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Hello All,

The votes are in and our Book of the Month for September is:

LIBRIOMANCER by Jim Hines
Libriomancer

Please read and discuss below.

Have fun!

So cool, I'll put it on my September plan to read.

I just wanted to say that this series of Jim's started with a short story and I rejoiced when I saw he had started a whole series with that character and idea for a world. I love that world.

I started in tonight and it really takes off quite quickly. Hopefully it keeps being as interesting. 15%

I might have to create a folder "self blame for someone else's actions". When I hear, "we did this"..."we pushed him to attack", yes those are words somewhere in the book, I cringe. Too many authors use self blame to justify... well lots of things from our main characters. Now, I'm almost through the book, and although the "we did this" sounded like the self blame game, so far there hasn't been any justification other than to fix it, which is what they were doing anyway. No angst or inability to act so this book doesn't really have the cringe worthy self blame. Still just the words got my hackles up. Too many books have disappointed me because of self blame angst and actions.

So, since that is NOT a complaint... lets go on... for this book, I should say, I'm about 80% through and really, really enjoying it. I don't love it and I think that is because of the overall premise.

He pulls magic from books, so there is a lot of name dropping, of authors in Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Scifi, if you don't have a wide knowledge of these genres, you will be lost somewhere with his thoughts. Although I know names in Scifi, I'm not up to the broad range that he uses. It is OK though, I recognize most names and know at least what genre we are getting, so magic or laser blasters are expected. Truly even if I didn't know any of them, I could follow, I would just be missing some of his nuances and love of books. So if you are not a book lover in one of these genres, I don't think this is the book for you. Since this is UF group, most will know some of the authors and get the overall premise.

OK so what is wrong with pulling magic from books? It seems like a awfully strong ability with no limits. He does limit it here and there, like Libriomancers are not allowed to write books. Umm, who's to stop them really? He hasn't defined enough of the world to make me think that you would come upon some ultimate power against some other ultimate power. Every time an action scene and battle occurs, I keep waiting for that ultimate power. The automatons are close but they are only Gutenberg's creation. Hmm, so, so far just my gut feeling that there is more to this, makes me not quite believe what I am reading.

To say I don't believe what I am reading sounds a little daft while reading UF doesn't it. Well, I think most of us here know how to suspend disbelief in order to believe in our books while we are reading them and live in the books, escape from reality. Here I keep come back to that niggling, 'something isn't quite defined in this' to make me suspend all disbelief. That is where I would take the star off.

Now, not to say I'm not really enjoying this. It has got a great mystery going on and lots of lies to keep you wondering who is OK and who is not. It takes you on a ride with action and a good mystery. Right now it is heading for 4 stars.

I'll probably use some of this in my final review. I've never came across a book that made me think so hard about inside and out side the book, reality and belief. And I've read, . Of the two, this is definitely the better. I've wanted to come back to it and haven't really put it down for long.

Hope someone else tries it out. Definitely something just a little different but same enough to enjoy.

I hope others will try this out. I really liked it and will read on in the series.

Amyiw wrote: "I might have to create a folder "self blame for someone else's actions". When I hear, "we did this"..."we pushed him to attack", yes those are words somewhere in the book, I cringe. Too many author..."

Not sure how much to say, but if I remember right, he does limit what they can bring out of a book. The size of the object. And evidently not all Libriomancers have the same power level which would influence what they can do.

But there is something more but that is all I will say here

I love the world and have thought about making my own character with the same ability but with my twist to it.

There is a movie with the idea, I believe but this is a better story, I also believe.

If you are talking about Goosebumps, this is much more adult, completely. But maybe it was another that you were thinking about?

I definitely want to read on. I liked the characters quite a bit and since I'm big on characters, I can over look small niggling things in the plot. Though even with great characters, I cannot get over a total cliffhanger. Can't stand the cliffy. This didn't leave you hanging on the main plot so not a problem. I will like to see the "something more" that you elude to. :-)