Tag Archives: 5-stars

Review: John Lauricella – 2094

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2094
John Lauricella
It is 2094, and life has changed for humans all over the planet. The majority of humans are pretty much comatose, and the few on the run are dying out. Others are trapped in cages – and the overload lives on Mars. The question asked by this novel is whether life is worth it, and what people can be happy living with.
If you’re sensitive to mentions of sex, please do be aware that that’s the currency of the majority of the world. There are few scenes that are explicit in a way (I mean, two SexBots having sex), but I’m sure you could skip those parts if you wanted to. For once though, sex is woven into the text, and it’s gratuitous. Rather it’s moving the novel forward, always keeping in mind that sometimes sex doesn’t solve everything.
My initial reaction was ‘Wow. This novel was really something awesome.’ I would strongly recommend it for both personal reading, and as a school text. It’s about time the high school curriculum got a shakeup, and this novel is just the thing to do it. The sex will bother some people, but at the same time, teenagers are growing up a lot faster these days.
For once the genre listings on the back were completely spot-on. It’s ‘fiction, literature and dystopian’. It doesn’t read as a fiction, it reads as if the author has seen into the future, and brought back the true of it. Some others categorise it under sci-fi, which is reasonable enough, but there’s nothing that we couldn’t expect to see in the next couple of years.
The back asks me to ‘suspend my disbelief’ – I barely needed to do that. Given the news in the media at the moment and the way that some human seem to act, it’s likely this is a step towards the future. I guess everyone needs a minion?
What I couldn’t understand was why any humans were kept alive at all. The only ones seeming to reproduce are the Initiates, and even then, it’s a product of genetic manipulation. Why keep trying to survive? That’s a clear question that each person needs to answer for themselves.
Some people have faith, and that enables them to keep strong in the face of ‘Discipline & Punish’. Others have their families, and a strong resistance to being broken up. But the world is a harsh place, and sometimes death is the only way out without losing yourself.
It’s obvious that this book has been created with 1984 in mind, even if you didn’t pick it up from the title. It mirrors some things, such as the failures of human decency, and yet gives the next thought of what Big Brother could be doing.
Get out there, buy a copy, and read this novel.
While getting the novel’s cover from Goodreads, I found this comment from the author:
“Mainly the risk is that the narrative’s interconnectedness goes unperceived. For that reader, the novel is going to seem scattered and random. It should not be possible to misread 2094 in that way, as a haphazard, sprawling farce, but an inattentive reading could cause it. Especially dangerous — to the book, to the reader — is the cursory sort of skim-job practiced by review-writers. Rifling through the book quickly, reading just five or ten pages here and there then skipping, skipping, and moving on, would allow such a reader, particularly one not much interested in the novel’s premise or subject-matter, to form a very wrong impression of how the book works and what it’s trying to do. Add any strong bias to this scenario and the result is probably a disaster. “
I’ve been reading about author/blogger relationships this week, and this is really summing it up for me. I feel slightly put out that it intimates that all review-writers don’t read the book throughly. After I read about the top reviewer on Amazon who reads 30+ novels A DAY I’m not surprised with having that opinion.
Don’t worry John and other authors! I’m not a reviewer like that, and that’s why I tend to have extended wait times for reviews. Peace.

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Review: Brandon Sanderson – The Emperor’s Soul

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The Emperor’s Soul
Brandon Sanderson
Shai is a forger. She is able to make copies of things that are almost as good as the originals. In fact, she is able to make two copies of the original in a fraction of the time it would take a normal person to do it. But everyone sees her as a fraud, and a danger to society because she can only copy. Soon though, they find themselves depending on her.
Shai is a kick-ass heroine. Guts, glory, planning… in the most subtle way possible. Everything Shai does is subtle. She is determined not to be used, and at the same time, she is happy that she gets to do something so unique. Her master forgery is making a soul that will then rule the kingdom. And in fact, she is doing something that no-one else has ever done.
It’s interesting to learn that there are fragments of a life, and then there are specific fragments actually make up the person’s soul. It is the least noticiable things that make a person who he is. That’s what this novella is trying to suggest.
This novella is worth reading more than once, so I would strongly suggest purchasing a copy you can take with you. I think that many of Sanderson’s novels are filled with subtleties that only become apparent after reading more than once.
I have seen other reviewers complaining that Sanderson has an ulterior motive, and writes too much of himself into his novels. For me, that’s the drawcard that makes me want to keep reading. I don’t care where the material came from, just that it is there, and awesome.
I read this novella directly after ‘Legion’, because I have them in the same physical copy. I found that this one overwhelmed my memory of the first, because it was just soooooo good. I only wish it was longer.

