Tag Archives: 2-stars

Review: Leah Raeder – Black Iris

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Black Iris
Leah Raeder

I’m not even sure I can write a blurb for this novel, it was so unsatisfying. Complex relationships and a F/F/M love-triangle combined with copious amounts of drugs and a couple of mental illnesses thrown in does not make a good book.

9781476786421This book was raw, rough and sometimes hard to follow. I am a serial ignorer of chapter titles and headings, particularly when reading an e-book. It took me a couple of chapters before I realised that yes, it was all from one perspective, but no, the time wasn’t proceeding in a linear fashion, and yes, some of those were flashbacks, and no, I couldn’t work out from Laney’s unreliable narrating whether things actually happened. It all came across with the same level of importance and the same amount of crudity.

I feel like I am betraying the queer community for saying this, but I don’t think it’s a supportive book for those going through acceptance issues. I appreciate what this novel is doing in terms of trying to expose sexualities and gender balances to a wider community of readers. However, I felt that the execution of this was too extreme for most people to relate to. The important messages were drowned by the characters’ sex and drugs.

There was sex and drugs and sex and abuse left, right and centre. I’ve read other novels with those things in it, and it hasn’t bothered me. Some of the best books I have read manage to make those things available to the reader, by not scaring them off. If anything, this novel seemed to enjoy disquieting the reader for no purpose,

Something that I didn’t agree with at all was the treatment of serious mental illnesses. Two of the characters had bipolar disorder, and the other had borderline personality disorder. No-one made an effort to medication professionally, instead they abused the medications they had and combined it with as many drugs as possible. If it was just them affecting themselves, I’d be ok with that – it’s their business. But when they are affecting close family members and causing deaths, there’s something seriously wrong.

I felt entirely confused and turned around by the time I got to the end. And I never felt any satisfaction. Laney seemed happy ripping holes in as many other people’s lives as possible, but I wasn’t happy with the way things turned out. The things she gets away with, the forgiveness she demands from other people, everything was wrong.

I had to let the book sit for a while before I could review it. Even now, I can feel the rotten taste of it in my mouth. I literally felt dirty once I had read it. I didn’t walk away from it feeling like I had gotten positive out of it – all I’d seen was what the worst of the world had to offer.

Yes, I kept reading it to the end. Yes, I didn’t want to walk away from it. But no, I shouldn’t have started reading it in the first place. Stay far, far away and shop for something with similar themes but a more satisfying ending (I’d suggest Scars, The Burn Journals, The Admirer and Keeping You a Secret). In fact, even the worst of the queer/mental illness novels that I have reviewed on this blog so far are better than this one.

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Review: Alexander Key – Escape to Witch Mountain

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Alexander Key

Escape to Witch Mountain

Tia and Tony have been different all their lives. With abilities that seem to only get them into trouble, and branded as aggressors and thieves, Tony and Tia are alone in the world with only each other for support. When someone from their past comes looking for them, they know it is time to move into the future.

6576481I only picked up this novel because its listing in my digital borrowing app from my local library said it was a ‘blindingly brilliant piece of sci-fi’. I thought it couldn’t be that bad. And it wasn’t horrific, but nor would I recommend it.

Everything is completely see-through. Tony and Tia always have to succeed, even as it seems like they will be ruined forever. It’s a children’s fiction book as far as I am concerned, and that makes it all the more likely that everyone will escape without a scratch.

The reader on this one (and perhaps Tia’s character) drove me mad. Ugh! I hated the way Tia spoke, and the way she was all ‘don’t make me tell the hurty things’ Tony. Suck it up princess! I could barely listen to her. Tony wasn’t much better, and Father O’Dey could have done with a deeper and more commanding voice (especially since he’s the priest that adds validity to their claim that they aren’t the devil’s work).

What redeems this novel? None of the ideas are new. Or they aren’t new now. As another reviewer said, this feels like a predecessor to Harry Potter! If there is a child in your life, and you think they might be ready for some ‘gentle’ sci-fi, let them have this novel. There’s nothing offensive, the good God remains prominent, and it fits in nicely with tales of UFOs.

