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.
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, January 25, 2010
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.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
2 stars -- I don't like it
Pretty Dead is, unsurprisingly, a vampire story. But it doesn't do anything to add to the topic.
The main character, Charlotte, is a vampire--and has been for 100 years (a common age for vampires). She was turned when she was 16. She's going to school to see what's it like for other people who look her age. She's fabulously rich (due to her long life), and she hates the vampire who turned her.
It's all very much, "Been there, done that."
The only possibly unique turn to the story is that it details not only the century Charlotte has lived as a vampire (and her possibly incestuous life before turning), but also her transition from vampire back to mortal.
I say possibly unique, because--though I have by no means read all vampire fiction--I haven't come across it before. But I can't imagine that it hasn't been done before.
While the writing of the story is beautiful, and it's pleasant to read, the story itself lacks much substance, and I was left thinking, "What?" many times.
Charlotte's "best friend" (in quotes because vampires are too sad and lonely to have real best friends), Emily, commits suicide. Charlotte attempts to comfort Emily's boyfriend, Jared. This quickly turns into more than comfort--as one would typically expect in a romance novel, but not so much in a YA novel. (The reason this was a "What?" moment for me is that the whole first half of the novel talks about how Jared and Emily were perfect, perfect, perfect for each other, and Jared was so distraught over her suicide that he nearly commits suicide. Yet, it only takes him a few days before he's sketching Charlotte naked...)
Anyway, the story ends by Jared nearly being turned into a vampire by William, Charlotte's creator; discovering that Emily is a vampire (and a bitchy one at that) and not truly dead; and nearly getting blown up--saved only by Charlotte, who has managed to regain supernatural mind-reading powers now that she's mortal.
Jared leaves.
And then comes back to mortal, suddenly poor Charlotte because they have found that ever-elusive "true love." (By the way why because she's suddenly mortal, does Charlotte suddenly become poor? Did she have to get rid of all of antique and expensive stuff?? She owned a mansion outright, and surely selling it would have gotten her a could million dollars to tide her over...)
Also, the cover is very cheap-looking, and I was embarrassed to read the book anywhere but at home. It doesn't relate to the interior or title at all, and I hope when the book is put in softcover (or, heaven forbid, reprinted), they choose something a little less tacky.
Pretty Dead is, unsurprisingly, a vampire story. But it doesn't do anything to add to the topic.
The main character, Charlotte, is a vampire--and has been for 100 years (a common age for vampires). She was turned when she was 16. She's going to school to see what's it like for other people who look her age. She's fabulously rich (due to her long life), and she hates the vampire who turned her.
It's all very much, "Been there, done that."
The only possibly unique turn to the story is that it details not only the century Charlotte has lived as a vampire (and her possibly incestuous life before turning), but also her transition from vampire back to mortal.
I say possibly unique, because--though I have by no means read all vampire fiction--I haven't come across it before. But I can't imagine that it hasn't been done before.
While the writing of the story is beautiful, and it's pleasant to read, the story itself lacks much substance, and I was left thinking, "What?" many times.
Charlotte's "best friend" (in quotes because vampires are too sad and lonely to have real best friends), Emily, commits suicide. Charlotte attempts to comfort Emily's boyfriend, Jared. This quickly turns into more than comfort--as one would typically expect in a romance novel, but not so much in a YA novel. (The reason this was a "What?" moment for me is that the whole first half of the novel talks about how Jared and Emily were perfect, perfect, perfect for each other, and Jared was so distraught over her suicide that he nearly commits suicide. Yet, it only takes him a few days before he's sketching Charlotte naked...)
Anyway, the story ends by Jared nearly being turned into a vampire by William, Charlotte's creator; discovering that Emily is a vampire (and a bitchy one at that) and not truly dead; and nearly getting blown up--saved only by Charlotte, who has managed to regain supernatural mind-reading powers now that she's mortal.
Jared leaves.
And then comes back to mortal, suddenly poor Charlotte because they have found that ever-elusive "true love." (By the way why because she's suddenly mortal, does Charlotte suddenly become poor? Did she have to get rid of all of antique and expensive stuff?? She owned a mansion outright, and surely selling it would have gotten her a could million dollars to tide her over...)
Also, the cover is very cheap-looking, and I was embarrassed to read the book anywhere but at home. It doesn't relate to the interior or title at all, and I hope when the book is put in softcover (or, heaven forbid, reprinted), they choose something a little less tacky.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
2 Stars -- I didn't like it :(
I finished this days ago and didn't post. I can blame it on several factors: the holidays; I'm a procrastinator; and I just didn't like this book and didn't want to write about it.
