The list isn’t in any particular ranking order. I’ve tried to keep it in the order I read the books. A few even have reviews.

January

I started the year out with a new author and series to follow. . .

Black Wings (Christina Henry) (Madeline Black #1) – A quote from my review: “The story is nearly non-stop action. I found it hard to put down at times because I was caught up in what was going on and I wanted to know what would happen next. I will definitely be reading the next book.”

And the next book in a favorite series.

Buffalo West Wing (Julie Hyzy) (White House Chef #4) – A quote from my review:  “This book is my favorite one, so far, in this series. The mystery and the secondary story lines really worked for me. Ollie has matured in her role as the executive chef.”

February

The love of power. . .

Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil (Drew Karpyshyn) (Darth Bane #3) – A quote from my review: “I loved this book. It was so much better than Rule of Two. I’ve enjoyed reading the Darth Bane trilogy, having a Sith as the main character and rooting for someone who would ordinarily be considered the villain.”

and the power of love.

Unchained (Sharon Ashwood) (The Dark Forgotten #3) – A quote from my review:  “I fell in love with Reynard. His dilemma, even knowing how it ends, still got to me. I really do like Ashe, now that she isn’t butting heads with Holly, thinking she knows better than her little sis.”

March

The official start of  my reading roll.  It was also the month the bookshelf bingo game began.

From Austin, Texas. . .

Queen of Shadows (Dianne Sylvan) (Shadow World #1) – A quote from the game:  “The characters really made this book for me. Miranda was a strong character and I liked her a lot.”

To outer-space.

Song of Scarabaeus (Sara Creasy) (Scarabaeus #1) – A quote from the game:  “I loved it.”  Science Fiction, with romantic elements.  Edie’s valuable because of her abilities and Finn is considered expandable because he’s a slave.  Both want to be free.

April

April was the month I finally got around to starting The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) (The Hunger Games #1) – A quote from the game:  “I liked Katniss right away.  Her having to shoulder so much responsibility at such a young age, not one to trust others easily, or get too close to them emotionally.  I saw and understood how all that colored her thinking.”

A book with a different take on vampires. . .

Darkness Dawns (Dianne Duvall) (Immortal Guardians #1) – A quote from my review:  “Though [Sarah] wouldn’t last long going up against a vampire alone, she’s no helpless damsel-in-distress either. She save Roland’s life. She strong enough not to fall to pieces at the first sign of danger. She’s pretty good with a gun, having learned to use one while she was living in Texas, and she can definitely fight back — she stabs someone in the butt.”

May

In May, I read three books in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series:

Visions of Heat (Bk #2), Caressed by Ice (Bk #3), Mine to Possess (Bk #4) – Though I had a lukewarm opinion of the first book in this series, I had intended to give the series another chance. I finally got around to reading the second book and was hooked! I literally scarfed up the next two as well. I plan to get caught up with this series, so when Hawke’s book comes out in paperback, I can just jump right in.

Also — a fantasy that read almost like an urban fantasy:

Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Lisa Shearin) (Raine Benares #1) – A quote from the game: “Raine reminded me of Kate Daniels in many was.  She’s protective of those she cares about and she won’t sit idly by while others put themselves in danger because of her.  Plus, she’s sarcastic.”

June

June was all about love!

Magic Slays (Ilona Andrews) (Kate Daniels #5) – From my comment on Goodreads: ” Love it. I liked that we got to see how Kate and Curran are coping with their relationship.  I thought the dinner scene, the first few moments of it, had a “first date” vibe to it — shy and awkward.  Very sweet.  And who knew the Beast Lord was such a romantic.”

Renegade Angel (Kendra Leigh Castle) – From my comment on Goodreads:  “I loved it. I felt it could have been a feature length book and I wonder if the author plans to write more set in this world. There were plenty of secondary characters that I would have liked to know more about.”