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Review: C. Robert Cales – The Bookseller

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The Bookseller
C. Robert Cales
John is going to be responsible for releasing evil. Carlos is an evil dictator. The Booksellers are both the captain and the slave of otherworldly disasters. When their lives come together, it is payback time on evil.
Half-way through the novel, the three sets of stories being told still hadn’t interacted. I had pretty much no interest in John and Sally’s storyline, Carlos’ one was just brutal and not all together manageable, and the only one I did have interest in, the one of the booksellers, seemed so plain and wrapped up in love that I felt vaguely sick.
Why did I keep reading this novel? I can’t say for sure. I wasn’t particularly interested in the characters, but I did want to see how things turned out. Surely it would improve? I’d read one or two pages at a time, while waiting for the rest of my work to finish, then drift away again with no regrets.
I felt sometimes like I was just floating outside the world. I looked in on the novel, observed the painstakingly slow progress of its characters through a too-familiar landscape, and looked away again without having felt any richer for the attempt.
I was just so disappointed in the style of the novel. I think I found it online through one of the traditional/mainstream publishers, and I expected it to be polished and to be completely spellbound by it. Instead I got a novel that wanted to tell me things, had an incredibly annoying style of dialogue and a frustrating, ever changing world view.
So, let’s talk about the characters. Each of the roughs in Carlos’ gang were pretty much identical. They all had the same motivations of money, and they were all evil bastards. The author tried to give them distinguishing characteristics, continually referring to tattoos and hairstyles, but I would have remember those myself had they had been introduced to me in a memorable way, with names that didn’t all end with ‘o’. I can appreciate the cultural setting, but ugh, it just wasn’t enough.
The blurb of the novel gave away what was happening too soon. I spent most of the novel waiting for things to happen, and then when they did happen, the storyline, which so far had been quite believable, took a turn for the worse.
This is one of the most promising storylines I have read in a book I would rate 2 stars. If you have a ‘thing’ for good vs evil novels, then this could be for you. But for me, the glacial pace of the novel, combined with the poor storytelling style had me waiting for the novel to finish, rather than enjoying reading it.

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Review: B.R. Collins – Gamerunner

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Gamerunner
B.R. Collins

Rick is a Gamerunner – he tests The Maze to check if there are any glitches or bugs. Sent on a midnight errand by the man he things of as his father, Rick is going to suffer as he never has before.

I picked this novel up because I hoped it would be like The Maze Runner or Gillian Rubinstein’s Space Demons. Much to my horror, it wasn’t in any sense of the word. Yes, they are similar – outside the Game/Maze is a disaster zone, and there is an overarching mind coordinating it all. But the anticipation of The Maze Runner is completely missing from Gamerunner.

This is an apocalyptic  novel of what happens when the world falls apart and there are only video games left to immerse yourself in, and hope to find something to make your miserable life better.  If anything, I can see it as a highly suitable primary school novel that would be kicked off as soon as possible from the list, because it might place gaming in a too positive light.

Two stars. I’d give it 1 star, but I didn’t finish it. Maybe it would have improved later in the novel? I tend to be a lot less tolerant of talking books that fail me in the first couple of chapters, because the reader doesn’t grab me and I can’t bear to listen any longer. Has someone else read this and enjoyed it? The Goodreads stars don’t look all that positive to me.

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Review: Ally Carter – All Fall Down

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All Fall Down
Ally Carter
Grace has been thrown back into the life of Embassy Row, where countries stand side by side in buildings that could fall at any moment. After she left it, when her mother was murdered,  she was put away for her own mental health. Now released into the wild-world again, Grace isn’t coping with being back near her remaining family, or the potential killer of her mother.
So I liked the idea of the novel. Embassy Row sounds pretty cool really. The chance to socialise with a whole bunch of different people and speak 7 different languages? Nothing but awesome! Although I think a couple of foreign words could have been thrown in for good measure. Then I could even pretend I was learning something from this novel.
Grace is so certain of these three things:  she’s not crazy, her mother was murdered, and she wants to hurt the killer., that she can’t listen to reason. She’s determined to isolate herself. In fact, she’s so self-willed that you feel like some of this has got to be her fault, but also that the adults are just being idiots and not helping at all.
Grace seems to be suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, which is basically belittled by any adult in her life, and which alienates her from other young people around her. It’s the reason she’s lost any friends, but doesn’t explain why she didn’t make any in the first place.
The sequences of events left me feeling disorientated. At the same time that Grace was trying to protect other people, she was caring little for her own life. If she’s dead, she can’t stop the next person from being killed. If anything, this novel wants you to empathise with Grace, but then throws you up in a very ugly manner near the end. The twists and turns and promises all turn flat.
I hated the ending. Absolute garbage. It was not a satisfying conclusion, and even as it left the ending open, it didn’t leave Grace as having grown as a character. I felt like the book didn’t actually achieve anything.
This novel is well written, and I can see that if it was part of a series (which it appears to be the first book of), and I had the next book to read right away that was going to give me some satisfaction and character growth, maybe I could score it higher. There are other things to read though, and so I’ll give this one 2 stars, with the promise of three if the next book can tie up the loose ends.

