Connie's BFB's for 2021

I'm in again. I love a big book and have a few on the shelves.



01. Draken van een verdwenen maan - Margaret Weis & Tracey Hickman - 573 pages -
02. Het boek der stormen - James Clemens - 505 pages -
03. Een duister vermoeden - Elizabeth George - 587 pages -
04. Verloren onschuld - Elizabeth George - 724 pages -
05. Het onzichtbare leven van Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab - 574 pages -
06. Laten wij aanbidden - Ann-Marie MacDonald - 600 pages -
07. De zevende zus - Lucinda Riley - 688 pages -
08. De eed van de zwaardvechter - Juliet E. McKenna - 512 pages -
09. De schemering en de dageraad - Ken Follett - 734 pages -
10. Kerewin - Keri Hulme - 783 pages -
11. Olympos - Dan Simmons - 777 pages -
12. De duivel en de duistere diepte - Stuart Turton - 538 pages -
13. Het boek van wraak - James Clemens - 590 blz -
14. Het boek der poorten - James Clemens - 554 pages -

Almost finished ROOT # 1, BFB # 1



Draken van een verdwenen maan by Magaret Weis & Tracey Hickman, 573 pages

The Blurb

The flames of war devour Ansalon. The army of dead souls marches toward conquest, led by the mystical warrior Mina, who serves the powerful One God. A small band of heroes, driven to desperate measures, leads the fight against overwhelming odds. Two unlikely protagonists emerge. One is a dragon overlord who will not easily relinquish her rule. The other is an irrepressible kender who has been on a strange and remarkable journey that will end in startling and unforeseen fashion. The stirring climax of the War of Souls.

Found you here, and look at you go, one down already!

>3 majkia: And now really finished,

My Review,

Third part in the series of The War of the Souls, part of Dragonlance. Many characters, many nations, such as minotaurs, elves, gnomes and giants and of course the Kender, with Tasslehoff Burrfoot as the exceptional specimen. Although it was difficult to follow at times, I really enjoyed it. Lots of intrigue and battles. My favorite people were Gerard (human), Galdar (Minotaur) and Gilthas (elf).

Hi Connie my dear, nice to see you here again and one book already done, i think you will reach your target my dear friend.

Hi Connie, good luck with your reading this year, you are off to a good start !

Now reading Het boek der stormen by James Clemens, 511 pages. ROOT # 2, BFB # 2



The Blurb

Five centuries after the destruction of the Mages of Alasea, a young girl, Elena, inherits the powers that the Mages had so carefully hidden from their terrible enemy. Elena bears the mark of the wit'ch upon her palm, a crimson stain that belies the wild power it may wield. Only a mistress of blood magick can stand against the Dark Lord - but Elena is not yet mistress of her magick. To discover the key to the Dark Lord's defeat, Elena must travel to A'loa Glen - a perilous journey, for if the Dark Lord finds her first, she will become his most fearsome weapon.

Wow, one BFB already! Way to go, Connie.

It came with me from 2020, Birgit!

Second book for the year finished

Het boek der stormen by James Clemens 505 pages -

My review

Exciting and sometimes a bit gruesome second part in the Prohibited and Banished series. We follow 3 young people and their friends: Elena and her brother Joach who are separated and the sea girl Sywen. They are assisted on their journey in search of the Thunder Hammer by all kinds of characters: elves, witches, shape-shifters, dragons and trolls. They all emerge in the book and can contribute to the fight against the Dark Lord through their own specific talents. Wonderful reading.

Third book for the year finished



Een duister vermoeden by Elizabeth George -

My Review

What a wonderfully exciting book. There is really everything in it; family issues, homosexuality, transgender, jealousy, murder, multiple suspects, misunderstandings. I would say just read it yourself.
It's about the Fairclough family: father, mother, twin sisters and a drug-addicted brother who is back on track and has to prove himself. And a cousin they took into their family after his mother's death. They own and run a successful bathroom porcelain factory. Then Ian, the cousin, is found dead in the boathouse. He drowned when he got out of his boat on the dock of the boathouse. Lynley is asked to discreetly investigate whether anything else may have happened. And then a mind-boggling sequence of events unfolds

Finished Verloren onschuld by Elizabeth George



My review

Volume 18 in the series about Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers. The book seamlessly continues where Part 17 left off. You can split this book into 2 parts. The first part is about the kidnapping of Hadiyyah Upman. That is a very complicated story and also very exciting.
The second part is about the death of Angelina Upman and the many false tracks that have been set by people who are not so good in obeying the law.
I thought the first part was worth a 9,5 and the second a 7,5.
Because the story is partly set in Italy and a lot of Italian is used untranslated, you occasionally have to guess what is being said, sometimes you can guess that from the context, but not always. On the one hand I found that a challenge and my not too great knowledge of Italian has improved a bit, but on the other hand it was also disturbing because it just takes you out of the story.

