3 stars -- I liked it, but not as much as the first two books
Book three of The Last Survivors books picks up after book one (Life as We Knew It) and book two (The Dead and the Gone) leave off and combines them. This World We Live In returns to Miranda's house as the long winter ends.
I swear that the cover says, "For those who wonder what happened next," though a quick glance at the Amazon Look Inside option doesn't show it... I may have imagined it. I do things like that. But this book really is for those who wonder what happened next for both Miranda and Alex. They had both been left in extremely emaciated states, both seemed to be on the brink of death, and while the endings of the previous books were hopeful, things were so far gone that readers couldn't be sure what the characters' futures would be.
This World We Live In continues Miranda and Alex's stories. It's an interesting read, and without giving any more away than is already on the cover, readers can imagine what feelings spark up between Miranda and Alex, seeing as the world has so many less ways for young people to meet and interact.
Alec and Miranda's stories intertwine when Alex shows up at her house with her dad and his new family. They've formed become a family in their own rights when their travels led them all in the same direction for a while.
There are a lot of characters in this novel, which is different compared to the lack of characters in the previous two novels. It lent a completely different feel to the novel, despite going back to Miranda's journaling-style of writing.
The book gave more depth to the post-apocalyptic world that Ms. Pfeffer has created, but the ending seemed more hopeless than the other books. I almost feel like there's not much more she can do with this world, because things are just continually deteriorating and nothing ever improves. But it's a writer's perogative to turn things around on a dime if need be.
Overall, I really like the series. I like the post-apocalyptic descriptions and the amount of thought that had to go into everything that could and would go wrong with a seemingly innocuous event. But this third book is the least favorite of the three, and I'm not sure I would intentionally recommend it to anyone.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
3 stars -- Meh...
I'm not sure if I'm being overly generous by giving this book three stars or not. It might only deserve two stars, but I think because the writing was decent, I'll stick with three stars. I will say, "Shame on you, HarperCollins. Start publishing higher-quality books!" (I find I am most frequently disappointed by Harper's books... they have so much promise, such beautiful covers and copy, and then they just go flat. Good marketing and upsell; bad manuscripts [or perhaps editing].)
The Body Finder is about Violet, who can sense the bodies of murdered victims. The majority of her life, it's been dead animals that were killed by other animals, but when she was eight years old, she found a girl. And now, years later, she's finding more.
I really like serial-killer-type books/shows. I loved Profiler when I was younger, and I adore Dexter despite its terrible acting. I'm fascinated by Wikipedia entries about serial killers. I really like the suspense that can be played up and the peeks granted into a psychopath's mind. I was really looking forward to reading this novel!
Unfortunately, it seems like the main storyline is actually, "Will Violet and Jay get together?" rather than the serial killer. Which, of course, duh. Readers can see it from chapter one, and Violet's angstiness is annoying. But I guess when one reads YA, one should expect angstiness...?
So without giving everything away (except, apparently, the main plot), the book is engagingly written. I was able to believe the characters even when they got on my nerves; there's a nice love story, which is now and then interrupted by murders. So although there's nothing deep or mind-grabbing that would make me pick this book up again, it's not the worst thing in the world to read. I just wish there had been more focus on Violet's actual abilities and the interplay between her and the serial killer (more suspense, I suppose), and less focus on Violet and Jay (less lust, I think).
Also, hide the mystery better. I hate it when I know the end of the book before I'm even through the first couple chapters.
I'm not sure if I'm being overly generous by giving this book three stars or not. It might only deserve two stars, but I think because the writing was decent, I'll stick with three stars. I will say, "Shame on you, HarperCollins. Start publishing higher-quality books!" (I find I am most frequently disappointed by Harper's books... they have so much promise, such beautiful covers and copy, and then they just go flat. Good marketing and upsell; bad manuscripts [or perhaps editing].)
The Body Finder is about Violet, who can sense the bodies of murdered victims. The majority of her life, it's been dead animals that were killed by other animals, but when she was eight years old, she found a girl. And now, years later, she's finding more.
I really like serial-killer-type books/shows. I loved Profiler when I was younger, and I adore Dexter despite its terrible acting. I'm fascinated by Wikipedia entries about serial killers. I really like the suspense that can be played up and the peeks granted into a psychopath's mind. I was really looking forward to reading this novel!
Unfortunately, it seems like the main storyline is actually, "Will Violet and Jay get together?" rather than the serial killer. Which, of course, duh. Readers can see it from chapter one, and Violet's angstiness is annoying. But I guess when one reads YA, one should expect angstiness...?
So without giving everything away (except, apparently, the main plot), the book is engagingly written. I was able to believe the characters even when they got on my nerves; there's a nice love story, which is now and then interrupted by murders. So although there's nothing deep or mind-grabbing that would make me pick this book up again, it's not the worst thing in the world to read. I just wish there had been more focus on Violet's actual abilities and the interplay between her and the serial killer (more suspense, I suppose), and less focus on Violet and Jay (less lust, I think).
Also, hide the mystery better. I hate it when I know the end of the book before I'm even through the first couple chapters.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Airman by Eoin Colfer
4.5 Stars -- I liked it quite a bit!
This is one of those pleasant surprises. I had forgotten to put any books on hold at the library for a while, and I was out of reading material, so I was relegated to perusing the shelves for books that looked interesting. I don't usually have great luck doing that. The great majority of books are mediocre or, even worse, down-right bad. I don't remember what other titles I picked up that day, but I was quite pleased by Airman by Eoin Colfer.
If you're not familiar with his name, Eoin Colfer wrote the Artemis Fowl series. My husband really likes the series, and I think we own nearly all of them, even though it's written for YA, possibly even juveniles.
But this post isn't about Artemis Fowl.
Airman is a steampunk novel about Conor Broekhart, and it is very reminiscent of The Count of Monte Cristo (I have read the book itself, which was okay, but I thought the movie was fantastic and remember watching it time and time again when I was in college).
In Airman, Conor, a young genius born to fly, is accused of murdering the king and is unfairly imprisoned. Using the knowledge gained from his French tutor before his imprisonment and advice taken from a blind musician who shares his cell, Conor has to escape and prove his innocence before the villain kills the princess too.
The story takes place on a pair of ficticious islands off the coast of Ireland in the late 1800s (obviously... it's steampunk afterall!). Conor is a strong character, and his transformation from innocent quick-witted boy to hardened prison leader, while quick, is understandable and not unbelievable. His escape plan is very steampunk-worthy.
The climax of the story, Conor's reunion with his family and the evil Marshall Bonvilain, is fast-paced and full of twists and turns, though of course everything turns out fine in the end.
Overall, I think this book is of much higher quality than the Artemis Fowl books (though those are entertaining in their own right), and I approve of Colfer's new endeavor. But then again, I'm partial to steampunk :)
So if you want a quick, riotous read and feel like a little Monte Cristo without all the dragging found in the original book, Airman is quite a suitable replacement.
This is one of those pleasant surprises. I had forgotten to put any books on hold at the library for a while, and I was out of reading material, so I was relegated to perusing the shelves for books that looked interesting. I don't usually have great luck doing that. The great majority of books are mediocre or, even worse, down-right bad. I don't remember what other titles I picked up that day, but I was quite pleased by Airman by Eoin Colfer.
If you're not familiar with his name, Eoin Colfer wrote the Artemis Fowl series. My husband really likes the series, and I think we own nearly all of them, even though it's written for YA, possibly even juveniles.
But this post isn't about Artemis Fowl.
Airman is a steampunk novel about Conor Broekhart, and it is very reminiscent of The Count of Monte Cristo (I have read the book itself, which was okay, but I thought the movie was fantastic and remember watching it time and time again when I was in college).
In Airman, Conor, a young genius born to fly, is accused of murdering the king and is unfairly imprisoned. Using the knowledge gained from his French tutor before his imprisonment and advice taken from a blind musician who shares his cell, Conor has to escape and prove his innocence before the villain kills the princess too.
The story takes place on a pair of ficticious islands off the coast of Ireland in the late 1800s (obviously... it's steampunk afterall!). Conor is a strong character, and his transformation from innocent quick-witted boy to hardened prison leader, while quick, is understandable and not unbelievable. His escape plan is very steampunk-worthy.
The climax of the story, Conor's reunion with his family and the evil Marshall Bonvilain, is fast-paced and full of twists and turns, though of course everything turns out fine in the end.
Overall, I think this book is of much higher quality than the Artemis Fowl books (though those are entertaining in their own right), and I approve of Colfer's new endeavor. But then again, I'm partial to steampunk :)
So if you want a quick, riotous read and feel like a little Monte Cristo without all the dragging found in the original book, Airman is quite a suitable replacement.
Friday, May 7, 2010
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
4 stars -- I like it
I did not know that this book, the second in a series, existed. I read Life as We Knew It, the first book, ages ago, and I loved it. The idea just stuck in my head, and it was so well-written--straight from a girl's diary, but with enough detail to have the story make sense--that when I saw that the third book, This World We Live In, was out, I had to get this one immediately and continue following the series.
The idea, carried out in The Dead and the Gone as well, is that an asteroid hits the moon. In Life as We Knew it, it's clear that everyone is aware of what's going to happen, and they treat it like a fun meteor shower-watching event. In The Dead and the Gone, it seems like the general public of New York is mostly unaware of the asteroid collision. What no one in either book expects is that the asteroid drastically shifts the moon's orbit, which causes changes in the tides, which in turn leads flooding and tsunamis, and in the tetonic plates, which causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The clouds of ash block the sun, killing crosp, and winter arrives early, with colder-than-normal temperatures. Supply lines, satellites, communications, and even electricity is avilable only sporadically. Plagues emerge and starvation is prevelant.
I was amazed at the scope and magnitude of disaster such a seemingly innocuous event could cause. It comes together in a perfectly logical manner (at least to my unscientific mind), and I applaud Susan Pfeffer for pulling it all together in such a believable way.
The only real difference between Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone is that the first story takes place in the country and follows Miranda's story, while The Dead and the Gone takes place in New York City and follows Alex Morales. The same events occur, and the same tragedies take place, but the setting and characters are so different that each story is equally captivating.
I am particularly pleased with how Pfeffer glosses over the horror without diminishing it. She casually throws in that the 17-year-old boy is down to 78 pounds (or some other absurdly low number), which makes the reader realize the situation is much worse than the storytelling seems to imply. It's a brilliant juxtaposition that works beautifully.
This is another one of those terrifyingly beautiful stories of survival and hope that I highly recommend. I have to admit that I think the first story is stronger, but this is a commendable companion book.
I did not know that this book, the second in a series, existed. I read Life as We Knew It, the first book, ages ago, and I loved it. The idea just stuck in my head, and it was so well-written--straight from a girl's diary, but with enough detail to have the story make sense--that when I saw that the third book, This World We Live In, was out, I had to get this one immediately and continue following the series.
The idea, carried out in The Dead and the Gone as well, is that an asteroid hits the moon. In Life as We Knew it, it's clear that everyone is aware of what's going to happen, and they treat it like a fun meteor shower-watching event. In The Dead and the Gone, it seems like the general public of New York is mostly unaware of the asteroid collision. What no one in either book expects is that the asteroid drastically shifts the moon's orbit, which causes changes in the tides, which in turn leads flooding and tsunamis, and in the tetonic plates, which causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The clouds of ash block the sun, killing crosp, and winter arrives early, with colder-than-normal temperatures. Supply lines, satellites, communications, and even electricity is avilable only sporadically. Plagues emerge and starvation is prevelant.
I was amazed at the scope and magnitude of disaster such a seemingly innocuous event could cause. It comes together in a perfectly logical manner (at least to my unscientific mind), and I applaud Susan Pfeffer for pulling it all together in such a believable way.
The only real difference between Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone is that the first story takes place in the country and follows Miranda's story, while The Dead and the Gone takes place in New York City and follows Alex Morales. The same events occur, and the same tragedies take place, but the setting and characters are so different that each story is equally captivating.
I am particularly pleased with how Pfeffer glosses over the horror without diminishing it. She casually throws in that the 17-year-old boy is down to 78 pounds (or some other absurdly low number), which makes the reader realize the situation is much worse than the storytelling seems to imply. It's a brilliant juxtaposition that works beautifully.
This is another one of those terrifyingly beautiful stories of survival and hope that I highly recommend. I have to admit that I think the first story is stronger, but this is a commendable companion book.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
4 stars -- I liked it
A small collection of short stories (only three, to be exact), Lips Touch is "different." Each story is preceded by a couple of wordless graphic novel-type pages that are hard to decipher until you read the story, but still beautifully and hauntingly drawn.
The first story in the book, "Goblin Fruit," was my least favorite of the three, and it ends rather disappointingly. I would have preferred some follow-up, though the ending is quite clear what happens, just to see how everything played out. But as it is, the ending leaves the story with a bit of mystery, a bit of longing, and some heartbreak and sorrow.
The second story, "Spicy Little Curses," was by far my favorite story in the collection. The two female protagonists are strong characters, and I love how a seemingly hopeless situation is turned around. There's romance here as well, and a lot of follow-up so the ending feels solid.
And finally, "Hatchling" was an interesting read. I couldn't quite predict what was going to happen, which I love (I hate it when plots are easy to see through), and the back story(ies, really) was just as interesting as the main storyline.
I also appreciated how unlike each other each of three stories were despite have similar themes and, of course, the same author. A reader can't say that each story has a happy ending, nor do they all have sad endings. It's a coin toss, really, as to how the story will go. And each idea is unique and different, which is played up by the short "graphic novels" at the beginning of each chapter--it's not often that publishers are willing to pay for the extra print colors or put the effort into such an unusual idea (though it's becoming more frequent now as they're seeing it pay off, in some cases at least), so I applaud this publisher's "going out on a limb" to do this book.
Overall, I think this is a nice collection of stories to have about for a quick read.
A small collection of short stories (only three, to be exact), Lips Touch is "different." Each story is preceded by a couple of wordless graphic novel-type pages that are hard to decipher until you read the story, but still beautifully and hauntingly drawn.
The first story in the book, "Goblin Fruit," was my least favorite of the three, and it ends rather disappointingly. I would have preferred some follow-up, though the ending is quite clear what happens, just to see how everything played out. But as it is, the ending leaves the story with a bit of mystery, a bit of longing, and some heartbreak and sorrow.
The second story, "Spicy Little Curses," was by far my favorite story in the collection. The two female protagonists are strong characters, and I love how a seemingly hopeless situation is turned around. There's romance here as well, and a lot of follow-up so the ending feels solid.
And finally, "Hatchling" was an interesting read. I couldn't quite predict what was going to happen, which I love (I hate it when plots are easy to see through), and the back story(ies, really) was just as interesting as the main storyline.
I also appreciated how unlike each other each of three stories were despite have similar themes and, of course, the same author. A reader can't say that each story has a happy ending, nor do they all have sad endings. It's a coin toss, really, as to how the story will go. And each idea is unique and different, which is played up by the short "graphic novels" at the beginning of each chapter--it's not often that publishers are willing to pay for the extra print colors or put the effort into such an unusual idea (though it's becoming more frequent now as they're seeing it pay off, in some cases at least), so I applaud this publisher's "going out on a limb" to do this book.
Overall, I think this is a nice collection of stories to have about for a quick read.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
2 stars -- Didn't really care for the story
I've been agonizing for weeks on how to review this book, and it's really put me off reviewing the other million books I've read since I last posted. See, I've grown to like Melina Marchetta's fiction stories. I rated Looking for Alibrandi 4 stars and Saving Francesca 5 stars. Ms. Marchetta can tell a really fabulous story, but I can't say anything about this one except, "It's boring."
The difference is that those two stories were realistic fiction, and Finnikin of the Rock is straight-out fantasy. Marchetta obviously put a lot of work into coming up with a different world with different races and languages and history, but for the life of me, I could not get into it. I thought the storytelling was so slow and boring, full of details that did not matter and that were repeated far too frequently, full of obvious foreshadowing so that I knew who was whom from the very beginning and the plot held no surprises. I was driven to distraction by the main two characters' love story. It was full of pettiness and anger, and they would ignore each other for days and then they'd be fine and unable to get enough of each other, only to take offense at the smallest unintentional slight and start the cycle all over again. I wanted to shake them both and yell, "Get over it already! It's not a big deal! We all know you're going to get together anyway!"