Bloom comes across as a typical teen love story in the back-ad and description. I had it on hold at the library for ever, which I assumed meant the book was really popular. I was rather looking forward to it, because surely a book that's hard to get a hold of should be worth it, right?
Not so much.
Lauren is an average teen girl. Except she's dating the most-popular and most-attractive guy in her school. Her relationship with him is perfect. He treats her like a perfect gentleman would. Due to his religious beliefs, he doesn't even try to pressure her to have sex.
Lauren says her best friend isn't her best friend. They don't have anything in common (except their best friend boyfriends).
And then Evan steps back into Lauren's life. They lived together once when her father was dating his mother. When that relationship went south, Evan disappeared, and now Lauren can't get him out of her head.
It's a pretty standard set-up for a teen novel.
What really, really upsets me, though, is how completely internally focused Lauren is, how self-centered and immature she comes across. Her pseudo-best friend is clearly having issues at home that any normal person, once they were clued in, would attempt to help out with. Her passion for Evan would cause a normal teen girl to drop her current boyfriend in a second. The author plays it off as Lauren being worried about what others would think, but she has also spent the entire book pointing out how Lauren doesn't really care what other people think about her. She knows she's not popular except through her boyfriend, and she doesn't let it get to her. If she doesn't really want to be popular, why would she stay with the boyfriend when she finds someone better?
There's also the storyline about Lauren and her father. Her mother (his wife) abandoned them when Lauren was six years old. This is the cause for a lot of Lauren's low self-esteem. For the majority of the story, Lauren's father is oblivious, choosing to work rather than spend time with Lauren. Except toward the end of the story, he starts coming home more. This culminates in a "heart-to-heart" with Lauren that goes nowhere. He says, "Your mother loved you," and they cry, and it's emotional--except it's not. It's a complete flop as far as heart-to-hearts go. Nothing is solved; nothing is accomplished.
I really disliked this book. It's like the author tried to bring up deeper issues and just couldn't follow through. I hated the main character, and I know that wasn't the author's intention. She wanted her to be a typical teen girl that any other girl could relate to. And while teens certainly are self-centered, immature, and oblivious, they usually don't cut off everyone they know. And if they do, the conclusion isn't that some tears and hugs make things better. You'd lose your friends.
Don't read this book... unless you want to figure out how NOT to write your teen character.
I finished this days ago and didn't post. I can blame it on several factors: the holidays; I'm a procrastinator; and I just didn't like this book and didn't want to write about it.
Bloom comes across as a typical teen love story in the back-ad and description. I had it on hold at the library for ever, which I assumed meant the book was really popular. I was rather looking forward to it, because surely a book that's hard to get a hold of should be worth it, right?
Not so much.
Lauren is an average teen girl. Except she's dating the most-popular and most-attractive guy in her school. Her relationship with him is perfect. He treats her like a perfect gentleman would. Due to his religious beliefs, he doesn't even try to pressure her to have sex.
Lauren says her best friend isn't her best friend. They don't have anything in common (except their best friend boyfriends).
And then Evan steps back into Lauren's life. They lived together once when her father was dating his mother. When that relationship went south, Evan disappeared, and now Lauren can't get him out of her head.
It's a pretty standard set-up for a teen novel.
What really, really upsets me, though, is how completely internally focused Lauren is, how self-centered and immature she comes across. Her pseudo-best friend is clearly having issues at home that any normal person, once they were clued in, would attempt to help out with. Her passion for Evan would cause a normal teen girl to drop her current boyfriend in a second. The author plays it off as Lauren being worried about what others would think, but she has also spent the entire book pointing out how Lauren doesn't really care what other people think about her. She knows she's not popular except through her boyfriend, and she doesn't let it get to her. If she doesn't really want to be popular, why would she stay with the boyfriend when she finds someone better?
There's also the storyline about Lauren and her father. Her mother (his wife) abandoned them when Lauren was six years old. This is the cause for a lot of Lauren's low self-esteem. For the majority of the story, Lauren's father is oblivious, choosing to work rather than spend time with Lauren. Except toward the end of the story, he starts coming home more. This culminates in a "heart-to-heart" with Lauren that goes nowhere. He says, "Your mother loved you," and they cry, and it's emotional--except it's not. It's a complete flop as far as heart-to-hearts go. Nothing is solved; nothing is accomplished.
I really disliked this book. It's like the author tried to bring up deeper issues and just couldn't follow through. I hated the main character, and I know that wasn't the author's intention. She wanted her to be a typical teen girl that any other girl could relate to. And while teens certainly are self-centered, immature, and oblivious, they usually don't cut off everyone they know. And if they do, the conclusion isn't that some tears and hugs make things better. You'd lose your friends.
Don't read this book... unless you want to figure out how NOT to write your teen character.
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