I have just finished Het onzichtbare leven van Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab - 574 pages - and give it



My Rewiew

What a great book this is. Adeline (Addie) LaRue was born in a small French country village in 1714. And when she is twenty-three and unmarried, it is seen as strange, so her parents decide to let her marry a widower with 3 small children. Addie doesn't feel like it at all. She never wants to marry anyone at all. When she manages to escape on her wedding day and has run deep into the forest, she is found there by a mysterious man who makes her a proposal. She wants to spend time and do things that she enjoys. In return, she will give him her soul when she is ready. But there is a downside to the deal. Nobody remembers her. Not her parents, not her friend in the village. And then a story begins that takes Addie to many places and times. Until she meets a man in 2014 who remembers her from the day before when she was also in his bookshop. Addie is over the moon and can bask in the fact that someone doesn't forget her as soon as a door closes between them.

Finished Laten wij aanbidden by Ann-Marie MacDonald - 600 pages





My review

How can you best describe this book. It is a family history that stretches from about 1900 to about 1955 and begins simply when James (18) falls head over heels in love with Materia, a 13-year-old girl from a Lebanese family. He elopes with her and they eventually have four daughters, Kathleen, Mercedes, Frances and Lily. This book tells their story and that is a boisterous, special and wonderful story with different ingredients such as incest, being transgender, lesbian love and losing innocence, trust and loyalty to each other, but also hate, racism, deception and abuse, prostitution. and dead babies. Beautifully written and beautifully told. I cannot and do not want to tell much about the story. You have to read it yourself to find out what's going on with the four sisters.

I have to get back to BFB's soon! I've several of them on the TBR-list so I just have to choose one from the pile.

Just like me, I'm always getting distracted by other books.

Hi Connie, hope all is good with you and reading, thanks for your review of 'Invisible Life', I have that one waiting on the shelf !

>17 bryanoz: Hi Bryan, I'm doing fine and I'm certainly still reading. In fact I'm reading a BFB right now.

re: the invisible life. Don't wait too long! It's a great book.

Another BFB # 7



De zevende zus by Lucinda Riley, 688 pages

The Blurb from the back cover.

The six D'Apliese sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister? They only have one clue - an image of a star-shaped emerald ring. The search to find the missing sister will take them across the globe - from New Zealand to Canada, England, France and Ireland - uniting them all in their mission to complete their family at last. In doing so, they will slowly unearth a story of love, strength and sacrifice that began almost one hundred years ago, as other brave young women risk everything to change the world around them.

My review:

Another good story by Lucinda Riley, but one that starts up a bit slow and I feel it was written in a bit of a rush with short sentences that speed up the reading, but also feels a bit simple. When the seventh sister's story goes back to the past as usual, it works again for me. The story of the seventh sister goes back to Ireland in 1920 and tells about Nuala, a girl who grows up in a poor peasant family with seven children. They all have to work hard to stay afloat and besides that, the whole family is deeply involved in the IRA. Nuala and her sister Hannah convey messages to other members of the resistance and do laundry and cooking and provide temporary shelter to people who have to go into hiding. That continues in all the episodes that make up the story. Via Hannah to her daughter and so on with the Irish struggle for freedom as the common denominator.
In the present, the book is about Merry (Mary) who, after her husband's death, wants to take a trip to change her mind. Meanwhile, the D'Apliese sisters are on their way from all over the world to Geneva to the house where they lived as children. They want to honor Pa Salt by throwing a wreath in the sea in the spot where their father, Pa Salt, is said to have drowned. They have clues about the seventh sister and start looking for her so she can be there too. I'm not going to say more because of spoiler stuff. A huge cliffhanger at the end. And the announcement of an eighth book.

