Fiction

Throne of Glass does not fulfill the promises it makes on the back of its dust jacket. Celaena is an assassin, the best assassin in the world, who got a life sentence of hard labor in a mine. But Celaena is nothing like an experienced or smart assassin. She’s reckless, overly arrogant, easily frustrated, and vain; she would rather gape at herself wearing fancy dresses in the mirror, sleep in, eat candy, get angry over her lack of skill at billiards, or read all night than worry over a competition that she knows her life depends upon. A good protagonist could have some of these features, but it is just illogical for someone in her position. In fact, the book soon starts skipping over the competitions entirely to focus more on Celaena, who does nothing to seem either cool or likable. She never acts like an assassin or like her supposed inspiration character, Cinderella. Celaena has very little to no humility, grace, or compassion. Celaena is neither a compelling assassin nor a charming Cinderella.
Reviewer Grade: 9

The First Four Years is the last book in the Little House series. It does not read like a Little House Book. The style is completely different, which is probably because it was an unfinished manuscript which Rose, Laura’s daughter, never edited. A notable difference is that Laura never refers to Almanzo by his name; instead, she affectionately calls him “Manly.” Another thing that differs vastly here from the rest of the Little House books is the sheer amount of tragedy and hardship. At the end of the book everything goes wrong in a cascade of unfortunate tragedies. This book reminded me of Laura’s The Long Winter but without the rewarding change in fortune. The very end manages to be optimistic, but in real life things did not immediately get any better for Laura. However, if you are at all interested in the life of the remarkable Mrs. Wilder, this book is worth the read. I would recommend it not as a Little House book, but as more of an autobiography of the real Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Reviewer Grade: 9

Jason Reynolds (author) + Guy Lockhard* (narrator) = Magic

Castle Cranshaw, aka Ghost, has been running from things his whole life: his violent father, the consequences of altercations at school with a bully, and most of all, the anger that's been building up inside him. So Ghost has a ton of natural talent, which he puts to use when he inadvertently impresses the coach of a local track team. After the coach begs him to join, and Ghost reluctantly agrees, he begins to see that he might be happier if he runs towards something instead of away from everything.

I listened to this audiobook, and it was excellent. I really struggle with middle grade fiction, as I oftentimes have trouble identifying with the characters (I mean, middle school was a loooooooong time ago), but Reynolds took me right back to the thick of it. In a good way. The day-making/ruining things your classmates would say, interactions with adults in positions of authority, and not really being sure about who you are and what you want in life - Reynolds nails it all. Moreover, Ghost is just a straight up likable character, even as he makes poor decision after poor decision. We really get to see him grow over the course of the novel, and even as he does the wrong thing, his heart is usually in the right place. I loved his relationship with his mother, and later, with Coach. There aren't always positive adult relationships in fiction for young people, and so it was nice that Ghost had so many adults that he could turn to. The secondary characters were just as dynamic, and also had very serious problems of their own to deal with. I'd read a book about any of them. Shoot, I wanted to adopt most of them. As a runner myself (although I'm not competitive and do longer distances), I really liked that the book was about track as it's not a sport we read or hear a lot about. There's a bit about fartleks that was pretty hilarious, and I think runners (Land Sharks, anyone?) will find a lot to love here.

If you are looking for a book to listen to or read with your kids, this is a great one. There are loads of teachable moments, and it is ultimately a heartwarming tale of self-discovery. I couldn't get enough of it - 5 stars.

*Shout out to Guy Lockhard - he narrated the other Jason Reynolds book that I've listened to (All American Boys), and he is a fantastic narrator. It seems like Reynolds thinks so as well, because it looks like Lockhard will be narrating Reynolds' recently released book about Spiderman Miles Morales. I may have just put that on hold...

I think that this book is amazing and shares a wonderful message about how a boy has always wanted hunting hound dogs and when he saw an opportunity to get one holds on and wont let go. The author shares wonderful stories of his life with the dogs and then when one dog dies the other won't eat drink or rest and sleep it uses the last of its strength to crawl up to the other dogs grave and when it dies they bury the other dog there. And red fern then grows on top of it and red fern symbolizes that an angel puts red fern on top of the special things who die. And red fern is very rare.

I’m not sure which is more boring in a book: a plot that doesn’t go anywhere, or a main character who is perfect. Unfortunately, Fire with Fire has both. I’ll first start with my qualms about the plot. This story started way too late, as it didn’t get interesting until halfway through.
Even when it did finally get interesting, it suddenly became bogged down in committee. Seriously? Didn’t we learn anything from the Star Wars prequels?
Adding politics to a story about traveling across space merely makes it tedious. This is also not to mention how heavy and clunky the exposition is, with almost every chapter being filled with information that isn’t important, and the jumps between chapters needing way more explanation.

Secondly, let’s take a look at “Mr. Perfect,” Caine Riordan. Aside from the egregious fact that the POV switched between 1st person and 3rd person within most of the paragraphs of his section (with no italics or indication that we were suddenly in Caine’s head), I felt this character was just the author’s way to show how smart he is. With the expansive repertoire of high-value vocabulary words and a character that always knows what to do all the time and has all the correct answers, I ended up not caring about any of it by the end. And I haven’t even mentioned the blatant and pervasive misogyny either.

