Jessica
My review is for the series as a whole. Uglies is the story of a dystopian future. All people go through surgeries at 16 to become pretties - before that they are called uglies, and live apart in special dorms. Tally Youngblood is an ugly on the eve of her 16th birthday. The trilogy tells her story, as she finds a group of people who have not gone through the operation.
Uglies is fairly compelling. I liked tally, and I was interested in her story. The world itself seems pretty poorly realized, as is often the case for dystopia. Maybe I'm being strange, but I really like to see books with economies that make sense. The world of uglies doesn't seem to have an economy - other than a few doctors and scientists, most pretties seem to party all the time.
In the second book (warning, spoilers!) we spend a lot of time in pretty town. Unfortunately, the author chooses to have the pretties use a really horrid form of slang. Yes, I know why, but if I had to hear something called “bubbly” one more time...
My recommendation is that the first book in decent, but the others squander all that promise. And since the first book ends on a cliffhanger you will want to continue. Don't - it is so not worth it.
Charlie has never been like the other boys. For one thing, it seems that no one (not even his own mother) can remember his name. His father and Aunt Sophie are historians, stopping at home to visit him only for a month every year. So it's not an enormous surprise when it's revealed that he comes from a long line of time travelers. What is a surprise? The fact that he (and his father) are suddenly on the run from a series of strange clockwork men, who seem determined to change the timeline.
Transported back to the 1700s, Charlie meets a lady fellow traveler (Yvaine) and sets on an adventure to rescue his father and right the timeline.
I received Untimed to review from the publisher. Thank goodness - otherwise, I sincerely doubt I would have picked it up. I like the idea of time travel and steampunk, but both are so frequently done poorly. Gavin has constructed a very interesting system of travel. Men can only travel downstream, and women can only go upstream. Therefore, most time travelers travel in pairs (such are Charlie's father and aunt). Time travelers can't kill anyone, but situations can be manipulated to change the past (this is what the tick tock creatures are trying to do!)
I hesitate to categorize this novel as steampunk, as it is set in our own world. But there are clockwork creatures, and eventually we are taken to a world full of clockwork and steam powered machines, so I think it counts. Generally, my problem with steampunk is that it makes no sense - why are these inefficient machines in use instead of electricity? But in the case of Untimed, the manipulations make sense with the plotline.
Characterization is strong. Charlie is a sympathetic character, who shows an admirable ability to make hard choices for the greater good. Yvaine is perhaps not quite as well conceived, but she's certainly more than just another love interest. We meet famous figures such as Ben Franklin, who have their own personalities, and even minor characters shine.
The plot moves quickly. I felt as though the world were very well described, down to the way things smell (in fact, smell is very important - the author makes a point of telling us how different time periods smell.) I was never bored, and read the entire book in one sitting. I am looking forward to the next in the series - the book ends on a cliffhanger, and I really want to know the conclusion! Highly recommended to readers looking for well plotted YA steampunk with a male protagonist.
Romance novels get a bad rap. It's true, they can be trite and formulaic, but it's not fair to condemn the entire genre. There are some gems out there, but I regret to inform you that On the Island is not one of those.
I still can't quite figure if this book is being marketed as romance or not. I thought it was not, which is why I picked it up. I don't care for contemporary romance or for chick-lit, and I think this book is some unholy amalgamation of the two. True, at its core it is a love story between an older teacher and her younger pupil. They are stranded on an island together, and over 3 years gradually fall in love. As a plotline, it's not without merit, but the potential largely goes to waste.
The two main characters were a problem. Anna, the teacher, has the personality of a wet towel. I swear to you, if I read one more book where the main female character pines over babies from page one, I'm going to give up on books with romance entirely. From the moment her baby fever was introduced (in the first chapter, as naturally this defines all women) I knew this was going to be a source of conflict in her relationship with TJ.
TJ was, quite frankly, too good to be true. He's incredibly noble and caring, always putting Anna's needs before his own. He spends about half a chapter acting like a normal teenager, and then immediately transitions into a caring (and boring) 30 year old once they land on the island.
The book alternates chapters between TJ and Anna. This would be a great idea, if they in any way sounded like different characters. I kept having to check and see whose chapter I was reading. They're also boring - their entire relationship they have maybe one mild fight. All their conflict? Comes from loving each other too much. Not kidding.
