The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey (2/5 stars)

Previously I have read "Beauty Sleep" by Cameron Dokey, and I liked the story. So, I was excited to read another fairy tale retelling by Dokey. Unfortunately I found this retelling of "Arabian Nights" hard to get through and pretty boring.

Shahrazad is the daughter of a great storyteller. When the King is betrayed by his wife, his heart turns to stone and he vows to marry a young woman each new moon and kill her the next morning. That is unless a young woman comes forward voluntarily knowing she will die the next day. Shahrarad decides it is her destiny to step forward and every morning her life is sparred as she tells a story that has no end.

I had a lot of trouble getting through this book, even though it is relatively short. The language is stilted and somewhat difficult to read. Shahrazad is an uninspiring heroine that, despite talking about how women are always wiser, ends up showing herself to be a weaker character. None of the surrounding characters are any more inspiring. They are all un-emotional and two dimensional.

The stories that Shahrazad tells all have a very transparent moral to them and I didn't find them to be very interesting, engaging, or surprising. I has hoped that either the story itself or the story Shahrazad tells would engage me, but I struggled to get through them despite the fact that the book is very short. The writing seemed, as I said, a bit stilted and immature. I had trouble telling that this book was written by the same author that had written "Beauty Sleep". There is no description of the world, and little description of what the characters are feeling.

All in all this book was a disappointment to me. I am still planning on reading a couple other of Dokey's fairy tale retellings since I did enjoy "Beauty Sleep." Overall if you are looking for an interesting retelling of "Arabian Nights" to read, I would look elsewhere.

Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart (4/5 stars)

I saw this book and just thought it would be an interesting read. Besides who can resist the title "Wicked Plants"?

Basically the book goes through many different types of plants that are "Wicked". This means they are either deadly, illegal, destructive, painful, intoxicating, or dangerous...you get the idea. There are two types of entries in the book. The first are pages dedicated to a single plant. These have an etching of the plant on one page and then a description of why the plant is "wicked" and some history about notable events that the plant has caused. Up in the top corner of the page it tells you a one word "why" of the plant's wickedness ("Destructive", "Deadly"). I liked these entries the best.

The second type of entry is a section on a certain general types of plant. For example there is a section on deadly houseplants. These sections have small sub-sections of different types of plants that they go through; no pictures. I have to mention the print is pretty small in these general sections, might be hard to read for some people. The two types of entries alternate.

The information is amusing and interesting, the etchings of the plants are beautiful; it is too bad they were not in color. I kind of wished that there were more interesting stories about individual plants. I really liked the entries on individual plants the best. I found myself skimming through the second type of entry (general entries briefly describing a ton of plants). These general sections didn't have any nice illustrations and shad very mall print and weren't nearly as interesting as the ones that focused on individual plants. I also thought the illustrations (not the etchings) left a bit to be desired; they were very amateurish and didn't add much to the book.

The book itself is a work of art. The pages are all on off-white paper that looks like vellum, and there is a pretty silk ribbon in the binding for you to mark your spot in the book with.

All in all I enjoyed the book. Not something you would read everyday but it would make a good coffee table book and it is interesting to read through the whole thing once. I am glad I read it.

Waiting on Wednesday - 12/23

Okay "Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week my WoW book is "Keys to the Demon Prison" (Fablehaven, Book 5) by Brandon Mull. The whole Fablehaven series has been absolutely fantastic. If you haven't read it you should. This is the final book in the series and I have been dying to read it. No synopsis yet, but the cover art was released last week.

"Keys to the Demon Prison" (Fablehaven, Book 5) by Brandon Mull
Pages: 544 pages
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: March 23rd, 2010

Kiss of Life (Generation Dead, Book 2) by Daniel Waters (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Generation Dead series by Daniel Waters. The 3rd book "Passing Strange" is due out in June of 2010. This was a great follow-up book to the first book in the series.

This book takes up shortly after Book 1 left off. Adam has re-animated as one of the biotically different (zombie). Unfortunately it is taking Adam a long time to regain any functionality. As a result Phoebe is spending a ton of time looking after him and has cut off any of her relations with Tommy. Meanwhile the edgy zombie "Smiley" has created a group called the Sons of Romero that play pranks on breathers to keep the Zombies in the spotlight. Unfortunately someone is doing pranks that aren't funny at all and they are making it look like the Zombies are responsible; which is starting to unite society against the differently biotic. Thrown into all this mystery is the Hunter Corporation. The Hunter Corporation is supposed to be helping with Zombie rights, but all is not what it seems to be.

There is a ton going on in this book. It is actually a fairly complicated plot. The plot is engaging and the characters are interesting and full of depth. It was a quick read and touches on a lot of political issues of human and undead rights. For the most part I really enjoyed this book. Although as things start to go more and more wrong, I found myself cringing. At the end of this book you can't help but feel that things are going to get really, really bad for all of the characters in the third book.

