January and February edition:
I don’t think I did this for January, but I want to start doing this each month. Just a quick synopsis of books I’ve read and what I think about them. For this post, I’ll include every book I’ve read so far this year. Thank goodness there aren’t too many of them.
The Chase by Clive Cussler
My mom has been trying to get me to jump on the CC bandwagon for years… and I just never managed to do it. When I heard about this new series he has begun, I was very intrigued. The Chase is about a turn of the century detective who is hired to track down a criminal dubbed “The Butcher Bandit”. It’s a well told adventure story about the chase through many western states, including Utah. I really liked how he portrayed the Mormons of that time period. Well done! The culminating part of the book is based around the true events of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. It’s a great story that has enough real history in it to really keep you intrigued. I loved it, and can’t wait to have time for the next one, The Wrecker.
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
I’m still on the fence about this one. I usually LOVE what OSC writes, but I found myself constantly disappointed with this book. The concept was great. The general story was interesting. The main characters and their relationships with each other were good. I just didn’t like some of the little side plots he threw in there. I felt like it made the plot drag a bit. The sci-fi concepts and presentation were amazing. Danny’s attempt to live as a real human was the part that bugged. And yes, because OSC is a Mormon, I’m going to be a total hypocrite here. I hold him to a higher standard than I do most authors. I was completely disappointed with the vulgarity in this book. It was mostly unnecessary and I thought he could have made his point without going down some of the roads he went down. I don’t know if I’ll keep reading the remaining books in the series. Maybe by the time he releases the next one, I will have forgotten my frustrations. Of course, the characters who caused the inappropriate situations aren’t likely to surface again, but still. OSC, I expect more decency of you. That’s what disappointed me the most.
Gregor the Overlander and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins
I started this series last year because it was the same author who wrote the Hunger Games. It’s a very interesting concept and never ceases to surprise me with the creative plots. It’s considered JF, but appropriate for YA audience too. This was the third book in the series. I don’t even know how to describe this series, but the more books I read, the more I like it. By biggest complaint with SC is her cliffhanger book endings. I’ve come to realize that’s just her writing style, and it didn’t bug me so much this time around. The general gist of this series is about a boy and his sister who fall down a shaft in their laundry room and discover an underground world full of people, giant cockroaches, huge rats and other mammoth sized rodents. At first I wasn’t sure if I liked the series, but the more I read them, the more I like them.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
This is a series based on the fantasy world first introduced to us in CC’s Mortal Instruments series. Different characters (mostly… love that Magnus Bane makes an appearance!) It’s a different story about the same world of people set in a different time, but just as good. I enjoyed it immensely! This type of fantasy is Megan’s FAVORITE fiction genre. She loves everything about vampires, werewolves, shadow hunters and the Downworld. It’s kinda like Twilight, but kinda not. This series is set in Victorian era London, and I loved all the historical descriptions.
The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
I’ve wanted to read this ever since I read the first book in the Narnia series several years ago. CS Lewis’s outlook on God vs. the Devil is fascinating and his observations about human nature are spot on. Screwtape is one of the devil’s many devoted servants who trains other young devils to tempt and lead away humans on earth. Even as you know he is the Devil’s agent, it’s sometimes hard to remember that the main voice of the story is the opposite of what we should be doing. This book shows just how easy it is for humans to slip down the slippery slope of sin and made me re-evaluate my attitude about certain things. Definitely a book to make you think!
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
This book is short and got rave reviews, but I just couldn’t get into it. It’s about a boy who meets a king who sends him on a quest to discover his own personal legend. Written in the form of a fable, the boy learns many lessons along the way and even discovers true love during his quest. Even though it was a short book, I still felt like it dragged a lot. If I hadn’t been listening to the audiobook, I would have never been able to bring myself to finish this one. In fact, I may not have finished it at all, as I got to the end of the last disc, the audio just stopped. Not mid sentence, but if that was the end, it was abrupt, and made me dislike it even more. I think with this one, you’ll either love it or hate it. Sadly, I fell in the latter category.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
In this YA novel, a boy named Thomas wakes up in a glade full of teenage boys. He has no prior memories, and discovers that the glade is surrounded by a large maze patrolled by deadly monsters. The boys send runners out to the maze every day to try to find an exit. After Thomas arrives, thing start to change. The life the boys have grown accustomed to deteriorates and they are forced to go to more extreme measures to find a way out of the maze that will kill them if they sit around and do nothing. I loved this book… never a dull moment, plenty of mysteries to unravel and an epilogue at the end that made my jaw drop on the floor in shock. It’s the first in a (3 part?) series. Books one and two are in print, book 3 is slated to be released in the fall. Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Matched by Ally Condie
It seems that Dystopian society novels are all the rage right now… as Matched is another one that falls into that category. In a world in the future, “The Society” controls everything… how much and what you eat, what you do for a living, who you mate with, and how and when you die. All things are perfectly timed and arranged to make life for the citizens as perfect as possible. Cassia encounters a glitch during her “matching” that leaves her to wonder who she should really be matched with, and why she can’t find true love on her own. While it’s a teenage romance novel, there is enough political plot to keep most readers intrigued. Megan will LOVE this book. It’s right up her alley. Only bummer is that we have to wait for November for book 2 in the series. Darn!
