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.
Showing posts with label adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adult. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
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.
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.
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... :)
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.
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.
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