Review - Venom and Song (Berinfell Prophecies, Book 2) by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Middle Grade/Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: July 13, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1400315062
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd in Berinfell Prophecies series
Source: Amazon Vine
Rating: 3/5 stars


I was really excited to read this book.  I loved the first book in this series, The Curse of the Spider King, it looked like it was setting up a wonderful epic fantasy series.  This book was okay, but there are just too many characters and too many switches in viewpoint...it is hard to ever really get into the story.

This book picks up right where the first one left off; the Seven are fleeing the Spider King's ambush and going into the hidden elven realm of Nightwish.  In Nightwish they will start their training and learn both how to work together and how to make the most of their abilities.  In the end the big question is; will they be able to confront and defeat the Spider King?

I really really loved the first book and was excited to see what this middle grade epic fantasy developed into.  Well...let's just say this book wasn't as good as I expected.  This book has a major problem that takes away from everything else and that is the number of characters.  The number of characters alone wouldn't be a problem if the authors didn't try to tell the story from all of their individual views.  This results in a story that is very fractured.  In one chapter you might change view point 4, 5, or even more, times.  Rather than giving us a better picture of what is going on, the opposite happens.  Basically everytime I really started getting into the story I'd get jerked away and have to start reading from a different perspective.

The crazy shifting from one character to another leads to another problem.  I didn't care about or really get to understand any of the characters.  The boys' names are so similar (Jimmy, Johnny, Tommy, Jett) that I was always struggling to remember who was who.  Thinking okay Tommy like bows, Jett is strong, etc.  I basically has to stereotype the characterse in my mind to keep them straight.  In addition to this we don't get to spend enough time with any of the characters to really get to understand them and their motives; in general we never hear what they think, just what they do.  Occasionally the authors step back to have a poignant moment with a character, but these are scarce and seem awkward.

Okay, so the above are my main problems with this book.  There were still a lot of things that I did like.  The authors have created a solid fantasy world, that could be extremely engaging.  The action scenes are well done (if fractured because of the constant viewpoint switches).  The story itself is epic in proportions and never drags, it is fairly well paced.  The story wraps up at a good point, but leaves you with an idea about what the next book will be about.

Overall, I am sad to say, that because of the number of characters whose viewpoint you read from I found the story fractured, anagonizing to get through, unengaging, and filled with characters that I never could really care about.  I had enough trouble getting through this book that I probably won't read anymore in the series.  This is too bad because I love the world that the authors have created and think this could end up being a wonderful epic fantasy series.  Maybe if future books try and focus on just a couple characters they will better and I will give them a shot.  As of now though, I think I will skip future books.  I would recommend the Fabelhaven series by Brandon Mull or John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series in place of this series; both are great fantasy series aimed at the Middle Grade audience.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

 

In My Mailbox and Mailbox Monday - 12/6

IMM is a meme started at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.

Anyone can participate in IMM and you are not limited to only sharing books that arrive via your mailbox. You can also share books that you've bought or books that you've gotten at the library.

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. 


This week I got eight books.  A lot of them were free e-books.  The first I got was through the Amazon Vine program and was: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand.

Then I got two audio books this week also which I downloaded from Audible.com these were: 
First Among Sequels (Thursday Next, Book 5) by Jasper Fforde and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Then HP Mallory contacted me and asked if I would review the next e-book in her Jolie Wilkins series, so I downloaded  Toil and Trouble (Jolie Wilkins, Book 2) by HP Mallory through Smashwords...thanks Mallory for the opportunity to read this book!

I downloaded Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison from netgalley.com.  This is going to go to the 2011 Debut Author Challenge I am participating in next year.

I also downloaded three more e-books that I found online for free and have been wanting to read for a while: Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey, For the Win by Cory Doctorow, and  Makers by Cory Doctorow.

That's it for this week.  See below for more info on these books!  Hope that you all have a great week of reading!
 
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

First Sentence: "In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees."
From Amazon.com: "In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has apurpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart."

