Tag Archives: 3-stars

Review: Erik Therme – Mortom

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Mortom
Erik Therme
Andy Crowl has been left an inheritance. Rather than putting him ahead however, he’s stuck with his crazy cousin’s ideas of fun – a treasure hunt for an unknown treasure with higher stakes than he knows.
Andy and his puzzle solving skills were a delight to behold. The background story from him, in dribs and drabs was good. I could have seen more of that, but the story was plot driven. His sister Kate on the other hand, I just couldn’t love, and hated her against the strong male protagonist.
I’ve never lived in such a tiny town, and I wonder whether I’m missing something in the dynamics between the characters. Ah well. The secondary characters were sketched in to a point where I couldn’t understand their motivations, but I could understand Andy’s interactions with them.
The suspense of this novel worked well. At first you don’t know what you’re really playing for, then it suddenly hits you. All the little things you thought were unimportant suddenly come to the fore. The trail of clues was incredibly detailed and frustrating! I only wished I could have had more information about the outside clues so that I could feel superior if I worked out the clues first.

I really wasn’t satisfied with the ending. Andy hadn’t really done anything wrong, yet it seemed like he’d be stuck forever in Mortom for his stupid sister…

A decent read, and had me unable to put it down from around the middle. Recommended for those who like mysteries, but want something a bit outside the norm.

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Review: Ellen Wittlinger – Hard Love

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Hard Love
Ellen Wittlinger

John has protected himself by withdrawing, since his parents divorced. Marisol is protected behind her self-identity as a lesbian and a racial minority. They’re both pretty friendless, but John chooses to reach out, and Marisol responds in her own way.

I thought this novel had potential. I’ve loved other novels by Ellen Wittlinger, and I expected to love this one. I’m not sure I did though, and let me tell you why.
The ideas behind letting John explore his sexuality are nice. We’re pitting someone who has no idea whether he is attracted to anyone against someone who knows they are a lesbian. Combine with with some things that say that they aren’t really listening to each other, and you get trouble. Equally, even though he turns out to be hetero, he could have equally been asexual or something else on the continuum, and I would have been happy. Possibly happier. With a lesbian main character, you’re going to get less conservative people reading the novel, so why not go for it?
I hated Marisol sometimes. She seemed to me like an untouchable, distant, dictator. I particularly hated her at the end. It’s one thing to be from a small town, and not experience your sexuality, and another to have sex with the first Lesbians you meet, and head off with them into the dark!
I understood John only too well. After being injured by his parents’ divorce, he felt as if his whole world was shattering, and the only way he knew to cope was to not talk about anyway, not let anything out. His mother won’t touch him, which I find very symbolic. He tries not to feel anything about himself.
The zines that brought Marisol and John together made me feel like I was out of touch with young people. I can’t even imagine people doing that here. Where do they get the money from to print these things? It seems like an outdated blogging technique to me. I want to feel touched by the pages of zines that were interspersed throughout the rest of the text, but I just couldn’t get into it.
When I compare this novel to Eleanor and Park, it comes up lacking in terms of convincing, likeable, relatable characters. So much potential, and yet not as much as it promises.
I own the companion novel to this one. I’m not sure that I want to read it right now. Maybe in a couple of months, when the disappointment of this one has worn off.

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Review: D.M. Cornish – Tales from the Half-Continent (Monster Blood Tattoo)