Frostbound (Sharon Ashwood) (The Dark Forgotten #4) – I’ve loved this series from the first.  Like the others, there is a strong family theme.  Lore and Talia are perfect for each other.

Red Heat (Nina Bruhns) (Men in Uniform #1) – As I stated in the June update, this was an unexpected read for me.  I got hooked from the first page.

Touched by an Alien (Gini Koch) (Katherine “Kitty” Katt #1) – I loved this book!  I loved Kitty!  And Jeff!  And Kitty’s parents! I wish I’d stated this series sooner.  Thankfully, I have the next two on hand.

And that’s it!

Dynasty of Evil (Drew Karpyshyn)

Title: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil
Author: Drew Karpyshyn
Copyright: 2010 (Del Rey); 306 pgs.
ISBN: 978-0-345-51157-7
Series: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Sensuality: None
Genre: Science Fiction
ERA:  Sith/Republic – 1,020 years before the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Ten years have passed since the events in Rule of Two. Bane and Zannah, posing as his sister, live on Ciutric IV. They have kept their true identities hidden, all the while gathering knowledge and wealth, building their strength for the time when the Sith will reveal themselves and eliminate the Jedi. Bane has accepted the fact that the destruction of the Jedi might not occur in his lifetime. The long-term effects of wearing the orbalisk armor has weaken him and time is taking its toll. Had he been a Jedi, he could have lessen the effects, but the dark side of the Force is too destructive to be used for healing and repair.

Though Bane has tried to conceal the effects from Zannah, he is sure she has noticed his weakness. It bothers him that she has yet to take advantage of his weakening body to challenge him. He is worried that she is waiting until he is so feeble that little or no effort will be needed to strike him down. He believes, for the Sith order to remain powerful enough to eventually destroy the Jedi, an apprentice must defeat her master while he’s still strong, thereby proving the apprentice has earned the right to be the Master. Her inaction convinces Bane that she lacks the ambition. She is unworthy to be Sith. With time no longer on his side, Bane must find a way to extend his life so he can train a new apprentice, and he must do so without drawing Zannah’s attention to his actions. He sends Zannah on a mission to find out who killed a Jedi on Doan, and to find out why he was there in the first place.

Zannah has noticed the signs of weakness in Bane. However, she also knows that Bane is a master manipulator. It is possible that he is trying to trick her into attacking him before she is ready, proving she hasn’t learned the lesson of patience he has drilled into her for years. Zannah has been actively looking for an apprentice of her own, an apprentice that will take her place when she defeats Bane and becomes the Master. So far, Zannah hasn’t found any potential candidates and until then, she will bide her time. Her mission to Doan might lead her a likely candidate. Zannah is wary enough of Bane to wonder if the mission is also another of his tests and shrewd enough to consider the possibility that Bane intends to replace her with whoever defeated the Jedi.

With Zannah out of the way. Bane sets out to track down the knowledge he needs to extend his life, not knowing his past is about to come back to haunt him and that he has underestimated his apprentice.

Comments: I loved this book. It was so much better than Rule of Two. I’ve enjoyed reading the Darth Bane trilogy, having a Sith as the main character and rooting for someone who would ordinarily be considered the villain.

In Dynasty of Evil, Bane is the bad guy and I found myself sympathizing with Zannah. Bane believes her unworthy, forgetting that sometimes biding one’s time is the right course of action, even for the Sith. In fact, patience is more important than ever — acting rash could jeopardize all their plans. The time isn’t right for the Sith to overthrow the Republic and only those who learn the value of being patient are going to make the order stronger.

Besides the hunt for new apprentices and the quest for immortality, the plot involves a young woman bent on revenge. I liked Serra and Lucia were tied to Bane’s past. I couldn’t help rooting for them, even though I knew — in the back of my mind — that they were no match for a Sith Lord and things would not end well for them.

I loved the ending. Though not a cliffhanger by any means, the epilogue gives me the impression that at least one story thread was left hanging, just in case. I would like to see the Sith deal with that ex-Jedi.