Audio Books:

First Among Sequels (Thursday Next, Book 5) by Jasper Fforde

First Sentence: "The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was again the lead story in The Owl that morning."
From Amazon.com: "Beloved for his prodigious imagination, his satirical gifts, his literate humor, and sheer silliness, Jasper Fforde has delighted book lovers since Thursday Next first appeared in The Eyre Affair, a genre send-up hailed as an instant classic. Since the no-nonsense literary detective from Swindon made her debut, literature has never been quite the same. Neither have nursery rhymes, for that matter. With two successful books of the Nursery Crime series under his belt, Fforde takes up once again the brilliant adventures of his signature creation in the highly anticipated fifth installment of the Thursday Next series. And it’s better than ever. 

It’s been fourteen years since Thursday pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday’s got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what’s going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that’s not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds. 

Packed with word play, bizarre and entertaining subplots, and old-fashioned suspense, Thursday’s return is sure to be celebrated by Jasper’s fanatical fans and the critics who have loved him since the beginning."

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

First Sentence: "No! I don't want the mangosteen."

From Amazon.com: "In this Time Magazine top 10 book of the year, Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man; (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions. This title has been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. This title was also on the best book lists of the year for Library Journal and Publishers Weekly."


eBooks:

Toil and Trouble (Jolie Wilkins, Book 2) by HP Mallory

 

First Sentence: "It was all I could do to open my eyes and take in my surroundings."

From Smashwords.com: "After defending herself against fairy magic, Jolie Wilkins wakes to find the creatures of the Underworld on the precipice of war. While Jolie has one goal in mind, to stake the vampire who nearly killed her, she also must choose between the affections of her warlock employer and a mysteriously sexy vampire. Jolie's life will be turned upside down when she's thrust into the shock of a lifetime." 

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

First Sentence: "

From NetGalley.com: "What do you do when the five people you meet in limbo all want you to go to hell?
Bridget Duke is the uncontested ruler of her school. The meanest girl with the biggest secret insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don’t worship as attentively, teachers don’t fall for her wide-eyed “who me?” look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she’s always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore.
When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she’s wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she’s inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.
And Bridget’s about to learn that, sometimes, saying you’re sorry just isn’t enough.…"

Butcher Bird by Richard Kadrey

First Sentence: "They say when your head gets chopped off, it can still see and hear for a few seconds, so I'll have to do with beheading," said Spyder Lee to Lulu Garou.
From Amazon.com: "Spyder Lee is a happy man who lives in San Francisco and owns a tattoo shop. One night an angry demon tries to bite his head off before he's saved by a stranger. The demon infected Spyder with something awful - the truth. He can suddenly see the world as it really is: full of angels and demons and monsters and monster-hunters. A world full of black magic and mysteries. These are the Dominions, parallel worlds full of wonder, beauty and horror. The Black Clerks, infinitely old and infinitely powerful beings whose job it is to keep the Dominions in balance, seem to have new interests and a whole new agenda. Dropped into the middle of a conflict between the Black Clerks and other forces he doesn't fully understand, Spyder finds himself looking for a magic book with the blind swordswoman who saved him. Their journey will take them from deserts to lush palaces, to underground caverns, to the heart of Hell itself."

For the Win by Cory Doctorow

First Sentence: "In the game."
From Amazon.com: "In the virtual future, you must organize to survive

At any hour of the day or night, millions of people around the globe are engrossed in multiplayer online games, questing and battling to win virtual “gold,” jewels, and precious artifacts. Meanwhile, others seek to exploit this vast shadow economy, running electronic sweatshops in the world’s poorest countries, where countless “gold farmers,” bound to their work by abusive contracts and physical threats, harvest virtual treasure for their employers to sell to First World gamers who are willing to spend real money to skip straight to higher-level gameplay.

Mala is a brilliant 15-year-old from rural India whose leadership skills in virtual combat have earned her the title of “General Robotwalla.” In Shenzen, heart of China’s industrial boom, Matthew is defying his former bosses to build his own successful gold-farming team. Leonard, who calls himself Wei-Dong, lives in Southern California, but spends his nights fighting virtual battles alongside his buddies in Asia, a world away. All of these young people, and more, will become entangled with the mysterious young woman called Big Sister Nor, who will use her experience, her knowledge of history, and her connections with real-world organizers to build them into a movement that can challenge the status quo.