The island scenes are not as interesting as they might have been - we are treated to endless descriptions of eating breadfruit and showering (isn't it lucky how all their supplies managed to wash up on shore, and how Anna had apparently packed enough shampoo for 3 years?) Also, for a romance-ish novel the sexy times are super vague. I read a review where someone was complaining how filthy this novel was, to which I respond “Please send me your copy, with the filthy sexy-times, because mine only contains vague allusions to what's going on.”
Once they leave the island it goes entirely off the rails, with tons of the aforementioned “I must leave you, because I love you too much!” types of conflict. We are also inexplicably treated to Anna's newfound love for volunteering and helping the homeless, which added nothing to the plot.
Then there is the epilogue, which is cheese-o-rama.
So yeah, I don't recommend this one. I gave it 2 stars because I did finish it, but the more I think about it the less satisfied I am with the book.
Contemporary YA is not generally my bag, but I've heard a lot of great things about Sarah Dessen. I was not disappointed!
The Truth about Forever tells the story of Macy. Macy saw her father die a few years back, and ever since then she's been desperately trying to appear perfect. When her perfect boyfriend goes off to camp for the summer, she begins to find that being perfect all the time isn't the solution to all her problems.
I don't like sad books, and I don't like sappy books. This book is neither, in spite of the subject matter. Macy felt very much like a real person. She was very passive, which was a little frustrating to me, but it was totally in keeping with her character.
Yes, there is a romance, and it's a good one, but it isn't the whole focus of the book. This is not what I would call a romance novel in disguise, as so many YA contemporary novels are.
I did feel that the ending was a little abrupt. I really wanted to spend a little more time with the characters. The action rose to a fevered pitch, and then 3 pages later the book was over. But really, isn't it a recommendation of the book that I wanted to stay longer with the characters?
Highly recommended, and I can't wait to read more of Dessen's novels!
I read this book because I recently visited the former East Germany, and I was curious about life in the DDR. This book - the story of an Australian journalist who moves to Germany and searches for former Stasi members and their victims to interview - is very easy to read. Unfortunately, I found myself wishing that it were a different sort of book - one that was more academic and less anecdotal. The stories of former east Germans were both harrowing and touching, and the author does a good job of conveying a sense of fear - with informants all over the country, you never knew when you might be taken in for questioning over some offhand remark.
Recommended, but it might be good to have a grasp of the history and structure of the country before you begin. Funder doles out this information in small doses throughout, but I found myself having to refer frequently to other sources for clarification.
Jane Eyre is my favorite book. I mention that because I want to put out front that I love the Brontës, crazy family history and all. I even liked Wuthering Heights, a book which seems to inspire loathing in many. Because of this, I approached The Mist on Bronte Moor with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Unfortunately, I feel that I was right to hesitate. This novel tells the story of Heather, a teenager in present day London, sent to live with her great-aunt due to her alopecia. This is where the story started to lose me. Ok, so you have alopecia and your hair is falling out. Is that the end of the world? Not so much. When Heather goes on a hunger strike, rather than sending her back to school, her parents send her away.Heather quickly winds up back in time, and meets the Brontë family. I quite enjoyed Emily's character, though Anne and Charlotte were a little blank. She falls in love with Branwell, the only brother. I will admit to being a little interested in the story of Branwell - he is the forgotten Brontë, and certainly his story is a little tragic and romantic. Unfortunately, falling in love with him turns our heroine into the wettest of all wet blankets. She is suddenly obsessed with him to the point where she avoids trying to find her way home (you know, to the place where people don't die of consumption)To be fair, I've read Jane Austen fiction that was worse, but then again... the Brontës are much more interesting than Jane. I think I'll go back to the long biography that I'm currently reading about the family. [b:The Brontës 763144 The Brontës Juliet Barker http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1223636088s/763144.jpg 3360804]
The Replacement tells the story of Mackie Doyle. Mackie is a replacement, or a changeling if you'd rather. He was left behind to replace a human child when he was very young. He's allergic to iron and steel (school blood drives, you can imagine, are a trial for him.) He's hidden his condition from the rest of his town, but now he seems to be growing weaker. At the same time, a new child is missing, having been replaced with a doppelganger the way that he was. In The Replacement, Brenna Yovanoff leads us through Mackie's journey of self-discovery - where did he come from? What are the secrets that his quiet little town holds?Yovanoff is one of my favorite YA authors. This is her first novel, a fact which is pretty impressive to me. I've read her books in reverse order, starting with her newest [b:Paper Valentine 12109772 Paper Valentine Brenna Yovanoff http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350335466s/12109772.jpg 17393387]and finishing with this, her first. While it's clear to me that she's become a better writer over time, in her first book she already shows a command of language and metaphor that surpasses many popular YA authors.I did find the characters a little blank (even Mackie, who narrates, is a bit of a puzzle) but the mythology was so fun that I didn't care. I'm not sure that Yovanoff ever really spells out what Mackie is, which is fine because Mackie himself seems to not care for a label. I did not come into this book knowing lots of fairy or changeling lore, so when I see reviews mentioning fairies I get confused - I'm not sure Yovanoff ever directly calls them that, and indeed they are very different from the fairies in most stories. Recommended for anyone looking for a supernatural story that's a little different - the focus isn't romance (though there is a little) but rather Mackie and his journey.