Start: 1 February 2011
Finished: 6 February

Rating:

Loved It!

==========================================

==========================================

Disclaimer: I purchased this book.

Darth Bane: Rule of Two

Title: Darth Bane: Rule of Two
Author: Drew Karpyshyn
Copyright: 2008 (Del Rey); 320 pgs.
ISBN: 978-0-345-47749-1
Series: Star Wars Expanded Universe
Sensuality: None
Genre: Science Fiction
ERA: Sith/Republic – 1,020 years before the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Spoilers for Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

Rule of Two picks up where Path of Destruction left off. The Brotherhood of Darkness is no more, completely destroyed by a thought bomb. The Army of Light has suffered huge losses, including its general, Jedi Master Lord Hoth. They are under the impression that no Sith survived. However, there is a lone survivor, Darth Bane, and he wants the Jedi to keep believing the Sith are extinct.

The book started off slow for me. Bane and Zannah, his newly acquired apprentice, spend much of the first nine chapters still on Ruusan, or trying to get off it. To be fair, the author had to set both Johun Othone — Hoth’s former padawan — and Tomcat — Rain’s cousin — on their respective paths before the main story could move forward. Johun is convinced that at least one Sith survived. He wants to pursue this, but the new leader of the Jedi — Jedi Master Farfalla — finds no credible evidence to suggest there were survivors. Instead, he gives Johun a different mission. As for Tomcat, having failed both as a Jedi and a Sith, he has no idea what to do with himself. He survives a run-in with Zannah and Bane and is left to make his own way on Ruusan. Both young men will encounter the Sith years later, with tragic results.

The story jumps ahead ten years. Bane has Zannah carrying out missions while he works on creating a Sith Holocron. On his orders, Zannah infiltrates separatist groups and convince them to strike out against the Republic before they are ready, thereby ensuring that they fail, but still draw the attention of the Senate and the Jedi. Zannah’s current mission is on Serenno, a planet known for its radical separatist groups. Though she carries out her tasks, Zannah questions the logic behind them. Bane has assured her that the time isn’t right:

“The Republic keeps the Jedi in check. It maintains control and imposes order across thousands of worlds. But if the Republic falls, a score of new interstellar governments and galactic organizations will rise. It is far easier to manipulate and control a single enemy than twenty.

That is why we must seek out radical separatist groups, identify the ones that have the potential to become true threats, then encourage them to strike before they are ready. We must exploit them, playing them off against the Republic. We must let our enemies weaken one another while we stay hidden and grow strong.

“One day the Republic will fall and the Jedi will be wiped out,” he assured her. “But it will not happen until we are ready to seize that power for ourselves.”

Even so, Zannah is still concerned. Ten years ago, when Bane first set out to learn the mysteries of the Sith Holocron, he became infested with a parasite. The orbalisk, as they are called, seemed to be a boon initially, giving Bane enhanced healing abilities and strength, and a body armor that blocks even lightsabers. But Zannah feels that the long exposure to them is taking its toll on Bane’s judgment. He’s failed several times to create a Holocron and he’s gone into destructive rages. Bane has much yet to teach her, and if dies before she’s reach her full potential, the Sith may truly be lost. Eventually, Bane agrees with her and Zannah’s new mission is to find a way to remove the parasites without killing the host.

I really enjoyed the story once it made the ten-year jump; it really pick up for me. Zannah is smart, but not overconfident as her future “descendants” (Maul, Dooku, Anakin). In fact, it was kind of refreshing to read about a Sith apprentice that knows she has a lot to learn, isn’t arrogant to the point of stupidity, and is patient. She can think on her feet — a couple of times she finds herself in less-than-ideal situations that she has to turn to her advantage and hope that Bane doesn’t think she’s betraying him. Her final dealings with her cousin are chilling. Even so, I actually liked her — but not as much as I liked Bane in the first book.

Started: 25 March 2010
Finished: 10 April 2010

Rating:

Enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I purchased this book.

