Independent Study

Independent Study picks up where The Testing left off; Cia has lived through The Testing (always capitalized!) and is ready to embark on her University studies after taking a placement test. She doesn't precisely remember the trauma she experienced while completing The Testing, but the voice memo she saved on her Transmitter tells her things she knows must be true. In Cia's careful, measured world, it is beyond believable that The Testing is allowed to exist, but the knowledge that her boyfriend Tomas and her mentor Michal know what she knows helps her decide not to leave Tosu City...but only if she can become part of the rebellion team working to overthrow Dr. Barnes and his Testing. Things go from bad to worse for Cia; she attempts to discover information while being constantly watched and overloaded with studies so that she will fail, all without Tomas, who is placed elsewhere. Lots of conspiracy and duplicity ensue, with Cia thinking and overthinking and thinking some more, figuring things out logically yet always trying to do the right thing.

Independent Study could honestly be called The Testing Part II, as there is still a good deal of problems to be worked through and even more tests to pass. While the tests are just as mentally and physically exhausting, it does feel to some degree as though it's just more of the same. Fortunately, Cia has to learn to rely more on herself throughout this one; she learns to trust her instincts and act accordingly. There are horrible situations made worse by horrible people and isolation from those she loves, and a couple of twists near the end that are great set-ups for the final book. 

While I enjoyed Independent Study almost as much as The Testing, I did grow weary of Cia's stilted way of speaking and her overly moralistic views that she imposes on herself and others. I understand that this is all part of the situation in which Cia finds herself, and yet it makes her seem stand-offish and a tiny bit arrogant at times. But the story, even with its similarities to the first book, is still interesting and action-filled. If I'm a tiny bit let down with this entry, it would have to do with Cia's cardboard personality rather than the general storyline itself. I would actually give this novel 3 stars but am rounding it up because I sense that Cia's going to continue to grow as she finds herself drawn further into the takedown of The Testing. Still an enjoyable, intriguing read overall.

~taminator40

Scarlet

Scarlet picks up pretty much where Cinder left off--Cinder is in jail and Levana has Kai precisely where she wants him. But Cinder being Cinder, she's not going to just rot in jail until she's exported to Luna; using her new found Lunar "gifts", Cinder escapes from jail with a rather hapless accomplice named Thorne and takes off in a stolen air ship, hoping to discover more about her existence on earth and her life as Princess Selene. Meanwhile, far away in France, Scarlet is tending her missing grandmother's farm, frustrated that no one will take her seriously when she claims her grandmother has gone missing. Enter Wolf, a street fighter who happens to intrigue Scarlet, and the two set off on a journey to find said missing grandmother...who is also the woman responsible for saving Princess Selene. Nice tie-in there.

Scarlet got off to a bit of a slow start for me, but once Scarlet and Wolf go on the run, things pick up quickly and the back and forth between the two main characters kept me saying "just one more chapter" until I was done. I liked how Scarlet felt betrayed and yet was willing to trust her instincts; I love Cinder and her sarcasm, and once I got used to Thorne, he rapidly became a favorite character. Meyer's world-building is meticulous and layered, with many not whom they seem to be and lots of wrenches being thrown into play. Nothing is ever easy and most of the time I was breathless waiting to see how on earth they were going to get out of the predicaments they found themselves in. From the nastiness of Cinder's stepmother, to Kai's sacrifice, to Thorne's irritating self-delusion, all of the characters shine with life. Excellent read and ready for number three!

~taminator40

Shadows

The world's gone to hell, and our heroine Alex has been left outside the community of Rule to face the zombie teens, the Changed, in the fight of her life. Meanwhile, Tom, her partner/friend, has disappeared and survival seems unlikely. So begins the second book in Ilsa Bick's Shadows trilogy, and from the word go, the action is fast, unexpected, and gory. Did I mention gory?

Bick doesn't waste time recapping the storyline, but a helpful hint for those who've forgotten anything would be to visit the author's website as she has a great page to refresh your memory. Instead, we're launched into Alex's predicament, surrounded by Changed...and it's not a spoiler to say that while she lives, the situation is one of constant danger and vividly horrible positions. While we are dealing with Alex's dilemma, we are also bounced through the points of view of Tom, Chris, Peter, and a few others, making it hard at times to keep the action straight. But that's a minor quibble in this excellent, action filled sequel.

