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shcleveland's reviews
165 reviews
4.0
For the sake of full disclosure, the author and I are doing a review swap. I read hers and she's reading mine.
I want to start by saying that I didn't expect to enjoy this book so much. I almost turned down the swap after reading the book description on Amazon. Climate change... not my favorite subject. The concept of a shield to protect the Earth at first reminded me strongly of Highlander II which... don't even get me started. I don't know why the actors agreed to do that script. But I digress. Yet, something about the book piqued my curiosity. So I said yes and bought the book on Amazon. Which, by the way, is way, way under-priced for the quality of story you're getting. Connie, go up you price tag. Seriously.
So, to the review part of this review. Connie wrote an engaging story. It's really that simple. She did justice to all of the themes the book's premise presented, even if I don't agree with some of the conclusions. The pacing, description, and characterization was spot on. The writing was excellent. The dialog was natural and witty. I loved the interactions between the characters. So, even though I went in with reservations I found myself sucked in and finished it all in one night.
The only thing that really keeps me from giving this a five star rating has to do with the clones. Maybe my suspension of disbelief was already at it's limit with the vast change in Earth's climate, but I just don't get why people would think clones are soulless or somehow less human. Especially given that clones in the book's world are born to surrogate mothers, not grown in a test tube. I mean, twins have the same DNA, but nobody thinks they're somehow soulless. Maybe I missed something. If somebody else figures it out, please let me know. It's probably going to keep me up at night. Anyhow, I do like how Neave overcomes this social bias, and I especially love the clone-related twists in the story. I just don't get where the bias came from in the first place.
All in all, it was an excellent read and I look forward to reading more from Connie in the future.
4.0
If you can get past the total nerdom of the profanity, Weir's writing is humorous and engaging (so engaging, I read it in a day). He gives us a character we can happily cheer for and keeps us on the edge of our seats wondering what disaster will next befall our stranded botanist-astronaut turned hero.
I would happily recommend this book to all my nerdy friends, though probably not to my mother.
5.0
Elfstones was never a particular favorite of mine (though I love Shannara as a whole). I can say now that I enjoy it more as an adult than I did when I was younger. The whole emotional trauma for Wil there at the end still ticks me off (which is why Elfstones wasn't my favorite out of the original trilogy), but I now realize how much depth there was to the book that I missed the first time around.
Mr. Brooks is a master of the craft, and my hat is off to him (metaphorically, I don't have a literal hat).
3.0