Magician - Raymond E.Feist

Surprisingly on the second or third attempt - courtesy of a trade-off with my better half - I have managed to get passed the first chapter.
This is part one of a trilogy, so I am told, and it actually looks to be a progenitor of multiple spin-offs as well.

I may be hooked.
I was surprised to be hooked.
It's not that I don't enjoy science fiction / fantasy novels - I do.
It's just that after attempting this book before it just didn't seem to have the "grab factor" that I need.
It turns out that a bit of patience is a good thing some times.

I got passed the first few chapters and found that it wasn't a tough read at all. It became a very easy read. It does smack of a DnD background, with magic armour, dwarven warriors and mysterious 'all-knowing' magicians. Still, it didn't detract much from the story and by the end of Easter weekend I had read the whole 600-odd pages, which is something of a record for me. Last time I did that was in my last year of school and the book was Jane Austen's - Mansfield Park (the edition with that really tiny print - which resulted in me getting glasses!).

So in a nutshell, we follow the fate of a family of nobles (two brothers and a sister), and two Keep boys. A nice piece of fantasy in the making.
Add to this the concept of a space/time rift between planets and you mix in a small amount of science fiction.

The story progresses along with sundry battles, an introduction to the politics of the new world at the other side of the rift, characters growing and taking on responsibilities and challenges. You know. The usual stuff of sagas.
Remarkably I didn't find it too twee or overly routine. BUT it also smacks of the ever-present influence of the master of all saga fantasy - J.R.R.Tolkien.

The best recommendation I can give it is:
"I'm planning on reading the next one in the series."

So a 3.5 out of 5 for this novel of daring-do.

Rachel's Holiday - Marian Keyes

Following on the theme of reading *girly* books, I picked this up in the library a week ago.
I have to tell you, I couldn't put it down. I finished it in two days straight (one day was a Saturday). Well okay, I actually put the book down at 12:30 at night, so that makes two and a bit days !
I don't know what I was expecting this book to be from the cover description, but it wasn't what I expected. It is funny ! I don't know if that's because Marian Keyes is Irish or what? It is also painful and poignant. It can make you want to shake the main character and say "why can't you see?" And, probably most importantly it can make you question your own view of the world and your own view of yourself.
I don't know if I was just having a deep-and-meaningful weekend while I was reading this, but I found it to be a mini-lesson in self-help therapy. It prodded me to think about myself, my actions and what they might look like to the outside world. It prodded me to think about tolerance, compassion and understanding. It also promoted the idea of hope and redemption.
Perhaps the ending was a little bit twee. But, you know what? I liked it.
Sometimes twee is good.

But, please God, don't let Catherine Zeta-Jones play Rachel. Pleeeeaaaasseee !

I highly recommend this.

C is for Corpse, Death By Water & Queen of the Flowers

Okay, so I am on a serious crime fiction run at the moment.
These are more in two very different series of stories. The only real linkages are that they are crime and the central character for each series is a female. Actually, they are very strong women in their own settings.
Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone is an '80s woman - a private investigator, while Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher is a titled woman of the between-war years. But each is focused and independently strong in their own setting.

Hmm, that revelation only came to me when I decided to do an en masse entry for these three books. I suppose that theme really shouldn't surprise me, as I seem to be looking for what I would have considered *girly* books not so long ago. Fiction that revolves around a female lead character seems to have become my current reading of choice.

As per previous entries about other books in these series, they are a nice and easy read. Death By Water has a nice Kiwi touch being set onboard a fictional trans-Tasman P&O liner, with descriptions of Milford Sound and Dunedin as part of the storyline. All-in-all, very relaxing bedtime reading.