Book Reviews Archive - Page 57 of 79

The Maze Runner by James Dashner: Book Review

Thomas suddenly awakes in a box as a group of other teenage boys looks down at him, calling him unfathomable names like "shank" and "greenie." He has no idea how he got there or where he came from. All he remembers from his past is his name. He eventually learns that this group of 50-60 boys live in the heart of a maze. They've been looking for a way out for years and haven't found it yet. They must return to the Glade every night, or else they'll be locked out and left for the Grievers. Thomas starts to have a feeling that he knows more about the maze than he first thought. Turns out he's right. Eh. Ya know, dystopian novels are just not my thing, yet I keep trying. At what point do I give up? Is it good that I keep trying or is it a waste of my time? I just don't know. My problem with this book was that absolutely no one would tell Thomas what was going on. Granted, they don't know a whole lot about what's going on either, but someone could at least say, as soon as they get him out of the box, "Look, dude. You're in the middle of a gigantic maze. None of us knows how we got here. None of us remembers anything before waking up in that box. We get supplies weekly. Don't get caught outside the Glade after dark because these horrible monsters that we call Grievers will kill you. Yes, we've been looking for a way out but we haven't found it yet. Any questions?" Instead it's just a whole lot of, "Shut up with the questions! We'll explain tomorrow." And then, when tomorrow comes, it's "Shut up with the questions! I'll get to that…

Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund: Book Review

What I knew about Marie Antoinette before reading this book (spoilers ahead if you don't know anything at all about her): She was married to Louis XVI, she said "Let them eat cake," she was queen during the French Revolution, and (possible spoiler here)-------------------------she was beheaded. That was it. Three out of four isn't bad. She never actually said "Let them eat cake." According to the author, it was the wife of Louis XIV, two generations earlier, who said that. So, if you ever win tons of money on Jeopardy for knowing the correct question to this answer, I expect a small slice of the pie for enlightening you on that point. :-) Okay, seriously, I'm avoiding writing this review, because I'm not going to do the book justice. The whole appeal is how Marie Antoinette just came to life in these pages for me. So she was a real person--it's hard to make characters seem this real, whether they're historical figures or not. In fact, it might be harder when most people just have a vision of a thoughtless queen who wasted money while her people starved. But she was so complex, I just can't even begin to spell it out. I didn't always like her, but she was always real, and I could see how some of what happened was her fault, but some things were beyond her control. I got to the last section, during the revolution, and found myself wanting to drag my feet through it and avoid the unavoidable. But I wanted to see exactly what happened, and Sena Jeter Naslund's writing style is just beautiful to me, so I found myself actually racing through it. And she handled the ending beautifully. I should never have doubted her. The wild emotions going through Marie Antoinette,…

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand: Book Review

Seabiscuit. An American Legend. I think the only reason I even know the horse's name is because of the movie they filmed a few years ago. I'm obviously not a horse-racing fan, right? I don't even remember why I grabbed this at a library book sale. A friend here on GR must have given it a good review. But I am so glad I read this. I've gotten much better about reading non-fiction over the past six months, but I was amazed at what a page-turner this was for me. I've been reading non-fiction before bed, thinking that would be a good time to squeeze it in because I wouldn't have to worry too much about getting caught up in the story and staying up all night. Bad move with this book. I was doing the "one more chapter" thing quite a bit. It was just a perfect mix of an underdog story and excellent writing. Hillenbrand has a gift for putting you right into the action. Not knowing if Seabiscuit was going to win or lose any given race, my stomach would knot up and I would start reading faster as he came out of the gates. I was worried about injuries. I was furious with jockeys whom I thought were cheating. My heart pounded as Seabiscuit came down the home stretch and I read ahead to find out if he pulled it off this time. What the heck has happened to me?!? Where did the woman who thought "Non-fiction is boring" go? This horse and his team are truly all-American legends. It seems that we love underdog stories and Seabiscuit, owner Charles Howard, trainer Tom Smith, and jockey Red Pollard were all underdogs at some point. Reading about their struggles and triumphs and, yes, even failures, was inspiring.…

