thistlechaser | Entries tagged with 2013 books

Two books, both with Fog in the title, both available for free! Follow the link for each to Amazon, if you're interested in checking them out. (As usual, these are just plain links. I don't make any money if you follow a link of mine anywhere.)

Island of Fog by Keith Robinson.

Things I liked about Island of Fog:
- The plot. A few families are living together on an island. The rest of the world has been destroyed? Or is that a lie? Every family has one child, all the same age.

The children are turning into monsters. "Classic" monsters. Dragons, harpies, centaurs, etc. It was happening because There was another world connected to ours, a world full of those monster races. The humans there needed kids who could shapeshift so that they could talk to those monster populations and try to get them to stop killing the humans.

- The writing. I really like it when an author is willing to keep the readers in the dark and slowly drop hints about what's happening. (Beyond that point, the writing style/skill was only average. Not bad, not good.)

What I didn't like about it:
- I had zero connection with and even less interest in the characters. For all that I liked everything else about the book, this was a dealbreaker. There were a lot of them (10? kids) and though a few had a larger role than the others, it mostly felt like "the kids" were one character.

The kids were boring. The book was 224 pages long, but I couldn't tell you one physical description about one kid. I think one wore glasses? I think one girl had long hair? I'm not sure about those. With a slight exception for one girl, all the kids' personalities were as nondescript.

In conclusion: It's worth the price. It wasn't a bad book, I just had no emotional connection with it and little drive to finish it. The ideas in it were interesting. On one hand, I'd like to read more of the series to find out how the kids do, but without an emotional connection? I doubt I'll get to the rest of the books. I have too many other books I want to read.

Surviving the Fog by Stan Morris.

A free book that wasn't even worth its price. It's bad enough when an author doesn't know how to use semicolons (why, oh why, use so many of them when you don't know how?), Morris didn't know how to use commas either. I couldn't even get through the first page. It's really too bad, as the description made it sound like something I'd love:

Have you ever been to summer camp? What would you do if almost all of the adults left “for a few hours” and they had not returned a week later? What would you do if no one’s cell phone worked and your parents never showed up to take you home? What would you do if you realized that the area was surrounded by a mysterious brown fog that was dangerous? How would you survive the winter? How would you get more to eat?

Next up: A book without 'Fog' in the title.

Current Mood: tired

The Island by Jill Minkman.

This book was one roller coaster of a ride, but not in the way people usually mean that.

For the first third of the book, I thought it was "not awful, but the author made a really, really bad decision".

Set on an island, a small group of people were trying to survive the end of the world. There had been a few nuclear bombs set off, and then a round of biological warfare killed most everyone left. 150 years later a new, tiny society rose. At age 10, children were considered adults and had to go off and live on their own (joining the rest of the "adults" over the age of 10 but pre-marriage living alone in a house together).

This new society had evolved its own religion. They believed the Force was in everyone, that everyone should use their Force, that the Force could be used for good or bad, that if your Force was strong enough you could do things with it. They greeted each other with "Your Force be with you". Why in the world did the author use "Force"? All I could think of was Star Wars...

Then the main character stole The Book, their religious text that explained all about the Force. On the cover was a picture of... Luke and Leia!. At that point I laughed out loud and suddenly loved this book.

Then it happened. The romance subplot. I love me some romance, but I HATE HATE HATE 99% of the "romance" in young adult books. This is how it happens. Every time.
1) Girl sees boy. Falls in love with him on first sight. She knows he's her soulmate. He's the most handsome boy she's ever seen. She always says something like "why are no other boys like him?". She knows she's going to spend the rest of her life with him.
2) Girl and boy interact. She finds him the most annoying boy ever. Is snippy/sarcastic/mean to him for no reason.
3) The two are apart, girl is suddenly back in love with him. He's her everything, nothing has any meaning unless he's there! ...but wait! Why didn't he kiss her? She decides she must be ugly (yet the book described her as the most beautiful girl around), or she must be stupid (yet she's the smartest)...
4) Repeat the above steps a couple times.
5) They finally kiss, tell each other they both felt love the whole time, live happily ever after.

That drives me up a wall. Is that an accurate teenage relationship? I have no idea, but suspect probably. But accurate or not, it is not enjoyable to read about.

The book ended with an information dump, explaining how all the stuff around the Force came to be. Oh, and of course the boy and girl lived happily ever after.

So, it was an okay book. Not horrible, not good. Would have been many times better without the "romance".

Unpacking: I swear to god, I'm never going to finish. It's been about two weeks now. I'm down to ONE box (not counting the ten small ones full of decorations). But even after I finish that last box, I still need to deal with all the stuff. While unpacking, I put everything anywhere, just so I could get rid of the boxes. On one shelf of the bookshelf next to me is an old purse, a pair of slippers, a CD (no idea what's on it), and a big package of paper napkins. I can't unpack the decorations until I get everything organized and make space for them.

Current Mood: tired

Finders Seekers (Ghatti's Tale) by Gayle Greeno.

This is the book trilogy that taught me never to lend out my books.

Many, many years ago, just out of college, I was working at a con. One of the other volunteers who saw me reading this book and asked to borrow it. I forget the details, but I ended up lending her the whole trilogy. I never got them back. I can't even remember if she was to blame or if I quit volunteering unexpectedly, but I never saw this trilogy again, and it had been one of my favorites. One day the idea struck me that the books might be now out as ebooks. The first one was! So I bought a copy and settled in.

Set in the distant future, humans land on a new planet, only to find it populated by housecats. Telepathic housecats. Oh, they may be three times the size of a housecat, but the characters say outright their mannerisms and behaviors are exactly the same.

