A Lonley Unicorn

Hey all! Guess what? I am Incredibly Spoiled...and yes that is in all caps.  Anyways I am writing this on my new tablet so we shall see how this goes.  Also I actually got a chance to finish a book so you know what that means...rambling time. The book is The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Be able and it has been on my radar for years and years and I have finally finally read it. How do I feel now that I've read it? Let's find out, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Unicorns are solitary, immortal creatures, sticking to their own territory only meeting with other unicorns to mate on rare occasions.  Our unicorn has lived in her first for ages and has been content until some disturbing rumors reached her ears.  It seems that no other unicorn has been hard from in quit some time. Our unicorn decides to leave her first and try to discover where the other unicorns have gone and recover them if she can.  As she starts on her path our unicorn notices a couple of things, one that humans seem to no longer believe in unicorns and two that most people see her as nothing more then a beautiful white mare.  Our unicorn also learns of a creature known as the Red Bull that is in the service of one King Haggard who has used the creature to herd the other unicorns to an undisclosed location.  Our unicorn decides to seek out this Red Bull and discover where her fellow unicorns have gone.  Along the way, our unicorn is taken prisoner by Mommy Fortuna who is the proprietor and resident witch of a traveling carnival.  While captive, our Unicorn meets a man by the name of Schmendrick who is a magician with no true magic.  He finds a way to help our unicorn escape and joins her on her quest.  The pair end up in the woods with a merry band of thieves where they make the acquaintance of  Molly Grue, a woman who has seen a lot and requests to go with Schmendrick and our unicorn.  The trio continue on their quest and travel through a blighted land.  They learn from the folk who live there that they are under the rule of King Haggard and that the land has been under an eternal bitter winter or brutal summer with no relief.  Eventually the trio end up in Hagsgate a town that is unusually prosperous for the area.  Here they meet Drinn and learn the curse of Hagsgate.  Apparently since the townspeople of yore refused to help some magical style folks, they then cursed the town to share in Haggard's eventual fate, which was to be destroyed by the sea, further more, the curse foretold that the destruction would be brought about by a child of the village.  Because of this curse the townspeople, while prosperous, take no joy in life as they anticipate it ending at any moment.  Drinn also tells our trio of a baby abandon in the village square that was taken and is now being raised by King Haggard as his son, the Prince Lir.  Our unicorn, Schmendrick and Molly all head towards the castle to continue their quest.  Along the ways we learn that Schmendrick was a student of one of the greatest magicians of all time, but he could not learn how to actually control the magic.  Instead on rare occasions, great magic would flow through him and accomplish whatever needed to be done.  Schmendrick was cursed with immortality until he could learn his magic.  As they approach the castle, the Red Bull comes and chases our unicorn, trying to herd her.  Her friends encourage her to fight back, but she continues to run.  In desperation, Schmendrick opens himself to the mysterious magic, turning our unicorn into a human girl.  They call the girl Lady Amalthea and bring her along to the castle.  King Haggard accepts the trio into the castle, having Molly work as a cook/maid/drudge and Schmendrick works as the resident nonmagical magician.  Prince Lir falls in love with the Lady Amalthea and she starts to forget that she is a unicorn.  After some observations, they trio realize that Haggard has trapped all of the other unicorns in the sea and is now after our unicorn.  Schmendrick discovers the way to the Red Bull's lair and away the trio go, along with the Prince Lir who is enamored of the human version of our unicorn.  There is a fight and the Prince is killed trying to protect the Lady Amalthea, this triggers her to return to her unicorn form and fight the Red Bull, winning the freedom of her fellow unicorns.  The result is a surge of the sea that destroys the castle and kills King Haggard.  Prince Lir, though upset over the loss of his love, decides to become the good king his kingdom never had.  Schmendrick gains his magic and mortality and the love of Molly Grue.  The unicorn returns to her forest, secure in the knowledge that her fellow unicorns are free and thriving.

World Building - The world for the most part is a fairly standard fantasy world with the requisite forest, villages, and blighted land.  It was fairly intact and consistent which made for getting easily immersed.  This was written before the huge amount of mainstream fantasy so for the time and even now the world is magical and complete.

