and one audiobook going, usually I even read several books at the same time. E.g. when I'm reading a dead-tree-book I usually read an ebook at the same time as well for the times when I'm not at home, because I love the ease of not having to carry a 500+ pages book with me. Instead I just have my Kindle with me, always the same weight while containing several dozens of books (including loads of classics, available for free as ebooks).

I might also listen to up to three audiobooks at the same time: One I'm listening to along with my mom in the mornings. Another I'm listening to in the evenings/mornings when I'm in bed, either going to sleep or waking up. There simply is no better way to wake up in the morning than being woken by a nice audiobook. Then I might have another audiobook going for the times when I'm not at home. This audiobook is sometimes the same as that I'm listening to in bed, but depending on my mood and availability of the audiobook, it might differ. The "bed-book" must be on CD or at least in mp3-format so I can put it on a USB stick, while the "outside-book" must be in a format I can play on my android phone.

You'll read about my reading and listening experiences on this blog.

Needles

You might also read about "needles" here, namely knitting needles. Some months ago I discovered how satisfying it can be to create something with my own hands, so I started knitting. I don't have as much time for it as I would like (I can listen to an audiobook in the car on my way to university and back, but knitting at the same time as driving is a bit more complicated), but I still try to get something done every day.

At the moment I'm knitting a pullover. This has a bit of a history because I had done another pullover in the same style before, but it got shrunk in the washer. As I liked the style so much, I decided to try again, this time with a slightly thicker wool and in white with some brown instead of in green. I also tried another way of knitting the separate parts and then combining it, so I'm mostly on my own on this and can't rely on the written pattern as much as before. This is turning out to be a trial and error project, but I'm confident on finishing it one day.

Else

Apart from knitting and reading you might also read about what other thoughts pop into my mind.