Book Review - Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Alex is a seventeen-year-old girl with enough problems - dead parents, an inoperable brain tumor, and few happy memories - that the end of the world might well seem like welcome respite. But after the EMP leaves the world without electricity and electronic devices, leaves Alex stranded on a fictional Michigan mountain with winter just around the corner, she finds herself fighting to live (along with her survival mates and makeshift family) after all.

I really enjoyed this book, pushed through its 450+ pages in about a week, with a busy family event taking up my weekend. The nature of the dystopia - a warfare-based EMP pulse causing technological and nuclear meltdown, the death of an entire generation and a terrifying Change in another - seemed plausible enough to give me the creepy-crawlies. Alex and her fellow survivors all seemed very real to me, their personalities broad and complex, not overly simplified and stereotypical as so often happens in young adult fiction.

Ashes (both a title and a theme which is mentioned *almost* too many times in the first hundred or so pages), is already split into three sections, but it could almost be two separate books. There is a major shift about halfway through and the plot changes so drastically that I can't even really discuss it without giving away the first half. I will say that there seems to be some sort of deeper plan in that second half that evaded me. I'm hoping it's made clear in the second book of the trilogy.

I'm actually a little disappointed that I came across this book before its publication, because that means I'll be waiting even longer for the next one to be released. The cliffhanger ending of Ashes definitely has me already eager for Shadows. Well, maybe I'll get access to that one early, too.



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Book Review - Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This series is just so much fun. Tons of great info about Egyptology, treatment of minor gods and goddesses along with the major ones, and strong male and female lead characters who work best in cooperation with each other. Having just read the first 39 clues book (also a brother-sister duo), I found this to be far more engaging and well-written. I'm definitely looking forward to the conclusion of this series!

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Book Review - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Well, it's no Hunger Games. The premise is interesting, and the story had a lot of promise. Unfortunately, a lot of it was left unfulfilled. I identified pretty heavily with the main character, BUT there was a real lack of depth to 99% of the other characters, which is disappointing. I was left with many unanswered questions that I hope are resolved in the sequel, which I do intend to read.

These people are living in a world where the only thing separating them from a forest of Zombies is a chain-link fence. And yet, while you read about their terror and desperation at times, you never FEEL it. Maybe I'm spoiled by the emotional roller coaster that was the Hunger Games series, but I like to be inside of my stories. While this one carried me through, I felt more like I was riding along a path in an electric jeep rather than being chased through the jungle by the dinosaurs.

The only thing I really felt in my bones was Mary's desire for MORE of life, and the sense of loss from those whose loved ones were taken by the Unconsecrated. And while her scenes of desire with her beloved were moving, the genre was painfully obvious to me as it usually isn't in good YA - I could tell the author was holding back because of the intended age of the audience, and the work was the worse for it.

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Book Review - Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I still maintain that Speaker for the Dead is the best of the Ender series and that the books get progressively "worse" after that book. That said, I enjoyed Xenocide much more this read-through (listen-through?) than I had previously, mostly because I understood and took interest in the science more than I ever had before.

Knowing what I do about Orson Scott Card and his religious and political beliefs (or at least professions) took a little of the joy out of this book, and more so than the others. I found myself frequently wondering <i>what he was trying to say</i>. Before I had been able to suspend those thoughts and get lost in the story, but they came to the forefront this time.

When I started listening to this books again (I do it about once a year), I didn't intend to read through the whole series, knowing that I could feasibly stop with Speaker and be done, and that I didn't like the other books as much. But as usual, the story drew me in, and even though I KNOW what happens in the long run, I wanted to hear it all again.

If you've never listened to the Ender books, I highly recommend it. The voice acting is phenomenal and really brings the story to life.

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My third time through, and I still couldn't just stop with Speaker. I had to finish out the series, and I'll say that I appreciated Xenocide more this third time around, and Children of the Mind was actually the story I rolled my eyes through. I guess you do get something different out of a book every time you read it (or listen, as it were). I once again applied what I know about OSC and his beliefs to the telling of this story, and while I was still irritated at times, I also found myself analyzing and questioning and being generally curious about how much of the story does align with mormonism or OSC's personal dogma.

I'll still call this a three-star book, but I am glad that I have read it again (and again), if only to see how I as the audience have changed.

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I almost didn't continue the series this year, but went ahead anyway since I didn't have any more audiobooks lined up and I like to have one going at all times. Also, I couldn't seem to leave Ender, though he features far less prominently in this book that the first two. Once again (though mostly later in the book), I found myself beset by OSC's sneaky dogmatic ideals working their way into the inner personal monologues of his characters. *sigh* Someday, I'll learn that two books is really enough, that I know the rest of the story and don't actually have to keep "reading." There are so many good things out there waiting to be listened to.


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Book Review - James Potter and the Curse of the Gate Keeper by G. Norman Lippert

James Potter and the Curse of the Gate Keeper by G. Norman Lippert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book could have used the firm but loving hand of a copy-editor. Everyone's smile was crooked, and you really want to slap the hero around for the first half to two-thirds of the book. I guess he's supposed to be young and stupid and all, and that's very authentic, but I think a reader is also supposed to relate to the hero of a book.

I also don't think the old characters are very true-to form. It's hard to tell, since they're a good 15+ years older than they were when last we saw them in the canon series, but I just didn't FEEL Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and especially Dumbledore coming out of their characters. And Dumbledore should have been the same, since it was his portrait that was doing the talking. The new characters are all quite well-developed, though, and I was glad to see Hermione's daughter Rose take on the Hermione role in the group, of a strong, level-headed, studious young woman. :)

As with The Hall of Elder's Crossing, though, the story was excellent, and kept me reading through to the end. I'm really looking forward to reading Girl on the Dock (a spinoff story of one of the characters) and the third installment of the James Potter series.



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Book Review - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Orson Scott Card says his books are meant to be heard more than read, and the cast of narrators for Ender's Game is phenomenal.

This book has been billed as YA and it does ok in that genre, but I find I get something more out of the book (the series, really), every time I listen. And Since I first "read" (listened to) this book in 2006, I get the urge to listen to it pretty much once or twice a year, despite the way my "to-read" list keeps growing.

Ender's Game is full of emotion, politics, children you tend to forget are so young, and the war of several lifetimes. And yet, that somehow doesn't begin to describe its depth and complexity. Just pick it up; you won't regret it.

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