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obsidian_blue's reviews
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Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
5.0
This book has a collection of 8 short stories. These are the following: "Virgins," "Snakes," "Harvest," "Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go," "The King of a Vast Empire," "Jellyfish," "Wherever You Go, There You Are," and "Robert E. Lee is Dead."
If I have to pick my favorite short story I think I am going to have to go with "Robert E. Lee is Dead." That's because the main protagonist of that story reminded me of my school days as the "smart one" in my high school. It was tricky for me, and just like the character of Crystal though I was seen as a sort of anomaly. I was smart (straight As for all subjects, except math which was usually around a B+ depending) but since I played volleyball and did track and field so was also considered a jock and so wasn't teased for being a nerd. Believe me I got called a nerd a lot since I liked to read and most of the time I had a book in my hands. I also started looking into Wicca culture and for a time thought I would run off and be a pagan living in the woods with nothing but books. My mother was not impressed with my plan.
"Virgins" deals with a young woman who is in that awkward stage of almost being an adult who realizes that there are degrees of being truly safe with a man. This story really made me sad. Reading about this young girl and her best friend Jasmine, who is so fired up to be grown up and fall in love reminded me of my best friends when I was growing up. I think we thought that when you fell in love or had sex for the first time with someone that automatically meant that you were grown up. Instead having sex brought it's own problems, especially when you realized that the person that you thought loved you and was going to be with you forever. (5/5 stars)
"Snakes" is about a young mixed race girl Tara who goes to stay with her maternal grandmother in Tallahassee. "Snakes" actually broke my heart a little bit. You have Tara dealing with the fact that her parents are away for the summer and she is being forced to stay with her grandmother who is trying to force her to be white. Tara's hair comes up constantly in this story and her grandmother treats Tara as if she's beneath her when she compares her to her cousin Allison (also staying for the summer) and uses the threat of snakes in a nearby body of water to get Tara to behave as she wants her to. Reading the story as Tara recollects that summer and having it go back to the present day where Tara is about to graduate from law school was really good.
I think I liked "Snakes" the second best out of the short stories because it reminded me a lot of some divides I dealt with while growing up. Though both of my parents were African American, both sides of my family had mixed races as well. We had Native American, Chinese, Caucasian, and even we found out later that some of the Caucasian branches of the family tree were Jewish. Though I am light skinned, there were still day to day harassment I had to deal with from school kids and even members of my own family for being too light. I used to lay out all summer to get darker so I would fit in better. In my brain, it was not good to be light skinned and I used to envy all of my family members who were darker since they fit. The number of times I got told I looked and talked too white are numerous, and I did my best by trying to blend in as well as could be expected. Is it any wonder that I started to lose myself in books? (5/5 stars)
"Harvest" is about a college student named Angel. This story for me didn't work as well as the other ones. There seemed to be two different story-lines going on. We have Angel talking about a suite mate named Laura who ends up making a ton of money by donating her eggs to wealthy couples who want to have a baby. Then we have Angel talking about her other suite mates as well and you find out a lot about them. I think that the main premise of this story was that Laura and Angel were not that different since Laura we find grew up poor. Her latest foray into expensive clothes was new to her. I also didn't like Angel that much since she seemed to take perverse pleasure out of being mean to people. (3.5/5 stars).
"Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" is about a young man named Georgie returning from his tour in Iraq. We find out that Georgie had a bad experience in Iraq that has stayed with him. He comes back to Alexandria, VA hoping that he can re-connect with his ex who has moved on. Georgie starts to tell white lies which unfortunately cause a bigger problem than he wanted. I felt badly for Georgie in this story. I know tons of my friends' who returned from deployment and expected things to go back to the way that they were before they left. All signs are shown to Georgie that his ex, Lanae has moved on. However, he refuses to believe it, and I think the act he does is to show that he is somehow better than the man that Lanae chooses to be with now. (5/5 stars).
"The King of a Vast Empire" is about a college student named Terrence and his dysfunctional family. I feel the same way about this story that I do "Harvest." I don't know what I was supposed to take away from it. I did find that Terrence and his sister Liddie were kind of horrible to their parents. Liddie's disdain comes from a car accident that the whole family was in when she was younger. Terrence just seems to be floating through life with no clear aim. There is another plot interwoven into this, but I don't want to give too much away. (3.5/5 stars).
"Jellyfish" is about a father and daughter who are both thinking the other one has a sad and lonely life. What I found sad is that the father, William, realizes that his daughter, Eva, is on the same life path he is and will end up alone with no one in the end if she doesn't change her ways. I thought the whole story was bittersweet and sad in the end because you realize that not much is going to change for either of them. (5/5 stars).
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" is about a woman who finds herself on a road trip with her younger cousin, visiting her ex-lover and his new fiancee. I really did feel sorry for the main character whose name I don't recall is ever said. She is dealing with a break-up and trying to figure out what she is going to do with her life. Without realizing it, I think she's on the same sort of trajectory her mother is on, though unlike her mother, she has an in-between man she always runs back to you when her other relationships end. The ending of the story really did leave me with the same feeling I got when I read, Frank Stockton's short story, The Lady or the Tiger when I was younger. The story has two potential endings I think. I won't spoil them for you. (5/5 stars)
"Robert E. Lee is Dead" is about a teenager named Crystal dealing with being smart and black in the south. Crystal, due to her being friends with one of the more popular girls at her school named Geena finds herself for the first time ever not looking in at what the cool kids so. Due to Geena, Crystal who becomes known as 'CeeCee' ends up straddling two worlds. Being in the honors/gifted classes as well as being popular. When an opportunity emerges for Crystal there is a temporary estrangement from Geena who Crystal starts to realize is on a different path in her life than she is. (5/5 stars)
I have to say that all of these short stories were so very well done. I think I have written before that those writers who can create a story with fully realized characters and manage to create a story around them is very much an art form. Not all writers that I have read are able to right short stories. I am always thrilled when I can find one that writes short stories that I enjoy to read. Ms. Evans actually reminds me a lot of Maeve Binchy. Only in Ms. Evans case, she is writing stories about African-Americans and mixed race protagonists. In Ms. Binchy's case she wrote short stories about the Irish in Ireland, or living in London or in the U.S. somewhere. I was so sad to get to the end of this collection and hope that Ms. Evans continues to write stories like these.
In the end though I rated two stories 3.5 stars, I gave the whole book 5 stars. I can see myself reading this for years to come.
If I have to pick my favorite short story I think I am going to have to go with "Robert E. Lee is Dead." That's because the main protagonist of that story reminded me of my school days as the "smart one" in my high school. It was tricky for me, and just like the character of Crystal though I was seen as a sort of anomaly. I was smart (straight As for all subjects, except math which was usually around a B+ depending) but since I played volleyball and did track and field so was also considered a jock and so wasn't teased for being a nerd. Believe me I got called a nerd a lot since I liked to read and most of the time I had a book in my hands. I also started looking into Wicca culture and for a time thought I would run off and be a pagan living in the woods with nothing but books. My mother was not impressed with my plan.
"Virgins" deals with a young woman who is in that awkward stage of almost being an adult who realizes that there are degrees of being truly safe with a man. This story really made me sad. Reading about this young girl and her best friend Jasmine, who is so fired up to be grown up and fall in love reminded me of my best friends when I was growing up. I think we thought that when you fell in love or had sex for the first time with someone that automatically meant that you were grown up. Instead having sex brought it's own problems, especially when you realized that the person that you thought loved you and was going to be with you forever. (5/5 stars)
"Snakes" is about a young mixed race girl Tara who goes to stay with her maternal grandmother in Tallahassee. "Snakes" actually broke my heart a little bit. You have Tara dealing with the fact that her parents are away for the summer and she is being forced to stay with her grandmother who is trying to force her to be white. Tara's hair comes up constantly in this story and her grandmother treats Tara as if she's beneath her when she compares her to her cousin Allison (also staying for the summer) and uses the threat of snakes in a nearby body of water to get Tara to behave as she wants her to. Reading the story as Tara recollects that summer and having it go back to the present day where Tara is about to graduate from law school was really good.