Now this is my person opinion. I know the book got starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal, so other people obviously loved it to pieces, but I just didn't. I don't feel anything but disappointment (and not to any severe degree) when I think back on this book.
So read it or don't. Obviously others have found it to their taste, but I didn't. I'd love to hear your take on it.
I've been agonizing for weeks on how to review this book, and it's really put me off reviewing the other million books I've read since I last posted. See, I've grown to like Melina Marchetta's fiction stories. I rated Looking for Alibrandi 4 stars and Saving Francesca 5 stars. Ms. Marchetta can tell a really fabulous story, but I can't say anything about this one except, "It's boring."
The difference is that those two stories were realistic fiction, and Finnikin of the Rock is straight-out fantasy. Marchetta obviously put a lot of work into coming up with a different world with different races and languages and history, but for the life of me, I could not get into it. I thought the storytelling was so slow and boring, full of details that did not matter and that were repeated far too frequently, full of obvious foreshadowing so that I knew who was whom from the very beginning and the plot held no surprises. I was driven to distraction by the main two characters' love story. It was full of pettiness and anger, and they would ignore each other for days and then they'd be fine and unable to get enough of each other, only to take offense at the smallest unintentional slight and start the cycle all over again. I wanted to shake them both and yell, "Get over it already! It's not a big deal! We all know you're going to get together anyway!"
Now this is my person opinion. I know the book got starred reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal, so other people obviously loved it to pieces, but I just didn't. I don't feel anything but disappointment (and not to any severe degree) when I think back on this book.
So read it or don't. Obviously others have found it to their taste, but I didn't. I'd love to hear your take on it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
4 stars -- I liked it
By the same author of The Gates comes The Book of Lost Things. I'm having trouble classifying this book for adults or young adults (or in this case, juvenile), just as I did The Gates. I'm not sure that having a young main character, in this case 12 years old, determine whether a book is YA or not is necessarily the best way of sorting books, especially since this book definitely has some dark happenings completely unsuitable for 12-year-olds to read about.
Though not as clever and wittily written as The Gates, The Book of Lost Things is still a fascinating read. Reminiscent of the Narnia series, young David travels to another world from World War II-ravaged London. Once there, the portal closes up, and David has to travel across the countryside to meet the apathetic king of this new and foreign land. The king has a "Book of Lost Things" that David has been told will enable him to return home.
Chased by a type of werewolves and their packs, haunted by a crooked man, and meeting various allies that teach David how to be strong and courageous on his own, David's journey is wrought with peril and enchantment, new-found friends and loss, and is broken occasionally by re-imagined (and less happy) versions of commonly known fairy tales.
In the end (as with most journey stories), David learns a lot about himself, his family, and his feelings, which actually impacts the entire kingdom that David has found himself thrust into.
While not necessarily packed with action and adventure (though there is a somewhat-decent amount), I think it's the ending of this story that really pulls the book together. It's a very sweet and appropriate conclusion. Though the majority of the story is to point out that not everything in life will turn out "happily ever after," the end of this story is a happy, sort-of-realistic one (realistic in the sense that the moral seems to be "just because things don't always go your way doesn't mean you can't live happily).
I'm really beginning to like John Connolly as an author, and I'll keep an eye out for other books of his that are in this same type of genre.
By the same author of The Gates comes The Book of Lost Things. I'm having trouble classifying this book for adults or young adults (or in this case, juvenile), just as I did The Gates. I'm not sure that having a young main character, in this case 12 years old, determine whether a book is YA or not is necessarily the best way of sorting books, especially since this book definitely has some dark happenings completely unsuitable for 12-year-olds to read about.
Though not as clever and wittily written as The Gates, The Book of Lost Things is still a fascinating read. Reminiscent of the Narnia series, young David travels to another world from World War II-ravaged London. Once there, the portal closes up, and David has to travel across the countryside to meet the apathetic king of this new and foreign land. The king has a "Book of Lost Things" that David has been told will enable him to return home.
Chased by a type of werewolves and their packs, haunted by a crooked man, and meeting various allies that teach David how to be strong and courageous on his own, David's journey is wrought with peril and enchantment, new-found friends and loss, and is broken occasionally by re-imagined (and less happy) versions of commonly known fairy tales.
In the end (as with most journey stories), David learns a lot about himself, his family, and his feelings, which actually impacts the entire kingdom that David has found himself thrust into.
While not necessarily packed with action and adventure (though there is a somewhat-decent amount), I think it's the ending of this story that really pulls the book together. It's a very sweet and appropriate conclusion. Though the majority of the story is to point out that not everything in life will turn out "happily ever after," the end of this story is a happy, sort-of-realistic one (realistic in the sense that the moral seems to be "just because things don't always go your way doesn't mean you can't live happily).
I'm really beginning to like John Connolly as an author, and I'll keep an eye out for other books of his that are in this same type of genre.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
4 stars -- I liked it.
(By the way, what's wrong with publishers? Check out the awesome hardcover image on the right...
To say I was looking forward to this book would be an understatement. When I found out that a sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth was coming out, I told everyone that I thought might be remotely interested. I kept the release date in mind and put it on hold at the library as soon as I was able. I liked The Forest of Hands and Teeth so much that I made my husband check it out months later and read it.
(By the way, what's wrong with publishers? Check out the awesome hardcover image on the right...And then the new softcover image on the left... The hardcover image was so evocative and haunting, and the new image is... well... blah and kitschy... emo.)
ANYWAY... apparently the details of The Forest of Hands and Teeth are a little fuzzy in my brain... because when I pointed out things I wasn't very fond of in The Dead-Tossed Waves, my husband said it was the same way in the first book. So either I thought it worked better in the first book or I glossed over some things or something completely different happened...
The Dead-Tossed Waves isn't a direct sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Gabry, the new protagonist, is actually the daughter of Mary, the protagonist of the previous book. I was actually a bit disappointed to find my heroine grown up and... staid. But Gabry is suitable as a new protagonist.
A positive side of this disconnect is that you don't have to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth before reading The Dead-Tossed Waves, though it might help with some aspects of the second story. But reading the two stories one after another might disappoint the reader when they realize how similar the two storylines are to each other.
The beginning of the book was very exciting and filled with action. It certainly started off with a bang, and I thought, "This book will be just as fabulous as the first!" But the action ended quickly, and then things dragged for quite a while. They do pick up at the end though, and I am curious abou the sequel, because I can't imagine the storyline can continue repeating itself.
The parts that I didn't care for were the love triangle (which my husband pointed out happened in the first book as well, though I don't remember that at all), because it just seems to be such a cliche in writing now (a la Twilight). I'm looking forward to the day when we go back to plots where one girl likes one guy and either gets him or doesn't. I understand the need for other characters and emotions, and I get how having two guys can really amp up the angst, but I really felt that Gabry's switch from one guy to the next happened incredibly quickly and in a rather "Ah, who cares?" manner.
I also didn't care much for... well... part of the main plot. Without giving too much away, I was scared for a majority of the book that Gabry was falling in love with her brother. The long-time-coming reveal cleared things up, but I was terrified that I was going to have to deal with some teen incest problem for about three-quarters of the book.
But though the storyline is very similar to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the writing is still just as engaging and the characters just as intriguing. Readers learn a bit more about this zombie-filled world and are left hanging at the end of the novel, waiting for the third book in the series. It's a good series to stick with.
A positive side of this disconnect is that you don't have to read The Forest of Hands and Teeth before reading The Dead-Tossed Waves, though it might help with some aspects of the second story. But reading the two stories one after another might disappoint the reader when they realize how similar the two storylines are to each other.
The beginning of the book was very exciting and filled with action. It certainly started off with a bang, and I thought, "This book will be just as fabulous as the first!" But the action ended quickly, and then things dragged for quite a while. They do pick up at the end though, and I am curious abou the sequel, because I can't imagine the storyline can continue repeating itself.
The parts that I didn't care for were the love triangle (which my husband pointed out happened in the first book as well, though I don't remember that at all), because it just seems to be such a cliche in writing now (a la Twilight). I'm looking forward to the day when we go back to plots where one girl likes one guy and either gets him or doesn't. I understand the need for other characters and emotions, and I get how having two guys can really amp up the angst, but I really felt that Gabry's switch from one guy to the next happened incredibly quickly and in a rather "Ah, who cares?" manner.
I also didn't care much for... well... part of the main plot. Without giving too much away, I was scared for a majority of the book that Gabry was falling in love with her brother. The long-time-coming reveal cleared things up, but I was terrified that I was going to have to deal with some teen incest problem for about three-quarters of the book.
But though the storyline is very similar to The Forest of Hands and Teeth, the writing is still just as engaging and the characters just as intriguing. Readers learn a bit more about this zombie-filled world and are left hanging at the end of the novel, waiting for the third book in the series. It's a good series to stick with.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Soulless by Gail Carriger
4 fluffy bunnies
Soulless makes me giggle when I think about it. I really have no way to categorize this book, because it's nearly a smut book but just doesn't quite reach that level. I suspect that the lack of heaving bosoms and pulsing members is what prevents it from being what I consider straight-out smut.
The premise of the book is quite interesting, though just another drop in the well of books about vampires and werewolves. The added twist to this particular story is that in addition to the supernatural, there is also the preternatural, ie, those without souls.
The main character, Alexia Tarabotti, just happens to be such a preternatural. While perfectly normal looking (well, unattractive, according to standards of the day), the 26-year-old spinster (this is 19th-century London, after all) can negate the supernatural powers of werewolves and vampires with a single touch. Her inquisitive, obstinate nature and preternatural status constantly put Alexia in compromising and potentially dangerous situations, which tend to lead to Lord Conall Maccon, alpha werewolf of the local pack and head of BUR (a government agency that supervises the supernaturals) being called in.
Alexia and Conall irritate each other to no end, so there's the sexual tension...
With a little steampunk thrown in for fun, Soulless is a fun, guilty-pleasure type of novel. You read it not for any type of edification, but because you like vampires, werewolves, and a little bit of pinch and tickle and don't mind wasting a few hours of your day.
Soulless makes me giggle when I think about it. I really have no way to categorize this book, because it's nearly a smut book but just doesn't quite reach that level. I suspect that the lack of heaving bosoms and pulsing members is what prevents it from being what I consider straight-out smut.
The premise of the book is quite interesting, though just another drop in the well of books about vampires and werewolves. The added twist to this particular story is that in addition to the supernatural, there is also the preternatural, ie, those without souls.
The main character, Alexia Tarabotti, just happens to be such a preternatural. While perfectly normal looking (well, unattractive, according to standards of the day), the 26-year-old spinster (this is 19th-century London, after all) can negate the supernatural powers of werewolves and vampires with a single touch. Her inquisitive, obstinate nature and preternatural status constantly put Alexia in compromising and potentially dangerous situations, which tend to lead to Lord Conall Maccon, alpha werewolf of the local pack and head of BUR (a government agency that supervises the supernaturals) being called in.
Alexia and Conall irritate each other to no end, so there's the sexual tension...
With a little steampunk thrown in for fun, Soulless is a fun, guilty-pleasure type of novel. You read it not for any type of edification, but because you like vampires, werewolves, and a little bit of pinch and tickle and don't mind wasting a few hours of your day.
The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
3 stars -- It's okay
I really prefer the softcover image to the hardcover of The Foretelling, but that's neither here nor there.
The Foretelling is about a girl named Rain, whose mother is the queen of the Amazonians. Destined to become queen herself, Rain struggles to inherit her birthright, because her mother treats her like she doesn't even exist. Rain was conceived by rape, and her mother has never forgiven herself for her weakness, her attackers for their intrusion, nor her daughter for being who she is, the personification of sorrow in human form.
Rain invests herself in becoming the best equestrian around, as horses are the reason the Amazonians have been able to defeat their enemies. She also excels at training to be a warrior and even manages to capture and tame a bear. She seems to be all that is needed in an Amazonian queen, but foretellings of her future predict that her own people will turn on her.
I have to say that the book is rather anticlimactic. While well-written and quite lovely as a story, not much actually happens. The brother that promises to be the spark of the conflict is taken care of with little issue, and the face-off between Rain and her people is peaceful. Granted, Rain is supposed to be the new way of the Amazonians, but there is so little actual action in this book that I was disappointed. The love story in place also seems to sputter and fizzle out without disturbing the peacefulness found in the telling of the story.
The Foretelling isn't bad, but it's not that good either. For a book about a warfaring people, the telling is suprisingly mild.
I really prefer the softcover image to the hardcover of The Foretelling, but that's neither here nor there.
The Foretelling is about a girl named Rain, whose mother is the queen of the Amazonians. Destined to become queen herself, Rain struggles to inherit her birthright, because her mother treats her like she doesn't even exist. Rain was conceived by rape, and her mother has never forgiven herself for her weakness, her attackers for their intrusion, nor her daughter for being who she is, the personification of sorrow in human form.
Rain invests herself in becoming the best equestrian around, as horses are the reason the Amazonians have been able to defeat their enemies. She also excels at training to be a warrior and even manages to capture and tame a bear. She seems to be all that is needed in an Amazonian queen, but foretellings of her future predict that her own people will turn on her.
I have to say that the book is rather anticlimactic. While well-written and quite lovely as a story, not much actually happens. The brother that promises to be the spark of the conflict is taken care of with little issue, and the face-off between Rain and her people is peaceful. Granted, Rain is supposed to be the new way of the Amazonians, but there is so little actual action in this book that I was disappointed. The love story in place also seems to sputter and fizzle out without disturbing the peacefulness found in the telling of the story.
The Foretelling isn't bad, but it's not that good either. For a book about a warfaring people, the telling is suprisingly mild.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Secret Society by Tom Dolby
1.5 stars -- Meh...
Secret Society bored me. It bored me so much that I put it down five pages from the end and forgot that I hadn't finished it. It was only a week or so later that I thought, "How did that book end? Surely the author didn't leave it like that..." and picked it up again to see where I had left off.
Not that the ending made a difference.
Secret Society is about (can you guess?) a secret society that promising, rich, New York high schoolers can get inducted into.
The four main characters, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch, are flat and not believable. Their personalities fluctuate too frequently (is Lauren rich and untouchable, or is she this weak, sniveling girl who doesn't know what to do about anything... How did Patch, a countercultural poor kid, suddenly become a buff, ripped, secret society wanna-be?).
The plot is weak (the society kills people, but WHY?). The story is unoriginal. And I am not looking forward to the sequel.
Secret Society bored me. It bored me so much that I put it down five pages from the end and forgot that I hadn't finished it. It was only a week or so later that I thought, "How did that book end? Surely the author didn't leave it like that..." and picked it up again to see where I had left off.
Not that the ending made a difference.
Secret Society is about (can you guess?) a secret society that promising, rich, New York high schoolers can get inducted into.
The four main characters, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch, are flat and not believable. Their personalities fluctuate too frequently (is Lauren rich and untouchable, or is she this weak, sniveling girl who doesn't know what to do about anything... How did Patch, a countercultural poor kid, suddenly become a buff, ripped, secret society wanna-be?).
The plot is weak (the society kills people, but WHY?). The story is unoriginal. And I am not looking forward to the sequel.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Everafter by Amy Huntley
4 stars -- I liked it!
The Everafter is a really quick read. It took me less than three hours and only one sitting (yay for lazy Saturday afternoons!).
The book starts with a girl in a large seemingly empty space. She realizes she's dead, but she doesn't know who she is, how she died, or even how she knows she's dead. Without a way to note the passage of time, it's hard to pinpoint how long she stays in her bubble before she begins exploring the area she's in, which she's nicknamed Is, but eventually she does.
Learning to expand the bubble that encompasses what remains of her (is she a ghost? is she a soul?) and move through Is, the girl starts traveling toward little pinpoints of light she can barely see in the darkness.
It turns out that each pinpoint is an object, and each object, when touched, brings Madison to a point in her life where she lost that object. Able to view the scene from outside her body or to join with her body and relive the moment, Madison learns who she is, who her friends are, and relearns about the love of her life, Gabe.
Madison makes it her goal to find out how she, and, she's pretty sure, Gabe, died at the age of 17, but no object brings her to that scene. She learns that she can change the outcome of the scenes by either finding the object (after which she can no longer visit that moment) or moving other little things around but also realizes that doing so changes the fabric of who she was.