The most irritating part of this book was the beginning, way too much time was spent on Adam and Phoebe. Especially on listening to Phoebe moan about how Adam saved her, how she feels guilty, and how he needs her. I thought Waters went over this a bit too much and spent too much time driving this predicament into the ground. If this part had been shortened up it would have been a wonderful book indeed.

I also have to mention the horribly chick-lit cover. The cover has nothing to do with the story. The cover also lends the impression that this is some tween bubble gum read, and that it is not. The book is very serious and deals with a lot of serious issues. I am not too big on the book covers picked out for this series, I wish they reflected the material inside a little better.

The above being said, this was a good read. As both the world, the characters, and the plot become more and more complicated I am starting to wonder where this story will lead us. I know last I heard the plan was possibly 5 books for this series. I am wondering with the plot pace and complications, if it will actually be wrapped up that quickly. A good read. If you liked the first book you will like this one too.

Teaser Tuesday - 12/22

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from "Kiss of Life" (Generation Dead, Book 2) by Daniel Waters.

Here it is: "George stared back at him, and Tak thought there may have been the briefest flicker of emotion on his gray, puttylike face as he chewed, but probably not. George was the least expressive zombie that Tak had ever seen." Pg. 62

Mailbox Monday - 12/21

Mailbox Monday can be found at: The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I got two books this week.  Another light week for books, which is good since I already have so many to read.

The first was Viscous Circle (Felix Castor, Book 2) by Mike Carey; acquired through paperbackswap.com. I have heard wonderful things about the Felix Castor series and really look forward to reading it.

The second was "Explorer X-Alpha" by LM Preston; this one I got direct from the author to review.

Check out both books below. Hope you all have a great week! Happy Holidays to you all :-)

"Vicious Circle" (Felix Castor, Book 2) by Mike Carey

First Sentence: "The incense stick burned with an orange flame and smelled of Cannabis sativa."
From Amazon.com: "Felix Castor has reluctantly returned to exorcism after a successful case convinces him that he really can do some good with his abilities---"good," of course, being a relative term when dealing with the undead. His friend Rafi is still possessed, the succubus Ajulutsikael (Juliet to her friends) still technically has a contract on him, and he's still dirt poor.
Doing some consulting for the local cops helps pay the bills, but Castor needs a big private job to really fill the hole in his bank account. That's what he needs. What he gets is a seemingly insignificant "missing ghost" case that inexorably drags him and his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot to raise one of hell's fiercest demons.
When satanists, stolen spirits, sacrifice farms, and haunted churches all appear on the same police report, the name Felix Castor can't be too far behind..."

"Explorer X-Alpha" by LM Preston

First Sentence: "He ran his tongue against his teeth as the inside of hid lip burned and tingled with the sensation of pain."
From Amazon.com: "For most kids, a trip to space camp is the trip of a lifetime for Aadi it was life altering. After receiving a camp immunization needed for travel to Mars, Aadi finds that the immunization is the catalyst of an insidious experiment. He realizes what is happening too late for a change of fate. The full experiment is set in motion when he and his co-pilot, Eirena, crash in a distant galaxy called Shrenas, where they change and realize the full extent of their power. This turn of events forces him to grow up quickly, accept his change, and to decide to save a world, or to do what he was trained to do dominate it. His power is coveted by the warring leaders of Shrenas, and he is forced to choose sides a decision that may prove just how much humanity he has left. "

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (5/5 stars)

I have read a number of DiCamillo books and loved most of them.  I decided to read this book because my son got the movie and I was interested in reading the book before I saw it.  It was a wonderful book!

This book tells the tale of three "people".  Despereaux, a mouse that is too different to be accepted, whose path leads him to fall in love with a human princess.   Despereaux is cast to darkness for his differences.  The second person is Chiaroscuro, a rat who yearns for the light but makes his home in the dungeon.  Then there is Miggery Sow (Mig), a girl whose leads a miserable life and will do anything to become a princess.  All of their fates are intertwined.

This was a great story.  DiCamillo, as usual, does a wonderful job of making the story come alive.  She is just a great story-teller in the most classical sense.  All of the characters are interesting and engaging.  There are a number of morals reinforced through the story.  It is a quick read for an adult, but well worth it.  I really didn't find anything to complain about in this book.

Unlike "The Elephant's Magician" I think younger children could really get into this story.  In fact I started reading it to my three year old son and he didn't want me to stop.  I am pretty sure he doesn't understand all the different messages the story is delivering, but he can get into the story of a young mouse fighting for his Princess. 

I think this is my favorite of all the DiCamillo books that I have read.  People of all walks of life and ages should read this book.  It is a wonderful story.