Bick is a master of keeping the reader on the edge of his/her seat, and I'm no exception. Many of her chapters end as cliff hangers, making the "just one more chapter" bit an almost constant issue. There is a point midway when the action slams back and forth between Alex and Tom that literally left me exhausted as the pages flew between life threatening situations. That segment alone would be worth the price of the book, but Shadows is so much more than "Chuckies" eating people; it's about relationships, fear, survival, and the degeneration of humanity. Just when it can't get worse, it does, and Bick succeeds in breaking our hearts more than once. When Jack entered the story, I nearly lost it.

I absolutely loved Shadows and one of my particular joys while reading is that Bick does not write down for the reader: her vocabulary is extensive and well used, and her knowledge, particularly of old mines, traps, and the depravity of humans, shines through. I'm impressed that Bick expects the reader to infer so much and that she's able to tie so many threads together so well. This is what young adult writing should be.

Big warning though: While I adored Shadows, it is filled with gore, to the point that I even skimmed a few passages to avoid the mental picture. And while I applaud Bick for not shying away from situations that bring the terror of the zombies to life, I do think those with a weak stomach might want to consider before reading. I'd recommend this one for those at the older end of the young adult spectrum, but adults like me will definitely find much to love. Highly recommended.

~taminator40

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Here's what I've been reading since August 11...yes, that would mean more than two weeks spent with one book, but...oh, what a book.

The Twelve by Justin Cronin is the sequel to The Passage (review here), the post-apocalyptic tour de force released in 2010. I became completely immersed then in the America that suffers an attack by a group of escaped virals, men (with one notable exception) who had been on death row who were used for a military experiment that went horribly wrong. The Twelve picks up five years after the ending of The Passage, and our band of fighters has scattered, with its members either joining the Expeditionary, taken, or fighting separately. The virals are as prevalent and deadly as ever, and even after the death of Babcock in The Passage, no one is closer to finding and eliminating any other of the Twelve. It's almost as though time has stalled for Peter, Michael, Alicia, and Amy...until Alicia's determination to discover the hiding spot of Martinez brings momentum back to the survivors of the First Colony. Meanwhile, there is some time jumping as we are introduced to Lila and Guilder, two characters who will play extremely important roles almost immediately after the initial disaster began; Lila, a pregnant doctor, is traumatized enough by an emergency room attack that she in essence becomes convinced that *nothing* happened, and Guilder, a man suffering from ALS, survives an attack on his own, transformed into something I never saw coming. How these two lives' mix into that of Lawrence Grey from The Passage is both heart wrenching and horrifying, and leads directly to the main action climax of The Twelve.

There is SO. MUCH.  in The Twelve, and I'd recommend a reread of The Passage if time permits because it is all so intricate and complicated. There is time movement between the initial attacks, then forward about seventy-five years to another disaster that became known as The Massacre in the Field, and finally, we are led back 100 years post-apocalypse to our First Colony fighters and their determination to destroy the Twelve. The discovery of a settlement with echoes of Hitler's concentration camps leads Peter, Michael, and Alicia northward while Amy is drawn separately to the same place. There are echoes of Brad Wolgast and his deep connection to Amy; there is the hint that not all of the Twelve have lost all traces of humanity in Carter's ability to speak with Amy; there is the appearance of a mysterious woman who leads virals to not only attack, but to take some select humans alive. And through it all, we meet and re-meet people and we're given tantalizing hints of what might happen until it all goes to hell.

I feel as though I'm not doing justice to this novel which has totally enveloped me in the past two weeks; I want to say so much more but yet saying one thing would lead to another and I don't want to possibly spoil anything. I will say that much like The Passage,  there were moments and sections in The Twelve when I was so confused and there was so much going on I couldn't keep it all straight, and then there were pages when I just wanted the story to move ahead. But when the action hits, and it hits often and hard, it is next to impossible to put this book down. And you don't know where you're going, and you don't know if a beloved character will make it...and I have to say that the final 50 pages or so are probably some of the best action sequences I've read in quite some time. 

