52 replies to this topic

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Copperhead vol 2 by Jay Faerber

 

I really loved the hints we got into Clara's past before she arrived in Copperhead. I'm really looking forward to the reveal, which I'm hoping we get to see soon. I want to see how it impacts her now in her new position. I also liked the looks into Boo's past, during the war, and getting to see all the resentment that other species have for humans due to that war.

 

4 stars

 

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

When My Heart Was Wicked by Tricia Sterling

 

1.5/1.75 stars. Somewhere around there.

I had a lot of issues with this book. It unapologetically perpetuated harmful stereotypes like that of the "Magical Native American" as well as clearly unresearched misinformation about real Native American nations. It didn't address the main character's mother's homophobia, even playing it as amusing when Lacy laughed at it "despite herself." The book was too short for all the things it tried to tackle--parental abuse, sexual assault, mental illness, magic. It felt rushed much of the time, and while I appreciated and even liked some aspects of the story (such as the magical realism and the surprisingly nuanced portrayal of Lacy's harmful and unhealthy relationship with her mother), in the end it just didn't hold up. The interesting brush with the idea of an unreliable narrator was scrapped to focus on the magic, which I felt cheapened the book's otherwise strong focus on the mother-daughter relationship. And, of course, there was all that cultural appropriation and perpetuation of stereotypes that knocked off most of the stars.

(but damn if that cover isn't the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen. It's about 70% of the reason I bought the book, to be honest.)

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Tome Topple Readathon started today. I didn't read as much as I'd originally planned, but I'm not too concerned. I started two books today: Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff (599 pages) and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (1007 pages). I'm about 3-4% completed with each of them, having read a total of about 70 pages altogether today. I hope the other days I make more solid progress. I wanna finish at least one of these books soon so I can pick up A Court of Mist and Fury. Sarah J. Maas is doing a book signing at the Barnes and Noble like two towns away on May 10th as part of her A Court of Wings and Ruin launch tour and I wanna go, but I wanna be caught up on the series first.

[JimmyxxCindy4EVER]

Then I suggest you best get a move on!

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

End of Days by Susan Ee

(Penryn and the End of Days trilogy #3)

 

3.5 stars

 

Good book, decent end to the trilogy. I think things got wrapped up a little too quickly at the end. It seemed a teeeeeensy bit contrived. I also didn't like how the romance between Penryn and Raffe became so much of a focal point past the first book. I didn't really have a problem with the romance itself--I felt that it was a decent romance and based on actual believable personality compatibility rather than just OMG HOT ANGEL FALLS FOR FRAIL HUMAN like I was expecting at first. However, I think it did move too quickly--I realized that the series takes place over only a week or so, which made it a little harder to believe that this True Love ™ was actually true or love. And as I said, I didn't like how it became such a huge part of the plot. The first book handled the romance aspect the best, in my opinion. It was there, and Penryn and Raffe thought about it now and then, but they both had more important shit to worry about. I would have liked if that had stuck around a little longer.

 

I also liked learning the history of Beliel and the Watchers. I think it was developed fairly well considering it was all in the last book and none of these books are all that long. The final battle at the end was interestingly done and I really liked that. Kinda wish it had gone on longer/been more variance in what the focus was. I also think that the resolution was kinda cobbled together post-battle. I mean, everything wrapped up in like 20 pages. It was rushed and didn't make too much sense, really. So yeah, not a stellar ending to the book itself, but the book as a whole did a decent job of ending the series arc. Penryn's story is finished and that's what we were focusing on, so I guess in that respect the end was alright. Just kinda underwhelming otherwise, though.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kauffman

 

LOVED this book. It was a little slow at the start--I guess I expected to start during the invasion of Kerenza rather than with a pair of interviews immediately after the fact--but the story quickly picked up. I really liked the pacing. It had a sort of five act structure to it--the first climax was the Copernicus incident, the second was the first Lincoln battle, then the third was the journey to the Alexander/second Lincoln battle and the aftermath of it. Each climax was bigger and had higher stakes and I kept spiralling deeper and deeper into this book. I think a big part of it was the unique format. Surveillance footage descriptions and IMs, primarily, were a great way to get into the story of what was going on. I only ever knew as much as the characters did, which wasn't much for the majority of the story. And although the format made it hard to get a solid grip on the worldbuilding, I think it actually benefitted the story to be as confused as I often was. The whole plot hinged on the characters being misinformed, lied to, and having to hack computer systems to retrieve information that was deliberately hidden from them. They were just as confused as I was, just as out of the loop and constantly thrown by how much they were learning and how messed up it really was.

 

Secondly, I really loved AIDAN. It was probably the most original portrayal of an AI I've seen in fiction. It was both ominous and sweet, in a way. I loved getting to see AIDAN's POV so often, seeing its thought process. AIDAN was fascinating.

