Book Review #34: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Image Courtesy of GoodReads


Buy on Amazon.com

Apparently the end of the world will happen in the Midwest. More specifically the end of the world will happen in Iowa. Andrew Smith's novel, Grasshopper Jungle, is set in a fictional town in Iowa and is told from the point of view of a teenage boy, Austin, who only really thinks about two things...food and sex. So if you are easily offended, you may want to avoid this book because there is an awful lot about sex that some people might find offensive. "You know what I mean."

I liked Grasshopper Jungle. More specifically, I liked Austin Szerba, the historian. I admired Austin's observations about history and how he is connected to it. Austin shares a lot of his family history and the history of the inhabitants of his hometown in an effort to show how everything in the universe is connected.

"...I knew my accounts were ultimately nothing more than an abbreviation. ... But no historian could ever put everything that happened in a book. The book would be as big as the universe, and it would take multiple countless lifetimes to read. History necessarily had to be an abbreviation." page 67

I wasn't so much a fan of Austin Szerba, the sexually confused teen. After a while, I became annoyed with Austin's and Robby's, his best friend, constant smoking, fowl language and bad attitudes. Perhaps that is a sign I am old. I just wanted Austin "to figure it out." However, I have never questioned my sexual orientation so I recognize that it is a little unreasonable for me to be asking a fictional teenager to just figure it out and get on with it.

Grasshopper Jungle is an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic science fiction novel that doesn't take itself too seriously. There were many laugh out loud moments for me. While the future may look bleak and may involve Unstoppable Giant Praying Mantises that are very hungry and very horny, it reminded me that even in the bleakest and most confusing situations laughter can be the best medicine. Grasshopper Jungle receives a thumbs up.

Book Review #30: Shattered Veil (The Diatous Wars #1) by Tracy E. Banghart

Image Courtesy of GoodReads


Buy on Amazon.com

I was very excited to receive an Advanced Readers Copy of Shattered Veil by Tracy E. Banghart. The story really sucked me in once I started reading it and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed the story of Aris from start to finish and I think there is a little bit of Aris in all of us young and old.

While Shattered Veil on the surface may seem very superficial--a young girl bucks the system to follow her true love--Aris doesn't necessarily take the path one might suspect or that might seem predictable based on other young adult novels out there. My favorite thing about Aris is that she was willing to examine herself at almost every step of her journey and recognize that things needed to change--either herself or the world around her. She challenged my own thoughts about how one goes about affecting change in the world.

While this is just an introductory book in the series, it doesn't get bogged down in the details. You learn a bit about the world, Atalanta, and its villages and how the war is affecting them. There are few key players that are involved in the plot and just enough is shared with the reader to keep the plot moving forward with a whisper of a history that existed before one opened the pages of Shattered Veil. I particularly wanted to know more about Dianthe and Nyx. There is something there and just for a moment you think you'll learn more and then the story moves on.

“Allow? Shouldn't women decide what they'll allow for their own bodies, not a government acting out an antiquated, unnecessary law?”

On a deeper level, I wonder if Banghart has some strong opinions on women's rights. There are a few quotes, like the one above, that seem very pointed toward the government and their roles in directing how a woman should/should not use her body. It made me think about recent stories in the news about birth control as well as a woman's role in the military. The statements are bold, they fit within the scope of the story, but if you are up on current events, it is easy to see a correlation between the story and the real world.

I give Shattered Veil by Tracy E. Banghart a thumbs up. I love Aris and the world of Atalanta. The book takes you on a wild, unexpected journey that keeps you moving forward until you get to the very end. I look forward to the next book in the series and hope to learn more about where Aris goes next AND a bit more about Dianthe and Nyx.

Book Review #26 + Blog Tour: Fury by Charlotte McConaghy

Tour Page and Schedule

"What was once known as a normal human emotion can now be categorized differently--namely, as a disease that is contracted upon the development of the brain in early childhood. ...Humanity, as a race, would function at a far superior level, both physically and socially, if this disease could be cured." Fury, page 44.

Fury: Book 1 of The Cure
by Charlotte McConaghy
348 pages,
Published March 25, 2014
by Momentum Books,
Pan Macmillan


Buy on Amazon.com

I devoured Fury by Charlotte McConaghy. I received my review copy and inhaled the book in three days. Then lamented the fact I wouldn't be sharing my thoughts about the book until June! I then promptly went to GoodReads and recommended it to a BUNCH of friends with the note that if they felt there was something lacking in the Divergent series (or even if they were fans) they NEED to read Fury.

