The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede

The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede - 378 pages

Eff has been given the opportunity to join the expedition heading into the wilderness to explore and map the areas past civilization to the Rocky Mountains.  It's exactly what she wants to do.  However, the expedition notices that there is something wrong with the magic the further they get towards the mountains.  It's building to a point that could be catastrophic.
This is the third book in the Frontier Magic series.  I believe it is probably the final book, but I really there would be more.  I've really enjoyed reading about the characters and how they've changed over the twenty years of the series.  I've also enjoyed the setting of an alternate world where we are the United States of Columbia and magic exists.  A great series for teens and adults.

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede - 339 pages

Eff's journey into the Wilderness last summer helped her decide that is what she wants to do with her life.  She wants to explore and catalog the creatures and plants beyond the Great Barrier.  She gets her chance the year after graduating from Upper School to go on a research trip during the summer.  It's during that trip that they first discover animals that have been instantly petrified.  What could have possibly done it?
This is the second book in the Frontier Magic series.  It's set in an alternate historical world where it is the United States of Columbia and magic exists.  I found this book to be a little hard to get into.  It took a while for the story start.  However, once the story gets going I couldn't put the book down.  

Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede - 344 pages
Frontier Magic series: book 1

Eff has grown up her whole life knowing that as the 13th child in her family that she will turn out bad and end up cursing her family.  She's fine with that as long as her twin brother Lan, the seventh son of a seventh son, fulfills his role as the lucky, powerful wizard.  To escape the persecution of her extended family, her parents move her and the youngest children to the frontier where her father will be a college professor of magic.  And this works for a while -- until a plague of grubs strikes just outside of the magical barrier destroying all their crops.  Now it is up to Eff, Lan, their friend William, and her father to determine what the grubs are and how to stop them.
 I really enjoyed this first book in the Frontier Magic series.  Although most of the book is setup for the grub problem in the last third of the book, it doesn't feel contrived or boring.  Instead, you get a really good feeling for the characterization and setting of the story.  I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

Sacre' Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore

Sacre' Bleu: A Comedy d'Art by Christopher Moore --- 403 pages

I became a fan of Christopher Moore when I read The Stupidest Angel, his scathing lampoon of the zombie jollity of the modern holiday season. In this latest novel, Moore has created an alternative universe for the Impressionists, and a hilarious meditation on the nature of the artist, the compulsion to create, and the power of  inspiration.

On the surface this is a bawdy and epic tale of how aspiring painter Lucien Lessard and the notorious Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (immortalizer and immoralizer of Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge) team up to investigate the supposed suicide of their friend Vincent Van Gogh in 1890, and just why so many artists throughout history seem to end up debauched, diseased and dead, losing their lives in the pursuit of an elusive muse. Not for the faint of heart, Moore is a modern Rabelais, and his view of the human condition is ribald, risible --- and revealing.

    

Knightley Academy by VIolet Haberdasher

Knightley Academy by Violet Haberdasher - 469 pages

Henry Grim is very first common boy to be accepted to the prestigious Knightley Academy.  His acceptance allows two other "common" boys to also be accepted to the school.  However, there are many who do not want Henry to succeed - teachers, students, and school board members.  And this is before they discover, that the neighboring country is planning on starting a war.
I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the future installments in the series.