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Review: Karelia Stetz-Waters – Something True

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Something True
Karelia Stetz-Waters

Tate is working a dead-end coffee shop job that is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Little does she know that a stranger will come to change everything, and revamp her whole life.

imagesThe relationship between Tate and the beautiful woman develops easily, in a believable pattern that allowed me to appreciate the novel even as I devoured it. For some, it might seem like the sex came too early, but for me, it’s really a reasonable portrayal of how things can happen sometimes.

The sex scenes are treated respectfully and realistically, which can’t be said of many lesbian fictions, which seem to be written for love-struck idiots. Maybe that’s a little unfair, but sex doesn’t have to be earth-shattering and filled with bodily fluids every time!

I didn’t have trouble following all the characters (like I have lately with my wandering concentration), and I felt like all of them actively contributed something to the narrative. The only part I felt a bit off about was Krystal and her dad’s relationship. The rest of the subplots worked seamlessly into the whole though.

This novel is a more adult version of all those novels I love by Julie Anne Peters. It’s a logical step up. It provides guidance for a new generation of lesbians who might come into their powers later. Unfortunately, I felt like the femme/butch dynamic might have been a bit pronounced, but I do admit that people that fit those stereotypes exist.

This novel is set in Portland, which perhaps is disorientating for some people with preconceived notions of how the city should be. For me though, it added to the setting in a powerful way that made the book come alive.

I cannot praise this novel highly enough. I read it all in one guilty work afternoon. I simply couldn’t put it down. The two characters worked so well together, and the finish extremely satisfying. Love, love, love. If I can get my hands on a paperback copy, I will be one very happy reviewer.

5star

Review: Brandon Sanderson – Legion

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Legion
Brandon Sanderson
My name is Stephen Leeds, and I’m perfectly sane. My hallucinations, however, are all quite mad. Steven ‘suffers’ from having multiple, well-informed hallucinations. Using those hallucinations, he is a quite sort after man for scientists and engineers alike.
If I had to put this book in a genre, I’d say Mystery! And I’ve just enjoyed a mystery novel… It’s a fantasy that could logically take place in the real world, and that to me, could even not be a fantasy in the future. I guess that makes it Urban Fiction, with a hint of Mystery…
It’s really fascinating how initially, I accept the hallucinations as normal, and unspectacular, until suddenly, you realize  the advantages of having specialists in each area. Not only can they advise him, they are able to take over his body to protect him.
What I find interesting is the way that the hallucinations interact. That they are all aware of each other, and that they are able to grow and change. I only wish I knew more about all of them. I am sure that each has a backstory that Sanderson has come up with.
As this is a novella, I struggle to say too much about it, just that it was awesome, and amazing, and please go and pick yourself up a copy today. This novella feels like it’s worth reading more than once, just to pick out all the nuances in it. I wish it was full-length book.
My awesome partner bought me this novel for Christmas. She entirely got this choice right! I could not put this novella down, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second in the series.

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Review: Scott Westerfeld – Afterworlds

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Afterworlds
Scott Westerfeld
Darcy has written a novel, a first novel, which took her a single month. She’s been taken on by a publishing company, and now she needs to do the re-writes on the book, and face writer’s block. At the same time, the reader has the story that Darcy is rewriting to read, and be fascinated by.
Afterworlds was a dream to read. I felt equally compelled to read by both stories, and I couldn’t put it down after the first quarter. Although I’ve just said I enjoyed both stories, it was Lizzie’s that counted for me. While Darcy lives it up, Lizzie is really living. Which perhaps is the way this was meant to go and be interpreted.Darcy shows the real story of young authors trying to get a break. Her new friends are doing the same thing. I wish Westerfeld would write Gen’s novel as well. He certainly has the knack for writing a brilliant beginning.

I’ve read other novels by this author, but none recently. I first picked up ‘Uglies’ and it was as good as an intro gets. This novel is more obviously gripping and based in reality. I’d like to say Scott is a pioneer of the dystopian/paranormal, or at least real teen books of interest.

For an author who splits time between Australia and the USA, I’d love to know why he set it in the States. I guess because more people would find Manhattan accessible. I feel like I’ve written a lot about my perspectives on the author, and little about what I felt about the book.

I did love the writing though. Everything! Please go and read it. Something I really enjoyed was how romance seemed to creep up on Darcy inexplicably, when she wasn’t writing. Or perhaps because she was writing.Something that goes with me was what Darcy says about writing. Sit down, and write a couple of pages every day, and at the end of it you’ll have a novel. Isn’t it every writers nightmare to stare at a blank screen?

