Altar of Bones by Philip Carter

There are not too many reviews of Altar of Bones out there yet. I'm kind of surprised by this actually. Philip Carter is supposedly a pseudonym for "an internationally renowned author" according to Simon and Schuster's website. It seems to me that it would be promoted more already with less than a month to its release. As Book Faerie at Journey of a Bookseller noted, it does have a Dan Brown feeling to it. While reading I thought to myself that it kind of reminded me of The DaVinci Code minus all the random art historical/historical fact rambling.

Altar of Bones jumps around in the beginning quite a bit, but once you get to the nitty gritty of the story, it's a spy/treasure hunt/suspense thriller based on a Russian folk story. Somewhere deep in the frozen tundra of Siberia there is a frozen lake with a frozen waterfall hiding a cave that legend claims holds the Altar of Bones and a fountain of youth. One particular family, who are descendants of the "magic people" of the area, have passed the secret to the Altar of Bones from mother to daughter for centuries. One woman is known as the Keeper and she must protect the Altar of Bones at all costs. However, these women are tempted by love and the men in their lives tend to prove untrustworthy and only interested in finding the Altar of Bones.

Jump to the present day of the story and Zoe Dmitroff finds herself the most recent Keeper when she receives a letter from her grandmother. She starts on a world-wide journey to unlock family secrets. Along the way, she teams up with an ex-DEA agent named Ry O'Malley. Together the two of them travel to Paris, Budapest, and finally Siberia. All while being hunted by a crazy red-headed femme fatale, an old KGB official, and more. This book is chock full of action with car chases and gun fights with a little romance thrown in by the end. It also tries to offer a new conspiracy theory for a presidential assassination with ties to Hollywood.

All very interesting to ponder. The book was a tiny bit long for me and dragged a bit about 2/3rd in and picked up toward the end again, but overall was a fun read. I kept turning the pages to find out where the adventure took Ry and Zoe next, whether he would eventually double-cross her and what they would do once they finally found the Altar of Bones.

Source disclosure: This was an e-book galley from Simon and Schuster and will be available for purchase March 8, 2011.

The gift of an e-reader

Awhile back (Oct 2009 to be precise) I rambled on about e-readers. At the time, I wasn't very convinced I needed one or wanted one. I was worried about the future of printed books.

However, a little over a year later, I may be singing a different song. I have to admit that I really had no desire for a Kindle or even a Nook (the original, e-ink version). A friend of mine let me borrow her Nook to try it out, and while it was a fun experience, it didn't really convince me I needed to take the plunge yet. THEN, the iPad came out and then NookColor. I really wanted an iPad. But I learned from both the iPod and the iPhone. I was going to wait until at least the 2nd generation iPad came out before convincing my husband we needed this gadget. After seeing and playing with the NookColor at Barnes and Noble one day, I was very impressed. I LOVE the idea of an e-reader that is multi-functional. One that you can listen to music on, or check your email or whatever. Our public library also recently jumped on the e-book bandwagon and now you can borrow e-books to your e-reader. A real plus in my book.

Borrowing library e-books would make an e-reader a little more useful to me. I do not buy many of the books I read, so I wasn't sure I was going to like purchasing e-books. I also knew I would never want a Kindle, because I didn't want to be married to one particular e-bookstore. The NookColor was appealing to me as well because of the Nook Kids aspect. E-picture books that could be read TO my kids. That is a pretty cool thing for travel.

So Christmas rolls around and I didn't ask for either an iPad or a NookColor because my husband bought me a new studio light for the photography business. I wasn't expecting to have anything fun to open on Christmas Eve day (when we open at our house). But, lo and behold, I had a fun package wrapped up for me. He'd actually been listening to me bather on throughout the last couple months about how cool the NookColor looked and he got me one! Oh goody goody goody! I could enter the e-book world and discover what it was all about. THEN, Christmas morning rolled around and we open our stockings. I didn't have a thing in my stocking this year, not a lick. But I had medium-sized box sitting on the mantle above my stocking. I opened it up and it was a new iPad. Holy s*#t! I couldn't believe it. Now, the iPad was really my husband's company Christmas gift. So, I'm not truly THAT spoiled. However, I felt extremely guilty having both.

I have played around with them and I actually like both of them ALOT. And think I might keep the NookColor too, even though it seems so excessive to me. I mean, really, how many gadgets does a girl need? My husband did point out to me that the iPad is technically his. So I shouldn't feel guilty that the NookColor is mine. It's just that the NookColor is so much smaller and can fit in a purse or the diaper bag for easier e-reading-on-the-go.

In the past week, I have discovered many things with both devices. I think maybe I'll share in some form of a weekly/monthly post. We'll see how my New Year's Resolution of better book blogging holds up. :-)