Alanna is a full-fledged knight and leaves the court of Tortall to seek adventure in the southern deserts. She encounters a nomadic desert tribe, and is forced into a duel for her life. If she wins the duel, she will be adopted by the tribe as a Bazhir warrior. The Shaman of the Bazhir tribe warns the people that Alanna will anger the gods and bring calamity to them all, and Alanna has to prove that she is as good as any man, not just with a sword but with her magic too.

Once again, I was extremely disappointed in this book. Alanna is so great when she's fighting, and helping people with her magic, and making friends, and teaching youngsters to control their budding magic. She is hardworking and tough and compassionate. She is such a delight in those scenes!

And then she goes sleeping around with two different men. This is not a series for middle grade! I just don't understand why any of that is in this book. It serves no purpose in the plot. It's not romantic at all, because they just hop into bed together. There's no romantic scenes, no slow burn, no will-they-won't-they. If the romance had been written with stolen glances, and one or two innocent kisses, and then hand-holding in the middle of a chaotic scene to show how they rely on one another emotionally during a crisis, THEN it would have served a purpose in the plot and shown the characters to best advantage, AND been appropriate for a middle grade or YA book. I don't know what the author could have been thinking, making her main character promiscuous. It makes me so angry!!!! GAH! I hate seeing a character I love go down such a bad path, making bad decisions, and then being held up as a role model for young people.

I really loved the desert setting with the shaman magic and the Bezhir tribes. Their culture was richly described and the characters were well written. But I wish that the Bezhir characters had had a little more development. They are rather stagnant, and seem to exist only to create a plot point for Alanna, not to have their OWN stories with their own agendas and background.

I knew I was losing interest in the story when one of the supporting characters died, and I was like... meh. Don't really care. But I didn't care because there wasn't much time spent on his story or on the grief of the other characters after his death. They didn't spend much time grieving him, so neither did I.

As with the other books in this series, there were many things in the book that I liked, and many more that I didn't like. There is so much great potential there for a really wonderful story, but the author takes too many wrong turnings in the plot and gets away with sloppy writing. I'm still going to read the last book, but I'm not a happy reader at this point.

A collection of stories from a fictitious club of writers, including the hilarious Mr. Pickwick, who share various anecdotes and short stories amongst the members of the club. These lead into the serialized novels of "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge", serving as an introduction for fictional narrators of those stories.

Some of the anecdotes are creepy and ghostly, some are funny, some are historical. Some have tragic romance, or supernatural witches. Some are just lively tales of everyday life.

They are all certainly interesting and varied, but so disconnected and strangely unfinished that I couldn't really enjoy them.

Most of them don't have satisfactory endings, and I like a story to have a point to it. Why go through all that set-up and adventure and emotional drama if there's no reason, no point, no ending to the whole thing?

I'm not particularly impressed with the stories, although the writing is good.

There are no words to describe my experience with this book. There were parts that I hated, but there were far many more parts that I fell in love with! The writing is so brilliant that I forgot that it was writing. The story is so engrossing that I forgot it was only a story. The characters are so near to my heart that I forgot they are just characters. It became real for me, and that is probably why I hated and loved it and was fascinated with every page. Every word in each sentence spoke to me in some way, whether good or bad, pleasant or upsetting.

I hate and love Kvothe, the main character, but it is impossible to merely dislike or be indifferent to him. The drama and passion that are there can't be ignored or brushed off. This whole story invokes such a wild reaction in my mind that I am carried away on the waves of the story, drowning in it.
This reaction was especially powerful because I read it so quickly and spent so much time every day immersed in that world.

As with the first book, the balanced pacing in the plot development is perfection. All those enigmas and little mysteries being solved and explained just as a new puzzle is introduced; answers to the questions are given, just as a new question is posed.

Also the same as the first book, the descriptions of musicians, how they love their instruments, and how they feel about performing or composing... all these are absolute perfection, and really touched a deep place in my musician's heart. One of the main reasons I love Kvothe is because of his music.

So now I am dying for that last book! What exquisite torture to wait for the end of a fascinating story.

Alanna is finally a knight errant, following quests for magical objects and roaming beyond the lands of Tortall. But she still isn't quite happy with her fate, and longs to do another great deed for her country to prove her worth as a knight. She sets out on a quest for the mountains at the Rim of the World to win the Dominion Jewel, rumored to bring prosperity to any country whose ruler owns the jewel. While Alanna journeys in distant lands, Tortall is in danger again from the evil Duke Roger, who threatens Prince Jonathan from beyond the grave.

Once again, I was very disappointed in this book. How many lovers can this girl have in 4 books?!?! It's disgusting and ridiculous how she sleeps around with these men and she's still a teenager!! I couldn't enjoy the rest of the book because the romance is so idiotic and gross.

The plot is pretty good, but somewhat disappointing. I liked the magic, but I wish that it were better explained. There's some kind of spell that leaches magic from Alanna's twin, Thom, but it's never satisfactorily explained what is happening there. Duke Roger has some evil plan afoot, but his motivations are unclear even at the end. Did he want all of Tortall to collapse? Did he want the throne? I don't know what the villain wants!! I don't know. Lazy storytelling.

