Book Reviews by Genre: Fiction

Peer into the lives of a Pakistani couple whose Christianity is at odds with the more widespread Islamic beliefs of the locals. This is a story of intrigue and excitement as the plot slowly moves towards a head on religious collision when a local rickshaw driver falls in love with the widowed daughter of an Imam. A beautiful look at Pakistani cultural and religious differences. Wonderful, intense characters.

Read a story of family, loyalty, racial prejudice and the meaning of difference. Enjoy the individual triumphs and failures of several generations of one family and changes they experience as they live and learn. Find out about the old time gambling sport, pachinko and its effects on an extraordinary family. This is the kind of book that makes you miss your "friends" when you finish it.

Travel back in time and walk the lanes and byways, sail the seas, or straddle a horse and visit with a gamut of folks from queens and kings of European powers to courtiers, to merchants and villagers, to pirates and tradesmen. Get to know the characters in the fight for religious tolerance and witness the blood that was shed for this privilege. The struggle between Catholic and Protestant worshippers becomes real with the unspeakable cruelty among humans who believe their beliefs trump the beliefs of others. Call it the devil. An arduous but enjoyable read.

In the 18th century, it was rather common for young wealthy English folks to embark on a Grand Tour of continental Europe between their school years and their careers or higher education. Henry “Monty” Montague’s Grand Tour, however, is anything but common. Monty’s formal education at Eton ended rather abruptly, due to being caught in a rather compromising situation with another one of the boys. Now his future as his father’s heir is in jeopardy, and his tour is his last chance to redeem himself.

So it is that Monty departs for the continent, knowing that if he doesn’t manage to behave himself (at least in his father’s eyes), he’ll be left penniless. He’s accompanied by his younger sister, Felicity, herself off to a school in France, and his best friend Percy, who will be leaving England for law school at the end of their tour.

Monty naturally feels a bit overwhelmed by the mounting pressure on him to completely turn his own life around. However, understanding the plights of others isn’t something he’s ever been good at, and Felicity and Percy each have their own deep concerns about what awaits each of them at the end of their trip. None of them expect Monty’s knack for attracting trouble to draw them into a web of intrigue that leads them from France to Spain to Italy, pursued by highwaymen, pirates, and vengeful nobles. And none of them, least of all Monty, expected him to fall desperately in love with Percy along the way…

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee was everything I wanted it to be and more. Adventure, mystery, and romance all fall neatly into place in this YA treasure. It’s available now, so do yourself a favor and pick it up.

This is a fantasy book and twist on Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”.
This is a unpredictable book with all kinds of twists and turns. It does have some romance and mystery in the book too. The book is told in two perspectives and keeps you on your toes. It definitely isn't your average fairytale. It is one of the best books I have read all year.

Reviewer grade: 8th

If you didn't already guess from the title yes, this is a romance book. It is realistic fiction and isn't part of a series. It is a pretty short read. With heartbreaks, lies, high school drama and some hospital visits this book will be hard to put down. The book is a little predictable but it isn't your typical love story. This is another great book I have read this year.

Reviewer grade: 8th

This is a realistic fiction-romance novel. The book is a little predictable and doesn't have a cliffhanger. The book isn't part of a series and is a pretty short read. I recommend this book to any girl who enjoys realistic highschool love stories. I really liked this book and I think it is a great book to read.

Reviewer grade: 8th

This is the second book in the Red Queen series. Please read the series in order to avoid serious confusion. The genre of the book is dystopian and the book itself is full of action. Also there is lovey-dovey elements that seem to happen in every book where the main character is a teen girl. Like Red Queen the book is unpredictable and of course has a cliffhanger at the end.
Another one of my favorite books that will hold your attention from start to finish.

Reviewer grade: 8th

An amazingly written book Red Queen will keep you on your toes. It is a dystopian book (a relatively new genre of books) and is filled with action and betrayal. It is the first book in a four book series (and the books are huge). Even though it has a lot of action in the book, it does have some lovey-dovey elements since the main character is a teenage girl. Completely unpredictable and does have a cliffhanger at the end. This is one of my favorite books of all time.

Reviewer grade: 8th

An eighth grade school camping trip is may sound fun but is dreaded by George Clark. What is he going to learn? He already knows more than the rest of his grade. Little does George know this camping tip will teach a lot more than he expects. He faces friend trouble, a terrible teacher, bullying and more on this trip. I really liked that the author made the book written by the character. Anita's kind and caring attitude toward George made me fall in love with the book. What I really like was the ending and how it worked out. This book is a must read because the author shows a unique perspective.
Not only that but the author shows wonderful character development.

