The Silver Chair

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4 * Book 5**

This book did not hold my attention the way the other books have. I liked it well enough, but maybe it was the characters that were the problem.

Eustace enters Narnia again with a girl from his school named Jill. Eustace wasn't my favorite character from the last book and he still isn't all that interesting. Jill isn't much better. They enter Narnia with the mission of rescuing Caspian's son Rillian. They have a guide for this journey, a Marsh-wiggle by the name of Puddleglum. He might have been the most interesting character in the book. If Eustace and Jill had been as interesting, this would have been a different book.

Anyway, they go on this adventure to find the prince and get into all sorts of trouble, including ending up in an underground world.

So, while I didn't love the book, I still enjoyed it and its bittersweet ending.

The Iliad

I had sort of a love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the story. I've always been a bit of a fan of Greek mythology, and this is Greek mythology to the max. You've got gods interfering in war, the famous Trojan War, and the dispute between Achilles and Hector. But I think I hated the particular translation of Homer's epic poem that I read.

Once I got past the language that was just really difficult for me to understand sometimes (I used my Nook's dictionary a lot while reading, simply so I could understand words that I didn't know), I enjoyed the story. A lot of battle. Actually, it's all battle. There's very few interludes where the story visits the Trojan wives and the gods on Olympus, but really it covers the battles. I didn't always love the overly descriptive parts of the book - essentially metaphors and similes just kept being used to describe one thing. It got a little much.

Now, I need to go read the Odyssey.

Death du Jour

*Book 1*

Talk about a suspenseful book! Part of me didn't love that about it, but at the same time, the way that it was written, so that at the end of a chapter you're left with a sort of cliffhanger is ingenious. It made me want to keep reading (even if the book took me two months to finish).

The book starts innocuously enough - Temperance is digging up a nun who has been dead for quite a while, because she is up for sainthood, and when she finds this nun, she discovers something unusual about her that requires her to do research. I spent most of the book wondering about this single mystery because it wasn't cleared up until the last chapter (although there were hints about it before it was revealed).

While she's doing this rather low-key analysis of a nun, she is called into a house fire - mind you, part of this book takes place in Montreal...in winter. In the house, they find two bodies, plus a family of four in the adjoining building. That was probably the hardest part for me to read, since the family included four month old twins. I nearly started crying right then and there (actually, I might have cried).

These murders, plus other bodies that are discovered as the book progresses, are connected to a cult-ish organization and the effects of this group are wide spread and devastating for Brennan.

Overall, this book was enthralling and, while I don't always enjoy the writing style and the French that I completely don't understand, I can't wait to read more.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 4**

These books are still fun. My daughter is excited to have them read to her (although this book took a little longer for us to get through because I got sick, so Daddy was reading some Lord of the Rings to her for about a week).

This book is in Narnia technically, but it doesn't take place in the actual country. This book takes place on a ship - the Dawn Treader. This book also has a different set of characters than the other Narnia books. Edmund and Lucy are still visiting, but Peter and Susan are no longer able to - they've become too old to travel to Narnia. But with Edmund and Lucy on this trip is their cousin Eustace. Eustace is a rather unlikable boy who doesn't believe in Narnia, even after the three children land there.

The crew of the Dawn Treader - which includes Caspian and Reepicheep the Mouse - find themselves in some interesting adventures as they journey to find the Narnian lords that were banished from Narnia by Caspian's uncle Miraz. They find islands with mysterious, exciting, and even dangerous things on them. They also discover the whereabouts of the seven missing lords.

I'm excited to continue reading these books to my daughter and getting the chance to enjoy them for the first time myself.

Prince Caspian

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

I am still really enjoying this series. Which is saying something considering that I have never read this series and it's more geared towards children. My three year old is enjoying it too (I think).

This was a bit different from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy return to Narnia, but it's a radically different Narnia than the one they left. Where it has only been a year for the children, hundreds have appeared to have passed in their beloved Narnia. But they have been called there to help a boy not much older than themselves.

Caspian is the proper heir to the throne of Narnia. But his uncle has usurped the throne as well as killing his father. Now that his aunt has had a male child, Caspian is a threat to his uncle. So Caspian runs away, and he finds a group of Old Narnians - Talking Animals, Fauns, Centaurs, and even a Giant - who will gladly make him the King of Narnia, but they must go to battle against King Miraz and his army.

So, the children get pulled into Narnia to help Caspian succeed in restoring Narnia to what it once was.

It's a fun book. All the books of this series are. And they're the perfect length to read to my daughter at night.

Rapture

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3 * Book 3.5**

This was definitely my favorite book of the entire series. Maybe it's because it felt like the best ending for these books, or maybe I just really liked this particular story. Who knows? But I loved this book.

It felt like a conclusion book too. It truly had the feeling that it was bringing this story to an end. And geez, what an end it was.

Luce, Daniel, and all the other angels have to find three relics that will help them determine where the angels fell seven thousand years prior. They have to find it to stop Lucifer, who has gone back in time and is bringing the past angels through the fall to the present.

Through this whole book, Luce is slowly rediscovering who she is, but the secret that she needs to uncover doesn't get revealed until right at the end.

I was really satisfied with this ending. I couldn't imagine any other ending that would have made me really happy with the future of Lucinda and Daniel. So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Fallen in Love

**Book 1 * Book 2 * Book 3**

This was really a novella, even though the cover says it's a novel. It's pretty good, but I think that the series could survive just fine without this addition between books three and four.

The entirety of this involves the one Valentine's Day that Lucinda and Daniel ever spent together. In all of their lifetimes. But it's a story split in four separate parts, each it's own little story that add up to the greater picture.

First is the story of Shelby and Miles, who work to help Luce and Daniel connect in this medieval lifetime. Since it's their only Valentine's Day (which Shelby and Miles don't realize), these two friends want to help her. In this process, they find that they have a connection.

Then it's Roland's story. He is reminiscing about the medieval girl he loved during that time. He left her because he was convinced that they could not live happily together - a demon and a mortal girl. Now, he is back in this time and wants to make right what he messed up in the first place, only to discover that she has moved on.

The book then moves on to Arriane's story. She loves a demon. They love each other, but then Tess, the demon, tells Arriane that if they want to remain together, Arriane must go from the side of Heaven to the side of Hell. Arriane refuses, Tess tries to remove her wings, Arriane tries to mend her lover, but their blood mixes, leaving Arriane with horrible burns.

Finally we get to Daniel and Lucinda. Their only Valentine's Day through thousands of years of their curse.

Honestly, I felt that their story was the most disappointing in this book. It was mostly Lucinda feeling sad, not knowing if she'll see Daniel at all, obsessing about the fact that it's their only Valentine's Day, and Daniel only makes an appearance a few pages before the end.

So, while I loved three out of the four stories, I still think that it was something I could have done without.