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Review: Nancy Young – Strum

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Strum
Nancy Young
Following the sounds of a music only he can hear (and the only thing he can hear), a talented woodcarver finds, and crafts, two beautiful guitars that play by themselves. This isn’t fantasy though – it’s a realistic novel for someone who has played older violins – they gain a life of their own over time.
Something on the blurb on this novel suggests that it unfolds on a backdrop of war and religious differences, but those were the minor things compared to the people. It is the interactions of the people across the generations, and the failures of all humans in one way or another, that makes the bulk of the text.
The author fails to allow the reader to use their imagination. The author doesn’t trust her audience to come up with the right details, and instead lapses into long descriptions of things happening and feelings that could have been shown. There were also so many analogies that I could easily lose track of where I was! For example:
“All heads and eyes turned to the main attraction next to the man, a vision in white luminescence like the first blanketing of snow on a virgin landscape, whose demurely downcast eyes lead all eyes below to the voloptuous, precipitacy draped bust-line where a thin line of moss green velvet ribbon delineated the fashionably cinched Empire waist while majestically lifting two wipe winter melon-like breasts, forcing them skyward.”
In addition, the narrative is disjointed and confusing. I couldn’t find a plot line, only the discontinuous chapters told from various perspectives and times. My unfamiliarity with the geographical locations only compounded my confusion. I didn’t feel the changes between continents because I was too preoccupied with trying to remember which character was related to the others.
What this novel was good for was re-broadening the variety of words that I have in my vocabulary, Sometimes it feels like the author has eaten a thesaurus. Instead I believe this novel is perfect for literature studies – the motif of the guitar, the differences in religion.
I think the author tried to do too much, and cram too much into this novel. I would prefer a chronologcial order, with clearer deliniations between the times and people than just a family tree. But I did like that there was that plan there. The only problem was that I couldn’t remember all the characters’ names…
This is not an uplifting novel, as much as the epilogue likes to suggest it. I found myself regretting getting involved with the characters, because it seemed like there was nothing to be gained from my interactions with the novel.
A disappointment as a fiction novel, but a key text that would benefit from literature studies on its worth. It’s a good addition to any literature buff’s library, and it would make a great text as a university study (if they ever stop promoting the old favourites).

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Review: Antoinette J. Houston – Red Summer

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Red Summer
Antoinette J. Houston
Red, or Rita, is just beginning to catch on fire. Not in the way that Katniss does, but in the real sense of the word – Rita makes flames part of explosive life.
The idea of the mutant abilities was interesting, and quite unique from other novels I have read. Taking the blood of someone unique, and then finding the genetic basis of it – right up my alley. I’m not surprised it only worked on children. Did I mention that’s the field of my PhD?
Each of the main characters has those special powers, and it’s not immediately obvious which they have. Rita manifests first, and refuses to talk about it. She’s a ‘raging black woman’, which felt like it fell into a stereotype rather than Rita having her own personality.
Jason seems like a danger – I don’t know why they didn’t just kill him. I mean, it’s a bit inhumane, but when you get someone who can break everything in one fell go from within a cell, it’s just sensible!
I struggled to work out what role Thomas played. Only his memories are useful to the teenagers, and I think they could have survived without that. He seemed to be aimed at providing a ‘normal’ perspective, and still he was the one who was hurt the most often, just for being himself.
I don’t think that the blurb on the novel does justice. I didn’t jump into it because I couldn’t understand what the endless summer would be. I thought maybe I would see the same scene playing out over and over – but instead I got some powerful action scenes with tangible emotions.
Did I mention that the cover is pretty awesome? It’s very simple, but if you actually just look at it, it gives a strong hint for what is to happen. A match burning the wrong way…
What put me off this novel, and what might have changed since I read this early ARC, is some of the prose. The writing didn’t feel ‘tight’ to me, in the way that some novels are. The dialogue could have gone with a little more finess, because it often felt like the words were superfluous. Something else that bothered me were the changes in tempo.
I’m willing to cut this novel some slack, since when the author supplied it to me, she explained that this copy hadn’t been edited. I’m interested to see whether the next novel has evolved – and I think I’d consider reading it just to see what happens with the mutant powers. Are more of them going to appear? Are their children going to be ‘monsters’?