Kylie Chan mixes modern life with traditional Chinese mythology in her enthralling tale. The story follows Emma, a nanny for a young girl of a wealthy business man living in Hong Kong. As Emma becomes more and more connected with her charge, she become more entangled with a mystery that surrounds the household. She soon discovers that her employer is an ancient Chinese God, and is pursued by demonic forces. Kylie Chan writes with a faced-pace adventurous quality that keeps readers on their feet.
(Reviewer Grade: 12)

Ender's Game is an enthralling and thrilling sci-fi following a young boy as he is prepped to save the world. Ender departs for battle school at the ripe age of 6, where he is thrust into a world were children go head to head in a competition to be the best, fight in an all out war, and earn all the glory.
Although young and inexperienced, Ender is the best. But things seem to be stacked against him....
Orson Scott Card writes with incredible dexterity and Ender's Game pulls you into a new world.
(Reviewer Grade: 12)

A Wise Man's Fear is the second installment of the KingKiller Chronicles following The Name of the Wind. Rothfuss continues Kvothe's tale as he learns to navigate new worlds and new relationships. Unlike many sequels, A Wise Man's Fear is not lacking in adventure or astute characters. Having left the university, Kvothe faces assassination plots, powerful fey, and a trial by powerful mercenaries. In this book, we really see Kvothe become a hero and stretch his legend across the four corners of civilization. Rothfuss writes with the same dexterity as seen previously, and he always leaves you wanting more.
(Reviewer Grade: 12)

The Name of the Wind follows the story of Kvothe, a highly clever, not so childish kid who faces perils uncommon in this world and the next. Name of the Wind is not just another coming-of-age story. Rothfuss weaves an incredible story of intrigue. This book, while a little daunting at first, is worth every page. The use of language is masterful and Rothfuss manages to keep readers engaged every step of the way.
(Reviewer Grade: 12)

Ever since her father died, Emika Chen has had trouble keeping her head above water. Her job as a bounty hunter barely pays the bills, and she's on the brink of getting evicted when she strikes proverbial gold. In Emika's world, an alternate near future, everyone is obsessed with the virtual reality game Warcross. During the Warcross International Championships opening ceremony, Emika hacks her way into the game, and gains instant international notoriety. She is recruited by Warcross creator, Hideo Tanaka, to use her bounty hunting skills to find another hacker who is threatening to destroy the Warcross championships.

This was a lot of fun. By far the best parts were Warcross descriptions. Imagine Quidditch meets the battle sims from Ender's Game in a completely virtual setting where the landscape changed in every game. The Warcross descriptions were epic, and quite frankly, I wish there had been more of them. Emika is likable enough, though she makes some really irritating decisions (I hate it when problems could be easily solved with communication and the lead just opts to keep everything to themself). I actually liked some of the side characters more than Emika - I would read a book starring pretty much anyone on her Warcross team. I hated Hideo with a passion though, I never could figure out why the world, and our lead, thought he was awesome (I mean, aside from the smart/rich/powerful thing, but those things do not a personality make). Any part featuring him had my eyes rolling back in my head. That being said, the cast is really diverse, which is refreshing, and for the most part, I liked 'em. There are also a few fun gaming references, and I'm sure I missed many more.

But, for all that it's a fun read, there were a few things hampering my enjoyment. The book had a few premise problems. Emika would utilize a solution/hack, and it's one where you're like - wouldn't this have easily solved your 5 earlier problems? People's motivations don't always make sense, but this could be fleshed out in the sequel. Oh, and there is a romance and it's awful and instalove adjacent.

Premise and romance issues aside, this read was a lot of fun. It's not a wholly original book, but the Warcross descriptions and twists at the end ensure that I'll be there for the next installment, which I suspect will be a
much better book. This was somewhere in between a 3-4 star read for me, so I'm rounding up because PPLD doesn't use half stars. 3.5 stars.

Powerful women dominate the world...that is at least in the country Matrus. Across the toxic and poisonous Veil River lies Patrus. In contrast to Martrus Partrus is ruled by men. Women may not leave the house without her husband, and are under legal custody of the man. Though Matrus doesn't treat their men much better. The few men in Matrus have no power, but are free.
Violet Bates a Matrian citizen is given an opportunity to cross into Patrus or alternatively sentenced to death. With a rough past Violet must make a hard decision. Her fate lies in The Gender Game. This book is a dystopian romance nothing new on the surface. We have already seen that in Hunger Games and Divergent. What Bella Forrest does is create a complex environment which you can't help but be engulfed by. Not only that but The Gender Game shows perspectives of citizens of both Matrus and Patrus. You should read this book if you are a lover of dystopian books and suspense. Though I must say the first half of the book wasn't all that suspenseful but it perfectly set you up for the rest of the series. I'm sure you will find this two complex societies thrilling and it will be worth the read.

Much like short story anthologies by a single author (see Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors and Ray Bradbury’s The Golden Apples of the Sun ), Welcome to the Monkey House is both quintessentially a collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s biting wit and satire as well as an exploration of other genres not often associated with Vonnegut’s style. Fans of Vonnegut will likely have already read some of these short stories (like “EPICAC” and “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”), but some of the other stories might have been missed and for a good reason.

Overall, Welcome to the Monkey House is a fantastic set of stories, but a few of them fail to have the impact to make them memorable. Granted, these stories are few and far between, and help to break up the well-written social commentaries presented in “Harrison Bergeron” and the titular “Welcome to the Monkey House.” Vonnegut’s ability to show the slippery slope of such ideas as “everyone is equal” and “sex is bad,” respectively, is just as poignant in short form as it is in his novels. The fusion of technology in these stories might seem dated by today’s standards, but they do reveal that Vonnegut was, inherently, a science-fiction writer.