 

And the format of this book. Was. So. Goddamn. Beautiful. There were so many pages that were honestly just art. Black pages with white text layed out in shapes (special mention goes to the pages with binary shaped like the blips on a heart monitor), great use of different fonts and font sizes/colors to emphasize the cacaphony of so many different voices at once (inter-ship comms during the first battle with the Lincoln, anytime AIDAN's POV shows it talking with a human). SO MANY COOL THINGS. I loved seeing the interesting and original ways the text was layed out. It really enhanced the atmosphere of the story and the emotional impact of the story.

 

I can't wait to read the second book, and I also can't wait to reread this one. I've heard the audiobook is great, so I think I'll try that next time, possibly in combination with another physical copy, just because I want to look at it again. It's a beautiful book. Really, really aesthetically pleasing. It was so fun to read.

 

solid 5 stars.

 

Some examples of the cook formatting you find in this book:

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said, COOL STUFF.

[Mara=^.^=]

This looks awesome! I'll have to check it out.

 

~*Mara*~ = ^.^ =

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

(A Court of Thorns and Roses #2)

 

I certainly see why most people like this book so much more than the first. I sure did.

 

It's not a perfect book, not by any means, but I do think that overall it was a big improvement on the first. I liked the characters a lot more than I did in ACOTAR. Feyre was more likable, and we actually got to see who Rhysand was as a character, and Feyre's sisters were also better developed and more likable as well. I loved seeing the Night Court, and the Summer Court as well. Getting insight into how the faerie side of Prythian was delineated and how the cultures between faerie/fae and human differed was fascinating--and how the cultures between the faerie courts differed was even more so.

 

Most of all, I really enjoyed the tremendous character development that this book had. Feyre grew <i>so much</i> over the course of this book. I loved the focus that it got. This was primarily a character driven book, whereas I think the first book was primarily a world and plot driven book. I'm hoping that ACOWAR fuses the two well.

 

And another pleasant surprise about this book--there was soooooooooo much less sex than I was originally led to believe. Everyone I follow for reviews all gave me the impression that this book would be full of sex scenes in pretty much every chapter. "There's a lot more sex in this book than the last one, so watch out for that!" Except...there wasn't that much. Like, not really that much more than the first book, even. It was more explicit, yes, but as for the percentage of the content that was sex scenes, it was very little. Like, maybe two or three scenes near the beginning, and then a chapter or two near the end with several. But mostly it was just actual story. So, if you're concerned about reading this installment due to hearing about the sex scenes, don't be. There aren't that many, and they can be skipped over/skimmed over easily if you're not really comfortable reading those. I was fine with reading them, but for some reason they only seemed to come up whenever I was trying to read during my breaks at work. My coworkers will occasionally look over my shoulder to see what I'm reading, so I really didn't want them to do so in the middle of winged faerie sex scenes because...awkward.

 

Anyway, VERY excited for the final installment. This one really raised my interest in this world and characters and I want to know how it all ends.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History (Great Courses Lecture Series) by Bart D. Erhman

 

This was really interesting! I loved learning about all the different types of controversies there were in chuch history, and the different sides to them as well as the reasons those controversies exist at all. It was really fascinating to have so much historical perspective on these issues. It helped clear up what is known about early church beliefs and how those differ from modern ones, as well as show that what is considered controversial today might not have been considered such two thousand years ago. I'd definitely be interested in listening to any other lectures he's done, or reading any books he's written. Very informative but easy to digest and comprehend.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

How to Steal a Dragon's Sword by Cressida Cowell

(How to Train Your Dragon #9)

 

The last of the HTTYD books I currently own.

 

4.5 stars

This series is really picking up again. I remember being vaguely disappointed when I read the eighth book, not because I disliked it or anything, but because I felt that the plot threads had taken too many books to start coming together. I wished that they had done so a bit earlier in the series. I think it was during the seventh book when I started to wonder if there really was an end-game in sight for the series, or if it was doomed to be one of those children's series that never really ends satisfactorily. I can see with this installment that that won't be the case. The stakes will continue to rise as we go on and I anticipate the series having a very satisfactory conclusion.

