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patchworkbunny's Reviews (2.12k)
Allie lives on the fringe in a vampire city. Disease has wiped out millions of human lives and people have been forced under the so-called protection of the vampires. Outside city walls lurk the terrifying rabids, who will tear you apart just because you breathe. Allie doesn't want to be controlled by the soulless beings she holds responsible for her mother's death, so she lives as part of a gang on the edge, where each day is a struggle to find food and stay safe.
When food is at an all time low, Allie goes scavenging in the ruins outside the city. It's risky but the rabids don't come out during the day and she finds something that makes her go back for her gang. Yet when tragedy strikes she is forced to make a decision that changes everything. She can die or become the very thing she hates: a vampire.
At over 500 pages it's quite an epic and descriptive read yet thoroughly absorbing. It manages to combines two very popular sub-genres, vamps and dystopia without become cliched or silly. I love the world that Allie lives in. The city made me think of the world in Dark Angel. Nothing is pretty or easy, instead it is dark and savage and doesn't become predictable. The rabids are genuinely scary creatures and it's not one to read whilst eating!
The central concept is whether or not Allie has to give in to her desires or if she can choose the being she wants to be and overcome her nature. Her life has always been lonely but everything becomes harder for her and she needs to face up to reality. There's no silly, swooning romance and relationships are incredibly difficult things for her to cope with now that she sees humans as food.
I fear the generic cover design will put some readers off. It is not another teen vampire book, if it hadn't been published by a young adult imprint, I'd have filed it away as adult urban fantasy. Yes the protagonist is young, but she has been in a situation where she has been forced to grow up. I suppose her coming to terms with her new state could be considered a YA theme but still, I urge those of you about to judge this book by its cover to think again. If anything, fans of vamp love stories might be more disappointed in the end.
Julie also knows how to finish an instalment of a trilogy properly. The ending at least concludes one story but there are enough threads to keep you wanting the next one. I really wanted to know what was going on in the city that Allie left behind. I feel assured that it will be covered in book two which I will definitely be reading.
When food is at an all time low, Allie goes scavenging in the ruins outside the city. It's risky but the rabids don't come out during the day and she finds something that makes her go back for her gang. Yet when tragedy strikes she is forced to make a decision that changes everything. She can die or become the very thing she hates: a vampire.
At over 500 pages it's quite an epic and descriptive read yet thoroughly absorbing. It manages to combines two very popular sub-genres, vamps and dystopia without become cliched or silly. I love the world that Allie lives in. The city made me think of the world in Dark Angel. Nothing is pretty or easy, instead it is dark and savage and doesn't become predictable. The rabids are genuinely scary creatures and it's not one to read whilst eating!
The central concept is whether or not Allie has to give in to her desires or if she can choose the being she wants to be and overcome her nature. Her life has always been lonely but everything becomes harder for her and she needs to face up to reality. There's no silly, swooning romance and relationships are incredibly difficult things for her to cope with now that she sees humans as food.
I fear the generic cover design will put some readers off. It is not another teen vampire book, if it hadn't been published by a young adult imprint, I'd have filed it away as adult urban fantasy. Yes the protagonist is young, but she has been in a situation where she has been forced to grow up. I suppose her coming to terms with her new state could be considered a YA theme but still, I urge those of you about to judge this book by its cover to think again. If anything, fans of vamp love stories might be more disappointed in the end.
Julie also knows how to finish an instalment of a trilogy properly. The ending at least concludes one story but there are enough threads to keep you wanting the next one. I really wanted to know what was going on in the city that Allie left behind. I feel assured that it will be covered in book two which I will definitely be reading.
In 1830, Reverend Neil Mckenzie and his young wife, Lizzie, make their way to the remote island of St Kilda to start a new life and bring Christianity to the Pagan inhabitants.
