George R. R. Martin - A Dance with Dragons

The fifth - and currently last published - volume of George R. R. Martins "A Song of Ice and Fire" shows the reader what happened to the characters not mentioned in volume four.
Jon Snow, elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch faces envy and pure hate from some of his brothers, and finally has to really grow up and fast.
Daenerys has conquered Meereen and decided to stay there, in order to lead her motley people and therefore refine her leading skills. But she faces problems as well, as not all of her folken want to be lead by her... she even needs to find a new husband to appease some part of the Meereen people.
Tyrion is travelling more or less around the whole known world, and not all of this travelling is done by his own free will.
One further learns what happened to Cersei Lannister, Asha and Theon Greyjoy, Arya and Bran Stark.

Much is going on in Westeros, and the fifth volume leaves the reader somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so let's hope that  George keeps on writing :-).

I award 8 out of 10 for many unexpectant turns and a character development which was much appreciated - at least from my point of view.

Stephen King - The Wind through the Keyhole

I am really surprised by this book, and happy to have read it! Stephen King starts somewhere between book 4 and 5 of the dark tower series. Roland and his ka-tet are still on their long way to the dark tower. They arrive at a river and luckily find some kind of ferry. The ferry-man tells them to beware of a coming Starkblast (a very heavy storm, causing huge drops in temerature, even imploding trees), so they seek shelter in a building made of stone.
When all things are settled (fire made, doors and windows barred...) Roland starts to tell them a story from when he was a newly made gunslinger: he and his friend Jaime went to a small village in order to find out who or what is killing people there. A 12-year old is found and tells that a skinchanger is, who is doing the killing, and that he might be able to identify the person. So Roland, Jaime and a group of locals take the likely ones and bring them to the village. During this time, Roland tells the afraid Boy a Story he often heard as a child - 'the Wind through the keyhole'... So the story in the story begins: little Tim leads a very lovely life with his parents at the edge of the forest. One day his father does not come home from work, he was seemingly killed by a dragon in the forest. So Tims mom - in order to be able to pay her bills - his fathers best friend, who turns out to be not as nice as he seems. Well long story told short, Tim goes on a long journey and finds out what really happened to his dad... He is able to safe an imprisoned Person, to safe his mom from further evil and to safe hisself.
Roland switches then back to his own story, and then the reader goes back to the ka-tet and herewith to the end of the Starkblast.
I really really loved this book! Not only finally an eigth volume of the dark tower, but a very good story (stories...) too. Everything perfect, so 10 out of 10, and guess what! I finished the Vampiracycle AND the 5th volume of Game of Thrones as well (review coming soon) so I already started (nightstand book) 'bones to ashes' by Kathy Reichs, and my standard-with-me-book will be 'der Hundertjährige, der aus dem Fenster stieg und verschwand' by Jonas Jonasson.

Christopher Marzi - Lumen

Endlich hab ich Lumen fertig... ich weiß nicht, so sympatisch mir die Charaktere im Großen und Ganzen auch sind, ich kann mit der Erzählweise und mit der Geschichte an sich einfach nichts anfangen. Das geht so weit, dass ich teilweise - ich habe nur Abends vor dem Schlafengehen gelesen - von einem Tag auf den anderen verdrängt/vergessen habe, was ich Tags zuvor gelesen hatte... Ich tu mir wirklich extrem schwer, die Handlung selbst in den gewohnt groben Zügen wieder zu geben.
Hier die Kurzbeschreibung von www.amazon.de:

Mysteriöse Gestalten huschen durch die Winternacht, Menschen verschwinden vom Angesicht der Erde und fremde Nebel suchen die Stadt der Schornsteine heim. Erneut muss das Waisenmädchen Emily, begleitet von ihrem Mentor, dem mürrischen Alchemisten Wittgenstein, in die geheimnisvolle Welt unterhalb Londons hinabsteigen und der Spur eines dunklen Rätsels folgen. Alle Zeichen deuten nach Prag, der düsteren Stadt mit dem Tor zur Hölle ... Doch bevor Emily ihre Geschichte beenden kann, trifft der gefallene Engel Lycidas eine schicksalhafte Entscheidung, glaubt Emilys Freundin Aurora, Tote zu sehen, und muss Emily selbst einen gefährlichen Weg gehen, um die zu retten, die sie liebt ...
Ich finde, Christoph Marzi hat durchaus Potenzial, aber irgendwie will er auf Biegen und Brechen unbedingt der deutschsprachige Neil Gaiman sein, und davon ist er halt einfach zu weit entfernt. Ich hoffe, ich habe daraus gelernt, dass man nach dem 1. Teil den 2. kauft, und nicht gleich den 2. und den 3. Den bereits erschienenen 4. Teil werde ich mir glaub ich überhaupt sparen. Ich vergebe 1 von 10 möglichen Punkten.

Inzwischen liegt übrigens "The Wind throug the Keyhole" auf meinem Nachttisch, und ich bin bereits wieder voll im Midworld-Fieber.

E. L. James - Shades of Grey (Trilogy)

I chose to download the trilogy of Shades of Grey (being so much cheaper than the single editions).
Anastasia Steele has to help out her ill friend, and gets to meet attractive millionaire Christian Grey, who seems to be first annoyed, then interested in Ana. A few days after their first encounter, Christian makes clear, he wants to be Anas dom - meaning her sexual superior and BDSM-Master. Ana - not having any sexual experience - hestitates to sign the necessary contract, and turns Christian mad by not doing what she is told :-). Well, as anyone might have guessed, Ana - as she is very much attracted to Christian - wants to do whatever Christian tells her, but soon discovers her hard limits.
Very surprisingly, the end of volume one is not a happy one. So, eager to know what is going on between the two, I immediately started with volume two. Part 2 is far more relaxed than part 1. There is much more story and a little less sex, but I liked it all the same. Part 3 turns the events into a thriller with sexual elements and leads to a nice ending, with the possibility of a further volume...