I think I liked "Snakes" the second best out of the short stories because it reminded me a lot of some divides I dealt with while growing up. Though both of my parents were African American, both sides of my family had mixed races as well. We had Native American, Chinese, Caucasian, and even we found out later that some of the Caucasian branches of the family tree were Jewish. Though I am light skinned, there were still day to day harassment I had to deal with from school kids and even members of my own family for being too light. I used to lay out all summer to get darker so I would fit in better. In my brain, it was not good to be light skinned and I used to envy all of my family members who were darker since they fit. The number of times I got told I looked and talked too white are numerous, and I did my best by trying to blend in as well as could be expected. Is it any wonder that I started to lose myself in books? (5/5 stars)
"Harvest" is about a college student named Angel. This story for me didn't work as well as the other ones. There seemed to be two different story-lines going on. We have Angel talking about a suite mate named Laura who ends up making a ton of money by donating her eggs to wealthy couples who want to have a baby. Then we have Angel talking about her other suite mates as well and you find out a lot about them. I think that the main premise of this story was that Laura and Angel were not that different since Laura we find grew up poor. Her latest foray into expensive clothes was new to her. I also didn't like Angel that much since she seemed to take perverse pleasure out of being mean to people. (3.5/5 stars).
"Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" is about a young man named Georgie returning from his tour in Iraq. We find out that Georgie had a bad experience in Iraq that has stayed with him. He comes back to Alexandria, VA hoping that he can re-connect with his ex who has moved on. Georgie starts to tell white lies which unfortunately cause a bigger problem than he wanted. I felt badly for Georgie in this story. I know tons of my friends' who returned from deployment and expected things to go back to the way that they were before they left. All signs are shown to Georgie that his ex, Lanae has moved on. However, he refuses to believe it, and I think the act he does is to show that he is somehow better than the man that Lanae chooses to be with now. (5/5 stars).
"The King of a Vast Empire" is about a college student named Terrence and his dysfunctional family. I feel the same way about this story that I do "Harvest." I don't know what I was supposed to take away from it. I did find that Terrence and his sister Liddie were kind of horrible to their parents. Liddie's disdain comes from a car accident that the whole family was in when she was younger. Terrence just seems to be floating through life with no clear aim. There is another plot interwoven into this, but I don't want to give too much away. (3.5/5 stars).
"Jellyfish" is about a father and daughter who are both thinking the other one has a sad and lonely life. What I found sad is that the father, William, realizes that his daughter, Eva, is on the same life path he is and will end up alone with no one in the end if she doesn't change her ways. I thought the whole story was bittersweet and sad in the end because you realize that not much is going to change for either of them. (5/5 stars).
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" is about a woman who finds herself on a road trip with her younger cousin, visiting her ex-lover and his new fiancee. I really did feel sorry for the main character whose name I don't recall is ever said. She is dealing with a break-up and trying to figure out what she is going to do with her life. Without realizing it, I think she's on the same sort of trajectory her mother is on, though unlike her mother, she has an in-between man she always runs back to you when her other relationships end. The ending of the story really did leave me with the same feeling I got when I read, Frank Stockton's short story, The Lady or the Tiger when I was younger. The story has two potential endings I think. I won't spoil them for you. (5/5 stars)
"Robert E. Lee is Dead" is about a teenager named Crystal dealing with being smart and black in the south. Crystal, due to her being friends with one of the more popular girls at her school named Geena finds herself for the first time ever not looking in at what the cool kids so. Due to Geena, Crystal who becomes known as 'CeeCee' ends up straddling two worlds. Being in the honors/gifted classes as well as being popular. When an opportunity emerges for Crystal there is a temporary estrangement from Geena who Crystal starts to realize is on a different path in her life than she is. (5/5 stars)
I have to say that all of these short stories were so very well done. I think I have written before that those writers who can create a story with fully realized characters and manage to create a story around them is very much an art form. Not all writers that I have read are able to right short stories. I am always thrilled when I can find one that writes short stories that I enjoy to read. Ms. Evans actually reminds me a lot of Maeve Binchy. Only in Ms. Evans case, she is writing stories about African-Americans and mixed race protagonists. In Ms. Binchy's case she wrote short stories about the Irish in Ireland, or living in London or in the U.S. somewhere. I was so sad to get to the end of this collection and hope that Ms. Evans continues to write stories like these.
In the end though I rated two stories 3.5 stars, I gave the whole book 5 stars. I can see myself reading this for years to come.
Pride and Prejudice by Tony Tanner
5.0
This was a long read, but that was mainly due to the edition of the book I borrowed from my local library. This edition contained beautiful colored illustrations and a glossary explaining some words or phrases that were common back In Ms. Austen's time that most readers may be unfamiliar with. There is also a really cool timeline in the front of the book that shows the beginning of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
This book also included two page explanations throughout the book about the classes, courtship, education, etc. I really enjoyed reading about that as well. One thing to note is that when I checked back on Amazon.com, I saw that this book is available via the Kindle. However, most of the Kindle reviews mention there being an issue with reading the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, and the illustrations not coming through clearly. I plan on buying this book and making it a permanent part of my bookshelves at home.
I did love reading this story in it's entirety and it was wonderful to watch Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy start to fall in love with one another though they both did their best to avoid it. This book is called Pride and Prejudice referencing the 'pride' of Elizabeth and the 'prejudice' of Mr. Darcy. However, I think that both characters show pride and prejudice throughout the story.
For example, we see Elizabeth's pride when she continues to overlook how nice Mr. Darcy is being to her just because she overheard him refusing to dance with her when they first met. Her prejudice comes into play when you see how unfavorably she looked upon Charlotte for marrying Mr. Collins when she had to realize that she really had no other options. Additionally, she was prideful and prejudiced towards Bigley's sister Caroline and it dismayed her to see that Jane thought well of her.
We get to see Mr. Darcy's pride too when it comes to him not willing to divulge to all when he should have about Wickham's character. When we read on how Wickham left debts that Mr. Darcy had to take care of, that right there would have been enough for me to warn others. We also see his prejudice towards the people of Longbourn and thinking them his inferior.
Mrs. Bennet as a character was maddening to me. I can sympathize with her though since in that time and place having nothing but daughters meant that when her husband died, the land, house, etc. would all go to the nearest male heir. That said, she had no sense of decorum about anything and I silently cringed anytime the woman said anything to someone outside her own family circle.
I was disappointed with Mr. Bennet too. It's pretty obvious except for Jane and Elizabeth he treats the other children with indifference. And you can see at times how much he loathes his wife. Frankly, if that's what I was raised with, like Elizabeth I would not be so keen on marrying a man unless it was for love.
The initial part of the book did drag a bit until we get to Jane going to visit Netherfield Park (where Bingley is residing) and becoming ill. We get to some excellent sparring between Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Bingley's sister Caroline.
When Mr. Wickham is introduced to the story we then have a slow down again in the story. I can understand it though because Ms. Austen had to build him up so to speak to make him seem to be the complete opposite of Mr. Darcy. If I was a true cold reader not knowing anything I do about this story, I would have thought to myself, ahh this is the man that Elizabeth should be with and not that nasty Mr.. Darcy. Watching Elizabeth start to think romantically about Mr. Wickham made me cringe (this could have totally went the way of Marianne with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) have this charming man who seems to be the total opposite of Mr. Darcy that you have Elizabeth starting to think about romantically. Her conversations about Mr. Darcy with Wickham and others was not well done of her, and seemed like something her mother would have done. We have Elizabeth in my opinion acting like a brat based on the say-so of one person.
When we get to Elizabeth rejection the proposal of Mr. Darcy and then finding out all about what part he played in persuading Mr. Bingley that Jane did not care for him and how Mr. Wickham was 'disinherited' the story once again moves quite quickly.
Elizabeth had her eyes opened by what Mr. Darcy told her and she finally realizes that he father has done somewhat a disservice to his family for ignoring the shenanigans of his daughters and allowing her mother to constantly throw her daughters at men.
Then we have Elizabeth traveling with the Gardiners (her aunt and uncle) and coming across Pemberly. I loved how Ms. Austen describes the place and it was great to see Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming across one another again. Seeing Elizabeth wrong-footed and not knowing how to act with her now realizing she is starting to fall for Mr. Darcy was great.
We eventually get to the end with both Elizabeth and Jane happily married and even even tempered Mr. Bingley realizing that he and Jane need to move to be away from her mother which caused me to laugh. I would have moved somewhere where I would only see her once a year if that, but that's just me.