I suppose I could see why I liked it when I was younger, but adult me just cannot accept there's a planet lightyears away where housecats evolved. Sadly, I can't get into the book at all. I gave it a few days of trying, but I'm barely a couple chapters in; when I start looking for other things to do rather than read, it's time to give up on a book.

And here's where the mystery starts. I sat down to make this post, then wondered what happened to the author. Her last published book was in the late 90s. What was she doing now? So I googled. Nothing came up. Oh, sites about her books appeared, but nothing about her. I wonder if Gayle Greeno was a pen name? Or if she was just really careful to keep herself out of search engines. (My RL name won't bring up any results for me. ...Hmm. Though I just checked myself, and since last time I looked, a new band was created. Name: "(My first and last name) Band". Very odd, as both my first and last names are quite uncommon.) (Edit: *DIES* I decided I should see what kind of music I'm making. Picked a video at random. Picture a German band singing It's Raining Men in English. Huh, they're actually not bad at all. The lead singer (me!) has a pretty nice voice. Seems like the hand does 60s-80s music. I approve! Oh wow, she sounds even better when singing in German...)

I'm sad I couldn't enjoy this book. Yet another one I should have let live on in my memory as a Best Book Ever instead of bringing it crashing down into reality. And, wherever Gayle Greeno is, whatever she's doing, I hope she's living a happy life.

Current Mood: sleepy

It's been three weeks since I last posted a book review. I blame moving! I still have a ton of boxes to unpack, but I'm de-stressing enough that I can get back to reading. I finished the first book on the eve of the movers coming, so couldn't sit down and post about it then. Thus two books in one post.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

It's a shame I couldn't post about this book right after finishing it, because my review would have been even more glowing. This is one of the best books I've ever read.

Usually I dislike first person books. I loved it in Knife.
Usually I HATE accents typed out. I loved it in Knife.
Usually I hate romance in YA books. I... well, didn't mind it at all in Knife. It was realistic and non-annoying. No sappy unbased-in-character-development stuff. The two characters were close, but I believed the relationship.

The problem with trying to describe this book is that every little detail is a spoiler. In fact, I'd encourage you to go to Amazon and buy it without reading the site's review or any customer reviews. Discovering everything about the book's world is magical, don't spoil yourself with anything. (You trust me enough to buy a book based on only that, right? :P )

I love Knife's world-building, characters, and that every single thing that happens in the plot is 100% believable. If you buy one book based on my posts, it should be this one.

---

Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman
(Book received for free for review from Random House.)

When I started Sky Jumpers, I was darned happy with it. It's set after World War 3, but it's actually not dark at all. (Yes, usually I love dark books best of all, but this was a refreshing and nice change.) "Green Bombs" were used in WW3 -- meant to kill people but be safe for the environment. Unfortunately they changed the environment in unexpected ways, like changing metals and making magnets no longer work. Only small groups of people were left, and they couldn't remake the old tech because of how the Green Bombs changed things. Such an interesting idea!

For the first half of the book, I was enjoying the heck out of it. The main plot kicked in about 60% into it, and that's where it lost me.

Unfortunately Sky Jumpers became one of those stories where all the kids outsmart all the adults with an unbelievable ease, where all the adults make stupid decisions, and where none of the action could be believed. This was the last scene I read before giving up on the book:

Bandits were raiding the town that the main character (a young girl) lives in. Most of the town's men were gone, the town had a grand total of two guns (every bandit was armed to the teeth). The bandits wanted medicine and they didn't seem to care who they hurt or kill (they shot the main character's father just to make that point). The kids escaped the building where all the town people were being held. They ran through the snow, avoiding bandit/guards by the skin of their teeth. (The author never addressed how their tracks in the snow weren't seen.) A bandit spotted the main character. She used a slingshot to shoot an apple at a horse, of course hit the horse, and the horse reared and threw the bandit off, then ran back towards the stable. (They were just barely on the outskirts of town)

If you were that bandit, would you:
A) Shoot the girl -- you know that if she escapes, she'll bring the town men back... the men with all the guns.
B) Shoot the horse.

The bandit shot at the horse.

Knife of Never Letting Go: A YA book that's as good for adults as it is for younger folks.
Sky Jumpers: A YA book that young people would probably enjoy, but adults might want to give a pass.

You can't blame a YA book for trying to target young readers, but I'll stick with the ones that adults can enjoy as well.

Current Mood: tired

I gave up on Doglands. I had to, it just kept going downhill. I love books about talking animals, but I want them to be animals who talk, not humans who happen to be in animal shape. The dogs in Doglands knew as much as any human would. How would a dog who was born in what was basically a puppymill to a dog who was born there to a dog who was born there (down the line), with no contact with the outside world, know about lions? About germs? That vets like to keep their work area sterile?

The author did do one thing I really liked. The dogs didn't understand English, but they could pick up tones and basic ideas, so when they listened to people talk they heard something like:

Bob looks to Mike, "Joke joke joke."
Mike says, "Laugh laugh laugh!"
Mary snorts. "Mock mock mock!"

Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, on the other hand, is AMAZING. I literally loved it from the first sentence. How is this for an opening line?

The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is dogs don't got nothing much to say.

Usually I hate typed-out accents, but this one works. And it's so much more than accents! It's told in first person by an uneducated boy, so there are lots of misspellings and such (it's actually fun to sound them out to figure out what he means to say!).