The ruthless forces arrayed against them are willing to use any means to protect their power—including blackmail, extortion, infiltration, violence, and even murder. To survive, Big Sister’s people must out-think the system. This will lead them to devise a plan to crash the economy of every virtual world at once—a Ponzi scheme combined with a brilliant hack that ends up being the biggest, funnest game of all.

Imbued with the same lively, subversive spirit and thrilling storytelling that made LITTLE BROTHER an international sensation, FOR THE WIN is a prophetic and inspiring call-to-arms for a new generation."

Makers by Cory Doctorow

First Sentence: "Suzanne Church almost never had to bother with the blue blazer these days."
From Amazon.com: "Perry and Lester invent things: seashell robots that make toast, Boogie Woogie Elmo dolls that drive cars. They also invent entirely new economic systems. When Kodak and Duracell are broken up for parts by sharp venture capitalists, Perry and Lester help to invent the “New Work,” a New Deal for the technological era. Barefoot bankers cross the nation, microinvesting in high-tech communal mini-startups. Together, they transform the nation and blogger Andrea Fleeks is there to document it.

Then it slides into collapse. The New Work bust puts the dot-bomb to shame. Perry and Lester build a network of interactive rides in abandoned Walmarts across the land. As their rides gain in popularity, a rogue Disney executive engineers a savage attack on the rides by convincing the police that their 3D printers are being used to make AK-47s.

Lawsuits multiply as venture capitalists take on a new investment strategy: backing litigation against companies like Disney. Lester and Perry’s friendship falls to pieces when Lester gets the fatkins treatment, which turns him into a sybaritic gigolo.

Then things get really interesting."

Review - Deadtown by Nancy Holzner (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 326 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: December 29, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0441018130
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Deadtown series
Source: Bought from Half Price Books
Rating: 3/5 stars


This is the first book in Holzner's Deadtown series.  Last I heard Holzner had two books on contract for this series, the second one Hellforged is due out the end of this month.  I was super excited to read this book; it sounded right up my alley.  Zombies, demons, and a kick-butt heroine!  Well I was a little disappointed; this was an okay book but not great.  Some of the story line is really interesting, but the majority of characters are annoying and hard to love.

Vicki is a shapeshifter and makes a living fighting and slaying people's demons.  She lives in Deadtown, which is where all of the paranormals were forced to live after a big plague hit the downtown area and left a big portion of the city population zombified.  Vicki is dating a werewolf politician named Kane who is fighting for paranormal rights.  When a Hellion from Vicki's childhood makes an appearance in her life, she will have to figure out how to defeat it.  In addition to dealing with that there is a lab that is studying genetics of paranormals that keeps trying to kidnap Vicky for research.

There were some good things about this book: I enjoy the way demons are dealt with and how Vicki can journey into people's dreams to face them.  I love how Vicki has a detailed history and good explanation for how she was trained to fight demons...I hate it when characters suddenly know how to kick butt without any training.  The idea of Deadtown and the politics behind paranormal rights was interesting, but has been dealt with by other authors. 

There were also a lot of things I didn't like about the book.  I did not enjoy Vicki much as a character or enjoy any of the side characters all that much.  They are all kind of jerks.  Vicki just doesn't generate the kick-buttness of some of her female counterparts in urban fantasy;for example Kate from the Kate Daniels series, Gin from the Elemental Assassin series or Jane from the Jane Yellowrock series are much tougher, easier to love, and just all around more interesting.  I even think that Lucy Snyder's Spellbent has a more interesting heroine...although she's not an easy character to love at least she is proud of that.  Vicki is kind of neither here nor there. 

Kane as a love interest fizzles, the human guy Vicki is hot for isn't much better.  Both of them are kind of annoying.  If you are going to throw a little romance into the mix the characters should at least have some chemistry and I just don't get that here...  For those who are wondering this is definitely more of an urban fantasy than a paranormal romance; which I like.  In addition to this Vicki's girly zombie sidekick, Tina, makes you want to slap her all of the time.  Tina is seriously unlikable....I think she is supposed to provide comic relief but with all the stealing and disappearing she does she mostly just annoys.