Probably the only thing I could quibble with is that we don't get a chance to get into the heads of some of the secondary characters and some we do. For example, we get to see why Charlotte Lucas was okay with marrying Mister Collins. However, the second couple in this story, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley we don't get much information on except for here and there. I wonder if there is a version out there of this story told from their points of view? I would love to read it.
This book also included two page explanations throughout the book about the classes, courtship, education, etc. I really enjoyed reading about that as well. One thing to note is that when I checked back on Amazon.com, I saw that this book is available via the Kindle. However, most of the Kindle reviews mention there being an issue with reading the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, and the illustrations not coming through clearly. I plan on buying this book and making it a permanent part of my bookshelves at home.
I did love reading this story in it's entirety and it was wonderful to watch Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy start to fall in love with one another though they both did their best to avoid it. This book is called Pride and Prejudice referencing the 'pride' of Elizabeth and the 'prejudice' of Mr. Darcy. However, I think that both characters show pride and prejudice throughout the story.
For example, we see Elizabeth's pride when she continues to overlook how nice Mr. Darcy is being to her just because she overheard him refusing to dance with her when they first met. Her prejudice comes into play when you see how unfavorably she looked upon Charlotte for marrying Mr. Collins when she had to realize that she really had no other options. Additionally, she was prideful and prejudiced towards Bigley's sister Caroline and it dismayed her to see that Jane thought well of her.
We get to see Mr. Darcy's pride too when it comes to him not willing to divulge to all when he should have about Wickham's character. When we read on how Wickham left debts that Mr. Darcy had to take care of, that right there would have been enough for me to warn others. We also see his prejudice towards the people of Longbourn and thinking them his inferior.
Mrs. Bennet as a character was maddening to me. I can sympathize with her though since in that time and place having nothing but daughters meant that when her husband died, the land, house, etc. would all go to the nearest male heir. That said, she had no sense of decorum about anything and I silently cringed anytime the woman said anything to someone outside her own family circle.
I was disappointed with Mr. Bennet too. It's pretty obvious except for Jane and Elizabeth he treats the other children with indifference. And you can see at times how much he loathes his wife. Frankly, if that's what I was raised with, like Elizabeth I would not be so keen on marrying a man unless it was for love.
The initial part of the book did drag a bit until we get to Jane going to visit Netherfield Park (where Bingley is residing) and becoming ill. We get to some excellent sparring between Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Bingley's sister Caroline.
When Mr. Wickham is introduced to the story we then have a slow down again in the story. I can understand it though because Ms. Austen had to build him up so to speak to make him seem to be the complete opposite of Mr. Darcy. If I was a true cold reader not knowing anything I do about this story, I would have thought to myself, ahh this is the man that Elizabeth should be with and not that nasty Mr.. Darcy. Watching Elizabeth start to think romantically about Mr. Wickham made me cringe (this could have totally went the way of Marianne with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) have this charming man who seems to be the total opposite of Mr. Darcy that you have Elizabeth starting to think about romantically. Her conversations about Mr. Darcy with Wickham and others was not well done of her, and seemed like something her mother would have done. We have Elizabeth in my opinion acting like a brat based on the say-so of one person.
When we get to Elizabeth rejection the proposal of Mr. Darcy and then finding out all about what part he played in persuading Mr. Bingley that Jane did not care for him and how Mr. Wickham was 'disinherited' the story once again moves quite quickly.
Elizabeth had her eyes opened by what Mr. Darcy told her and she finally realizes that he father has done somewhat a disservice to his family for ignoring the shenanigans of his daughters and allowing her mother to constantly throw her daughters at men.
Then we have Elizabeth traveling with the Gardiners (her aunt and uncle) and coming across Pemberly. I loved how Ms. Austen describes the place and it was great to see Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming across one another again. Seeing Elizabeth wrong-footed and not knowing how to act with her now realizing she is starting to fall for Mr. Darcy was great.
We eventually get to the end with both Elizabeth and Jane happily married and even even tempered Mr. Bingley realizing that he and Jane need to move to be away from her mother which caused me to laugh. I would have moved somewhere where I would only see her once a year if that, but that's just me.
Probably the only thing I could quibble with is that we don't get a chance to get into the heads of some of the secondary characters and some we do. For example, we get to see why Charlotte Lucas was okay with marrying Mister Collins. However, the second couple in this story, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley we don't get much information on except for here and there. I wonder if there is a version out there of this story told from their points of view? I would love to read it.
The Language of Spells by Sarah Painter
3.0
I have struggled with this review and have started and deleted it about a dozen times. I think this is because I don't know what to say about a book that I consider in the end to be a serviceable book, but not very memorable.
I love magical realism books and am always on the lookout for more authors that write in this genre. I adore Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, and was quite happy to discover author Menna van Praag as well. I was hoping to add Ms. Painter to my list of go to authors who write in this genre, but was let down with the overall story-line and development of the characters in her book.
I gave this book three stars because I felt that the main character and other characters were not written well enough for me to really get a sense of them, there was a lack of details concerning the magic, the slow pace of the book, and the constant contradictions that came up while I was reading.
The main character Gwen at times dances between being a TSTL romance heroine and a strong woman who knows magic. I think that if we had seen more of her as being strong and not falling apart everytime her love interest Cam ignored her or her sister was mean to her, I could have liked the character more. I also think if we had been told the story and history of Gwen, the town of Pendleford, her family, and her relationship with Cam in a linear way it would have made for a faster read.
The other characters in the book are not written with enough detail for me to even pick them out of a line-up. Gwen's older sister Ruby is ashamed of Gwen's magic abilities and warns her off of telling her 14 year old daughter Katie.
We also have Gwen and Ruby's mother Gloria who we hear about in dribs and drabs, but I can't get much of a sense of at all.
Then we get to Gwen's love interest Cam who was constantly wishy-washy on Gwen until almost the end of the book (yeah a hum-drum romance, totally my not favorite thing to read).
There is also the mustache twirling villain that I was able to deduce within the first couple of pages. It would have made the final denouement more exciting if the reader and Gwen had not been clued into the fact that this person was all wrong. However, the readers will probably figure it out ages before Gwen does. And when Gwen figures it out and realizes what this person has done she passively keeps allowing things to keep happening to her (that's where the TSTL comes in).
Another issue I had while reading was that anything that deals with magic was pretty much glossed over or handwaved away. There was way too much tell and not enough show for me. I think having Gwen describe herbs, different spells she learned, the meaning of those spells, etc. would have been really great and added to the overall book. We get to a key scene at the end of the book and Gwen is supposedly repeating every anti-hex incantation that she ever learned and that she could feel all of the former (and in her mother's case, present) Harper women flowing through her. It could have been a really great moment with more details included, instead I was just left cold by the whole thing.
In addition to the above, the entire book was a slow read. And I don't mean like A Discovery of Witches slow read with intricate details on the origin of magic, spells, etc. This was a slow read in which it felt as if for every step forward we took in the story, we took two steps back. As I said earlier, if the story had been told linear I think it would have helped with this immensely. For example, it took almost halfway through the book before I figured out what incidents pushed Gwen to run away and leave Cam. I am not a fan of info dumps in books for the most part, but there needs to be a happy medium. I struggled to finish this book because it felt like things were just happening to Gwen and she was reacting to them.
Besides all this, there were also some inconsistencies on how Gwen and Cam were portrayed. For example, Gwen has rejected her magical ability when she was very young because of her mother's actions. However, she still uses this ability at 18 and then doesn't use it again for 13 years. We get no back-story that Gwen was trained at all. However, we have her knowing anti-hexes, and she can tell with a look when someone is under a hex (except when she doesn't) and how to prove it (apparently licking someone's skin). So my problem is how did she learn all of these spells and other things? Did Gwen look it up? Did she somehow do research? I just needed some more details included in the book that would have helped explain the contradiction I kept seeing.
I love magical realism books and am always on the lookout for more authors that write in this genre. I adore Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, and was quite happy to discover author Menna van Praag as well. I was hoping to add Ms. Painter to my list of go to authors who write in this genre, but was let down with the overall story-line and development of the characters in her book.
I gave this book three stars because I felt that the main character and other characters were not written well enough for me to really get a sense of them, there was a lack of details concerning the magic, the slow pace of the book, and the constant contradictions that came up while I was reading.