Maybe I was expecting more? Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more as a new fantasy reader? Who knows, all I know is that I was bored. In contrast to most fantasy novels, which are heavy on the exposition, Nine Princes in Amber starts off with a bang - the narrator awakes with no memory, and we follow him on an adventure as he tries to figure things out.
I found the narrator to be frustratingly blank, even for an amnesia victim. Characterization was shallow at best, and it committed the cardinal sin of a novel - it failed to make me care, one way or another, about a single character.
I can see where it was technically well done, so I gave it three stars. It's one of my husband's favorites, so it mustn't be bad - I think this is just a case of my tastes being different!
Before my review, let me just state that it's refreshing to see a young adult author who doesn't feel the need to extend everything out to a trilogy. Brenna Yovanoff might be my favorite current YA author, on the strength of this novel and her latest [b:Paper Valentine 12109772 Paper Valentine Brenna Yovanoff http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350335466s/12109772.jpg 17393387].The Space Between tells the story of Daphne, the half demon daughter of Lilith and Lucifer. How could I not read a book based on that premise? The hell of the novel is all steel and skyscrapers. Although it might be horrible, we see it through the eyes of Daphne. For her it is simply home, the only world she has ever known.If the book has a weakness, it's that it quickly leaves this setting for earth. The story dictated that move, but I would love to read an entire novel set in the underworld. Daphne sets off to save her brother, who has left for the love of a human woman, and falls in love with a boy along the way. The romance is never the focus, and it's never overdone. The pacing was good, though I did feel the end was a little thrown together. In the end I was confused by what had just taken place. But even so, this is a solid 4 stars. Yovanoff is an unusually poetic writer. It's easy to get lost in her world and ignore any minor quibbles. Recommended!
Song of the Lioness is a series of fantasy novels written for middle grade readers. I am clearly not the target audience, but I do read a great deal of young adult/middle grade fiction. These books, as a whole, just don't do it for me.
Alanna: The First Adventure tells the tale of Alanna, a girl who trades places with her twin brother. He goes off and studies to be a sorcerer, while Alanna takes his place in training to become a knight. In order for this to happen, she must change her name to Alan and conceal her identity as a girl. Although this isn't a new idea, it's an interesting plot, and it was enough to get me started.
My biggest problem with this book was the characterization. Just because a book is written for younger readers doesn't mean that the characters can't feel like real people. The characters in Alanna are all too familiar. Alanna is the spunky heroine who is just a little bit too perfect - she's an excellent knight, and she also has a gift for magic. In spite of trying to hide her identity, several boys manage to suss out her true identity and (naturally) fall in love with her.
The other characters are interchangeable, with the exception of Sir Myles (a scholar knight and Alanna's mentor) who I quite liked. The prince was noble and prince-ly, and the the rogue was rogueish (but not actually bad, of course!)
The story meanders to the end, when suddenly a plot appears. The Black City was a really interesting idea, but I felt it was all over too quickly.
I was interested enough in this book to give it 3 stars. I did go on to read the other books in the series, which really went downhill for me (I probably won't bother reviewing them.) This is not a series I would recommend to a young reader - the ideas are good, and I approve of the message of female empowerment, but there are better choices out there.