The pace of the book is good and the writing is very easy to read.  The story is interesting enough and wraps up well.

So overall this is an okay book, but urban fantasy has a ton of great books out there right now that are a lot more engaging and creative than this book was.  This is something to pick up if you have read through all of the really awesome stuff and need something to hold you for a bit.  I recommend the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, the Dorina Basarab series by Karen Chance, the Spellbent series Lucy Snyder, and the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter over this one.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge Book List
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

 

Graphic Novel Review - The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1) by Kazu Kibuishi (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Children's/Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Size: 192 pages
Publisher: GRAPHIX
Release Date: January 1, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0439846813
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Amulet series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars


I picked this up at the library as I was perusing through graphic novels appropriate for kids.  This one looked neat, had great artwork, and didn't seem too complicated for a young child.  We ended up not reading it together because it got a bit too scary for my son, but I read it on my own and really enjoyed it!

Emily and Navin are moving into their mother's old childhood house; after the death of their father in a car accident their mother can't afford their old house and they are being forced to move.  In this house Emily finds a mysterious Amulet.  There are also dark things in this house and Emily, Navin, and their mom accidentally find themselves thrust into a paralell world.  When their mother is captured by a monster it is up to Emily and Navin to save her; the Amulet proves itself to be a great tool...but it also seems to have motives of its own.

I tried reading this graphic novel with my four year old son and he was enchanted by the drawings and the story; unfortunately with parents getting hurt/killed and monsters creeping through dark house it just got too scary for him.  He is very into some of the Leap Frog Tag books that are graphic novels and so I thought this would be a neat book for him; but I would recommend this to kids in the 7 or older age range.  It's just a bit too scary for younger kids and some of the concepts underlying the story flew right over my son's head.

The art in this graphic novel is well done; the characters are a bit sketchier than I am used to seeing but the color is done really well and the environments are beautiful.  The story is definitely of the dark fantasy variety.  You have creepy houses, mysterious monsters, and kids fighting to survive.

I enjoyed the fantasy and adventure elements; kids journeying to another world and questing to save their mother.  I also enjoyed the added complexity of the Amulet and how it seemed to have a personality of its own.  Emily and Nevin are great characters; they each have their own strengths and bring good things to the story.  Emily has a lot of adolescent issues she is working through; she feels displaced and abandoned because of the move and her father dying.  The story gets increasingly complex and has enough subtle undertones to keep me interested as an adult.  The pace was wonderful, there were no slow parts here.

This book ties up the main story but starts up another story that will continue on in the next book.  I thought the drawing of the characters could have been a bit better but was very impressed by the backgrounds.  There are some creative ideas here and some we have seen before.

Overall I really enjoyed this graphic novel.  I will definitely be reading the next one.  I think this would be appropriate for ages 7 and up; it is a bit too scary for younger kids.  Reading this book has made me take a look at other of Kibuishi's works; I would like to read his Flight series at some point too.  Fans of adventure and fantasy will find a lot here to love.  This book had a dark fairy tale quality to it that keeps the reader engaged and wondering.

 

The Book Blogger Hop: December 3-6th

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and runs from Friday to Sunday. The Hop is a fantastic way to get your blog noticed more and visit some other cool blogs that you didn't know about before. Head over and sign up and see what you can find!

Each week a different twist will be added to the hop so that everyone gets to know each other better so here's my little bit of information this week.

"What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review?"

This has happened to me a couple of times.  Usually it is with the young adult paranormal genre.  I don't know if it because I am older and the genre isn't aimed completely at my demographic, or because I have read a ton and have higher standards for books.  Two YA books that were totally hyped that I did not like were Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and PC Cast/Kirsten Cast's first House of Night book Marked.

I went ahead and posted my reviews for them anyway; it made me feel a bit awkward (especially since I knew with the rabid fans out there my amazon review would get negged).  But I posted it anyway because I figure it is good for readers to get another perspective on the novel.  I tried to be very specific about what I did and didn't like and why the books didn't appeal to me.  All I can hope is that it helped someone else decided whether or not they wanted to read the book.  If the things that didn't appeal to me don't bother them than they will probably like it, if not then maybe I saved them some time reading a book that would be unpleasant for them.