Path of Destruction

ERA: Sith/Republic – 1,020 years before the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars: A New Hope)

Summary: On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel, a cortosis miner, vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There, Dessel’s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him the renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, a far greater destiny awaits him.

Comments: This book is special: it is the farthest back on the novel time line, taking place years before Yoda was even born. And it is, to the best of my knowledge, the first novel that does not feature a movie character in some way.**

I thought Dessel — or Des — was a more sympathetic character than Anakin. Des is a miner, whose father hated him and abused him. The company that owns the mine owns everything else and can charge their employees outrages prices — they extend credit, of course, but you can never get ahead and if a family member dies still owing money, the debt carries over to the survivors. Des inherited his father’s debt and has no choice but to work every day.

Des is desperate to leave Apatros — he knows he destined for more than a life of a miner, he just doesn’t know what that might be. He doesn’t think very highly of the Jedi or the Republic — the fact that things on Apatros are the way they are is proof enough that the Republic cares very little of the oppressed in the Outer Rim. As for the Jedi’s supposed abilities, Des thinks they are exaggerated. He has no idea that he is strong in the Force, though he sometimes “see things before they happen.” For a future Sith Lord, Des is also surprisingly patient. He has anger and hate in spades, but he knows the value of keeping them in check, biding his time. Whenever the opportunity arises, Des gambles, hoping for the big win — but always knowing when to cut his loses.

Fate finally steps in to set him on his path. Des joins a card game against members of a Republic supply ship picking up cargo. Forced to flee because no one will believe the word of miner over a member of the Republic navy, Des finds his calling in the Sith army. His abilities allow him and his unit to earn a reputation as an elite group, used for only the most important missions. But this isn’t his destiny any more than mining was. He finally comes to the attentions of a Sith Master: he pulls off a near-impossible kill — one that only a person attuned to the Force could make. Des is offered the chance to attend the Sith Academy. He accepts, and takes the name Bane.

For awhile, Bane spends most of his time in the much-ignored library/archives — and gets the Hermione Granger Award for Archive Appreciation, in part for his belief that you can learn valuable lessons from the stories of the past:

Bane temporarily abandons his bookish studies when his star is on the rise. He quickly learns his initial instincts were right. After he suffers a humiliating defeat at the hands of the star pupil, he is shunned as a failure and he retreats to the library. It’s during this second exile that Bane begins to realize the Sith have strayed from their path, and he begins his quest to set things right.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed getting a different perspective of the Sith. Bane was not a fallen Jedi like Anakin or Count Dooku, and he wasn’t a child when he came to the Sith. He’s a man, trying to find his place in life, coming to terms with his destiny, and doing what must be done. Even after he has fully embraces his destiny, he makes a surprising decision not to kill an individual, someone the reader would have expected him to kill:

Bane’s first priority is to save the Sith from themselves, and preserve the order until the time is right to destroy the Jedi.

A couple of things:

– The Jedi in this book were too much Knights of the Round/Templar Knights instead of Jedi. The courtly behavior and habits of Master Valenthyne Farfalla were a bit off-putting. Fortunately, they weren’t in the book very much.

– Githany’s weapon: the way it is described in the book sounded like the one Shira Brie/Lumiya used in the Marvel comics. The picture of Githany in the Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force depicts it looking like a regular lightsaber, but with a bendy blade (Note: Don’t read this Guide if you haven’t read the Legacy of the Force novels and are trying to remain spoiler-free).

– Lord Hoth? So, was the planet named in his honor, or the other way around?

**The Stackpole/Allston X-Wing novels featured minor movie characters, and guest appearances of the major characters. The Jedi padawan in the Medstar duology has screen time in the movies and the Clone Wars cartoon. I don’t know much about the Republic Commando novels, Galaxies tie-in or the short-story anthologies.

Started: 5 March 2008
Finished: 16 March 2008

Liked A Lot

Rating: