Jessica Strider
Pros: top notch action, tense, understandable motivations on all sides/
Cons: denouement wasn't offset from climax, have to pay VERY close attention/
Things quickly come to a head in the third and final revivor's novel. Fawkes flips the switch that turns unsuspecting humans into revivors using the HUMA virus. But he's also made some adjustments to the virus' code, which FBI agent Nico Wachalowski slowly realizes are as much of a threat as the other weapons Fawkes turns on the city./
Meanwhile, Motoko Ai's war room is abuzz and Zoe Ott has some visions of what happens after the coming event. Visions that make her question whether Fawkes is really element zero after all./
Once again the writing is tight and the motivations realistic. It's often hard to tell which side is worse: Fawkes, willing to destroy the city and perhaps humankind or Ai and her people, who use their powers of mind manipulation indiscriminately. The book is action packed but never loses sight of the humanity of its protagonists - forcing difficult decisions on them and watching them deal with the consequences. And each new revelation causes you to switch sides, first hoping something happens, then hoping it doesn't./
My only complaints were that the denouement at the end wasn't offset from the climax, so it took a moment to reorient myself to the protagonists change of location. I also found issues of dating problematic (whether this book took place 2 or 3 years after the previous one) - though that's more likely caused by my own lack of attention. You have to keep your wits about you reading these books. Let your mind wander and you've just missed something crucial./
Tense plotting, great characters and a satisfying conclusion make this series worth reading.
Pros: excellent writing, courageous, tight ending/
Cons: the supernatural aspect isn't as scary as the historically accurate parts/
Eutopia takes place in the early 1900's when the eugenics movement was becoming popular with a certain type of people. Mrs Frost, an agent of the Eugenics Records Office finds her nephew is the sole survivor of a plague ravaged frontier town. She brings him with her to Eilada, Idaho, where an industrialist has started what he intends to be a utopic community./
But not everything's rosy in paradise. The town's black doctor, Andrew Waggoner, has had a run in with the Ku Klux Klan and discovered that his colleague, Dr. Bergstrom has been keeping a ‘Mr. Juke' in quarantine. The more Dr. Waggoner learns of Dr. Bergstrom's actions and who, or what, Mr. Juke is, the more imperiled his life becomes./
Because Mr. Juke's family is coming to get him back./
For a novel that has such a horrifying supernatural creature at the heart of it, the true terror of the book was contained in the historically accurate parts. It's hard to be afraid of made up monsters when the Klan and practicing eugenicists show up. Indeed, when you see the unrepentant Mrs. Frost and delusional Dr. Bergstrom own up to their crimes, no fictional monster could possibly stand up to the horrors humans are willing to perpetrate on each other./
I call this novel courageous because Mr. Nickle focuses on a period of history most people pretend didn't exist. The eugenics movement died after the holocaust showed the end result of such thinking. But denying that sterilization happened in other nations (including Canada and the U.S.), as painful as it is to admit, denies the injustices done to people in the past due to racism and elitist thinking. And allows the possibility of repeating such things. Fiction allows us to examine issues we'd rather not, in the safety of the present, when we hope such occurrences will never be allowed to happen again. In this way it reminds me of Blonde Roots, by Bernardine Evaristo, which flips history so Europeans are enslaved by Afrikaans. It shows how racism can go both ways and only the conquerors decide what is right and who are the elite./
People will find reading this book uncomfortable, for the subject matter and the liberal use of the ‘n' word. We have whitewashed our history and no longer want to acknowledge the attitudes and language of the past. Even the subtle put downs black men faced, like using Dr. Waggoner's Christian name when addressing him, rather than his title, are accurately represented in this book./
The ending is tight, bringing all three plot lines together in surprising ways. It's an ending that is both satisfying, and thought provoking.
Pros: quick action, fascinating rewrites of several more fairy tales, realistic characters
Cons: have to read the first two books in the series in order to properly understand this one
Taken from the back of the book, because it's written so well: Roudette's story was a simple one. A red cape. A wolf. A hunter. Her mother told her she would be safe, so long as she kept to the path. But sometimes the path leads to dark places.
After living through a traumatic childhood event, Roudette has become an assassin. Her current target is Talia, known as Sleeping Beauty.
This is the third of Mr. Hines' princess novels, and the strongest to date. He builds upon the foundations of the previous books, deepening the established relationships, so new readers would do well to read those first.
If you think you know Talia's story based on The Stepsister Scheme, think again. We get to see her homeland, and someone dear to Talia's heart. We also learn that her understanding of the events surrounding her cursed sleep are not as simple as she believed.
The book has a lot of good fight scenes, some romance and a lot of conflicted emotions.
Pros: quirky characters, action
Cons: soap opera feel
As this is the 3rd book in the series, the synopsis contains spoilers. This is not a book you can pick up without having read the previous two.
Alexia, Lady Maccon, begins this book at her mother's abode, being estranged from her husband due to the ‘baby inconvenience'. Though faithful, her husband's werewolf state ought to make him unable to father a child. The vampires aren't happy about Alexia's pregnancy, and without the protection of the Woolsey Pack she's in trouble.
So she does what any self-respecting soulless would do while under attack - take a trip to the continent to see if anyone there can explain how she conceived.
While the characters are still quirky, their personalities are toned down a bit in this novel so at no point do they grate on your nerves (which happened a few times in Changeless).
The plot, while organic as per the other books in the series, feels a bit tighter in this book. Carriger's writing, already good, has improved.
The only ‘negative' I had was that the story is starting to feel like a soap opera. Which can be fun, but can also go too far. It's worked so far, I hope Carriger can keep the books from becoming farcical rather than pleasantly campy.