Josephine's story is told in a series of flashbacks until the current timeline catches up with the past from three different points of view--Josephine, Anthony (her therapist) and Luke. They live in a dystopian world where anger is considered a disease and the result of a world without anger is lopsided emotionally. Each character has their own voice, thoughts and opinions about the Cured world. McConaghy does a marvelous job of making each character unique and uses each one to advance the storyline in a way the begs the reader to turn the page.

The absence of anger in some humans and the presence of it in others is the driving force of the plot. It brings the characters together, for better or worse, and creates friction and chemistry. The government also plays a bit of a part in the novel, but the main goal of book one is to allow the reader to become familiar with the main characters and a world without anger. There is just a touch about the political dissent that the Cure has brought about (just enough to whet your appetite). That whiff of the larger game is laid out as one reaches the dramatic conclusion and may have some screaming, WHEN DOES BOOK 2 COME OUT?!

McConaghy has created a world that is intriguing and characters that are real. The book moves at breakneck speed and comes to an end with a moving cliffhanger. I give Fury by Charlotte McConaghy a thumbs up and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Note: The relationship between Josephine and Luke does become physical on a level that some may deem inappropriate for a younger audiences. At times, it was, for me, reminiscent of scenes I've read in racier Harlequin Romance novels. While I was not offended, I know some might so if you don't like racey bits in your books, you might want to pass on this one.

---

About the Book

In the tradition of Divergent comes a novel about a world where negative emotions are stolen ... and only those with fury can stand up and fight.

Eighteen-year-old Josephine Luquet wakes naked and covered in blood that is not hers on the same day every year—when the blood moon is full. Josi has not responded to the "Cure"—an immunization against anger mandated by the government—and believes herself to be a threat to others.

Then she meets Luke. Luke has had the Cure but seems different to the other "drones"—and he's dead set on helping Josi discover the truth about herself before the next blood moon.

But time is running out. Is Luke willing to risk his life to be near her? Does he truly understand what violence she is capable of?

Raw and full of passion, Fury is a story of love in a dystopian world, and how much we are willing to forgive in the struggle to remember our humanity.

---

About the Author

Charlotte started writing her children’s fantasy series ‘The Strangers of Paragor’ as a teenager and has since gone on to publish five novels. After a Masters degree in Screenwriting she wrote ‘Avery’, the first in her adult fantasy series ‘The Chronicles of Kaya’, published by Random House. She now lives in Sydney, Australia, and has just released a new dystopian sci-fi novel called ‘Fury – Book One of The Cure’, published by Momentum.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

---

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I received an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a honest review.

Note: Something happened with the original post and the Blogger default comments appeared rather than IntenseDebate. I took a screenshot of the Blogger comments before fixing the post.

Book Review #13: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

I'm going to cut right to the chase. I am torn about Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I was a late adopter to the Divergent series. I read Divergent and Insurgent back-to-back around the Christmas holidays back in 2012. I eagerly awaited the release of Allegiant and so much wanted to know what was outside the City. Now that I know, I'm think I want to go back and forget I ever read Allegiant and just keep imagining what is on the other side of the chain link fence. Unfortunately, I don't own a Delorian or a T.A.R.D.I.S. so here's my assessment of the final book in the series.

Allegiant frustrated me. Several times in the first 100 to 200 pages, I wanted to throw the book across the room and scream. That's how frustrated I was. Why was I frustrated?

1. The switching narrators. I couldn't tell the difference between Tris and Tobias. There was very little difference in the style of writing when Tris was telling the story vs. Tobias. This led to a lot of rereading or flipping back to start of the chapter to figure out who was talking.

2. The passage of time. Nowhere in the first two books was there a frame of reference for when these novels take place. Somehow I got it stuck in my mind that this was happening sometime in our near future. It wasn't until one of the characters mentions that the destruction in the fringe took place over a century ago (along with how the serums were used) that one of my other frustrations was put to rest^*.

---

My third frustration may be a spoiler. You will want to stop reading NOW if you don't want to be spoiled. And just so you know, without having to scroll further, I'm giving this book both a Thumbs Up and a Thumbs Down.

---

3. Everyone believes that genetic cleansing and prejudice is new. I can understand how the characters like Tris and Tobias don't know that genetic cleansing is old news, but those individuals working in the government should know it's not old news. That's why the government developed the program to alter the genetic code in the first place, right? It was an attempt to correct all that was bad with humans.