I have always loved Neil Gaiman's books for younger readers, but I confess that his adult novels have left me cold. He wrote (I thought) like someone who had made his start in comics and graphic novels. Although his writing was witty, his characters seemed shallow, and his settings seemed dim without the aid of pictures.
American Gods, however, has changed my mind entirely. First there was this line:
“Wednesday looked like he had learned to smile from a manual”
I knew right away that this book would be different, and it was. It was a difficult book to read - long, meandering, and often without much of a central focus or plot. But in the end (to my surprise) that didn't matter so much. I immediately added this book to the list of my favorites, something which I don't do very often!
The protagonist of American Gods is a man named Shadow. Shadow is an ex-con, and when we meet him he has just lost everything - his wife, his best friend, and the job that was supposed to be waiting for him when he got out of prison. He meets the aforementioned Wednesday, and his life takes an unexpected turn.
In this novel, Gods are very much real. And what happens to a god when his followers no longer believe? He scrapes by, driving a taxi or running cons, but he does not disappear. American Gods is loosely the story of the conflict between these old Gods, and the new gods of America (Media, Technology etc.) Really, though, it is Gaiman's love letter to the US, with all its eccentricities and strangeness.
I read this novel while I was on a trip to Europe. I think this made the observations about sacred spaces in American shine brightly - while I was walking through the beautiful cathedrals of Prague and Vienna, I was reading this:
“There are churches all across the states though,” said Shadow.“In every town. Sometimes on every block. And about as significant, in this context, as dentists' offices. No, in the USA, people still get the call, or some of them, and they feel themselves being called to from the transcendent void, and they respond to it by building a model out of beer bottles of somewhere they've never visited, or by erecting a giant bat-house in some part of the country that bats have traditionally declined to visit. Roadside attractions: people feel themselves being pulled to places where, in other parts of the world, they would recognize that part of themselves that is truly transcendent, and buy a hot dog and walk around, feeling satisfied on a level they cannot truly describe, and profoundly dissatisfied on a level beneath that.”
That, my friends, is good writing. It describes how I feel about roadside attractions - most especially House on the Rock. Have you been to House on the Rock? Because you should go. It's actually so much crazier than the book makes it seem, and it is so, so awesome. Also, the book will make more sense if you've been there, as the scenes in House on the Rock don't make much sense otherwise.
The book is not without flaws. There isn't much of a climax, and at times it seems more like a series of interconnected short stories than a novel. At times the human characters can seem a little flat. The main character, Shadow, is a bit of a cipher, though I think that works well for the story. But in spite of these flaws, I'm still giving the novel 5 stars because it spoke to something within me.
Recommended to anyone who celebrates the weird and the strange parts of the US. Knowledge of mythology is nice, but to be honest it's not required - it's easy enough to look up the gods you don't know on wikipedia.
Earlier this years I watched the documentary A State of Mind on Netflix. A British journalist spends time with two North Korean girls as they prepare for the Mass Games, the large spectacle that North Korea puts on each year. I found it fascinating. There were so many things I didn't know about the country. But the makers of that film had minders, and were only shown carefully edited things and were only allowed to talk to citizens who would spout the propaganda. I found myself wondering: What do the citizens of North Korea actually think? What lies underneath the carefully scripted visits of foreign journalists? If you've ever wished for a glimpse into that world, this book will take you there.
Barbara Demick spends the book tracing the lives of five North Korean defectors. We see the famine of the 1990s through there eyes, as it claims victims with no regard to status. It is impossible to read this book without an emotional reaction. It does the best job of humanizing the North Korean citizens that I have seen. It's easy to see the official propaganda, or watch citizens crying at the mention of the dear leader, and laugh at them. Nothing to Envy allows you to empathize with those people. What would you think, if you had been raised only ever knowing this world? What would you say, if even the slightest mis-step might be reported by your neighbors to the police?
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's written in the manner of a novel, and is compulsively easy to read. I rarely stay up late to finish non-fiction, but I found myself reading the last page this morning as the sun started to appear. Highly recommended!
Looks like I will be the lone dissenter here. I always have a little trouble reading historical romances with scholarly heroines, because she inevitably seems so anachronistic. Pippa is very smart. She keeps a journal with her scientific discoveries - she even discovered that you can cross breed roses! But naturally, she is book smart/street dumb, and so when she gets engaged she resolves to understand the mechanics of marriage before the ceremony takes place. She called upon Mr. Cross (really a disgraced Earl) to teach her.