I want to talk about what happens to Amy, to Lila, to Grey, to Guilder (the bloody bastard), to Peter, Michael, Alicia, and Hollis...I want to bounce ideas against someone who has read the final 50 pages to see if they interpret a few things as I do. The writing is so detailed, so deep that I feel as though it washed right over me at times; I was riveted, repulsed, and spellbound. I *need* someone else to discuss this book with me! 

The Twelve is a worthy sequel to The Passage, and Cronin's writing is both grand and gripping. When I think back over the 500+ pages, I almost feel as though I'd read two or three separate books that somehow weave together to form one momentous story. Amazing and awesome. I suggest you pre-order it now for it's October 2012 arrival.

I received this ARC from a friend who attended BEA earlier in the summer. I'm not being paid for this honest review, but my imagination has surely been stretched and hammered through its reading. LOVED IT. Seriously, seriously loved it.

~taminator40

Underwhelmed

Don't you just hate it when you wait and wait for a sequel to an exciting book, and then you find it so underwhelming? That's how I feel about Meg Cabot's Underworld, the sequel to the very fun Abandon. So bummed.

Underworld picks up the story of Pierce and her undead boyfriend, John, as they try to escape the Fury currently possessing her grandmother's body. Pierce awakens in the Underworld where John has taken her and where he works as a lord of the dead, sorting souls so they can pass on to their ultimate fate. Pierce quickly realizes John has done this to protect her, but she's worried about her family back in the living world, and her fear only multiplies when she receives a strange video on her cell phone of her cousin Alex trapped inside a coffin, in danger of dying. So she convinces John to take her back to rescue Alex, but of course the mission doesn't go smoothly and Pierce's life--and Alex's--are on the line.

First I'll say I loved Abandon; the pages flew by when I read it and I couldn't wait for the sequel. Unfortunately, the intriguing story of Abandon isn't found in Underworld. Pierce is reliant on John most of the time, and he spends most of the book keeping dark secrets from her, which she excuses. The entire story takes place in about 24 hours but most of it is spent with Pierce trying to decide what she wants...and then changing her mind. The fact that she decides she can't face her parents, knowing if she stays with John she will never be with them again, just left me feeling cold, and her conversation with her uncle was just odd. And while much of the storyline centers on the likeness of Pierce's situation to that of Persephone, a lot of time was spent trying to show just how they were different. I just couldn't get past the fact that John was making the decisions while withholding important information. So not okay...and Pierce comes off as immature rather than independent.

There are good things in Underworld; Cabot's writing, as usual, is fast and fluent and her secondary characters are entirely charming. Kayla, John's crew, and even the dove Hope all shine whenever they are involved, and Mr. Smith and his partner are very delightful. I just felt like I spent 300+ pages not really going very far and watching Pierce go backwards in her personality. What should be a love story is starting to feel like a control story, and I want Pierce to step up and take charge. This is not a bad book, but it is lacking in spirit and personality, in my opinion. Not sure if I'll be back for the final book or not.

~taminator40

"Not Really a Party Until Someone Brings the Surprise Zombies"

Great line, huh? Nick may be a demon who doesn't experience human emotions, but he can deliver one liners that will crack you up throughout The Demon's Covenant. It's just one of the many reasons that this book is more than a worthy sequel to The Demon's Lexicon.

The story picks up not too long after The Demon's Lexicon leaves off; Mae becomes worried about her brother Jamie being targeted by magicians from the Obsidian Circle, so she contacts magician fighting brothers Alan and Nick to come help her pull him away from the evil influence. Along the way, we discover that Nick wants to learn about human emotions and he enlists Mae to help him; Alan, frightened of what his brother is capable of, decides the wiser course might be to betray him; the Goblin Market becomes the scene of many confrontations; and Mae finds herself torn between Alan and Seb, a boy at school. There are no easy choices in The Demon's Covenant.

Rant time: What is up with that cover? Besides the fact that it features a minor character, it's just plain ugly. It makes Sin look like she's in her forties, not to mention those big feet. Whoever okayed that one needs to be pummeled repeatedly.

The rant aside, I was pleasantly surprised that a sequel could maintain the intrigue and depth of the first book. With its devastating wit and action, its relationship issues and the magic, The Demon's Covenant works on so many levels. I loved seeing the relationship between Jamie and Mae, and I loved that Jamie knows who he is and doesn't shy away from it. The world Brennan has created is intricate and compelling, and I'm already on board for book number three. Dark and disturbing at times, there's gore and menacing situations that put everyone in peril but will keep you turning the pages quickly. This one garners a solid 4.75 stars, kept from the full 5 by a couple of chapters that meandered just a bit. Excellent reading!

