Books for September

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Review

Carter Kane has been on the road for so long he doesn't really remember what it's like to live in one place any more. Six years ago, when he was eight, his mother died and his grandparents, blaming his father for some reason, fought a legal battle to keep him and his sister, Sadie. His father eventually won custody of him, but not his sister, who went to live in England with her grandparents. His father is an archeologist, and is constantly traveling, to digs or to archeological meetings where he talks about those digs. Carter has begun to wish, although he loves his father, that he went to school and had lots of friends like all the other kids he meets. Then one evening, on the one day in the year that his father gets to take both Carter and Sadie, something happens. When he takes them to the British Museum, his father gets a chance to examine the famous Rosetta Stone. Well, he doesn't just examine it, he ends up blowing it up and releasing a rather nasty entity trapped inside, which kidnaps him and disappears before the police arrive. The police, however, are obliged to let them go after a bit of nudging by their mysterious and powerful Uncle Amos, who tells them that their father has accidentally freed the Egyptian god Set, a force of nature if there ever was one, who was confined to the Rosetta stone and since forgotten, at least as a real being, by humanity. But he is real, and so are the other gods. And there are many who don't have good intentions towards the human race. Can Carter and Sadie save there father and stop Set?

Siege of Macindaw by John Flanagan

Review

Will has suffered quite a setback. Not only is his friend Alyss locked up inside Castle Macindaw, held prisoner by the nefarious Sir Keren, but the former king has been murdered and Sir Keren is conspiring with Scotti to take control of the region. When Scotti troops begin to march towards Macindaw, Will knows that he will need allies to take back the castle and free his friend. Fortunately, he has some new ones, from Malcolm, a medicine man thought by the locals to be a sorcerer, to a party of stranded Skandians, to Horace, a knight and an old friend. Together, they plan how to wrest Macindaw from Keren's grasp before the Scotti arrive. Meanwhile, Keren begins to have second thoughts about whether to carry through with his treacherous plan, and debates escaping before his dangerous allies, the Scotti, arrive. Malcolm, Will and Horace put their heads together to form a plan to besiege Macindaw castle. But even with their numbers, can they possibly hope to assault such a defensible building as Castle Macindaw and survive?

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Review

Rand Al'Thor has come a long way from the simple shepherd he once was. Now he is the Dragon Reborn, the hero foretold to come and save the world, and then go mad and destroy it. But Rand has plans to try and turn the pattern of the Wheel of Time in his favor. To this aim, he recruits the False Dragon Mazrim Taim to train other men who can channel the One Power. This horrifies everyone that hears about it, as a side effect of using the male side of the One Power is to, eventually, go mad and die. Even Rand is now starting to feel the effects of madness creeping up on him, with Lews Therin, the last Dragon Reborn, speaking to him in his head. There are other plots at work here, though. The White Tower sends an embassy to the Dragon Reborn, and so does the rebel faction which has split from the tower. Morgase, the Queen of Andor, finds herself the "guest" of the Children of the Light, a militant faction bent on spreading their religion across the world. And on the slopes of Shayol Ghul, the Dark One stirs in his prison...

A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan

Review

This volume switches focus a little bit. The main storyline deals with Elayne, Aviendha and Mat's quest to find the Ter'angreal (magical item) which has the capability to deal with the unnatural, stifling heat in late fall, undoubtedly brought on by the Dark One touching the world. If they do not find this object, everything will just continue heating up, and worse things may happen. Their search for the magical device, which they know is shaped like a bowl, takes place in the slums of Ebou Dar, where the sort of people who might slit your throat for a penny mix with Darkfriends and worse. Meanwhile, Rand returns to Carhien and finds he must deal with a treacherous noble; and Egwene, Amylrin Seat of the rebel Aes Sedai, struggles with her councilors, who seek to gain the true power behind the throne.