Pros: character growth, creepily atmospheric, high quality physical book, creatively meshes backstory with mythology and history/
Cons: don't learn as much about the kids as you'd like, doesn't fully explain their abilities or why they're born as they are/
For Parents: some swearing, some violence (mostly offscreen), kissing/
If ever there were an argument against ebooks, it would be Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Yes, you can read it on an ereader, and yes, the story would still be creepy and fun, but you'd miss something about the experience. This is a beautiful hardcover, with thick pages and gorgeous black and white photographs scattered throughout. Holding it and turning the pages is part of the ambiance the story creates./
Jakob Portman grew up hearing his grandfather's fantastic stories about the children's home he was sent to in England as a Jewish Polish immigrant in World War II. The stories were about children who could do peculiar things, like levitate, hold fire and lift very heavy things. But the violent death of his grandfather, along with the old man's last words, make him wonder if there was some truth to his stories./
This is a slow paced coming of age story. Mr. Riggs takes time to develop Jakob as a character, especially regarding his mental state, as well as the settings, in the book./
At first glance, the children seem like X-Men rip offs. They're said to be the next step in evolution and have different, extraordinary abilities. But while some of the abilities are useful, others - like having 2 mouths or bees living inside your body - are not at first glance advantageous. And while one group of peculiars thinks it would be grand to use their abilities to subjugate normals, the rest simply want to live in peace. /
I loved how the author amalgamated their existence with history as witches, changelings and circus performers. It gave the book a sense of history, and the kids a practical reason to hide./
The downside of the novel is that you don't learn as much as you'd like about certain things: the kids (their histories and abilities), how the loops work and why people are born peculiar. I'd love to see Riggs bring out a book of the grandfather's stories or a photo album of Miss Peregrine's home, with the stories of how each child came to be there./
There seems to be a move in SF towards the reimagining of history with a horror slant. While Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is mostly set in the present, it reminded me of Eutopia by David Nickle and Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett./
This is an open ended novel with series potential. It's a slow, atmospheric work that adults and teens will love.
Pros: detailed fantasy world, interesting characters
Cons: not a standalone, slow moving at times
Path of the Sun has Dhulyn and Parno, Mercenary Brother partners, involved in a murder mystery in the Menoin Tarkinate.
They come escorting the Tarkin's bride-to-be, but a grisly murder causes them to pass through a Caid ruin, the Path of the Sun, in pursuit of the killer. The path leads to another world where those Marked with the powers of Healing, Finding, Mending and Seeing - like Dhulyn - are broken and put to death. And the Espadryni, Dhulyn's extinct people, still live.
The identity of the killer is revealed to the reader early on. The makes for an interesting character study, as we see the killer interact with several people, lying and manipulating his way to his goals.
As with her other books, Path of the Sun examines a new corner of her fantasy world. The peoples are all distinct, with cultures, tastes, politics, etc. that differ from those used in the past.
Newcomers to the series will not be able to start here, however. Too much of this book depends on knowledge of events in earlier books. Characters from book 1 reappear, the trouble the partners get into in book 2 is finally resolved, and some actions from book 3 are referred to.
Still, if you haven't discovered her and want to read a quieter, more thought provoking fantasy, Malan is a great choice. Her characters grow with each novel and there's always more of the world to discover.
Pros: well imagined world with a 3 tier citizenship system, interesting characters, extremely complex plot, lots of plot twists, keeps you on your toes and guessing about what will happen next
Pro/Con (depending on your point of view): everything that happens is important, so pay close attention when you read
Cons: redundant repetition
If you don't like the think when you read, you won't like State of Decay. So much happens all at once, and all of it is important. It took me about a hundred pages or so to really get into the story. There are 4 character POVs, and each one requires figuring out their place in society, their current actions and trying to understand how they'll fit into the main story. Around the hundred page mark the stories start to converge, and you're well into an awesome science fiction ride.
The main story focuses on Nico Wachalowski. When we meet him, the FBI agent is busting a revivor smuggling ring. Revivors are people reanimated after their deaths to serve in the military in return for second class citizenship while alive. Wachalowski quickly realizes that smuggling is only the most visible aspect of a deeper conspiracy.
Faye Dasalia is a detective investigating the murders of first class citizens who somehow managed to reach that status without serving in the military, the condition for that level of citizenship.
Zoe Ott is a clairvoyant. She has trouble distinguishing reality from her visions. While being an alcoholic doesn't bring the relief she's looking for, she keeps trying. She also has a peculiar way of getting people to do what she asks.
Calliope Flax is a boxer. She's brutal in the ring with a foul mouth and no expectations of a better life. She's third class, meaning she hasn't served in the military during her life and doesn't intend to dead.
Of the storylines, Cal's was the least interesting to me. Her story barely intersects the others, while theirs carry the plot forward. She does, however, mature the most, becoming, not a stronger person - she begins pretty strong - but one who can see a future for herself that didn't exist before the events of the book.
Knapp manages to keep the tension high throughout the story, with occasional down time. He made one ‘newbie' writing mistake (which I probably only noticed because I read several books on writing recently and so am looking for this in my own work). He has the tendency to mention things twice. In some cases this is necessary (as when Dasalia talks to herself and then asks something out loud - which becomes an important plot point). Other times he's just belaboring the obvious. It's an ‘error' that experience will fix.
He introduces some pretty cool technological advances, most notably the implant wired into Wachalowski's skull that allows him to record video feed of what he sees as well as communicate via thought patterns with his superiors.
The plot has twists you won't see coming, with an ending to match. I can't wait to see what happens next.
A fast paced novel filled with vampires, werewolves, tea and parasols, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers. The main character, Alexia Tarabotti, is feisty and fun reminding one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at some times and Elizabeth Bennett at others. A clever reworking of the Victorian era.