Bogormen

Title: Dragon Kin: Lily & Oceana
Author: Audrey Faye, Shae Geary
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 165
Date read: September 2017, October 2021

The Dragon Star has chosen again - and this time, it must be mistaken.

Lily is off to an elf wedding with her friends, which might be a fate worse than death. So she thinks - until she sticks her fingers in the water of a river far from home. What she finds will change her life and challenge the bravest dragons she knows.

And might involve some accidental dragon soup.


I think I might actually like this one a little bit more than the first book in the series! I just got to care for Lily and Oceana in a much more profound way than I did Lotus and Sapphire (something I hadn't thought possible when I read the first book). I also thought the interactions with the dragons of old very fascinating, and thought it an interesting addition to the plot.

Though a bit slow to start (which is the only reason it took me a week to finish), I'll be recommending this far and wide, and can't wait to read the next one!

Title: End of Watch (Bill Hodges #3)
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 368
Date read: September, 2017

Retired Detective Bill Hodges now runs a two-person firm called Finders Keepers with his partner Holly Gibney. They met in the wake of the 'Mercedes Massacre' when a queue of people was run down by the diabolical killer Brady Hartsfield.

Brady is now confined to Room 217 of the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, in an unresponsive state. But all is not what it seems: the evidence suggests that Brady is somehow awake, and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak unimaginable havoc without ever leaving his hospital room.

When Bill and Holly are called to a suicide scene with ties to the Mercedes Massacre, they find themselves pulled into their most dangerous case yet, one that will put their lives at risk, as well as those of Bill's heroic young friend Jerome Robinson and his teenage sister, Barbara. Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city.

The clock is ticking in unexpected ways ...


I'm rather torn in my opinion of this one. As a book in its own right, I really liked it - as a conclusion of the Bill Hodges trilogy, not so much. It seemed as if Stephen King decided to change genre half-way through the series and that just seemed out of place. I have absolutely nothing against supernatural aspects in books, as long as it's true to its own universe, but when an otherwise completely realistic, present-world suspense novel suddenly introduces unrealistic supernatural elements it becomes jarring.

But putting that aside, this trilogy has reaffirmed my theory that I like Stephen King's newer books a LOT better than his older ones, and on Goodreads I'll still round this up to 4 stars rather than down to 3.

Title: Wizard's First Rule
Author: Terry Goodkind
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
# pages: Audiobook, ~34 hours
Date read: August 2011, September 2017, March 2022

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help ... and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence.

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-- to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed ... or that their time has run out.


Wizard's First Rule has been one of my all-time favourite fantasy books ever since I first discovered it, almost 15 years ago. I've probably read it about 6-8 times since then. While the later books in the series definitely have their weaknesses, this first one is fantasy when it's best (certainly beats LotR any day... but then I never was a Tolkien fan ;) ).

I always find it a lot harder to write reviews of books that I love rather than books I just like, because it feels like it just ends up as too much gushing. But I love the characters and the plot and the universe that Terry Goodkind has created. It's all neatly tied together in his writing, and I feel like I can disappear into it completely. This was my first time listening to the book rather than reading it myself, and I found myself doing extra loads of dishes, just so that I could listen to another chapter or two ;-)