~taminator40

The Iron Daughter

Still not sure precisely what the title The Iron Daughter refers to since the main character is the daughter of the Summer King, not the Iron King (and the Iron Court is the "bad guy") but whatever. This is still a fun series, well written and page turning. I'm looking forward to the next in the series, but until then, here is my review for your perusal.

In this sequel to The Iron King, Meghan Chase, daughter of King Oberon of the Summer Court, is being held by Queen Mab of the Winter Court. Ash, prince of the Winter Court and the love of her life, is distant and cold (in more than one sense of the word) and she doesn't know if fellow faery friend Puck is recovering after his brush with death. In this uncertain, lonely world, Meghan witnesses the exchange of the Sceptre of the Seasons between the Courts, and when the Sceptre goes missing, the Courts are pitted against each other, putting Meghan and Ash even more in the middle than usual. Add in some Iron faeries, a bunch of mythical creatures, and yes, Silicon Valley, and you've got The Iron Daughter.



With the characters loosely based on A Midsummer Night's Dream, there's a whole lot of action and deception going on in this book; Meghan's still desperately in love with Ash, but Ash is doing the noble thing by trying to remain aloof. The two are thrown together, however, by the need to retrieve the Sceptre from the Iron Court and of course they can hardly fight their attraction. With Puck's admission to Meghan that he loves her, the Summer Princess finds herself torn between the two, both of whom she loves in different ways. But will any of it even matter if the a war between the Summer and Winter Courts cannot be thwarted?


Ms. Kagawa's writing is fun and action-filled, and while the story is naturally fairly predictable, it doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the tug-of-war between the Courts and Meghan and her loves. With the addition of some odd quirks, Meghan's beginning to realize that she's not just a Princess of the Summer Court but a force to be reckoned with, and she's going to have to make some serious decisions. The mooning over Ash does get a bit old at times, but such is young love that it's entirely believable. There's lots of blood and gore and a pretty big cliffhanger ending that has me already looking up the release date of the next in the series. It's not high literature but it is good, exciting fun which more than fulfills its purpose. Bring on the next!
 
~taminator40

The Luxe Review

Having committed the cardinal sin of reading these books out of order, I can still highly recommend The Luxe by Anna Godbersen as good fun, even if it does indeed have some stereotypical characters who often act out of the norm for the historical times. Set in 1899 New York, we follow the lives of society girls Elizabeth, Diana, and Penelope; one is in love with a servant, one is in love with her sister's fiancee, and one is out to get it all for herself. How they accomplish their goals--or don't--is great good fun, a young adult chick lit that certainly is a page-turner. There are nitpicky things, of course: Is anyone truly good? How is it that no one gets pregnant with all the sex? Those are indeed good questions that the author does need to reveal in future sequels.

I enjoyed this one despite knowing ahead of time what is going to happen in the sequel. I am eagerly awaiting the third in the series because I foresee interesting things ahead for all three girls. Come on, January!

My amazon review is found at http://www.amazon.com/review/R42GVES09HRWH/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm. I hope you'll visit to see a fuller review of this very interesting young adult novel.

~taminator40

Rumors Review

I received Rumors by Anna Godbersen for review from the Amazon Vine program. I have its prequel, The Luxe, on my bookshelves waiting to be read, so I thought this would be a good book to choose from the monthly list. For some reason, I decided to go ahead and read this one before reading The Luxe (I know, I know, that's Rule #1: Thou Shalt Read All Books in a Series In Order). Don't get me wrong; I loved this book! I just wish I'd read its prequel first (though I do intend to go back and read it just for the style and fun).

Rumors is chock full of NYC society in December 1899, and characters who might just be found on the pages of a Gossip Girl book if the setting were present-day. We meet the decidedly undead Elizabeth Holland (who has escaped her high society marriage of convenience by running off to true love Will in the west), Elizabeth's younger sister, Diana, who is in love with Elizabeth's cast-off fiance, and Penelope Hayes, who knows way too much and is determined to have Henry all to herself. Mix in Lina, Elizabeth's former maid who is passing herself off as a lady using Penelope's blood money, and a host of other interesting people and situations and you've got the right mix for a page turner. I loved how each chapter begins with an "outtake" from a society page full of pure speculation, and I love how the mores and manners of 1899 are readily available throughout. This one's a good one---I'm going to have to pick up #3, Envy, when it comes out in January. Excellent fun and high good reading.