This book is so amazing, but the worst/best part is I can't tell you anything about the plot! This book does the thing I love most best of all: It drops you off into a whole new world, a world where nothing at all is familiar, and tells you nothing about it going in. I'm only 4% into the book and I've learned so much! And each little thing you learn is a wonderful discovery!

It kills me that this book has been sitting in my To Read pile for YEARS. It's so damned good! (Though one positive to that is the author had time to finish the trilogy, so no delay for the next books!)

Oh, and the audio book seems to rock, too. Check out the sample on the Amazon page I linked! Top left, directly under the cover image. (The clip comes from just a couple pages in, so some things won't make sense when you listen, but they don't make sense to readers either at that point.)

Current Mood: happy

After a string of great books, I hit three duds and a meh one.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. I looooved Westerfield's steampunk trilogy so much, but I hated every single word of every page of this book. Or, well, of the couple chapters I read. If a book were ever written for the exact purposes of me hating it, it would be Uglies. I read a lot of YA books, so unfortunately I encounter a lot of teenagers with teenage problems; I couldn't care less about that sort of thing. This book couldn't be more that. In Uglies, everyone is born "ugly" (normal), but at some age in their teens everyone gets a ton of surgeries to make them into a Pretty. Uglies live in Uglytown. Pretties live in New Pretty City (kill me now, I hated those names so much). What little I read about this book was stupid teenagers in godawful stupid romances thinking about nothing other than being "pretty". If I could kill myself with a book, I wouldn't be writing this post now.

The Adventures of Whatley Tupper: A Choose Your Own Adventures book for adults by Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts. I bought this book soon after getting my iPad. "It uses ebook technology! Clicking links to make decisions, using your back button to get out of them!" Seemed like a good idea at the time, yet this book sat in my To Read pile for years. Eventually I started it just so I could be done with it. I went through one possible story in it. It wasn't awful, but it was far far from good. Way too few choices to make, and the writing was silly (silly-stupid, not silly-funny). I just didn't enjoy it at all and didn't bother going back to see where the other options lead.

Flesh Cartel: part 9. I'm not even going to link to the damned thing. I said I wouldn't continue with the series even if I got it for free, then I found it for free and said 'whatever' and grabbed a copy. Skimmed most of it. Finally started getting into it... only to have it end. Because it's only 40 pages long. Pissed me off even more than I had been about this series. Why can't they just release it as a whole book?! Grrr. (Oh yeah, because they make $3/40 pages this way...) Never ever ever have I been so happy an ebook was being pirated.

Currently reading: Doglands by Tim Willock. I love talking animal stories, but alas this isn't a good one. It's not awful, it's not bad enough for me to stop reading (yet?), but it's not very good. The writing is unexciting, the characters are flat and unbelievable, the worldbuilding is poor. (Wow, I think Doglands is another example of paid reviews showing up on Amazon. All 5 star reviews other than one 4 star.)

The first three books aren't being included in the 2013 count, but Doglands might be if I get at least halfway through it.

RP! Eeeeee RP! RP! I feel like twirling around in circles until I get dizzy and fall down. It's been so long (more than a year!) since it's made me so happy and excited and eeeee! I have no idea what the difference was. Was I burnt out and I just got over it? Was I tired of the character I was playing? Was it just not the right type of RP*? I don't know.

* I hate to admit it, but apparently I do have a type of RP I like. I love RPing relationships. I'm not in it for the ERP/cyber/tiny/whatever name you know RPing sex as ("tab A, slot B" gets really boring to me nowadays), but the whole emotional connection thing just sends me floating through the roof. (The character I was previously playing basically had zero chance of a meaningful relationship, he was too damaged for it. Lately I've been playing a new (er, old character that I dropped) one, who is perfect for relationships.) And luckily I found a good player! Our RP styles seem to match SO WELL WHICH IS SO EXCITING IT'S MAKING ME TYPE IN ALL CAPS. But seriously, nowadays there are so many different types of RP, it feels so special to find someone who likes to post in the same way I do (same tense, length, style).

It makes me so happy! I know it sounds silly, but it makes me grin endlessly that someone wants to RP with me and is willing to plan to RP with me in the future. It's silly because people are willing to do that now! But the new guy is someone who I don't know, so he's not wanting to RP just so I think he likes me or blah blah some stupid messed up crap. My brain has issues, I know. But it's been more than a year! And it's silly to get so excited, we only RPed twice and have one more scene coming, but it's so nice to be excited about RP again. (Really! A whole year of having NO interest in it!) Midway though tonight's scene I ICly gave his character an out to end it now (I wasn't sure if he had OOCly wanted to RP again) and he didn't take it! He extended the scene of his own will! SOMEBODY LIKES ME! (Silly, silly me, I know. :D )

On moving: As usual, I panicked too soon. I went insane packing the first couple days, then I was mostly done and did little the next few. Then I panicked again (STUFF LEFT TO DO!), then I did nothing for a couple days... I'm almost as done as I can be while still needing to live here, and I have 10 days left! Heh. I have so many boxes packed, I can hardly walk through the apartment. I still need to deal with moving electric etc to new apartment, and updating physical address with about a kazillion companies I deal with.

Oddly, Ellie New Cat isn't reacting at all to any of this. She's not climbed on single box (she's not a climbing cat in general, the sofa is about as high as she goes). She hasn't shown any reaction to any of these changes at all. I realllly hope that continues once we're in the new place. I have horrible worries that she'll get stressed out and pee on stuff.

Current Mood: bouncy

The Commodore's Daughter by Jamie Brazil.
(Book received for free for review from Windtree Press.)

It's strange to think that a year ago I said there was nearly no good self-published books. This year almost every self-published book I've read has been really enjoyable*. The Commodore's Daughter is near the top of this year's list.