Story - The story is the biggest part of the book.  It is complete, varied, nuanced, beautiful and easy to follow.  The story is exactly what I wanted in a true magical fantasy.  It is the kind of story that a person can get lost in.  It has everything you could want in high fantasy.  An epic quest, magical creatures, bad guys, hero's, princes, prophecy's, seriously everything one needs for the ultimate fantasy story.  I loved it.

Characters - There were definitely a variety of characters, and many of them even had pretty filled out back stories...that being said, this book wasn't really about the characters as it was the overall story and feel of the rhythm of storytelling.  I did like that all of the characters stayed in character and acted accordingly.  They did not do things just to further the story, they maintained their path and pattern.  Also I liked that the characters were not cut and dry good or bad, and they all had motivation...yeah so characters.

Editing - The overall editing was well done, the book flowed nicely and the story progressed in a linear style that was very readable.  The prose got a bit lyrical on occasion (I'll get more into that in a minute) which sometimes made my mind drift a bit, but the overall book was well edited.

Style - I want to make note on the style of this book.  It was very lyrical and yet at the same time it had a fairly basic prose as well...that does not make any sense huh...so...ok let me try again.  The book was very readable and almost simple in it's story telling at times, other times it felt almost like an epic poem.  I feel like this book would actually work best read out loud...yeah, that is what the style is like.  It is a tale to tell by the fire.  I loved it, it felt very old school and wandering minsteral.

TBR Pile - I have been wanting to read this book for years.  It is very famous, especially in the fantasy circles and has been named a top book in several categories many times over.  I honestly do not have any idea why it took me so long to actually read this one.  I do know that I wanted to read it in actual book form and I had the hardest time finding it in bookstores...which considering its fame was a little weird.  Anyways it has been read and now I know why it is so famous.  It is not my favorite book in the universe, but it is solid.

Extras - There is a graphic novel, a movie and all kinds of other tie in stuff to this book that I am now eager to go hunt down.  I will also see if I can get my hands on more of this authors stuff, so that is always good.

Overall Impression - This post probably does not make a whole lot of sense, but I've been at work since last Thursday and am working until next Saturday so the lack of sleep makes me muzzy.  Anyways on that note.  I did very much enjoy this book.  I loved the old school epic feel of it.  I love the impressions it left in my head, and if it got a bit maudlin (what a great word) on occasion, well it just added to the atmosphere.  I give this book 8 out of 10 old talking skulls and recommend it to anybody who loves true fantasy or is looking for a read out loud to the kiddo's book.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Mental Quest

By the end of today I will have driven over 18 hours in four days, I have also finished some more books, so that kind of makes up for it.  One of the books is Yurth Burden by Andre Norton and is the second book in the duo book Children of the Gates.  I liked this one better then the first one in this duo, which is surprising 'cause when reading the descriptions the first one sounded much more appealing, but that just goes to show you why you should read all kinds of books.  as always SPOILERS AHEAD LOTS OF SPOILERS!

The Yurth are beings with significant mental powers that live an ascetic life in the unforgiving mountains.  The Raski lack the mental powers of their planet mates, but many live a much richer life then the Yurth.  The Raski hate the Yurth, most believe it is because the Raski fear and covet the Yurth's mental abilities, but it is not known when, or why this hatred was born.  We meet Elossa, a young Yurth who is on a pilgrimage that all Yurth make when they enter adulthood. This quest is one that changes the Yurth who have gone on it in some way, laying upon them a burden of knowledge that is not shared or talked about.  She follows an inner sense far past any where she has been before.  As she is traveling she finds that she is being followed by a Raski and at one point saves his life.  Eventually the two end up in a ruined city with one end dominated by a partially buried giant sphere.  When Elossa approaches it, it opens. Stans, the Raski informed her that he was the last descendant of the king who had ruled in the ruined city and that he was bound to find out what happened and take revenge. Unable to stop him, Elossa allows him into the sphere.  When she enters a voice tells her the story of her people.  Apparently the Yurth are a star faring race that roamed the universe in their giant sphere ships.  At some point the ship is damaged and through user error the ship crash lands on the city of the Raski, destroying it and spreading some sort of madness which results in the Raski reverting back to a medieval style of living.  The Yurth in penance for the unforeseen destruction take an oath to never again rise to the stars and to live an asture life.  They are scanned with a beam that somehow makes all this possible, while imbuing with the mental powers they currently have.  The Raski in their madness blame the Yurth for their reduced way of life and have hated them ever since.  Stans and Elossa decide that since this happened centuries ago that both sides are to blame, and both sides need to move on.  They decide to team up to try and convince both sides to let the past go and move on.  On their journey back, they encounter a cave of what I can only describe as evilness.  They find the old king, who had survived the destruction of the city by foul means and destroy him.  The story ends with the two of them deciding to continue their quest to get their respective races to move forward.

