Wednesday, 26 August 2015

#BookReview Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb

Fool's Quest by Robin Hobb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Acclaimed and bestselling author Robin Hobb continues her Fitz and the Fool trilogy with this second entry, following Fool’s Assassin, ramping up the tension and the intrigue as disaster continues to strike at Fitz’s life and heart.

After nearly killing his oldest friend, the Fool, and finding his daughter stolen away by those who were once targeting the Fool, FitzChivarly Farseer is out for blood. And who better to wreak havoc than a highly trained and deadly former royal assassin? Fitz might have let his skills go fallow over his years of peace, but such things, once learned, are not so easily forgotten. And nothing is more dangerous than a man who has nothing left to lose…


**********

All hail Robin Hobb Queen writer of fantasy!

Seriously this book was so amazingly good that I now sit here writing and knowing that I will never be able to put down in words how fantastic the book is. For everyone that has read Rob Hobb before and not yet read this book or the one before will I say that you will love this series, the books just keep getting better and better and Hobb still knows how to surprise her readers. To those that have never Read a Hobb book, do it, hell do it even if you are not a fantasy fan. They are well written, the story will pull you in completely. Just start with The Farseer trilogy, of course, always best to start from the beginning.

Anyway, this book is better than the first book in The Fitz and the Fool trilogy, but that doesn't make the first book bad, this one just has a lot more action it, more going ones, more Fool. And, having Fitz and the Fool reunited again was just was marvelous as in Fool's Errand (the first book in the Tawny Man trilogy) when they met again after several years apart. This book story continues the story from the first book with the Fool hurt and dying and Fitz tries to save him, but it seems futile, but you should never say never and solutions can show up where you least expect them. And, little Bee, Fitz daughter has been taken, but it will take some time for Fitz to know that, but when he does, then he will do everything in his power to get his daughter back and punish the bad people behind the kidnapping.

This book is around 750 pages long, but it could have been twice as many pages because it is so good, it is never boring, the pace is just perfect, not a single thing that happens in the book is boring, no skimming of the text, hell there are moments when I had to reread sentences because they are so good written and they go straight to my heart.

I loved this book. I have lived with the story, with Fitz and the Fool and the rest of the characters for a couple of days and now I have to leave it for a while and it is almost painful to not have more to read. Luckily for me, I still have some books written by Hobb that I still haven't read, alas no Fitz and Fool book waiting, but I can always reread the earlier books with them if I want to.

Friday, 14 August 2015

#BookReview Crimson Shore by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child @GrandCentralPub

Crimson Shore by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A secret chamber.

A mysterious shipwreck.

A murder in the desolate salt marshes.

A seemingly straightforward private case turns out to be much more complicated-and sinister-than Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast ever could have anticipated.

Pendergast, together with his ward Constance Greene, travels to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the theft of a priceless wine collection. But inside the wine cellar, they find something considerably more disturbing: a bricked-up niche that once held a crumbling skeleton.

**********

I was lucky enough to get an approved on NetGalley for this book and it was a really good book. I have just one main problem with the book, I just don't like Constance Green that much. I mean I like her history, the first books with her and explanation “to her life”, but as a character in a book (especially this book) she just feels a bit to aggravating. It didn't help that Constance, in the beginning, kept on correcting a man's Shakespeare quotes. I loathe people that just know it all and must constantly show off. And, I feel that way with Constance. I have never that problem with Pendergast because he really uses his knowledge in such a great way, even though it can be annoying for those around him. Another thing, it seems that they are trying to make Constance and Pendergast a couple. There are hints about that, one scene partially in this book and I just feel no.

Alright, now that is off my chest. This little town Exmouth is close to Salem, and you know what that means...witches! Or is it? Perhaps that is just a red herring. Also, there is a ship that was lost over a hundred years ago. What happened to the ship. And, what the hell happened to all the wine?

And the ending, of course, it ends with a cliffhanger and it seems that someone is back. Someone bad and I can only think of one person, but how can that be?

I hope Corrie Swanson is back in the next book *puppy eyes*...

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!