Fiction

As a fan of the three-act structure that trilogies can provide, I’ve found
over the years that the fourth book in a series generally determines what the
style of future books will be. Plenty of series have strong plotlines and
character arcs that span multiple volumes, but some series settle into a
tried-and-true formula that works for them. For The Opal Deception, the
fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series, it’s the latter. Granted, the
series is meant for grade-school readers, so it’s not entirely surprising
that the series has become formulaic.

There was an amount of status quo (and returning to it) that had to happen
after the events in The Eternity Code, which is where The Opal Deception came
in. It honestly feels a little like a half-step backward for the series, or
at least a realignment to get the characters all back together to continue on
future adventures. By now, these adventures all seem to have the same
checklist of events that need to happen. Artemis needs to be clever and
smart. Mulch needs to be gross and flatulent. Holly needs to come in and save
the day in her magical way.

About the only thing that was different from previous books in the Artemis
Fowl universe was the titular villain: Opal Kobol. Of course, this antagonist
gave more of a Bond villain vibe than any of the previous ones. This makes me
think the series will be progressing with this kind of James Bond formula,
which contained singular villains, fancy spy technology, and almost
ridiculous action sequences. In fact, I’d almost peg the Artemis Fowl
series as a teenage version of James Bond with a heavy dollop of fantasy
thrown in to keep kids entertained.

A formulaic stabilization of the Artemis Fowl series, I give The Opal
Deception 3.5 stars out of 5.

I’m all for interesting ways to write books, but using a game of “Twitter
telephone” is a new one for me. In fact, can we even call this book written
by Gaiman at all? Sure, he’s great at these types of modern fairy tales
(like Stardust , for instance), but he only got the ball rolling on this
story and let the internet write the rest of it. Granted, he was the one who
chose which segments to include next, to help guide it into some limited form
of coherence, so maybe he “wrote” it after all?

It’s not that Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry isn’t an utterly incoherent
story; it’s that it lacks focus at times. Plenty of interesting subplots
could have been explored but were quickly abandoned as the story switched
over to a different writer. I’m almost glad this book was as short as it
was because otherwise, I don’t know how much more of the plotline whiplash
I could take. Perhaps it’s a good thing for readers everywhere that stories
aren’t normally created 140 characters at a time. Not that it can’t be
done, but that the longer scope of the project is lost in the changing points
of view.

If anything, this book reminds me a bit of Forum Role-Playing stories. Each
individual controls a character, and everyone writes a segment at a time to
advance the plot. The problem with this approach (other than people not
committing to contributing) is that each individual has an idea in their mind
of where the story should go. Rarely do those ideas match with the rest of
the group. If this story were edited down to a few base ideas that Neil
Gaiman would then use to create a longer-form and coherent story, then maybe
this experiment would have merit. As it is right now, Hearts, Keys, and
Puppetry displays the true randomness of the internet.

A crowd-sourced story that has all the problems of a crowd-sourced story, I
give Hearts, Keys, and Puppetry 3.0 stars out of 5.

On the surface, The Man Who Was Thursday has all the markings of a witty thriller satire. Unfortunately, as the subtitle of this work is “A Nightmare,” things don’t necessarily stay coherent to the end. It’s not that The Man Who Was Thursday is terrible, but rather that it loses focus and becomes absurd the longer it continues. And perhaps that’s the greatest tragedy of this book: that it could have been a solid story if it didn’t devolve into a nightmare at the end.

I certainly liked plenty of aspects of the early parts of this book. Infiltrating an anarchist society with day-of-the-week codenames. The revelation that few members of said society were actually who they said they were. The conspiracy and twists as the protagonists and antagonists get flipped on their heads. Of course, this last bit is when things started going downhill. Perhaps it’s that odd British humor that influenced the weird bits, but the story probably could have done without all the randomness near the end. In fact, making the whole thing into a nightmare lessens the overall impact of the story, since there is doubt that any of it happened at all.

I’m sure that books like The Man Who Was Thursday require extensive footnotes and analysis to understand. I’m sure this book is assigned to English classes as an example of deep and thoughtful prose. The problem is that I’m mainly reading for entertainment. I don’t have the time to sit down and pore over all the analysis of a book like this. For my money, I think I’ll stick to the James Bond series for spies with code names infiltrating secret societies. At least then, I know the result is closer to reality than whatever this book contains.

A weird book that could have been an excellent thriller satire, I give The Man Who Was Thursday 3.0 stars out of 5.

When I started reading Wizard and Glass, it became abundantly clear why The Waste Lands ended with a cliffhanger. While it would have been nice to have a short conclusion at the end of The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass needed a small amount of framing. That way, it didn’t become a book entirely devoted to a flashback. Granted, the large majority of this book is a flashback, even to the point that I’d consider it to be a prequel. Fortunately, Roland’s backstory was something that desperately needed to be expounded upon in this series.

