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Allusion is not Illusion
You'll pry my books off my cold, dead body. By the time you shift them all I'll be flat and dessicated.
Currently reading
Winter's Tales
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Already Dead
The Rings of Saturn
Lady Audley's Secret
Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became "People" - And How You Can Fight Back
The City, Not Long After
You Can Sketch: A Step-by-Step Guide for Absolute Beginners
Lonely Werewolf Girl
Despite the veneer of fantasy, this is essentially a school story with a culture-clash twist. The king of Remalna is in the habit of having fatal accidents happen to the heirs of prominent nobles, so young Vidanric's parents send him to a military academy in a far-off land. Vidanric comes from a more courtly and less martial culture, and most of the book is taken up with his efforts to learn new skills and adapt. There are occasional hints of foreign threats ("the EVIL Norsunders!") but nothing actually happens on that front. Magic also gets referred to but doesn't play a large role in the story. In fact, it seems to function mainly as a device of convenience, allowing Vidanric to exchange letters with his parents and no one to ever need bathroom breaks. I thought the magic was the weakest aspect of the book and didn't seem fully thought out. If there are "Transfer Plates" allowing instant travel and boxes sending instant messages, why do they get so little use? And if the evil dudes (who are not explained very well here, but I suspect are in other books) have HUGE UNSTOPPABLE POWERS what's the point of training so hard for war? Questions like this made the larger plot seem pretty feeble. However, I did like the characters and felt interested in how they made out with their lives.