How much more powerful would the revelation have been if Nita or Matthew had pointed out, this wasn't the first time measures to "cut the wheat from the chaff" of the human race had happened? What about World War II? How about Bosnia? Or Rwanda? Or the segregation issues that lead to the civil rights movement? Or the battle for sexual equality that is happening right now? I highly doubt 100 years from now people will have forgotten any of these events. They have led to great bloodshed and amazing (and frustrating) legislative actions as well as great victories.

While actual genetic manipulation may be taking prejudice to a whole new level^*, by ignoring history and not showing more of the inequality between the two groups^*, the fight being waged fell flat and as a result, the event that should have moved me to tears made me shrug my shoulders.

And that leads me to the thing that I admire the most about Allegiant...the end. (Well, at least the part before Chapter 52.) Not that I didn't see the ending coming from a mile away, I was still impressed Roth ended the novel the way she did. I'm sure there are people that hated it. But you know what, life isn't all rainbows and unicorns and that's why I'm okay with it because it mirrors real life.

After all my frustrations with the switching narrators, the lack of timeframe and ignoring history, the ending redeemed the book. And that's why Allegiant gets both a thumbs down and a thumbs up.

Buy Allegiant from Amazon.com
Buy Insurgent from Amazon.com
Buy Divergent from Amazon.com
Buy the boxed set from Amazon.com

* Up until these two things were revealed, I couldn't figure out why all the characters from the City were SO stupid. How could they not know what an airport or an airplane were?

* My WWII/Jewish history is a bit fuzzy, but I seem to vaguely recall the Nazis tracing genetic lines and physical appearances to determine who was pure. Of course, science has advanced beyond such rudimentary observations and now we could actually splice genes in and out of the DNA to "correct" things so I'm not sure how revolutionary this actually is.

* Stories were told about the inequality or observations were made, but there were very few plot points that hinged on an action being taken against someone who was thought less of than another person. How much more powerful would the message of been if we'd actually witnessed Nita being treated unfairly? Or if someone had made a comment to Amar and George about them being so friendly?

Book Review #06: The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen

A few years ago I discovered the novel Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen. This is the first book in the 7 books series known as the "The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica" which follows the lives of Jack, John and Charles as they battle the forces of evil in an effort to save the World. Quite a tall order for three unknown gentlemen from Oxford.

This is a wonderful series of books that draws on many of the known myths and histories laid out in our most treasured stories. The books mix elements of time travel and fantasy to produce a rich and dense forest of interconnected story lines--both real and fictional--that keep you moving forward to discover the Grand Reveal at the end of book seven, The First Dragon. The artwork at the start of each chapter is also stunning! That's right, each chapter in every single novel of this series is illuminated. Each image is hand drawn by the author himself.

By the third book in the series, The Indigo King, the plot gets a bit complicated and becomes one of those time travel books/series that will keep your mind spinning and trying to work it all out. The shear number of the characters with their similar names and the overlapping, intertwining timelines also cause the mind to spin a bit. However, I stuck it out after a confusing third book and thoroughly enjoyed book 4, The Shadow Dragons, and book 5, The Dragon's Apprentice, which set the series up for the what I hoped would be a fantastic finish. Book 6, The Dragons of Winter was once again just a s complicated as book 3 and once again confusion set in. However, all was made clear with book 7, The First Dragon. The conclusion was satisfying even if it felt a little rushed with some of the true historical background about the three main Caretakers not being fully fleshed out and shared with the readers.

Overall, I liked "The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica" by James A. Owen. The world he creates is partially known and brand new. The illustrations provided in each book at the start of every chapter are amazingly detailed. "The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica" by James A. Owen gets a thumbs up.

I would highly encourage you, if you are interested in reading this series, to purchase the novels directly from the author via his web site. Mr. Owen is currently offering the first 5 books in a special Reader's Set for $44.00.

#1 Here, There Be Dragons
#2 The Search for the Red Dragon
#3 The Indigo King
#4 The Shadow Dragons
#5 The Dragon's Apprentice
#6 The Dragons of Winter
#7 The First Dragon

Book Blogger New Year's Challenge Day 5: The Worst Book of 2013

The Worst Book of 2013

I saw this book on a lot of people's lists on Friday. And I'm probably going to get some flack for saying this, but The 5th Wave is probably one of the worst books I read in 2013.

