Arrows Flight - Mercedes Lackey

Arrow's Flight
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright: 1987
978-0886773779

The amazon.com product description:

Follows the adventures of Talia as she travels the land as a Herald of Valdemar in the second book in the classic epic fantasy Arrows trilogy

Talia could scarcely believe that she had finally earned the rank of full Herald. Yet though this seemed like the fulfillment of all her dreams, it also meant she would face trials far greater than those she had previously survived. For now Talia must ride forth to patrol the kingdom of Valdemar, dispending Herald's justice throughout the land.

But in this realm beset by dangerous unrest, enforcing her rulings would require all the courage and skill Talia could command—for if she misused her own special powers, both she and Valdemar would pay the price!

Arrow's Flight is the sequel to Arrows of the Queen, Mercedes Lackey's introductory book in the world of Valdemar. It's also a book I've read and re-read many times. The most recent re-read can be found here. I should also note that I chose to re-read this one now for the Valdemar Reading Challenge that I run every year.

Either way, the last few times I've picked up Arrow's Flight, I've found more and more that there are parts of the book that irritate me a bit - mostly the fact that much of it seems to be misunderstanding central - and yet, each of those misunderstandings seems to build logically off the of the last. Of course, there are also plenty of amusing moments and we see Heralds on circuit in detail.

There were a few details that had me going "how is this supposed to work?" on this read through, one of which was the "fumigation bombs" that Kris and Talia use in the waystations. I couldn't help but think of the possibility of one setting the place on fire inadvertently if it landed in the wrong place/something had been knocked over and the like. Other than that, as someone else pointed out, much of the book is two people talking about a third person not currently with them - mostly foreshadowing for the third book.

Other than that, it was neat to see the Queen relaxing, and to get a first glimpse of Eldan, who we see primarily in parts of By The Sword, and also IIRC in Owlsight. I have to say, this is also the book that makes me want to hear some of the music described - namely Sun and Shadow. Think I'm going to have to head for YouTube to see if I can find some recordings of this or some of the other music that goes with the world of Valdemar. It's a bit hard to believe, but I've been reading these books for more than twenty years now, known about the music for a while, but never taken the time to go hunting for any of it before.

Arrow's Flight is definitely a "middle book" if you know what I mean, and sets up some of the situations for the third book, Arrow's Fall. Still, it's a read that I enjoyed, and I'm quite disappointed that part of the cover of my copy fell apart on this read. And I've since discovered that part of the cover on my copy of Arrow's Fall is missing too - I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the condition of my books.

Arrows of the Queen - Mercedes Lackey

Arrows of the Queen
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright Date: 1987
978-0886773786

The amazon.com product description:

Follows the adventures of Talia as she trains to become a Herald of Valdemar in the first book in the classic epic fantasy Arrows trilogy

Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen’s own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.

But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason that could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen’s heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen’s own foes. 

The very first Mercedes Lackey I ever read if my memory's not playing tricks on me (I know the date is more or less correct as I remember the waits for the third of the Gryphon set and also for the later Mage Storms books to be published), back in the mid '90's. I've been hooked ever since! I remember initially borrowing this trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall) from my local library and renewing it twice (I wanted to re-read the books right away). At any rate, I chose to re-read this one now for the Valdemar Reading Challenge I've been running again this year.

Arrows of the Queen was the first book Mercedes Lackey wrote in this world and it is still one of the best entry-points I think. We, along with Talia, get introduced to the basic concepts of how this world and the country of Valdemar work, along with a brief history of it. In some ways it's a bit idealistic, but not by too much - I could wish more of the countries in the "Real World" worked as well as Valdemar seems to.

When I was borrowing Arrows of the Queen and the other Valdemar novels from the library, this trilogy was shelved with the YA books. I still think that it's equally as good a read for the teen audience as the adult fantasy readers. For the most part there's nothing too, too graphic in them, and many of the issues that Talia and the other characters face may resonate with younger readers - though I wouldn't suggest much younger than teens.

Like most of the other Valdemar-based novels, this is one that I can nearly always come back to and enjoy no matter how I'm feeling.

All of what I said here has been said previously in my earlier review of this book, found here. Honestly, I expect I'll be saying it again in some future year too. I've lost count of how many times I've re-read this one.

The Valdemar Reading Challenge 2017 - My Participation Post

2017 has begun, as of today, so that marks the opening day of the Valdemar Reading Challenge!

Here is where I'm going to be listing and linking my participating reads through the year, and I've already planned out my first choice: Tempest: All New Tales of Valdemar.