The Everafter is a fascinating look into one person's take on how life after death might be, and the puzzle found within the story is quite captivating--will Madison find Gabe? How did Madison die? What is Madison's best friend's place in all of this? The outcome, while not exactly surprising and a little far fetched, is satisfying and the steps that led to the ending are clearly defined in retrospect. I'm pretty sure the letter at the end made me tear up a little bit.
The only complaint I have about the book is that the the Everafter, which the dead can go to and leave at any time, is a little vague and doesn't sound very pleasant to me. But I suppose heaven is a bit hard to describe, and everybody has their own ideas about how it will be.
The Everafter is a really quick read. It took me less than three hours and only one sitting (yay for lazy Saturday afternoons!).
The book starts with a girl in a large seemingly empty space. She realizes she's dead, but she doesn't know who she is, how she died, or even how she knows she's dead. Without a way to note the passage of time, it's hard to pinpoint how long she stays in her bubble before she begins exploring the area she's in, which she's nicknamed Is, but eventually she does.
Learning to expand the bubble that encompasses what remains of her (is she a ghost? is she a soul?) and move through Is, the girl starts traveling toward little pinpoints of light she can barely see in the darkness.
It turns out that each pinpoint is an object, and each object, when touched, brings Madison to a point in her life where she lost that object. Able to view the scene from outside her body or to join with her body and relive the moment, Madison learns who she is, who her friends are, and relearns about the love of her life, Gabe.
Madison makes it her goal to find out how she, and, she's pretty sure, Gabe, died at the age of 17, but no object brings her to that scene. She learns that she can change the outcome of the scenes by either finding the object (after which she can no longer visit that moment) or moving other little things around but also realizes that doing so changes the fabric of who she was.
The Everafter is a fascinating look into one person's take on how life after death might be, and the puzzle found within the story is quite captivating--will Madison find Gabe? How did Madison die? What is Madison's best friend's place in all of this? The outcome, while not exactly surprising and a little far fetched, is satisfying and the steps that led to the ending are clearly defined in retrospect. I'm pretty sure the letter at the end made me tear up a little bit.
The only complaint I have about the book is that the the Everafter, which the dead can go to and leave at any time, is a little vague and doesn't sound very pleasant to me. But I suppose heaven is a bit hard to describe, and everybody has their own ideas about how it will be.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Tales of the Madman Underground by John Barnes
4 stars -- I liked it...
I waited way too long to write about Tales of the Madman Undergroud, but I do know that my initial reaction after reading it was that it was a good book. I just didn't fall in love with it in any way.
Karl is a 17-year-old boy beginning his senior year of high school in the '70s, and he has strict plans to be normal. That means ditching all of his friends (even his best friend) and acting normal. If he can pull it off for a few weeks, he'll be able to avoid becoming part of the Madman Underground (the name the teens in in-school counseling have given themselves) for the last year of his schooling and have a chance at being viewed as "normal."
Unfortunately, Karl has a lot of problems he'll need to overcome to achieve his goal. His mom is an alcoholic who steals the stashes of money he hides. And he has to work multiple jobs at a time so that he'll have money to take care of himself and his mother as well as be able to get out of his hometown as soon as he graduates. His mom's cats keep getting killed by a raccoon, and Karl never knows how she'll react. Besides, rumors are swirling that it's Karl killing the cats instead. Oh, and also, Karl's attracted to the new girl, Marti, who just happens to be dating his more-than-likely-gay ex-best friend.
Despite its length and rather sad topic (abused and neglected children), Tales of the Madman Underground is a really humorous story with an unexpectedly positive ending. Karl eventually realizes that "normal" isn't all it's cracked up to be if it means not having his friends, and certain adults step up and prove that they can be trustworthy.
It's worth a read, but it's not one I'd immediately jump to if someone asked for a recommendation.
I waited way too long to write about Tales of the Madman Undergroud, but I do know that my initial reaction after reading it was that it was a good book. I just didn't fall in love with it in any way.
Karl is a 17-year-old boy beginning his senior year of high school in the '70s, and he has strict plans to be normal. That means ditching all of his friends (even his best friend) and acting normal. If he can pull it off for a few weeks, he'll be able to avoid becoming part of the Madman Underground (the name the teens in in-school counseling have given themselves) for the last year of his schooling and have a chance at being viewed as "normal."
Unfortunately, Karl has a lot of problems he'll need to overcome to achieve his goal. His mom is an alcoholic who steals the stashes of money he hides. And he has to work multiple jobs at a time so that he'll have money to take care of himself and his mother as well as be able to get out of his hometown as soon as he graduates. His mom's cats keep getting killed by a raccoon, and Karl never knows how she'll react. Besides, rumors are swirling that it's Karl killing the cats instead. Oh, and also, Karl's attracted to the new girl, Marti, who just happens to be dating his more-than-likely-gay ex-best friend.
Despite its length and rather sad topic (abused and neglected children), Tales of the Madman Underground is a really humorous story with an unexpectedly positive ending. Karl eventually realizes that "normal" isn't all it's cracked up to be if it means not having his friends, and certain adults step up and prove that they can be trustworthy.
It's worth a read, but it's not one I'd immediately jump to if someone asked for a recommendation.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
5 stars! -- I love it!
I must admit, the fact that the library classified this as "horror" had me a bit nervous. But luckily for me, Pandemonium is not a horror novel. The library just didn't know where else to shelve a book about demon possession.
Pandemonium takes place in a parallel universe. It's exactly like our own, except that since the 1950s (or even far before that), demon possession is a fairly regular occurrence. Some people are lucky enough to go their entire life without even seeing a possession, but others seem to be plagued by it.
Demon possession sounds terrible, but in Pandemonium, it's not necessarily a bad thing... Sometimes it just merely is. A demon known as The Painter only possesses people so that he can paint a picture. A noble demon knows at The Captain is always an army hero. Then there's The Truth, who kills people who lie (such as O.J. Simpson), but that's sort of noble too--just unfortunate for the person possessed at the time.
There are certainly bad demon possessions too. The Kamikaze possesses only Japanese men, forces them to highjack planes, and then suicide crashes the plane. And The Angel only possesses pretty little girls, makes them don cute nightdresses, and then goes around kissing sick and elderly people who then die.
So on the one hand, it sucks that a person is temporarily kicked out of their body and loses control while the demon forces them to do whatever it is the demon wants, but to be fair, there are levels of possession. Being possessed by The Painter is certainly a much better outcome than being possessed by The Kamikaze.
Anyway, Pandemonium focuses mainly on The Hellion. The Hellion only possesses little boys of a certain age and makes them act, well, troublesome or mischievous, as the dictionary defines the term, and to an extreme degree.
The main character of the story, Del, was possessed by The Hellion when he was 5 years old. But due to several unexplainable episodes, "noises" in his head that haven't gone away, and the fact that no one else has been possessed by The Hellion since his own possession, Del doesn't believe The Hellion was properly exorcised. While Del believes that he may have The Hellion trapped, he certainly understands that he doesn't have the demon under control.
Pandemonium is a really fascinating story with several unexpected twists. The author did a fabulous job with character development and self-discovery, and the other characters that are introduced, from The Angel turned priest to The Shug to Valis, are all necessary parts of a very intricate and layered universe.
While Pandemonium is set up to be a stand-alone novel, it has the potential to have a sequel, and I really hope Gregory takes advantage of that. The story is fascinating. It was well done, well thought out, and truly fantastic. It's also not religious at all (though it does contain some philosophy), so I think even religious people that are against demon possession can read this, so long as they understand that it's fiction.
So if you want to read a good book with new ideas from a new author, try Pandemonium.
I must admit, the fact that the library classified this as "horror" had me a bit nervous. But luckily for me, Pandemonium is not a horror novel. The library just didn't know where else to shelve a book about demon possession.
Pandemonium takes place in a parallel universe. It's exactly like our own, except that since the 1950s (or even far before that), demon possession is a fairly regular occurrence. Some people are lucky enough to go their entire life without even seeing a possession, but others seem to be plagued by it.
Demon possession sounds terrible, but in Pandemonium, it's not necessarily a bad thing... Sometimes it just merely is. A demon known as The Painter only possesses people so that he can paint a picture. A noble demon knows at The Captain is always an army hero. Then there's The Truth, who kills people who lie (such as O.J. Simpson), but that's sort of noble too--just unfortunate for the person possessed at the time.
There are certainly bad demon possessions too. The Kamikaze possesses only Japanese men, forces them to highjack planes, and then suicide crashes the plane. And The Angel only possesses pretty little girls, makes them don cute nightdresses, and then goes around kissing sick and elderly people who then die.
So on the one hand, it sucks that a person is temporarily kicked out of their body and loses control while the demon forces them to do whatever it is the demon wants, but to be fair, there are levels of possession. Being possessed by The Painter is certainly a much better outcome than being possessed by The Kamikaze.
Anyway, Pandemonium focuses mainly on The Hellion. The Hellion only possesses little boys of a certain age and makes them act, well, troublesome or mischievous, as the dictionary defines the term, and to an extreme degree.
The main character of the story, Del, was possessed by The Hellion when he was 5 years old. But due to several unexplainable episodes, "noises" in his head that haven't gone away, and the fact that no one else has been possessed by The Hellion since his own possession, Del doesn't believe The Hellion was properly exorcised. While Del believes that he may have The Hellion trapped, he certainly understands that he doesn't have the demon under control.
Pandemonium is a really fascinating story with several unexpected twists. The author did a fabulous job with character development and self-discovery, and the other characters that are introduced, from The Angel turned priest to The Shug to Valis, are all necessary parts of a very intricate and layered universe.
While Pandemonium is set up to be a stand-alone novel, it has the potential to have a sequel, and I really hope Gregory takes advantage of that. The story is fascinating. It was well done, well thought out, and truly fantastic. It's also not religious at all (though it does contain some philosophy), so I think even religious people that are against demon possession can read this, so long as they understand that it's fiction.
So if you want to read a good book with new ideas from a new author, try Pandemonium.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
1 star -- I hate it (on principle)
I will write about this book while I feel passionately about it, despite the fact that I've read two others I need to write about before I forget about them completely.
Bleeding Violet is a terrible book, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, much less a teen.
I don't remember why I picked up this book. The flap copy is terrible. The cover is not great (very The Dark Divine, and I don't care for knock-offs). I really thought this would be a terrible book, and I was really uninterested, so I can't explain why I took this home.
But when I first started reading it, I was pleasantly surprised by the book. The character isn't nearly as off-putting as the copy made her seem, and there are definitely some interesting concepts. The book had potential to be really, really good.
BUT it goes downhill really fast.
The main character, Hanna, is 16 and bipolar. She lost her virginity when she was 14 and decides to have sex with the Wyatt after, basically, one date.
While I realize that kids have sex and start early, and that 14 is by no means an unusual age to lose one's virginity, I do take issue with the frivolity with which Hanna treats this issue. She says STDs are for losers, when the plain fact is that STDs happen to those who have unprotected sex. Mistakes happen, condoms break. Anyone who's having sex with someone who's had sex before can get an STD. Anyone who's having sex can get pregnant. When you're writing for teens, you have a responsibility to treat sex carefully. While it's a realistic issue, so are STDs and teen pregnancy. They're not just "for losers."
I also take issue with the fact that Rosalee, Hanna's mother, gives her an entire box of condoms without question. Granted, Rosalee isn't a great mother, but the whole point of the story is that Rosalee does indeed love Hanna, and I think any loving mother would sit and have a chat before handing over a box of condoms.
Both Rosalee and Hanna are also quite proud of the fact that they use sex and their attractiveness as a weapon and that they use men. It's a terrible message to send to teens. Relationships should be mutual and beneficial and not harmful to either person involved. If a girl got raped, the man would be jailed. The feeling, to me, is the same if a girl uses a boy through sex. It's wrong and should not be condoned.
The sex issue gets even weirder when Hanna strips down by a naked boy in a lake, and her mother strips down too. All three completely naked, the boy aroused, and Rosalee starts cutting up the poor kid. The violence and torture is bad enough, but I think having familial nudity and very sexual tensions was completely unnecessary and uncalled for.
Besides the fact that the entire book is swamped in underage sex and other sexual situations, there is also a drug usage issue. Again, I understand that teens do drugs, and I have no problem with the scene where Wyatt and Hanna and their friends "do drugs" (forget-me-not flowers, for goodness' sakes), because that's realistic. But I do take real issue with the mom giving the daughter drugs. While I personally know families that actually do drugs together, I don't think it was ever the parents who said, "Hey, you haven't expressed any interest in this. Let's give it a shot!" but more of a, "Well, they do it and we do it, why don't we do it together?"
And then there's the suicide. Throughout the book, Hanna and others are very violent. But this climaxes when Hanna commits suicide. She slits her arms "from wrist to elbow" (both of them) and smears her blood on the walls of her house to make Rosalee sorry. Granted, Hanna is saved (so that she can commit suicide publicly), but suicide is a very heart-wrenching and real problem. The fact that Hanna is so blase about suicide and then finds her bloody "artwork" "beautiful" is horrifying. Teens shouldn't assume that someone will save them at the last minute. Sometimes it happens, but sometimes it doesn't. And teens also shouldn't be taught that you can change your mind after you commit suicide. You can't. If you do it right, you're dead. If you do it wrong, you're emotionally and, more than likely, physically scarred for the rest of your life.
I feel like authors have a responsibility when they write YA to be or set examples. I don't mean that the stories have to say "Suicide is bad, kids" or "Just say no to drugs!" or that the stories can't have sex, drugs, or violence, but I feel like it should be approached cautiously and with care.
Bleeding Violet feels like a bondage smut book toned down for teens, and it doesn't work. Movies have ratings and books have genres to prevent children from reading or seeing what may not be good for them, and I think Bleeding Violet should definitely not be in the YA fiction genre. It has too much unnecessary sex, drugs, swearing, violence, self-violence, stealing, lying, and hatred. There is a place for these issues, but it's not in the teen sci-fi/fantasy section, and they need to be treated appropriately.
I will write about this book while I feel passionately about it, despite the fact that I've read two others I need to write about before I forget about them completely.
Bleeding Violet is a terrible book, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, much less a teen.
I don't remember why I picked up this book. The flap copy is terrible. The cover is not great (very The Dark Divine, and I don't care for knock-offs). I really thought this would be a terrible book, and I was really uninterested, so I can't explain why I took this home.
But when I first started reading it, I was pleasantly surprised by the book. The character isn't nearly as off-putting as the copy made her seem, and there are definitely some interesting concepts. The book had potential to be really, really good.
BUT it goes downhill really fast.
The main character, Hanna, is 16 and bipolar. She lost her virginity when she was 14 and decides to have sex with the Wyatt after, basically, one date.
While I realize that kids have sex and start early, and that 14 is by no means an unusual age to lose one's virginity, I do take issue with the frivolity with which Hanna treats this issue. She says STDs are for losers, when the plain fact is that STDs happen to those who have unprotected sex. Mistakes happen, condoms break. Anyone who's having sex with someone who's had sex before can get an STD. Anyone who's having sex can get pregnant. When you're writing for teens, you have a responsibility to treat sex carefully. While it's a realistic issue, so are STDs and teen pregnancy. They're not just "for losers."
I also take issue with the fact that Rosalee, Hanna's mother, gives her an entire box of condoms without question. Granted, Rosalee isn't a great mother, but the whole point of the story is that Rosalee does indeed love Hanna, and I think any loving mother would sit and have a chat before handing over a box of condoms.
Both Rosalee and Hanna are also quite proud of the fact that they use sex and their attractiveness as a weapon and that they use men. It's a terrible message to send to teens. Relationships should be mutual and beneficial and not harmful to either person involved. If a girl got raped, the man would be jailed. The feeling, to me, is the same if a girl uses a boy through sex. It's wrong and should not be condoned.
The sex issue gets even weirder when Hanna strips down by a naked boy in a lake, and her mother strips down too. All three completely naked, the boy aroused, and Rosalee starts cutting up the poor kid. The violence and torture is bad enough, but I think having familial nudity and very sexual tensions was completely unnecessary and uncalled for.
