Thursday, September 18, 2014
Book Review: The 100
This was a fast read. Typical YA, strong on the romance aspect. I loved the Science Fiction/Dystopian storyline of everyone living in space and waiting for the earth to recover from the apocalypse. Every character has a love interest. I liked the alternating POVs but I feel like it ended very suddenly. The cliffhanger wasn't bad, but it was slightly annoying. I will more than likely read the next book in the series.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Sunday, August 31, 2014
A Review: Of Bone and Thunder
ARC received from NetGalley
3/5 stars
First thing, let’s talk about the
cover. Beautiful, amazing, intriguing. The cover drew me to this book. I love
it. Pure fantasy.
Now let’s talk about the book. I have a hard time connecting with books that
have an epic war at the forefront of the storyline without knowing some
background information. This is where I would have appreciated a LOTR worthy
prologue. The literary world says
prologues are dead, but I think this book deserves one, especially since Of
Bone and thunder is hailed as a LOTR-esque read. From a LOTR reader, what do I
see that this book has in common with LOTR? Dwarves and Dragons and the hint of
an epic battle. Except, I don’t care much for the battle, since, as a reader, I
have not been introduced to the danger of the Slyt’s, as I have been to the
evil of Sauron. I can understand why the soldiers didn’t understand their
mission, because neither did I.
Moving on.
Of Bone and Thunder is told from
multiple points of view. We see through the eyes of the enlisted men at the
forefront of the battlefield, a man on the ground who just might be a secret
weapon in winning this war, and the eye-in-the-sky dragon riders. There is war,
deception, drug use, the mistrust of new technologies, the role of women on the battlefield, and they
are all artfully intertwined.
What did I love? The scenery and the
mixing of magic, dragons, weaponry that deserve a fantasy novel of their own. Our
most captivating characters, Jawn, a trained Thaum (think mind magician with
electricity) and trained military officer in the Kingdom’s army, as well as
Vorly and Breeze with their dragons are the plot points that kept me reading. Not
only were these characters the most captivating, but the scenes were well
written and imaginative. I think I did fly on a dragon while reading this, and
I did that crazy mind-meld thing that Breeze and Vorly did using the crystals. But
what we were given wasn’t enough for me. Deep in my heart, I wanted more
dragons, More magic of the Thaum, More
Jawn, more Vorly and Breeze and Carduus. We are only given hints at the strongest
characters and most interesting storylines, and then they are heavily coated in
jungle sweat and frontline banter and combat. I really wanted to connect with
the front line military men, but since (yes, I know I’m beating a dead horse
here) I have no way to connect with this war, they were simply a lot of static
in the storyline. That being said, Of Bone and Thunder is still a great read.
Does Evans combine the best of
fantasy and military fiction? Yes. Is it for me? Some of it is. I think my
problem is that I just prefer more fantasy and less military fiction
If you’re more into military fiction
than you are into fantasy, this is a good read for you. If you’re fond of
fantasy, but not a fan of military fiction, consider moving on.
#10 books that have stayed with me
I was nominated on Facebook to take the #10 books challenge.
These are the results:
This was a bit of a walk down memory lane. Of course there are plenty of books I would like to add but there just isn't room. Super-boo.
These are the results:
Thursday, August 28, 2014
The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski
I guess I have to give any book that keeps me reading until 5am five stars. Not only did it keep me up until 5am, but when I woke up a few hours later, I turned on the coffee and read until I finished the book. This was a great read. I will say, I could sense a bit of a tragedy coming on, and when I started chapter forty, I wanted to kick myself in the teeth and then I got to the fourth paragraph and all was well with the world.
The Edge of Never starts out sweet and while I felt like I easily could have put this book down during the first few chapters, I didn't, and then it was too late because I didn't want to put the book down. The author gave me everything I wanted from a NA romance read, it wasn't over the top, it wasn't raunchy. There was simplicity and fun and just enough "Deepness" to stick in my heart. My only negative idea was that I did get a little annoyed with every male character wanting to bone Camryn.
Great read.
The Edge of Never starts out sweet and while I felt like I easily could have put this book down during the first few chapters, I didn't, and then it was too late because I didn't want to put the book down. The author gave me everything I wanted from a NA romance read, it wasn't over the top, it wasn't raunchy. There was simplicity and fun and just enough "Deepness" to stick in my heart. My only negative idea was that I did get a little annoyed with every male character wanting to bone Camryn.
Great read.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Review of Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
I came across Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee via
email from Amazon. In this email it was promised that I could read this book
for free. A few clicks later the book arrived in my Kindle. I’m not sure what I
owe Amazon for this, maybe a kneecap or my first born? Or can I simply pay them in gratitude?
