Betrayal in the Highlands (The Riddle in Stone Series - Book Two)
The adventure continues with Edmund and his buddy Pond and their faithful sidekick Becky! A great fantasy book with epic sword fights, magic and even a troll. Can't wait for book 3.
Riddle in Stone (The Riddle in Stone Series - Book One)
A worthwhile read for those who love fantasy. It is a bit gorey, and is not for the faint of heart, but clever dialogue and an underdog protagonist that you can't help but root for made me unable to put this book down.Looking forward to book 2.
Fire (Graceling)
"I'm missing two fingers and I have scars all over, but does anyone care? No! It just makes me more interesting! I'll always be like this, stuck in this beautiful form, and you'll have to deal with it."*eye-roll*
As clique and sometimes frustratingly cheesy I'm surprised that I didn't HATE the book, but I didn't LOVE it either. It was the typical YA formula for selling books. Nothing to set it apart - Beautiful protagonist struggling to find her place always in danger, handsome love interest, powers, yada yada. So my review can be summed up with one word: Meh.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Clique.Another predictable YA novel with a selfish girl as the protagonist who wants more than she is given and doesn't care who she hurts/kills in the process. Throw in stupid love triangles and whatever subject is selling the most books (this time zombies) along with some religious zealots (no book is complete without it!) and you've got yourself a "best seller".
Sad thing is the movie is probably coming out next month. Sigh...
The Wolves of Midwinter: The Wolf Gift Chronicles
Not my favorite Anne Rice book. I continued the series just because I didn't want to stop in the middle. I found this book a bit weird for me. Something about wolves mating with humans kind of gives me a bad taste in my mouth.I will say though I adore Anne Rice as a writer. She has a way of writing that makes you feel exactly what she wants you to feel, and see things exactly as she wants you to see them, opening a whole new world to the reader. Its positively beautiful. I'd just prefer not to see bestiality. Not my thing.
The Republic of Thieves
3.5 stars. Good story that kept me entertained but my main issue was with Sabetha. I mean I was excited to finally meet her, and Scott Lynch is wonderful at writing in strong female characters as shown in the last book but I could NOT like Sabetha. And I wouldn't consider her a strong female character. Ezri was my FAVORITE character last book. She was confident, selfless and strong. Sabetha is none of those things.
She was so dramatic and moody and Locke around her acted like a lost puppy dog, falling for every trick in the book. It was sad to read. And even more sad reading about him doing all these grand gestures and for her to continue being a huge bitch. And then wondering why everyone wouldn't listen to her when she's being bitchy and controlling. I just wanted to shake her and say why do you have to make everything so complicated you stupid woman?
She is infuriating. She has a need to analyze EVERYTHING. Just STOP!
I also lost a lot of respect for Locke, who is becoming more and more whiny every book. She's not worth it. Move on. And please stop trying to kill yourself. Its pathetic.
The ending though was awesome and almost redeemed annoyance of the main characters. I look forward to the next book. Hopefully it will be Sabetha free.
Doktor Glass
A decent story about a very interesting premise, but there were some flaws in the execution. Some times the author would repeat himself over and over, and it got slightly irritating, but worth a read.
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
My only issue with this book is I felt that the son was rather selfish, even more so than in the first book. I expected some resolution at the end, like him finally realizing what his father went through, but nothing of the sort. Instead he seemed to just be collecting the story for his own means, not even taking an interest in the contents.
The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel
I haven't been this engrossed in a book since Game of Thrones. Each page turn was a pleasure and a dread, knowing that I was that much closer to this wonderful book ending.It is beautifully written and an incredible debut by the author. I will be watching for anything else written by her!
Some Kind of Fairy Tale: A Novel
This book had the potential to be great but somehow felt flat. I didn't connect with any of the characters, and just found myself hating them. Not a likeable one among the bunch. The description of fairy land seemed like the author was going for beautiful and magical but read like he was a teenager writing a fill in the blank story for his other prepubescent friends to giggle over in class. Especially the one of them swimming in the "ejaculating lake". Does anything sound MORE unappetizing?
I think my dislike for the book turned to all out hatred at this point:
"...And such sluts the women were there! Sluts!"
"Well, yes. The men, too."
"You can't blame the men if the women have their legs open all the time."
Are you fucking kidding me? And this coming from a woman who joined the "sluts" she was describing. I guess men can't be to blame for their desires its the woman's fault. I just.. I can't even start on the things wrong with that statement.
The Darwin Elevator
I received this through the GoodReads first reads program.I really enjoyed this book. I never thought of myself as a science fiction fan. I generally dislike books based in space, but this book took place in space and on land and was a perfect high-tech apocalyptic book.
It kept me engrossed to the very end, although it was hard to become attached to any of the characters. The main character wasn't developed very well I felt, but the action kept me turning pages.
It was a bit hard to get into at first, but suddenly before I knew it I couldn't put it down. Some places however I wish there was a bit more detail as to what was going on. It felt rushed. I'd definitely recommend this for people who enjoy science fiction.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Rosarito Beach (An Agent Kay Hamilton Novel)
For the most part I enjoyed this book. It is definitely action packed and captured my attention to the very end. My main issues with this book lie with the main character. I wanted to like her - her being a bad-ass DEA agent, with a strong personality, but I just couldn't. The focus seemed to be on HOW bad-ass she is, bossing people around, threatening to fire them or suspend them, formulating plans with no regard to herself or others, etc. There seemed to be nothing else to her. Her blaise attitude towards the safety of others made me wonder why bother being in law enforcement? Is it all about the thrill and who cares about everything else?
Even the part where we should see a softer side to her - meeting her long lost daughter fell flat. The scenes between them felt forced and cliche.
I was also kind of annoyed how they portrayed her "strong" personality sexually. Strong women apparently sleep with everyone to get their way. I get it. Strong women are free sexually. But do they really need to screw their way to the top? I just find it kind of insulting that she couldn't just be great at her job and back stab her co-workers, but had to sleep around too with married men. That seemed to contradict how strong she was. Do strong women really need to rely on giving favors to others to get ahead?
Obasan
This was a very difficult book to read, considering my father and his family were sent to the camp at Lemon Creek in British Columbia, where his sister eventually died at a very young age of pneumonia. That has caused me to take a great interest in the lives of Japanese Canadians in World War II, and why I picked up this book.My only issue with the book was that sometimes it was confusing as to which time period it was in as it jumps back and forth between circa 1943 and the "present", however it kept me engrossed to the very end and had some very powerful statements that hit me hard.
Overall a good read.
Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West
Powerful, must read book.
And the Mountains Echoed: a novel by the bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns
This book captured my attention and held it every single page. It's beautifully written as all work by Khaled Hosseini is and made me feel happiness and sadness on every page
Rasputin's Shadow
This book is non-stop action from the very first page. It grabbed my attention and would not let go. A well written thriller, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My only issue is that the characters could have been developed a bit more. I felt he didn't dive into the background of the main character enough. I would have liked to know more about his son and the story there. Other than that a terrific read based off of true events. A warning about technology and just how far it can go.