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Tales from the Half-Continent (Monster Blood Tattoo)
D.M. Cornish
These are two original Tales that are set in the Monster Blood Tattoo universe. Please keep in mind that I have not read the originals in this series.
‘The Corsers’ Hinge’
Bunting Faukes has a debt and no way to repay it – times are tough for grave robbers. But a way out is presented in the person of Atticus Wells, a sleuth with strange eyes that see into everything.
I was frustrated from the very beginning about the references to different things and people that I was just expected to know. Jumping into these as a set of short stories, the background was just not grabbing enough.
This story started out with Bunting, then jumped back to the sleuth, then back to the present. I would suggest that this was jarring, except that the segue back into the present was flawless.
The ending of this seemed inevitable. A possible reward against an obvious one? I only wish there had been some escape, and that something bigger would come of it.
‘The Fuller and the Bogle’
Virtue Bland is alone in the world. Packed off to Brandenbrass to serve the household of her late father’s employer, she has only her old pa’s olfactologue to remember him by. But with it she can smell monsters.
This short story resonated more firmly with me. Having gotten a basic grasp of it in ‘The Corsers Hinge’, this one went a lot more smoothly. I liked Virtue, I enjoyed the back story, and I felt for her. Not a complete loss.
I would consider reading the other novels in the series – if only someone would give them to me to review! Personal reading is just so far down the list of things I have to do.
I received this novel from Scholastic in return for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Book blurbs are taken from Goodreads.

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Review: Ellen Wittlinger – Gracie’s Girl

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Gracie’s Girl
Ellen Wittlinger

Bess is a new 6th grader. She’s determined to appear different and make some cool new friends. Soon her perspective on what is important in life is going to change.

I think the relationships and development of characters is really genuine in this novel. Changing schools is a big burden, and kids do change. I would have gone with 11 being a bit young for developing boy-girl relationships, but what would I know? I completely understand Ethan and Bess’ perspectives on it, and find it funny that their third friend is the one that makes a go of it.

What this novel really does is promote social responsibility. A soup kitchen, somewhere for people to sleep out of the rain and snow. I love that it’s connected to a church, but that the church is not too churchy and preachy. I think that homelessness is more of a problem in the USA, but we certainly have our share of it here. If you have spare time, please do donate if you can.

I feel like Australian schools and parents are less pushy. In the plays I participated in, none of the stars or almost-stars were quite so Diva-y. And I was a stage manager, and it drove me nuts that people didn’t  pay attention to things, and I knew their lines better than they did. I wish I had seen more of the play. I’m not familiar with Bye Bye Birdy – maybe it is really relevant to the themes of the book? I would hope so. Charity is a virtue, and everyone should try to work to it.

I have a feeling that this novel is not good enough to jump the country divide. Grade 6 for Australians is the final year of primary school, so it wouldn’t make a difference what you looked like. Also, the majority of schools here have a school uniform. There are still uncool people, and bitchy girls, but that’s in any school. I say test it out in a classroom (because it asks lots of important questions), and see how it goes.

I have enjoyed other novels by Wittlinger, but this one falls short of the mark for me. I don’t think I’ll reread it, but I will put it on the shelf, in case I discover a home that it really needs (or that really needs it).

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Review: Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer – Between the Lines

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Between the Lines
Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer
Delilah has a fairy-tale that she reads, over and over and over. It has a happy ending, which is what she wants from her life. She falls in love with the main character, but will they be able to be together?
12283261This was a strangely compulsive read. I think it was mainly curiosity on my part to see what solutions Delilah could come up with. I did like the spider. Poor spider.
I seriously could not imagine why someone would want to go into a book. And stay there. For the rest of the book’s existence. WHY? WHY? WHY?
Ok yes, I get that Delilah is an outcast. But really, she could have tried harder. It’s not just that she likes that book before she can see into it. There are plenty of other books with similar story lines of losing a father. Her mother does an awesome job of raising her! I’m irritated that she doesn’t seem to know how lucky she is. I expect high schoolers to be self-centred, but really.
The whole fairytale was a neat idea. I did want to know what happened, and how things would work out. But being told not to fight? Forcing yourself not to? Putting braces on a dragon? Some of that was just sad, in a funny kind of way.
I liked the ideas behind this book, but in practice I’m not sure it entirely worked for me. What about other novels? What if they all have characters stuck? Does Delilah want to go on a quest to rescue other book characters?
This was an exceedingly easy read. I’m not sure I get enough tones from Picoult to say whether this is an accurate measure of her work, but I hope for more collaborations – surely they will be just as strangely compelling.

