Book #38 of 2014: Informatzia / Ow my poor toe!

[thistlechaser]

What a way to spend a day off from work. Was pretty sure I had an infection in my toe (I keep getting ingrown toenails), so went to the walk in clinic. He sent me off to the podiatry department. The same toe that had the nail reduced by 50% six months ago now has another big chunk gone. There's only like 25% left of it. Since I was going through all the pain of removal anyway, I kinda wish they had taken the whole thing.

It is, quite literally, a bloody mess at the moment. I'll resist going into details beyond that.

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Informatzia by Catherine Keegan (loupnoir)
Rating: 4/liked (1-5/hated-loved)



I've been waiting for this book for so long. :) How hard is it to not bug the author when they're right there on your LJ friends list? It was really great to see all the characters again!

In a way, you could say this book series was Harry Potter fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, but that's not really the case. The Durmstrang Chronicles (written by this author and what the Informatzia trilogy was based on) was always pretty stand-alone. It had no canon Harry Potter characters (Lupin had a walk-in role in one of the stories, but that's it). The whole world was so wonderfully dark and mature. So it's more like Informatzia is two steps removed from Harry Potter.

The main character of Informatzia is an animagus werewolf, but neither that nor magic were the focus of this story. It was more a tale of spies and the Russian culture.

While I love the main character, I found myself wishing to be able to see so much more of this world. The few glimpses of the "magic cops" (special members of the FBI) made them seem so interesting! And the few mentions of Rose Jones (main character of Durmstrang Chronicles) made me itch to have her show up in the story.

Not so totally unrelated, I named one of my Flight Rising dragons Rose Jones.


Ahem! Anyway, I quite enjoyed the book! I can't wait until the third one. :)

Currently reading: Survey Ship by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I've had it on my Kindle for a while, well before all the rape/abuse stuff around her and her husband came out. I feel a little icky reading it; I hadn't even originally realized it was by her (the covers on the Kindle are so small, all I can generally see is the title).

Comments

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

I stared at that title for at least five minutes trying to make sense of the Russian before I figured out that, duh, there's no F in Russian (what she's using as the I makes the F sound) and sorted out that it wasn't in proper Russian. D'oh!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heh! I could see how that would be confusing if you spoke Russian! To English-only me, it looks very Russian-ish while being able to be understood.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I have similar toenail problems, so understand the pain.
I hope yours get better quickly!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I hope yours never trouble you again. Toenails should be seen, not heard felt.

[mayanas.livejournal.com]

I loved Marion Zimmer Bradley's books when growing up, the Mists of Avalon, the Firebrand, etc. She made me fall in love with King Arthur and Troy and all sorts of stuff. It all feels so disgustingly tainted now by her being such a horrible person. I don't think I'd ever be able to re-read any of it without shuddering.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I know. I was enjoying the book before realizing who wrote it, now I'm all frowny at it. At least it's a really fast read, so I'll be done with it soon.

I discovered who wrote it while googling to see what else the author wrote, so I could pick up more books by him or her. Blah!

[spike7451.livejournal.com]

Ouch!! I suffered from an ingrown toenail for years but found a great podiatrist who worked on it for a few months and now I have no trouble.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm glad! I wouldn't wish them on anyone.