What this collection does well is show that Vonnegut understood the importance of the characters in a story. One of the most entertaining in this collection was “Who Am I This Time?” which contained characters at such extremes of human expression as to be completely unrealistic but somehow relatable and entertaining. Stories like this, which don’t necessarily follow the political or societal commentary that the other stories provide, are nice breathers that give the reader a smile instead of drilling thought-provoking ideas into their skulls. It’s this balance that truly makes Welcome to the Monkey House a must-read.

Vonnegut, true to form as well as outside his element, I give Welcome to the Monkey House 4.0 stars out of 5.

As I read The Maze Runner , I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that the story was meant for a video game instead of a novel. The Scorch Trials merely confirms my suspicions. I mean, who in their right mind would acronym their organization with WICKED? While the first book in this series had a pretty straightforward goal (escape the maze), the sequel made no sense whatsoever.
OK, these kids escaped the maze, but then what? The idea of traveling to the “safe haven” seemed to come so late in the plot that it almost felt like an afterthought.

Concerning the characters, the main ones are still there, but so many of the ancillary minor characters are so forgettable as to be practically useless.
Brenda was added into the mix merely to elicit a “love triangle” between the two love interests of the first book, but it just felt forced . . . like everything else in The Scorch Trials. Survival doesn’t make for a great motivation unless there’s something to hope for in the long run. I never got much of a sense of any of the characters’ motivations since around every turn the world they found themselves in was trying to kill them in ridiculous and unbelievable ways.

I think what turns me off about this series the most is that the “hand of the author” is obviously visible throughout. Nothing feels natural, and the exposition is spotty and done in huge chunks based off of a lull in the action instead of as a result of it. Each time the characters face a new challenge, there seems to be no weight behind it, since most of the “challenges” are basically to generate a conflict between the characters and the unseen organization while providing no new information as to what any of it means.

A book that should have been a video game, I give The Scorch Trials 2.0 stars out of 5.

Perhaps the first documented fictional exploration of spiritual warfare, The Screwtape Letters is an expertly crafted examination of what the enemy of our souls is plotting. The reader is given insight into one side of a correspondence between two demons of differing influence and rank, thus providing a “behind the scenes” look at what the enemy is plotting and what they consider to be a victory for them. At moments, it can be difficult to follow along since the context of Screwtape’s “enemy” is really the “good” side of the spiritual battle. Either way, C.S. Lewis has crafted a brilliant satire about how little humans understand of their spiritual lives.

While I wouldn’t necessarily ascribe The Screwtape Letters to pure theology, there are plenty of eye-opening and thought-provoking statements in Screwtape’s letters to his nephew. From the demons’ acknowledgment that pleasure is of God’s design but overindulgence in pleasure is in their realm to the ever-constant battle to bring humanity’s spiritual fervor into the “lukewarm” category, many of the topics covered in this book are still applicable today. In fact, an astute reader can pick up exactly where the demons have gained victories in today’s society filled with apathy and spiritual malaise.

My biggest qualm with this book is that it wasn’t longer. Lewis unquestionably had the creative spark to package theology in an entertaining context via books like this, so I would have liked if there were more letters included in the set to stir up more conversation and induce more moments of reflection in our own lives. If someone were to write the unauthorized sequel to this book that could do so, I would certainly read it in a heartbeat.

The greatest example of writing from an antagonist’s perspective, I give The Screwtape Letters 4.5 stars out of 5.

In an odd twist, I haven’t actually seen the movie this book was based on before I started reading it. Sure, I was aware The Kite Runner was a notable book, but I knew little about it other than the peripheral knowledge that comes from seeing an occasional movie trailer. About five years ago, I found this book for cheap at a bookstore and decided to pick it up on a whim. Now that I’ve finally read it, I’m glad I bought it those many years ago.
Unquestionably, it deserved the notoriety it received, as it is a well-written and engaging story.

I’ll admit that there is much I don’t know about the specifics of Afghanistan and Islam. This book certainly opened my eyes to a lot of things I had suspected, but could never confirm. First of all: men are awful. I’m a man myself, but I’m ashamed that so much of human misery is linked to the pride that distorts any of us into racists, sexists, and/or terrorists. While it was likely just a result of correctly depicting a patriarchal culture, The Kite Runner shines a harsh light on the hypocrisy of a fair number of men, most of whom only ascribe to these long-held “ideals” because it helps them maintain power and cover their insecurities.

The emotional heart of the story lies with the relationship between Amir and Hassan. By the end of the book, while I found the “twists” to be logical and almost predictable, they still elicited an emotional response from me. In fact, I almost would have thought this book to be a true story, were it not for the plot being just slightly too convenient at times. Sure, The Kite Runner made me mad that such thinking existed/still exists, but the fact that it caused me feel so strongly about it proves how effective its storytelling is.

A modern classic filled with timeless lessons, I give The Kite Runner 4.5 stars out of 5.