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott: Book Review

Josh and Sophie Newman have settled into a summer in San Francisco, living with their elderly aunt as their parents work an archaeological dig, and working summer jobs to save up for a car. But one day, a very sinister man pays a visit to the bookshop where Josh is working. The man appears to be some kind of wizard and he attacks the owner of the bookshop, who fights back--with more magic. What is going on here? The bad guy gets away with a book that seems to be valuable, but not before Josh manages to tear a few pages out. The bookshop owner turns out to be the infamous alchemist, Nicholas Flamel. He lived about 600 years ago. Turns out he and his wife, Perrenelle, are immortal, and their self-imposed task was to keep the stolen book safe. In the wrong hands, the book could lead to the end of humanity. Saying that the children aren't safe now that the evil wizard knows about them, Flamel takes them with him as he sets out to get the book back. This was good, it really was, there just wasn't anything that made it a stand out for me. I did like Scathach a lot and wish she'd had a bigger part. Hecate (spelling? I listened) intrigued me, and I loved her part of the world. The twins were a little boring. They were pretty generic teenagers. I saw the drama between them coming from miles away. Flamel--eh. There was supposed to be more to him than meets the eye, but he seemed to be pretty straightforward to me. I would have liked to have seen more of Perrenelle as well. Hmm. I think I would have liked a more female-centric storyline, now that I look back at this! The…

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar: Book Review

Heather and Morag are two punkish thistle fairies on the run from Scotland. Unfortunately, in a drunken stupor, they seem to have stumbled onto a jet bound for New York. Heather and Morag try to acclimate to the huge city, along with the help of their friend Kerry and the ever-reluctant Dinny. Heather and Morag and the other fairies set about trying to improve the lives of everyone around them, because that's what good fairies do, and in the process manage to get what seems like the entire underground population of New York upset with them and each other. I was hugely enjoying myself through the first half of the book. The plot was different, there were fairies, the story was funny, and did I mention that there were fairies? But then it just got to be too much. The story turned into a farce. That's really just not my kind of thing. Everybody was mad at everybody else, except for the ones that Heather and Morag had apologized too, but then even those would get upset again, and it was just too much to keep up with. I liked the idea, it just got old. And there's this whole underlying storyline about redemption. Normally, I'm a sucker for redemption stories. But this one just wasn't really believable for me. I know, I'm talking about believable in a story in which the two main characters are fairies, but there you go. Readers who enjoy farces will probably like this one. Readers who love fairies might or might not like it, but it is a different take on fairies. Reviewed September 20, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author Martin Millar on his website, his blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Buy The Good Fairies of New York at Malaprop’s | Better World Books…

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan: Book Review

It's show time. The battle between the Olympians and the Titans, thousands of years in the making, is finally here. Kronos has had ample time to prepare his plans while Zeus and company have been having their own quarrels and parties. He strikes at multiple fronts, almost simultaneously, and no one knows what his true objective is. Percy knows that it can only be Olympus, the seat of the gods' powers. No one will really listen to him though, so it falls to the Half-Bloods to guard Olympus against the worst that Kronos can throw at them. This book takes a decidedly darker turn than the others. It begins with a death and doesn't get much brighter from there. That's not to say that it's depressing, exactly, but it's definitely more serious. The campers are injured and killed right and left and it seems that there's no possible way they can withstand Kronos. Percy himself makes a choice near the beginning that had me worried for him throughout the book. This move didn't work out so well in classical mythology, so I was worried about its impact on Percy as well. Annabeth is still insanely jealous, but she's doing her best to move past it and support Percy. And she's just Annabeth with all her mad skillz and plans. Love. Her. But, while I'm talking about them, they definitely felt older than 14 or so. Maybe Harry Potter conditioned me to think that the last book should be about 18-year-olds, but everyone feels a little too grown up and mature and serious. I never read series books back-to-back because I tend to get a little sick of the characters, and the small explanations of what went on in earlier books drive me crazy because they feel repetitious. I made an…

Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint: Book Review

"Every time it rains a ghost comes walking." Dreams Underfoot introduced readers to de Lint's fictional city of Newford. Magic is on the streets of Newford if you just know where to look for it. It's usually in the most unexpected places. Man, I love the Newford books. This book started my re-read of them all in order. They aren't really a series, so I've skipped around, reading them as I find them, but I'm curious to see my favorite characters grow in a more natural progression. I really don't remember what order I read these in initially, but this was definitely one of the first. There are some true gems in here. I'm going to pull most of this review straight from my GoodReads status updates. Uncle Dobbin's Parrot Fair--"Jilly, Christy, Professor Dapple, Goon, and even a crow (not a Crow Girl, mind you, but a crow nevertheless)--I don't love this first story but de Lint laid one hell of a foundation for Newford here." The Stone Drum--"Liked Stone Drum, although it reminded me how curious I am about the Kelledys. I wonder if there is a book about them that I haven't read yet? Would be nice to know their backstory in full. And Goon's a skookin. I've been thinking of him as a goblin because I couldn't remember the right name." Timeskip--"Starting Timeskip! I remember it as my favorite of de Lint's stories. I hope it holds up. With an opening sentence of "Every time it rains a ghost comes walking," it is off to the perfect start....Such a perfect, bittersweet story. So important to "Geordie, me lad"'s story arc. Love. It." "Freewheeling is too sad for me. I probably shouldn't see it that way but I do." That Explains Poland--"A fun yet thoughtful story. It is…