Set in 1853, the story's main character is Commodore Perry's daughter. As Perry is a rich, powerful man, he arranges a good marriage for his daughters. The youngest wants none of that. She reads books, she wants to travel the world, she wants anything but to be married to a man twice her age. She stows away on her father's ship and ends up in Japan, alone. That's where things really get interesting. She knows nothing of the language and very little of the culture. Through a lucky accident she gets taken in and given the chance to learn more about the language and ways of Japan.

Usually when I run into something unbelievable in a book, it kills the majority of my enjoyment. For some reason, that wasn't the case here. There were a couple of not-totally-believable moments in the story, but I still loved the story to death.

Usually I hate romance subplots in my books, especially in YA books, but in this one I didn't mind it. (I can't say I liked it, but it didn't make me scrunch up my face and want to chuck my iPad across the room.)

I've always enjoyed 'person alone in a new culture' stories, and I like learning things while reading fiction -- Commodore's Daughter kills those two birds with one stone. The author used Japanese words in a way that felt very natural. I knew many of them, but I learned a few new ones.

I hope this review isn't too disjointed. I've been working on it for a couple hours now and it just doesn't want to come out. I feel like I just need an explosion of words across the page instead of organized sentences and paragraphs: I REALLY REALLY LIKED IT AND YOU SHOULD READ IT TOO AND JUST TRUST ME ON WHY IT'S ONLY $3 ON AMAZON WHICH IS TOTALLY RIPPING THE AUTHOR OFF SO JUST TRUST ME AND GO READ IT.

That does bring up the last point I wanted to make: Seriously, this book is only $3 on Amazon. It's worthy of being a major-publisher priced of $10 or so. Remember (never forget!) how Flesh Cartel charged $3/40 pages of story? Compare that to Commodore's Daughter, which gives you a whole book of happy enjoyment fun storytime yay strong young female character... (Stop it, brain. Sentences and paragraphs! Sentences and paragraphs!)

ANYWAY. In all seriousness. This was a great book. The story and character were strong enough to make me overlook the few little things I didn't like (which is rare!), and it's only $3. You can't even buy one of those fancy coffee drinks at Starbucks for $3! And you'll get a lot more enjoyment and fewer jitters from Commodore's Daughter.

* Hmmm, I had been using "self-published" and "independently published" interchangeably, which apparently is a mistake. Another blog wrote A "self-published book" is “independently published” in the same way a home movie is an “independent film.” If that's the case, that might explain the difference between this year and last. Most of the books I've been offered for review have been from independent publishers.

Current Mood: unfocused

(I need to make a post about RL things, but I haven't been in the right mindset to sit down and do it. So, for now, have another book review!)

The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series, Book One
(Book received for free for review from Diamond Book Distributors.)

I love "Art of..." books. There's so much art not included in the show or game, or it just passes by too quickly on the screen. Books like this allow me to linger over small details.

Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series was full of beautiful background paintings, but personally I enjoyed the pencil sketches just as much -- I love seeing how many heads tall something is or little notes artists make for each other. It's like getting to see behind the magic.

Unfortunately the review copy of the book was a .pdf file, so it wasn't as clear on my screen as it would be in a book. The art was lovely, but I couldn't read most of the text. (It was totally a .pdf issue -- I could resize it to be able to read the text or keep the size good for the art. The art won out. Edit: Or perhaps it was an old eye issue. *cough*)

Though this was 'book one', it covered the whole series. I'll be interested to see what's in future books!

Bookkeeping: This book is being included under the "Book #30" heading -- one book's worth of credit towards the year's total for all the things too short to count as their own book.

Current Mood: restless

G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files Volume 1
(Book received for free for review from Diamond Book Distributors.)

I love what IDW Publishing has done with GI Joe, and as I've been a fan of GI Joe since I was a little kid, that's saying something. I usually hate the "Hey, let's remake (insert childhood thing)!" thing, but IDW's graphic novels are true to the spirit of the original canon, just cast in an adult, darker, and way way way more realistic light.

This book introduces a new character: Chameleon. (I think she's new? I don't recall her name.) She had been a Cobra agent, but turned coat and joined the Joes (for what that's worth -- there are understandable trust issues). The whole book is seen through her eyes. I loved her character: An intelligence agent, the Joes used her to get into prisoners' heads. Since most prisoners are Cobra agents, it made for interesting interactions.

I swear, these books are going to make me love graphic novels. The artwork in this book was such a big addition to the story. The lighting, angles, so many different ways the art was used to convey emotion.

Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of GI Joe!

Bookkeeping: This book is being included under the "Book #30" heading -- one book's worth of credit towards the year's total for all the things too short to count as their own book.

Next book: The Commodore's Daughter which looks quite interesting.

But for now, back to packing!

Current Mood: busy

I mentioned the reason I was so interested in this book was because it "scared Stephen King". On the Amazon page:

"The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best."—Stephen King

Yet in the acknowledgments at the end of the book, the author wrote that he'd like to thank Stephen King, even though King "never read the book and likely never will" (but that it was King's books that made him want to write).

The Troop is copyrighted by Craig Davidson, so that's likely the author behind the pseudonym.

I don't know who is to blame for this error, but it annoys the heck out of me. I read the first 20% of the book, through the endless capitalization issue and unrealistic characters and annoying writing, all because if King liked it, I figured eventually it would get good. Waste of my time.

At least I didn't pay for the book. It's only too bad it's not being published until 2/14, so reviews can't be left on Amazon until then. I doubt I'll remember to go back and write one.

