Review: The Infernal Devices (series) by Cassandra Clare

I've just finished up the last of this series of books, and because I read the second and third in short succession due to accidentally getting them out of order and having weird library due dates, it's impossible for me to separate them into individual books now.

So, a little background (but not nearly all there is, apparently, about the author... I'm only going to talk books): This series is set in historical London, and is the sequel series to The Mortal Instruments aka the "City of..." series. That series didn't particularly catch me - it was okay for introductory urban fantasy, but not something I'd reread. The Infernal Devices, to my mind, looked like it was going to be the same but trying to cash in on the steampunk craze of a year ago... but happily, it fared better than that initial impression.

The "romance" is terrible and coloured the main characters to the point where I didn't like them at all and started skipping through any section where the male love interest was thinking (unless it was about his best friend, who had an arc that while it wasn't what I'd wanted, at least didn't make me want to slap him) and any time where the main character and he were in the room together. It was that bad.

That said, if you can get past the romance and the anachronisms (no worse than other steampunk I've seen from the same era, but clearly not historical lit) and read just for the story, the plot of this series is actually kinda interesting (unlike Mortal Instruments, where the plot felt like rehashes of other series). It's just a pity it's so covered up by stupid teen angst, and that even if you cared about the love triangle, the end is such a huge cop out that it feels like the author was overly desperate to satisfy both camps of fans.

(If the character you liked most in Mortal Instruments was the warlock Magnus Bane, you'll be pleased to find that he features throughout these books as well.)

Review: Windrider's Oath by David Weber

Windrider's Oath is the third in the "War God" series by David Weber, which I'm quite enjoying. Up front, this is a series I've been actively recommending to people - it's the best epic fantasy series I've read in a long time. The first book, Oath of Swords, is available as a free ebook download from Baen at the moment: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-297-oath-of-swords.aspx

Oh, for first impressions: don't be put off by the cover art. M commented that Windrider's Oath didn't look very good based on the cover - it inexplicably depicts the absolute last scene in the book and has nothing to do with the rest of the story. I think they may have aimed for the covers across the series to show the camaraderie of the cast, but this one fell a little awkward.

Back to Windrider's Oath, though... I unfortunately think this has been the weakest of the series thus far. It suffered from having three almost entirely separate plots going at the same time (physically separated as well, so the characters only interact periodically at meeting points). It also spent a long time giving background/intro for new characters and locales when all I really wanted was more of the Champions, who I'd already come to know and like.

I still enjoyed it, though. My only complaint on the series is that characters sometimes 180 on their opinions unrealistically fast, but I can't even feel that strongly against it because they're always turning toward being better people. It's so much more lighthearted than I expected epic fantasy to be... you won't be surprised that I mentally compare it to the Sparhawk series of Eddings. In true Eddings style, it does have the tendency to continuously add new never-before-seen abilities to the characters, but that doesn't trouble me much.

The summary of what I like about this series is that it's consistently about good people doing good things for the right reasons. It's a joy to read.

Review: Ipsy 2013-12

This month's Ipsy bag has arrived! Up front, I'm going to say: after two months, I'm happily confident that I picked the right subscription service for me. I've been having overnight insomnia and reading a lot of blogs, and Ipsy is the closest to what I want - Makeup, not general products (moisterizers, peels, etc are not of interest to me), and at a reasonable price (even if I think the retail value of makeup is horrifically overpriced) for the level of entertainment.

Seeing my "Glam Room" (aka, Ipsy's website tells you what you're getting when they ship the bag), I was initially concerned that I'd be disappointed in getting the fragrance and false lashes options... but upon consideration, I really wasn't. Pre trying anything, I was still happy at the randomness and pleased to get a fragrance set where I can compare the men's and women's equivalent. No idea if I'll be willing to attempt false eyelashes (hardly seems worth it), but maybe I'll want them for costume some day.

Here's the overall shot of what I got this month:



The bag itself is worlds better than last month's. If I didn't already have a case for my 3DS, it might have been a contender (although it's a little tall, and I'd be bothered by the unsquare top left corner). The little diamonds are actually puffy/squishy, which amuses me to no end and makes it somewhat more protective. The zipper tag says Ipsy, as well.

( On to the specifics )

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Summary:

- Date received: 2013-12-16
- Cost: $14.95 + conversion
- Value: $50

Overall, I'm amused by this bag. Sure, some of the other options might have worked out a bit better for me, but I got random stuff and I tried it and that's all I needed.

If you're inspired to sign up and would like to use my referrer link (it gets me some points that can be redeemed for extra products), you can click through to Ipsy here: http://www.ipsy.com/r/1tpj