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Review: Ann Brashares – Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood

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Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood
Ann Brashares
4 girls were united by birth dates in September. 2 summers ago, they found the pair of travelling pants that would change their summer. This is the last summer they have together before college.
Thank goodness this was a talking book or I never would have gotten through it. That’s not to say it was a good book, or that the reader was fabulous though.
The reader failed in my mind. I often couldn’t remember which of the four girls were speaking. The boys could have been a bit more male sounding too. This lead to complications when I couldn’t remember which girl wanted to do what. B and Carmen were easy to keep track of because that were in unique situations. But the other two? I can barely remember their names now. Tibby and uh, someone else?
This is a novel aimed at teenage girls. Specifically probably younger teenage girls in America. I can’t see anyone but a naive girl enjoying it. It’s all about first love, veiled thinly with concerns about going to college.
I can see this book not going down well with some parents. There are some almost sex scenes, sex is alluded to, and two opposite sex characters go swimming together in their underwear. Not to mention a childbirth scene.
I can’t remember the statistics of people being queer, by I thought it was something like 1/7. So where are the queer people I. This novel? One of the four girls could have been gay. Younger gay people need the opperyniruvti read about queer people just like themselves, those that have friends. A gripe I have with other queer books is that the main character is almost always lonely. Some have to be well adjusted with friends! I think authors are missing the minority that could make their novel a cult book.
The Pants don’t seem to feature prominently. I don’t think any if them actually rely on The Pants. They just use them as an excuse to not lie. How hard is it really?
I remember reading the first book in this series in high school after a girly friend raved about it. I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it at that point, being able to ignore the often repetitive dialogue. Perhaps I’d better reread it and see if I can rescue this series in my mind.

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Review: Jessica Queller – Pretty is What Changes

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Pretty is What Changes
Jessica Queller
Jessica has just received the news that she has a breast cancer gene that gives her an 80%+ chance of getting cancer. It’s given to her in the baldest way possible, yet it will change her life radically.

I’ve got a vested interest in reading this novel. It’s part fiction, part fact, and it hits close to home. I have a family history of reproductive cancers, and I’ve often considered whether I’ll need a mastectomy.
Somehow I feel like her case was sort of divinely touched. She didn’t have any huge problems with her reconstruction or anything else. It makes it a bit different that this is in the USA. I’d almost guarantee that Australian women, and women in other countries don’t have access to the same resources.
I found it interesting that a writer would find then to write something like this. I certainly wish I had time! Writing is her thing and she uses it to promote awareness for this cancer, which is great.
I picked up this novel off of the super reduced stack at uni. The partner bought it for me, figuring I’d start it and not necessarily finish it. Or maybe he thought it was a present for my mother. Anyway I settled down to read it, and he couldn’t believe I was taking the time to do it. Sometimes I like an easy to read fiction book! His argument was that the writer was some sort of person he’d read about or something. I don’t follow movies or anything so I had no idea. I’m evaluating the movie purely on what I read.
Jessica spins the tale convincingly. I felt the changes in the protagonist and at times it was painful to read. I didn’t necessarily empathise – I’d chop off my breasts in an instant if I knew I would reduce my chances of cancer. But then I’m not partner shopping either.
The title of the book was really well applicable to the contents. It’s not that she feels ugly afterwards, she’s got fantastic new breasts! But it’s rooted in what her mother thought of her, so it’s deeper than the reader would think.
Would I recommend this novel for breast cancer survivors? Maybe. Not in Australia though perhaps. I would recommend it for those women thinking about being tested for BRCA mutations or preventative surgery. Any more insight you can have is good insight.

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Review: James Phelan – The Last Thirteen #3

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The Last Thirteen #3
James Phelan
Sam is still racing to find the others in the Last Thirteen. Little does he know that he’s already met some of them, and that some of them might already be in the hands of the enemy.
20721529Sam comes face to face with Solaris again in this cliff-hanger. You know it’s going to happen. I feel like none of these novels would be complete without a Solaris encounter.

It’s an interesting concept that they can change the future by being aware of it. I’ve read a lot of books with interesting instances of time-travel/seeing the future, and what this can do to people, and this isn’t particularly a new concept. It’s treated well enough however.