Amazon Vine review may be found at http://www.amazon.com/review/R3PG0GDP18CBBO/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm. Please stop by and vote if you can.

~taminator40

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

Ah, chick lit at its finest! Meg Cabot sure knows how to pull me in. The story of Lizzie Nichols, wedding dress restorer, picks up precisely where the last one left off: Luke, her boyfriend, has reappeared and asked her to marry him while Chaz, her best friend, lies in her bed upstairs. Will she actually marry Luke, or will her heart lead her back to Chaz? Someone get this girl a Diet Coke so she can figure it out! This one did what chick lit is supposed to do: it made me smile. A lot. Check it out.

Amazon review: http://www.amazon.com/review/R5PWT476MH7KQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm.

~taminator40

The Sugar Queen

I finsihed Sarah Addison Allen's The Sugar Queen last night. After reading and liking Garden Spells by the same author, I was hoping this one would be just as good. And it is good, but somehow I didn't feel as engaged with it as I did with Garden Spells. It's not really anything I can put my finger on; the writing is similar, and the story's similar, with magical realism and failed relationships driving the plot. I get the feeling that I should have enjoyed it more than I did. Still, I gave it four stars on my amazon review, rounding up from the 3.5 I actually feel it should have earned. You can check out that review by visiting http://www.amazon.com/review/R23CD7ZWO6I3UC/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p. And keep in mind that it could just be me with my very high expectations and not the book itself at all.

~taminator40

Ink Exchange

I finished Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr while on vacation in Destin, FL. As much as I loved Wicked Lovely, I sort of had to force myself through this one. Not that it was bad, precisely; I just wasn't as into the storyline. Still set in the faery world, this time we follow Leslie as she is made the conduit for emotion for the Dark Faery Court, much against her will. It's been a couple of days since I finished it, but I still don't have much strong feeling one way or the other about the book. Wicked Lovely kept me turning the pages and fully engulfed me in the faery world; this one just didn't. I'm not sorry I read it, but I do hope the next book set in this world is more engaging. You can find my amazon review at http://www.amazon.com/review/R2EEA9WWZPMXPZ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm.

~taminator40

Finished Two More!

I had a good afternoon today...finished two books! I admit I was a lazy slug, lying around reading with the cats napping on the bed with me, but I am glad to have whittled down Mt. TBR by two more books. And then what did I do? Go to http://www.paperbackswap.com/ and order another one! There MUST be something wrong with me.

Anyway, the first book I finished is a sequel to another one I'd read earlier this summer, Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens. The Wild Rose of Kilgannon picks up where the first book left off; the Jacobite rebellion has failed and Alex, our hero, is now on trial for his part. The action is fast and furious and the sex is nonexistent in this book; it is a page turner but a couple of nitpicky things just bugged me throughout. I guess I overthink when reading historical romances because I want to scream when I see inconsistencies, which is probably why I don't read as many as I used to. This one is similar in some ways to one of my favorite books, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, but really could have used a better editor. Still, not a bad read overall. Here's the link to my review on amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yoterr

The second book I picked up and read is called Cathy's Book by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman. It's quite an interesting premise; it's written in journal form by Cathy, a teen whose boyfriend has just dumped her. Enlivening the reading are the massive doodles Cathy does all over the pages and a packet of "evidence" enclosed inside the front cover. I can see high school girls in particular just loving this title, and I feel safe in recommending it to my middle schoolers. It was a bit slow in parts but the uniqueness of the story makes it a good read, and I'm sure a sequel is out there being written as I type. The link to my amazon review is http://tinyurl.com/2o5eve)

Not sure what I'm picking up next as I'm keeping the release of HP7 in mind all week. I may try to get into one of my tbr_challenge books to stay ahead before school starts back, or I might continue trying to grab short but intriguing ones out of the mountain beside my bed. Guess I'll make up my mind when I get ready for sleep in a few hours. Stay posted!

~taminator40