I fell for the hype and by the end of the book, I was mad. The book was big right around my birthday in August and I picked up a sampler and had to read more. So I got a copy of the book...from the local library thankfully. I was so disappointed. It was a totally predicable plot with revolving narrators that were barely distinguishable from each other. The 5th Wave took all the latest YA crazes and mashed them together unsuccessfully.

I've read The Passage (which I didn't like) and by the end of last year, I had finally read Ender's Game (which I did like). I can see how this book is like The Passage for teens, but I have no clue how the book is ANYTHING on the level of Ender's Game. I mean yes, there are some similarities (kids fighting aliens), but Orson Scott Card does a better job of showing the psychological games and its affects on young people than Yancey does.

Other books that didn't rank high on my list:

• Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
• Free Four: Tobias Tells a Story by Veronica Roth
• Chick Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who Multiple Editors
• The Minute by Aaron Dietz (review posted last month).

What's the worst book you read in 2013?

Book Review #04: The Minute by Aaron Dietz

I just happened upon this short story from a Facebook link posted by one of my long time Internet friends. Books and movies about time travel pique my interest and as seems to be the theme for me this winter season, everything I've been reading involves time travel. Plus the short story, The Minute by Aaron Dietz, was just 99 cents on Amazon.com.

I was drawn into the story within the first few pages. The idea that physically time travel is impossible, but that science had discovered a way to send our consciousness back to a specific point in time was intriguing. And to have a limit of one minute on your time travel experience, which one minute would you choose to relive? And honestly, what could go wrong in the that one minute?

The story went by quickly. The one minute time travel experience placed a restriction on the development of the characters and their ingenuity to break the cycle of an experiment gone wrong. Now I know this is just a short story (75 pages or so), but in the last month or so, I did read another short story that had great character development and a driving plot.

Overall, The Minute didn't live up to my expectations. I didn't feel a connection to the characters. Once the obstacle was presented, the solution was obvious and because the interactions between the characters and their surroundings was limited, everything just felt rote. The Minute, unfortunately, gets a thumbs down.

Book Review #03: Precious Stone Trilogy by Kerstin Gier

The Precious Stone Trilogy or The Ruby Red Trilogy is made up of three books: Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green. The trilogy is written by Kerstin Gier and translated from German by Anthea Bell. I picked up Ruby Red at Half Price Books originally because the dust jacket was gorgeous and the book was unusual in size. I purchased the book because it fit right in there with my love of historical fiction and time travel. I thought about reviewing each book separately, but Gier crafted each book to pick up immediately where the previous book left off and the big mystery isn't solved until the last 30 or so pages in Emerald Green.

Gwen Shepard belongs to an illustrious family of that carries a gene that allows certain members to travel through time. Gwen's family and another family, the de Villiers, belong to belong to a secret lodge that guards the secrets and laws of this ablity with the sole goal of closing the Circle of Blood. Yes, the Circle of Blood is just about as creepy as it sounds.

Gwen has a fighting personality. Kept in the dark most of her life, she spends much of the series trying to piece together why her time travel ability was kept a secret from her as well as what will happen if the Circle of Blood is closed. Besides having the ability to travel in time, Gwen can see ghosts and demons. This psychic ability seems a bit extraneous. It doesn't do much for Gwen except get her into a few awkward situations. Instead of giving her the ability to see ghosts, I wish Gier would have included Aunt Maddy and Gwen's best friend, Lesley, in the series more. Maddy has visions of the future which give some insight into the secrets of the Lodge and the Circle of Blood. And Lesley is the perfect Girl Friday as Gwen is always so busy with the time traveling missions the Lodge sends her on.

The time travel plot isn't too confusing. Gier does a decent job of unraveling the knots, but most of the action takes place in the present and the time travel is limited to events that drive the plot forward. At the end of book three, though, things do start to get muddled. Too much action takes place off the pages and I was left wondering, at one point, how the heck did Gwen get here?! Although, I wonder how much of that was due to the translation of the novel--maybe it makes perfect sense in German.

The little mysteries are really what kept me reading like what happened to the stolen chronograph (the device used to travel back in time) and Gwen't true identity. At the end of book three, when all the pieces are together and the true villain is revealed, I was left wanting. The reveal happened too quickly. The information was there, apparently in the novel Anna Karenina that Gwen's grandfather gave her and in the mystery papers another character gave Gideon, Gwen's crush, and discovered in Paul and Lucy's, two other time travelers, investigations into the Lodge and the Circle of Blood. However, not enough was shared through the course of the three books to make the ending satisfying.

