Book Review, Series, YA Fantasy

Series: The Grisha Trilogy by L.B.

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Shadow and Bone

3.75 Stars. Pretty good for a freshman novel. I liked the pacing and the story and the eastern European influences. I even enjoyed the characters despite their flatness–in most cases. I was glad Alina wasn’t a Mary-Sue. In fact, at every page turn I was holding my breath waiting for it to happen. But it didn’t. IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! I’m grateful for that, at least. I think the romance was a bit weird, especially the orphaned children falling in love. I don’t know if that’s some Freudian thing: to get some sort of thrill out of making two people who are in all actuality family and love each other romantically instead of familial-ly, but it’s a weird trope (or is it a trope? I’m trying to think of other examples…)
I loved that it was original and shows a glimmering light on the future of the series (see what I did there?).

Siege and Storm

2 Stars. Siege and Storm was… how can I say this? … Too quick. A little too reliant on the cliff-hanger ending to keep the series going. The story wasn’t as engaging as the first (you know that character development thing that I always get hung up on? yeah, that). So much happened in such a short amount of time (yeah, I really just said that about over 400 pages), but it was superficial to the core that I felt robbed of a good story. This is such an interesting universe and I felt like most things could have been left out or tweaked to focus on the climax. Not a fulfilling read at all.
The first showed promise, but this installment was less than masterfully executed and, frankly, a disappointment. Hopefully the third will rev up and be a smashing hit, but who knows.

Ruin and Rising

4 Stars. This is the best one of the series. The character growth is much more tangible than the previous two. I wish I could have enjoyed the second one enough to not think that Alina had it all figured out with no struggle whatsoever. Sometimes she would just do things in this story and it would shock me. I’m only assuming she had a natural progression with her powers in the second book to merit her skills in this one because the second book was so intensely boring. I still wasn’t as dazzled as I was by the potential I saw in this series, but it’ll do. I am glad I pushed through and finished this series and that it didn’t end a huge disappointment. I know this has been mostly negative, but seriously it really is the best one of the series.

Book Review, Comedy, Fiction, Memoirs/Autobiography, Romance, Series

Little Women by L.M.A.

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5 stars. What more can I say about this timeless classic?
Never before have I identified as much with the March sisters as I did during this reading. I was totally engaged. The nuances of each character resonated strongly with me. I found myself comparing the Little Women to myself and my three sisters. We had always matched ourselves up with the Marches by age. As the oldest, I was regrettably Meg. As I read, I rearranged us all until every last one fit. I eventually came out as Jo (hurrah), A was Amy, C was Meg, and E was Beth. I know everyone wants to be a Jo and I think I really came out on top, but when you consider the qualifications being that I have a raging temper sometimes towards my sisters it makes more sense. If you find yourself identifying with Beth, who is a literal perfect angel, that is nothing to be ashamed of.
This book is life changing and beautiful. Filled with sorrow and happiness and realistic pettiness between sisters. Writing what you know can have that effect. Thank you Alcott.

Book Review, Dystopian, Fiction, Memoirs/Autobiography, Series

Series: The Handmaid’s Tale by M.A.

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The Handmaid’s Tale

5 Stars. Beautifully written stream of consciousness. A fine reflection on totalitarianism and the exploitation of women. A heart rending story powered by lovely prose and vivid story telling.

The Testaments

3 Stars. I don’t know why Aunt Lydia needed a redemption arc, yet here we are learning about life as an Aunt and the depth of corruption you can easily see when watching the tv show. Maybe I ruined the enjoyment when all I really wanted to do was skip to the back and read the summit on Gilead, but that too was just as disappointing as the rest.

The Testaments didn’t live up to the caliber of her predecessor. The jumbled reminiscent way it was told was a mockery of Offred’s narration instead of a lovely reflection of one of the best dystopian novels ever written.

I don’t want to say that this book was unnecessary, but I will say that it was more of a fantastical miracle of a fan pleaser; something you wouldn’t expect from Atwood–never mind the similarities with modern society.

Book Review, Memoirs/Autobiography, True-Crime

Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by G.H. & K.K.

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3.2 stars. It’s a weird rating, I know. Whatever.

SSDGM is a freeloader, riding on the coattails of the hit podcast: My Favorite Murder. Following the aphorisms developed my Kilgariff and Hardstark, the reader learns to elude murder. ish. At least regarding that subject, I was appreciative of their self-professed anti-expertise.

I wasn’t really suspecting a memoir–and being a lover of a good memoir was suspiciously endeared by it–but it wasn’t too disappointing. I found myself constantly wishing I could just listen to an episode of the podcast instead of turning pages a couple hours every day for a week. I would recommend this book to someone who wants all of the background of the authors and the podcast in one volume instead of bits and pieces throughout the episodes.

 

Book Review, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction

Deception Point by D.B.

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4.5 stars. This book came highly recommended to me and I’m sad that it took me so long to read it. I feel like that comes as quite an insult or at least disheartening blow when you recommend a book it takes you days to read and then the person you recommended it to takes them 4 MONTHS to get through it. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thrilling and captivating, I just got a lot of library books consecutively. I’m sorry and I’m sure you feel very much like Harriet Smith after recommending Romance of the Forest to Robert Martin only to be rejected! Or not, most of that interaction was overplayed by Emma anyway (speaking of which, isn’t Jane Austen absolutely brilliant?)

In any case, Deception Point was thoroughly enjoyable. It was fast paced and suspenseful. And the best kind of suspense too. Like, where I was constant thinking “yep, totally know where this is headed” and then quickly dispelling what I thought were spoilers to anyone who would listen including the person who recommended it to me. And they always responded tersely. That alone should have been an indicator that I was constantly misled.

I’d only ever read one other book by Brown and I was more or less at odds with myself over his broad assumptions. I mean I like a conspiracy theory as much as the next person and I know that this is all fiction, but it seemed a bit far fetched (guess which book it was now, fellow blog readers). Anyway, this was also conspiracy theory ridden, but this time I was riding it like bomb (yeah, like can you imagine me surfing? Me? Someone, who after watching two episodes of River Monsters vowed to never enter any water where she couldn’t see directly to the bottom).

Anyway, the short chapters annoyed me at first. But after the first few I became accustomed to the constantly switching POV and relished each new development. It wasn’t like some books where I pined for one POV in particular (for example, when I would skip ahead to see what happened to the tortoise in Grapes of Wrath because I could care less about whatever else was happening). I genuinely liked all the characters because they were each themselves. Corky was always annoying, Senator Sexton was always terrifying, and Marjorie Tench was always good for an eye roll (and that’s only a fraction of the cast, folks)!

The amount of information given and withheld and given and withheld kept me on the edge of my seat (yes, even though it took me 4 months to read). So why am I giving it 4.5 stars? I don’t know. Something about it didn’t catch me completely. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it and even sent a text that said “I finally finished. Brilliant” to my friend. Maybe it was the fact that I took so long to read it that I didn’t seem as enthralled as I would’ve been if I were completely invested. Perhaps one day I’ll change this rating. For now, I feel most comfortable giving it 4.5.