Even the rest of the supporting cast was so flat and one-dimensional that I probably couldn’t tell you who they were or what their defining characteristics were (aside from that one mysterious guy who LOVED olives and feta cheese). Most of the time I was reading this book, I kept wondering, “Wait . . . what?” as what seemed to be major plot points were introduced then almost immediately forgotten until hundreds of pages later. I’m not sure how this book managed to get a series tacked on to it, or how it was even nominated for a Nebula Award, but it gives me encouragement that I could write something way better than this.

Antiquated sci-fi tropes in a recently written book, I give Fire with Fire 2.0 stars out of 5.

For the last few years, Brandon Sanderson’s name kept coming up amongst my writer friends. I had never heard of him, but they had been fans of his writing for some time. In my goal to read all the unread books I own, I found that I had obtained a Brandon Sanderson book many years ago as a prize during my first National Novel Writing Month. Even with the daunting page count, I decided to give Warbreaker a read. All I can say is that it was refreshing to finally read a fantasy book written by someone who genuinely knows what they’re doing.

I’ve read a lot of books recently that I would consider “amateur,” but Sanderson proves he’s a professional in this tightly written book. From incredibly interesting and entertaining characters to expertly placed foreshadowing to a fascinating magic system, Warbreaker is fully original while also maintaining the tropes and structure of a high fantasy novel. The twists in the plot continued to grab my attention as the mystery surrounding these characters unfolded. As I read, I had a few qualms with minor points in the story, but Sanderson managed to quash these negative points by the end of the book.

I have stayed away from the fantasy genre for a long time because I know how lengthy some of these book series can be, and I didn’t want to become invested in something that might not even reach its penultimate conclusion.
Fortunately, Warbreaker is well-encapsulated in its own, standalone story.
Sure, there are hints at what the future may hold for some of these characters, but nothing was particularly pressing or “cliffhanger-ish” in this book. Either way, consider me a believer in the fantasy genre, and in Sanderson particularly. Maybe now it’s time I started to dive into his other works.

An original and highly entertaining fantasy story, I give Warbreaker 5.0 stars out of 5.

Certainly well ahead of his time, Robert A. Heinlein remains one of the definitive writers of the science fiction genre, even today. In The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Heinlein covers such topics as artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial colonization, and interplanetary warfare. Even today, most of these subjects are accurately depicted in the narrative, even if some of the technology has advanced past where it was thought to be in 1965. Part of me is almost jealous at Heinlein’s ingenious use of Earth’s gravity well, and I know any attempt I might make to replicate the idea will merely seem derivative in comparison.

As is the case with some of his other works, Heinlein makes many socio-political statements via his writing. His stance on taxes, revolutions, and independent governing bodies is a critical section of the plot in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and I can certainly see the theoretical benefits he puts forth in this context. That being said, his views on polygamy and polyamorous relationships are certainly on display again, with his previous work, Stranger in a Strange Land exploring these themes in greater detail. I can only assume the "free love" culture of the 1960's shaped these opinions.

Overall, the book wasn’t quite what I expected. The initial chapters made me hope the plot would center on the relationships between man and artificial intelligence (AI). If anything, AI is shown to be a powerful tool that can influence society in ways we can’t even begin to comprehend. At the very least, the main character was quite entertaining, if not hard to understand at times with his “accent.” If we do eventually colonize the moon, I can hope we do so peacefully and in a way that doesn’t lead to an uprising of its native inhabitants. After all, I do like living in a Colorado Springs devoid of meteoric bombardment.

A well-thought out sci-fi story decades ahead of its time, I give The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 4.0 stars out of 5.

Caraval is about two sisters who find themselves in a game on the island of Caraval hosted by the world-famous Legend. One sister is intrigued by danger and loves to live on the edge. The other sister is cautious and protects her sister over all else. However, they both agree on one thing: The game of Caraval looks amazing. When they finally get invited to play, however, they start to get an odd feeling that something about this "game" is not quite right. Then one sister goes missing...
I liked this book much more than I expected to. Because of the exciting and suspenseful style, I got through this book in 24 hours. I loved all the characters, as well as all the twists and turns in the plot along the way.
Garber writes in a way that makes this book impossible to put down.
My one complaint about this book is with the last 50 or so pages. I found the ending drab and predictable, unlike the rest of the book.
Overall, however, I strongly recommend Caraval.

This book intrigued me immensely. The main character, Feyre, has believed that the faeries are evil for her whole life. However, when she becomes a faerie's prisoner, she sees their ways in a new light.
I liked the storyline of this book a lot. It is sort of an enhanced version of Beauty and the Beast with a few twists. Maas is a great writer, and she uses intricate details to keep the book interesting.
However, I did not care for the characters very much. Some of them seemed cliché, and none were three-dimensional enough for me to relate to or care about.
I do recommend this book to anyone who likes young adult fantasy because it has a compelling plot, and I have heard that the subsequent books in the trilogy are much better.

A Clash of Kings is the second book in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. After adoring the first book, I was not at all disappointed with the second. The immensely complex fantasy world only continues to grow and develop in this book, as do the characters. George R. R. Martin perfectly juggles all the different storylines, making them all interesting, suspenseful, and fascinating. His characters are so 3-dimensional that characters the reader hates in the first book begin to be shown in a new light. I very strongly recommend this book to anyone that read A Game of Thrones. Every paragraph in this book is so richly embellished and detailed that as I read these books, I felt like I was learning the history of another country.
Reviewer Grade: 11