I find the whole book smart/street dumb thing to be a cliche, and quite frankly a little offensive. Why must smart women always be portrayed as bumbling or absent minded? Pippa's determination to aquire knowledge leads her to her brother-in-law's gaming hell. There is a subplot involving a neighboring gaming hell owner who tries to force Cross to marry his daughter, a story which wrapped up in precisely the way I expected.
Pippa and Mr. Cross spend much of the book trying not to touch one another. I don't mind the building of tension in a romance novel, but this was verging on ridiculous. Mr. Cross, incidentally, is a hero in the “guilty with a tragic past” mode. I don't care for that sort. His internal dialogue drove me insane.
2 stars because the writing itself wasn't bad, but this book utterly failed to draw me in. How about we get some smart lady characters who aren't so naive?
Maybe Gail Carringer's books just aren't for me. I didn't love her adult series, but I thought I'd give this one a try. It's set in the same basic universe as her adult books, so if you've read those you won't be lost.
Unfortunately, if you haven't read them (as I'd imagine most teens haven't) then you will be lost, because she doesn't really explain the world all that well. Of course, I'm not sure that I understand it all that well, even after reading the first few books of her adult series. There are werewolves and vampires and... dirigibles. I've decided that the mentioning of a dirigible within the first 10 pages of a novel is going to be my clue that a novel is trying really hard to be steampunk, and this one definitely does it! Other than that, this is a pretty standard Victorian era paranormal. The Victorian voice seems a little forced to me, but that might be because I read so many Victorian novels.
I would have really liked more information on how the finishing school functioned. It might be like Harry Potter, but to be honest that's what I liked about Harry Potter - the day to day workings of the school (I didn't like the last book, as it abandoned that setting!)
The book seemed rather young to me for young adult. I would recommend it to my middle school students, but I suspect that high schoolers would have issues with the age of the heroine and the need of the book to over explain everything. I'm giving 3 stars because I truly like the world that Carringer has created - I just wish that it was all more fleshed out.
I considered taking away stars for the fact that I've had Tiny Dancer by Elton John stuck in my head for days, but I decided against it.
I've seen a few reviews that compare this series to the Dresden Files novels. Sam (the main character) is, in fact, just as snarky as Dresden. There is one difference though: I actually liked this book! I had no patience for the Dresden Files (loved the tv show - which this book reminded me of.)
I've read a lot of YA fantasy novels lately, but I think this is the first time I've read a book with a male MC. It was nice - no troubling worrying about dating or relationships in this one (please note: I am a girl, and I support female main characters, but I am embarrassed by the way they are portrayed in many novels.) Sam and the supporting cast were funny and seemed real - I especially enjoyed Frank, Sam's fellow fast food worker.
Sam is a Necromancer. I don't think that's a spoiler give the title, yes? He is unaware of his cosmic destiny until the events that take place in this book. There are werewolves and gnomes and cats that turn into tiny dragons. In fact, there was so much going on that it was a little hard to follow. I expect that will be cleared up in the next novel (which I am about to read!)
I took off one star because, while it was a quick read, I had trouble following the action sequences. I also didn't care much for the love interest or romance, which seemed a little forced to me. Quite frankly, I was vaguely offended at the fact that the female love interest Spoilerjust happened to end up naked in a cage with the hero, and then naturally she is super into him. Ladies don't exist just for the sexy, you know? Still, she was a pretty independent character, so I'm not complaining too much. At least I doubt she'll spend the next novel doing any form of pining after our hero.
Highly recommended for fans of humorous fantasy and sci-fi! Doesn't read like a YA novel, if that's something you worry about.
I thought this book would be fun and breezy, like Tim Gunn's books on the same subject. It was not. What it was, instead, was a very long list of accessories, some of which were not fashion (Note to Ms. Garcia: An Ipod is not fashion. A passport is not fashion. I get that you're selling a lifestyle here, but for real...) It contained, of course, the required items (LBD, jeans, blazer etc) but nothing of substance. Useless. Tim Gunn's book is much better, and I also recommend the UK version “What not to wear” books.
This was my first Susanna Kearsley book. I'm a huge fan of gothic novels, everything from Jane Eyre to Mary Stewart, so I was looking forward to a new author. I give it mixed reviews - probably closer to 3.5 stars for me, but I wasn't feeling generous to bump my rating up to 4.