Besides the fact that the entire book is swamped in underage sex and other sexual situations, there is also a drug usage issue. Again, I understand that teens do drugs, and I have no problem with the scene where Wyatt and Hanna and their friends "do drugs" (forget-me-not flowers, for goodness' sakes), because that's realistic. But I do take real issue with the mom giving the daughter drugs. While I personally know families that actually do drugs together, I don't think it was ever the parents who said, "Hey, you haven't expressed any interest in this. Let's give it a shot!" but more of a, "Well, they do it and we do it, why don't we do it together?"
And then there's the suicide. Throughout the book, Hanna and others are very violent. But this climaxes when Hanna commits suicide. She slits her arms "from wrist to elbow" (both of them) and smears her blood on the walls of her house to make Rosalee sorry. Granted, Hanna is saved (so that she can commit suicide publicly), but suicide is a very heart-wrenching and real problem. The fact that Hanna is so blase about suicide and then finds her bloody "artwork" "beautiful" is horrifying. Teens shouldn't assume that someone will save them at the last minute. Sometimes it happens, but sometimes it doesn't. And teens also shouldn't be taught that you can change your mind after you commit suicide. You can't. If you do it right, you're dead. If you do it wrong, you're emotionally and, more than likely, physically scarred for the rest of your life.
I feel like authors have a responsibility when they write YA to be or set examples. I don't mean that the stories have to say "Suicide is bad, kids" or "Just say no to drugs!" or that the stories can't have sex, drugs, or violence, but I feel like it should be approached cautiously and with care.
Bleeding Violet feels like a bondage smut book toned down for teens, and it doesn't work. Movies have ratings and books have genres to prevent children from reading or seeing what may not be good for them, and I think Bleeding Violet should definitely not be in the YA fiction genre. It has too much unnecessary sex, drugs, swearing, violence, self-violence, stealing, lying, and hatred. There is a place for these issues, but it's not in the teen sci-fi/fantasy section, and they need to be treated appropriately.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
4.5 stars -- I like it quite a bit
Jasper Fforde is well-known for his Thursday Next novels and his Nursery Crime series. I really liked the Thursday Next novels when I read them (the first few at any rate), and I believe I've read the Nursery Crime novels and liked them even more, but I may be wrong...
Fforde's writing is a bit drier than I normally like, but there's a cleverness (perhaps sarcastic wittiness?) to the writing that's nice and the background of the stories is so inventive that I can't pass up reading them.
Shades of Grey is the same.
On a future earth, humans are sorted into colortocracy, which is based on what color they can see and how much of it rather than money. The main character, Eddie Russett is a red (a russett to be exact...). He's traveling, for the first time, with his father, a swatchman, this future earth's version of a doctor. It's punishment, really, but Eddie looks forward to being able to impress his intended when he returns home and to the new experiences he'll gain.
He gets more than he bargains for.
I don't want my reviews to just be plot recitals, so I'll stop there, but I really did enjoy this book. It did take me a bit to get into the book (I let it sit for 6 weeks after starting it until I ran out of other books), but that tends to happen with all of Fforde's books. At first the plots seem so incomprehensible and the worlds so weird that it's hard to get into. But at the same time, it's lovely, because the author isn't just spoon-feeding the plot. The readers actually have to pay attention and try to figure out what's going on.
The world Fforde imagines for Shades of Grey is fascinating. There are absurd rules, and strange diseases, the color green can be used as a drug, and combinations of colors can revive a person. People die of a mold and are sent to be "re-booted."
Although the entire novel takes place over a mere four days (and so much happens that it feels like it occurred over months), the novel is an elaborate set-up for the coming books. It's basically a progression to show how Eddie, a loyal rule-follower if ever there was one, comes around, and in the end, I genuinelly began to like the poor fellow.
So if you have some time, this book is worth delving into, and I hope that the following books are even better. I look forward to them if only to find out what exactly brought the world to this state. It should be a fun adventure for all involved!
Jasper Fforde is well-known for his Thursday Next novels and his Nursery Crime series. I really liked the Thursday Next novels when I read them (the first few at any rate), and I believe I've read the Nursery Crime novels and liked them even more, but I may be wrong...
Fforde's writing is a bit drier than I normally like, but there's a cleverness (perhaps sarcastic wittiness?) to the writing that's nice and the background of the stories is so inventive that I can't pass up reading them.
Shades of Grey is the same.
On a future earth, humans are sorted into colortocracy, which is based on what color they can see and how much of it rather than money. The main character, Eddie Russett is a red (a russett to be exact...). He's traveling, for the first time, with his father, a swatchman, this future earth's version of a doctor. It's punishment, really, but Eddie looks forward to being able to impress his intended when he returns home and to the new experiences he'll gain.
He gets more than he bargains for.
I don't want my reviews to just be plot recitals, so I'll stop there, but I really did enjoy this book. It did take me a bit to get into the book (I let it sit for 6 weeks after starting it until I ran out of other books), but that tends to happen with all of Fforde's books. At first the plots seem so incomprehensible and the worlds so weird that it's hard to get into. But at the same time, it's lovely, because the author isn't just spoon-feeding the plot. The readers actually have to pay attention and try to figure out what's going on.
The world Fforde imagines for Shades of Grey is fascinating. There are absurd rules, and strange diseases, the color green can be used as a drug, and combinations of colors can revive a person. People die of a mold and are sent to be "re-booted."
Although the entire novel takes place over a mere four days (and so much happens that it feels like it occurred over months), the novel is an elaborate set-up for the coming books. It's basically a progression to show how Eddie, a loyal rule-follower if ever there was one, comes around, and in the end, I genuinelly began to like the poor fellow.
So if you have some time, this book is worth delving into, and I hope that the following books are even better. I look forward to them if only to find out what exactly brought the world to this state. It should be a fun adventure for all involved!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
World War Z by Max Brooks
5 stars -- I love it!
First of all, sorry it's been a while. It's been busy at work, so even though I haven't been blogging much, I haven't been reading much either.
What I have read, though, is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which is just amazing.
It's also horrifying, but not in a bloody, violent, gory way. More in a "Now I know I won't survive the zombie apocalypse way." Which I won't. No way.
World War Z is written as a series of interviews. Fictionally, Max Brooks is a reporter who, after WWZ, documents the events of the war for the government. The government takes the cold, hard facts and leaves the interviews that are "too personal," so Max Brooks turns them into this book.
The book never breaks character, and it's terrifying. Set up in loose chronological order, the reader reads interviews with doctors, scientists, military, lay people, and even feral children from around the world.
The first interview takes place in China with the doctor who discovered Patient 0. There are interviews about how different countries did or did not survive. There's an interview with an entrepreneur who developed a completely useless "rabies vaccines" and became a millionaire while supposedly vaccinated people died (and the arose again). A feral child tells, in her childlike speech, how she survived when her mother tried to kill her in order to save her from becoming a zombie. We follow workers in Canada who walk through after the Spring thaw and kill any re-animating zombies.
The picture Brooks paints is bleak. Too little is done too late, and massive amounts of the population are lost. Some countries are entirely overcome (like Japan) or just disappear (North Korea), while some countries not only survive but prosper (Cuba).
And the odd thing is that humans win the war. There's an incredible coming-together of people and countries to beat back this foe, and there's an enormous amount of invention and re-learning. If the future and the past weren't so bleak, this would be one of the most heartwarming tales imagined as countries and peoples unite in one combined force with one combined purpose, working together to regain lost territory.
But the scope of what happened, which I believe was incredibly underplayed in the book, is enormous and almost unimaginable. The book gives the barest glimpse of how horrible things truly were, barely touching on some subjects that made me, at least, recoil.
World War Z is amazing, and Brooks did a wonderful job. The way he was able to write technically or creatively depending on the character, his acclimation of actual historic events, the scope of his imagined world--it's breathtaking.
I really, really recommend that everyone reads this as there's a little bit of something for everyone, yet as a whole, it pulls together as a strong and well-written horror novel. But it's not bloody or gory or offputting in any way.
So read it, be horrified and completely fascinated at the same time, and then do what I plan on doing and invest in some bullets... :)
First of all, sorry it's been a while. It's been busy at work, so even though I haven't been blogging much, I haven't been reading much either.
What I have read, though, is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which is just amazing.
It's also horrifying, but not in a bloody, violent, gory way. More in a "Now I know I won't survive the zombie apocalypse way." Which I won't. No way.
World War Z is written as a series of interviews. Fictionally, Max Brooks is a reporter who, after WWZ, documents the events of the war for the government. The government takes the cold, hard facts and leaves the interviews that are "too personal," so Max Brooks turns them into this book.
The book never breaks character, and it's terrifying. Set up in loose chronological order, the reader reads interviews with doctors, scientists, military, lay people, and even feral children from around the world.
The first interview takes place in China with the doctor who discovered Patient 0. There are interviews about how different countries did or did not survive. There's an interview with an entrepreneur who developed a completely useless "rabies vaccines" and became a millionaire while supposedly vaccinated people died (and the arose again). A feral child tells, in her childlike speech, how she survived when her mother tried to kill her in order to save her from becoming a zombie. We follow workers in Canada who walk through after the Spring thaw and kill any re-animating zombies.
The picture Brooks paints is bleak. Too little is done too late, and massive amounts of the population are lost. Some countries are entirely overcome (like Japan) or just disappear (North Korea), while some countries not only survive but prosper (Cuba).
And the odd thing is that humans win the war. There's an incredible coming-together of people and countries to beat back this foe, and there's an enormous amount of invention and re-learning. If the future and the past weren't so bleak, this would be one of the most heartwarming tales imagined as countries and peoples unite in one combined force with one combined purpose, working together to regain lost territory.
But the scope of what happened, which I believe was incredibly underplayed in the book, is enormous and almost unimaginable. The book gives the barest glimpse of how horrible things truly were, barely touching on some subjects that made me, at least, recoil.
World War Z is amazing, and Brooks did a wonderful job. The way he was able to write technically or creatively depending on the character, his acclimation of actual historic events, the scope of his imagined world--it's breathtaking.
I really, really recommend that everyone reads this as there's a little bit of something for everyone, yet as a whole, it pulls together as a strong and well-written horror novel. But it's not bloody or gory or offputting in any way.
So read it, be horrified and completely fascinated at the same time, and then do what I plan on doing and invest in some bullets... :)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
4 stars -- I like it.
Why is it that Australians just seem to know how to write engaging, realistic, touching teen fiction? Looking for Alibrandi is a wonderful story and deserves the many awards it's won in Australia.
Josephine Alibrandi is a 17-year-old Australian of Italian descent (her grandmother grew up in Italy). Too Australian for her relatives and too Italian for her peers, Josie also has to deal with the stigma of being born of wedlock and never having met her father.
Josie is an all-too-realistic teen with mood swings and confusing desires. She wants to date John Barton, the rich and good-looking soon-to-be lawyer, but she's also attracted to Jacob Coote, a poorer but hardworking mechanic-wanna-be who used to bully her when she was little. She hates her overbearing and unloving grandmother but wants to hear her stories. She doesn't want to be discriminated against for being Italian, but she doesn't want to her background to be overlooked.
Her life gets even more confusing when her absent father reappears on the scene just as her mother starts dating again.
This was a really lovely story that I really hope you will read. It's believable and realistic. There's heartache, heartbreak, passion, horror, and honesty. There're skeletons in the closet, embarrassing family members and traditions, and secrets to be discovered.
I really love how Josie's relationships with, well, everyone mature as the story is told. From her mother and grandmother to her father, from her best friends to her arch-nemesis, from boy friend to boyfriend, there is genuine and real character development to be found in this story.
So go out and ready it :)
Why is it that Australians just seem to know how to write engaging, realistic, touching teen fiction? Looking for Alibrandi is a wonderful story and deserves the many awards it's won in Australia.
Josephine Alibrandi is a 17-year-old Australian of Italian descent (her grandmother grew up in Italy). Too Australian for her relatives and too Italian for her peers, Josie also has to deal with the stigma of being born of wedlock and never having met her father.
Josie is an all-too-realistic teen with mood swings and confusing desires. She wants to date John Barton, the rich and good-looking soon-to-be lawyer, but she's also attracted to Jacob Coote, a poorer but hardworking mechanic-wanna-be who used to bully her when she was little. She hates her overbearing and unloving grandmother but wants to hear her stories. She doesn't want to be discriminated against for being Italian, but she doesn't want to her background to be overlooked.
Her life gets even more confusing when her absent father reappears on the scene just as her mother starts dating again.
This was a really lovely story that I really hope you will read. It's believable and realistic. There's heartache, heartbreak, passion, horror, and honesty. There're skeletons in the closet, embarrassing family members and traditions, and secrets to be discovered.
I really love how Josie's relationships with, well, everyone mature as the story is told. From her mother and grandmother to her father, from her best friends to her arch-nemesis, from boy friend to boyfriend, there is genuine and real character development to be found in this story.
So go out and ready it :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Shadowland by Alyson Noel
3 stars... It's okay.
Hmm. This one has me confused. Well, not this book... nothing is confusing about this book or its series, but Amazon seems to have something wrong with it. See Shadowland is the third book in The Immortals series. Evermore is the first book and Blue Moon the second. But you'll notice I linked to the Library Edition of Blue Moon because the paperback version has some crazy plain cover that looks like it's for a foreign country... or maybe an ARC (advanced reading copy).
Also, Amazon says I rated both Evermore and Blue Moon as one star, and while they're certainly not the most brilliant books on the planet, I can't imagine that I would have rated them "I hate it" both times. Especially since I didn't particurlarly hate Shadowland. I tend to only give the worst of the worst the one-star rating.
So this has me puzzled, but certainly still able to comment about Shadowland.
Shadowland picks up right where Blue Moon left off, and there are enough clues in this book to help readers remember what happened in previous books. In the first two books you'll read all about Ever and Damen, two teens stuck in a cycle of falling in love, finding each other, and then Ever dies (rather like Fallen, but this series was written first, so it gets the props). In the first book, though, Damen gives Ever the elixer he drinks to keep himself immortal, bringing her back from the dead and making her immortal as well. In the first book, Ever kills Damen's crazy stalker immortal girlfriend.
In the second book, another immortal enters the scene, brainwashes everyone but Ever, and eventually she saves the day, though screwing up and making it so that should Ever ever touch Damen, he will die a horrific death.
So book three is all about Ever trying to fix the no-touching curse she and Damen are under, and Damen becoming Mr. Trying-To-Make-Things-Right-with-Karma-Guy.
I think I was most frustrated with Ever because she learned in the last book that jumping into things and not listening to the right people can have drastic results--the whole reason she's looking around now. You could forgive her previously because she's new at the whole immortal thing, and then she's new at the whole Summerland thing, and she's new with manifestation and chakras and all the crazy stuff... But now she should know better. And she just doesn't.
While the story didn't advance much in this book, the highlight is the addition of Jude. Alas and alack, this adds the love triangle to a previously straightforward love story, but Jude is just a nice character. He's laid-back and seemingly attractive (he is in my head anyway) and just genuinely nice. Besides, love triangles are interesting.
So I leave you with a convoluted and muddled: I don't know if you should read this series? (Pitch the mental voice upwards toward the end of the sentence.) Shadowland was okay, but apparently I didn't like the first two books and since I don't remember not liking them, I'm not sure what I found wrong with them.
Feel free to read the series and remind what I hated so much.
Hmm. This one has me confused. Well, not this book... nothing is confusing about this book or its series, but Amazon seems to have something wrong with it. See Shadowland is the third book in The Immortals series. Evermore is the first book and Blue Moon the second. But you'll notice I linked to the Library Edition of Blue Moon because the paperback version has some crazy plain cover that looks like it's for a foreign country... or maybe an ARC (advanced reading copy).
Also, Amazon says I rated both Evermore and Blue Moon as one star, and while they're certainly not the most brilliant books on the planet, I can't imagine that I would have rated them "I hate it" both times. Especially since I didn't particurlarly hate Shadowland. I tend to only give the worst of the worst the one-star rating.
So this has me puzzled, but certainly still able to comment about Shadowland.
Shadowland picks up right where Blue Moon left off, and there are enough clues in this book to help readers remember what happened in previous books. In the first two books you'll read all about Ever and Damen, two teens stuck in a cycle of falling in love, finding each other, and then Ever dies (rather like Fallen, but this series was written first, so it gets the props). In the first book, though, Damen gives Ever the elixer he drinks to keep himself immortal, bringing her back from the dead and making her immortal as well. In the first book, Ever kills Damen's crazy stalker immortal girlfriend.
