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One day I will post about something other than books, but today is not that day...
Edge of Extinction by Laura Martin
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The last book I read, Adventurers Guild, delighted me because nothing about it was predictable -- it used none of the usual tropes of YA/MG books. Edge of Extinction used every single one of them...
The book's setting was what first caught my attention: As in Jurassic Park, dinosaurs were cloned back to life. They weren't restricted to one island zoo though, they were everywhere from pets to wild areas. But when they were cloned, they brought a virus back with them as well, one which wiped out 99% of the world's humans. With vastly reduced number, humans were no longer able to control the dinosaurs, and they had to retreat underground to live.
That sounds cool, doesn't it? Unfortunately everything else about this book was the same as so many other YA/MG books -- spunky female main character is an outcast, blah blah blah. I wanted to know more about the world and the dinosaurs, but instead it was all about the social Drama around the girl. Oh, and the Jurassic Park book was now taught in classes...
Based on other reviews, the story does eventually move into the world of the dinosaurs, but this first book also ends right in the middle of the story. I dodged a bullet by stopping reading at 12%.
Staff of Beasts by C.A. Rider
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Lord help me, what even was this? NOTHING, not a single thing in this story made sense. The book opened with a man running away from a monster, certain he was about to die and get eaten. He sees men coming to his rescue, so he stops running and starts laughing. The men start calling out to the guy, who turned out was the prince of this land, but they were too afraid to run in and save him. So the prince just stands there laughing while the monster bats at him. The prince and one of the rescuers stand there have a conversation while the monster is batting at him... Then one of the guards killed the monster and apologized for doing it? I mean, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.
I only reached the 12% point because this was so darned short, but even that much reading was a complete waste of time.
Wolves of the Northern Rift by Jon Messenger
Traditional or self-published: Traditional (I really need more than a binary option for answers to this question... Next year will expand it!)
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
After two bad books, I was really hoping for something better. Sadly this book wasn't it. I gave it a longer chance than I usually would (stopped reading at 6%, but that number was low because it was so long), but it just wasn't worth it.
Set in some steam punk-y world, one full of magic and monsters, some inspector guy was tasked with finding the monsters. The main characters had NO personalities, the world was generic and meh. I checked the reviews, which pretty much said the same thing, so I gave up on this one.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these books: 12% + 12% + 6% = 30%
Previous abandoned book total: 793%
New total: 823%
Currently reading: The Horsemistress omnibus by Tony Bishop. In it flying horses exist, and bond to a human... but only to women... and only to a virgin. Also based on the reviews of the first book, apparently the omnibus has the books in the wrong order, neither in the order the author wrote them nor in order by the timeline. Wheee. Book-order aside, I'm not enjoying it, so I suspect I'll be moving on to some other book soon.
Edge of Extinction by Laura Martin
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
The last book I read, Adventurers Guild, delighted me because nothing about it was predictable -- it used none of the usual tropes of YA/MG books. Edge of Extinction used every single one of them...
The book's setting was what first caught my attention: As in Jurassic Park, dinosaurs were cloned back to life. They weren't restricted to one island zoo though, they were everywhere from pets to wild areas. But when they were cloned, they brought a virus back with them as well, one which wiped out 99% of the world's humans. With vastly reduced number, humans were no longer able to control the dinosaurs, and they had to retreat underground to live.
That sounds cool, doesn't it? Unfortunately everything else about this book was the same as so many other YA/MG books -- spunky female main character is an outcast, blah blah blah. I wanted to know more about the world and the dinosaurs, but instead it was all about the social Drama around the girl. Oh, and the Jurassic Park book was now taught in classes...
Based on other reviews, the story does eventually move into the world of the dinosaurs, but this first book also ends right in the middle of the story. I dodged a bullet by stopping reading at 12%.
Staff of Beasts by C.A. Rider
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Lord help me, what even was this? NOTHING, not a single thing in this story made sense. The book opened with a man running away from a monster, certain he was about to die and get eaten. He sees men coming to his rescue, so he stops running and starts laughing. The men start calling out to the guy, who turned out was the prince of this land, but they were too afraid to run in and save him. So the prince just stands there laughing while the monster bats at him. The prince and one of the rescuers stand there have a conversation while the monster is batting at him... Then one of the guards killed the monster and apologized for doing it? I mean, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.
I only reached the 12% point because this was so darned short, but even that much reading was a complete waste of time.
Wolves of the Northern Rift by Jon Messenger
Traditional or self-published: Traditional (I really need more than a binary option for answers to this question... Next year will expand it!)
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
After two bad books, I was really hoping for something better. Sadly this book wasn't it. I gave it a longer chance than I usually would (stopped reading at 6%, but that number was low because it was so long), but it just wasn't worth it.
Set in some steam punk-y world, one full of magic and monsters, some inspector guy was tasked with finding the monsters. The main characters had NO personalities, the world was generic and meh. I checked the reviews, which pretty much said the same thing, so I gave up on this one.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these books: 12% + 12% + 6% = 30%
Previous abandoned book total: 793%
New total: 823%
Currently reading: The Horsemistress omnibus by Tony Bishop. In it flying horses exist, and bond to a human... but only to women... and only to a virgin. Also based on the reviews of the first book, apparently the omnibus has the books in the wrong order, neither in the order the author wrote them nor in order by the timeline. Wheee. Book-order aside, I'm not enjoying it, so I suspect I'll be moving on to some other book soon.
