No Quarter by Tanya Huff

3.5 Stars

Quarters Book Three

I really enjoy reading Tanya Huff's Quarters books.  They're great fantasy fun, filled with engaging and diverse characters who go on adventures and end up saving countries and kingdoms.  :)  There are bards and assassins and nobles and the common man, someone for everyone.  And there is romance woven into the adventures and scheming. 

No Quarter is filled with all of those things.  It's really very much of a continuation of book 2, Fifth Quarter, as opposed to just taking place in the same universe with the focus on different characters.  We find out what happened to the twin assassins, Vree and Bannon, Karlene the bard, and Gyhard, the man who is looking for a body of his own.  It's also the story of Magda and Garrett, children of the main characters of book 1, Sing the Four Quarters.  We even spend some time with Prince Otavas (I may have that spelling wrong), another of the characters from #2.  Their paths intertwine to give us a wonderful solution to the simple problem of a man without a body. 

As I said to an author buddy of mine as I was reading, even though I enjoyed my read, I found myself wishing that maybe I had read these books when I was a teenager.  I'm pretty sure all the sexual identity diversity and openness would have left a positive mark on an impressionable me.  As it is now, at 60 years old, well, I sit and nod and think that these kids have the right idea.  *LOL* 

I'm looking forward to reading the 4th book, The Quartered Sea, at some point and seeing which of my friends from the first three books come along for the ride.  :)

Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff

3.5 STARS

Quarters - Book 2

I really enjoyed Fifth Quarter and I'm not sure why it seemed to take so long to finish it. :) Be that as it may...

This second book in the Quarters series takes on the tale of a pair of assassins, a body-jumper, a family of zombies and a very sad old man. In the story, there are a couple of peripheral characters from the first book (I think that's right - my memory is for shit. *LOL*).

There are adventures to be had, emotions to be uncovered, dangers to be faced as well as a few home truths and I really liked the way it all played out. The main character of Vree was really quite fascinating, I thought, and it was an interesting journey to take with her as her world opens up beyond the army and her assassin role. I'm glad we're going to continue her story in the next book.

I really enjoy Tanya Huff's writing, no matter what genre she's writing in. She has a comfortable, easy way of telling a story that never gets bogged down with extraneous details or literary navel-gazing. I'm glad I have No Quarter in my TBR pile!

Sing the Four Quarters by Tanya Huff

4 STARS

Quarters - Book 1

How had I missed this? It was published back in 1994 and is really right up my fantasy alley. And I do enjoy Tanya Huff. I have no excuse. *LOL* Miss it, I did. But I have rectified that mistake!

What an enjoyable read! From start to finish, Sing the Four Quarters was a delight. The world-building is original and well-done and the magic is ... what would be the word... internally consistent? IT worked very nicely for me, at any rate.

The real joy of this book, however, is the characters. Oh, they are lovely, filled with amazing qualities and believable flaws. They make mistakes, they get angry, they learn, they grow, they have real emotions... I just loved all of them. And I wanted to learn more about so many of them!

And while this book is not a romance, it does have a very interesting take on sexuality and the making of families. It's not the focus of the book but lies in the skeletons of the world-building and actually creates the story/adventure, I think.

I'm going to read more of this series, that's for sure! I just have to figure out where to go next. :)