The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan

Review

Rand Al'Thor, now king of Illian, is leading his armies to war. The Seanchan invasion force, along with allied soldiers, is marching towards his lands. The Seanchan believe they have an unstoppable weapon, enslaved Aes Sedai forced to do what they command. But as the battle begins, they realize that the Asha'man, Rand's trained sorcerers, may be too much for the Ever Victorious Army. However, Rand may have another problem on his hands. The Asha'man are beginning to go mad, and there is absolutely nothing he can do to stop it. Or is there? Meanwhile, Perrin seeks out the Prophet, the mad tyrant who preaches the gospel of the Dragon Reborn but is laying waste to the land with his armies of Dragonsworn. Can Perrin bring the Prophet under control?

Winter's Heart by Robert Jordan

Review

Rand Al'Thor has only just barely escaped an attack on his life, and is now on the run from rebel Asha'man, who want him dead for reasons only known to themselves. While they are on the loose, it is best that he remain out of sight for the time time being. Besides, he has a plan which could change everything forever. He is going to cleanse the male side of the One Power, and remove the taint that has caused some many Asha'man to go mad and die. But there are those, the Forsaken, who serve the Dark One, who do not want to see this happen. Their master has commanded them to find Rand and stop him, and now Darkfriends, Forsaken, rebel Asha'man and more are all hunting after the Dragon Reborn. Can Rand succeed in his desperate plan?

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield

Review

Prince Aleksander is on the run from his own country of Austria, the Germans and pretty much anyone else who knows who he is. His mother and father, who have long been trying to achieve peace between the different Clanker (called so because they specialize in machinery) nations, have been poisoned, thus beginning a war which might drag in the whole world. As you can probably figure out, this isn't our history. In this alternate timeline, walking battleships and mechanized horses are commonplace, as well as genetically modified creatures (created by a group called the Darwinists) and stranger things. As Aleksander makes his way to neutral territory in his family's battle walker, Deryn Sharp, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service, manages to win the right to serve on the Leviathan, the world's largest living airship. The Leviathan is on a diplomatic, and very secret mission, to the Ottoman Empire, but as luck (or lack of it) would have it, a war is beginning right in their path. Can Aleksander evade the might of the German army, and can Deryn survive the tense flight through a war zone?

The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

Review

Artemis Fowl has faced many cunning, brilliant and sometimes just downright nasty villains over the course of the series, but now he may have met his match. His latest opponent, thanks to a mind-bending time warp, is himself. His mother is dying of a fatal disease for which the only cure resides in the brain fluid of the silfy sifaka lemur. Unfortunately, Artemis himself sold the lemur to a depraved group called the Extinctionists, who true to their name, try to drive species into extinction, in order to pay for a rescue mission to Russia to find his father. Now, that heartless act has cost his mother her health, and so he embarks on a daring journey back into his own past, to stop his younger self from completing the deal. But there may be more at stake than he realizes, thanks to a certain individual safely locked up in Artemis's time, but still free in the past...

Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

Review

The White Tower has split, and now the two faction's confrontation has finally come to a head. Rebel Aes Sedai have besieged the White Tower and now negotiations are beginning, despite neither of the women who claim the tile Amylrin Seat (leader of of the White Tower) being willing to back down. Meanwhile, Mat has escaped from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, the daughter of the Seanchan Empress, who unfortunately attempted to obstruct Mat and the others' escape. The Seanchan, unsurprisingly, are in hot pursuit. Perrin desperately tries to save his wife Faile, who has been captured by the Shaido Aiel and made a servant, but all the odds are against. And the Forsaken, battered but not beaten, once again touch the world.

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Review

The Final Battle is fast approaching. The signs are everywhere. People dies bizarre deaths. Animals behave oddly. Ghosts walk the earth and whole villages disappear into the ground, never to be seen again. But there are battles to wage even while the world crumbles apart. Rand struggles with people unwilling to accept the truth, enemies without and traitors within. Even Mazrim Taim, the man who leads the Asha'man, is a traitor and is building his own personal army. Meanwhile, Perrin signs a deal with the Seanchan and begins his assault on the Shaido camp, where his wife is held prisoner. Elayne struggles to find support as Queen of Andor as armies gather outside her city's gates and traitors and spies seek to undermine her guards. Rand Al'Thor seeks out the Daughter of the Nine Moons, and nearly walks into a trap set by the Forsaken. Can he unite the people of the world against the Darkness before the Final Battle begins?

-- JackW - 06 Sep 2010