The rules of the challenge are as follows;

Image credits found at
http://endaewen.deviantart.com/art/Herald-and-Companion-499210107

Running from January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017

I'm challenging people to have a go at one of my long-time favorite authors and worlds of books: Mercedes Lackey's world of Valdemar. It's one of my go-to worlds, with plenty of reading material and characters.

If you're a fan of fantasy and haven't given any of these books a try, 2017 is the year to do it! Magic - of varying flavors and styles, horses, and books that are great for everyone from young readers (some of them, anyway) on through to those young at heart. If you already know and love the series, this is the year for that big re-read!


There are several good entry-points to this series now, ranging from the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall) to the Collegium Chronicles, which starts with Foundation.

The Rules of the Challenge:

1. Level One: 3-6 books.
2. Level Two: 6-12 books.
3. Level Three: All of the Valdemar books.
4. Level Four: All of the Valdemar books, plus any two of the Valdemar anthologies.
5. Bonus books: Any other Mercedes Lackey titles from her other series, including the Elemental Masters, Diana Tregarde, Five Hundred Kingdoms etc.
6. Any reads for this challenge do count towards any other challenges you are participating in.
7. To join up, just leave a comment here signing up, and, should you choose, comment with the links to your reviews of the books you've read.
8. This is the most important rule of them all: Have fun!

My participating reads:

1. Owlflight
2. Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Bonus read)
3. Owlsight
4. The Ship Who Searched (Bonus Read)
5. Arrows of the Queen
6. Arrow's Flight
7. 
   

The Valdemar Challenge 2017

Image credits found at
http://endaewen.deviantart.com/art/Herald-and-Companion-499210107

Running from January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017

I'm challenging people to have a go at one of my long-time favorite authors and worlds of books: Mercedes Lackey's world of Valdemar. It's one of my go-to worlds, with plenty of reading material and characters.

If you're a fan of fantasy and haven't given any of these books a try, 2017 is the year to do it! Magic - of varying flavors and styles, horses, and books that are great for everyone from young readers (some of them, anyway) on through to those young at heart. If you already know and love the series, this is the year for that big re-read!


There are several good entry-points to this series now, ranging from the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall) to the Collegium Chronicles, which starts with Foundation.

The Rules of the Challenge:

1. Level One: 3-6 books.
2. Level Two: 6-12 books.
3. Level Three: All of the Valdemar books.
4. Level Four: All of the Valdemar books, plus any two of the Valdemar anthologies.
5. Bonus books: Any other Mercedes Lackey titles from her other series, including the Elemental Masters, Diana Tregarde, Five Hundred Kingdoms etc.
6. Any reads for this challenge do count towards any other challenges you are participating in.
7. To join up, just leave a comment here signing up, and, should you choose, comment with the links to your reviews of the books you've read.
8. This is the most important rule of them all: Have fun!

The Oathbound - Mercedes Lackey

The Oathbound Book I: Vows and Honor
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright: 1988
978-0886774141

The amazon.com product description:

Tarma witnessed her clan's murder and, swearing vengeance, became a master warrior. Kethry fled her forced "marriage" and became an adept--pledging her power to the greatest good. When Kethry obtains a magical sword which draws her to others in need, the two vow to avenge the wrongs done to womanhood.

Neither blurb is all that accurate, they're mostly setting the scene with backdrop information from the first of the Tarma and Kethry short stories from Sword and Sorceress III, which details the first meeting between the two characters. And you don't have to go hunting very far to find that story and the others Mercedes Lackey wrote for that market. They've mostly (I say that, because I have vague memories of one that's not in this collected volume) been gathered together and presented in the book Oathblood.

That first story is really key to understanding these two characters, although enough of it is sketched out through the course of Oathbound that you can pick up on their background.

If you're familiar with the Sword and Sorceress series, one of the chapters in this book will seem very familiar to you - Chapter 6, which was published as a story on it's own in Sword and Sorceress V. It's the story based around the song Threes, and I'm glad it was included in Oathbound as well as the climax of the book is based around the events of that story.

Oathbound and Oathbreakers were Mercedes Lackey's first real forays beyond the borders of Valdemar, fleshing out the world of Velgarth quite nicely, and they're two of her books that I've really enjoyed reading over the years. I certainly enjoyed re-reading Oathbound this time for the Valdemar Reading Challenge and the Hardcore Re-reading Challenge (although it wasn't on my initial proposed reading list for the second challenge).

