LORD OF THE FADING LANDS by C L Wilson

Lord Of The Fading Lands by CL Wilson
Book 1 of the Tairen Soul series

About Lord Of The Fading Light:

Long ago, in the magical holocaust known as the Mage Wars, the immortal Fey and their allies fought to defeat the grasping evil of the Elden Mages and their dark-gifted supporters. During those wars, in a fit of grief-induced madness caused by the death of his mate, Fey shapeshifter Rain Tairen Soul nearly destroyed the world in a blaze of tairen fire.

Now, a thousand years later, the fierce Fey king must fight to save his race from the brink of extinction and once again stop the evil rising in the homeland of his enemies, the Eld. The key to his success lies in the mortal city of Celieria, where the Mage Wars began, and with a young woman whose soul sings to him in ways no woman’s ever has, whose presence reawakens the primal fury of the tairen within his soul, and whose vast, untapped power can either save or destroy him and his people.

Source: Info in the About Lord Of The Fading Light was taken from the author's website at http://www.clwilson.com/books1.htm on 13/10/10/.

My Thoughts:
I first thought that this was a promising start to an epic fantasy. Then I came across Chris's review of the last book of this series which made me realize that all 5 books are just one long drawn-out story with cliff-hanger endings except for book 5. I didn't like that. I stopped reading this book. I was at chapter 7. I hate cliffhanger endings with a passion! Even if the author has such a good "voice". And this author does! The way she tells the story really appeals to me. Maybe when I haven't got a better book in my TBR mountain to read anymore (unlikely), I might pick this one up again. But as of now, I won't be recommending this series to anyone.

Books In This Series:

Re-post: Dali's Story

If you are like me, a Kate Daniels die-hard, the little snippet below is a scrumptious little delicious nugget treat for you ;)

This is a re-post of Dali's story from the world of Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews:

I peered through the windshield of my ’93 Mustang. The Buzzard Highway stretched before me, a narrow line of crumbling pavement vanishing into dusk. Below it ran the Scratches, a twisted labyrinth of narrow ravines gouged out of the ground by magic three decades ago, when our world began to end. The old road skimmed the top of ravines, rolling far into the distance, where the sunset glowed gold, red, and finally turquoise. There was something vaguely wrong with this picture, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

The Buzzard Highway took no prisoners. Step too hard on accelerator, turn the wheel half an inch too far, and Boom! Pow! Fiery crash! To the bottom of the ravines you went. Only Atlanta’s best and craziest raced here.

That’s why I liked it. When a girl weighs a hundred pounds wet, her glasses look like a loupe borrowed from Sherlock Holmes, and everybody under the sun makes fun of her because she’s a vegetarian and blood makes her vomit, she has to do something for fun. The wild deafening chaos of Friday night Buzzard race was my fun.

It was so peaceful now. So quiet. Just me and the Mustang. I named it Rambo. It was a sweet car, built from ground up for one purpose: to go fast. We understood each other, Rambo and I. Rambo liked to kick ass, and I made sure it had a chance to show off.

My body was so light. It was an odd feeling, almost like swimming or floating through some feathery cloud.

A familiar face appeared in the windshield: pale skin, dark eyes, a long tattoo of a dragon wrapped around the neck, snaking its way down under the blue tank top. Kasen. Decent enough guy as wererats went. He worked the tow truck and liked to hang out at the races at Buzzard Highway. They were good for his business.

Kasen’s lips moved, but no sound came out. He looked kind of funny there, sideways, flapping his lips in silence. What is it you want, silly person?

Kasen was sideways.

The sunset behind him was sideways too, the highway running to the left the sky.

Oh crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

The phantom cotton clogging my ears vanished and the world rushed at me in an explosion of sound: the distant roar of car engines, the groaning of metal, and Kasen’s voice.

“Dali? You okay, baby girl?”

I tried to talk and my mouth worked. “Cool like a cucumber.”

He grinned. “You know the drill. Hold tight.”

I clamped my seat.

Kasen stepped out of my view. Rambo screeched. Metal clanged. I winced. Rambo, you poor baby.

The sunset turned and dropped into its rightful place with a shudder. Rambo’s tires hit the pavement and bounced once. The left lens of my glasses popped out of the frame and plunked onto my lap. I swiped it off my jeans, squeezed my left eye shut, and climbed out of the car.

“I flipped!”

“You flipped.”

Hot damn! Rambo’s front end looked like a crushed coke can. Water wet the highway, leaking from the hood – the enchanted water tank that let the car run during magic waves had ruptured. I must’ve taken the turn too fast.

Kasen peered at me. “Why is your eye closed? Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, it’s closed, because my glasses are broken, and looking through one lens makes me dizzy.”

“Situation normal, all fucked up.” Kasen rubbed the back of his head.

Thank you, Captain Obvious. “It’s not that bad!”

“You want Rambo towed to the usual place?”

“Yeah.” My races would be cancelled for a month. Bummer.

Kasen nodded at the Mustang. “That’s your second crash in three weeks.”

“Aha.”

“Didn’t Jim forbid you to race?”

Jim was my alpha. The shapeshifter Pack was segregated into seven clans, by the family of the animal, and Jim headed Felidae with a big Jaguar paw hiding awesome claws. He was smart, and strong, and hot, and the only time Jim noticed my existence was when I made myself into a pain in the ass or when he needed an expert on ancient Far East. Otherwise, I might just as well have been invisible.

I raised my head to let Kasen know I meant business. “Jim isn’t the boss of me.”

“Actually yes, yes he is.”

It’s good that I wasn’t a wereporcupine, or his mouth would be full of quills. “Are you going to snitch on me?”

