Mandi
This was incredible! I've never read any of the graphic novels, so everything I know about Fabletown comes from this book. I loved the story. It was an inspired retelling of a classic story.
And the narrative performance by Wil Wheaton in the audio book was superb. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed the book quite as much had I read it in print.
I finally got to read Charlaine Harris' newest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead in the Family. Even though it had been quite some time since I'd read the previous installment, I was able to easily fall back into this world as if I'd never left it.
As usual, Sookie is surrounded by all sorts of trouble, but I must confess that I found this one lacking in both intensity and complication – both traits I've come to expect from Sookie's life.
Eric's maker has come to town, bringing with him his other “son.” This causes considerable stress in Eric's life who tries to stay way from Sookie while he deals with his relatives. In the meantime, Sookie is dealing with the remnants of the brief Fairy war – her cousin Claude has moved in with her, her great-uncle Dermot is sneaking around her property, and there are bodies buried in the woods behind her house.
It should have been an amazing book, but there was so little action that it never really hit its stride. The best comparison I can make is that it is like Sex and the City 2: little plot, but still shows us what's happening in our favorite characters' lives.
I had forgotten what good writing was until I picked this book up last week. I'd gotten so used to reading fantastic stories hidden behind mediocre writing (read: Twilight or House of Night), that I'd convinced myself that mediocre writing was the norm.
Then I read Spirit Bound, the fifth installment of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, and the memories of great writing came flooding back to me.
Though the series is written for teens, I don't feel as if the writing or imagery has been dumbed down in any way. The narrative and the dialogue both are more realistic and less elementary than other series written for teens.
This installment picks up not too long after the ending of Blood Promise, when Rose returns to school after attempting (and failing) to kill the love of her life who has been turned into a Strigoi. Rose quickly catches up with her training to become a Guardian and graduates – with the highest scores in the Academy's history. Unfortunately, due to her rather unruly and rebellious past, those scores don't seem to be enough to keep her from being assigned to desk duty instead of protecting her best friend Lissa.
But Rose refuses to let anyone or anything stop her from getting what she wants – and what she wants more than anything is to turn Dimitry from a Strigoi back into a Dhampir. No one believes it can be done, but Rose is determined to save him and will do anything, including breaking her worst enemy out of maximum security prison, to accomplish her goals.
All in all, the book moved very quickly and the cliffhanger ending left me wanting more. I can't wait until the next volume is released, hopefully early next year.
This book had so much potential. Julie Powell's first memoir, Julie and Julia, was a book that I absolutely adored. The movie version was even fairly well done. When I heard that she'd written a second book, I was thrilled! When I saw the fairly epic subtitle (A story of marriage, meat, and obsession) my hopes for this book grew to epic proportions.
Sadly, it fell flat.
The first part of the book wasn't so bad. In fact, the parts where Julie talked about butchering and how she apprenticed at a quaint shop were absolutely fascinating. Those parts left me actually wanting to experience what she did. I don't know that I actually wanted to butcher any meat... but I certainly wanted to watch.
But the primary focus of the book was the affair that Julie had with “D.” The vast majority of the book was filled with insipid whining about the fact that he had decided he could no longer be with her because she was married and it was too hard for them to have a relationship when she was still so attached.
She whined about the loss of her lover. She whined about the strain on her marriage (she carried this affair on for two years while her husband knew about it).
Once she moved on from talking about her apprenticeship, I quickly grew bored and actually put the book down for a few weeks because I simply couldn't stomach the whining any longer.
Bottom line? The title and subtitle are far more entertaining and well written than the rest of the book.
DNF at 50 pages - 2/5 stars
While “Black Silk” offers an intriguing premise—a vampire hunter falling for a vampire while investigating werewolf deaths—the execution makes it difficult to continue reading. The writing suffers from significant plot holes and pacing issues that break immersion. In one early scene, Cassandra asks if she can call her friend Asmo for help; Talulla deflects, and they go for coffee instead. Yet somehow, Asmo appears later down the same page, fully aware of the situation and armed with solutions, despite never being called.
The romance feels equally rushed and underdeveloped. The instant, overwhelming chemistry between Talulla and Flynn lacks the build-up needed to make their forbidden attraction believable. Combined with unmemorable characters and rough writing that needs professional editing, I had to set the book aside.
This might appeal to die-hard paranormal romance fans willing to overlook technical issues, but the story needs significant polishing to reach its potential.
Pros:
- Promising premise mixing academia and supernatural elements
- Interesting concept of duty versus desire
- Plot holes and inconsistent scene transitions
- Rushed, unbelievable romance
- Unpolished writing