Arrow's Fall - Mercedes Lackey

Arrow's Fall (Heralds of Valdemar Vol. 3)
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright: 1988
978-0886774004

The amazon.com product description:

With Elspeth, the heir to the throne of Valdemar, come of marriageable age, Talia, the Queen's Own Herald returns to court to find Queen and heir beset by diplomatic intrigue as various forces vie for control of Elspeth's future.
But just as Talia is about to uncover the traitor behind all these intrigues, she is sent off on a mission to the neighboring kingdom, chosen by the Queen to investigate the worth of a marriage proposal from Prince Ancar.

The back cover blurb:

Valdemar's Peril!

With Elspeth, the heir to the throne of Valdemar, come of marriageable age, Talia, the Queen's Own Herald returns to court to find Queen and heir beset by diplomatic intrigue as various forces vie for control of Elspeth's future.
But just as Talia is about to uncover the traitor behind all these intrigues, she is sent off on a mission to the neighboring kingdom, chosen by the Queen to investigate the worth of a marriage proposal from Prince Ancar. And, to her horror, Talia soon discovers there is far more going on at Prince Ancar's court than just preparation for a hoped-for royal wedding. For a different magic than that of the Heralds is loose in Ancar's realm - an evil and ancient sorcery that may destroy all of Valdemar unless Talia can send warning to her Queen in time.

This is the third book in the Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy, following on Arrows of the Queen and Arrow's Flight, and all I can say on finishing it right now is WOW! This was a re-read, and even knowing the story ahead of time, I found myself absolutely racing through the book, more or less in just over a day.

Talia is only just barely back from a very eventful internship (as told in Arrow's Flight) when she is plunged right back into the court intrigues with news of a proposed royal wedding between Elspeth, the heir to the throne of Valdemar and Prince Ancar of the neighboring kingdom of Hardorn. Most of the Queen's councilors are all for the proposed union, but Elspeth is less than happy with the idea, and the Queen herself has doubts.

Add to all this Talia's personal problems and you've got a potent mix. There's quite a few moments here that knowing the story and also knowing about the later written books in the series just make better. And quite a few loose ends that you don't even realize are loose until they're tied up in this book. Or, at least you think they're tied up.

A lot of the story is personal interactions between the characters - sometimes how a simple misinterpretation can have dramatic results.

One of the neat things in the early Mercedes Lackey books are is the section of songs at the end: Arrow's Fall and Magic's Price both have them, and there were even cds made with the songs and music. The one for the Heralds of Valdemar was called Heralds, Harpers and Havoc. It's now more or less unavailable, but I'd love to hear opinions of it from anyone who's heard the music.

I really enjoyed this re-read of all three of the books and I'm looking forward to continuing my read through of Mercedes Lackey's books for my Valdemar Reading Challenge. Arrow's Fall was also read for the Hardcore Re-Reading Challenge.

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2015

I found this one a bit late for it to go into my round-up of reading challenges that I'm participating in, but I couldn't resist signing up anyway. I'm also not going to be too ambitious, signing up for only the lowest level of two books. The Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted at Passages To The Past is certainly a challenge that's right up my alley.

The rules of the challenge are:

Here are the Reading Challenge details:

Each month, a new post dedicated to the HF Challenge will be created. To participate, you only have to follow the rules:

• Everyone can participate, even those who don't have a blog (you can add your book title and thoughts in the comment section if you wish)

• Add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review)

• Any sub-genre of historical fiction is accepted (Historical Romance, Historical Mystery, Historical Fantasy, Young Adult, etc.)

During the following 12 months you can choose one of the different reading levels:

20th century Reader - 2 books
Victorian Reader - 5 books
Renaissance Reader - 10 books
Medieval - 15 books
Ancient History - 25 books
Prehistoric - 50+ books

I'm only signing up for the lowest level, 20th Century Reader.

Arrows of the Queen - Mercedes Lackey

Arrows of the Queen (The Heralds of Valdemar vol.1)
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright: 1987
978-0886773786

The amazon.com product description:

Talia, a young runaway, is made a herald at the royal court after she rescues one of the legendary Companions. When she uncovers a plot to seize the throne, Talia must use her empathic powers to save the queen.

To further on that description, the back cover blurb:

A Kingdom Imperiled!

Chosen by the Companion Rolan,  a mystical horse-like being with bowers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one o fthe Queen's own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense.

But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason which could destroy Queen and Kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen's heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen's own foes.