This book was written in 1994, and it does feel that way in sections. The main character Julia, is traveling back to the past in her mind - could she be seeing a past life? I remember reading a lot of books at that time that dealt with reincarnation in a very overt way. The lack of cell phones etc also felt odd to the modern eye, as whole plotlines revolved around waiting for phone calls.
I sort of had a problem with the ending. Spoiler I did not like the way it attempted to give 2 plot twists in the last 4 pages. I had seen the reveal about her love interest coming, but it was very abrupt. There should have been at least a little foreshadowing that this was a love triangle. Instead, I felt that Julia wasn't interested in Iain at all, only to recognize his soul or something. Bah. It didn't work for me at all. I also didn't buy Vivian's relationship with Julia's brother, which I think should have been foreshadowed a little bit more. Also, what about poor Geoff? I wanted to find out what happened there.
Having said that, I am totally going to read more of Kearsley's books. I think this one aged poorly, but the overall gothic feel was excellent.
I loved “The Eyre Affair,” so I was anxious to see what Jasper Fforde could do with a YA book. The cover on my edition is so fun - love the Volkswagen (I had one at one time!) and mixture of greens. As it turns out, he did quite a bit. I'm going to review it from the perspective of someone familiar with his adult books (no spoilers, don't worry!)
If you've read any of Fforde's books, you will be familiar with his love for quirky characters. They are here in abundance, from the quirkyily named wizards to my favorite, the Quarkbeast. Oh, how I would like to own a quarkbeast.
This book does share the same issue that I always had with his other novels. While the characters are wonderful and the dialogue funny, the surrounding world seems a bit sketchy - that is, I have a hard time picturing it. And that's even with several long info-dump type conversations in the first half of the book. It's also rather short, and the plot doesn't really start moving until 3/4 of the way through. The book does have a resolution though, unlike many YA books I have read lately.
Highly recommended for fans of humorous fantasy (Terry Pratchett etc.) Fans of Fforde's other books will not be disappointed - though the main character is a teen, the only thing that makes it feel YA to me is the shorter length.
3.5 stars for me personally, probably 4 for anyone who regularly reads horror. Sometimes I like to try to expand my reading boundaries. I don't read much horror - I am prone to insomnia anyway, and I don't need the help! I've been reading Swedish books lately, and I saw this recommended as an actual adult vampire novel.
And it certainly was adult! There's plenty of gore and disturbing imagery. Some situations (such as pedophilia) may make some readers uncomfortable. Personally, I think books should reflect reality, and sometimes reality is ugly, so that didn't bother me. It was a rather grim book. Not scary exactly - it was more that no one in the book seemed happy at all.
Characterization was strong - all the characters had real backstories, even the minor ones. This is something I enjoyed - that even in a book about vampires, the setting and people were utterly believable.
It wore on me, the darkness of the story, but I did finish. It made me feel a little unclean and nervous. I don't think this was the book for me - it was too dark and tiring. But if you are someone who enjoys horror or suspense I think you would really like this book - it's very well done, probably the best vampire novel I have read.
I don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading my copy of Cinder. I guess I've been burned by too many bad fairy tell retellings ([b:Wicked 37442 Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1) Gregory Maguire http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1321029694s/37442.jpg 1479280] I'm looking at you!) I love robots and cyborgs, and the cover is of course gorgeous (though my copy is on the e-reader, so I really only saw it at the beginning!)Cinder is a futuristic cyborg retelling of Cinderella. Cinder is a mechanic, who spends her days in a market stall repairing androids and electronics. All her money goes to her stepmother and two step-sisters, who were forced to take her in after their father brought her home from Europe with him 13 years ago.I'm not going to get into too much of the plot. Does it follow Cinderella? Well, sort of. It touches on the major points, but also adds its own unique elements.The book itself is rather short, and almost feels like a prologue to the series. This brings me to the reasons I couldn't give the book 5 stars, in spite of how I loved the story and characters. Why does every YA book have to start a series now? I mean, I get why, clearly publishers like them and make more money from them, but seriously... there is a way to do a series while allowing there to be resolution within the individual novels. This book ends very abruptly. It feels a bit like half a good book, especially as it is so short.I also had a problem with the foreshadowing. The book essentially makes it easy to guess the main plot twist by about 50 pages in. By the time we got to the end, when Cinder herself finds out, I was beginning to wonder if she was a bit dense. It also took away some of the drama of the last third of the book. Other than those two problems, I really loved Cinder. I highly recommend it to Fantasy fans.