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Review: Leisa Rayven – Bad Romeo

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Bad Romeo
Leisa Rayven
Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt met in acting school. Hit by blinding chemistry from the moment go, their romance is set to spark up!
I think I rooted for Ethan more than I did for Cassie. Cassie seemed like a total idiot. Ok, so I understand chemistry ok, but being a doormat? Just letting him up and away when he felt like it? And then at the end, letting him in?
The perspective flicks back and forth from the present to the past, which gives you a bit more insight into the characters. For me, I would have been happier with either the colledge part or the real life part in two chunks. It didn’t seem like every memory was relevant at the specific moment it was presented.
I think this is sort of piggybacking off the fame of Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey still. Dark menacing, mysterious guy ready to get a mess happening in the romantic, beautiful naive girl. Nothing new to see here folks, just move right along.
There were some sex scenes in this, and while some of them were laugh out loud stupid, others were more smokin’. For this, I’ll put it in the adult category, although the rest of the drama could happen anywhere. Oh! With that in mind, Cassie writes the weirdest diary entries. Going on and on about Ethan’s ‘manhood’, the orgasms she has with him? Come on man! Give me some proper action!
Finally, I felt so frustrated at the ending. I didn’t learn anything new, all I did was put up with the characters’ angst, which got old a long time back in reading it. At the end of the novel, there is an advertisement for ‘Broken Juliet’, which even the completionist in me doesn’t want to read.
Apparently this novel is fan fiction. I’m not sure what of? Of Shakespeare’s original works? It’s pretty hard not to plagiarise a romance like that in any novel! I received this novel as a surprise from a publisher in the mail! I sat down to read it almost immediately, but didn’t review it, as I was still recovering from the shock of disappointment. Unless you’re really really desperate to read something in this area, I’d tell you to keep looking until you find something more satisfying.

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Review: Robin Murarka – Akin

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Akin
Robin Murarka
Aydan has dreams that are proscribed by his tribe. He is sentenced to torture for this, but is set to witnessing his ‘brother’ suffer instead, and so he is filled with conviction that he must escape. What follows is a long distance trip that witnesses the fall of an empire.
This novel is aimed at exploring the extremities of the human condition. While Ayden is living these things, the reader struggles to understand what is going on, and that is part of the appeal for some.
This is totally literary fiction. I think perhaps I had forgotten exactly what that meant. It means high flaunting ideas in a not that logical order, for this novel at least. The text is not accessible in my opinion, and I had difficulty getting through it.
However, this novel did awaken questions in me. Those kind of deep questions that only bother you at night after you’ve finished reading. And that haunt you for days afterwards. In that respect it could potentially be very valuable.
Can I recommend this novel? I don’t think I can, to people who like similar things to me. But if you want a piece of fiction that is going to take you WAY out of your comfort zone, then this could be a novel for you.If you’ve enjoyed the reviews of novels I have studied during my university career, I have no hesitation in recommending it for you.
I received this novel free in time for a review before the Book Expo Australia event, but didn’t get around to reviewing it until very recently. Although I am somewhat excited that this event is happening (happened), their website is really poorly laid out and appears devoid of content.

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Review: Nicole Skuba – Another Kind of Free

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Another Kind of Free
Nicole Skuba

This novel is hardly a novel. It’s more of a short, reflective piece of non-fiction. It was released in response to Robin William’s suicide earlier in 2014. The author talks about her journey through Bipolar Disorder, and the peace that she eventually found within herself.
For me, it’s difficult to review. The writing style is ok, but it’s not the best I’ve ever read. I often felt like I should have been identifying with the main ‘character’ more, but instead I was thinking about what could happen next.
A key thing to take out of this is that you’re responsible for your own heath. Although, whoever put a bipolar person on purely Prozac was asking for a manic period. What the author finds is that she can keep her promises, and that self-reflection is key into managing her disorder. It’s not going to work for everyone, and I think you need to be towards that side of thinking about things before this novel will open doors for you. It might open a couple of windows however.
The only reason this PDF novel got read was because it was short, relatively painless to read, and it was sitting on my Desktop when I felt like I needed a short read. It’s not available as a paperback, and even if one is produced, I would strongly advise against purchasing it.

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