A much better description, the second one. This was the first of many Mercedes Lackey titles, and the first book set in the world of Valdemar/Velgarth. It's also a book that I've read many times over. The first few times I read it, I borrowed the book and as many other Valdemar novels as I could from the library. I think it was at least three times that I borrowed this one and it's two sequels before I bought my own copies. Since then, I've been an avid reader and re-reader of Mercedes Lackey's titles. I'm not the only one who's been re-reading them of late either. Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer has been doing a re-read over at TOR Books as well. She's currently posted her thoughts for midway through Arrow's Flight, the second book in the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy.

Reading Arrows of the Queen after reading through her discussion points for the book was an interesting experience, although I have somewhat different thoughts on some of them, i.e. some of the comments about the lack of evident bodyguards etc.

Still, I'm a bit more aware of the different aspects of the story as I'm reading it - not just reading for the story but also being slightly more analytical.

Talia, as an outsider character serves as a great introduction to the world, simply because she's not going to take anything for granted, but is noticing all the little details about how things work/don't work just because they're not familiar to her. At the same time, Mercedes Lackey isn't (at least in my mind) going overboard with a ton of details and in-your-face world-building.

The characters feel human, and the story is one that has grabbed me for almost two decades now - both as a teen and as an adult. I keep coming back to the world of Valdemar anytime I need a pick-me-up of a read if I'm not feeling well, or simply down for some reason.

I recommend this book to any teen who is looking for a great read, but also to adults who love fantasy novels and series.

Read for both the Valdemar Reading Challenge and the Hardcore Re-reading Challenge.

On Your Marks, Get Set, Go!

Today is the day I've been waiting for. All three of the challenges I'm participating in start today and run until the 31st of December 2015.

Image credits found at
http://endaewen.deviantart.com/art/Herald-and-Companion-499210107

For the full write-up for this challenge, see the rules and sign-up post here. I've been looking forward to this one for most of the month. And to make things even neater, independently of mine, Ellen, over at TOR Books has been blogging a read-through of the Valdemar books. At the time I'm writing this post, she's mid-way through Arrow's Flight.

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge
January 1st 2015-December 31 2015

I've been running this one for a few years now with varying levels of success. Personally, I consider myself doing well to get through one or two titles a year from this category. Truely, I'm amazed at those who manage to complete the higher levels for this challenge. The full rules and sign-up post can be found here.



And the third challenge I'm participating in, hosted over at You, Me and a Cup of Tea is the

This is the challenge for me! Now I don't have to feel as guilty about re-reading books this year. My sign-up post where I'm going to be charting my progress can be found here.

The Valdemar Reading Challenge - 2015

Image credits found at
http://endaewen.deviantart.com/art/Herald-and-Companion-499210107

Running from January 1, 2015 - December 31, 2015

I'm challenging people to have a go at one of my long-time favorite authors and worlds of books: Mercedes Lackey's world of Valdemar. It's one of my go-to worlds, with plenty of reading material and characters.

If you're a fan of fantasy and haven't given any of these books a try, 2015 is the year to do it! Magic - of varying flavors and styles, horses, and books that are great for everyone from young readers (some of them, anyway) on through to those young at heart. If you already know and love the series, this is the year for that big re-read!


There are several good entry-points to this series now, ranging from the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight and Arrow's Fall) to the Collegium Chronicles, which starts with Foundation.

The Rules of the Challenge:

1. Level One: 3-6 books.
2. Level Two: 6-12 books.
3. Level Three: All of the Valdemar books.
4. Level Four: All of the Valdemar books, plus any two of the Valdemar anthologies.
5. Bonus books: Any other Mercedes Lackey titles from her other series, including the Elemental Masters, Diana Tregarde, Five Hundred Kingdoms etc.
6. Any reads for this challenge do count towards any other challenges you are participating in.
7. To join up, just leave a comment here signing up, and, should you choose, comment with the links to your reviews of the books you've read.
8. This is the most important rule of them all: Have fun!

The books I've read for this challenge:

1. Arrows of the Queen 
2. Arrow's Flight 
3. Arrow's Fall 
4. Oathbound 
5. Oathbreakers 
6. Oathblood 
7. Winds of Fate 
8. Winds of Change

The Hardcore Re-Reading Challenge

Given how much of my blog these days is re-reading - when I'm reading at all (or so it feels some of the time) this is the perfect challenge for me. Even so, I'm only signing up for the very lowest level of this intriguing challenge hosted at You, Me and a Cup of Tea.

There are so many books that I really want to re-read that I have decided to host the 2015 Hard Core Re-Reading Challenge! This is for those of us who have a loooooooong list of books we want to re-read.