 I think I liked this book better because it made a lot more sense then the other book in this duo.  I really really liked the idea of exploring the various feelings and result that the unintentional destruction set off.  It was nice to have the "aliens" be a race of conscientious beings who felt so bad about their mistake that they doomed not only themselves but all of their decedents to try and make up for it, instead of the normal nefarious destructive aliens.  I loved how Elossa and Stans came to the conclusion that no matter what happened in the past, it was the responsibility of both races to move on and live their lives.  The pacing was interesting because their was a lot of introspection mixed with KAPOW pieces of action.  It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I liked the mix.  The only real issue I had with it, is that we get the big reveal about half way through the book and then the rest of the book is the whole evil king thing...which I thought was not really nessecary.  I would have much preferred to see Elossa and Stans go to their people and start to try and heal all the wounds from the past.  This is defiantly a science fiction book written in the good style of the 70's which I love.  It is a bit trippy, a bit thinky, a bit spacey, a bit of everything I love about the old school science fiction.  I would give this book 7 out of 10 sargons!

What is your favorite style of science fiction?  Does science fiction always have to take place in the future?  Why did I wait so long to read Andre Norton?

The Faraway Country

Top O the morning (or afternoon or evening) to you I hope you are all having a wonderful St. Patrick's day.  I love St. Patrick's day, it combines all my favorites Ireland, faeries, myth, history, beer, everything awesome. Around this time of year I love reading one of my favorite books The Hunters Moon by O.R. Melling, the first in the Chronicles of Faerie.  I have talked about this book briefly before but wanted to go in more detail about it. First a quick synopsis and then I will go on and on about it as usual :-).  As always SPOILERS AHEAD.

Gwen and Findabhair (called Finn) are teenage cousins who set off on a quest around Ireland to find adventure and magic.  The girls get more than they bargained for when they decide to sleep in an ancient burial mound.  The King of Faeire's and his host come to the girls and offer to take them to the other realm.  Finn always the impulsive one immediately agrees while the more sensible Gwen hesitates and refuses. Gwen is also visited by a ghostly apperation who tells her she can trust people with red hair.  Gwen wakes up to Finn missing and sets off on a quest to rescue her cousin.  This is harder then it sounds (even though it seems pretty hard to begin with) because Gwen is naturally a follower not a leader. Remembering the advice of the ghost Gwen gets a ride from Mattie, a red haired business man who against all odds still believes in the old ways.  She also meets up with Katie, a red headed farmer who still sets out milk for the local Brownies.  With her new friends help, Gwen finally chases down the fairies and with the help of Midir, the faerie

Captain who on occasion can turn into a fox makes it to the faerie ball.  When they arrive Gwen see's a party that is beyond her wildest dreams, dripping with jewels, colors, music, sights, sounds it is everything a faerie party should be and more.  Finn arrives with Finvarra the King of Faeire who is wild and handsome and charming and awe inspiring and everything one could want in a Faeire King (and also one of my book crushes).  Finn tells Gwen that she is Finvarra's new queen and that she is there by choice.  Finvarra tries to convince Gwen to stay as well, but she is not yet ready to give up her mortal life.  She is tested with the food of the faeries and fails miserably, but escapes anyways.  She continues to follow the faeries around trying to find a way to rescue Finn, even though she is repeatedly told that she is there of her own free will.  Gwen eventually ends up on Inch Island in the care of Dara the "king" of the island and his great aunt.  Gwen learns more about faeire history (yes I am aware I am spelling faeire a thousand different ways) and learns that the fairies must give a willing mortal as sacrifice to an ancient entity known as the hunter, if this does not happen the world of faeire will be devoured.  Finvarra wanted Gwen to come so that she could be the sacrifice so that his new love Finn would not have to go.  Gwen with the help f her new friends decides to try one last time to rescue Finn.  As they go
on the rescue Finn appears, telling Gwen that she has only come back to say goodbye, that she has volunteered to be the tribute to save the land of faerie, a land she has become Queen of, a land that she now loves.  In his defense Finvarra declared he would go in her stead, but she would not let him.  Gwen and her friends decide that enough is enough and that they will fight this monster instead of giving in.  Finvarra whole-heartedly agrees to the plan and they collect Katie and Mattie to make the sacred number 7 and set off to fight the monster.  An epic battle ensues and they lose.  To save Finn, Finvarra offers himself as tribute.  The remaining group mourn his loss, especially Finn and all agree to meet up a year later to celebrate/mourn their loss.  As they meet up, a young man who looks like Finvarra appears.  Apparently the monster only took his immortality and left him to live the life of a man.  The group agree to help him adjust and they all live happily ever after.

