What Dawn Is Reading Today - 5/31/09

If you're new to Write Well Me, read this to understand why I tell you what I'm reading.  :-)

I finished Tad Williams's Shadowplay.  It was much better than the first in the series, Shadowmarch. Not that Shadowmarch was awful - obviously, it wasn't or I wouldn't have gone on to read the second in the series.  By the end of Shadowmarch, the character development was in full bloom and the action sequences were rich.  Those good things came to light fully and completely in Shadowplay.

In retrospect, it felt like Williams was trying to build history and character development in Shadowmarch before he could get to the "real" stuff.  The story was compelling, but not enough to get me to read it very fast.  Shadowplay, on the other hand, had me reading beyond breakfast and lunch, a true mark of a good book.  :)

Unfortunately for me, though, Williams isn't finished with the third book in the series.  I hope he doesn't take too long, as I have been known to lose interest while waiting for the next book (see Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series - I got so tired of waiting for the next book, and I didn't want to go back and reread the six or seven HUGE novels to get caught back up.  I abandoned the series).

So now I'm waiting, but I'm putting that time to good use. My three favorite authors have all come out with new books, and because my SOP is to reread the last one before reading the newest one, I have six books lined up!

I will confess that I've already read Charlaine Harris's From Dead to Worse immediately followed by Dead and Gone.  Back to back, chain reading last Monday, and I can't tell you the last time I did that.

Now, I'm on to Kim Harrison and The Outlaw Demon Wails. I'm really glad I'm rereading it because I've forgotten so much, and I'd hate to go into White Witch, Black Curse woefully ignorant.

Comments

[Laura Allen]

Tad Williams became one of my favorite authors with Tailchaser's Song. His trilogy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is one of the best fantasy series EVER.

I could never get into Otherland, maybe I'll try again with Shadowmarch...

You've inspired me to order the first books in the series for Harris, Harrison, and Hamilton. Are you into H authors or what? Thanks for the helpful (and funny) reviews!

BTW ~ have you discovered Sharon Shinn? Excellent character development in her five (so far) book fantasy series of The Twelve Houses; start with Mystic and Rider.
Vugs!