Rules (And when I say rules please realize I'm one of the most flexible people in existence)

• First off, this challenge is for EVERYBODY! That means YOU! I want anyone and everyone to join in on the fun!
• I suggest you make a list of books that you want to re-read for 2015 and post it with your sign up post. You are welcome to add to it as the year goes on and you definitely don't have to read them all. I recommend it be a suggested list and you can just chose books off of it as you go along.
• The challenge officially runs from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. ONLY books started AND finished in that time frame will count. 
• Once the challenge is officially on its way in January, I will have a post where you can link up your reviews of the books you are re-reading. That way not only can everyone enjoy other people's review but also that is how I'll keep track of how many books you complete for the drawing at the end (see below). I don't care how short or long your review is. :)
• For every ten books you re-read your name will be entered in a drawing and if you complete the challenge you signed up for it is entered again. So even if you go overboard and think you can re-read fifty books but only end up re-reading 20, you can still be eligible for prizes! There will be three winners. The first place winner will get their choice of a book or a literary trinket (costing $20 or less) from Amazon. Second place will have the same option only costing $15 or less and third place the same costing $10 or less.... because I'm a poor nursing student people! ;)
• All forms of books are allowable including actual book, ebook and audiobook. 
• If you don't have a blog but still want to participate you can sign up with a comment and use Goodreads for reviews or I suppose even comment on the reviews page with your reviews. I don't want to exclude anyone from joining in the fun. :)
• You can sign up below with the Linky tool. Registration is open from now right up until the end on December 31, 2015. 

Levels

Level 1 10-20 Re-reading itch
Level 2 20-30 Re-reading bug
Level 3 30-40 Re-reading fever
Level 4 40-50 Re-reading paralysis
Level 5 50+ Re-reading coma (if you can do this I highly commend you!)

My Reading List - very loose, as I tend to pick up whatever strikes my fancy at the time, or at most to plan a book or two in advance.

1. The Serpent's Shadow - Mercedes Lackey
2. Arrows of the Queen - Mercedes Lackey
3. Arrow's Flight - Mercedes Lackey
4. Arrow's Fall - Mercedes Lackey
5. Oath of Fealty - Elizabeth Moon
6. Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon
7. Limits of Power - Elizabeth Moon
8. Crown of Renewal - Elizabeth Moon
9. Echoes of Betrayal - Elizabeth Moon
10. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien (Is it a re-read if its an edition of the book that you haven't read before?)
11. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
12. Night Play - Sherrilyn Kenyon
13. Saint Patrick's Gargoyle - Katherine Kurtz
14. Unleash The Night - Sherrilyn Kenyon

The books not on the initial list:

1. Oathbound - Mercedes Lackey 
2. Oathbreakers - Mercedes Lackey 
3. Oathblood - Mercedes Lackey 
4. Winds of Fate - Mercedes Lackey
5. Winds of Change - Mercedes Lackey

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge - 2015 Edition

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge
January 1st 2015-December 31 2015

I've seen a lot of challenges for reading romances, fiction, award winning books and many more. Challenges on various themes (King Arthur etc.) and challenges to fit certain criteria, such as the What's In A Name Challenge.

What I haven't seen is a challenge for reading books that pre-date the Printing Press. There's so many good pieces of writing that fit in this category (and I'm not asking you to read them in the original language unless you want to). So, for my first reading challenge, the pre-printing press challenge, I'm asking people to give these ancient and medieval books a try.

I started running this challenge back in 2009 and ran it again in 2010. Since then, I haven't run it, but I'm going to give it another try this year.

Just some rough examples of the sorts of books that count, both histories and fiction:
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Herodotus The Histories
Homer The Iliad and The Odyssey
Greek Tragedies and Comedies
Virgil
Ovid
Plutarch

Beowulf
Norse Sagas
Geoffrey of Monmouth The History of the Kings of Britain

The lists could continue on and on.

The rules of the Pre-Printing Press Challenge:

1. All books must have come out before 1440, when the printing press was first invented.
2. Books chosen for this challenge can overlap with other challenges.
3. Books can be translated into the language of your choice.
4. All the books you've chosen must be read by December 31, 2015.
5. You can read 1-3 books, 4-6 books, 7-9 books or 10 or more books if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
6. The choice of books is up to you. There are no set reading lists, and you don't have to set one when you join.
   
7. Post your blog address where you'll be posting your comments on your choice of books in the comments of this post when you join, and tell me how many books you've chosen. I'll set up a link to participating blogs from here.
8. Above all, Have fun.

The challenge starts January 1st.

100 Books In A Year - 2014 Edition

IIRC, I couldn't find the official page for the 100 Books In A Year Challenge the last couple of years, so I'm glad to see it again at Book Chick City.

