Tag: Fantasy

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Broken Melody – Excerpt (Chapter 6)

Excerpt Book

Selissa had no time to answer. Grabbing Rowan around the waist, she threw both of them out of the way as something came barreling past. As she tried to keep the stumbling Rowan from falling, Selissa took another look, because she couldn’t possibly have seen what she thought she had.

“Is that a Hellhound?” she muttered, but with all the screaming currently going on in the hall, her question drowned in the noise. 

“What’s going on?” Rowan demanded, clinging to Selissa to keep her footing. 

“I have absolutely no idea,” Selissa said honestly and pushed the other woman against the wall. “Stay here. Try not to look tasty.” 

“What?!” But Selissa had already left her, dodging between the panicking guests and running toward what, undeniably, looked like a rampaging Hellhound. 

Who the hell let a demon in here? Selissa thought frantically. Admittedly she didn’t have that much experience with fancy banquets, but she hadn’t expect the entertainment to be quite this unconventional.

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The Bookish Owl – King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Another day, another pretty book: King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo.

This book is part of the Grishaverse, of which I thoroughly enjoyed the original trilogy. ‘King of Scars’ focuses on some of the supporting characters from the Shadow and Bone trilogy and it was really interesting to get a look inside their heads. Zoya, who was a total bitch in the original trilogy, ended up being my favorite. Mind you, she’s still a total bitch, but when you get to see more of her character you start to understand why. Besides, she’s a bitch who fights so very hard to protect her country and those under her command, and that makes her a likable bitch.

Of course there’s also Nikolai, the dashing Prince-turned-Pirate-turned-Prince-turned-Monster-turned-King. For once he got outshined by other characters, but to be fair to him he was dealing with turning into a monster at night and attacking livestock…

I had not expected this book to be part of a duology, so now I’m rather miffed that I have to wait for the next book. I’m off to sulk.

King of Scars
by Leigh Bardugo

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

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Confessions of a D&D Dice Hoarder

Dungeons and Dragons Player Book and Dice

You know what sucks about this whole social distancing thing?

(I mean, except for people dying, the economy collapsing, people losing their jobs, etc…)

My D&D groups have to cancel all gaming sessions.

Dungeons and Dragons Player Book and Dice

I don’t even have any online groups going at the moment, and even if I did, the convenience provided by Roll20 eliminates the need for one of my favorite things… Dice.

I looove dice sets. I don’t know why. It’s not like any of us ever used to obsess over the six-sided die in the family’s Monopoly set, but as soon as you start playing Dungeons & Dragons, there’s some switch in your brain that gets flicked and you suddenly need an incredibly fancy set of dice for each of your characters, each with a backup set in case the first one gets jinxed and you start rolling fail after fail.

I don’t know if all tabletop gamers get like this, or if I just mainly play with girls, and girl gamers need something to replace normal women’s obsession with shoes…

But I’m not the one among my friends spending the most on new dice I don’t need. I’m just the only one who will impulse-buy three cheap sets on eBay in her lunch break at work and now own the most SETS of dice. Luckily I’m too cheap to purchase any of those beautiful amethyst dice sets I see on Twitter. I just follow the maker’s account and drool over the photos.

But some of the cheap sets I have are rather lovely. And a fellow player informed me that they were well-balanced in the sort of mansplainy voice that makes me think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I should probably do the water test on them, but as long as they are reliably one-shotting enemies and almost getting me killed in the same session, I chose to trust them.

Ruby red dice set White dice set

So, that’s where I’m at. Just spreading my 68 favorite dice (yes, those are just my favorites) across my living room table and staring longingly at them, remembering better times, and then deciding I can’t be assed to clean up the mess I just made.

But honestly, 2020 was supposed to be the year for the geeks. We were all so excited for our dice-themed New Years photos, so 2020…?

What about giving the players just a few crits?

Dice 2020 D&D

Have you written any posts showcasing your dice? Today, I’m giving you full permission to plug your blog by posting links to them in the comments!
Go on… Feed my dice craving.

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The Bookish Owl – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We’re back in owl territory with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling.

Of course every book is owl territory when I’m involved, but I have to say something in these posts, right?

By the way, this is not the book to be reading after dropping your owl off for surgery. It is not an effective way of distracting yourself. Big spoiler alert, but there’s a lot of owls in this book, y’all.

All kidding aside, I had forgotten how creepy the scenes in the Department of Mysteries were, what with brains floating in water tanks and that horrifying scene with the Death Eater with the baby head. Remember, this is a series of kids’ books. I might have been a messed-up kid (when you got a 5 years older brother, you see a lot of horror movies and kill a lot of hookers in GTA), but it’s still a wonder I didn’t have nightmares about this.

But all that stuff isn’t what people remember about The Order of the Phoenix, is it?

They remember Umbridge.

I was prepared for Umbridge, because she’s so utterly awful that she’s edged into your childhood memory. But really, she’s not as awful as she seemed as a kid. Honestly, she’s just a more extreme version of the type of person you have to deal with in your adult life. We have all had a boss or a manager with a ruthless streak and a near sociopathic way of dealing with people, right? If you haven’t, just turn on the news and watch the political leaders of the world for a bit. That should do it. It’s hard to be amazed by how far the Ministry of Magic is willing to go once you have dealt with today’s political scene for a few years.

This got surprisingly deep, so let’s get back to my usual brand of enthusiastic rambling:

McGonagall.

Professor McGonagall was the MVP of this book and every scene with her is amazing. I would give my left foot to read a series that’s just about her dealing with students and other everyday problems at Hogwarts.

(I had already written this before I realized Artemis no longer has his left foot in the photo below – I swear its unrelated and that he’s not the victim of me making some shady deal with Rowling!)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
by J. K. Rowling

Dark times have come to Hogwarts. After the Dementors’ attack on his cousin Dudley, Harry Potter knows that Voldemort will stop at nothing to find him. There are many who deny the Dark Lord’s return, but Harry is not alone: a secret order gathers at Grimmauld Place to fight against the Dark forces. Harry must allow Professor Snape to teach him how to protect himself from Voldemort’s savage assaults on his mind. But they are growing stronger by the day and Harry is running out of time.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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The Bookish Owl – The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

Cower, mortals, before The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman!

(I’m running out of ideas for intros…)

I was getting a little tired of this series by the time I reached this book, but it exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed it. This could be because the overall plot was similar to Broken Melody (which I was still writing at the time) and there’s nothing I like better than relaxing with a book and calling it research.

In ‘The Mortal Word’, we got an insidious plot in the middle of a peace treaty negotiation between dragons and Fae, multiple suspects, and everyone having their own agenda. I assure you it will fill your quota for secrets and drama. There could also be werewolves, but it’s possible I’m confusing the books…

The Mortal Word
by Genevieve Cogman

When Irene returns to London after a relatively straightforward book theft in Germany, Bradamant informs her that there is a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference in progress that the Library is mediating, and that the second-in-command dragon has been stabbed to death. Tasked with solving the case, Vale and Irene immediately go to 1890s Paris to start their investigation.

Once they arrive, they find evidence suggesting that the murder victim might have uncovered proof of treachery by one or more Librarians. But to ensure the peace of the conference, some Librarians are being held as hostages in the dragon and Fae courts. To save the captives, including her parents, Irene must get to the bottom of this murder–but was it a dragon, a Fae, or even a Librarian who committed the crime?

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman