It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's been a week or four since I did this - I had about nine or 10 days where I didn't pick up a book at all but I'm back into the reading swing of things again now.

Your meme is here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

On the pile, as it were, this week are The Demi-monde: Winter by Ron Rees, Tender Morsels by Margot Langan and The Larnachs by Owen Marshall.

I have all three started, and The Larnachs is my 'at-work' read during break times, so it's just a matter of finding time for the other two - lol.

Happy reading! :-)

The Silent Land review

Jake and Zoe are celebrating their 10-year marriage with a skiing holiday in the Pyrenees.

They're out on the slopes when an avalanche strikes, burying them both in the snow.

They dig out, and head back to their hotel in the village, only to find it completely abandoned. They're freaked out at first, naturally, especially because they don't seem to be able to leave the village. Every time they try, they end up back at the hotel.

Jake and Zoe come to the same revelation at different times _ that they died in the avalanche, and are in some kind of afterlife.

I love Graham Joyce. I possibly mentioned this last year when I read Memoirs of a Master Forger, but I love  him. He writes these amazing, short novels that are just. Incredible reads. He packs so much in and nothing is wasted.

The Silent Land is no exception. Jake and Zoe's initial puzzlement over their situation, and their inevitable acceptance of the inevitable unfolds in such a way that you feel like you're right there along with them. The pacing is perfect and the revelations, while not surprising for readers I don't think, evolve naturally for Jake and Zoe. Joyce doesn't assume he's springing any surprises on us, but at the same time, when Jake and Zoe reach the same conclusions, you feel deeply for them.

They're deeply flawed, deeply human, and very much in love.

Jake and Zoe find themselves reflecting on the nature of love and of loss, as they both recall the loss of their respective fathers, and how very different the afterlife is.

S
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However, and perhaps most heartbreakingly, it turns out that only one of them is actually dead ...

City of Fallen Angels review

Have you noticed that no one writes trilogies any more? Every single series seems to be at least four or five books. Back in my day ... wait, never mind. Just get off my lawn.

Anyway. The Mortal Instruments series started out as a trilogy, and things were wrapped up fairly neatly _ I thought _ at the end of book three.

However, that hasn't stopped Cassandra Clare from starting a prequel series to The Mortal Instruments, and adding to the series itself with City of Fallen Angels.

I digress.

City of Fallen Angels is pretty good. I had some issues with the original trilogy but writing-wise Clare seems to have hit her stride a bit, and it's very readable. It took me a day or so, and it was partly because it was easier to just keep reading than to put it down, but part of it was definitely I wanted to know what happened next.

Clary is training to be  a Shadowhunter, she believes she has the most awesome boyfriend ever in Jace and all the things seem to be going well. Until Jace seems to withdraw from Clary, and Shadowhunters start turning up dead.

Well, you can't have everything, now, can you?

So there's fighting, and more worldbuilding, and a fair amount of explaining. (I read this a few weeks ago so forgive the sketchy review), and everything SEEMS to be all right in the end ... stay tuned.

7/10 Someone else cooks dinner – yay