Two bad books in a row, hopefully the next review will be more positive.

Current Mood: annoyed

The Troop, by "Nick Cutter".
Book provided free for review by Simon & Schuster.

I haven't accepted a book for review lately, but this one caught my eye. Or rather, a blurb about it did:

"THE TROOP scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. This is old-school horror at its best. Not for the faint-hearted, but for the rest of us sick puppies, it's a perfect gift for a winter night." -STEPHEN KING

A book that scared Stephen King? This I had to read!

I'm about 5% into it, and I have to wonder if the typing was what scared King. This was offered as an "uncorrected reader's proof", but as far as I know, that means it might get minor edits based on advanced reader feedback. Maybe "uncorrected" was meant to tell us it was utterly unedited? The Troop is worse than a first draft of a book. A lot worse. The author has only passing familiarity with his shift key. Every other sentence starts with a lower case letter. Nine proper nouns out of ten start with a lower case. If I wanted to type like him, it would take effort not to capitalize! How could anyone, let alone a writer, not use the most basic proper capitalization by default? (And this isn't a wacky ebook formatting issue, the multi-page legal blurb at the front of the book is fine.)

If the book was meant to be sent out unedited, why? Why not at least do the most basic proofreading beforehand? How had the writer himself not corrected these errors before submitting it? Most the character names, lower case. Place names, lower case. Prince Edward Island was mentioned a bunch of times (including as "PEI") and never does it have correct capitalization. PeI, peI, PEi, every combo you could think of. Every. Single. Time.

"Nick Cutter" is a pseudonym for "an acclaimed author of novels and sort stories". I can't believe that.

Based on the 5% of the book I read, I can't say I liked the writing. Descriptions and dialogues were over the top. But Stephen King liked it, so I suppose I'll continue with it for now... For the sake of my iPad, I just need to keep all red pens out of reach.

Disclaimer: I'm a technical writer/editor by profession. I may well be a lot more anal about capitalization than others. (It pains me to type those two sentences. Proper nouns are capitalized! That's one of the most basic rules of writing! ARG!)

Current Mood: frustrated

The Flesh Cartel, "books" 1-8 by Rachel Haimowitz and Heidi Belleau.

I'm torn as to call these books a scam or not.

Recall when I previously posted about them, I mentioned they cost $3 per 50 page "book". I bitched about the price per page ratio. Later I realized it was actually $3 for a lot less. Let me break down the books for you:

Unlike other books, this one had THREE pages about copyright stuff. Most books have one page.
This book had one dedicated page telling people not to pirate stuff.
A multi-page review of the previous books (fair enough).
A multi-page preview of what would happen in this book.
After the story, a multiple page "about the author" section for each of the two authors.
For each of the two authors, a page about other books they wrote.
5-6 pages of advertisements for other books by this publisher.

I'm surprised there was room for story at all.

Unsurprisingly, when being paid $3/a few pages of story, the plot moved glacially slow. Around book three some progress was made, but by the end the characters all went through a backslide and things ended up where they had been. That same thing happened three or four times. It wasn't until book eight that some (real?) progress was made. Would the characters backslide once more? No idea; I wouldn't continue with this series even if I got the books for free.

In my original post, I mentioned loving the idea, characters, storylines, etc. However, in their assumed effort to keep things moving slowly, things stopped making sense. I started laughing at things the characters said or did, which is a bad sign for a book. (I also mentioned loving the writing, and on that point I can't change my mind. Good, straightforward style, very good grammar/editing.)

So, to sum up: If one bought all eight books, they would have paid $24 for 320 pages of story (assuming a very generous 40 pages of story per book). Story that goes no where, story where the authors have a financial interest in keeping the plot from making progress.

If you're familiar with fanfic writing, this was basically one big PWP. (PWP = Porn, what plot?) The authors seemed to have a laundry list of kinks, and made sure to cover at least one major one per book (including distasteful-to-me watersports and incest -- not exactly things I want to see in sexytime books).

So, all in all: Not recommended. If you're interested in slash/adult writing, there's just as good to be found online for free.

Current Mood: disappointed

Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

A couple chapters into Graceling and I was ready to quit. The main character, a teenage girl, was the best fighter in the world. She was literally impossible to beat. Barehanded and unarmored, she could fight and beat more than a dozen armed, armored, and trained knights. And her eyes were two different colors.

Sounds like the very picture of a horrible character, doesn't it? But I'm glad I stuck with the book, because it was darned good. The main character had enough flaws to balance all that power, the plot was interesting, I loved the world, and the other characters were great. (The writing was good, other than the author both didn't know how to use semicolons and had a great love of them. I kept hoping she was using them incorrectly for style reasons, but I think it was just that she didn't know better. Sad!)

In the fantasy world the book was set, a few people were born Graced -- they're the best in the world at something. It could be something useful, like fighting, designing weapons, riding horses, or it could be something somewhat helpful, like being able to bake the very best cherry pies in the world, or it could be totally useless, like being the best person in the world at spotting pictures in the clouds or counting backwards. Also, all Gracelings have two different color eyes. (And what a fun RP setting this could be! There would be so many fun Graces people could RP out!)

I've been trying to figure out how to explain the plot without spoiling it, but I'm failing. I'll just say that three interesting people (two with Graces) team up to get to the root of a mystery and then have to deal with the evil they find.

Graceling is part of a trilogy, which apparently can be read in any order. I bought one of the other two already, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Edit: Flesh Cartel moved to its own post.]

Current Mood: annoyed

The third book came in, just a little late to be included with the book post last night. It'll be a short review.

