It is the
end of October and between one thing or another it has been a crazy busy month
for me. On top of the regular constant running for the Corner Table Kids, my
younger sister got married (necessitating an extra-long weekend trip away) and
my dad had a work accident and spent most of a week in the ICU. Needless to say
reading hasn’t been the #1 priority this month. However, I’m really quite good
at fitting in a chapter here, a few pages there, or whatever, so I figured I’d
let you know at least a bit about the books I’ve read this month!
Through
September I was reading the Dragon Kin series from G.A. Aiken and since I had
discovered I’d nearly missed one of its new releases I figured I’d better check
on release dates for my other favorite authors/series. And THAT is basically
how my October reading list was compiled! So, highlights…
Dark Legacy, book 31 in the Dark series from Christine Feehan
released September 5th. I had to re-read the previous title (Dark
Carousel) to basically re-grasp the thread of the storyline that this
book would follow – the Carpathian stories of the Dark series are sort of, but not really stand-alone novels in my
mind. I mean you can read any one of them by itself, at any time. It
would be a good story, you’d very likely enjoy it, but without the rest [of the
series] you may not understand everything that’s going on. With a series as
long standing and as richly diverse as the Dark
series is, honestly there is just so much history that’s drawn upon that not having
the series backstory can make it more difficult to follow. However, I’ve found
that in many ways the Dark series has
some natural groupings to the books that may make understanding it a bit easier
– by which I mean, for example, you wouldn’t necessarily have to read books 1-10
to understand book 15, you may just need to read book 13 & 14. (Those book
numbers are just examples, not actual recommendations.)
The Carpathian
stories of the Dark series are some
of my favorite to read. You have these men who are of varying degrees of
ancient, and everything that implies, and women who are quite simply modern. The
women have grown up in a world of relative gender equality and come to love
these ancient, in some ways barbaric men. They love them completely and they’re
loved completely in return. On the romance side of things every book is a joy
as you get to watch these two vastly different people figure out how to relate
to one another, while at the same time they’re falling head over heels in love
with one another. Dark Legacy is a perfect example, as we watch one of the most
ancient Carpathians (to date) fall in love with a woman who is quintessentially
modern with her expectations. I really liked it.
Sherrilyn
Kenyon writes a couple of my other absolute favorite series. From another
long-standing series, Dragonsworn is the 28th
book in the Dark-Hunters series and
came out in early August. This book is part of a story arc that began with Son
of No One (Dark-Hunters, #25) so I had a bit more to re-read before
diving in to it. Throughout the series there’ve been random comments about “the
dragon in the attic” at Sanctuary (the New Orleans bar that is a regular
feature in the stories). I’m not sure when I realized that there actually was a
dragon in the attic but this arc takes that, and a whole lot more, and runs with
it. Dragonsworn
pulls together a few threads of storyline that have been building for quite a
while and we’re finally beginning to see how they’re all entwined. At least that’s
what seems like to me.
Unlike
Feehan’s Dark series, in the Dark-Hunters it’s not just the written
history that’s immense, and it is, but world mythology is drawn on heavily as
well – which makes for unlimited possibilities when mixed in to fiction. That
fact right there, that’s one of the reasons I read every single Dark-Hunter book that comes out and why
I happily re-read the series over and over. Honestly, I’ve never read a Dark-Hunter (or associated series*)
story that I haven’t loved. Dragonsworn is no different.
*Kenyon has a number of series that exist
within or parallel to her Dark-Hunter world and the
stories/series are listed separately on her website, as well as all under the Dark-Hunter banner. These include: Dark-Hunters,
Dream-Hunters, Were-Hunters, Lords of Avalon, Hellchasers/Hell-Hunters, and Deadman’s Cross series.
The last
(new) book I read during October is also from Sherrilyn Kenyon and is the first
book in her Deadman’s Cross series.
As also part of the Dark-Hunter
world, Deadmen Walking has a couple previously well-known characters
and introduces a whole host of new and interesting folks for us to get to know
as well. The book actually released back in May (at the time I was a little
busy having a baby). I actually pre-ordered and purchased it at release time.
Then you know life got a little hectic and I forgot about it. I’m kicking
myself for not having read it sooner but boy, oh boy, was it worth the wait! I
loved it! The Deadman’s Cross may
well become a favorite series of mine all on its own, regardless of its
association under Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter
banner.
So what did
you read this October? Have you been re-reading old favorites? Discovering new
loves? Did you dive in to a spooky Halloween themed booklist for the month?
Really – what have you been reading?