This book is just so full of faeiry, history, adventure, magic, love, humaness, humor, drama, scenery, pretty much everything.  I cannot even do justice to the amazingness that is this book.  One of my favorite things about fairies and magic is if you ask any given person, they will give you a different opinion or idea on what they think they are, and for me, this book is for the most part how I view them.  Wild, old, ever changing, this is how I think of fairies. The fact that this book is set in Ireland, and that the author adds so many little bits of history and myth and tangles them all up, just makes it even better for me.  Some specific points that catch my attention every time I read this book.  First off the heroine is not the skinny, classically beautiful one that gets the faerie king.  She is the overweight, scared one that ends up with the 100% human boy. Gwen

makes a believable transition from a self doubting scardey-cat who would follow Finn's lead, to a self-possessed young woman who was not only capable of making decisions, but leading the charge to execute them.  I like that Gwen made mistakes, and that there were consequences to her mistakes. The bits of history are awesome, I love books that make me want to do further research and this is one of those.  I love the mix of modern and ancient.  The idea that fairies are still here, that the old ways are still followed, yet the hereditary king of Inch Island talks about getting a collage education and keeping his families tourist business open.  Again this is very similar to how I feel about life in general.  I think it is important to remember the old ways, to understand and keep tradition in a certain sense, to believe in magic, but I find it equally as important to live in the world we live in, to continue forward and to survive and thrive in the present.  My favorite thing in this book is the portrayal of the Fair Folk and their world, the variances of it, one moment as columns of light, riding horses of starlight across the sky, the next dripping in jewels in a magical royal ball, and yet again in the next nature's children with leaves and flowers for clothes reveling in the moonlight.  I just love love love love love these visuals.  Ok obviously I love this book, it appeals to me on many levels and to me is the perfect St. Patrick's Day read.  I give it 9 out of 10 faerie revels and can't wait to read it again.
What is your favorite fairy book? Did you ever think that St. Patrick's Day would have its own genre of book?  Is a grown woman believing in faeries awesome, or a bit weird? How awesome is the cover?

Not So Good To Be Queen

Being inspired by my trip to the Renaissance Festival I read the book The Wild Queen by Carolyn Meyer. This book would probably be considered historical fiction by most folks and follows the life of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots .  This book is part of the authors Young Royals series, of which I have read several and have enjoyed the mix of history and fiction.  The books are about real life people, and contain their real history that has been embellished with what author has written to fill in the day to day conversations and such (does that make sense).  As always SPOILERS AHEAD (well only if you don't know your history).

The plot of this one is interesting because it is based on the actual recorded life of an actual person, with just certain details added in.  I do not know enough to distinguish the facts from the fiction, but from what I do know the major events are all real and recorded.  A young Mary Stuart is crowned Queen of Scotland at just six days old.  She is sent to France at the age of five to live in the household of the French monarchy where she is eventually to marry the eldest son and heir to the throne Francis.   Mary or Marie as she is now called has much family in France as her mother was from a noble house of France before she moved to Scotland to marry the King.  Mary learns much of court life and the power and lack there of a woman can wield in it. At the age of 16 she married Francis, who was a small and sickly boy who never attained his manhood.  According to the book, Mary and Francis never consummated their marriage as Francis was too delicate and child like.  Mary is named Queen Consort alongside Francis when he gains the throne after the death of his father. During this time Mary Queen of England has died and her half sister Elizabeth has claimed the throne.  Several of Mary's family feel she has a better claim to the English throne, but it all falls to naught.   Alas Francis falls ill and dies leaving Mary a widow at the age of 18 and with no power whatsoever in the country of France.  Mary returns to Scotland amid treaty discussions with England to claim her throne.