I know most writers are discouraged from using flashbacks, but in the context of a more extensive series, Wizard and Glass is an integral part of understanding how the Dark Tower universe works. Plus, Stephen King can get away with a lot since he’s so well established. In the end, this book works well because it is relational. Understanding Roland’s past and how he had loved and lost helped to make him not only more relatable but more human as well. Up until now, he was this stark, emotionless gunslinger whose only drive in life was to get to the Dark Tower.

While Wizard and Glass is undoubtedly one of the stronger books in the series, I felt there were a few elements that I didn’t like as much when compared to say, The Drawing of the Three (my current favorite in the series). There was plenty of sex in this book that, while somewhat necessary to the plot, was a bit over the top at times. Additionally, for a book that was as long as it was, I would think that more would have happened in it. As it is, there was a lot of talk about stuff happening, but no real action about it until near the end of the book. Still, I look forward to what will happen next.

A much-needed flashback/prequel for the Dark Tower series, I give Wizard and Glass 4.0 stars out of 5.

My knowledge of Norse mythology is passable at best. Granted, much of it I “learned” from movies like Thor (2011), so I understand that there’s an amount of fictionalization to my knowledge. That being said, Mist seemed to take this pop-culture understanding of Norse mythology and transplant it into modern-day San Francisco. While solidly in the New Adult genre (there is plenty of sex and allusions to it here), I can’t say that anything is interesting here in terms of story. Sure, there are a few things that happen, but they all seem to be alluding to much more exciting developments that won’t happen until later in the series.

One of my biggest qualms with this book was that I didn’t connect with the main character. Mist felt very “Mary Sue” to me. I found the more common elements of her existence (e.g., her employment, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.) were mentioned in passing but never given much weight to ground her in the reality of San Francisco. Additionally, there were plenty of illogical or unexplained actions that she took that I only assumed were to progress the story in the way that it was supposed to happen.

As for the action in this book, it is certainly hectic. At times, it’s also confusing as to what is precisely going on, even to the point of being action for action’s sake. Sure, it’s paced pretty well throughout, and it helps show the growth of the titular character, but I started skimming over these sequences after a while. In the end, maybe Norse mythology isn’t for me. Or at least I am not really into the modern-setting Norse mythology presented in books like this. It’s an interesting concept, but it feels too constrained to the urban and doesn’t allow more of the fantasy to shine through.

A passable New Adult Norse urban fantasy, I give Mist 2.5 stars out of 5.

A short history of tractors in Ukrainian is a very entertaining tale of the vastly different experiences and perspectives of Ukrainian immigrants post-WWII to post-Cold War in Great Britain. It's a story that also explores the challenges of caring for aging family members. Well worth the read - it'll completely broaden your horizons. Also, it's very funny.

This is a series for children/teens. but I loved it. It really does combine the best of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and every fantasy story that you know and love into one amazing series with characters that you just can't help but love. Highly recommend.

Pretty darn good! Light urban fantasy/paranormal with some romance, good pacing & character development, good grammar & proofreading (unlike this review), good action scenes. Really liked the reader for the audiobook. Not the depth of story of Briggs, Butcher, or Huff, but not just fluff waiting for the next romantic scene either. So glad our library is awesome and constantly offering new and interesting things.

When I saw Jojo Rabbit (2019) nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, I decided to give Caging Skies a read to see how close the adaptation came. After finishing this book, I can see why Taika Waititi ended his movie at the half-way point of the plot. This is mostly because this book only has half a plot. I can forgive a bit of blind enthusiasm of Austrian children who thought the Nazis were great, but I can’t forgive a teenager that gaslights (and, let’s be honest, rapes) a captive girl and tries to come off as the victim.

While taking a much more serious tone than the one presented in Jojo Rabbit, Caging Skies does a reasonably good job exploring themes of war, disability, and the sacrifices it takes to do what is right. Unfortunately, a lot of the lessons presented by the main character’s parents are entirely lost by the half-way point of the book when the war ends. Instead, we get a sick, overly sexualized, and outright twisted look into the head of a teenage boy who doesn’t realize the reason he’s keeping his victim hostage is exceptionally different from the reason his parents took her in to begin with.

I get that this book is supposed to be a bit more “literary” than something I’d pick up to read for entertainment. However, I found it weird how the story—told through the eyes of a teenage boy—never sounded like a teenage boy wrote it. Sure, there’s plenty of hormones on display as he grapples with having a hidden girl in his house. However, that’s more in the theme of the story instead of how the story was worded. Plus, any sympathy I would have had for the main character immediately evaporated when he chose to lie to the girl for far too long and keep her freedom from her, only managing to whine and complain how his freedom was limited by having to hide her from everyone.

An OK story that’s ruined by its second half, I give Caging Skies 2.0 stars out of 5.

this book is a really good read. i would not recommend this book for readers under 10. it is not really scary but does include the FBI.