Where do I live? by Dr. Kristine Duehl.
(Book received for free for review from Smith Publicity)

Is it odd for an adult to enjoy children's books? I enjoyed reading them when I worked in the kids' library, but that was (wow) 20 years back. Some of them, like the two I reviewed yesterday, I like for the story's and/or the art's sake, but some (like Where do I Live?) are less enjoyable for adult-me, but I think would be more enjoyable for kids than the previous two.

If I had a child, I think I'd love the way Where do I Live? urges them to think. It starts out with a picture of an animal, then asks where it lives. Perfect time for a parent and child to work on that question together, then you turn the page and read about the animal's environment. The section ends with another question, which the child can look at the picture to figure out. (Like "What else about a cheetah might help it hide in yellow grass?".)

So: Recommended if you have kids, especially ones that like animals, but this one is a pass for adult-only readers.

---

I watched a lot of Orange is the New Black over the weekend. I have only three episodes left for the season, but I'm dragging my feet on watching them. The problem is they're too realistic about the issues of power that would arise in a women's prison staffed by mostly men. I know at least one person is watching the series since I mentioned it last, so I'm going to put this behind a cut to avoid spoilers.

( When men with Issues have nearly life and death power over women... )

So, Orange is the New Black has gotten darker than I originally said it was, and that it's in a realistic way makes it... "worse" is the wrong word. "Even darker" fits, I guess. I still recommend it, but if you're like me, it might keep you up at night thinking about issues we have no power to fix.

Current Mood: tired

I have a third kid's book coming to review; I wanted to wait and do all three at once in one post, but I had time tonight so I did the first two. For people less interested in book reviews, Orange is the new Black is a review of a "TV" (Netflix exclusive) show.

Both of the books fall under the "Book #30" umbrella in my book count for the year.

---

It’s a Feudal, Feudal World by Stephen Shapiro, art by Ross Kinnaird. (Link goes to Amazon CA, unavailable on Amazon US.)
(Book received for free for review from Annick Press Ltd.)

While described as a children's nonfiction book, I'd recommend It’s a Feudal, Feudal World to adults before I would to the average child. For being only 48 pages long, Feudal World packed an amazing amount of information about the Middle Ages into one book. The art style didn't really work for me, but the book sure had a good format for getting a lot of information across in easily accessible ways:

It was far, far from just dry boring facts, too:

I learned a whole lot, both "normal" things as well as silly stuff. It had everything from how a girl grew up into a Lady, to how to storm or defend a castle. (Did you know that in the Middle Ages a doctor never touched women?)

I suspect the average child might think this too much like actually learning (or would they be fooled by all the cartoonish art?), but any kid who liked to learn would be all over this book.

Either way, this was a great book and I fully recommend it.

---

Kenta and The Big Wave by Ruth Ohi.
(Book received for free for review from Annick Press Ltd.)

What a sweet, simple book. I loved the art style to death -- how does something so simple work so well?

I wish I could have shared one of the larger pictures, but shrinking them down did them no justice. The artist's landscapes done in this style were so simple yet beautiful.

Unlike It’s a Feudal, Feudal World, I would fully recommend this book for any child (or adult!). It tells the story of the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan, and how a boy lost his ball in it and how a boy in America found it and mailed it back to him. There's very little text, but more isn't needed.

Kenta and The Big Wave successfully conveyed that bad things do happen in life, but that people can get over them. The bad things could be small, like losing your ball, or big, like losing your home in a disaster (Kenta lost both), but in the end everything turned out okay. An important message for kids to see.

---

If you have Netflix and don't mind R-rated shows, Orange is the New Black is quite entertaining. I watched the first five or six eps today, and really enjoyed them. (Other than the opening theme, which for some reason is about twice as loud as the rest of the show and a music style I dislike.)

The plot of the show is about a white* woman who has to go to prison. It's not dark and gritty, it's more about the characters, their relationships, their crimes, etc. That makes it sound like some chick lit show, but it's not that either. (* I mention race because it's important in a prison environment, I'm not implying anything else.)

The women inmates and the mostly male staff are fascinating. Their backgrounds, their relationships. The ones with slight or major mental or physical issues. Sexual issues.

There's a smattering of humor, but it's mostly serious stuff. I'm far from an expert on prison, but it's realistic enough that I fully buy into it.

There are adult themes, which are sometimes graphic. Sex of all flavors (including surprisingly touching scenes between a guard and an inmate), language, tons of race issues. I can't think of a single case of violence thus far though, other than minor and brief fist fights.

It's very much worth checking out! It's made by the folks who did Weeds, and has that same flavor (though thus far without the wackiness).

Current Mood: busy

Wool by Hugh Howey.

1) Unfortunately this is only a short story, not a book.
2) It's free! Only the ebook version is free, but it's only available in ebook format, so! Click the link above to get it!

Holy cow, this was a good ~~book~~ story. The problem is, I can't explain too much about it without spoiling it. (And oh how much there is to be spoiled!) Something happened and people (all of humanity?) are living in silos. No one can go out. Generations have been living inside them. Someone discovers something which makes her question everything about their life inside.

Think you know how this story goes? You do not. :D

For such a short book, it sure did take me on a loop. "Oh, THIS is what's going to happen!" "...no, wait, THIS is happening!" "WAIT, THAT is what happened?" "...Oh my god, no, it's THAT!"

I loved the ending so amazingly much. This may be my favorite ~~book~~ story of the year.