The main character Gwen at times dances between being a TSTL romance heroine and a strong woman who knows magic. I think that if we had seen more of her as being strong and not falling apart everytime her love interest Cam ignored her or her sister was mean to her, I could have liked the character more. I also think if we had been told the story and history of Gwen, the town of Pendleford, her family, and her relationship with Cam in a linear way it would have made for a faster read.
The other characters in the book are not written with enough detail for me to even pick them out of a line-up. Gwen's older sister Ruby is ashamed of Gwen's magic abilities and warns her off of telling her 14 year old daughter Katie.
We also have Gwen and Ruby's mother Gloria who we hear about in dribs and drabs, but I can't get much of a sense of at all.
Then we get to Gwen's love interest Cam who was constantly wishy-washy on Gwen until almost the end of the book (yeah a hum-drum romance, totally my not favorite thing to read).
There is also the mustache twirling villain that I was able to deduce within the first couple of pages. It would have made the final denouement more exciting if the reader and Gwen had not been clued into the fact that this person was all wrong. However, the readers will probably figure it out ages before Gwen does. And when Gwen figures it out and realizes what this person has done she passively keeps allowing things to keep happening to her (that's where the TSTL comes in).
Another issue I had while reading was that anything that deals with magic was pretty much glossed over or handwaved away. There was way too much tell and not enough show for me. I think having Gwen describe herbs, different spells she learned, the meaning of those spells, etc. would have been really great and added to the overall book. We get to a key scene at the end of the book and Gwen is supposedly repeating every anti-hex incantation that she ever learned and that she could feel all of the former (and in her mother's case, present) Harper women flowing through her. It could have been a really great moment with more details included, instead I was just left cold by the whole thing.
In addition to the above, the entire book was a slow read. And I don't mean like A Discovery of Witches slow read with intricate details on the origin of magic, spells, etc. This was a slow read in which it felt as if for every step forward we took in the story, we took two steps back. As I said earlier, if the story had been told linear I think it would have helped with this immensely. For example, it took almost halfway through the book before I figured out what incidents pushed Gwen to run away and leave Cam. I am not a fan of info dumps in books for the most part, but there needs to be a happy medium. I struggled to finish this book because it felt like things were just happening to Gwen and she was reacting to them.
Besides all this, there were also some inconsistencies on how Gwen and Cam were portrayed. For example, Gwen has rejected her magical ability when she was very young because of her mother's actions. However, she still uses this ability at 18 and then doesn't use it again for 13 years. We get no back-story that Gwen was trained at all. However, we have her knowing anti-hexes, and she can tell with a look when someone is under a hex (except when she doesn't) and how to prove it (apparently licking someone's skin). So my problem is how did she learn all of these spells and other things? Did Gwen look it up? Did she somehow do research? I just needed some more details included in the book that would have helped explain the contradiction I kept seeing.
Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
4.0
I like the fact that L. Frank Baum wrote this book to appeal to all of his young fans who wanted to know what happened to Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion after book two in the series.
For those who have not read books 1 and 2, please note that some details below will contain spoilers about those books.
I only gave this book 4 stars though, mainly because the character of Dorothy just bugged me throughout. Also this book dragged a lot, unlike with book one and two I had a hard time just reading this one straight through. This is still a really good fairy tale though some of the subject matter I thought was probably a bit too old for most kids to be reading about.
The story begins with Dorothy and her Uncle Henry on a trip to Australia to visit some of their relatives there. I had so many thoughts here at this point.
One, why in the world did Aunt Em not get to come along. I know that it was said that Aunt Em stayed behind to run the farm, but Kansas and Australia in the 1900s was a very long sea voyage apart. So it was bewildering that Uncle Henry set off on such a journey without his wife.
Two, how old is Dorothy? We get the idea that time has passed since book one, but I still don't think that Baum has ever said her age. She's always referred to as a little girl. She definitely speaks like one.
We eventually get to Dorothy being blown overboard and she meets Billina the Hen. I actually thought that Dorothy had some nerve changing Billina's name from Bill to Billina because "Bill is a boy's name." Reading further along and seeing how Billina didn't suffer fools, I am surprised she didn't tell Dorothy to get over it.
I do love how Billina calls out Dorothy for her hypocrisy since humans eat things that were one alive and eat animals that do eat bugs. I would have also asked her so you live on a farm right? You have never seen hens and roosters eating bugs? Did you think we survived on sunshine and air?
Dorothy comes across trees that contain lunch and dinner pails and seriously I want to find those trees and plant some of them in my backyard.
We then have Dorothy and Billina meeting the strange people called the Wheelers and coming across Tiktok the Machine Man. I think it is kind of cool that L. Frank Baum pretty much describes a robot. Remember that this book was written in 1907.
Eventually the threesome depart and come across the niece of the late King of Ev who sold his family to the Nome King. The niece is the Princess of Langwidere who has 30 heads....I don't know why but the whole thing with the Princess of Langwidere creeped me out.
Dorothy and her friends after being locked out are eventually rescued by the Princess of Ozma and her group and that is when the action at least starts to pick up.
Every time I try to picture the Princess of Oz I can't stop laughing though.
Probably because in book two we find out that the Wizard of Oz hid the Princess of Oz and gave her to Mombi who changed her into a boy named Tip.
We do get a lot of scenes with the Scarecrow acting even less intelligent than usual and the Cowardly Lion has picked up a friend called the Hungry Tiger whose constantly lamenting about how nothing can fill him up got tiresome after the first dozen times.
We do find out that Ozma of Oz came to the Kingdom of Ev to free the former queen and princes and princesses from the Nome King after they were sold to the Nome King. At this point I was 45 percent in the book and was surprised that it took this long for Baum to actually get to the bare bones of the book.
The interaction that the group had with the Nome King was interesting and that was probably the only time in the whole book that I thought the action really picked up and everything flowed together much more smoothly than in the other sections. I think that Baum was playing this book more for laughs than anything else since we had everyone at one time or another showing how not intelligent they were. After the first few times it was funny, after that I was groaning out loud and mumbling get on with it.
We eventually get to our happily ever after but we have to have the whole group travel back to the Emerald City where Dorothy gets to meet old and new friends alike.
There is one passage in the book that explains what happened to the character Jinjur who was a major character in book two. This whole passage made me cringe inwardly. I know that Baum was probably going for laughs, but I didn't chuckle at all. I felt like Baum was one making fun of women who could possibly want more than just being married to define them. And I thought him turning Jinjur into a husband beater was just bad form. I liked that Jinjur and her Army actually went and took down the Kingdom of Oz. I wasn't thrilled that their main reason to do so was so that they could get jewels for bracelets and to sell for gowns though.
Yep, cause when we women get married that's it. We are therefore happy and have no ambitions at all.
The book ends and since readers already know that there are 14 Oz books, you know that Dorothy and crew have many adventures awaiting them in Oz.
For those who have not read books 1 and 2, please note that some details below will contain spoilers about those books.
I only gave this book 4 stars though, mainly because the character of Dorothy just bugged me throughout. Also this book dragged a lot, unlike with book one and two I had a hard time just reading this one straight through. This is still a really good fairy tale though some of the subject matter I thought was probably a bit too old for most kids to be reading about.
The story begins with Dorothy and her Uncle Henry on a trip to Australia to visit some of their relatives there. I had so many thoughts here at this point.
One, why in the world did Aunt Em not get to come along. I know that it was said that Aunt Em stayed behind to run the farm, but Kansas and Australia in the 1900s was a very long sea voyage apart. So it was bewildering that Uncle Henry set off on such a journey without his wife.
Two, how old is Dorothy? We get the idea that time has passed since book one, but I still don't think that Baum has ever said her age. She's always referred to as a little girl. She definitely speaks like one.
We eventually get to Dorothy being blown overboard and she meets Billina the Hen. I actually thought that Dorothy had some nerve changing Billina's name from Bill to Billina because "Bill is a boy's name." Reading further along and seeing how Billina didn't suffer fools, I am surprised she didn't tell Dorothy to get over it.
How dreadful! exclaimed Dorothy, in a shocked voice.
What is dreadful? asked the hen, lifting her head to gaze with one bright eye at her companion.
Why, eating live things, and horrid bugs, and crawly ants. You ought to be 'SHAMED of yourself!
I do love how Billina calls out Dorothy for her hypocrisy since humans eat things that were one alive and eat animals that do eat bugs. I would have also asked her so you live on a farm right? You have never seen hens and roosters eating bugs? Did you think we survived on sunshine and air?
