Muggles 1, Magic 0

“Harry Potter, he sends a message on Owl Mail while us poor old muggles have to make do with instantaneous emails and texting. Oh, if only we could be like you Harry Potter, with your four day owl delivery!”
― Craig Ferguson

Rhapsody: Child of Blood

Rhapsody: Child of Blood
by
Elizabeth Haydon
adult fantasy fiction

I have read and enjoyed Elizabeth Haydon's later works about Ven Polypheme, the teenage dwarf, a series of books in our children's section so I was curious what would be the same and what would be different about her longer, earlier work for adults.
For one thing, this adult book is a hefty 479 pages long with maps and no interior pictures. It is more violent and includes sexual images which move it into the adult reader range. What is the same is the fantasy realm she has created, rich with elves, dwarves, ogres, humans, half breeds of these species, ghosts, demons, kings, queens, dragons, and more.
There are three main characters in this book - a half human half elf young woman, a half ogre half something-else warrior, and a half ogre half something-else assassin. These three are thrown together by fate and survive multiple attacks while building a friendship. Rhapsody was a runaway who was ill used and took to prostitution before becoming an apprentice singer. Grunthor is a hulk of a being, a splendid warrior with a heart of gold. Achmed is hard to get to know, a slim, taciturn killer for hire.
There is lots of adventure, some romance, and a whole lot of sword fights as our heroes fight off injustice and evil.
Here is a passage showing the kind of things the bad guys do:
"they [the good guys] were knocked off their feet by another explosion of dark fire that set the countless bookshelves aflame".
Here is the heroine's response:
"Rhapsody closed her eyes, and calmed her spirit. She concentrated on the fire. 'Be at peace,' she said. At once the flames responded, the bonfire fed by the books and scrolls died down to flickering embers".
OBVIOUSLY the one who saves the books is on the good side!

This is number one of a trilogy, so I will have to set aside two more weekends for books 2 and 3 in the series while I continue to wait for the latest Ven Polypheme book to be released.
2. Prophecy: Child of Earth
3. Destiny: Child of Sky

Crystal the Snow Fairy

Crystal the Snow Fairy
Rainbow Magic
The Weather Fairies
by
Daisy Meadows and Georgie Ripper
children's fiction, about a 2nd grade reading level

This is the second series of books about the Rainbow Magic Fairies from Scholastic.
In this series Rachel and Kirsty, human girls, must help fairies get some magical feathers back from Jack Frost who is using the magic in the feathers to wreak havoc with the weather.
These are quick and easy reads for girls. Most readers will want to read the whole series, which reminds me to get on hold for the next one in this series - Abigail the Breeze Fairy. Public and school librarians should make sure to buy the whole series. They come as a boxed set, so this is not a problem.

Plain Kate

Plain Kate
by
Erin Bow

This book was not what I expected. I received a newsletter saying that it was a good teen fantasy read. It won a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults at the 2011 ALA Midwinter conference. It is published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
When I checked the book out, the cover had a unicorn sticker on it and it was in the YA fantasy fiction section. The image on the cover of the book is of a girl and her cat on a roof of some pre-1900 city.

A) I read the book and don't remember her walking on any city roofs.
B) Most of the book is not set in a city, but in small villages and gypsy camps.
C) This is not a cutesy unicorn book.
D) I would not call this a fantasy book but a horror book.

By the time I got 1/3 of the way through the book about an orphaned girl who can carve wonderful figure the book had clearly taken a turn into a horror book. There is black magic with lots of blood letting and nasty ghost/demons and a twisted warlock. The book is pretty well written, but I couldn't get past the wicked parts. I skim/read the last 2/3 of it to find out how it ended. There were some unexpected twists. It is an original work and the talking cat character is great, but it is more for the Twilight vampire crowd than for the "unicorn" reader and I would not recommend it to readers under the age of 16.

Swan Kingdom

Swan Kingdom
by
Zoe Marriott
Young adult fantasy

In a medieval-type kingdom Princess Alexandra lives with her parents. Her mother, beloved by the people, shares with her herbal lore and animal husbandry skills. Alexandra is on the verge of womanhood and her mother must teach her about the magic which protects and sustains the land. At this crucial point in Alexandra's development her mother is killed by a wild beast. Alexandra's brothers are enchanted and her father falls under the spell of the beast who has taken the form of a beautiful woman. Alexandra is banished to another land. Can she save her brothers, father, and her kingdom from evil? The story is at once familiar and original. It seems like we have heard this fairy tale before, and the author notes that it is based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale. There is a Celtic feel to the book as well.
The cover: The cover makes it look like this is a dark tale. Sure, there is the villainess, but this is not a particularly gory or violent book.