Friday Five: Book Raid on Borders

Krispy and I have been hitting up Borders quite a bit recently in light of their increasing sales. I have a crapload of new books to read, which is not much consolation for the fact that my local bookstore that I adore will soon be no more, which thought I quite abhor as it wounds me to the core.

At first I picked up books that I'd read or been wanting to read. As the books became cheaper, I started picking up books I'd never heard of but were by authors that I liked. And as the books became even cheaper, I bought books that sounded interesting and were worth chancing a few bucks on.

Here are five books I've picked up over the past few weeks:

1. Pegasus by Robin McKinley: I like the author and though I'd heard the book was slow and light on plot, the worldbuilding is supposed to be amazing. Plus it was the only copy, hardback, and 60% off. It's about a princess living in a country where every member of the royal family is ceremonially bound to a pegasus because they are allies. I started it a while ago and got a ways into it.  The evil guy is really obviously evil and named Fthoom.  That's not a typo.

But let me tell you—Princess Sylvi is all right but oh, Ebon, her pegasus. So far, he is endearing and hot. If only I were a pegasus. Or, you know, he was human. I do draw a line, you know. Regretfully.

2. Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce: Another author I like, with books that are awesome and books that are so-so. I hadn't heard of this particular one and after reading the back—some girl named Evvy training to be a stone mage who befriends a living mountain and they have to find out why plants and animals are dying and stuff—I thought it sounded interesting but not riveting. I started to shelve it and then took a second look at the cover. Was that an Asian girl on the cover? All right, so you're not supposed to judge books by their cover, but HELL YEAH DIVERSITY SUPPORT so I bought the book. Ahem. (Plus, Tamora Pierce writes a variety of cultures very well, without exoticizing them.)

3. Wizard of the Grove by Tanya Huff: Non-YA fantasy author who is supposed to be a good writer, and whose stuff I have never read. The blurb is pretty standard fantasy-fare about how some evil guy is out to rule the world, and so the remnants of the Elder Races give one final gift to the world: the last wizard, a girl named Crystal. While her name sort of turns me off, I perused the first couple of chapters and the political intrigue and writing are pretty good. Plus the evil guy is having his enslaved enemies build him a giant tower out of huge marble blocks, mortared together with "the strongest mortar"—which is life. Which means that his enemies are chained down and each marble block is dropped on top of them. That's pretty evil.

4. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Krispy read this one and said it was good, and Borders had a hardcover copy of the original pretty cover (not the re-design which unexcites me and yes, unexcite is a verb that exactly describes how I feel when comparing the original and the re-design)—in their bargain section. I picked it up but haven't read it yet. Steampunk army VS bio-engineered army in alternate history? I'm so there. Or will be, after I've read a metric boatload of other books.

Krispy did warn me that the first book reads more MG than YA and that the second book is better than the first.  Our friend Luce couldn't get through Leviathan because it read too "young" for her, so I am armed with forewarning and can adjust my expectations accordingly.

5. A Mermaid's Ransom by Joey W. Hill: Trashy romance!  Gotten for like 70% off!  Never heard of the author or the book but I thought the cover was interesting and made me snicker.  I, er, didn't realize quite how scandalous it was since the Borders sticker was covering the little discreet bit on the back that said "erotic romance," which is a tad racier than the usual Regency/fantasy romance lulz I go for.  But I had to buy it because—well, here, for this one I'll actually give you the blurb on the back of the book, with bold to emphasize points of interest:

Daughter to an angel and a mermaid, Alexis has grown up with blue waters caressing her skin. So when nightmares begin to plague her—dreams of fire and fear—the merangel has little idea what to make of it. In her dream is the loneliest man Alexis has ever seen—and she's strangely drawn to him. Until the night her dreams come true…

Born of a vampire and a Dark One, Dante has only known brutality. And although he's the leader of the Dark Ones' underworld, he longs to escape. How better to do so than to hold for ransom the Prime Legion Commander's daughter? But there's one thing Dante never planned for—the way Alexis has stolen his heart, giving him the chance to embrace life instead of darkness…if he can prove himself worth of her love.

She's a merangel. And yes, her natural form is a mermaid with feathery wings, she can fly as well as breathe underwater, she's also an empathy and can feel others' emotions, and she literally radiates angelic light—which is not visible but felt, and makes it so that people are naturally comfortable around her and want to protect her, which means that she never has a chance to develop a romantic relationship with a guy because they're all too comfy around her.  Except Dante, of course.

Ahem. This one I already finished reading and it is as ridiculous as it sounds, if not more so. However, it is actually not nearly as badly-written-laughable as I expected. It was actually pretty decent—better than some of the YA I've been reading lately.


So! There's a peek at my books spoils. Have any of you been hitting up the bookstore lately?

And a special shout-out from our Krispy, who's kickin' it NYC-style!  She says, "Thank you for all the well-wishes!  And do any of you have any NYC things I must see and/or eat?"