And I forgot to mention one BFB # 8



De eed van de zwaardvechter by Juliet E. McKenna - 512 pages

The blurb from the back cover

Ryshad had no choice but to kill his long-time friend and ally Aiten. Aiten's mind had been corrupted by the mysterious Elietimm and he was a danger to himself and a deadly threat to others. But that is no consolation to the grieving Ryshad and certainly will be of no help when he tries to explain it to Aiten's family. To distract him from his troubles and from the strange dreams he has been having, Ryshad's patron, Messire D'Olbriot, sends him to Caladhria to assist the wizard Shiv, who is working for the Archmage himself. The wizards are trying to find a way to combat the strange aetheric magic of the Elietimm, which threatens to destroy the land. But Ryshad's desire to help goes far beyond the patriotic - he seeks revenge for the death of Aiten. What he doesn't know yet is that he will have to work with Livak, with whom he had a brief love affair, and that the strange dreams he has been having may hold the key to the mysterious Elietimm ...

My Review

It had been a while since I had read part 1, so I had to get into this part, but then it really got to me. Of course Livak also plays a role, but the main role is for Ryshad. He is a swordsman for one of the Houses of Einarinn and is assigned to assist the mage Shivvalan on an unspecified assignment. So Rysvan sets off and ends up in a strange adventure. I will not tell you more because that gives away too much about the story and that is not the intention. but the story is special and many of the riddles from Part 1 are explained. A rough start but an exciting ending.

BFB # 9



Finished De schemering en de dageraad by Ken Follett and it gets

The blurb from the back cover

It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided by Vikings, forcing him and his family to move and start their lives anew in a small hamlet where he does not fit in. . . . A Norman noblewoman marries for love, following her husband across the sea to a new land. But the customs of her husband's homeland are shockingly different, and as she begins to realize that everyone around her is engaged in a constant, brutal battle for power, it becomes clear that a single misstep could be catastrophic. . . . A monk dreams of transforming his humble abbey into a center of learning that will be admired throughout Europe. And each in turn comes into dangerous conflict with a clever and ruthless bishop who will do anything to increase his wealth and power.

My review

What wonderful books these are. I was drawn into the story by Edgar and Ragna. Aldred is also an appealing character. The story is set before the other 3 books in the Kingsbridge trilogy. And for a prequel, it's wonderfully fat. The story is also about the hamlet of Dreng's ferry. Dreng is an unpleasant man who runs the ferry. That is, he has his wife, his mistress and a slave girl to do it. Edgar and his brothers and mother are allowed to live in an abandoned farmhouse after their father's death. The farm is in an almost unworkable place so that is quite a challenge. Edgar has a talent. He is good at visualizing how things should work. He is building a kind of bridge, which should make the ferry superfluous. Dreng does not agree with that, of course, because that is his source of income.
There is also a role for the brothers Wilwulf, an earl, Wynstan, a bishop and Wigelm, a feudal lord
Ragna is the daughter of Count Hubert of Cherbourg and she is betrothed to Wilwulf.
That is how she ends up in England.
The story tells of the growth of Breng's ferry until it is renamed and called Kingsbridge. Sometimes the story is cruel and rough. But you empathize with the main characters so much that it actually just fits into the story. Definitely recommended for people who love historical stories.

BFB # 10

Finished Kerewin by Keri Hulme 783 pages



The blurb from the back cover

This unusual novel, set in New Zealand, concentrates on three people: Kerewin Holmes, a part-Maori painter who has chosen to isolate herself in a tower she built from lottery winnings; Simon, a troubled and mysterious little boy; and Joe Gillayley, the Maori factory worker who is Simon's foster father. Elements of Maori myth and culture are woven into the novel's exploration of the passions and needs that bind these three people together, for good or ill. It's not easy reading, but the story is compelling despite its stylistic eccentricities and great length. The novel is the winner of the Pegasus Prize.