In the second book, another immortal enters the scene, brainwashes everyone but Ever, and eventually she saves the day, though screwing up and making it so that should Ever ever touch Damen, he will die a horrific death.
So book three is all about Ever trying to fix the no-touching curse she and Damen are under, and Damen becoming Mr. Trying-To-Make-Things-Right-with-Karma-Guy.
I think I was most frustrated with Ever because she learned in the last book that jumping into things and not listening to the right people can have drastic results--the whole reason she's looking around now. You could forgive her previously because she's new at the whole immortal thing, and then she's new at the whole Summerland thing, and she's new with manifestation and chakras and all the crazy stuff... But now she should know better. And she just doesn't.
While the story didn't advance much in this book, the highlight is the addition of Jude. Alas and alack, this adds the love triangle to a previously straightforward love story, but Jude is just a nice character. He's laid-back and seemingly attractive (he is in my head anyway) and just genuinely nice. Besides, love triangles are interesting.
So I leave you with a convoluted and muddled: I don't know if you should read this series? (Pitch the mental voice upwards toward the end of the sentence.) Shadowland was okay, but apparently I didn't like the first two books and since I don't remember not liking them, I'm not sure what I found wrong with them.
Feel free to read the series and remind what I hated so much.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain
3.5 stars -- It's okay.
A Christian werewolf story!?! Remember how well I liked the Christian vampire story? Well, this one worked much better.
In fact, I'm not completely sure that The Dark Divine is technically supposed to be Christian, and that may be why it worked better.
Grace Divine is the daughter of a pastor. She has a seemingly idyllic life... except for one thing from her past. A while back, Grace's family took in the neighbor boy, her brother Jude's best friend, because his father was abusive. A few years later, Daniel disappeared and Jude came home covered in blood. And no one would tell Grace what happened.
But now Daniel has returned... in worse shape than he left certainly, and Grace, always attracted to him before, still can't resist him today--despite her brother's warnings to leave Daniel alone.
Turns out (to the surprise of no one) that Daniel is a werewolf. And Grace's entire family, excepting herself, knows. In fact, Grace's father, the pastor, is trying to help Daniel find a cure.
See, in this storyline, werewolves were a creation of God, perverted by Satan. Strong and superhero-like human if they manage to remain pure, they turn into the wolf after their first kill.
This was a pretty solid YA book. I liked it for what it was. It's not superfabulous, but it's certainly not terrible. Also, it wasn't as completely predictable as most of the books I've been reading lately have been, which was a nice change of pace.
So if you want to see how to do Christianity and werewolves, take a look here. It can also help if you want to Christianity and vampires, zombies, or sea creatures.
BUT you don't have to be a Christian to read this, and it certainly isn't trying to convert you. It's just a fun read.
A Christian werewolf story!?! Remember how well I liked the Christian vampire story? Well, this one worked much better.
In fact, I'm not completely sure that The Dark Divine is technically supposed to be Christian, and that may be why it worked better.
Grace Divine is the daughter of a pastor. She has a seemingly idyllic life... except for one thing from her past. A while back, Grace's family took in the neighbor boy, her brother Jude's best friend, because his father was abusive. A few years later, Daniel disappeared and Jude came home covered in blood. And no one would tell Grace what happened.
But now Daniel has returned... in worse shape than he left certainly, and Grace, always attracted to him before, still can't resist him today--despite her brother's warnings to leave Daniel alone.
Turns out (to the surprise of no one) that Daniel is a werewolf. And Grace's entire family, excepting herself, knows. In fact, Grace's father, the pastor, is trying to help Daniel find a cure.
See, in this storyline, werewolves were a creation of God, perverted by Satan. Strong and superhero-like human if they manage to remain pure, they turn into the wolf after their first kill.
This was a pretty solid YA book. I liked it for what it was. It's not superfabulous, but it's certainly not terrible. Also, it wasn't as completely predictable as most of the books I've been reading lately have been, which was a nice change of pace.
So if you want to see how to do Christianity and werewolves, take a look here. It can also help if you want to Christianity and vampires, zombies, or sea creatures.
BUT you don't have to be a Christian to read this, and it certainly isn't trying to convert you. It's just a fun read.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Darklight by Lesley Livingston
4 stars -- I like it
In the same vein of Need and Captivate, Darklight, the sequel to Wondrous Strange (which I rated 3 stars), is about fairies (or Faeries in this case), a seemingly difficult love, and various Faerie kings and queens. The Wondrous Strange books have beautiful covers as well--really ethereal. It doesn't hurt that the model on their cover is drop-dead gorgeous and seems to fit the description of Kelley well enough. It's one of my pet peeves when the model on the cover doesn't look anything like the character described in the book.
But despite the many similarities (including release dates), and the fact that I apparently liked Need more than Wondrous Strange, after reading the second books, I feel that the Wondrous Strange series is the stronger one. I remembered the first book much better than I did Need, which is definitely a good sign in and of itself.
In Darklight, Kelley (Faerie princess, just like Zara) remains in the mortal world while Sonny, her boyfriend and a changling, hunts down the Wild Hunt in the Faerie world. Most of the story revolves around how much they miss each other, though there eventually Auberon, Kelley's Faerie father, grows ill, and he calls for Kelley's help. Considering that he was the bad guy (sort of) in the first book, no one is surprised when Kelley doesn't exactly leap at the chance to help him. Sonny, on the other hand, was raised by Auberon, so he does take the leap.
I feel like the majority of this book was a set up for the next book, or possibly the rest of the series. There's a number of dilemmas (ie, Auberon being sick, the two lovers unable to meet), good guys turn out to be bad guys, bad guys turn into good guys, and one major showdown occurs that doesn't really impact the long-term storyline except as a big reveal about Sonny's secret identity. None of the dilemmas that were already in place nor the new ones that arise are actually resolved.
But despite the fact that the book is just a long-winded set-up, it was still fun to read and the story is engaging. I also prefer the way the author sticks with fairy lore (Titania, Auberon, Mahb, and even Puck are featured in the stories, as well as the Wild Hunt, the fairy courts, and a plethora of other fairy creatures from common folklore) rather than inventing her own. And while she does make the individual creatures her own (sirens, Leprachauns, kelpies, etc.), she doesn't invent an entirely new world for readers to adjust to.
So overall a decent YA read with all the necessary elements. I'd love to hear what you think about the Need novels as compared to the Wondrous Strange series.
In the same vein of Need and Captivate, Darklight, the sequel to Wondrous Strange (which I rated 3 stars), is about fairies (or Faeries in this case), a seemingly difficult love, and various Faerie kings and queens. The Wondrous Strange books have beautiful covers as well--really ethereal. It doesn't hurt that the model on their cover is drop-dead gorgeous and seems to fit the description of Kelley well enough. It's one of my pet peeves when the model on the cover doesn't look anything like the character described in the book.
But despite the many similarities (including release dates), and the fact that I apparently liked Need more than Wondrous Strange, after reading the second books, I feel that the Wondrous Strange series is the stronger one. I remembered the first book much better than I did Need, which is definitely a good sign in and of itself.
In Darklight, Kelley (Faerie princess, just like Zara) remains in the mortal world while Sonny, her boyfriend and a changling, hunts down the Wild Hunt in the Faerie world. Most of the story revolves around how much they miss each other, though there eventually Auberon, Kelley's Faerie father, grows ill, and he calls for Kelley's help. Considering that he was the bad guy (sort of) in the first book, no one is surprised when Kelley doesn't exactly leap at the chance to help him. Sonny, on the other hand, was raised by Auberon, so he does take the leap.
I feel like the majority of this book was a set up for the next book, or possibly the rest of the series. There's a number of dilemmas (ie, Auberon being sick, the two lovers unable to meet), good guys turn out to be bad guys, bad guys turn into good guys, and one major showdown occurs that doesn't really impact the long-term storyline except as a big reveal about Sonny's secret identity. None of the dilemmas that were already in place nor the new ones that arise are actually resolved.
But despite the fact that the book is just a long-winded set-up, it was still fun to read and the story is engaging. I also prefer the way the author sticks with fairy lore (Titania, Auberon, Mahb, and even Puck are featured in the stories, as well as the Wild Hunt, the fairy courts, and a plethora of other fairy creatures from common folklore) rather than inventing her own. And while she does make the individual creatures her own (sirens, Leprachauns, kelpies, etc.), she doesn't invent an entirely new world for readers to adjust to.
So overall a decent YA read with all the necessary elements. I'd love to hear what you think about the Need novels as compared to the Wondrous Strange series.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Captivate by Carrie Jones
3.5 stars -- I like it.
The sequel to Need, Captivate picks up shortly after Need left off. The author and publisher did very well carrying the themes through. The covers fit together well, and they're both beautiful and haunting. The storyline follows well (as far as I can recall). There are enough clues in Captivate for me to recall what the first book was about without having it regurgitated in its entirety.
I have to admit, I don't really remember the first book at all. I rated it 4 stars, so I must have liked it fairly well, but it didn't stick in my head as anything amazing.
Thus, I don't know if how the characters acted in this book fits well with what happened in the first book, but they fit well for this book. This book feels a bit more "needy" than the first book. More gasping teen hormones than I recalled, but since I didn't recall Nick, the love interest, at all...
All of that to say: take this review as being about a stand-alone novel rather than a sequel, even though it is a sequel and you should definitely read the first book if you're going to read this one.
Captivate has a somewhat unusual plot line. There are fairies and were-things (not merely werewolves, though Nick is that), and in this book we've added some Norse mythology and mythological creatures. Surprisingly, there are no vampires, though they could appear in future books, I'm sure.
Zara, the main character, a half-fairy/half-human hybrid and, conveniently, daughter of the local fairy king, has trapped (with the help of her boyfriend and friends) the local fairy population in a glamour-hidden house (the plot of Need there).
Now Zara, Nick, and her friends patrol the area for pixies that come into the area and drag them to the house to be trapped as well. Except... with the fairy king weak and incapacitated in the house, new fairy kings will try to take over. And that's what this book is about.
I have to say I was quite disappointed by the happenings in this book, though I still liked the storyline well enough and it was a fun read (probably more fun if you can remember the first book). I think the third book will probably make me feel better about this book and its ending, although with the unflattering description of pixies, I'm not sure I could ever like one... although, as happens in fiction, all things are reversible given the right magic.
I don't want to give too much away, because (although you'll figure things out quickly enough if you read the book) I don't want to give so much away that you don't have to read the books at all.
This is a typical YA fantasy book, so if that's your thing, I say go ahead and pick up this series. It's on par with Twilight as far as depth, although it never reaches the same emotional level (which, admittedly, is the main draw to Twilight, but you can still read this for a fun, quick, fantasy escape).
The sequel to Need, Captivate picks up shortly after Need left off. The author and publisher did very well carrying the themes through. The covers fit together well, and they're both beautiful and haunting. The storyline follows well (as far as I can recall). There are enough clues in Captivate for me to recall what the first book was about without having it regurgitated in its entirety.
I have to admit, I don't really remember the first book at all. I rated it 4 stars, so I must have liked it fairly well, but it didn't stick in my head as anything amazing.
Thus, I don't know if how the characters acted in this book fits well with what happened in the first book, but they fit well for this book. This book feels a bit more "needy" than the first book. More gasping teen hormones than I recalled, but since I didn't recall Nick, the love interest, at all...
All of that to say: take this review as being about a stand-alone novel rather than a sequel, even though it is a sequel and you should definitely read the first book if you're going to read this one.
Captivate has a somewhat unusual plot line. There are fairies and were-things (not merely werewolves, though Nick is that), and in this book we've added some Norse mythology and mythological creatures. Surprisingly, there are no vampires, though they could appear in future books, I'm sure.
Zara, the main character, a half-fairy/half-human hybrid and, conveniently, daughter of the local fairy king, has trapped (with the help of her boyfriend and friends) the local fairy population in a glamour-hidden house (the plot of Need there).
Now Zara, Nick, and her friends patrol the area for pixies that come into the area and drag them to the house to be trapped as well. Except... with the fairy king weak and incapacitated in the house, new fairy kings will try to take over. And that's what this book is about.
I have to say I was quite disappointed by the happenings in this book, though I still liked the storyline well enough and it was a fun read (probably more fun if you can remember the first book). I think the third book will probably make me feel better about this book and its ending, although with the unflattering description of pixies, I'm not sure I could ever like one... although, as happens in fiction, all things are reversible given the right magic.
I don't want to give too much away, because (although you'll figure things out quickly enough if you read the book) I don't want to give so much away that you don't have to read the books at all.
This is a typical YA fantasy book, so if that's your thing, I say go ahead and pick up this series. It's on par with Twilight as far as depth, although it never reaches the same emotional level (which, admittedly, is the main draw to Twilight, but you can still read this for a fun, quick, fantasy escape).
The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff
5 stars -- I love it.
If you haven't read any Meg Rosoff, I really recommend you do. She's a brilliant writer, and the breadth of topics her books cover is fairly wide. I've read What I Was (I rated it 4 stars), How I Live Now (5 stars), and Just In Case (which got 3 stars from me). Obviously my favorite was How I Live Now, but I didn't dislike any of them.
The Bride's Farewell is another wonderful book that I hope Rosoff is proud to have written. The story is just beautiful and Pell is such a wonderful character, and the way everyone's story is interwoven is played so well.
The story begins with Pell running away from her home on her wedding day. Set in England in the mid-1800s, Pell doesn't live in a world where it's wise for a young girl to be on her own nor is it considered normal to desire to be single.
Planning to take only her horse, Jack, and minimal supplies, Pell also ends up taking her adopted younger brother, Bean, a mute. Together they travel to a horse farm where Pell is sure she can find work with horses, as she is a horse whisperer and even more skilled than her now-ex-fiance, Birdie, a farrier.
Sure that Birdie will now marry her younger sister Nell, Pell has no regrets about leaving... until Bean disappears with Jack, presumably stolen by the man who hired Pell's services at the horse fair and disappeared without paying.
The rest of the book details Pell's search for Bean and Jack, as she's sure they're in danger and unhappy without her. She meets many people who come to care for her, including the ultimately imporant Dogman, who all help her in her search (in some way or another).
I don't want to give too much away, because I really feel like Rosoff tells it well enough that you should read it from her. It's a beautiful story, but it's realistic enough as well. Not everyone ends up happy, and Meg certainly portrays some of the hardships that occurred in the 1800s, to be honest, but Pell does, and since she's our main character, I feel happy enough with the ending.
So go out and get a Meg Rosoff book. They're well worth the emotions they can bring to the forefront. Rosoff's books are a joy to read.
If you haven't read any Meg Rosoff, I really recommend you do. She's a brilliant writer, and the breadth of topics her books cover is fairly wide. I've read What I Was (I rated it 4 stars), How I Live Now (5 stars), and Just In Case (which got 3 stars from me). Obviously my favorite was How I Live Now, but I didn't dislike any of them.
The Bride's Farewell is another wonderful book that I hope Rosoff is proud to have written. The story is just beautiful and Pell is such a wonderful character, and the way everyone's story is interwoven is played so well.
The story begins with Pell running away from her home on her wedding day. Set in England in the mid-1800s, Pell doesn't live in a world where it's wise for a young girl to be on her own nor is it considered normal to desire to be single.
Planning to take only her horse, Jack, and minimal supplies, Pell also ends up taking her adopted younger brother, Bean, a mute. Together they travel to a horse farm where Pell is sure she can find work with horses, as she is a horse whisperer and even more skilled than her now-ex-fiance, Birdie, a farrier.
Sure that Birdie will now marry her younger sister Nell, Pell has no regrets about leaving... until Bean disappears with Jack, presumably stolen by the man who hired Pell's services at the horse fair and disappeared without paying.
The rest of the book details Pell's search for Bean and Jack, as she's sure they're in danger and unhappy without her. She meets many people who come to care for her, including the ultimately imporant Dogman, who all help her in her search (in some way or another).
I don't want to give too much away, because I really feel like Rosoff tells it well enough that you should read it from her. It's a beautiful story, but it's realistic enough as well. Not everyone ends up happy, and Meg certainly portrays some of the hardships that occurred in the 1800s, to be honest, but Pell does, and since she's our main character, I feel happy enough with the ending.