I wonder also whether different people have the same dream, more often than just Sam, and his newly-rediscovered friend. I hope to see more of it in future books.
This novel fills out what they are actually looking for and adds an interesting touch of history. It’s such a good thing they appear to have lots of money, because Sam has a serious case of jetting around the world! You’d think he’s stick in one spot and get on with it.
I want to keep reading these! I’m not quite hooked, but this novel felt like it had more meat in it than the others, and I’d be really happy to see more of it happening.

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Review: Aimee Bender – The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

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The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender
Rose wakes up one morning with the ability to taste the feelings of the person who made the food she eats. This feeling gets worse for her as she pinpoints things, and she ends up subsiding almost entirely on junk food. Not to mention the rest of her family is just as bonkers and aimless.
It was an easy, throwaway read that I got through, but didn’t feel any particular need to keep reading. But I had time, I didn’t have anything else I needed to do, eh, it was in the book basket at the house we were staying at.
I didn’t really understand what happened to Joe. I was puzzled throughout the narrative. I was unsatisfied by her father’s responses. And his fear of hospitals. He could have done something! He never tried it! What about her poor Grandfather? Why did she never notice anything before? Is she blind because she has a hypo sense of smell?
The ending is distinctly unsatisfying. In fact, when we get down to it, it’s all unsatisfying. I wanted a relationship with George. I thought that’s what she was going to get. But no, she gets all withdrawn and sorry for herself! Boring, everyday life, when she could legitimately be helping others.
Rose does meet an interesting way of cooking, but really? Couldn’t she just explain to someone rationally (particularly as she gets older) that she has this problem? I get that her mother doesn’t understand, but her father? Why isn’t he brought in until the very end?
Things about this book were weird just because they could be. I didn’t get the affair, the woodworking, the weird packages from Grandma. Why were these thrown in? They didn’t add anything! They just confused me!
I was irritated by the lack of dialogue quotation marks. Arg! Is it so hard to make sure that I know when they are talking to each other? Particularly when their voices all sound so similar, since everything is filtered through Rose?
I found myself confused at the end about when things were happening. What year was this in? Are we having flash backs? What is happening??
I’ve seen some mixed reviews by others since reading it -I think it’s good in theory, but could have more done with it in practice.  If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare where you can’t do anything too absorbing or you’ll miss important conversation, give this book a try and see what you come up with.

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Review: Mercedes Lackey – Steadfast

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Steadfast
Mercedes Lackey
Katie is trying to escape from her abusive husband. With Travaeler blood in her veins, yet being a cross-breed, she is unlikely to be welcome anywhere. When she finds a dream job in a music hall of Brighton, she thinks she might be safe for a while. But throw magic into the mix, and who knows what might happen?

This novel started out with so much promise. Once again, it failed to deliver. It smacked of another title in the series, even including rogue fires! I guess she’s run out of unique endings?

This book suited its title so badly, that I didn’t even realise it was based on the story of ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’. The majority of books in this series aren’t really based on any fables, so I wasn’t expecting it. Having now refreshed my memory of this tale, I can see remnants of it, but nothing major.

For several days after completing the novel, I found myself thinking I hadn’t finished it. The ending was too satisfactory and abrupt. Plus it was exactly what I expected, the minute I found out about the cellar.

Maybe my problem was that I didn’t like Katie. She was just so malleable. It didn’t seem right for her to have a special thing like magic. Although I guess she’s just a layman and so the point of his novel was that they could have powers. Her character felt inconsistent to me.  She was afraid of all men, yet her acceptance was pretty good of her new friends, perceptive as they were to what she needed. 

There was so much scope for learning more about how to train a fire mages. But instead the book dwelled on the accommodations and food of the characters.

A disappointment. I thought I’d enjoy it more than Bastion, but I was disappointed. Maybe Lackey is moving away from being my favourite current author. Other writers, such as Juliet Marellia, have published books that I’m longing to read – and perhaps I’d better give their works a closer eye in the future.

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