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny: Book Review

This is a tough book to summarize. Let’s just say that Mr. Corey wakes up with amnesia after a nasty car crash and sets out to recover his memory and then to take back what he sees as his. Starting this was a leap of faith. Corey tells the story and since he doesn’t know anything about what’s going on, neither do we. He’s confused, we’re confused, and I for one was left wondering if it was worth the effort to continue on. Luckily, I decided that since I’d heard so many good things about this author and since the book was only about 150 pages, I really had nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain. Once I got going with the story and started getting tantalizing pieces about the story behind the story, I was hooked. Even after finishing, I have some questions, but I know that this series has to be worth the ride. I love Zelazny’s writing. He has a unique voice and some of his descriptions were incredibly original. Of course I didn’t do anything useful like mark them, but here’s one I did find again: “his skin was as porous as an orange rind and the elements had darkened it to resemble a fine old piece of furniture.” Can’t you just picture this guy’s skin? As much as I liked it, there were a couple of things I didn’t care for. There’s a big old deus ex machina at the end. (Here’s hoping I got hold of the correct phrase) Maybe it will tie in later, but right now it just felt like an easy way out after he had painted himself into a corner. This isn’t really anything to do with the story, but my copy is chock-full of typos. It’s easy…

Plant Life by Pamela Duncan: Book Review

Laurel Granger lived for her husband, Scott, then he left her for another woman. Depressed, rootless, and alone in Vegas, Laurel decides to head back home to Russell, North Carolina. Without telling her parents what happened, she moves in with them. Well, it becomes obvious that Laurel isn't going back to Vegas and she needs a job. The only place that will hire her is the plant (factory) where her mother has worked for umpteen years. Laurel isn't happy to be going to work there, but at least it's a desk job. She finds herself a part of a group of women who have been friends and helped and hated each other for years. With their help, she starts to finally heal and move on. I had never even heard of author Pamela Duncan until I saw her speak at a book festival I attended last year. I loved her. I agreed with everything she said and felt like she could be me talking. Plus, Lee Smith, who wrote one of my favorite books ever, was her teacher. I bought all three of Ms. Duncan's books, had her sign them, and actually had a delightful, short conversation with her. (Me at most signings: "How are you? My name is Jennifer. Yes, it's spelled the normal way. Thank you.") I couldn't really justify buying three books for myself, so I gave this one to my mom. She has worked in a plant for about as long as I remember. I need to ask her more about what she thought of it, but from the outside looking in, this book looked like it was spot on. My mom has spoken of the same women for years and years. They mostly love each other. Some days, they do get on each other's nerves.…

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland: Book Review

At the tender age of 12, Polly Madassa has discovered Jane Austen and fallen hopelessly in love. Convinced that she's an Austen heroine born in the wrong time, Polly walks around her modern town speaking in Austen's flowery prose. She's only read Pride and Prejudice, and so has not learned Emma's lesson about meddling. Polly goes about delivering baked goods from her family's bakery and trying to spread happiness and love among her neighbors by matchmaking. Of course, as we all know, the course of true love is never smooth, and neither is this summer an easy one for Polly. A-dor-a-ble. That's all there really is to say about this. It's nothing terribly original for an older Austenite, but it's cute for the younger set. Polly is well-intentioned if misguided, and more than a few of us can probably relate to her. Who wouldn't be upset if her older sister neglected her for a boring boy? It's much better to set her up with the new boy in town who is not only handsome but also has a British accent! Right? Polly is an Emma, and so it was a little hard to feel sorry for her when everything comes crashing down on her, but she's plucky and she's a reader. This will be perfect for girls who might be a little too romantic for their own good. Moms will probably enjoy reading it with them. Find author Lindsay Eland on her website, her blog, and Twitter. Buy Scones and Sensibility at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.