Poor, poor Lizzie. She is an English speaker on an island where everyone speaks Gaelic, except her husband, who is more interested in saving souls than keeping his wife company. It must have been an incredibly lonely life for her in the early days, isolated from the rest of the world. The infant mortality rate on the island was shockingly high and Lizzie suffers along with the other women, finding a bond amongst tragedy. Whilst based in fact, and the personal aspect of Island of Wings is fictional, it is not difficult to imagine this would have been the case.
The history books may have Mackenzie down as a man who brought civilised ways to St Kilda but Altenberg rewrites him as a man obsessed with religion, blind to the needs of those around him and zealous with the desire to turn the islanders to Christianity. The islanders themselves, seem rather tolerant of the missionary but it doesn't work both ways and I found myself feeling anger towards him. It may have been normal for the day, but the idea of forcing religion on people is awful and he comes across as quite oppressive. He is too worried what other people may think of him and some of the thoughts he has about his wife are unforgivable. He even treats his children with coldness.
The writing is evocative of the landscape with its beauty and its harshness. It is indeed an island of many wings, with birds playing a crucial role in both their survival and their superstitions. I found the history of the island and how they coped fascinating. I recently read of the guga culls of modern day Lewis in Peter May's The Black House and it was interesting to see the origin of the custom. The harvest of seabirds was essential to survival, with food being scarce and no regular supplies brought in from the mainland.
In the end, St Kilda was not a viable place to live and the island is now uninhabited, although the native sheep still roam the hillsides. Read for the descriptions and the history, especially if you have an interest in the evolution of religion in the Highlands and Islands. The plot isn't particularly strong, being based on historical events on an island where not much happens but there is a strong human element to it.
Poor, poor Lizzie. She is an English speaker on an island where everyone speaks Gaelic, except her husband, who is more interested in saving souls than keeping his wife company. It must have been an incredibly lonely life for her in the early days, isolated from the rest of the world. The infant mortality rate on the island was shockingly high and Lizzie suffers along with the other women, finding a bond amongst tragedy. Whilst based in fact, and the personal aspect of Island of Wings is fictional, it is not difficult to imagine this would have been the case.
The history books may have Mackenzie down as a man who brought civilised ways to St Kilda but Altenberg rewrites him as a man obsessed with religion, blind to the needs of those around him and zealous with the desire to turn the islanders to Christianity. The islanders themselves, seem rather tolerant of the missionary but it doesn't work both ways and I found myself feeling anger towards him. It may have been normal for the day, but the idea of forcing religion on people is awful and he comes across as quite oppressive. He is too worried what other people may think of him and some of the thoughts he has about his wife are unforgivable. He even treats his children with coldness.
The writing is evocative of the landscape with its beauty and its harshness. It is indeed an island of many wings, with birds playing a crucial role in both their survival and their superstitions. I found the history of the island and how they coped fascinating. I recently read of the guga culls of modern day Lewis in Peter May's The Black House and it was interesting to see the origin of the custom. The harvest of seabirds was essential to survival, with food being scarce and no regular supplies brought in from the mainland.
In the end, St Kilda was not a viable place to live and the island is now uninhabited, although the native sheep still roam the hillsides. Read for the descriptions and the history, especially if you have an interest in the evolution of religion in the Highlands and Islands. The plot isn't particularly strong, being based on historical events on an island where not much happens but there is a strong human element to it.
There was a girl struggling with the door of a cab and her packages. And I don't know why, but I asked if I could help. And she smiled at me. This incredible smile. And suddenly I felt all manly and confident, like a handyman who knows just which nail to buy, and now I'm holding some of her bags, and she's saying "thank you" and then...there's that moment. And it felt like a beginning. But the cabbie was impatient and I suppose we were just too British to say anything else...
Jason Priestly (no, not that one) is left standing on the corner of Charlotte Street holding a disposable camera. The Girl has left it behind but it's too late to hand it back and he doesn't know who she is. His flatmate and best mate, Dev, thinks they should get the film developed and look for clues to her identity. Jason thinks they're bordering on stalking. Yet, there's a link, a tenuous one at best, and they team up with ex-pupil, Matt, to uncover the pattern in the photos.