So go out and get a Meg Rosoff book. They're well worth the emotions they can bring to the forefront. Rosoff's books are a joy to read.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
2 stars -- Meh.
I was disappointed with this book, but there's no real reason as to why. Beautiful Creatures has a beautiful cover, it's been recommended to me numerous times, I see it in prominent places. I feel like everyone has been telling me to read this book (though in reality I'm not sure anyone I know has read it), so I was really looking forward to reading it.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the book. The writing is done well. The plot is understandable. The characters are (for the most part) well developed. The problem I had with the book is that it sort of . . . well . . . dragged. It's 576 pages long and not much happens for the majority of the book.
I think the dragging most clearly shows up in the relationship between Ethan (the protagonist) and Lena (the love interest). About halfway through, Lena calls Ethan her boyfriend. One hundred pages later, Ethan wonders where they are in their relationship (despite having heard (and rejoiced about) Lena call him her boyfriend). Fifty pages later, he'll tell her he loves her, but then a few days later in the timeline, they're both freaking out about saying it to each other.
The dragging is also visible regarding Ethan's power (or lack thereof). Time and again it's shown that he has some sort of power, but time and again everyone denies it and let's him think he's purely mortal.
I realize that the authors have 150 days (plus) to cover, which I would like to applaud. Most of the time, YA is written with too much action packed into too little time (the characters manage to meet each other, kill a pack of werewolves, travel to Ireland to kill a coven of vampires, fall in love, fall in love so deeply they both give up their virginity, which makes them have a face-off with the devil, whom they then kill, all in 5 days?!), so I applaud the authors setting up a timeline that they follow. I also appreciate that the timeline allows time for true love to be believable and understandable. And I'm sure that on the authors' timeline chart, everything looked believable. "Day 25: Find out Amma and Macon know each other." "Day 67: Ethan's best friend's mother acts weird." In timeline format, it probably looked great. A little something occurred every day! But some times, the things occurring were such little things, and things were so drawn out and thought out in every detail, or even repeated (ie, the love story) that I thought, "Who cares?! We're past that!"
Now normally, for a book with so many positives and so little bad to say about it, I would give it 3 stars, but the more I think about this book (and I finished it over a week ago), the more I think I really don't want to read any sequels. There's a distaste to the book that sticks in my head. I can't really explain why, so feel free to read it and let me know what you think. There are plenty of good reviews on Amazon that tout this as an amazing book, so I may stand alone here. I'd love to hear your take on it.
I was disappointed with this book, but there's no real reason as to why. Beautiful Creatures has a beautiful cover, it's been recommended to me numerous times, I see it in prominent places. I feel like everyone has been telling me to read this book (though in reality I'm not sure anyone I know has read it), so I was really looking forward to reading it.
There's nothing inherently wrong with the book. The writing is done well. The plot is understandable. The characters are (for the most part) well developed. The problem I had with the book is that it sort of . . . well . . . dragged. It's 576 pages long and not much happens for the majority of the book.
I think the dragging most clearly shows up in the relationship between Ethan (the protagonist) and Lena (the love interest). About halfway through, Lena calls Ethan her boyfriend. One hundred pages later, Ethan wonders where they are in their relationship (despite having heard (and rejoiced about) Lena call him her boyfriend). Fifty pages later, he'll tell her he loves her, but then a few days later in the timeline, they're both freaking out about saying it to each other.
The dragging is also visible regarding Ethan's power (or lack thereof). Time and again it's shown that he has some sort of power, but time and again everyone denies it and let's him think he's purely mortal.
I realize that the authors have 150 days (plus) to cover, which I would like to applaud. Most of the time, YA is written with too much action packed into too little time (the characters manage to meet each other, kill a pack of werewolves, travel to Ireland to kill a coven of vampires, fall in love, fall in love so deeply they both give up their virginity, which makes them have a face-off with the devil, whom they then kill, all in 5 days?!), so I applaud the authors setting up a timeline that they follow. I also appreciate that the timeline allows time for true love to be believable and understandable. And I'm sure that on the authors' timeline chart, everything looked believable. "Day 25: Find out Amma and Macon know each other." "Day 67: Ethan's best friend's mother acts weird." In timeline format, it probably looked great. A little something occurred every day! But some times, the things occurring were such little things, and things were so drawn out and thought out in every detail, or even repeated (ie, the love story) that I thought, "Who cares?! We're past that!"
Now normally, for a book with so many positives and so little bad to say about it, I would give it 3 stars, but the more I think about this book (and I finished it over a week ago), the more I think I really don't want to read any sequels. There's a distaste to the book that sticks in my head. I can't really explain why, so feel free to read it and let me know what you think. There are plenty of good reviews on Amazon that tout this as an amazing book, so I may stand alone here. I'd love to hear your take on it.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Devoured by Amanda Marrone
1 star -- I hated it!
Oh, my goodness! I can't get over how much I dislike this book. I have read two fabulous books and one mediocre book, but I choose to write about this one first. Because I really can't get over how terrible this book is!
Devoured has a gorgeous cover. It's a complete knock-off of Twilight (is that Bella with the apple and Jacob and Edward lurking behind her?), but the imagery works for this book (unlike Twilight where I don't really remember a connection to the apple). Because, well, this is a continuation or expansion of Snow White.
I was really, really hopeful in the beginning. The story started off pretty well! Snow White's stepmother uses the magic mirror to curse Snow White's offspring forever and ever to feel what she felt. It's really quite a nice idea. It has possibility.
But a million years later (or just a couple hundred... whatever), in modern-day America, 16-year-old Megan deals with a comatose father, a distant mother, and the ghost of her dead sister (who remains seven years old). She's getting a new job in a fairy-tale themed amusement park to keep an eye on her new boyfriend and his best friend, a female who's completely and unabashedly in love with said boyfriend.
It's immediately apparent that the people under the influence of the mirror (as that is the evil in the story) are the owners of the park, and I had to shake my head when Megan blindy befriends obviously insane Ari (the daughter of the park owner).
The tension Megan feels about the two boys (seen lurking on the cover) is fine, though I'm sure most readers think, "Why don't you listen to Nikki??" As Megan's best friend, she certainly sees things clearly and seems to know what's going on.
The part that really got to me and made me want to throw the book across the room was when Nikki gets killed. Megan's been having visions (from her sister's ghost) about some dark-haired girl dying. They're so powerful and drastic, that they cause Megan to have panic attacks and faint.
When Nikki calls Megan one night and talks about being stalked and then suddenly drops the phone, Megan knows what's wrong. She calls 911 and immediately gets her boyfriend to drive her to the area and calls Luke, the other love interest (who can conveniently talk to ghosts), to meet her there. This is fine... what loses is me is that when Megan runs through the woods with only Luke on her heels, finds Nikki's body WITH A GAPING HOLE IN HER CHEST WHERE HER HEART USED TO BE, she shudders once, is held by Luke and goes home.
I'm pretty sure that as a teenager, had I come across my best friend's body in the woods with her heart cut out, I would have passed out. And if she passed out due to visions, why wouldn't she in real life? Also, had I come across my best friend's dead body, I would need some serious therapy. I would be sobbing uncontrollably for months and months. I would not be doing well at all.
Megan? Well, after two weeks, Megan breaks up with her boyfriend, has sex with Luke, and returns to work at the amusement park, where of course you know the killer is waiting.
Two weeks just doesn't cut it for me. Never mind that death is tragic under any circumstances, when you're 16 and it's your best friend since kindergarten, your emotions and hormons don't let you move. If you happened to find that friend's body? If you happened to find that friend's body mutilated? And if you know that you could have saved that friend? Megan should be bedridden and guilt stricken. Not having sex with her new boy toy.
Urgh... terrible book. Very poor plot line. Please don't read this!!! (Or if you do, do it just so you can complain to me about horrible it was.)
Oh, my goodness! I can't get over how much I dislike this book. I have read two fabulous books and one mediocre book, but I choose to write about this one first. Because I really can't get over how terrible this book is!
Devoured has a gorgeous cover. It's a complete knock-off of Twilight (is that Bella with the apple and Jacob and Edward lurking behind her?), but the imagery works for this book (unlike Twilight where I don't really remember a connection to the apple). Because, well, this is a continuation or expansion of Snow White.
I was really, really hopeful in the beginning. The story started off pretty well! Snow White's stepmother uses the magic mirror to curse Snow White's offspring forever and ever to feel what she felt. It's really quite a nice idea. It has possibility.
But a million years later (or just a couple hundred... whatever), in modern-day America, 16-year-old Megan deals with a comatose father, a distant mother, and the ghost of her dead sister (who remains seven years old). She's getting a new job in a fairy-tale themed amusement park to keep an eye on her new boyfriend and his best friend, a female who's completely and unabashedly in love with said boyfriend.
It's immediately apparent that the people under the influence of the mirror (as that is the evil in the story) are the owners of the park, and I had to shake my head when Megan blindy befriends obviously insane Ari (the daughter of the park owner).
The tension Megan feels about the two boys (seen lurking on the cover) is fine, though I'm sure most readers think, "Why don't you listen to Nikki??" As Megan's best friend, she certainly sees things clearly and seems to know what's going on.
The part that really got to me and made me want to throw the book across the room was when Nikki gets killed. Megan's been having visions (from her sister's ghost) about some dark-haired girl dying. They're so powerful and drastic, that they cause Megan to have panic attacks and faint.
When Nikki calls Megan one night and talks about being stalked and then suddenly drops the phone, Megan knows what's wrong. She calls 911 and immediately gets her boyfriend to drive her to the area and calls Luke, the other love interest (who can conveniently talk to ghosts), to meet her there. This is fine... what loses is me is that when Megan runs through the woods with only Luke on her heels, finds Nikki's body WITH A GAPING HOLE IN HER CHEST WHERE HER HEART USED TO BE, she shudders once, is held by Luke and goes home.
I'm pretty sure that as a teenager, had I come across my best friend's body in the woods with her heart cut out, I would have passed out. And if she passed out due to visions, why wouldn't she in real life? Also, had I come across my best friend's dead body, I would need some serious therapy. I would be sobbing uncontrollably for months and months. I would not be doing well at all.
Megan? Well, after two weeks, Megan breaks up with her boyfriend, has sex with Luke, and returns to work at the amusement park, where of course you know the killer is waiting.
Two weeks just doesn't cut it for me. Never mind that death is tragic under any circumstances, when you're 16 and it's your best friend since kindergarten, your emotions and hormons don't let you move. If you happened to find that friend's body? If you happened to find that friend's body mutilated? And if you know that you could have saved that friend? Megan should be bedridden and guilt stricken. Not having sex with her new boy toy.
Urgh... terrible book. Very poor plot line. Please don't read this!!! (Or if you do, do it just so you can complain to me about horrible it was.)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Fallen by Lauren Kate
4 stars - I liked it.
This is what I would consider the perfect YA novel. And it's following the formula made famous in Twilight. Two love interests, eternal love, supernatural creatures.
I picked up Fallen because of its amazing cover. There are times when I can just feel whether a book will be good or not. ... Well, there are times when I hope a book lives up to my feelings. I typically find that when I love a cover and am intrigued by the back-ad and just can't wait for the book come in... then it's usually good. I'm pretty sure it's because when a publisher puts time and effort into a book, it shows, and they usually only do it when a book is good. So in this case, the book lived up to my expectations.
Fallen is about a girl named Luce, a guy named Daniel that she's drawn to, and another guy named Cam who wants Luce. The formulaic love triangle.
Luce is new to a reform school for, apparently, setting her previous boyfriend on fire. She also sees shadows and hears voices, so her track record wasn't spotless before even her boyfriend spontaneously combusted.
Sword & Cross, the school, is pretty drab. Androgynous teachers. Boring classes. Rowdy students.
Readers will figure out the story long before Luce does, but in a way, that was a draw for me. The first few pages tells the reader about Daniel and Luce's history, so we know they're going to end up again. What we don't know is where Cam fits into all of this.
We also figure out that Daniel's an angel long, long, long before Luce does, even though she provides the reader with all the clues. I'm going to go easy on the author here and say that it was part of the mystery. Rather than Luce being stupid, she had to remain naive in order to survive.
I was a bit disappointed with the climax of the story. Luce runs off while Daniel and his good fallen angels fight Cam and his bad fallen angel army. She's stuck in a basement while explosions happen elsewhere. I think staying wtih Daniel and Cam would have been much more interesting, and the same betrayal could have happened closer to the fight scene.
The book ends with a sequel clearly in mind, which is one of my pet peeves... I like books that are stand-alone but end up so fabulous that a sequel would be awesome. But I'll read the sequel, because I still want to know exactly what's going on between the two factions of fallen angels and what exactly Luce's role is in all of this. (Beside obviously being Daniel's eternal love interest, it's implied that her death could lead to the end of the world, and I get the impression that she and Daniel have been around since creation and their love story has to do with the salvation of the world.)
Like I said, this is the perfect YA novel, and it's a pretty good read. It's not deep; it won't move you, but it will keep you entertained for a good couple hours.
This is what I would consider the perfect YA novel. And it's following the formula made famous in Twilight. Two love interests, eternal love, supernatural creatures.
I picked up Fallen because of its amazing cover. There are times when I can just feel whether a book will be good or not. ... Well, there are times when I hope a book lives up to my feelings. I typically find that when I love a cover and am intrigued by the back-ad and just can't wait for the book come in... then it's usually good. I'm pretty sure it's because when a publisher puts time and effort into a book, it shows, and they usually only do it when a book is good. So in this case, the book lived up to my expectations.
Fallen is about a girl named Luce, a guy named Daniel that she's drawn to, and another guy named Cam who wants Luce. The formulaic love triangle.
Luce is new to a reform school for, apparently, setting her previous boyfriend on fire. She also sees shadows and hears voices, so her track record wasn't spotless before even her boyfriend spontaneously combusted.
Sword & Cross, the school, is pretty drab. Androgynous teachers. Boring classes. Rowdy students.
Readers will figure out the story long before Luce does, but in a way, that was a draw for me. The first few pages tells the reader about Daniel and Luce's history, so we know they're going to end up again. What we don't know is where Cam fits into all of this.
We also figure out that Daniel's an angel long, long, long before Luce does, even though she provides the reader with all the clues. I'm going to go easy on the author here and say that it was part of the mystery. Rather than Luce being stupid, she had to remain naive in order to survive.
I was a bit disappointed with the climax of the story. Luce runs off while Daniel and his good fallen angels fight Cam and his bad fallen angel army. She's stuck in a basement while explosions happen elsewhere. I think staying wtih Daniel and Cam would have been much more interesting, and the same betrayal could have happened closer to the fight scene.
The book ends with a sequel clearly in mind, which is one of my pet peeves... I like books that are stand-alone but end up so fabulous that a sequel would be awesome. But I'll read the sequel, because I still want to know exactly what's going on between the two factions of fallen angels and what exactly Luce's role is in all of this. (Beside obviously being Daniel's eternal love interest, it's implied that her death could lead to the end of the world, and I get the impression that she and Daniel have been around since creation and their love story has to do with the salvation of the world.)
Like I said, this is the perfect YA novel, and it's a pretty good read. It's not deep; it won't move you, but it will keep you entertained for a good couple hours.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Gates by John Connolly
4.5 stars -- I really liked it!
Another book that my husband grabbed for me, The Gates wasn't a book I was attracted to. Neither its cover nor its back-ad really captured my attention. But from the first page I read, I couldn't get enough of this novel.
John Connolly's writing reminds me of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it's not really at all the same. There are footnotes all over the place that really enhance the story, and I love humorous footnotes!
The Gates is a humorous and satirical telling of the story of Samuel Johnson, an 11-year-old boy, who oversees his neighbors opening (very briefly) the gates of Hell (thanks to the Hadron Collider) and then becoming possessed by demons. Knowing he must stop his neighbors, but unable to find anyone that believes him, Samuel is on his own (except for his faithful dachshund, Boswell) for the majority of the story.
The demon Ba'al, however, the main character of our evil cast, saw Samuel and knows that Samuel could really get in the way of his master's plan to take over the world.
Thus ensues a very humorous and completely inept attempt on the demons' part to a.) kill Samuel, and b.) take over the world.