Dorothy comes across trees that contain lunch and dinner pails and seriously I want to find those trees and plant some of them in my backyard.
We then have Dorothy and Billina meeting the strange people called the Wheelers and coming across Tiktok the Machine Man. I think it is kind of cool that L. Frank Baum pretty much describes a robot. Remember that this book was written in 1907.
Eventually the threesome depart and come across the niece of the late King of Ev who sold his family to the Nome King. The niece is the Princess of Langwidere who has 30 heads....I don't know why but the whole thing with the Princess of Langwidere creeped me out.
Dorothy and her friends after being locked out are eventually rescued by the Princess of Ozma and her group and that is when the action at least starts to pick up.
Every time I try to picture the Princess of Oz I can't stop laughing though.
Spoiler
Probably because in book two we find out that the Wizard of Oz hid the Princess of Oz and gave her to Mombi who changed her into a boy named Tip.
We do get a lot of scenes with the Scarecrow acting even less intelligent than usual and the Cowardly Lion has picked up a friend called the Hungry Tiger whose constantly lamenting about how nothing can fill him up got tiresome after the first dozen times.
We do find out that Ozma of Oz came to the Kingdom of Ev to free the former queen and princes and princesses from the Nome King after they were sold to the Nome King. At this point I was 45 percent in the book and was surprised that it took this long for Baum to actually get to the bare bones of the book.
The interaction that the group had with the Nome King was interesting and that was probably the only time in the whole book that I thought the action really picked up and everything flowed together much more smoothly than in the other sections. I think that Baum was playing this book more for laughs than anything else since we had everyone at one time or another showing how not intelligent they were. After the first few times it was funny, after that I was groaning out loud and mumbling get on with it.
We eventually get to our happily ever after but we have to have the whole group travel back to the Emerald City where Dorothy gets to meet old and new friends alike.
There is one passage in the book that explains what happened to the character Jinjur who was a major character in book two. This whole passage made me cringe inwardly. I know that Baum was probably going for laughs, but I didn't chuckle at all. I felt like Baum was one making fun of women who could possibly want more than just being married to define them. And I thought him turning Jinjur into a husband beater was just bad form. I liked that Jinjur and her Army actually went and took down the Kingdom of Oz. I wasn't thrilled that their main reason to do so was so that they could get jewels for bracelets and to sell for gowns though.
I've married a man who owns nine cows, said Jinjur to Ozma and now I am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own business.
Yep, cause when we women get married that's it. We are therefore happy and have no ambitions at all.
Where is your husband? asked Ozma.
He is in the house nursing a black eye, replied Jinjur calmly.
The foolish man would insist upon milking the red cow when I wanted him to milk the white one; but he will know better next time, I am sure.
The book ends and since readers already know that there are 14 Oz books, you know that Dorothy and crew have many adventures awaiting them in Oz.
The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
5.0
Don't read further if you haven't read to the end of book #1 since this review will spoil you about the events that took place in book #1.
This book was awesome. I have to say that after book #1 I was puzzled what this book would be about and if I would like it as much as book #1 without Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion absent from the story. However, this book I managed to even love more than book #1.
We start off with the main protagonist Tip who carves himself a man made of wood with a head of a pumpkin in order to frighten his guardian, the witch Mombi.
Mombi soon deduces what Tip has done and using a bit of powder she haggled over brings the pumpkinhead to life and promises swift retribution to Tip by telling him she will turn him into a marble statue (harshest punishment ever).
Tip escapes and takes his 'son' Jack Pumpkinhead with him.
Using some of the powder, Tip promptly brings a sawhorse to life and calls it Saw-Horse. I have to say that out of all of the characters I loved Saw-Horse. He got salty with everyone. And kept telling Jack how stupid he was.
Bless his heart, Jack Pumpkinhead is not that smart. Part of me wishes that Dorothy had been along on this journey since I would have liked to see Saw-Horse tell her off too.
Eventually our trio gets to Emerald City and finds King Scarecrow who despite being the most wise ruler ever is actually still pretty dumb. There is a scene between Scarecrow and Pumpkinhead involving an interpreter that had me cracking up. I literally said out loud "How are they not realizing they are answering each other's questions and they don't need an interpreter?"
The peaceful reign of Scarecrow's rule comes to an end though due to an army of 400 women/girls that march on Emerald City demanding to be set free from cooking and cleaning for men. There General is Jinjur. Too bad the women want to also take Emerald city to take possession of the jewels to make bracelets and sell them for gowns. Because women just love sparkly things (eyeroll).
I wish at this moment that Jinjur had been replaced by Peggy Carter so she would have kicked his butt all over Emerald City.
I quickly cheered though when the women took Emerald City and the Scarecrow flees to his friend, Emperor Tin Woodman who is ruling over the Quadlings.
Eventually we have everyone meeting up again and deciding that their quest is to remove Jinjur from the throne and put the Scarecrow back in his rightful place. Things do not go according to plan though. We meet even more characters and get an appearance by two characters from the last book, the Queen of the Mice and Glinda the good (or as I started calling her Glinda who is a worse witch than even Katrina on Sleepy Hollow.
I have to say that Scarecrow was a jerk throughout this whole story and the Tin Woodman was pretty vain. I wonder how Dorothy would feel meeting up with this duo again and seeing how changed they became. Also they seem to have short term memories since they both got prissy with anyone who mentioned the Wizard of Oz being less than what he was. You would think that one of them being so smart may have realized that the Wizard pulled one over on them as well. Ah well, maybe in the next book.
My favorite character was honestly the Saw-Horse with Tip a close second. Jack Pumpkinhead kept whining about his head and spoiling and I wish someone had turned him into a pie (man being sick has brought out an I am not in the mood attitude today).
The characters felt very real to me and I loved each one of them to pieces and had to crack up by how our merry group started working each other's nerves. I thought that was quite realistic since I probably would have peaced out a while ago and went somewhere to hang out with the China people.
Additionally, I thought that this book flowed much better than book #1. Probably because L. Frank Baum knew how he was going to end it, the trick was getting from point A to point B. The ending took me totally by surprised and I loved every minute of it. It's nice to not be spoiled by a book's ending and I was thrilled to not even guess at it. The ending makes perfect sense too and it also goes to show that the Wizard of Oz was more of a humbug than previously thought in book #1. If he ever shows up in Oz again, I hope that Glinda and crew kicks his butt.
As much as I want to start reading book #3 right now I am going to wait to start when I get two other books from my pile done.
This book was awesome. I have to say that after book #1 I was puzzled what this book would be about and if I would like it as much as book #1 without Dorothy or the Cowardly Lion absent from the story. However, this book I managed to even love more than book #1.
We start off with the main protagonist Tip who carves himself a man made of wood with a head of a pumpkin in order to frighten his guardian, the witch Mombi.
Mombi soon deduces what Tip has done and using a bit of powder she haggled over brings the pumpkinhead to life and promises swift retribution to Tip by telling him she will turn him into a marble statue (harshest punishment ever).
Tip escapes and takes his 'son' Jack Pumpkinhead with him.
Using some of the powder, Tip promptly brings a sawhorse to life and calls it Saw-Horse. I have to say that out of all of the characters I loved Saw-Horse. He got salty with everyone. And kept telling Jack how stupid he was.
Bless his heart, Jack Pumpkinhead is not that smart. Part of me wishes that Dorothy had been along on this journey since I would have liked to see Saw-Horse tell her off too.
Eventually our trio gets to Emerald City and finds King Scarecrow who despite being the most wise ruler ever is actually still pretty dumb. There is a scene between Scarecrow and Pumpkinhead involving an interpreter that had me cracking up. I literally said out loud "How are they not realizing they are answering each other's questions and they don't need an interpreter?"
The peaceful reign of Scarecrow's rule comes to an end though due to an army of 400 women/girls that march on Emerald City demanding to be set free from cooking and cleaning for men. There General is Jinjur. Too bad the women want to also take Emerald city to take possession of the jewels to make bracelets and sell them for gowns. Because women just love sparkly things (eyeroll).
Still you must surrender! exclaimed the General, fiercely. We are revolting!
You don't look it, said the Guardian, gazing from one to another, admiringly.
But we are! cried Jinjur, stamping her foot, impatiently; and we mean to conquer the Emerald City.