I've been meaning to read some Swedish novels. My grandparents were Swedish, so I love and am familiar with the culture/country. And I know that their crime fiction is currently experiencing a bit of a sensation in the US. I suspect that I picked the wrong novel to begin with, but it wasn't all bad - just very mixed.
This book tells the story of Erica, a writer of biographies. She is living in her childhood home, going through the effects of her recently deceased parents. When she finds her childhood best friend, Alex, murdered, she finds herself drawn into the web of secrets surrounding the small coastal town.
It's a decent premise, if not the most original. I had two basic problems with the plot:
1. The writer is fond of withholding information. For instance, Erica will find a piece of paper balled up in the trash, read it, and then neglect to tell us what she had found out for a hundred pages. This happens several times.
2. Both the heroine and the romance (with Patrik, a young detective) seemed to have been transported into the book from some sort of chick-lit novel. Erica repeated mentions her dieting and weight watcher points, and everything about her appearance is a cliche (the men loves her curves, but she diets due to low self esteem etc). The dating scenes appear to have come from an entirely different book.
I didn't solve the mystery early, mostly due to the withheld information. The resolution was satisfying enough. There are several characters in the book (no spoilers) who seem to exist merely to be evil in a cartoony way, surprising in a book that takes such pains to reveal the inner workings of its characters.
I guess I wanted something darker, and this wasn't it. Having said that, I would recommend this for someone who likes Swedish thrillers, but feels they are all a bit dark or grim. There is certainly a place for this book, and I would recommend it with the caveats above.
Kelly Moore,Tucker Reed,+1 more
Nope. I read the first third, and my notes were full of things like “Oh look, a teenage boy with a scar, must be a love interest” and “Please tell me the mother isn't going to be portrayed this much like a witch through the whole book,” and “a boy with autism? Bet he'll be somehow magical and wise beyond his years.” I didn't finish it, so I'm not giving it a rating. If you've read any recent YA novels you'll recognize all the main characters.
It really bothers me when it seems like the main character worries about how she looks to boys all the time. Like, it was her grandmother's funeral and she's all “Thanks, Mom, for letting me be all travel wrinkled... why didn't you tell me about the hot teenage groundskeeper!” I was a teenage girl once, and I really don't remember it being like that. Yes, there is a love triangle. So tired of that. Not recommended. If you want gothic, do yourself a favor and read Mary Stewart instead... it's pulpy, but at least it's interesting.
I've been reading quite a bit of YA literature lately. As anyone who reads this genre knows, it's full of cliches that happen over and over again. This is why I'm pleased to report that The Lynburn Legacy is not formulaic in the least!
Kami, the heroine is funny and self deprecating. She's independent and definitely not interested in relying on the men in her life to fix things. She does have a love interest, but I would't say it's the focus of the novel (the situation is complicated - I won't spoil it!)
I have one complaint, and that's the enormous cliffhanger at the ending. Up to the very end I was prepared for this to get five stars, but I had to knock off a point for the complete lack of closure. I don't mind a sequel, but for some reason this one seems especially unfinished.
I picked up this book because all the reviews said it was similar to the Stephanie Plum novels. And it is, with one major difference - Janet Evanovich manages to make her books funny. First Grave on the Right is just trying entirely too hard to wisecrack. In a good comic novel the author knows when to tone down the humor - without those contrasting moments of quite the humor begins to grate. There were plenty of times when I was like “lay off with the puns, Charlie - things are getting real!”
I also had a major problem with the love interest. Spoiler Oh, book... I was really, really hoping that you weren't seriously going to try to convince me that she was in love with someone she met me 15 minutes when she was in high school. But then you did, and helpfully embellished it with the fact that he threatened her with rape at their first meeting, and has been mind raping her now (in the present) for months in her dreams. Is this supposed to be romantic? Because it really is not, and in fact it creeped me out.
Maybe I'm just not into the whole bad boy thing. At any rate, the spoilered bit above is why I cannot recommend this book at all.
Maybe someone could recommend me an urban fantasy type novel that isn't a romance? This one veers far into chick-lit land, a place that I try to avoid.