However, that said, I stand by my earlier statement that I wish these plot threads had been more obviously tied together earlier in the series. If I didn't already own up through this book (having received them in a box set as a gift a couple years ago) I honestly don't think I would have read this far. If I'd been taking them all from the library or purchasing them individually myself, I probably would have stopped after the seventh book, if I'm being honest. I wasn't at all convinced that the plots would tie together and the series would have a purpose. I would have given up if I wasn't determined to read all the installments that I already owned. As glad as I am that I read this far and was able to tell that it will likely be worth it in the end, I do consider it a serious flaw of the series that the connected plots weren't clear early on. I feel that this lack of clear overarching plot has probably deterred a lot of other readers who have since given up on the books. And I'm not just saying this as an adult who loves reading children's books. I know for a fact that if I were still an elementary or middle school student reading these books--the target audience age group--I would have given up on the series if I thought there wasn't a point to it all. If I were twelve years old and reading these books, and didn't see the plots start to weave together after a few books, I absolutely would have put them down and not looked back. I did so with plenty of series when I was that age. The fun and humor of the characters wouldn't have mattered as much in the face of a seemingly episodic plot. Even as a child, I just wasn't really into that sort of thing. I wanted substance. If I didn't see it, I would have been a lost reader.

That got a bit rambly, but I'm sure you get my point. This series probably could be half the number of books that it is and still have the important plot points retained if a lot of the more random stuff had been cut. And the series, honestly, would be better for it. This is not to say that I don't enjoy the series as it is now--I've consistently rated the books three or more stars and always enjoy my time reading each book--but I would certainly enjoy it more if it were a bit more concise.

I'm also starting to realize--and this is probably going to make me a pariah among the fans of the books--but I think I like the Dreamworks adaptations better. *hides in a dark hole* I like the cast of characters as a whole better in that version, and the slightly more mature storylines are just a better fit for me.

 

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

(Heroes of Olympus #1--sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians)

 

Not quite as fun as the original Percy Jackson series, but still very enjoyable. It took a little white for me to get really invested in what was going on, though. I think in general the characters were harder to get attached to. Jason seemed a little too classic hero. He seemed to recover the correct memories at the moments they were most helpful a bit too often. I thought the whole lost memory thing wasn't handled that well in general, actually. It was rather noncommittal. And Piper was very...generic. Like even though we got her POV and her backstory was elaborated on a lot, her personality wasn't really all that developed beyond generic love insterest girl is a generically likeable person. My favorite of the three POV characters was definitely Leo. Maybe that was because he reminded me the most of Percy. And I really missed Percy in this book. I'm fairly certain we'll see him again in the next book, just judging by the title, but not seeing him in this one was really sad. I think he and Leo would get along really well. I hope they become friends.

 

That aside, I do understand that, while a sequel series, this isn't just Percy Jackson 2.0. Piper, Jason, and Leo are different people from Percy and have their own journeys to complete. I anticipate liking this series a lot, especially once I can get rid of my expectations for it to be just like Percy's one.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi, narrated by Terri Hatcher

 

quick summary: In the far future, a girl named Eva Nine lived in an underground sanctuary with her robot caretaker, Multi-Utility Task-Help Robot 06, or MUTHR for short. MUTHR trains her in survival skills and other general knowledge to prepare her for a day when she can hopefully journey to the surface and explore Earth herself, hopefully meeting other humans in the process. But one day their sanctuary is attacked by an unknown intruder, and Eva must flee before she is ready, hoping that what she has learned will be enough to survive on the surface. The world she finds when she emerges is nothing like what she expects. She needs to learn how to survive in this strange world that her survival skill lessons could not prepare her for, relying on the help of a local wonderer named Rovender as he guides her toward the capital city in search of answers and, hopefully, other humans.

 

 

 

I LOVED this book.

 

Absolutely adored it.

 

The narration was on point, always. Fantastic presentation by Terri Hatcher. She really captured Eva's voice and childlike innocence and wonder at the strange new world she found herself in. And she managed to make MUTHR, who is a robot mind you, have a wide range of emotions. I listened to this primarily on my commute to and from work over the course of a week, and it made that commute so enjoyable. This book is everything I would have loved as a child. Discovery, adventure, strange new beings and worlds, and a heroine who, while smart and creative in her problem solving, wasn't perfect. And it also has everything I love now in my books--strong, realistic relationships between the main cast as well as all the above mentioned. I adored the sort of father/daughter like relationship that Eva developed with Rovender over the course of the book, especially during the times she was separated from MUTHR and during her important discoveries near the end. He was a really solid foundation for her and he always had her best interests in mind. I just have a lot of very strong, positive feelings about Rovender. I liked him instantly and he quickly became my favorite.

 

I am very excited for the next installment and can't wait to see what happens. If I could give this more than five stars, I would.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Update on my reading challenge:

 

I have read 23 books so far, which puts me one ahead of my Goodreads Challenge. This is partially because I've been binge reading the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. While I am counting those toward my reading goal, I am not going to be writing review for them. I have already watched both anime series, so I already know everything that happens, more or less, so this isn't really a new experience for me. I'm really just reading them because I want to see whatever small things were cut from the story when the Brotherhood anime was created. I know they glossed over some things in the beginning of Brotherhood because they didn't want to rehash everything the original series did before the plot diverged from the manga, due to worries about boring those who'd already seen that one.