---

I finally saw Iron Man 3. I've been paranoid about downloading things lately (my ISP has sent me a couple "We caught you" threat-filled letters), but I really wanted to see it and so I risked it this time. I think I'm likely the last person to have seen it (of the people who want to see it), but I'll put my thoughts behind a cut just in case.

All in all, I liked it, though it wasn't my favorite of the Iron Man movies. I think I liked it better than 2 (I disliked 2 quite a bit). Unlike the first movie, 3 has no rewatchability for me.

( Minor spoilers for Iron Man 3 )

Like so many other comic book movies, the plot tended to fall flat for me, but I loved the characters. I hate the first Iron Man movie's plot, but I can watch it again and again because Tony is so amusing.

Current Mood: tired

Blood of the King by Bruce Blake.
(Book received for free for review from Best Bitts Productions.)

Before I say anything else about this book, let me first say that I enjoyed it. I got it for free for review, but you can get the ebook for only $1.99 at Amazon (linked above); it's more than worth that. I have a lot to say, some of it negative, but overall it was quite an enjoyable read. Never before have I described a book as a "romp", but that fits this one -- I feel like I was a member of the party off on an adventure.

It took me nearly three weeks to finish this book, which is crazy. I have no idea why I had no drive to read it -- I'd read a page or maybe a chapter and then happily go off and do something else. That makes no sense, since I liked it. (Rereading my post, this paragraph and the previous one seem to contradict each other. Both are true, however.)

The only guess I can make as to why I had no need to find out what happened next was that the book felt exactly like a typical D&D campaign, or like every other sword and sorcery book I've ever read. Everything that happened felt perfectly familiar. "Oh, this is where they'll meet a dragon." "Oh, I bet a giant is chasing them!" I swear, I've played through the plot's exact storyline countless times in tabletop games, and I've read this book dozens of times. (There was only one thing that surprised me: The party was traveling through a tunnel at once point and failed to encounter a Grue!) But again, it was familiar in a good way, like replaying a game you enjoyed.

And when I say "party", I mean that. There was a warrior, ranger/beastmaster/shifter type, a token woman (of course a former prostitute), a magic user, and the reluctant hero. (The hero of the story reminded me so strongly of Frodo that I kept being surprised when he looked someone in the eye or was mentioned to be the same height as some other character.) [Edit: Though I've not read the Lord of the Rings books in 20+ years, so my memory of the character might be off.]

There were a dozen or so typos in the book (self-published, so not too surprising). I liked the story enough that I had marked them down to send to the author, in case he wanted to update it, but an OS update to my ipad erased all my markers. They were all of the sort that a normal spellchecker wouldn't catch but a human editor would/should. Almost all of them were ",." or ".," at the end of sentences. (Things like this make me love my spellchecker at work even more; it catches punctuation issues, space issues, all sorts of things!)

There was one big plot point I didn't understand: One of the party members was planning to betray the party, and he was the most unpleasant, argumentative, disagreeable person from the get-go. Why, if you were trying to get people to trust you enough to let you come with them to the final goal, would you belittle them, argue over everything, and outright mock them? (This isn't a spoiler, it was clear from the beginning that he was going to betray them.)

Other than the few typos, I have to say that I really enjoyed the technical aspects of Blake's writing. He knows how to use a semicolon, and had a free hand with them. I enjoyed the pace, his writing style, and he constructs darned nice sentences.

His descriptive work was enjoyable as well. The enemy forces (an undead army), came to life (so to speak...).

Characterization was more along the lines of characters filling a role: Reluctant hero, hooker with a heart of gold, helpful beastmaster/shifter/ranger, grumpy betrayer warrior. The (living) bad guy suffered the most from this -- he didn't interest me at all, and it's usually the bad guys I find the most fascinating.

The ending of the book was great... except it wasn't the ending. I was near the end of the book, and the story seemed to wrap up (as much as the end of the first book of a trilogy would). There was a final perfect sentence that left me smiling... then I noticed there was still 4% of the book left. What could it be? Maps? Preview of the next book? I scrolled to the next page and it was another chapter. The "additional" chapters after that weren't bad at all, but if it had ended where I thought it was, it would have been a perfect ending.

So, even though I've had a number of criticisms of this book, I would still recommend it. It was a fun adventure. If you ever played D&D or read a fantasy book, it will be familiar in a good way. I'm planning on getting the next two books, once my To Read pile shrinks a bit more.

Current Mood: tired

The Art of the Last of Us by Naughty Dog Studios (Author), Rachel Edidin (Editor). (Credit listed as appears on Amazon page.)
(Book received for free for review from Diamond Book Distributors.)

I don't play many video games. WoW aside, it's been years since I last played a "real" video game -- one that requires skill at jumping, eye–hand coordination, ability to figure out puzzles, etc. I love them, I happily watch walk throughs and reviews and such, but I'm old and slow and thus they tend to be more frustrating than fun to me.

All that being said, an "The art of..." book is perfect for me. (Well, perfect-perfect would be me hiring someone to play the games while I watch, but that's not exactly reasonable.)

The commercials for The Last of Us really caught my eye. It seemed like a game with a great story, and I was wondering how I could experience more of it without actually trying to play it myself. Perfect timing to review this book!

I love it so much! It made me want to play the game even more! The art was so beautiful and in some cases I could barely believe it was hand (or computer) drawn, it looked like a photo. Lots of background info about the story and the development production as well.

If you like games, you should check out this Art of... book. One small warning: There are what seem to be giant spoilers in it, so play the game first and then check it out.

---

Side note: I know my review/non review post ratio has been wacky in the last week or two. All these graphic novels are so quick to read. I find I like "real" (normal, whatever -- "traditional"?) books better though, so this will likely be the last of them, unless something catches my eye.