So, let’s start from the cover. Can I just say, holy hell,
have you seen anything so beautiful as this? Whoever did the cover work has
talent and I would consider doing certain
things to get a cover like that for one of my books.
Before reading Gates of Thread and Stone, I perused a few
reviews and saw some people liken this book to the Clockwork Princess series by
Cassandra Claire. Well folks, you can’t judge this book on its cover, this is
not your mother’s Cassandra Claire. Actually if Cassandra Claire’s books were
an apple and you picked up Gates of Thread and Stone, you’d be holding a carrot
in your hand. Ergo, they are on opposite sides of the spectrum.
It took me until about 12% before I started really getting
into this book. At first there seemed to be a lot of information that wasn’t
necessary or that I felt should have been reworked to fit into the story
better. And I got a little uncomfortable with all the mackin’ Kai was doing on
her brother. I mean, I have four brothers and not once did I gaze at them as
they slept. Anywho, we find out why later in the book why this is acceptable.
At 37%, the book really picked up, the story got really interesting and things
started to come together a tiny bit, although there was still plenty of
mystery.
I see in my reading progress I noted that at 67%, this book
got really good. And then I couldn’t put it down. Still, while reading I felt
like there was something missing. It seemed to be plagued by vagueness and gloss
and a bit dreamlike. But I kept thinking to myself, this is fantasy, let’s just
go with it. So I’m still on the fence with some aspects of this book. I had a
hard time connecting with Kai, I feel like her character needed more development.
And I guess I’m a selfish reader because I yearned for more uses of Kai’s
ability to dapple with the threads of time. I really enjoyed Avan and Reev’s
characters, and truly, those two are what kept me reading.
Overall, the setup is a Young Adult Dystopia with
magical/fantasy elements. When I step back, I see elements of Hunger Games,
Divergent, and Red Rising, with the cadets and the training, etc. The author
did a great job of mixing the dystopia with the mythology but I wanted more.
There was so much more that could have been said or delved into with
relationships and events instead of glossing over them. So while I enjoyed the
last half of this book very much, I still have that nagging feeling that
something was missing. Also, this is the only book I’ve ever read and kept
asking myself, where is the rest of the world? Are we on a flat plane where
there is only Ninurta, a forest, the void, and Etu Gahl. Humans are mentioned,
a Rebirth, the one week of sun but… where is the rest of the world?
After all is said and done, I find that Amazon knows me a little too
well. It's creepy really.
Bonuses: the ending brought everything together; when I was
done I was satisfied and even consider reading this again.
I recommend this, 3/5 stars.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Review Lux Series by Jennifer Armentrout
My first introduction into the alien/human world created by JLA was by reading Obsession, and I loved it! Over a year later (because I'm cheap and have been stalking this series yet never reading), Obsidian goes on sale for free and I finally swoop down and dig my claws into that mother, and I couldn't put it down.
So here I am, having read the entire series in 7 days (so lucky that the last book was just released), and I loved it all!
This series starts out as YA romance, but I feel by book five all of our favorite characters have definitely become adults, matured & changed, and the romance is very strong, especially in the last 2 books, but it's not overwhelming as in some YA books, there's a whole lotta plot and twists and turns and ups and downs that kept me on my toes and kept me reading. Plenty of humor and awesome one-liners. The ending had me scared for a bit, but it turned out to be perfect.
Now I'm sad that it's over :(
Enter ensuing book hangover...
I'm just going to go ahead and rate all the books in the series 5/5 stars
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Review of HORNS by Joe Hill
Overall, this was a thrilling read! A great mix of love, heartache, godliness, and the supernatural. I enjoyed the ups and downs of the story and many times I felt like I was hanging around my brothers as a kid, the dialog was real.
The only negative I have about this book is the ending, which seemed to drag on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. People were supposed to leave but then showed up again, other characters showed up and the interactions that followed didn't seem to add anything to the story, just drew it out. And how many times to we need to read about Lee beating the crap out of Ig in the bowels of that building? It was a repeated scene that got old.
Overall, a good read. The ending could have been a bit better, and less drawn out. I'm excited for the movie!
4/5 stars
Friday, July 25, 2014
A movie I'm kinda excited about!
I'm reading HORNS by Joe Hill right now (finally)! I was a bit nervous, since Joe
Hill is Stephen King's son, I was afraid of never sleeping again. But
it's good. I'm about 1/2 way through.
Oh, and the trailer = pretty awesome!
Oh, and the trailer = pretty awesome!
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