 

So my personal goal is still to review 60 books this year. FMA is 27 volumes long, so I have quite a lot to read in addition to those if I want to meet that goal. Frankly I don't think I will, but we'll see how it goes.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Hidden Gallery by Maryrose Wood

(The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #2)

 

I forgot how adorable the incorrigibles are.

Once again, this was a great book. Cute, quickly paced, and with interesting mysteries to puzzle over. I really do think the audiobooks are the way to go with this series. All the howling and yapping the children do must have been tons of fun for Ms. Kellgren to narrate, and all the characters sound just as over the top as they behave. I'm really looking forward to the next book and I hope I don't wait two years before getting around to reading it. I don't want to forget as much of the story as I did this time.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

 

The myths of the creation of the world; birth of the gods; and various cool, hilarious, creepy, evil, or weird things they did; as told by Percy Jackson.

 

Percy makes anything and everything hilarious, even (especially?) old myths about gods chopping each other to bits and raging war against India in the name of spreading knowledge of wine to the ends of the earth.

This was way more educational than the regular PJO/HOO series, being that they were actually the real myths albeit in Percy's snarky sarcastic style. Still tons of fun, though. I loved all of Percy's little asides acknowledging just how weird and/or squicky some of the stuff from the old myths was. Like Demeter giving birth to twins, one of whom was a minor goddess and the other an immortal stallion, and the frequent pauses to complain about how gross it was that the gods were marrying their siblings all the time.

And once again, Jesse Bernstein did a great job at delivering Percy's narration. He pretty much IS Percy to me now. If I reread these books in physical form instead of audio, I'll still hear his voice every​ time Percy speaks.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

A Hero for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi

 

The storyline took a darker turn in this one, but I loved it just as much. Rovender's and Eva's family relationship continues to be one of my favorite things ever, as well as just Rovender in general and anything he does or says. These two really pulled at my heartstrings throughout this book. I can't wait to see how everything ends in the next installment.

 

5 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

 

I certainly enjoyed this book a lot more than the first. The scope got wider, Lia and all the other characters became more interesting, and the worldbuilding we saw only hints of in the first book finally had its moment to shine. Overall, a big improvement on the first book. I'm glad I decided to give the second book a shot because I think it will only get better from here. I look forward to the conclusion.

 

My only real complaint is the fact that the love triangle continued in this installment. I would have liked to have left it behind in book one, as I really just wasn't feeling it. However, unlike the first book, the love triangle wasn't quite as overpowering. It fell more and more to the background as the plot finally shoved its way to the forefront. But it did annoy me that it was still there, which is why I had to knock a star off my rating.

 

4 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

 

We finally got to see Percy again! And Tyson (eventually)! Both of these things made me very happy. I love Percy and I especially love Tyson. Tyson will always hold a special place in my heart, that sweet, loyal, brave little cyclops baby bro. Love him. I want Tyson to be my brother. He's just so precious.

 

And as for the new characters, I definitely liked Hazel and Frank a lot more than Jason and Piper. I found both of their personalities more engaging and their backstories more interesting. Hazel avoided Piper's dance with "love interest personality" and Frank was just as big a sweetheart as Tyson is, so of course I loved him. Also I ship Frank/Hazel forever. And so does Percy, apparently (lol). I loved how supportive he was of the idea of his two new BFFLs crushing on each other and how he subtly encouraged it, and at the end when he wondered to himself if they'd finally gotten together and thought "I sure hope so." Shipper on Deck is one of my favorite tropes and it was really entertaining for Percy to be doing it.

 

Kinda wish that the ending wasn't as abrupt, though. I was hoping for a Percy/Annabeth reunion scene. Hopefully we'll get a good one in The Mark of Athena.

 

5 stars

[SweeneyxxTodd]

Ugh I am so behind on my reviews.

On the plus side, I'm two books ahead of my challenge.

[SweeneyxxTodd]

REVIEW:

 

 

Over the Garden Wall: Tome of the Unknown by Pat McHale and Jim Campbell

 

A series of short stories that fill in some of the blank space between episodes.

 

I loved it! It put me in a huge mood to rewatch the series. The stories fit seamlessly into the storyline of the show, and the artwork was gorgeous, as to be expected since it's illustrated by the show's storyboard artist. It was great to see the characters portrayed flawlessly as they were in the show itself. Wirt's long-winded and long-suffering poetic monologue was really amusing, and the weird little adventures always had endings that surprised me.

 

I bought my copy from the BOOM! studio booth at BookCon, and I got it signed by the illustrator. He drew Wirt on the title page

 

5 stars, easily.