Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

Beasts of Tabat by Cat Rambo.

Quick synopsis: Set in a world where all sorts of mythical creatures are enslaved by humans, a "shifter" (were-animal) who can't shift and THE BEST FIGHTER TO EVER STEP FOOT ON THE PLANET live their lives and don't really do much.

Brief opinion: I rated this five stars in 2017, but eight years later I could barely finish it. One of the two main characters was the worst, but clearly the author loved her. [Reread from 2017, original review here.]

Plot: In a world where most gladiators hold the top position for two to three years max, Bella has been the champ for 20+ years. This may or may not be because even the gods love her.

Teo is a shifter who cannot shift, so his family sends him off to serve the church for life instead. Teo has issues with that plan, so runs off to the city to find his (and everyone's) hero Bella.

For the first 90% of the story there is really not much happening, just the two living their lives. By the time the plot started picking up in the last 10%, my interest was completely gone. Something something revolution in the city building.

Writing/editing: There were some editing issues.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: Bella was the worst character ever. Too good, too perfect, most of her chapters (half the book) were just her having sex and being loved.

Teo's chapters were somewhat more interesting, but the book lost my attention pretty early on.

The only thing I really liked was the world: The "Beasts" (all sorts of mythical creatures of varying intelligence, from animal to smarter than humans) were all owned slaves, and they were the most interesting part of the story. I wish the book had been about them.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️ ½ - Hated

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Flight Plan by Eric Walters.

Quick synopsis: In an instant, anything with a computer chip in it stops working. This includes planes in the sky. This story follows the next couple months after a flight crew has to make an emergency landing.

Brief opinion: Entertaining if you don't think too much about anything in the story.

Plot: 13 year old Jamie is on a plane when every piece of technology in the world stops working. Luckily that plane had only just barely started taking off, otherwise this would have been a very short book.

Once they crash/land, the flight crew bands together to take care of their passengers for the rest of time, because that is their Duty™.

The story followed them as they crossed country on foot to get Jamie and the others home.

Writing/editing: Both were fine. The author used a lot of exclamation points, which was odd, but since the main character was a 13 year old boy I tried not to think too much about it.

What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like: If I didn't think much about anything, it was a fun story. But the moment you started thinking about any element of the plot, everything fell apart.

Basically this was an episode of The Walking Dead, just without the zombies. Gangs of bad people, communities of people trying to survive. Nothing really new in the post-apocalyptic genre.

The main character, Jamie, was (supposedly) a 13 year old boy, but the teenager never acted like one -- from the first page he came off as more of a mature adult.

The other characters around Jamie tended to annoy me; they were unrealistically Good and Noble and always did what they thought was Right and Ethical. You could almost read the capital letters on those in the story.

Very oddly, in chapter one it was established that the boy's favorite genre to read was post-apocalyptic/dystopian stories... but never once did he use that knowledge once he found himself in that exact situation. Strange.

Rating: 1-Hated / 2-Disliked / 3-Okay / 4-Liked / 5-Loved: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Sometimes I got grumpy when I thought about this or that, but as long as you keep your brain turned off, this is an entertaining read.

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DNF #37: The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney. The author wanted to write YA for boys, which might be why the characters didn't hook me? Story/setting was okay, but I guess the book just wasn't meant for me. DNFed at 47%.

DNF #38: Semiosis by Sue Burke. The characters in this story were an afterthought, which just didn't work for me. I liked the characters in the first chapter, but each chapter followed a new generation of people. I need to be able to connect with the characters, so this book just wasn't for me. DNFed 13% in.

DNF #39: The Cats of Silver Crescent by Kaela Noel. How could cat characters be so awful! The story and setting didn't work for me either. DNFed at 24%.