Good gracious! returned the surprised Guardian of the Gates; what a nonsensical idea!
Go home to your mothers, my good girls, and milk the cows, and bake the bread. Don't you know it's a dangerous thing to conquer a city?
I wish at this moment that Jinjur had been replaced by Peggy Carter so she would have kicked his butt all over Emerald City.
I quickly cheered though when the women took Emerald City and the Scarecrow flees to his friend, Emperor Tin Woodman who is ruling over the Quadlings.
Eventually we have everyone meeting up again and deciding that their quest is to remove Jinjur from the throne and put the Scarecrow back in his rightful place. Things do not go according to plan though. We meet even more characters and get an appearance by two characters from the last book, the Queen of the Mice and Glinda the good (or as I started calling her Glinda who is a worse witch than even Katrina on Sleepy Hollow.
I have to say that Scarecrow was a jerk throughout this whole story and the Tin Woodman was pretty vain. I wonder how Dorothy would feel meeting up with this duo again and seeing how changed they became. Also they seem to have short term memories since they both got prissy with anyone who mentioned the Wizard of Oz being less than what he was. You would think that one of them being so smart may have realized that the Wizard pulled one over on them as well. Ah well, maybe in the next book.
My favorite character was honestly the Saw-Horse with Tip a close second. Jack Pumpkinhead kept whining about his head and spoiling and I wish someone had turned him into a pie (man being sick has brought out an I am not in the mood attitude today).
The characters felt very real to me and I loved each one of them to pieces and had to crack up by how our merry group started working each other's nerves. I thought that was quite realistic since I probably would have peaced out a while ago and went somewhere to hang out with the China people.
Additionally, I thought that this book flowed much better than book #1. Probably because L. Frank Baum knew how he was going to end it, the trick was getting from point A to point B. The ending took me totally by surprised and I loved every minute of it. It's nice to not be spoiled by a book's ending and I was thrilled to not even guess at it. The ending makes perfect sense too and it also goes to show that the Wizard of Oz was more of a humbug than previously thought in book #1. If he ever shows up in Oz again, I hope that Glinda and crew kicks his butt.
As much as I want to start reading book #3 right now I am going to wait to start when I get two other books from my pile done.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
5.0
Shocking though it is I never read any of the Wizard of Oz books. I of course saw the movie when I was a kid and absolutely adored it. I also played the voice of Oz, one of the munchkins, and one of the crows who was harassing the Scarecrow in elementary school. I wonder if my parents ever knew about the contents of these books since I had a ton of books growing up but nothing from the Oz series.
L. Frank Baum begins the story with a foreword discussing how he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in order to be pleasing to today's children (this was dated in 1900). One wonders what children he knew. I think that Baum does a good job of writing a 'modern' fairy tale but is still reminiscent of the older messed up tales written by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm which is why I loved this story so much.
Though the story begins with Dorothy in Kansas we don't have any idea how old she is. We do know that she is not a teenager since she is referred to as a little girl frequently throughout the story.
As many of you know who are familiar with this story, Dorothy and Toto are carried away in a cyclone to the land of Oz. The house she is in promptly falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch of the North and the Munchkins promptly thank Dorothy for freeing the Munchkins from bondage and she is given the witch's kiss as protection and the dead witch's silver shoes to wear on her journey to the Emerald City to meet Oz with the hope that he can send her back home to Kansas.
I kept having to stop myself as I read in order to keep a quick sanity check. This book besides the names being the same and having some scenes that were then shown in the movie is like night and day.
I loved Dorothy's introduction to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. We got an interesting back-story to each character and the back-story to the Tin Woodman surprised me a lot. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion join Dorothy in order to receive brains, a heart, and courage from the Wizard of Oz.
Frequently throughout the story you realize that L. Frank Baum is poking fun at his characters for showing them not to be as smart or as loyal as they claim. I counted at least two times that our merry band left someone behind when something befall them. It was great that they came back each time, but I would have been side-eyeing everyone.
I really loved all of the details that L. Frank Baum about the land of Oz. I really loved hearing about how the whole land was divided into North, South, West, and East and what people and colors inhabited those lands. Frankly, I think he should be applauded because the world building is actually quite impressive in a book this short.
Of course we get to the party meeting the Wonderful Wizard who commands them to go off and kill the Wicked Witch of the West. At this point, unlike in the movie, the Wicked Witch has not met Dorothy is not trying to kill her. So the Wizard sucks for forcing the whole party to go forth and murder someone that didn't do a thing to them in order for them to gain what they want.
There were additional characters in this story that were never referenced in the movie such as the Queen of the Mice, the Hammer-Head people, The China people, and the Quadlings. I can see now why there are fourteen books in this series since there are so many people and places that are referenced that you want to find out more about.
This was a great first book in the Oz series though at times it did drag a bit. Probably because I already knew how it would end, but I was still fascinated by all the segues that our group goes through that were not shown in the movie. Each of our heroes comes to a respectable end though I am a bit surprised by how the Tin Woodman's story ends since he initially was in want of a heart in order to find the Munchkin girl who he loved before he was turned into tin. I wonder if L. Frank Baum forgot about that or was already thinking of book #2 in his series and decided to not revisit that whole story-line.
I am definitely going to see about finding an illustrated book that covers the entire series someday.
L. Frank Baum begins the story with a foreword discussing how he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in order to be pleasing to today's children (this was dated in 1900). One wonders what children he knew. I think that Baum does a good job of writing a 'modern' fairy tale but is still reminiscent of the older messed up tales written by Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm which is why I loved this story so much.
Though the story begins with Dorothy in Kansas we don't have any idea how old she is. We do know that she is not a teenager since she is referred to as a little girl frequently throughout the story.
As many of you know who are familiar with this story, Dorothy and Toto are carried away in a cyclone to the land of Oz. The house she is in promptly falls and kills the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch of the North and the Munchkins promptly thank Dorothy for freeing the Munchkins from bondage and she is given the witch's kiss as protection and the dead witch's silver shoes to wear on her journey to the Emerald City to meet Oz with the hope that he can send her back home to Kansas.
I kept having to stop myself as I read in order to keep a quick sanity check. This book besides the names being the same and having some scenes that were then shown in the movie is like night and day.
I loved Dorothy's introduction to the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. We got an interesting back-story to each character and the back-story to the Tin Woodman surprised me a lot. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion join Dorothy in order to receive brains, a heart, and courage from the Wizard of Oz.
Frequently throughout the story you realize that L. Frank Baum is poking fun at his characters for showing them not to be as smart or as loyal as they claim. I counted at least two times that our merry band left someone behind when something befall them. It was great that they came back each time, but I would have been side-eyeing everyone.
I really loved all of the details that L. Frank Baum about the land of Oz. I really loved hearing about how the whole land was divided into North, South, West, and East and what people and colors inhabited those lands. Frankly, I think he should be applauded because the world building is actually quite impressive in a book this short.
Of course we get to the party meeting the Wonderful Wizard who commands them to go off and kill the Wicked Witch of the West. At this point, unlike in the movie, the Wicked Witch has not met Dorothy is not trying to kill her. So the Wizard sucks for forcing the whole party to go forth and murder someone that didn't do a thing to them in order for them to gain what they want.
There were additional characters in this story that were never referenced in the movie such as the Queen of the Mice, the Hammer-Head people, The China people, and the Quadlings. I can see now why there are fourteen books in this series since there are so many people and places that are referenced that you want to find out more about.
This was a great first book in the Oz series though at times it did drag a bit. Probably because I already knew how it would end, but I was still fascinated by all the segues that our group goes through that were not shown in the movie. Each of our heroes comes to a respectable end though I am a bit surprised by how the Tin Woodman's story ends since he initially was in want of a heart in order to find the Munchkin girl who he loved before he was turned into tin. I wonder if L. Frank Baum forgot about that or was already thinking of book #2 in his series and decided to not revisit that whole story-line.
I am definitely going to see about finding an illustrated book that covers the entire series someday.
Lock In by John Scalzi
5.0
Even with 4.3 million of the United States population being afflicted with this, innovation in science and technology managed to allow human beings who were separate but still part of the day to day society to still be fully functioning. I could tell you more, but I don't want to spoil any readers out there.
Told in the first person by Chris Shane, our main character is afflicted with Haden's syndrome (read the book to find out more about it) resulting in him being "locked-in".