I don't want to reveal too much of the plot, that's why my summary is even shorter than usual, but really, it is surprising at times, and one gets to know some serious secrets about Christian... so, well, Ladies, go and read it :-) (not that you expect too much, it is a nice story to read, but not too special - all the same, very likeable) - I award 8 out of 10.

I now go back to Westeros and started already "A dance with dragons", the last of the already published books of George R. R. Martins "Song of Ice and Fire".

Lilly Kanexo - Der Traum der Eule: Ola lüftet das Geheimnis der Bäume

Ich konnte mir das Buch gratis runterladen, als es für 2 Tage gefeatured wurde, und muss sagen, ich fand die Geschichte sehr lieb. Es geht um eine Eule, die von merkwürdiger Musik geweckt wird, Traum und Wirklichkeit verschmelzen, Ola fliegt in Begleitung eines Jungen auf Wolken durch die Gegend, findet den Ort, wo man nach dem Ableben hinkommt, verliert ihr zuhause und findet darüber hinaus heraus, woher die geheimnisvolle Musik kommt.

Olas Geschichte hat mir sehr gut gefallen, ob sie wirklich für kleine Kinder geeignet ist, kann ich nicht so wirklich beurteilen, finde aber, dass es eventuell ein wenig viel ist, gleichzeitig Realität und Traum unterscheiden können zu müssen, und außerdem noch mit dem Thema Tod konfrontiert zu werden. Mir war das Ganze ein klein wenig zu eilig erzählt, man hätte da schon mehr ins Detail gehen können, trotz allem vergebe ich 7 von 10 möglichen Punkten, und würde mich freuen, von der Autorin ein wenig mehr zu lesen.

Mein nächstes Projekt ist die "Fifty Shades" - Trilogie.
Auf dem Nachttisch liegt übrigens immer noch Lumen herum... da bin ich jetzt knapp über die Hälfte.

Klaus F. Rödder - Die haben ihre Methoden - wir die unseren Mr. Stringer! - Dame Margaret Rutherford - Auf den Spuren von Miss Marple

Hr. Rödder beschreibt in seiner Biographie der großen Margaret Rutherford zunächst, wie er sich auf ihre Spuren gemacht hat, soll heißen, er such zunächst ihre Grabstätte auf, und macht sich dann auf, die Drehorte der Miss Marple Filme zu suchen. Dieser Teil des Buches hat mir am Besten gefallen, da er mit großer Begeisterung und in normalem "Redestil" geschrieben ist, also so, als würde er mir persönlich von seinen Erlebnissen in England erzählen.
Die eigentliche Biographie ist dann zwar sehr interessant zu lesen, für mich allerdings teilweise etwas lückenhaft - soll heißen, manche Aspekte hätten mich viel mehr interessiert, aber sie werden in Nebensätzen abgehakt und dann nie wieder erwähnt. Aber gut, ich wusste gar nichts über die Rutherford und habe nun zumindest einiges an Grundwissen erhalten, auf jeden Fall gefällt mir der Nachsatz in der Art von "na, wenn ich's nicht gemacht hätte, wer hätte euch denn dann Informationen über die Rutherford auf deutsch zusammengetragen", weil er hat schon recht, es gibt doch immer und überall was zu nörgeln, und so hat man wenigstens was in der Muttersprache über die Schauspielerin :-)

Für das Buch - übrigens die Kindle-Edition - kann ich 8 von 10 Punkten vergeben.

George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows

I always face the problem, that there are so many characters in so many different parts of Westeros and well, not all of them are interesting for me, which might not be fair, as everyones story is part of the whole thing... This is why I will now concentrate on the two characters I liked most in "A Feast for Crows" - which are Arya and Sam.

Arya, once again not under her real name, travels to Braavos. Here she finds a new home in the "House of Black and White" where an older man introduces her to the guild of the faceless man, which is a kind of religion who worship the many-faced God. Arya has to get rid of all her personal belongings, but decides to keep Needle (hidden) all the same. Her training includes going out into the city, but not as Arya, nor as one of her previous identities, but as Cat of the Canals. She needs to learn 3 things each time she leaves the house before she can come back, and she starts learning the Braavosi language...

Sam is sent to Oldtown, together with Maester Aemon, Dareon, Gilly and her baby boy. The voyage includes a long ship journey, which Sam - being afraid of water - cannot enjoy at all. Maester Aemon gets ill during the voyage, and all their money is spent for inn and healer. Sam forces Dareon to earn money by singing in the local pubs, but the money earned is spent by Dareon for wine and whores. Sam starts a fight with him, and nearly drowns when thrown out of the brothel and into a canal. Aemon can not be helped, but recovers for a brief moment when he is told about Danys dragons by Xhondo, who saved Sam's live. Xhondo offers Sam and his friends passage on his ship, during which the Maester dies. In the mourning Gilly and Sam make love and Gilly...

There is so much taking place and again so many different characters that I sometimes really had problems to follow the plot. Again a lot of people die, again a lot of intrigues are woven, but that's the same in all Ice and Fire books. I am a little unchosen if I liked the book or not, problem number one being, that Dany is only mentioned, but not Point-of-View person, and she is apart from Arya my favorite. Problem 2 is, that the nearly the whole book covers people I either don't like or don't care. Well, all the same, in the afterword is promised, that book 5 covers the same fraction of time as book 4, but with all the persons missing.

So, I award 5 out of 10 and hope to read about Jon, Dany and all the other "good guys" in the next volume (in case you wonder... I am a bad guy myself, therefore I like to read about the good guys more :-) )