My Rewiew

I really thought this was a wonderful story. Kerewin is a young woman who has rather idiosyncratic ideas. She is an artist, but she has lost her talent a bit and has withdrawn from city life and built a tower on the far end of an island that belongs to New Zealand. She is frazzled with her family and is actually fine with that. She has built a life with what the land and nature can give her. She hunts and she fishes. One day she sees a boy standing in front of the window. He climbed halfway up the tower somewhere. When she lets him in she notices that he can't talk but that doesn't stop her from developing some kind of friendship with him. Soon she also meets Joe, the adoptive father of the boy who seems to be called Simon. The three of them form a strange trio. The story ripples on, with beautiful language that feels magical at times. And sometimes a bit hard to follow. Of course there are upsets in the story. Simon wants to stay with his father at all costs and Joe, who has lost his own wife and child, occasionally becomes violent towards Simon. It also turns out that Simon carries a secret from his past with him.
It could have been shorter, but I did enjoy it.

BFB # 11

I'm reading another BFB



The blurb from the back cover

Helen of Troy is in mourning for her dead husband, Paris. Killed in single combat with the merciless Apollo, his body is nothing but a scorched and blasted thing. Hockenberry, her lover, still sneaks from her bed after their nights of lovemaking. And the gods still strike out from the besieged Olympos, their single-molecule bomb casings quantum phase-shifting through the moravecs¿ force shield and laying waste to Ilium. Or so Hockenberry and the amusing little metal creature, Mahnmut, have tried to explain to her. Helen of Troy does not give a fig about machines. She must dress for the funeral. And man and the gods and the unknown players in this tragedy must prepare for the final act. And a battle that will decide the future of the universe itself.

Almost finished it 'only 200 + pages to read.

Finished Olympos by Dan Simmons yesterday and this book gets

It's hard to write a review, but here it is

My review

It's been a while since I've read the first part iIlium/i of this epic series and it was hard to follow everything at once, but I finally managed. An abundance of gods and goddesses are engaged in a struggle for supremacy. Some on the side of the Greeks and some on the side of the Trojans. There is also an SF side to the story. A union between Mars and Earth allows the gods to move in an instant. I was especially happy with the super intelligent robot Mahnmut and the human Thomas Hockenberry.
The small enclave of Ada, Ardis Hall, also plays a fine role.
I can't say too much about it, reading the book is an experience in itself.

BFB # 12

De duivel en de duistere diepte by Stuart Turton 538 Pages



The blurb from BOL.com

It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported from the Dutch East Indies to Amsterdam, where he is facing trial and execution for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent, while also on board are Sara Wessel, a noble woman with a secret, and her husband, the governor general of Batavia. But no sooner is their ship out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. Livestock are slaughtered in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice whispering to them in the darkness, promising them three unholy miracles. First: an impossible pursuit. Second: an impossible theft. Third: an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent and Sara can solve a mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

My Review

This is a very different book than De zevenvoudige dood van Evelyn Hardcastle and I had to get used to that fact in the beginning/
It takes place entirely on a VOC ship that is on its way from Batavia to Amsterdam. There are many different characters, but the main one is Arent Hayes, he is a kind of bodyguard of Samuel (Sammy) Pipps, who is taken as a prisoner to Amsterdam to be tried there. Jan Haan, the governor-general of Batavia and his wife Sara and daughter Lia also play an important role. All sorts of mysterious things are happening around a ghostly apparition called the leper and it's believed to have something to do with Old Tom, another rumor that is circulating.
Everyone on board has secrets, no one is honest and Arent has to act as a detective to Sammy. It's an exciting story, but you have to know beforehand that you can expect something quit different from Mr. Turton's first book

Finished BFB # 13 590 pages



Het boek van wraak by James Clemens

My review

I really liked this part in the series and I'm going to continue in the fourth book. A lot happens especially around Elena, who is the main character. Lots of fights and stuff, typical epic fantasy. But the other characters are also very attractive to read about, including Erril, Tolchuk (the troll) and Joach, Elena's brother. The writing style is also pleasant to read and if there weren't other RL things that had to happen, it would probably have been finished sooner.

Finished BFB # 14 554 pages



Het boek der poorten by James Clemens

My review

Strong and exciting adventure with different storylines. Elena and her travel companions are scattered all over their world. Each group has gone to one of the wind-directions to destroy the gates to the 'Defence'. And of course this is not without a struggle. There are deaths and injuries. Love is found and there is a lot of magic. A wonderful book to dive into. I will definitely be reading part 5 soon, but that will have to wait a while.

I don't really know if 'Defence' is the right word for 'Weer' that is used in the Dutch translation. That a kind of negative against the positive, black against white, good against bad.