There's some good adventure, but it feels rushed. Some of the most climactic scenes fall flat because they are brushed over too quickly. There's not as much depth to the story as there could be. Key scenes have this big build-up and then the climax is nothing spectacular. I found the same problem in all the books in this series.

I'm just glad to be done with this series, and I probably will NOT be reading any more Tamora Pierce books. I can't understand why people love them so much. Not my cup of tea.

The cuteness!! The adorableness!! The sillyness! I can't get enough of Narwhal and Jelly. They are so cute and lovable! Narwhal has some strange eating habits, so Jelly tries to help him broaden his culinary comfort zone with hilarious results.

Each little comic is so delightfully funny! I laughed my head off, and smiled and chuckled with glee. I love the simple yet striking illustrations, and the bright colors. I love the sweetly imaginative dialogue and storylines.

I can imagine reading this aloud to a child and having so much fun together!

Disclaimer: I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley, in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

Not my favorite Dickens short story. A chilling mystery, but a long build-up for a plain ending.

An interesting little story, but too short to have a satisfactory ending. George Silverman gives his little life story, from his childhood in the slums to his education, his ordination, and short clerical career.

He meets a beautiful woman; but convinced of his own unworthiness, he persuades her to fall in love with another man, with a more illustrious background.

Throughout the story, there is an emphasis on suppressing one’s own worldly inclination to selfishness, deceit, or greediness. George makes every effort at self improvement, until he has a reputation for kindness, generosity, and innocence. But then he is accused of a heinous deceit and discovers who his true friends are, and who will stand by him when he is falsely maligned.

I wish that the ending were better organized, with a more satisfactory conclusion. Otherwise, this is a touching little story!

I don’t even know what this is. The grammar is atrocious. The writing is so verbose, full of random adjectives and adverbs, that I can’t make any sense of the actual story.

Many of the words are misused, adding to the confusion. The style is unnecessarily flowery, to the point where you have to dig through paragraphs of description and nonsense to get to an actual plot point.

I don’t know who any of the characters are or what they are doing or what they want. There is no clear storytelling.

Examples of misused words:
“ A single tear was produced but quickly wept with the wind.”
“She looked to the sky with hesitance...”
“She hugged tightly upon her waning figure,”
“Her determination was beginning to confuse itself.”

Examples of verbose writing:
“More tears had formed, and the steady trickle of salinity would outlast the winds as a crust began to form upon the cracks of her upper lips.”
(How many upper lips does she have?!?!)

“It wasn’t how he wanted it, but the anticipated slow decay of her innocence couldn’t be well safeguarded given the circumstance of his gamble. “
(What does that even mean?!?!)

This book desperately needs an editor.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

Joe, Bill, and Pete are fixing up their boat, the Death and Glory, with bunks, cupboards, and a little stove, so that they can camp out on the river all winter long. When someone starts casting off boats in the middle of the night, it gets blamed on the boys, and they have to prove their innocence. With the help of Coot Club members, Tom, Dick, and Dorothea, they start their own detective agency to track down the real culprits.

As always, I adore this interesting story, full of nautical knowledge and adorable characters. The plot really keeps the mystery moving as each clue comes to light, and the desperation and anxiety of the characters keeps the tension high, even if some of the plot points are a little predictable. The story is not so much about the mystery, as it is about how the characters follow the mystery.

Each character is so REAL, with their own little quirks and funny ideas different from the others. Young Pete is one of the most hilarious characters, because he is SUCH a child. Just like a real child with silliness and seriousness and his own mistaken ideas about the little world he lives in. The things he says are just so boyish and REAL. A little boy actually says just those sorts of things. I love how all these characters come to life on every page!

Reading this for the 3rd time, I love it just as much as the first time! Coots Forever!

Love this book so much! From the first word, we are plunged straight into the action. This author really knows how to write fight scenes! The plot kept me guessing, and I loved discovering the Dream kingdoms. The world-building is just amazing! So imaginative and different from anything I've ever read.

I adore every single character; they are all so different! I especially love that the genius little sister has my name, but spells it differently, "Kaylie".
The main character, Archer, is a great hero! Brave and strong, but flawed and prideful. He makes mistakes and regrets them, learns his lesson, then makes mistakes again. A well-rounded character, and I loved seeing him taking care of his family.

The dynamic between Archer's friends and acquaintances both in Reality and in the Dream was really interesting. Do we like them? Do we trust them? Are they good people or bad? So much mystery with the relationships between people and how they fit into the overall plot. What secrets are they hiding? It was especially engaging to see them all grow and change and fall.

I wish there had been more resolution at the end. There were a lot of loose strings that I wanted to see wrapped up, but I guess I'll have to read the second book for that!

I was laughing and crying and gasping in surprise. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, all my nerves tense with suspense. I can't get enough of this author! I want to read all his books.