In Which I Become a Book Blogger

Circumstances made me miss the first two days of "Life, The Universe, and Everything".

Wow! That kinda sounded like I think I'm the center of the universe, Angelina Jolie without the lips or Brad. Ahem, awkwardly trails off.

So, aside from being a commentary on my psychosis, "Life, the Universe, and Everything" is a three-day sci-fi and fantasy symposium on art and writing. And it's pretty great. Lots of authors and artists to mix and mingle with, and oddly, though they write of aliens and zombies and princesses, most of them are ordinary, wonderful people willing to share anything they can to help someone get their story out there. Some of the regular attendees are anything but ordinary, makes for delicious people watching ops. LOVE people watching!

I bought some books there and plan to review them plus a book I read months ago written by a blog friend. So, I guess I'm a book blogger. Which hopefully will get me lots of comments like my sister gets for her book blog. Jealous!

Review: Witch Song

Title Witch Song
By Amber Argyle
For It's really great cover
Source I bought it at LTUE





Synopsis
The Song's of the Witch's, the keepers of the earth, have been silenced by a traitor. As the world sinks into chaos Brusenna must discover how to stop the Dark Witch. She is not alone, she has her hound, Bruke and a guardian, slightly older than her fifteen years, to help out, so the odds are...really good as YA/Fantasy books go.




General thoughts
Did I mention I bought it for the cover?? Yep, best part about it, though I really think this author has potential. The idea held my interest even if it felt a little over used. I'm still figuring out all the classifications of books I suppose this would be Young Adult/Fantasy, and I suppose too that this may not be my favorite genre. I don't have much patience for an author's learning curve. I just felt like I was reading a very young author with limited life experience. For reading to be really pleasurable I don't want excuses for the author to pop into my head while I'm in the middle of a book.

Characters
Brusenna was a little to self absorbed, she fit too many of the Annoyed-by-Her-Mother-Angsty-Teen-Witch-in-a-Dying-World stereotypes, and, she didn't live up to her picture on the front cover, but then, who of us do? Joshen was sweet and very teen boyish, I really liked him, I would have loved to know a little more about his past and relationships with his Guardian uncle and father. Bruke the Wolf Hound was my favorite because, unlike a real dog, he always did what he was told, had an infallible sense of good and bad and liked eating chewy starfish. Plus I have a well documented crush on Wolf Hounds. The rest of the characters were seriously underdeveloped, it's hard to buy into a really scary bad guy who's mean and scary for the sake of mean scariness, wish I had a little more background. The Dark Witch, Esplin, is motivated by her belief that humans don't deserve all the wondrous things witches do for them...hmmmyawn, yeah, but maybe a teensy bit more would be good.


Would I recommend it?
Yes, but the recommendation would be heavily laced with sarcasm. Really though, it kept my interest and I have great confidence in this authors future. I read some of her blog and she seems really fun and cute. She lives in Cache Valley Utah which probably explains why the book felt like it took place in, Cache Valley World. Lest I come across bitchy and critical, I am in awe of anyone who can get the story out of your head and into a real life published book with a killer cover. So, two thumbs up, give it a read.