A New Challenge (and it wasn't my idea)

Now this is a challenge I can complete :) (I can hope, can't I?) Go HERE to check out the details but the gist is this: It's all about finishing up those series that everybody has sitting on their shelves after they've read the first book or so. Now, it's late and I'm dead-ass tired so I will be going through my collection tomorrow and picking out those leftovers to finish but I expect to list at least three. Maybe more.

UPDATE: It turns out that I'm a new term that I just made up: a serial series separator. A serial series separator is a type of reader who likes to read the first book (sometimes first two) in a series, works themselves into a frenzy of "I have got to get the rest of "enter author's name here"'s books", and then moves on to something else. Lather, rinse, repeat. So when I went to my books to pick out a few series to list, I came up with a whole sheet of names. Here's the ones I picked:

C. T. Adams & Cathy Clamp's Tales of the Sazi series

1. Hunter's Moon
2. Moon's Web (Update: Finished on 12/20)
3. Captive Moon
4. Howling Moon
5. Moon's Fury
6. Timeless Moon
7. Cold Moon Rising
8. Serpent Moon

Jennifer Rardin's Jaz Parks series - I have read the first four of six; I have five and six

1. Once Bitten, Twice Shy
2. Another One Bites the Dust
3. Biting the Bullet
4. Bitten to Death
5. One More Bite
6. Bite Marks

C. L. Wilson's Tairen Soul series - I just read the first in this five part series in January and have 1-4, book five will be out late this year

1. Lord of the Fading Lands
2. Lady of Light and Shadow
3. King of Sword and Sky
4. Queen of Song and Souls
5. Crown of Crystal Flame 

That's eleven books so far. I plan to add a few more but that's enough for now :) I'll be parking the image at the top of this post on my sidebar.

UPDATE: July 20, 2010

I'm adding Chloe Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series to this challenge.

1. Some Girls Bite
2. Friday Night Bites
3. Twice Bitten

I committed to this challenge in May and with the exception of Lady of Light and Shadow and part of Moon's Web, I've been a very bad girl because I've avoided these books like the plague. I really need to get cracking. And reading.

Review: King of Sword and Sky by C. L. Wilson

Returning to the Fading Lands with his Celierian truemate, Rain discovers a dissension among the most powerful members of his own council. As the Eld plot their next deadly strike, Ellysetta struggles to master her powerful magic and discover how to save the tairen, while Rain confronts open challenge to his rule and prepares to lead the Fey army to war.

While I read this series, I picture the faeries as the elves from the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy and the Fading Lands to be as Rivendell from Fellowship of the Ring, all dreamy and shining. I know it's not technically correct because Rain and Ellysetta are fey, not elves, but as there are no elves in this chapter in the Tairen Soul story, I don't feel too badly.

This is such a well-written series and reminiscent of Tolkien with a world of different lands and peoples full of compelling characters, both good and evil, who are engaged in a millennia-long war. I believe Vadim Maur, the leader of Eld and chief villain in this world, is one of the most heinous foes I have ever read and that includes Voldemort and possibly Sauron. He is horrifying. Vadim Maur is pure evil and he has absolutely no remorse, no conscience, no limits in his penchant for doing whatever is necessary to further his cause and vanquish all Light in their world. Dramatic, right? Well, Wilson's story is definitely dramatic and is equally so on either side of the fence.

Rain is a Tairen Soul, currently the only Tairen Soul in their world. He is the King of the Fading Lands and can change from his human form into a Tairen. Picture, if you will, a big cat that looks like a cross between a lion and bobcat but make it as big as a dragon and add wings and talons and fire and then you'd be close. Rain desperately wants his truemate, Ellysetta, to complete their soul bonding so they can be complete but Ellie is so filled with doubt - of herself, of her abilities, of what will happen - that she can't figure out how. It's weakening Rain, leaving him open to losing himself in madness again, and Ellie needs the truemate bond to protect herself from Maur's magical influence. Rain and Ellie are also battling their own people in an internal power struggle and working to keep the Tairen from dying. Needless to say, Rain and Ellysetta are very busy in book three.