My reading's been a bit sporadic too over the last few years so I don't know if I'll make a hundred books next year but I'm going to try.

The rules for the challenge are:

Challenge Info

• Timeline: 01 Jan 2014 – 31 Dec 2014

• Rules: Read 100 books in 2014 (any genre)

• You don’t have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• You can join at anytime. All books read in 2014 count towards the challenge regardless of when you sign up.

• Audiobooks are accepted.

• Only fiction, no non-fiction.

• This challenge can crossover with other challenges.

• You don’t have to have a blog to join in – for those without a blog but who use Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing etc, you can add the URL to where you track your books. If you don’t have a URL at all then choose a name you would like to use and then copy and paste the following link: http://wp.me/p2wdqf-6ZI

• At the beginning of each month I will be posting an open thread so you can discuss the books you’ve read and/or link up your reviews.

I never noticed the rule about no non fiction in previous years. That's going to make things a lot more difficult, as I've got two non-fiction challenges that I'm participating in, which I was hoping to overlap with this one. Not to mention, my reading of non-fiction has been growing while my fiction reading has been decreasing proportionally.

Oh well. We'll see how things go.

Pre-Printing Press Challenge Start Date Reminder

Just a reminder, my Pre-Printing Press Challenge starts today.

History Reading Challenge 2014

Not only am I participating in my own Pre-Printing Press Challenge and the Mount TBR Challenge next year, but I've decided to go three for three and join in on the History Reading Challenge at Fanda's blog.

The rules for this challenge are as follows:

**What books to pick?**

1. Pick one or more History books written by historian(s)—must be pure non-fiction; historical fiction is not allowed.
2. It has to be a work through investigation and researches, and not only collecting and listing historical data.
3. Biography is permitted, but not Autobiography, as I think autobiography lacks the objectivity of a history.
4. I’m not an expert in this area (history), so you are more than welcome to correct or add something if I’m wrong.
5. Frankly speaking, I don’t read many histories yet (and that’s why I’m creating this challenge), so I might not be the right person to consult with, about whether this or that is a pure history or not. For reference, you can consult these lists:
100 Best History Books
Goodreads’ Best History Books

Note: The 100 Best History Books is more reliable than Goodreads list, as Goodreads created the list from people’s labels, and it is proved sometimes not accurate. So, be careful before picking a book, you better check the synopsis first or even better…google it! :)

**Challenge level**

I have set several levels to challenge ourselves along the year:

Student : read 1 to 3 books

Scholar : read 4 to 6 books

Historian : read 7 or more books

**How to join?**

1. To join in, you must have either blog/Facebook/Goodreads where you can post your thoughts.
2. Pick one of the level suits you, and post about this challenge in your blog, or just comment in this post. You can mention books you’d like to read too—but no obligation (I’m only curious!). Of course, you might change the level or the books later on along the event.
3. Register through the linky below (you might put the link to your challenge post or just your blog/FB/Goodreads URL).
4. Place the challenge banner somewhere on your blog, linking to this post, in case others want to participate too.

**Optional analysis – more challenge!**

After reading and reviewing, you might want to add more challenge to your history reading. As I am working on WEM project, I picked these analysis questions from the project that would be interesting to work on. Go to the analysis questions 

I'm including the analysis questions too as I'm thinking of using them in at least some of my reviews, and not just for this challenge.

**Analysis Questions**

Note: The questions might not suit all history books, so you’d better pick only the related ones for each book.

Who is this story about?
Guiding questions: (you don’t have to answer all questions, you can answer your own way)
- Are they individuals, group of people, or entire nations?
- If individuals: Is the history focused on a single person, or on a network of individuals who may be related by blood or some other tie?
- If group of people: How does the historian distinguish them: by nationality, gender, age, class, job, economic status?
- In both cases: Is the historian telling you a ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ history? In other words, is it focusing on wealthy, influential people, political power? Or on ordinary people and their daily lives?
- If entire nations: What is distinctive about each nation? How do its people envision themselves: as warriors, men of learning, farmers, free people? And how (in the historian’s eyes) is the nation better (or worse) than other nations?

What challenge did this hero/ine (from above question) face?
What challenges the ability of the central character(s) to lead full lives?

Who or what causes this challenge?
The historian’s task is to answer this question; does he/she succeed in doing so?

What does it mean to be human?
Guiding questions: (you don’t have to answer all questions, you can answer your own way)
- A history always highlights one particular aspect of human beings as central.
- In this history, how are men and women portrayed?
- Are they essentially workers, patriots, members of families, businessmen, rational animals, children of God?
- What is their central quality?
- To what must they aspire in order to be human?

