Well, I've finally been able to take a break from all the madness surrounding me these last few months. Since losing my job last year, I found myself just drifting. Now I've pulled up my socks a just last month I dove back into my studies (... what have I done.... ) Instead of being able to go about my daily reading, for pleasure and for interest, I must now delve into the study materials once again. I must have lost my mind to go back to studying, but I do so want my qualification, so it's nose to the grindstone for the next 12-18 months - at least.
Since I've been studying, my reading for pleasure has slipped... but not to the point where I no longer pick up a book and gaze at it longingly at the cover and put it back. I'd have to have both arms in plaster to do that!
I have taken a little scenic detour in my usual reading style. I was wandering through Big W, growling to myself about the prices of stationary supplies but that's another story, and found my way to the book department - big shock there... not! Anyhow, they hadn't restocked the shelves with my usual fare, so I just browsed through the remaining shelves when my mother joined me. I was then prowling around, trying to find something for her to read - or possibly for an Easter pressie - when I saw this beautiful red cover. Intrigued, I snatched it off the shelf and paused. It was a fantasy book. Now I don't as a rule do fantasy books. Anne McCafferty and Terry Brooks have never really been my thing and I wouldn't touch Robert Jordan under pain of death. But this little (thick) red book just called to me... Anyhow, the long and the short of it was that once I read the back I couldn't resist. I took 'Dreams Made Flesh' home with me and by that afternoon had finished it! Anne Bishop's anthology made me want to just rush out and buy the Black Jewels trilogy. I'll have to wait until Friday, but she is the first author in the fantasy genre that has made me fall into her world and fall in love with her characters. Lucivar is wonderful, and a fitting mate to the tender Marian. Daemon is darkly enticing and the most perfect mate for the formidable Jaenelle Angelline. Saetan SaDiablo is both fatherly and frightening in his roles as both the High Lord and Papa. The characters are engaging and you feel drawn to them, as well as more than a little dislike for some. Bishop's Kindred are so lovely, you just want to take one home... but be sure you have enough space for one though :) The world that Jaenelle and her family inhabit is surreal and down to earth all at the same time. If I never find another fantasy author to read, I will be forever thankful that I found Anne Bishop.
If anyone had of asked me whether or not I would have added a fantasy book to my collection it would have been a resounding "ARE YOU NUTS!", but after spending an afternoon in Lucivar's world, I can't wait to book my next trip.