The writing in this book is very clever, and the plot is very well told. In between play-on-word names (O'Dear is the name of the demon that makes thin people see a fat person when they look in the mirror), there is quite a bit of technical science explanation, but even the technical explanations are told in a light-hearted and understandable way.
Overall, this book was a delight to read, and it made me literally laugh out loud in some parts. I really enjoyed it, and if you enjoy funnier sci-fi/fantasy stories, this one might tickle your funny bone as well.
Another book that my husband grabbed for me, The Gates wasn't a book I was attracted to. Neither its cover nor its back-ad really captured my attention. But from the first page I read, I couldn't get enough of this novel.
John Connolly's writing reminds me of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it's not really at all the same. There are footnotes all over the place that really enhance the story, and I love humorous footnotes!
The Gates is a humorous and satirical telling of the story of Samuel Johnson, an 11-year-old boy, who oversees his neighbors opening (very briefly) the gates of Hell (thanks to the Hadron Collider) and then becoming possessed by demons. Knowing he must stop his neighbors, but unable to find anyone that believes him, Samuel is on his own (except for his faithful dachshund, Boswell) for the majority of the story.
The demon Ba'al, however, the main character of our evil cast, saw Samuel and knows that Samuel could really get in the way of his master's plan to take over the world.
Thus ensues a very humorous and completely inept attempt on the demons' part to a.) kill Samuel, and b.) take over the world.
The writing in this book is very clever, and the plot is very well told. In between play-on-word names (O'Dear is the name of the demon that makes thin people see a fat person when they look in the mirror), there is quite a bit of technical science explanation, but even the technical explanations are told in a light-hearted and understandable way.
Overall, this book was a delight to read, and it made me literally laugh out loud in some parts. I really enjoyed it, and if you enjoy funnier sci-fi/fantasy stories, this one might tickle your funny bone as well.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Thirsty by Tracey Bateman
2 stars -- I don't really like it.
A random grab off the library shelf, Thirsty was shelved as a teen book, but as I read it, I came to the conclusion that it's written as an adult Christian book. There is no evidence to the contrary, but because it has vampires, on the teen shelf it went.
NOT that the subject matter is so deep a teen couldn't read it. On the contrary, I found the story flat. While attempting to delve into deep issues like alcoholism and addiction, the typical bad Christian plotting is in the forefront.
Poor Nina is an alcoholic who's lost her career, her apartment, her husband and kids. So she reforms. The real story starts when she comes out of rehab and moves back to her hometown, taking her bitter and resentful teenage daughter with her for a week of bonding (arranged through dad's awesome lying abilities).
Unbeknownst to her, Nina has a secret admirer in the town she grew up in. A vampire who saw her when she was a teenager and was reminded of his first love, an Indian princess that he killed when his bloodlust became too overpowering.
And when she returns home, mysterious and brutal murders of animals and people start taking place. Is it the mysterious Markus, the vampire? Or something worse?
Well, it's something worse. See Eden has just moved back into town as well. She's a vampire too! And she's quite possessive of Markus.
It all ends with a big fire, and everyone doubting whether Nina can stay sober, and Nina getting kidnapped but then saving her daughter, and everyone is happily reunited...
I had a hard time finding anything to enjoy in this book. I've always had a problem with Christian fiction, because it seems like poorer quality after-the-fact storytelling (much like Christian music, Christian movies, Christian blogs). But in this story, there's the main storyline of alcoholism and how one deal's with that, and then there's the other main storyline about vampires. The two just don't meld well.
Additionally, according to an endnote, the author wrote this to glorify God. But the tiny bits in the story that are about God felt like afterthoughts. After Nina saves her daughter, apropos of nothing, she says, "I think God showed up!" The mentions of God felt stilted and out of place, an afterthought to help the story be more than just fiction. They weren't believable nor were they blended into the storyline.
But it wasn't just the Christian aspect that had me thinking this book wasn't very well written. Nina's alcoholism isn't very believable. Granted, I am not an alcoholic, and I have no experience with someone who is, but for someone who just got out of rehab, Nina seems to not think of alcohol very much. Sure, occasionally the thought arises, but Nina never has a problem shaking the thought. She spends an hour crying and shaking in a barn bathroom (?) and then runs out feeling stronger than ever. I believe (but I could be wrong) that if you're having trouble with an addiction, the feelings don't just disappear after an hour of solid crying. It would take additional time, probably some talking, some sorting out in general.
I could say a lot more, but I'm boring myself and probably you. Just don't read it.
A random grab off the library shelf, Thirsty was shelved as a teen book, but as I read it, I came to the conclusion that it's written as an adult Christian book. There is no evidence to the contrary, but because it has vampires, on the teen shelf it went.
NOT that the subject matter is so deep a teen couldn't read it. On the contrary, I found the story flat. While attempting to delve into deep issues like alcoholism and addiction, the typical bad Christian plotting is in the forefront.
Poor Nina is an alcoholic who's lost her career, her apartment, her husband and kids. So she reforms. The real story starts when she comes out of rehab and moves back to her hometown, taking her bitter and resentful teenage daughter with her for a week of bonding (arranged through dad's awesome lying abilities).
Unbeknownst to her, Nina has a secret admirer in the town she grew up in. A vampire who saw her when she was a teenager and was reminded of his first love, an Indian princess that he killed when his bloodlust became too overpowering.
And when she returns home, mysterious and brutal murders of animals and people start taking place. Is it the mysterious Markus, the vampire? Or something worse?
Well, it's something worse. See Eden has just moved back into town as well. She's a vampire too! And she's quite possessive of Markus.
It all ends with a big fire, and everyone doubting whether Nina can stay sober, and Nina getting kidnapped but then saving her daughter, and everyone is happily reunited...
I had a hard time finding anything to enjoy in this book. I've always had a problem with Christian fiction, because it seems like poorer quality after-the-fact storytelling (much like Christian music, Christian movies, Christian blogs). But in this story, there's the main storyline of alcoholism and how one deal's with that, and then there's the other main storyline about vampires. The two just don't meld well.
Additionally, according to an endnote, the author wrote this to glorify God. But the tiny bits in the story that are about God felt like afterthoughts. After Nina saves her daughter, apropos of nothing, she says, "I think God showed up!" The mentions of God felt stilted and out of place, an afterthought to help the story be more than just fiction. They weren't believable nor were they blended into the storyline.
But it wasn't just the Christian aspect that had me thinking this book wasn't very well written. Nina's alcoholism isn't very believable. Granted, I am not an alcoholic, and I have no experience with someone who is, but for someone who just got out of rehab, Nina seems to not think of alcohol very much. Sure, occasionally the thought arises, but Nina never has a problem shaking the thought. She spends an hour crying and shaking in a barn bathroom (?) and then runs out feeling stronger than ever. I believe (but I could be wrong) that if you're having trouble with an addiction, the feelings don't just disappear after an hour of solid crying. It would take additional time, probably some talking, some sorting out in general.
I could say a lot more, but I'm boring myself and probably you. Just don't read it.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
4 stars -- I like it.
Green Angel makes up for its slim, small size with strong storytelling and beautiful lyrical prose.
Green is a 15-year-old girl in an unspecified country, time period, or world. She has a gift with growing things. Her father has a gift of whistling, her mother of herbs and remedies, and her sister with life in general (or so it seems).
When her family goes to market to sell the produce Green grew, Green has to stay at home and watch over her crops. Resentful and angry, Green doesn't say good-bye or "I love you." And when the city is attacked and her family is presumably killed, Green is wracked with guilt and remorse and sadness.
She transforms herself into Ash--partially blinded by the embers that fell from the sky, angry and protective, covered in tattoos and spikes.
But as she loses herself, other people and creatures come to her and help her find her way back to a place where she can find healing and forgiveness.
Green Angel is a beautiful, well-told story that deserves a read, and it's a quick read that can be done in one sitting. Green/Ash is a relatable character and the transformations she undergoes are both understandable and mysterious.
The only fault I find in the book is that the tragedy, remeniscent of 9/11, talks of the collapse of large buildings from which you could see people jumping off... and then it talks about the agriculture and wildlife being affected. The book never mentions fall-out or what the tragedy was, but I would assume that a blow-up that blocks out the sun and kills trees and forests and crops miles away from where it occurred would have to be big enough that the immediate scene would be completely obliterated, ie, you wouldn't see people jumping off the building as they'd be gone instantly.
But then again, I am not a disasters expert.
So if you want a rather quick but moving read, I suggest you pick this book up. It's a modern-day fairy tale.
Green Angel makes up for its slim, small size with strong storytelling and beautiful lyrical prose.
Green is a 15-year-old girl in an unspecified country, time period, or world. She has a gift with growing things. Her father has a gift of whistling, her mother of herbs and remedies, and her sister with life in general (or so it seems).
When her family goes to market to sell the produce Green grew, Green has to stay at home and watch over her crops. Resentful and angry, Green doesn't say good-bye or "I love you." And when the city is attacked and her family is presumably killed, Green is wracked with guilt and remorse and sadness.
She transforms herself into Ash--partially blinded by the embers that fell from the sky, angry and protective, covered in tattoos and spikes.
But as she loses herself, other people and creatures come to her and help her find her way back to a place where she can find healing and forgiveness.
Green Angel is a beautiful, well-told story that deserves a read, and it's a quick read that can be done in one sitting. Green/Ash is a relatable character and the transformations she undergoes are both understandable and mysterious.
The only fault I find in the book is that the tragedy, remeniscent of 9/11, talks of the collapse of large buildings from which you could see people jumping off... and then it talks about the agriculture and wildlife being affected. The book never mentions fall-out or what the tragedy was, but I would assume that a blow-up that blocks out the sun and kills trees and forests and crops miles away from where it occurred would have to be big enough that the immediate scene would be completely obliterated, ie, you wouldn't see people jumping off the building as they'd be gone instantly.
But then again, I am not a disasters expert.
So if you want a rather quick but moving read, I suggest you pick this book up. It's a modern-day fairy tale.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
5 stars -- I love this book!
So... my husband grabbed this off the library shelf (with several others I haven't read yet) and said, "I got these for you. I think you'll like them." So I read the back-ad/flap copy and took them home. And I'm glad I did!
Boneshaker (an adult book, imagine that) is a steampunk zombie book that takes place in late-1800's Seattle, Washington. But because I'm in the American midwest, I don't know the history of Seattle, and I could have believed that the book takes place in a re-imagined modern-day Seattle. After all, steampunk necessitates change in many modern conveniences... and there wasn't very much of the Victorian element in the book at all.
In the late-1800s, the Russians want to find gold in Alaska and they pay a brilliant scientist for his invention, the Boneshaker. The scientist, Levi Blue, builds it and then takes it for "a test run" under Seattle (although there are various theories about what the "test run" really was). The Boneshaker just "happens" to go underneath Seattle's financial district, which causes a lot of chaos in and of itself, but it also opens up a gas leak. The gas, hypothesized to come from Mount Ranier and called the Blight, makes people sick. And sometimes the people turn into zombies if they don't die from the Blight.
So downtown Seattle is walled in to contain the gas, and the people are evacuated to the Outskirts.
Our story begins 15 years later when Levi's widow and son re-enter the walled-in district. A small group of people have decided to live within the walls, and it is these people that both help and hinder our two main characters. They meet the Chinese, whose presence in the area is never really explained, although they are the ones who pump in fresh air; the mad scientist Minnericht, who may or may not be Levi and who has set himself up as the king of the walled-in area, and many of his cohorts; and a variety of people referred to as "Doornails" who choose to live there for no particular reason but are now in perpetual debt to Minnericht. They also meet several airship captains (pirates!) who dip in and out of the walled-in area but don't live there.
Zeke, the son, enters the district so that he can clear both his father and his grandfather's name (his grandfather, Maynard Wilkes, died due to the Blight while freeing prisoners initially left to die in their jail cells. Some people view Maynard as a hero... some don't), and Briar, our main character, comes after to find and save him.
As is wont to happen, Zeke falls into the wrong hands, and Briar falls into all the right ones.
I really, really liked this story. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in less than a day. I loved the zombies, but the book isn't so zombie-heavy as to make it seem like "just another zombie book." The steampunk comes out heavily in crazily awesome inventions, with new ones popping up all the time. Plus(this is huge for me!), a majority of the story revolves around whether Minnericht is or is not Levi Blue, and despite the fact that a majority of the story is told from Briar's POV and she appears to know the truth, the reader isn't privvy as to whether Minnericht is or is not Levi Blue until the very end.
The author did a fantastic job of keeping the who's, why's, and how's hidden without hindering the story. A lot of the time, a plot like this gets to be, "Will you just tell me already?!" or "I already know what you keep trying to hide," but in this story, neither of those things happened.
This is a fantastic sci-fi book, and if you have any interest in steampunk, zombies, Seattle, good action stories, etc., I think you should read this. It's even worth the half-day you lose trying to finish it :) Plus, the type is a reddish-brown, and I adore different-colored fonts.
So... my husband grabbed this off the library shelf (with several others I haven't read yet) and said, "I got these for you. I think you'll like them." So I read the back-ad/flap copy and took them home. And I'm glad I did!
Boneshaker (an adult book, imagine that) is a steampunk zombie book that takes place in late-1800's Seattle, Washington. But because I'm in the American midwest, I don't know the history of Seattle, and I could have believed that the book takes place in a re-imagined modern-day Seattle. After all, steampunk necessitates change in many modern conveniences... and there wasn't very much of the Victorian element in the book at all.
In the late-1800s, the Russians want to find gold in Alaska and they pay a brilliant scientist for his invention, the Boneshaker. The scientist, Levi Blue, builds it and then takes it for "a test run" under Seattle (although there are various theories about what the "test run" really was). The Boneshaker just "happens" to go underneath Seattle's financial district, which causes a lot of chaos in and of itself, but it also opens up a gas leak. The gas, hypothesized to come from Mount Ranier and called the Blight, makes people sick. And sometimes the people turn into zombies if they don't die from the Blight.
So downtown Seattle is walled in to contain the gas, and the people are evacuated to the Outskirts.
Our story begins 15 years later when Levi's widow and son re-enter the walled-in district. A small group of people have decided to live within the walls, and it is these people that both help and hinder our two main characters. They meet the Chinese, whose presence in the area is never really explained, although they are the ones who pump in fresh air; the mad scientist Minnericht, who may or may not be Levi and who has set himself up as the king of the walled-in area, and many of his cohorts; and a variety of people referred to as "Doornails" who choose to live there for no particular reason but are now in perpetual debt to Minnericht. They also meet several airship captains (pirates!) who dip in and out of the walled-in area but don't live there.
Zeke, the son, enters the district so that he can clear both his father and his grandfather's name (his grandfather, Maynard Wilkes, died due to the Blight while freeing prisoners initially left to die in their jail cells. Some people view Maynard as a hero... some don't), and Briar, our main character, comes after to find and save him.
As is wont to happen, Zeke falls into the wrong hands, and Briar falls into all the right ones.
I really, really liked this story. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in less than a day. I loved the zombies, but the book isn't so zombie-heavy as to make it seem like "just another zombie book." The steampunk comes out heavily in crazily awesome inventions, with new ones popping up all the time. Plus(this is huge for me!), a majority of the story revolves around whether Minnericht is or is not Levi Blue, and despite the fact that a majority of the story is told from Briar's POV and she appears to know the truth, the reader isn't privvy as to whether Minnericht is or is not Levi Blue until the very end.
The author did a fantastic job of keeping the who's, why's, and how's hidden without hindering the story. A lot of the time, a plot like this gets to be, "Will you just tell me already?!" or "I already know what you keep trying to hide," but in this story, neither of those things happened.
This is a fantastic sci-fi book, and if you have any interest in steampunk, zombies, Seattle, good action stories, etc., I think you should read this. It's even worth the half-day you lose trying to finish it :) Plus, the type is a reddish-brown, and I adore different-colored fonts.
Dark Visions by L.J. Smith
3.5 stars -- I sort of like this
I picked this one up off the express shelf in the library because I liked the cover. Check it out!
This book, Dark Visions is a bind-up of L.J. Smith's trilogy of the same name. Remember when I said I liked the cover? Check out the originals: The Strange Power, The Possessed, and Passion. How cover treatments change in just 15 years!