Jason's had a rough time of things lately. The prologue is rather dark and may leave you feeling, just for a moment, that this isn't the humorous book you were expecting. Whilst it does have its serious side, it's full of Danny's trademark, charming humour. Just like the funny parts are funny because they are grounded in reality, the characters are incredibly real and that includes their faults. Humour can often be a mask to hide behind.
It's one of those books that captures the current day of normal people like you and me. They may get a bit drunk and say stupid things on Facebook when their ex is happy and engaged. They might create fantasies out of people they bump into on the street and may never see again. Yet there's that hope that they might. They might not be all that great at their jobs but muddle through anyway. There's a hint of recession but nothing overwhelming to the plot, just enough to place it in the now.
“You have twelve exposures,” he said. “Twelve moments to capture. It's finite. So every time you capture one in that little box, you've got one less to spare. By the time you get to that last one, you better be sure that moment is special, because what if the next one comes along and you've got to let it go?”
What a terrible thing, I thought, to let a moment go.
“With a disposable, you want to complete your little story. End of an ending. Or a new beginning. A dot-dot-dot to take you to the next roll.”
As a photographer who has moved from film to digital, I loved the little photography metaphors. Photographs have become so less special in the digital age, yet there are still thousands who love that finite quality of a roll of film. I also love how the story of The Girl unravels through the photographs.
Danny's first foray into fiction has been a huge success. I did at times picture Jason as Danny himself, which is difficult when a writer has done so much autobiographical writing, yet as the story develops Jason becomes his own person. The characterisation is spot on and I just wanted to keep reading about their lives, but alas, all good things must come to an end.
Biscuit lives with his Gram and his cousin L.A. In Oak Cliff, Texas. He supposedly has inherited the Sight and gets flashes of visions or disturbing dreams. The summer he and L.A. Discover the body of a teenage girl, he realises he has been seeing her at his bedside. The girl had clearly been tortured and the community is on tenterhooks as the summer heat increases.
It takes a long time for anything to really happen. There are quite a lot of characters in Biscuit's extended family to be introduced and I never felt like they were clearly distinguished in my mind. The relationship between the two cousins is awkward and I'm not sure if it's set in a time and place where it would be acceptable for them to be more than friends. Whilst Biscuit does have a girlfriend, Diana, he seems slightly obsessed with L.A. and there are moments when you doubt his narration.
The pace picks up in the second half, after the body is discovered, some of the seemingly unconnected anecdotes from the first half start making more sense. Yet it is a book that many would put down before then. It's too unstructured to draw you in and the characters aren't going to enamour you from the get go. Tom Wright is a clinical psychotherapist and the book shares some similarities with The Sweetness of Life, but in a less depressing tone. Everyone's a bit messed up and everyone has their dramas. In a way, it's also a bit like an episode of a soap, just a bit too much going on to be believable.
His so-called Sight isn't really explored much. He has flashes of something being wrong and dreams of the murdered girls but that's about it.
There are plenty of passages that were engaging despite the overall novel not gelling for me. There's a tense moment where they meet a mother bear, which is somehow more frightening than a potential serial killer on the loose. It's a first novel and if only the writing of the bear scene could be transferred to the criminal aspect, it would have been gripping. I would certainly give him another go if his second book sounded different enough.
It takes a long time for anything to really happen. There are quite a lot of characters in Biscuit's extended family to be introduced and I never felt like they were clearly distinguished in my mind. The relationship between the two cousins is awkward and I'm not sure if it's set in a time and place where it would be acceptable for them to be more than friends. Whilst Biscuit does have a girlfriend, Diana, he seems slightly obsessed with L.A. and there are moments when you doubt his narration.
