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Mar 24

The Mosque Hill Fortune (The Sons of Masguard, Book One) by Vivienne Mathews

Posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in Books, Children's books, Fantasy, Reviews

I just read this really great fantasy book,ย The Mosque Hill Fortune, by Vivienne Mathews on Wattpad.

A haunting mist sits on the harbor beneath Secora Tor….

Heroic Captain Marshall is called upon to save his country from the sinister mist and the even more sinister creatures it’s hiding. With the help of his faithful crew and a ragtag band of pirates he sets out to fight evil, forging an uneasy truce along the way.

Exciting swashbuckling adventure set in a fantasy world. Even though you sometimes forget about it, all the characters are animals. Since I love animals, adventure and fantasy, this was a very pleasant surprise. The only problem is that I’m really sensitive and tend to cry a lot when anyone gets hurt, especially an animal. Despite that, I would like to recommend this book to anyone who like me, likes animals and fantasy. The book is well-written, fascinating and filled with endearing characters that you can’t help but love.

Another nice surprise was that Book 2 in the series, Guardian’s Rise is also available for free.

You can find out more about the author and her books on her author webpage, on Wattpad and on Smashwords.

Feb 10

The Twistrose Key

Posted on Monday, February 10, 2014 in Children's books, Fantasy, Reviews

Recently, I read the Twistrose Key, by Tone Almhjell. That’s a Norwegian children’s books writer. According to a review by a Norwegian girl, the English original wasn’t very good. I can’t comment on that. I read the Swedish translation. It was good enough that I was taken in. I thought it was a book, originally written in Swedish (or possibly Finland-Swedish), because the setting of the book is clearly not only Nordic, but from the very far North.

To me it seems a bit odd that a Norwegian writer should decide to write a book in English. I have to admit that while I consider my own English quite good, I’d never dare to write a book to be published by a real publisher in any other language than my own. I do, however, write blog posts, shorter short stories and fan fiction in English and occasionally simple, brief comments in discussions in French. Once or twice I have also chatted (to some extent) in German, Italian and Spanish. Ok, back to the review. ๐Ÿ™‚

Aside from the underlying sad theme (about death and losing a loved one) this was an exciting and well-written book. The story is based on a very interesting idea – a world where children’s pets go when they die. But that world is threatened by a very dangerous enemy and the main character Lin (or Lindelin) Rosenquist, who has been named for an old song, comes to the rescue. She belongs to a small group of children, who can travel to the animals’ world to save them from danger. In her struggle to save the animals and their world, she puts her old troll hunting talents from back on the farm, to good use.

In their new world, the animals grow to roughly human size and are able to speak like humans. It’s a fascinating, not to say irresistible idea. Imagine being able to see our beloved animals again some day, and to get to talk to them. Thinking about it almost makes me cry.

The book pretty much ends happily and that is, at least to me, very important, and perhaps also to the children the book is primarily written for. But I have to admit that I felt very sorry for one of the ‘enemies’ and I wish that he could have had a happier fate.

Besides, just a thought – this book seems to assume that only children love their pets and will miss them when they’re gone. Just for the record, there are grownups (in a manner of speaking – lol) who do too. Perhaps even more than many children. For the record.

Aug 20

Leonardo da Vinci quote

Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2011 in Other

โ€œThe time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.โ€

Leonardo da Vinci

May 14

Animals Matter

Posted on Friday, May 14, 2010 in Animals

Love animals? Show your support for them here.

Mar 10

Brazilian Domestic Animals Action – WSPA International

Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 in Animals

Brazilian Domestic Animals Action – WSPA International

Mar 7

Brazilian Domestic Animals

Posted on Sunday, March 7, 2010 in Animals

Brazilian Domestic Animals Action – WSPA USA

Dec 7

Animal Rights

Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009 in Animals

I just signed this. Would you like to do it too?

Nov 9

Do Primates Feel Compassion?

Posted on Monday, November 9, 2009 in Animals

I found this article very interesting, and regardless of what it concluded, I would have answered the question with a yes. Clearly other animals can feel compassion, so why not primates, our closest relatives?

Nov 5

Why Dolphins Are Deep Thinkers

Posted on Thursday, November 5, 2009 in Animals

I just read an interesting article about dolphins. It seems the more we learn about dolphins, the more intelligent they turn out to be. Which is one reason I’m devastated whenever I read about cruelty against them or any other whale species (no, any species at all, except possibly really evil specimens of homo sapiens…).

Aug 9

Animal research meaningless

Posted on Sunday, August 9, 2009 in Animals

The author of this article makes some good points. Note the snarky comments below. Everyone’s a self-proclaimed expert these days…

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