Chris's father is a former NBA basketball player turned millionaire businessman and his mother comes from a wealthy political Virginia family.
Can I just squee for a moment that our hero in this book is not only bi-racial, but according to the world building set up in this book, is also dealing with having Haden's syndrome and having it not stopping him from wanting to work for the FBI and do a good job. We also have the Navajo nation playing an important part in this book which I would love to see followed up on are remarked upon in subsequent books.
Chris honestly reminded me of my first day jitters more than 10 years ago when I first joined the federal government only he was much quick with a put down than I ever was back then.
Yeah so I am off of hot dogs for a while.
Right away Chris and his partner Agent Vann are thrown into a murder mystery and dealing with the fallout from the newly elected U.S. President refusing to fund anymore long-term programs for those afflicted with Haden's Syndrome. Finding out all of the ways everything that Chris and Agent Vann are investigating that ties in together is part of the journey, and boy is it fun.
So you get science fiction and then you also get a mystery that Chris and his partner Agent Vann who brought up memories of Goren and Eames, Sherlock and Holmes, pretty much every epic partnership I could think of while reading this book.
I also may have a fan-girl crush on the character of Agent Vann. She rocks and I wish she was a real live person so I could hang out with her.
This book had world building galore and it didn't rely on info-dumping to get the reader through it. I really loved Old Man's War, but that had some info-dumping that was just enough to draw me out of the story at times. The Android's Dream had way too much and I started to mentally tune out while reading.
The world-building was excellent in this book. John Scalzi makes this alternative future seem like a real life possibility. The ways in which he imagines science changing to deal with those afflicted with Haden's Syndrome and how that changed the United States in some ways, but in the end still had things trucking along was pretty cool. I do love science fiction and fantasy novels, but one thing that drives me crazy in most is if the world-building doesn't make sense or based on what I know of certain cities/countries I have a hard time believing could occur. This is why for the most part, most young adult dystopian novels bug me.
The science when discussed in this book wasn't too over my head (thank goodness) and probably because I have friends who are programmers and have played with programming in college and now at my day to day job here and there. I still don't like it, but I know enough about it that I was not totally in the weeds.
Additionally, all of the characters were tightly drawn and felt so real to me I could picture them in my head. Even secondary and tertiary characters felt real to me and I didn't find myself trying to recall who was who. Mr. Scalzi manages to wet your appetite enough for some people that you find yourself just powering through pages to figure out if he is going to release any more tid-bits about a character or just let it flow naturally throughout the novel (yeah one of those times when I was like just tell me, just tell me, I want to know). For example, there is a character named Detective Trinh that is a metro detective (D.C.) that makes me want to know more about this character. She actually reminded me a bit of Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes books, dismissive towards Sherlock at first, and telling Watson how Sherlock was no good.
The mystery was really cool and I can honestly say I was surprised at the end reveal and how neatly it was done.
I am excited about this being the start of a series since I definitely need to figure out what Chris and Agent Vann are going to be up to next.
Told in the first person by Chris Shane, our main character is afflicted with Haden's syndrome (read the book to find out more about it) resulting in him being "locked-in".
Chris's father is a former NBA basketball player turned millionaire businessman and his mother comes from a wealthy political Virginia family.
Can I just squee for a moment that our hero in this book is not only bi-racial, but according to the world building set up in this book, is also dealing with having Haden's syndrome and having it not stopping him from wanting to work for the FBI and do a good job. We also have the Navajo nation playing an important part in this book which I would love to see followed up on are remarked upon in subsequent books.
Chris honestly reminded me of my first day jitters more than 10 years ago when I first joined the federal government only he was much quick with a put down than I ever was back then.
I'd guess that you'd have less-than-flattering ways of describing us, Davidson said.
Dodgers, I said.
What?
Dodgers, I repeated. It's short for 'Dodger Dogs'. It's the hot dog they serve at Dodger Stadium in L.A.
I know what a Dodger Dog is, Davidson said.
I don't think I get how you get from us to them.
Two ways, I said.
One, you guys are basically meat stuffed into skin. So are hot dogs.
Two, hot dogs are mostly lips and assholes, and so are you guys.
Yeah so I am off of hot dogs for a while.
Right away Chris and his partner Agent Vann are thrown into a murder mystery and dealing with the fallout from the newly elected U.S. President refusing to fund anymore long-term programs for those afflicted with Haden's Syndrome. Finding out all of the ways everything that Chris and Agent Vann are investigating that ties in together is part of the journey, and boy is it fun.
So you get science fiction and then you also get a mystery that Chris and his partner Agent Vann who brought up memories of Goren and Eames, Sherlock and Holmes, pretty much every epic partnership I could think of while reading this book.
I also may have a fan-girl crush on the character of Agent Vann. She rocks and I wish she was a real live person so I could hang out with her.
Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't, Vann said.
But whatever it is, I will absolutely fucking bury you in it.
And I will enjoy it, because you chose to waste my time making me deal with you.
Door number one or door number two.
Choose wisely.
And if you don't choose in ten seconds, we're going with door number two.
Choose.
This book had world building galore and it didn't rely on info-dumping to get the reader through it. I really loved Old Man's War, but that had some info-dumping that was just enough to draw me out of the story at times. The Android's Dream had way too much and I started to mentally tune out while reading.
The world-building was excellent in this book. John Scalzi makes this alternative future seem like a real life possibility. The ways in which he imagines science changing to deal with those afflicted with Haden's Syndrome and how that changed the United States in some ways, but in the end still had things trucking along was pretty cool. I do love science fiction and fantasy novels, but one thing that drives me crazy in most is if the world-building doesn't make sense or based on what I know of certain cities/countries I have a hard time believing could occur. This is why for the most part, most young adult dystopian novels bug me.
The science when discussed in this book wasn't too over my head (thank goodness) and probably because I have friends who are programmers and have played with programming in college and now at my day to day job here and there. I still don't like it, but I know enough about it that I was not totally in the weeds.
Additionally, all of the characters were tightly drawn and felt so real to me I could picture them in my head. Even secondary and tertiary characters felt real to me and I didn't find myself trying to recall who was who. Mr. Scalzi manages to wet your appetite enough for some people that you find yourself just powering through pages to figure out if he is going to release any more tid-bits about a character or just let it flow naturally throughout the novel (yeah one of those times when I was like just tell me, just tell me, I want to know). For example, there is a character named Detective Trinh that is a metro detective (D.C.) that makes me want to know more about this character. She actually reminded me a bit of Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes books, dismissive towards Sherlock at first, and telling Watson how Sherlock was no good.
The mystery was really cool and I can honestly say I was surprised at the end reveal and how neatly it was done.
I am excited about this being the start of a series since I definitely need to figure out what Chris and Agent Vann are going to be up to next.
The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston
4.0
I really loved Paula Brackston's The Witch's Daughter and The Winter Witch. I was not that happy with The Midnight Witch and thought the story started to drag on forever to the point that I no longer cared how we got to the end, I just wanted to get there. I liked The Silver Witch much more than I did The Midnight Witch, but found that I had problems with this book, that were different than the issues I had with the last one.
Told in the third person, we have a book from two character's points of view. First, Tilda a widowed young woman trying to move on with her life. Second, Seren, a woman that lived centuries earlier.
I ended up giving this book just 3.5 stars due to the following:
First, the pacing of this novel was all over the place. I think that having the book broken up into two points of view (one being Tilda and the second being a young woman named Seren) was a good idea. However, with books like this, there tends to be a stronger voice that the reader likes more. In my case, I was invested more in the character of Seren and the passages that detailed her life. The sections dealing with Tilda were not that interesting until the very end of the book when you find out her connection to what is going on. I also had problems with the fact that the character of Tilda remained pretty much a mystery. I think I was already past the halfway point when I got the idea of what was going on with her and how she was "different." I don't need a huge information dump, however pieces of the puzzle being dropped here and there while the author has another "voice" in the novel the reader is supposed to be following as well made it a bit hard to figure out what the big deal with Tilda was and by the time I found out, I mentally shrugged.
Second, the character of Tilda didn't have enough substance for me and her "magic" made no sense.