Why do things go wrong?
Guiding questions: (you don’t have to answer all questions, you can answer your own way)
- What causes one set of people to be challenged or persecuted by another?
- What motivates the oppressors?
- Why do people live in squalor?
- What motivation does the historian give to his/her wrongdoers?

What is the end of the history?
Guiding questions: (you don’t have to answer all questions, you can answer your own way)
- How is the end different from the beginning?
- What is the goal of the historical story?
- What does the historian see as the ultimate shape and form of humanity?

I'm not going to be too ambitious in my goals for this challenge as I have several other ventures going for the coming year, so I'm only going for the lowest level (with, hopefully, the option of upgrading should I get past three books).

My books:
Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth W. Barber

Mount TBR Challenge

I seem to be collecting challenges left right and center this week - from my own Pre-Printing Press Challenge that I'm restarting to the History Reading Challenge - Sail Into The Past and also this Mount TBR Challenge, which I'm signing up for here.

This is a challenge I desperately need - my yearly Unread Books List should be a good example of why, so I can only hope to succeed in picking off a few of the titles there.

Nonetheless, I'm not going to be too ambitious, choosing to do only the lowest level to start with, Pike's Peak.

The challenge as given is this:
Challenge Levels:

Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancouver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR piles/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

And the rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. If you find that you're on a mountain-climbing roll and want to tackle a taller mountain, then you are certainly welcome to upgrade.  All books counted for lower mountains may carry over towards the new peak.

*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2014.

*You may sign up anytime from now until November 30th, 2014.

*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 2014. No ARCs (none), no library books. No rereads. [To clarify--based on a question raised last year--the intention is to reduce the stack of books that you have bought for yourself or received as presents {birthday, Christmas, "just because," etc.}. Audiobooks and E-books may count if they are yours and they are one of your primary sources of backlogged books.]
*You may count any "currently reading" book that you begin prior to January 1--provided that you had 50% or more of the book left to finish in 2014.  I will trust you all on that.

*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.

*Feel free to submit your list in advance (as incentive to really get those books taken care of) or to tally them as you climb.


*There will be quarterly check-ins and prize drawings!

*A blog and reviews are not necessary to participate. If you have a blog, then please post a challenge sign up and link THAT post (not your home page) into the linky below.

My Books:

1. Catullus: The Complete Poems Trans. Guy Lee
2. A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse Trans. Richard Hammer
   

15 Days Book Blogging Challenge: Who Are Your Blogging Mentors

If you've been following my blog for the past two weeks, you know by now that I'm participating in the 15 Days Book Blogging Challenge hosted at Good Books and Good Wine. My introductory post for the challenge is here, and I've been having fun writing up these posts, though I've decided to write them all up ahead of time to post each day. Quite the departure from normal for me. I'm generally more of a "write and post right away" type blogger.

I've made it to the end of this series of posts, as amazing as that sounds. The final topic of the challenge is "Who are your blogging mentors?"

I've found this one to be quite challenging to answer to be honest, but after thinking about it for several days (the advantage of prewriting this series), I've come up with a couple of answers.

The first was J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog, which has unfortunately changed owners and names at least once. Her blog was a good model for the type of thing I was hoping to build mine into, iirc being something of a hub.

The second is the group of people at Royal Reviews, which is another wonderfully vibrant blog.

Pre-Printing Press Challenge 2013-2014 Edition

The Pre-Printing Press Challenge
December 1st 2013-December 31 2014

I've seen a lot of challenges for reading romances, fiction, award winning books and many more. Challenges on various themes (King Arthur etc.) and challenges to fit certain criteria, such as the What's In A Name Challenge.

What I haven't seen is a challenge for reading books that pre-date the Printing Press. There's so many good pieces of writing that fit in this category (and I'm not asking you to read them in the original language unless you want to). So, for my first reading challenge, the pre-printing press challenge, I'm asking people to give these ancient and medieval books a try.

I started running this challenge back in 2009 and ran it again in 2010. Since then, I haven't run it, but I'm going to give it another try this year.

Just some rough examples of the sorts of books that count, both histories and fiction:
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War
Herodotus The Histories
Homer The Iliad and The Odyssey
Greek Tragedies and Comedies
Virgil
Ovid
Plutarch

Beowulf
Norse Sagas
Geoffrey of Monmouth The History of the Kings of Britain

The lists could continue on and on.

