Book Review: "The Magicians" and "City of Fallen Angels"

So, I guess I promised a review of "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman.

For some reason I thought this book was a YA novel, but it really wasn't. By the time they got to a part with transmorgified fox sex I was pretty convinced this was not for kids. Anyway... the book was interesting. Part Harry Potter (magic school), part Bright Lights, Big City (aimless in the city after finishing school), part Narnia (fantastical world quest)... it was actually broken up into four 'books', because it was a lot of different things. I got a little bored in the middle, so much that I considered putting the book away, but I forged on and it got pretty good again. And if I'd had the next book on hand when I finished this one I would have started the next one right away. But, it took me a lot longer to get through this book than the next book I read... could have been more words in it though. (The font was pretty small.)
3 and a half stars out of 5

And, I also read the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, "City of Fallen Angels".
Not to give too much away to those that may want to start from the beginning of the series, it is a continuation of the previous three. Jace, Clary, Simon, Isabelle and gang continue fighting demons etc. The author does a pretty good job of creating a new 'world' with Shadowhunters (demon fighters) and Downworlders (vampires, fairies, warlocks, etc)
According to the back jacket the series is going to be a movie (series) from Sony Pictures, so I guess we'll see about that. Looking for the next Twilight series I guess.
The book was fine, good mystery, but like the previous books it felt pretty 'light'. It definitely didn't have all the layers of The Magicians. But that's okay. I'd recommend the Mortal Instruments series to those who enjoy a good supernatural YA read.
4 stars out of 5

Waiting for me to read, "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman and "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness.

Books I've Read Recently

I've been reading a bit more recently, and I thought I'd blog a bit about the books I've read.

Joey (with a little help from me) got me "The Nine Lives of Chloe King" by Liz Braswell for Christmas. It's actually three novels in one volume, so it was pretty hefty. But it was an easy read because it's technically a YA novel. I like to read young adult novels because they are fast and there are a lot of options for the supernatural romance-y types. Did you know teen girls like vampires? Hmmm, me neither. ;) There was a tv series based on the books (same name) on ABC Family last year and it was pretty good. There was a lot of differences though, and I liked both. At least the books were able to finish the larger story.

So, there's this girl who gets 'cat-like' powers and discovers she's part of an ancient race of cat people. She has boy trouble and school trouble and mom trouble, and also assassin trouble. So, good times basically.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars. :)

I also started into a 3 novel volume of Buffy books. The first was "Coyote Moon" by John Hornvolt. Buffy novels are tricky because it's hard to capture their 'voices', but this one was set season 1ish, so it wasn't too complicated. Good mystery, easy read...

3 and a half stars out of 5

Last night I started "Virals" by Kathy Reichs. I'm only a few chapters in but it seems pretty good. This is her first YA novel, she writes the books the tv show "Bones" is based on. I'll let you know how it is. :)

Later all!