King of Sword and Sky is the third book in the Tairen Soul series and it did lag a bit in places but by two-thirds the way through it picked WAY up and sped to a conclusion that made me instantly pick up book four, Queen of Song and Souls. I enjoyed following Ellysetta on her journey and seeing her coming into her powers (she's still not there yet). One of the best parts of King is finally meeting the Tairen pride. They are in crisis; some unknown force is killing the unborn Tairen babies and some of the adults too. They are a great facet in the group of characters, Steli in particular, the Tairen that adopts Ellie as her Pride-daughter. Mama bears have nothing on Steli.

I enthusiastically recommend this series to anyone who likes paranormal romance. Books one through four are available now; Crown of Crystal Flame, the finale and fifth book, is scheduled to be released on October 26, 2010.

Other reviews: (careful - there's spoilers everywhere)
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/09/25/review-king-of-sword-and-sky-by-cl-wilson/
http://goodbadandunread.com/2008/10/07/review-king-of-sword-and-sky-tarien-soul-series-book-3-by-cl-wilson/
http://kbgbabbles.blogspot.com/2008/09/king-of-sword-and-sky-advanced-power.html

Review Roundup

While I take a break from laughing at Tumbling Through Time by Gwyn Cready, I thought I'd go ahead and jot down a few things about some of the books I've read lately but haven't reviewed. I'm trying to be a good girl these days. *snort*

Archangel by Sharon Shinn was a provoking read. Definitely a different take on gods and angels and their interactions with humans. It also had one of the most stubborn women I've ever encountered in a book. Not that she didn't have some reasons to be but I thought to myself as I read Archangel that she could give a mule or jackass a run for their money! I do love those novels where the story comes full circle and so I loved the ending. I liked this book, as you can see since I have it an A-, but I'm not sure if I'll read the other two in the trilogy. Reading a blurb inside the front cover that I managed to avoid before I read Archangel, I got the idea that I'll probably not like what happens. As with Outlander, I'm thinking that continuing on with the series will make me like the first book less than I do now. We'll see.

The Poison Eaters by Holly Black is a collection of short stories. Some of them are a decent length seeing how there are twelve stories in a book that is 212 pages long. My main interest lied with anything related to her Modern Faery Tale books and I was curious if she would revisit Kaye and company. She does in "The Land of Heart's Desire," where we get to see the coffee shop that Kaye talks about opening in the end of Ironside. It focuses on Corny and Roiben surprisingly enough, and is good for a snicker or two. I also read "Going Ironside," a four-page ramble of the inner monologue of a faery who is jonesing for her next hit of what sounded like heroin. Cautionary tale perhaps? It didn't make much sense, that much I know for sure. The first story in the book, "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown," is about vampires and is rather sad. Once I read it (I started with it as it starts the book), I decided to skip through to the faery parts. 

Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich was surprising to me because it was a little more serious than her romances tend to be. A single mother's car breaks down one morning while on her way to work and the unsurprisngly handsome man that stops to help her insinuates himself into her life and her heart. However, he is not what he seems and has a lot to answer for. Can she forgive him and hopefully not break any more of his bones? It has the patented Janet Evanovich humor but wasn't as light as her other reprinted romances and not as entertaining either.

Lady of Light and Shadow by C. L. Wilson is the second chapter of her five-part series about the Tairen Soul. Faeries seem to be my thing these days and so I very much enjoyed this one. It takes a while for it to wind up and therefore drags a little for the first half of the book but it's a good continuation with a satisfying ending and so I can forgive the dragging. It ties up a few things and sets up the third chapter. Rain and Ellie finally marry and head back to Faerie for King of Sword and Sky. The last book, Crown of Crystal Flame, comes out October 26.

That's it people! I am now caught up. I will be doing the review for The Iron King by Julie Kagawa in the next few days and am now going to return to Tumbling Through Time. Thanks for reading!