 Mary does not want to sign a treaty with England until Elizabeth names her heir in the case of Elizabeth dying with no children.  Elizabeth does not want this because she feels it will cause people to try and depose her to put Mary on the throne.  Mary is welcomed back to Scotland where against the will of almost all her advisers she marries her cousin Henry, giving in to his every wish and whim out of  a desire to please him.  This union quickly sours and other then her precious son James, no good comes from this marriage.  More arguing, fighting, treating and such occur and one fateful night the lodging where Henry is staying is blown up.  Henry is found dead and Mary is blamed for plotting to kill him.  Mary is captured by Lord Bothwell and forced to marry him (making this Mary's third husband in her young life).  They attempt to put the divided kingdom back together with John Knox pushing for a Protestant only kingdom and the devoutly Catholic Mary decreeing a policy of tolerance.  Knox has also persuaded several important people (including her bastard half brother James) that a woman will never be fit to rule a country.  Mary is captured by her brothers people who force her to abdicate in favor of her son with her brother as regent.  Mary escapes and flees to England hoping Elizabeth will help her regain her throne, even though they still have not resolved there own issues.  Mary is taken captive in England and held as prisoner for 18 years before being placed on trial for plotting Elizabeth's death.  Mary is sentenced to death and is beheaded.  Ironically her son James does ascend the throne of Scotland and later England when Elizabeth dies leaving no heirs.  All of the subsequent monarchs of England and Scotland came down through the Stuart line.

I like books like this because it makes history a bit more interesting.  I know that a lot of it is speculation or filling in the gaps, but the basic history is still present.  It get's frustrating to read these stories sometimes and realize just how powerless even a sovereign monarch can be, especially if you were female.  The reader also has the advantage of hindsight which makes you cringe at the inevitability of some of the choices these characters make.  I think the best part about this book, and books like it is that it makes me want to go find out more about the real history of these people and places.  It is a great jumping of point to see where your historical interests lie, or to discover something that never even occurred to you before.  Most people know about the big events and people in history, but a lot has been documented and discovered about other less known players and events which add an even richer layer to already known history.  This isn't really making any sense because it is hard to review just the book instead of the whole learning/discovery process so I will just let you read it for yourself.  An interesting side note if you will, I actually played Mary Stuart in the play Mary Stuart with my best friend playing Elizabeth in a meeting that never took place in real life, but in the play she took great pleasure in condemning me to death :-)  We won a couple of awards for our performance so this era will always hold a special place in my heart.  I recommend this book for anybody interested in history, historical fiction, or a way to get kids started on history in a more palatable story form.  I give this book 7 out of 10 coats of arms.

What is your favorite period in history? Do you like the fictionalized versions as a way to learn history or are you a purist history buff?  What about alternative histories where the death of Kings and Queens is really an alien plot to seed the world with pod people? 

Sins Of The Father

Time to review Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.  It has taken me a while to put the review for this one together, because I am still trying to figure out the best way to review it.  I don't think I will go overboard with the synopsis in this one, because there is so much to it that I would just muddle it all up.  So let's start with a bare bones summation.

As always some Spoilers for all three books ahead.
Bitterblue has been the official Queen of Monsea one of the Seven Kingdoms for 8 years now.  At present her biggest struggle is to find a way to break free from the oppressive council of her advisers.  Bitterblue was thrust into the ruling of her country at the tender age of 10, when her mother was murdered by her father Leck, who had been using his Graceling power of mind control to keep a horrifying grip on the country.  Leck was killed during events in Graceling and Bitterblue assumed leadership of the broken country. While the people helping her run her country while she was still a child mean well, they have forgotten that children grow up, and Bitterblue is now an adult.  To try and learn more about her own kingdom, Bitterblue decides to go out at night in disguise among the people of her city.  Here she meets up with a clever thief, a Graceling with unknown talents and his printer friend.  Through these two Bitterblue learns that the reports she has been getting from her advisers have been falsified for some reason.  Bitterblue also starts to learn just how much havoc her father wrought upon the country.  The majority of the book is a mix of Bitterblue trying to find out who is trying to squash information from the past from being reveled, trying to become an