I was a bit worried about this bind-up. I know that sometimes books are bound together when the originals didn't have sales as high as initially projected. They can also be bound up if the author is really popular and the bind-up will appeal to the author's fans. They can also do bind-ups of books that are extremely popular (Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia). And finally, they can do a bind-up to boost sales by giving the books a new look and feel. I assumed this book was the first option, but now (looking at those covers *shudder*), I'm guessing it might be the last one instead.
I really like the first book in the series (or in my case, in the bind-up). The Strange Power introduces the characters and their powers, has the start of a good love story, has some really evil characters, etc. It was a decent book on its own, but it was clearly written with a sequel in mind.
However, in the second book, The Possessed, I started to lose interest... or perhaps things were getting just a bit too far-fetched. Which, when it comes to mental powers, really how far-fetched is too far-fetched? Well, survivors of Atlantis, I think, is a bit too far-fetched. Plus, I really didn't like seeing the nice love story turning all love-triangly. Granted, the back-ad assures the reader beforehand that that's how it's going to go, and really, the initial love story is just a bit sickenly sweet, but still...
And finally, the third book, Passion, just loses me completely. Our main character, Kait (she of the love triangle, corner #3), attempts to get all bad-ass and fails miserably. Corner #2 of the love triangle is this back-and-forth of love and hate, miserable self-loathing and surperiority, etc. A man of mixed signals is what I would call him. Corner #1 is clueless and helpless (but overwhelmingly GOOD and GOLD and LIGHT) and mostly not in the story at all.
The ending, I think, is what lost me. Everything is just tied up too nicely. Corner #1 gets another girl (which the author kindly hinted at throughout the third story so it wouldn't be a surprise when it happens... I found this too convenient and contrived to be believable). Corner #2 gets Kait, because they are a better match as they are not so GOOD and GOLD and LIGHT as corner #1 (he gets the girl who is WISE and PATIENT and UNDERSTANDING [and the caps are because that is how these two people are described in the books over and over and over and over again so that I can't think of them but in all caps]).
Really, though, I was pleasantly surprised with the books. They're not terrible, and I wouldn't tell you not to read them. They're just not good, so I wouldn't actually go around recommending them either. (Unlike this book, which is amazing and has a sequel coming out soon. READ IT. And I put up the kindle link, because the old cover was amazing and the new cover is NOT.)
I picked this one up off the express shelf in the library because I liked the cover. Check it out!
This book, Dark Visions is a bind-up of L.J. Smith's trilogy of the same name. Remember when I said I liked the cover? Check out the originals: The Strange Power, The Possessed, and Passion. How cover treatments change in just 15 years!
I was a bit worried about this bind-up. I know that sometimes books are bound together when the originals didn't have sales as high as initially projected. They can also be bound up if the author is really popular and the bind-up will appeal to the author's fans. They can also do bind-ups of books that are extremely popular (Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia). And finally, they can do a bind-up to boost sales by giving the books a new look and feel. I assumed this book was the first option, but now (looking at those covers *shudder*), I'm guessing it might be the last one instead.
I really like the first book in the series (or in my case, in the bind-up). The Strange Power introduces the characters and their powers, has the start of a good love story, has some really evil characters, etc. It was a decent book on its own, but it was clearly written with a sequel in mind.
However, in the second book, The Possessed, I started to lose interest... or perhaps things were getting just a bit too far-fetched. Which, when it comes to mental powers, really how far-fetched is too far-fetched? Well, survivors of Atlantis, I think, is a bit too far-fetched. Plus, I really didn't like seeing the nice love story turning all love-triangly. Granted, the back-ad assures the reader beforehand that that's how it's going to go, and really, the initial love story is just a bit sickenly sweet, but still...
And finally, the third book, Passion, just loses me completely. Our main character, Kait (she of the love triangle, corner #3), attempts to get all bad-ass and fails miserably. Corner #2 of the love triangle is this back-and-forth of love and hate, miserable self-loathing and surperiority, etc. A man of mixed signals is what I would call him. Corner #1 is clueless and helpless (but overwhelmingly GOOD and GOLD and LIGHT) and mostly not in the story at all.
The ending, I think, is what lost me. Everything is just tied up too nicely. Corner #1 gets another girl (which the author kindly hinted at throughout the third story so it wouldn't be a surprise when it happens... I found this too convenient and contrived to be believable). Corner #2 gets Kait, because they are a better match as they are not so GOOD and GOLD and LIGHT as corner #1 (he gets the girl who is WISE and PATIENT and UNDERSTANDING [and the caps are because that is how these two people are described in the books over and over and over and over again so that I can't think of them but in all caps]).
Really, though, I was pleasantly surprised with the books. They're not terrible, and I wouldn't tell you not to read them. They're just not good, so I wouldn't actually go around recommending them either. (Unlike this book, which is amazing and has a sequel coming out soon. READ IT. And I put up the kindle link, because the old cover was amazing and the new cover is NOT.)
Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda
4 stars -- I like it.
I would have been better served writing this immediately after I read this book, but a busy work schedule and spotty home internet connection make for difficulty in the blog-posting area. Plus, as I've said before, I procrastinate :)
Devil's Kiss has a female protagonist, but the author is male. And while I could tell that Billi was a little less girly than most female protagonists, I wouldn't have guessed the author was male. Mr. Chadda did a fabulous job writing from a girl's POV!
15-year-old Billi has grown up training to be a warrior for the nearly extinct Knights Templar. They exorcise demons and ghosts and kill werewolves and vampires. Every now and then, they have to banish one or more of the the three different kinds of angels. And to make a tough life even tougher, Billi is resentful of her father's treatment of her and jealous of (but possibly in love with...) the other young knight, Kay, with whom she grew up.
The culmination of the story is that Kay's new budding romance turns out to be the insane-and-banished angel of death, Michael. Kay has to defeat him herself (as Kay prophesied she would) after her dad is severely injured, her godfather is killed, and Kay sells his soul to the devil (literally). But I don't want to give away too much...
Regardless, this fast-paced story starts with a bang and continues that way. The ending is not as predictable as most YA endings, and there are a lot of terrifying new ideas (based on really old stories) that are fun to think about. Readers might get a little annoyed with Billi's angsty-ness, but that is, after all, how 15-year-olds tend to be.
If you like the sci-fi/fantasy YA that's been coming out lately, you'll probably enjoy this one too.
I would have been better served writing this immediately after I read this book, but a busy work schedule and spotty home internet connection make for difficulty in the blog-posting area. Plus, as I've said before, I procrastinate :)
Devil's Kiss has a female protagonist, but the author is male. And while I could tell that Billi was a little less girly than most female protagonists, I wouldn't have guessed the author was male. Mr. Chadda did a fabulous job writing from a girl's POV!
15-year-old Billi has grown up training to be a warrior for the nearly extinct Knights Templar. They exorcise demons and ghosts and kill werewolves and vampires. Every now and then, they have to banish one or more of the the three different kinds of angels. And to make a tough life even tougher, Billi is resentful of her father's treatment of her and jealous of (but possibly in love with...) the other young knight, Kay, with whom she grew up.
The culmination of the story is that Kay's new budding romance turns out to be the insane-and-banished angel of death, Michael. Kay has to defeat him herself (as Kay prophesied she would) after her dad is severely injured, her godfather is killed, and Kay sells his soul to the devil (literally). But I don't want to give away too much...
Regardless, this fast-paced story starts with a bang and continues that way. The ending is not as predictable as most YA endings, and there are a lot of terrifying new ideas (based on really old stories) that are fun to think about. Readers might get a little annoyed with Billi's angsty-ness, but that is, after all, how 15-year-olds tend to be.
If you like the sci-fi/fantasy YA that's been coming out lately, you'll probably enjoy this one too.
Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor
3 stars -- It's okay.
Waiting for Normal is, like The Unfinished Angel, a bit younger than my normal reading age range. Unlike The Unfinished Angel, it didn't make me feel okay about reading so young. Don't get me wrong, it was fine for its age range. I'm sure 9-12-year-olds would enjoy, but I didn't very much.
Like Ash, I put this book down and would pick it up days later without qualms. It was slow moving; there just wasn't much going on. Granted, for a younger age range, this is probably perfectly acceptable. It's also very realistic, which I think is a plus.
The main character, Addie, is 12 years old, and she appears to be the adult in the relationship between herself and her mother. They've just moved into a trailer owned by Addie's ex-step-dad, which means Addie is starting at a new school, has to make new friends, has to explain her learning problems all over again.
Addie's mom is clearly neglectful, leaving Addie alone for days at a time and using the money the step-dad sends for her own personal uses rather than to buy, say, food or clothing. But Addie loves her mom (as most children do... for a few more years at least), and she goes out of her way to protect her and to hide the extent of the neglect... until it just can't be hidden any more.
The story does have a happy ending for Addie, although her coming sibling leaves the adult reader a tad worried (albeit for a fictional unborn character). The book addresses the issues of cancer, homosexuality, neglect, stealing, adoption, step-relationships and half-relationships, and many other things that I think the juvenile crowd would find beneficial to read about and become familiar with. It also does it very well. I was not offended by any of the issues, nor did I feel like I was being beaten over the head with them. If a reader is very young, they probably wouldn't even notice.
So my 3 stars is merely because I wasn't drawn into the story very much, and that I am, obviously, much too old for the genre. But I really feel like readers in the juvenile age range would enjoy and could benefit from reading this story. It's very well written, and Addie's story is relatable and realistic.
Worth introducing to a young reader in your life!
Waiting for Normal is, like The Unfinished Angel, a bit younger than my normal reading age range. Unlike The Unfinished Angel, it didn't make me feel okay about reading so young. Don't get me wrong, it was fine for its age range. I'm sure 9-12-year-olds would enjoy, but I didn't very much.
Like Ash, I put this book down and would pick it up days later without qualms. It was slow moving; there just wasn't much going on. Granted, for a younger age range, this is probably perfectly acceptable. It's also very realistic, which I think is a plus.
The main character, Addie, is 12 years old, and she appears to be the adult in the relationship between herself and her mother. They've just moved into a trailer owned by Addie's ex-step-dad, which means Addie is starting at a new school, has to make new friends, has to explain her learning problems all over again.
Addie's mom is clearly neglectful, leaving Addie alone for days at a time and using the money the step-dad sends for her own personal uses rather than to buy, say, food or clothing. But Addie loves her mom (as most children do... for a few more years at least), and she goes out of her way to protect her and to hide the extent of the neglect... until it just can't be hidden any more.
The story does have a happy ending for Addie, although her coming sibling leaves the adult reader a tad worried (albeit for a fictional unborn character). The book addresses the issues of cancer, homosexuality, neglect, stealing, adoption, step-relationships and half-relationships, and many other things that I think the juvenile crowd would find beneficial to read about and become familiar with. It also does it very well. I was not offended by any of the issues, nor did I feel like I was being beaten over the head with them. If a reader is very young, they probably wouldn't even notice.
So my 3 stars is merely because I wasn't drawn into the story very much, and that I am, obviously, much too old for the genre. But I really feel like readers in the juvenile age range would enjoy and could benefit from reading this story. It's very well written, and Addie's story is relatable and realistic.
Worth introducing to a young reader in your life!
Ash by Malinda Lo
2 stars -- I didn't like it.
Ash is a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale (Cinderella=Cinders=Ashes=Ash). I usually find fairy-tale re-tellings very entertaining. I like to see how different people can either tell the old story in a new and interesting way (some people just have a beautiful way with words) or how they can take the story and make it their own. Ash definitely falls into the latter category... and I didn't like it.
I'm not going to say much, but in my defense, I didn't read the flap copy carefully enough when I checked this book out, and after I re-read the flap copy, I finished the book because I thought, "Is that really where this is going?" Reading the author bio before I had that thought would have clarified that it definitely was going that way.
Ash, to be specific, is a lesbian re-telling of Cinderella. I'm not going to get into it, because I don't want hackles raised, but I really dislike when people take fairy tales and turn them "grown-up." It just ruins the innocence and magic of the fairy tale for me.
Also, I thought (and I could be totally wrong) that the main problem the LGBT community had with most people was the assumption that sexuality is a choice. Malindo Lo is a big proponent in that community. But the message I read in this book was that Ash is in love with a male fairy, doesn't really understand sexuality, carries on in a little bubble, finds out that a woman's in love with her and decides to be in love with the woman as well. It didn't even occur to Ash that she could love a woman until, as I said, she found out a woman loved her first.
Overall, the story was slow without much action. I had no problem putting this down and picking it up days later. I also think Cinderella in its original form was just fine (sans fairies who fall in love due to curses and King's huntresses). I wouldn't recommend this book.
Ash is a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale (Cinderella=Cinders=Ashes=Ash). I usually find fairy-tale re-tellings very entertaining. I like to see how different people can either tell the old story in a new and interesting way (some people just have a beautiful way with words) or how they can take the story and make it their own. Ash definitely falls into the latter category... and I didn't like it.
I'm not going to say much, but in my defense, I didn't read the flap copy carefully enough when I checked this book out, and after I re-read the flap copy, I finished the book because I thought, "Is that really where this is going?" Reading the author bio before I had that thought would have clarified that it definitely was going that way.
Ash, to be specific, is a lesbian re-telling of Cinderella. I'm not going to get into it, because I don't want hackles raised, but I really dislike when people take fairy tales and turn them "grown-up." It just ruins the innocence and magic of the fairy tale for me.
Also, I thought (and I could be totally wrong) that the main problem the LGBT community had with most people was the assumption that sexuality is a choice. Malindo Lo is a big proponent in that community. But the message I read in this book was that Ash is in love with a male fairy, doesn't really understand sexuality, carries on in a little bubble, finds out that a woman's in love with her and decides to be in love with the woman as well. It didn't even occur to Ash that she could love a woman until, as I said, she found out a woman loved her first.
Overall, the story was slow without much action. I had no problem putting this down and picking it up days later. I also think Cinderella in its original form was just fine (sans fairies who fall in love due to curses and King's huntresses). I wouldn't recommend this book.
Monday, January 11, 2010
King of the Mild Frontier: An Ill-Advised Autobiography by Chris Crutcher
4 stars -- I like it.
I read King of the Mild Frontier for a number of reasons.
Regardless, Chris Crutcher is an excellent storyteller, and the way he puts his own past together is entertaining. You get to read about pimples and masterbation; his religious upbringing; his shortcomings in sports; his gullibility and naivety; his realization that he wanted to be and became a writer; as well as his many run-ins with death. Most of the stories are self-deprecating, but not to the point where you think, "Man, this guy needs a higher self-esteem!" Because despite his many failings, you can also tell that Chris is still arrogant and confidant in his own abilities. He also seems self-assured. I certainly wouldn't want to debate him, because I get the feeling that he knows what he knows and he won't move from it.
This is a very well-put-together autobiography that doesn't really have a life lesson, though it does give some advice for aspiring writers. It's more of an explanation of why Chris is who he is, as well as just being a humorous read about someone's childhood, full of all the misjudgments and failings of which childhood is full.
If you need an autobiography on your library list, this is one I would recommend. Or if you need a laugh. Or if you're just curious about how other people have grown up and lived.
I read King of the Mild Frontier for a number of reasons.
- I like Chris Crutcher's books.
- A friend told me that I had to read this.
- Amazon recommended that I read this.
- My library has a reading contest going on right now, and I need an autobiography on my list to enter to win.
Regardless, Chris Crutcher is an excellent storyteller, and the way he puts his own past together is entertaining. You get to read about pimples and masterbation; his religious upbringing; his shortcomings in sports; his gullibility and naivety; his realization that he wanted to be and became a writer; as well as his many run-ins with death. Most of the stories are self-deprecating, but not to the point where you think, "Man, this guy needs a higher self-esteem!" Because despite his many failings, you can also tell that Chris is still arrogant and confidant in his own abilities. He also seems self-assured. I certainly wouldn't want to debate him, because I get the feeling that he knows what he knows and he won't move from it.
This is a very well-put-together autobiography that doesn't really have a life lesson, though it does give some advice for aspiring writers. It's more of an explanation of why Chris is who he is, as well as just being a humorous read about someone's childhood, full of all the misjudgments and failings of which childhood is full.
If you need an autobiography on your library list, this is one I would recommend. Or if you need a laugh. Or if you're just curious about how other people have grown up and lived.
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