Overall, I liked this series. Gier crafted a compelling mystery across the course of three books. A word of warning, unlike other young adult series that are on the market, it isn't possible to read just one of the three books and then move on to something else due to how Gier crafted the plot. If you like historical fiction with a bit of teenage romance thrown in the mix, definitely check out these books out. The Precious Stone/Ruby Red Trilogy gets a thumbs up.

Ruby Red

Sapphire Blue

Emerald Green

Book Review #01: Traveler by Dennis W. Green

Traveler is a science fiction mystery novel. Travis (Trav) Becker has the ability to travel between parallel universes and it turns out another version of himself is hunting down the other versions of himself. Of course, the big question is, Why? Sounds complicated, right?

Well, it is, but it isn't. Green has great skill in laying out a complicated plot in a fashion that intrigues you and keeps you wanting to know what's going to happen next. Even though he introduces several different versions of each of the characters, you can easily follow which version (or versions) you are encountering. Also, the science behind the travel between universes is neatly explained and for someone who isn't a hardcore science fiction geek (and who loves time travel plots, but is just as easily confused by them), I understood it and was able to easily explain it to my husband.^*

The only thing I wasn't keen on were the interludes. The Interludes just seemed to pop up out of no where and did not seem to have a connection with the portion of the book I just finished reading. The Burton Tupper Interlude (page 87) was the most jarring to me. I was reading along, really getting into the story, something huge was revealed and BAM! this interlude popped up. It was the season ending cliffhanger of your favorite show and you have to wait all summer for the plot to be resolved. Fortunately, this is a book so I just paged ahead to the next chapter, resolved the cliffhanger and went back to the Tupper Interlude. I think Green was trying to make clear the point that Morgan Foster makes on page 148.

History is full of evidence of people sensing, and sometimes reaching, other planes of reality. ... There are dozens of cases of people disappearing without a trace, and others who suddenly one day started insisting they remembered things differently that everyone else did.

I'm not sure the interludes were entirely necessary to get the point across, but maybe for a reader who isn't drawn to science fiction and/or time travel-type books, they need that extra boost to understand Trav isn't the only one that this happens to. Despite not being a huge fan of the interludes, I will say that Officer Brian Lowe's interlude (page 231) was my favorite. But I love historical fiction and adored Stephen King's 11/23/63.

Overall, Traveler is a strong first novel. The traveling between parallel universes is neatly explained and the plot draws you in. Mystery lovers and science fiction fans should get a kick out of the novel. Traveler by Dennis W. Green gets a solid thumbs up.

^*My husband now uses it as an excuse for not getting things done around the house. "Well, maybe in another parallel universe, the dishes are in the dishwasher being washed right now. Maybe you are just in the wrong universe." Sometimes living with a science fiction geek has a downside.

Movie Review #01: About Time (Rated R)

I knew this would happen. I would decide to start a blog and figure out a date to launch it, only to read or watch something that I just had to share my thoughts on.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to see About Time (Rated R) at Collins Road Theatres, a locally owned theatre that we have been attending for 10 years (Happy Anniversary, Bruce!). There wasn't much buzz about this movie; it seemed to be flying under the radar. At least one review, I read didn't rate the movie very favorably (see the last paragraph). However, I'm a sucker for time travel (Don't worry, Dennis, I'm working a review of Traveler!) and wanted to see the movie.

After watching it, and holding back tears through most of the movie, I can see why there isn't a lot of buzz. It's not your typical science-fiction-time-travel movie. There are no real, mind-bending consequences to traveling back in time. And it's not your typical romantic tragedy--no Romeo and Juliet moments here. And it's not your typical romantic comedy--the guy and girl don't have an awful, totally avoidable misunderstanding and laugh about it as they make up at the end. The plot of the movie is very simple. It's a movie about taking time to appreciate what you have in this very moment in time. That's all. Pure and simple. If you've seen Our Town and can recall the final act when Emily goes back to watch the morning of her 12th birthday, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

So if you need a quick reminder about the good and simple things in life like your husband lifting you off the ground in the kitchen as he cooks dinner just to make you laugh or kitty kisses when you get home after a rough day at work, check out About Time. It's a gentle reminder to "live life as if there were no second chances."

"Oh, earth, you're too wonderful
for anybody to realize you.”
Our Town, Thornton Wilder

P.S. I loved the soundtrack, too!

---

If you live in the greater Cedar Rapids area, the movie is currently playing at Collins Road Theatres. The ticket prices are the best price in town and it's the only theatre in town with REAL BUTTER for your popcorn.