I received this novel in return for a honest review. All opinions and ideas are my own.

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Review: Jessica Shirvington – Disruption

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Disruption
Jessica Shirvington
Maggie is hunting for her father. She’s been hunting for him since two years ago, when he suddenly became a ‘neg’ and disappeared from their family. As she delves deeper, and involves more people, she realizes that maybe the goal she has been chasing isn’t worth it.Maggie’s a flawed, and therefore fascinating, character. From someone you think must have no feelings (and she professes that she doesn’t feel anything), to someone who begins to grasp the meaning of friendship and not exploiting people.

I wished I could have had some perspective from Gus and Quinnie. Their roles are very important. That being said, they aren’t one-dimensional characters, despite Gus hardly ever even appearing, except on the phone. Then again, this would give away some of the ending!

The pheromone technology that allows the detection of ‘true matches’, people who are perfectly suited to each other, is something that could happen in our own society. The Apple watch is just the beginning of tracking what people are doing the whole time. That makes this a book as close to a believable dystopia as I have come across.

I downloaded this as a talking book, and got through it in around 2 days. The reader was great, and I never had problems telling the different characters apart. I didn’t want to stop listening, and I kept wondering to myself when I could listen to it again.

Towards the end of the novel, I started worrying about the ending. And right I was to worry – this is a duology. The next novel is due out some time before the end of 2014, so I have hope to see it then. I doubt however that it will be available in a talking book immediately.

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Review: James Snyder – Where All The Rivers Run

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Where All the Rivers Run
James Snyder

Connelly is still in hospital, and faces being sent to a state mental hospital for the rest of her life if she doesn’t start talking. Instead, a hopeful doctor sorts through her belongings and finds a letter that Connelly seems to have forgotten.

This final novel in the trilogy is one of hope, and yet despair. Connelly deserves something more from what she was given from age 6, but she must claw and fight her way for it.

It this novel, I felt like I lost touch with Connelly. I no longer knew what she was going on about, and I felt like the painting took her away into her own world. Perhaps that was the aim of the novel, or the aim of the author – you must be truly alone before you can get your way back into the light.

While I was thinking about this novel, I thought about the previous one again. And it occurred to me that none of the menfolk seem very bright. And Bobby and Roxie seem like what they have is dysfunctional. It’s only in this novel that you begin to see some healthier relationships. Even then, no one seems to think of the consequences of their actions.

Connelly is always said to be very beautiful, and she attracts men to her. I wonder though, how pretty is she after all the drugs she went through? And Will, well, he might be a fool for loving her, but at least they have each other.

I really loved the scenic descriptions of the countryside. And the life on the Ranch. Cousin Liz has so much going for her! And a child doesn’t hurt either.The thing with the illegal immegrants seemed backwards to me.

I wish I had looked more closely for where this novel was set. And also when. I don’t know anything about the foster care system that failed Connelly. I would imagine that the Australian system might not be better. So many people fall through the cracks.

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Review: John Marsden – So Much to Tell You

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So Much to Tell You
John Marsden
Marina has been scarred for life, in her interior and on her exterior. She doesn’t talk, at all, any more. She shrinks into walls, and has spent a long time in hospital.
There’s some really nice insights into the way teenagers feel in this novel. Marina wonders at one point why adults seem so confident. And she asks whether they have lessons after they graduate high school! I kinda wish we adults did get that. But it’s all a matter of hard earned experience.
After one of the other novels I had read recently, this short look into family life is relatively beautiful. Marina’s family is dysfunctional, and there’s no remedy for that, but the other families’ lives that she peers into are good.
I like Marina, and at no point did I feel frustrated by the way she was behaving. I understood that there were things going on that she didn’t write about, and at the same time felt ok with that.
A boarding school always sounded good to me, because I thought it would be fun. I think that’s the fault of Enid Blyton and her ‘The Naughtiest Girl in School’ series. This boarding school, from Marina’s perspective, is both Heaven and Hell. After hating it there, she finds that it is helping her more than she knew.
I’d strongly recommend this novel for teenagers. Angsty, but resolute. Tortured, and yet satisfying. I first read it in high school, a little, unoffensive looking book that has so many feelings inside I’m surprised it can stay on the shelf.
I didn’t know until I was looking for images of this book, that it was his debut novel. I think it’s the first novel of his I read, but I could be wrong. The rest of his novels are just as unfinished as this one, with the exception of ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’. By unfinished, I don’t mean not well written. It’s that it is up to the reader to work out what comes next.
I went looking for a PDF copy of the half-sequel, ‘Take My Word for It’, and instead found a fascinating interview/author biography of Marsden. And he has a school! He’s the Principal of Candlebark, just north of Melbourne, Victoria. Just as his books promote independence and resilience in children and teens, his school does also.

