![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A book worth reviewing
Aug. 12th, 2025 10:06 pm Today I woke with much more energy, whic was nice. Thus I did a 40 minutes pilates workout. I like the longer sessions in the morning, as the app gives a longer warm up period, meaning a gentler wake up for my muscles. I am just plain loving the way using the app daily solves the aching hips problem. They haven't hurt in days, and it takes hours of sitting in the car to trigger the problem at all.
The book I bought last night was Skinsinger: Tales of the Kaltaoven, by Heather Rose Jones. The oldest of these tales she'd published 30 years ago, the youngest was written recently, and had not previously been published. All of the older ones have been edited and revised for this book to ensure proper consistency across the full story.
I enjoyed it so much I didn't want to put it down to go to work today, and wound up taking reading breaks, to get in "just a few more pages". Yah, right, I finished it.
The very first story in the book starts a bit abruptly in the middle of an action scene for my taste. I would rather learn to care for the characters snd understand something of their workd before seeing them flee for their lives. However, as it was originally published as a stand alone short story, I understand why it had that structure. That said, that is the only flaw I found with the book. That first story manages to pack in enough world building before the end of the story to understand the context, and
The rest of the stories each contribute more world building details as needed, so that by the end of the book I felt like I have a good understanding of how the skin singing magic works, as well as the various cultures we encounter on the way.
I have loved all of Heather's books that I have read, and this one is just as delightful.
Strong female characters overcoming difficult situations, forming alliances, and, sometimes, falling in love with one another. Interesting magic, plausible range of cultures in a vaugly medieval fantasy setting, and characters with a tendancy to think their way out of tricky situations. 100% recommended will read again. In fact, I have already started reading it outloud to Keldor.
It is good that I finished the book before my work day was done, as that meant I was willing to head to the large grocery store, 20 minutes away, after work, so now we have food for the next few days.