The rules of the Pre-Printing Press Challenge:

1. All books must have come out before 1440, when the printing press was first invented.
2. Books chosen for this challenge can overlap with other challenges.
3. Books can be translated into the language of your choice.
4. All the books you've chosen must be read by December 31, 2014.
5. You can read 1-3 books, 4-6 books, 7-9 books or 10 or more books if you're feeling particularly ambitious.
6. The choice of books is up to you. There are no set reading lists, and you don't have to set one when you join.
   
7. Post your blog address where you'll be posting your comments on your choice of books in the comments of this post when you join, and tell me how many books you've chosen. I'll set up a link to participating blogs from here.
8. Above all, Have fun.

The challenge starts December 1st.

My books:

1. Catullus: The Complete Poems Trans. Guy Lee 
2. A Choice Of Anglo-Saxon Verse Trans. Richard Hammer

15 Days Book Blogging Challenge - Tell Us Your Deal Breakers

If you've been following my blog for the past two weeks, you know by now that I'm participating in the 15 Days Book Blogging Challenge hosted at Good Books and Good Wine. My introductory post for the challenge is here, and I've been having fun writing up these posts, though I've decided to write them all up ahead of time to post each day. Quite the departure from normal for me. I'm generally more of a "write and post right away" type blogger.

Anyway, today's topic is "Tell us your deal breakers?".

I'm only really aware of a couple of deal-breakers that I have. There may be others though that I don't even realize.

The two I know of for sure are tense and person.

Tense especially is the big one. I don't like present tense in a novel. "He says" instead of "He said", for example and the way one of my otherwise favorite writers has used it is like fingernails on a blackboard. This writer has used present tense for some points of view in some of his books and past tense for others, and it's the main reason I've gone away from two of his series.

The tense changes are something I really have to push past in reading those books and I just can't put them out of my head while reading.

The second one, person isn't as big of a deal-breaker in some cases. I just don't really like first person, and yet there are some books that use the "I" perspective where it really works and I do like the books. The biggest example that comes to mind in this case is Jack Whyte in the Dream of Eagles cycle. It's in that "I" perspective, but there's a framing set of scenes that set it up as a later written account by the main character, and it works.

Other books I've put down within a few pages because I can't get past the perspective. There have been a few books, and I'm not naming names here, where I actually get frustrated with myself, thinking "I should like this book because of...." but I just can't get past either the tense or the perspective.

15 Days Book Blogging Challenge - Describe One Underappreciated Book Everyone Should Read

If you've been following my blog for the past few days, you know by now that I'm participating in the 15 Days Book Blogging Challenge hosted at Good Books and Good Wine. My introductory post for the challenge is here, and I've been having fun writing up these posts, though I've decided to write them all up ahead of time to post each day. Quite the departure from normal for me. I'm generally more of a "write and post right away" type blogger.

Here we are at post 13 of the 15 days posts. I think it's one of the most difficult to write too: "Describe One Underappreciated Book Everyone Should Read". How can I say what everyone should read? I like fantasy and science fiction. You might hate those two genres. How can I know, and therefore how can I recommend that perfect book unseen? Besides, what do you consider to be underappreciated?

Anyway, after some thought, I'm dipping into my archives for a favorite. One I'd lost for a while, and even forgot both the title and the author, but never the storyline. Thanks to LibraryThing as I told in this post, I was able to rediscover the book and buy it again to re-read. That original review is here.

The book is:

The Tattooed Map
Barbara Hodgson
Raincoast Books
Copyright Date: 1995
1895714915

The cover blurb is as follows:

Somewhere in Northern Africa, a woman traveler awakens with a mysterious mark on her hand, a mark that soon grows into a tattoo. So begins the enigma of The Tattooed Map, in which intrepid traveler Lydia journeys with her friend and former lover, Christopher, in search of antiques and adventure.

Lydia records her daily experiences in a journal, keeping track of hotel addresses and conversations, and pasting such flotsam and jetsam as maps, photographs, and drawings into her diary. She records her shock and dismay as the marks on her hand reveal themselves to be a detailed map of an unknown territory.

Later a cryptic Moroccan man explains the map's connection to a spiritual and physical journey she must make. Whey Lydia disappears unexpectedly, Chris takes up her diary to record his search for her - and for a way to unravel the riddle of the Tattooed Map.

In her rich and captivating first novel, author Barbara Hodgson guides us through the exotic world of Morocco, with its maze-like streets, musty shops, and unexpected secrets. Mysterious, enveloping, and thoroughly evocative, The Tattooed Map will make you want to embark upon a journey - if only you could be sure of your return.

You know what? After re-reading my review and writing this post up, I want to re-read The Tattooed Map again. Now where is it...