Also, this book falls under the umbrella of "Book #30", the catchall for books too short for me to usually count.

Current Mood: productive

The Thrilling Adventure Hour by a collection of artists and writers.
(Book received for free for review from Diamond Book Distributors.)

Book description from Amazon:
"Based on the popular Hollywood stage show and Nerdist Industry podcast, The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a rip-roaring adventure anthology in the tradition of old-time radio serials, brought to you by a carnival of Hollywood and comic's finest! In a timeless collection of original genre tales that harken back to the heyday of old-time radio entertainment..."

I enjoyed the artwork and liked the "old timey" ads, but unfortunately the stories/humor didn't work for me. I did worry they might not, since the Nerdist podcast doesn't work for me (even though I consider myself a nerd/geek type person). There was nothing at all wrong with the stories, they just weren't a good match for my tastes. (I actually feel bad for not liking it. It seemed a spiffy idea and a neat book, it just wasn't for me.)

On a record-keeping note, I decided I'm going to count all graphic novels, kids' books, and anything else I'm not officially counting as one book. If you add them all together, that should work out to be about fair. Any future ones will also be included in #30.

So, so far, "Book #30" includes:
The Thrilling Adventure Hour (GN)
G.I. JOE Volume 1: Homefront (GN)
Goliath's Secret (K)
The Compassionate Warrior (K)
Custer's Last Battle (K)
One Hen (K)
The New Ghostbusters Volume 1 (GN)
Shadow Squadron: Elite Infantry (GN)

GN: Graphic Novel, K: Kids' book

Man, my memory. Scrolling back through my 2013 books to make that list, I forgot most of the first 20 or so I read.

Also, I'm 90% through the "real" (non-graphic novel) book I'm currently reading. Slowest Book Ever (took me TWO WEEKS to get this far!). It's not bad at all, so it's a mystery why it's taking me so long. Expect a much longer review than this one once I finally finish it.

Current Mood: hot

G.I. JOE Volume 1: Homefront by Steve Kurth (Contributor) and Fred Van Lente (Contributor)
(Book received for free for review from IDW Publishing.)

Homefront takes place a while after the previous GI Joe graphic novel I reviewed (G.I. Joe: The IDW Collection). The public now knows the GI Joe team exists, so the government tosses a bunch of money at the team to make them into public figures (heroes) to the American people. The members of the team get silly (yet familiar) code names: Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Quick Kick -- all the names we've known the characters as. They hate it, which makes it all the more amusing.

As in the previous novel, the storyline is geared to an adult audience (woot!). There's graphic torture (or as graphic as can be in a drawn picture), and more than in the previous novel, sex has been ramped up. Oh boy am I tired of seeing the Baroness's crotch. They draw her body suit with a seam up the middle of her crotch, which gives the impression that you're seeing more than you really are. I suppose it thrills the fanboys, but for me not so much. Also, she tends to be draw in uncomfortable-looking poses with her butt sticking out (reminds me of the Hawkeye project, where artists drew him in the silly "sexy" poses female comic book characters end up in).

Unfortunately my favorite character got shot early on, so he spent much of the story as an unconscious body they were lugging around.

The artist (or artists?) is different than in the previous novel. I like the previous artwork better, but I have no issues with the art in this one -- it's nicely realistic.

So! If you like GI Joe and like graphic novels, you should check out Homefront... but only after you've read the previous ones.

[As usual, I'm not counting graphic novels towards my 50 per year, thus this review isn't numbered.]

Current Mood: tired

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September 2023

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Page Summary

Book #39: Island of Fog, Surviving the Fog
Book #38: The Island (Also: Unpacking)
I gave up on a book and found a mystery
Book #36: The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book #37: Sky Jumpers
Doglands out, Knife of Never Letting Go in (Coincidentally two books with dogs!)
Four books (Uglies, Choose Your Own Adventures for adults, Flesh Cartel, Doglands), RP, move
Book #35: The Commodore's Daughter
Book #"30": The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series, Book One
Book #"30": G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files Volume 1
The Troop: A lie
2013 book: The Troop
Book #34: The Flesh Cartel
Book #33: Graceling, Book #34: The Flesh Cartel
Where do I Live? / More on Orange is the New Black
It’s a Feudal, Feudal World / Kenta and The Big Wave / Orange is the New Black
Book #32: Wool and Iron Man 3
Book #31: Blood of the King
Book #30: The Art of The Last of Us
Book #30: The Thrilling Adventure Hour
2013 book: G.I. JOE Volume 1: Homefront

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Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Entries tagged with 2013 books

Book #39: Island of Fog, Surviving the Fog

Book #38: The Island (Also: Unpacking)

I gave up on a book and found a mystery

Book #36: The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book #37: Sky Jumpers

Doglands out, Knife of Never Letting Go in (Coincidentally two books with dogs!)

Four books (Uglies, Choose Your Own Adventures for adults, Flesh Cartel, Doglands), RP, move

Book #35: The Commodore's Daughter

Book #"30": The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series, Book One

Book #"30": G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files Volume 1

The Troop: A lie

2013 book: The Troop

Book #34: The Flesh Cartel

Book #33: Graceling, Book #34: The Flesh Cartel

Where do I Live? / More on Orange is the New Black

It’s a Feudal, Feudal World / Kenta and The Big Wave / Orange is the New Black

Book #32: Wool and Iron Man 3

Book #31: Blood of the King

Book #30: The Art of The Last of Us

Book #30: The Thrilling Adventure Hour

2013 book: G.I. JOE Volume 1: Homefront