independent ruler, juggling her feelings for her Graceling thief, and missing her friends.  After much searching, Bitterblue finally discovers some truths about her fathers past. At some point in time Leck and his father had lost their way in the mountains that cut off Monsea from an unknown country and ended up in the Dells (which is the setting for Fire) which is more advanced then the Seven Kingdoms.  Leck spent most of his childhood in this country of Monsters and medical advancement, honing his Grace of mind control.  In a fight with Fire, the human monster, he was sent tumbling back down the mountain into Monsea where he used his powers to get adopted into the royal family.  Missing the Dells, Leck tried to recreate what he could, building his castle in the glass roofed style of the Dells, commissioning sculptures and artwork incorporating the landscape and Monsters, and terribly trying to bring about scientific advancement through experimentation on humans.  It is this last thing in particular that made Leck so horrifying and perverse.  He would use his mind powers to not only torture and kill his people, but he would compel his own advisers to do the actual harm to people.  It is the memory of what they were forced to do under the kingship of Leck that has made Bitterblues advisers (who were all around when Leck was king) to try and bury any breath of what happened during his reign. Rembering what they had done, drove most of them mad.  This cover-up was wide spread and included arson, and even murder as a way to keep the heinous past hidden.  Eventually Bitterblues friends find a tunnel that leads from Monsea to the Dells and Fire from the previous novel comes to visit Bitterblue.  The young Queen realizes what it was her father was doing and decides to spend the rest of her reign trying to heal her country through revealing the history and then addressing the problems.  There are side plots, and love stories, and all that good stuff scattered throughout the novel as well, but this is essentially the gist of it.

This is not a happy, fun-filled story by any means.  It is fairly dark and I have heard many people complain about the brutality featured in certain parts.  I understand that some people are more affected by this then others, and certain experiences may make this a painful book to read.  I did not find any of the descriptions gratuitous  I thought any mention of violence, rape and torture where done only when the story needed it to point out certain aspects of Leck's mentality.  There is also the after effects to deal with, and Bitterblue herself is border line depressive on occasion.  All this together makes it a bit of a difficult book to get through.  This book is also much less action packed then the other two book were.  The whole of the story takes place in one city, and most of it is driven by discovery and conversation   There is a heavy dose of politics and enough hemming and hawing to drive a person crazy. It seemed that most of the characters had forgotten to take their happy pills and were constantly snipping at each other in very childish ways.  The level of the arguments usually amounted to "nyah nyah nyah" which did get a tad tedious after a while.  All this being said it is not a bad book.  I actually liked that the author was willing to take us to a bit of a darker place.  The realistic after math of such a twisted leader would be pretty bleak.  The idea that some people

would just like to bury the past and try to move on, versus the people who need to have answers before any healing can properly take place is one that rings true.  The notion that people would go very far, even to the extent of murder to try and cover up a shameful past is also something we know happens in real life.  I also really enjoyed getting some insight into Leck's head.  He was a monster of epic proportions  he used his powers to hurt everybody else, and even worse took great pleasure in it.  His true talant lay not so much in mind control, but in his ability to know what would utterly break a person.  You see where even with this power Leck was unhappy, you see glimpses of a person trying desperately to get back to a time and place where he thought he was happy.  This does not give even the slightest excuse to the atrocities he perpetrated, but it makes his character that much better and gives him a motive for his cruelty.  Bitterblue herself was a decent character.  I wanted to shake her sometimes and say "You are the Queen you dummy, just do what needs to be done, you don't have to ask permission!", but when you have had guardians watching over you your whole life, it is not as easy as that.  She retained some of her sassyness from previous books, and is of a different cloth then either Katsa or Fire, so it is nice to see an author not reusing the same hero mold.  The author tries to bring in a lot of politics from the real world into the books (gay rights, education, ruling styles, etc.) to varying
degrees of success  a few of them seemed forced into the plot.  Some of the plot got muddled and confusing, I'm not 100% sure I actually understood everything I was supposed to, and the ending came on fast and disjointed. Over all I would say it was a decent book and fit into the world the author created in the previous two books very well.  It was a nice link between Graceling and Fire, which when first read do not seem to have a lot in common. This book also has some cool illustrations and maps, and a fun tongue in cheek type of glossary included, which I really enjoyed.  I give the book 6 out of 10 monster statues.
What did you think of this book?  Did it help tie the first two together?  Do you prefer action or intrigue?  Do these darker books make you think, or just cringe? How awesome was the cover of this book!?!