Friday Booktalk
Jul
27
2007

Slower this week because I’ve been editing/revising and haven’t felt exceptionally well. But I finished two books.

Anne Stuart’s Ice Blue

love Anne Stuart. I love her arrogant, control freak heroes and most of the time I love her heroines.

When we caught a glimpse of Taka O’Brian in Cold As Ice I had a feeling he’d be next and I wasn’t disappointed to hear he’d be taking center stage in Ice Blue.

In fact, I wasn’t disappointed in anything about Ice Blue. This is classic Stuart, a hero who isn’t typical by any stretch. Flawed, damaged, hard as nails and you wonder if there’s even a heart in there sometimes. But there is and slowly, Taka’s character unfurls even as Summer’s own does too.

I haven’t ever read a Stuart novel where it felt comfortable and Ice Blue is no exception. Her books aren’t for the faint of heart or if you’re in the mood for a softer love story. From the first page, she will shove you to the edge and keep you there the whole time. It’s a powerful, exhausting way to write and I admire her skill greatly.

Anyway, as you can tell, I loved the book and I’ll definitely be back for more. She’s setting the stage for Isobel to get a story and that little bit between Reno and Jilly was telling too. I can’t wait.

And JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

There’s not a lot I can say without spoilers so I’ll be general. I loved it. I loved the epilogue. I disagree most vehemently with people who assert Hermione was dumbed down when it was Hermione who saved the trio several times through the book. It’s her quick thinking and spine that really frame the story. In fact, I have to say of all the characters in the book, it’s hers I liked the most this time out.

Rowling tied up the loose story threads quite adeptly. Yes, there’s a lot of death and it’s a dark, dark story. She’s said all along that the books are generally written for the age Harry is in each book and I think for any kids under 15 or so, it might be a bit much although my ten year old is excited to read it and after his father does, I’m sure he will. This is war. This is the end of the world type stuff and Voldemort is a bad dude. It’s no surprise he has people killed, it’s why harry is ready to sacrifice everything to stop him. So for me, it would have been pulling punches to not have it be as violent and dark as it was.

I wish I’d seen more Ginny. The middle lagged a bit and stuff happened off the page that would have been better told on the page while a bunch of stuff told on the page could have been better saved off. But that’s minor compared to the way Rowling tied up 10 years of this story. I’ll miss Harry and his friends very much.

2 comments to “Friday Booktalk”

  1. Pamk
    July 27th, 2007 at 7:50 pm · Link

    Here’s hoping that she’ll write more books.



  2. Jorrie Spencer
    July 27th, 2007 at 8:27 pm · Link

    I’m rather hoping Rowling will write a next generation series. But we’ll see.

    I, too, thought she did a good job wrapping up a big series. Even if my interest in the series peaked at book 3. I didn’t like the way she handled a couple of characters, but it was still a major accomplishment.