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Review: Juliet Marillier – Dreamer’s Pool

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Dreamer’s Pool
Juliet Marillier
Blackthorn and Grim are dying slowly, tortuously, in a dungeon of the foulest ruler of their lands. When Blackthorn is given an unexpected opportunity to change her situation, she finds herself being forced into a life-path she never expected to take.
With two highly flawed protagonists and a raw, gritty storyline, this new offering from Marillier is suited to the young adult and adult readers. It was a fresh breath of air in the other more childish novels I have been reading lately. Just what I wanted.
I empathized strongly with Blackthorn, although others might find her prickly personality off putting. Her life circumstances seem quite unique, but only in that she is not afraid of stating her opinion (or dying by it). Her role as the healer of the town reminded me of the Owlflight novels by Mercedes Lackey, and the empathetic healer in that.
The ending came as a surprise. Why did no-one ever consider the number of people in each pool incident? The build up of information, if you weren’t familiar with storytale endings, would lead the reader onwards. There’s also some coy links with her other novels, including the Sevenwaters series (one of the first reviews I ever wrote – be gentle!).
I loved that there was more than one climax. Although we all wondered about the Prince’s happiness, it was good to see Blackthorn still defending others and taking her own path. And Grim defending others at the same time as protecting Blackthorn (which he has decided is his goal in life).
I wish I knew more about Grim. In fact, I’m pretty sure everyone will want to know about Grim, whether they are a character in the same book, or someone reading it! He’s such a dark persona, and although his perspective is provided intermittently, it’s not really clear what is going on inside his head.
I read the first part of this book, and really regretted having to put it down. When I got a couple of free hours, I polished it off and was devastated that I had finished it so quickly. Thank goodness there are two more books planned in this series. I don’t know what they will cover, as surely nothing more can happen in this tiny community?!? I look forward to reading them soon, as Marillier often has a good publishing schedule going on.
I was provided this book in return for a honest review. I would have bought the book regardless of whether it had been provided, because I love this author’s works on their own standing. It will be released to the general public in Australia on 1st October 2014.

UPDATE: I have been informed that there is an Audible copy of Dreamer’s Pool. I’ve gotten pretty excited about talking books in the past, and this one is no exception. Here’s a link to the SoundCloud preview.

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Review: James Snyder – Into the Abyss

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Into the Abyss
James Snyder

Connelly’s life has taken a turn for the better. For once, she is wanted (despite ending up in a bad place once again to get there), and her foster parents seem great. But slowly, slowly, everything falls apart again, and she is left on the streets.

This middle novel in the series (The Beautiful-Ugly Trilogy)

stomps on your heart in the same way the first one tore it. It was painful to read, and yet just as painful to put it down, not knowing what would happen next.

Those brief moments when Connelly feels like she has a family you want to celebrate with her, but also understand her reservedness. Her inability to keep things together after that however, is kinda annoying. She says she knows how to say no, how to just observe, but she can’t help spoiling what she has.

I find it hard to reconcile Connelly dropping drugs so quickly with the rate at which she moved into them. She’s into some hard things, it’s easy for her to go deeper in than to come out. Yet when she has a change of scenery, she feels those changes strongly enough that they take the joy or ignorant bliss of drugs from her.

The gang head is friendly than the average Joe on the street! If it’s true, the way New York is portrayed here, I never want to go there. Sure, Connelly isn’t very good at picking friends, but she doesn’t have much experience.

Something that disturbed me was the way that Snyer basically made every male in Connelly’s life a predator or a hindrance. In the end, even the question to find her brother was answered in this way. In fact, I’m not sure there are any wholly positive influences, apart from that art teacher a long time ago. The women are equally dysfunctional as the men, and it’s a hard, cruel world out there for everyone.

This is a gritty novel, even more so than the first one. The ending fits in with the beginning, and smoothly transitions into the next novel, so if you’ve got them, make sure you take them all with you to your reading spot.

Trigger warnings for drug use, rape, sexual content, suicide and swearing. Definitely a young adult novel, not teenage fiction.

I requested this trilogy directly from the author, and was lucky enough to receive all of them at once. I’m really glad I did, as these were really enjoyable, if emotionally difficult to read.

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