“That depends. When you die, can I have your car?”

“No.”

Kasen sighed. “I’m trying to make a point here. I’ve been watching this race for six years now and I’ve never seen anyone crash as much as you. You’re my number one customer. You can barely see, Dali, and you take stupid chances. No offense.”

No offense, right. No offense stood for I’m going to insult you but you can’t be mad at me. I bared my teeth at him. When it came down to it, he was a rat and I was a tiger.

Kasen raised his hands up. “Fine. Forget I said anything.”

The world blinked. The colors turned slightly brighter, the scents grew sharper, as if someone dialed the picture’s resolution up a notch. A welcome warmth spread through my body – the magic wave had flooded the world. The distant roar of the gasoline engines choked and died. It would take fifteen minutes of chanting to get the enchanted engines to start. The race was dead.

“What if I take you to dinner?” Kasen said. “I know this really nice place down on Manticore…”

Wererats always knew this nice place to eat. They munched constantly or they went twitchy, meaning they suffered attacks of the hypoglycemia: cold sweat, headaches, convulsions, accompanied by nervousness and bouts of aggression. Not fun.

I squinted my open eye at Kasen. There was no reason for him to offer me dinner. Most likely, he just wanted to butter me up so he could get a shot at my wheels after my demise. Too bad for him – I might not have been the strongest weretiger or the most bloodthirsty, but my bloodline was pretty damn old. Lyc-V, the shapeshifter virus, and my family were good friends and the levels of virus in my body ran higher than in most shapeshifters. The higher the concentration of the virus, the faster the regeneration. Normally higher levels of Lyc-V also meant greater risk of losing your mind and turning into a crazed loup killer, but so far I hadn’t had to worry about that.

I was hard to kill. Nothing short of a fiery crash complete with a giant explosion at the end would send me into afterlife, so if Kasen was hoping to inherit my car, he would get a smoking wreck for his trouble.

I wrinkled my nose at Kasen. “Thanks, but no thanks. I need to get home.”

He heaved a sigh. “Maybe next time.”

“Sure. Maybe next time.”

Source: Above snippet was taken from Ilona Andrew's website at http://www.ilona-andrews.com/2010/09/02/little-snippet-of-dalis-story-because-i-have-no-content/ on 02/09/2010.

I SO WANT TO READ THIS: DEATHWISH

WISHLIST:
Deathwish by Rob Thurman
Book 4 of the Cal Leandros series

About Deathwish:

How I felt the mental stirrings of a bloodthirsty heritage when I passed through the gray light wasn’t my favorite topic…. The Auphe nature wasn’t mine. I wouldn’t let it be. And if I said that to myself over and over and sprinkled around enough frigging fairy dust, maybe it would be true.

Half-human Cal Leandros and his brother, Niko, are barely getting by with their preternatural detective agency when the vampire Seamus hires them. He’s being followed, and he wants to know by whom. But the Leandros brothers have to do more than they had planned when Seamus turns up dead (or un-undead). Worse still is the return of Cal’s nightmarish family’ the Auphe.

The last time Cal faced them, the Auphe were almost wiped out. Now they want revenge. Cal knows that before the Auphe get to him, they will try to destroy everything and everyone he holds dear. Because for the Auphe, Cal’s pain is a pleasure.

And they’re feeling good.

Source: Info in the About Deathwish was taken from the author's website at http://robthurman.net/cal-leandros/deathwish/ on 18/08/2010.

Movie Trailer: The Last Airbender

The story:

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film “The Last Airbender” is the opening chapter in Aang’s struggle to survive.

Sooo looking forward to August! This promises to be a spectacular movie experience:

The official movie site: www.thelastairbendermovie.com

Win a Blu-ray dvd player & copy of Avatar at This Is Money

Win a Blu-ray dvd player & copy of Avatar at This Is Money

The Five Greatest Warriors

The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly
Book 3 of the Jack West Jr series

About The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly:

Synopsis:
It Began With Six Stones

Jack West Jr and his loyal team are in desperate disarray: they've been separated, their mission is in tatters, and Jack was last seen plummeting down a fathomless abyss.

IT FINISHES HERE
After surviving his deadly fall, Jack must now race against his many enemies to locate and set in place the remaining pieces of The Machine before the coming Armageddon.

WHO ARE THE FIVE WARRIORS?
As the world teeters on the brink of destruction, he will learn of the Five Warriors, the individuals who throughout history have been most intimately connected to his quest.

OCEANS WILL RISE, CITIES WILL FALL
Scores will be settled, fathers will fight sons, brothers will battle brothers, and Jack and his friends will soon find out exactly what the end of the world looks like...

Source: Synopsis in the About The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly was taken from the author's website at http://matthewreilly.com/latest.html on 09/01/10.

Genre: action adventure

My Take On This Book:
Action-packed militaristic adventure. Modern fantasy. The story-telling quality is 4 out 5. Not a dull reading moment! This is the final book of the Jack West Jr. series and ends the saga very nicely. I would give the story climax a 4.5 out of 5. This book tied in all 3 Jack West books to a nice close. The ending is satisfying and does not disappoint despite the high expectations I had. Overall, I would give this book an entertainment value of 4.5 out of 5.

Cherry’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Jack West Jr. series reading order:

The Five Greatest Warriors
Book 3
ISBN: 9781405039338
Release Date: 20-10-2009
Pages: 480





The Six Sacred Stones
Book2

ISBN: 9781405038164
Release Date: 01-10-2007
Pages: 528





Seven Ancient Wonders
Book 1

ISBN: 9781405036924
Release Date: 01-10-2005
Pages: 480