For example, we hear about her deceased husband, however, I honestly didn't feel the emotion that she should have felt dealing with his loss. I had a lot of tell and not enough show for me. Maybe it would have helped if we had any dialogue/flashbacks providing some glimpses into their relationship. When we have Tilda trying to figure out the mystery of what is going on with her and her visions since I already knew as a reader who she was seeing, I found myself getting bored with those passages. We had to wait until about 3/4 of the book I recall before Tilda caught up with the rest of us readers. Maybe it would have been better, to not have the book broken up by two different voices.
Regarding Tilda's magic, it makes no sense at all. Especially when you figure out her connections. I am still scratching my head at it and decided to not dwell on it anymore.
Third, the romance that was introduced in the novel didn't work for me, for either characters. With regards to Tilda, I didn't feel any chemistry at all between her and her romantic partner. And Seren's romantic partner may end up angering some people.
Seren gets involved with a married Prince.
It didn't bother me. I had more of a problem with the fact that Seren's romantic partner didn't seem real to me. Throughout the entire book this person was just a blank slate and didn't seem to have much of a personality.
I really adored this cover though. I swear that Paula Brackston's covers are some of the prettiest I have ever seen.
Also, like I said, the chapters describing Seren and her life were the best parts of the book for me.I would have loved it if we actually just had a book told from Seren's point of view. Paula Brackston is able to mix storytelling with the history of the regions she writes about very well which is always what I enjoyed about her previous books.
Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program. This book will be released on April 21, 2015.
Told in the third person, we have a book from two character's points of view. First, Tilda a widowed young woman trying to move on with her life. Second, Seren, a woman that lived centuries earlier.
I ended up giving this book just 3.5 stars due to the following:
First, the pacing of this novel was all over the place. I think that having the book broken up into two points of view (one being Tilda and the second being a young woman named Seren) was a good idea. However, with books like this, there tends to be a stronger voice that the reader likes more. In my case, I was invested more in the character of Seren and the passages that detailed her life. The sections dealing with Tilda were not that interesting until the very end of the book when you find out her connection to what is going on. I also had problems with the fact that the character of Tilda remained pretty much a mystery. I think I was already past the halfway point when I got the idea of what was going on with her and how she was "different." I don't need a huge information dump, however pieces of the puzzle being dropped here and there while the author has another "voice" in the novel the reader is supposed to be following as well made it a bit hard to figure out what the big deal with Tilda was and by the time I found out, I mentally shrugged.
Second, the character of Tilda didn't have enough substance for me and her "magic" made no sense.
For example, we hear about her deceased husband, however, I honestly didn't feel the emotion that she should have felt dealing with his loss. I had a lot of tell and not enough show for me. Maybe it would have helped if we had any dialogue/flashbacks providing some glimpses into their relationship. When we have Tilda trying to figure out the mystery of what is going on with her and her visions since I already knew as a reader who she was seeing, I found myself getting bored with those passages. We had to wait until about 3/4 of the book I recall before Tilda caught up with the rest of us readers. Maybe it would have been better, to not have the book broken up by two different voices.
Regarding Tilda's magic, it makes no sense at all. Especially when you figure out her connections. I am still scratching my head at it and decided to not dwell on it anymore.
Third, the romance that was introduced in the novel didn't work for me, for either characters. With regards to Tilda, I didn't feel any chemistry at all between her and her romantic partner. And Seren's romantic partner may end up angering some people.
Spoiler
Seren gets involved with a married Prince.
It didn't bother me. I had more of a problem with the fact that Seren's romantic partner didn't seem real to me. Throughout the entire book this person was just a blank slate and didn't seem to have much of a personality.
I really adored this cover though. I swear that Paula Brackston's covers are some of the prettiest I have ever seen.
Also, like I said, the chapters describing Seren and her life were the best parts of the book for me.I would have loved it if we actually just had a book told from Seren's point of view. Paula Brackston is able to mix storytelling with the history of the regions she writes about very well which is always what I enjoyed about her previous books.
Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program. This book will be released on April 21, 2015.
A Slight Change of Plan by Dee Ernst
5.0
I really ended up loving this book and want to thank a friend who recommended it to me.
The protagonist of this novel is Kate Everett. Widowed for five years she finally decides to down-size from her huge house to a nice townhouse to get ready for the second stage of her life. However, things don't go as planned with Kate still thinking about what could have been with her first love from college popping up into her life and her family causing her fits.
There are so many novels out there with characters in their fifties trying to figure out what's next but this once I thought did a great job accurately portraying what life is like for older women and men.
I thought the character of Kate was just fantastic. I wanted to hang out and drink with her and one of her besties Cheryl and just laugh at things. Especially with Kate's insights about women in romance novels always opening bakeries, businesses, or other things and somehow finding themselves. I have not read a romance novel that has actually made me laugh out loud so much in such a long time I just ended up promptly buying her other book "Better Off Without Him" and can't wait to devour that book as well.
What made it really work for me though is that Kate did not take the "easy" option but the one that worked for her. Things did not magically get right in her life she had to work at it while also being honest about her marriage to her deceased husband.
I definitely recommend this novel!
The protagonist of this novel is Kate Everett. Widowed for five years she finally decides to down-size from her huge house to a nice townhouse to get ready for the second stage of her life. However, things don't go as planned with Kate still thinking about what could have been with her first love from college popping up into her life and her family causing her fits.
There are so many novels out there with characters in their fifties trying to figure out what's next but this once I thought did a great job accurately portraying what life is like for older women and men.
I thought the character of Kate was just fantastic. I wanted to hang out and drink with her and one of her besties Cheryl and just laugh at things. Especially with Kate's insights about women in romance novels always opening bakeries, businesses, or other things and somehow finding themselves. I have not read a romance novel that has actually made me laugh out loud so much in such a long time I just ended up promptly buying her other book "Better Off Without Him" and can't wait to devour that book as well.
What made it really work for me though is that Kate did not take the "easy" option but the one that worked for her. Things did not magically get right in her life she had to work at it while also being honest about her marriage to her deceased husband.
I definitely recommend this novel!
One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak
2.0
I am sure many customers know who BJ Novak is and that he starred on "The Office" for several years and has done movies as well. I have loved his acting for years and always loved his character of Ryan on "The Office". I assumed that his collection of short stories would be funny but I found out that I was unfortunately wrong.
All in all there are approximately 63 short stories in "One More Thing". Don't worry about the number of stories in this collection since some of the stories are fairly short (shortest was just three or perhaps four sentences) and the longest was maybe around 10 pages. This is really the only positive thing I can say about these stories is that they read very fast and you tend to zip through them all.
The biggest issue for me which is why I gave this only 1.5 stars is that there is no common theme tying all of these stories together. I don't know if Mr. Novak was trying to be funny or high brow or make the reader think but in the end none of these stories worked for me. I am sure that his writing was meant to evoke reactions (what reactions I don't know) and that some of his stories were metaphors for something else taking place in society. However, the biggest reaction I had was a feeling of annoyance while reading these stories and that I was back in my college English Lit course all over again (and for those of you who wonder this was not a good thing at all).
I do want to say that there were some stories that I disliked less than others. Some of these were the following, "The Rematch", "The Something by John Grisham", "The Impatient Billionaire and the Mirror for Earth". Others I downright disliked such as "The Comedy Central Roast of Nelson Mandela," "The Ghost of Mark Twain, " and "The Vague Restaurant Critic." The other stories honestly didn't leave much of an impression on me.
All in all there are approximately 63 short stories in "One More Thing". Don't worry about the number of stories in this collection since some of the stories are fairly short (shortest was just three or perhaps four sentences) and the longest was maybe around 10 pages. This is really the only positive thing I can say about these stories is that they read very fast and you tend to zip through them all.
The biggest issue for me which is why I gave this only 1.5 stars is that there is no common theme tying all of these stories together. I don't know if Mr. Novak was trying to be funny or high brow or make the reader think but in the end none of these stories worked for me. I am sure that his writing was meant to evoke reactions (what reactions I don't know) and that some of his stories were metaphors for something else taking place in society. However, the biggest reaction I had was a feeling of annoyance while reading these stories and that I was back in my college English Lit course all over again (and for those of you who wonder this was not a good thing at all).
I do want to say that there were some stories that I disliked less than others. Some of these were the following, "The Rematch", "The Something by John Grisham", "The Impatient Billionaire and the Mirror for Earth". Others I downright disliked such as "The Comedy Central Roast of Nelson Mandela," "The Ghost of Mark Twain, " and "The Vague Restaurant Critic." The other stories honestly didn't leave much of an impression on me.