The pace picks up in the second half, after the body is discovered, some of the seemingly unconnected anecdotes from the first half start making more sense. Yet it is a book that many would put down before then. It's too unstructured to draw you in and the characters aren't going to enamour you from the get go. Tom Wright is a clinical psychotherapist and the book shares some similarities with The Sweetness of Life, but in a less depressing tone. Everyone's a bit messed up and everyone has their dramas. In a way, it's also a bit like an episode of a soap, just a bit too much going on to be believable.
His so-called Sight isn't really explored much. He has flashes of something being wrong and dreams of the murdered girls but that's about it.
There are plenty of passages that were engaging despite the overall novel not gelling for me. There's a tense moment where they meet a mother bear, which is somehow more frightening than a potential serial killer on the loose. It's a first novel and if only the writing of the bear scene could be transferred to the criminal aspect, it would have been gripping. I would certainly give him another go if his second book sounded different enough.
This is the 12th, and penultimate, book in the Sookie Stackhouse series so this review may contain spoilers for previous books.
For those of you worried that the Sookie series had fizzled out before its finale, fear not, it has got back on track with Deadlocked. They started out as mysteries with a supernatural element and poor Sookie would always end up at the centre of a very big mess. So it's good to see it returning to that formula. This time, a woman is murdered on Eric's lawn during an unwanted house party. Her blood had traces of fairy in it and it would seem someone was trying to frame Eric or at least make Sookie mad.
For me, reading the Sookie books is like revisiting old friends. The series is coming to a close and it's nice to see the minor characters getting their lives sorted, even if Sookie is still as confused as ever. There are lots of lovely little every day things going on on Bon Temps amongst the supernatural chaos.
The cluviel dor gets mentioned a bit too much, whether or not she could keep it with her, whether she should use it and what for. In Dead Reckoning, it was revealed that it will grant one wish in the name of love and that point is hammered home repeatedly. Yes, it's first person narrative, and it was playing on Sookie's mind but her thoughts were a little repetitive and made it a little bit obvious that something was going to happen with it.
Eric's gone back to being his uncommunicative self and Sookie is frustrated. Knowing why the victim was at the party might help her understand what's going on in her boyfriend's head. We don't get to see a whole lot of Eric in this story, which may disappoint some fans, but it sets the scene for the final instalment which will be much anticipated.
“And I suppose, as usual, Bill will want to express his undying love that surpasses my love, as he'll tell you – and Pam will want to say something sarcastic and nearly painful, while reminding you that she loves you, too.”
For those of you worried that the Sookie series had fizzled out before its finale, fear not, it has got back on track with Deadlocked. They started out as mysteries with a supernatural element and poor Sookie would always end up at the centre of a very big mess. So it's good to see it returning to that formula. This time, a woman is murdered on Eric's lawn during an unwanted house party. Her blood had traces of fairy in it and it would seem someone was trying to frame Eric or at least make Sookie mad.
For me, reading the Sookie books is like revisiting old friends. The series is coming to a close and it's nice to see the minor characters getting their lives sorted, even if Sookie is still as confused as ever. There are lots of lovely little every day things going on on Bon Temps amongst the supernatural chaos.
The cluviel dor gets mentioned a bit too much, whether or not she could keep it with her, whether she should use it and what for. In Dead Reckoning, it was revealed that it will grant one wish in the name of love and that point is hammered home repeatedly. Yes, it's first person narrative, and it was playing on Sookie's mind but her thoughts were a little repetitive and made it a little bit obvious that something was going to happen with it.
Eric's gone back to being his uncommunicative self and Sookie is frustrated. Knowing why the victim was at the party might help her understand what's going on in her boyfriend's head. We don't get to see a whole lot of Eric in this story, which may disappoint some fans, but it sets the scene for the final instalment which will be much anticipated.
How to make the world divide into three camps over a single hour: make them pick between science, fantasy and religion. Give them a situation, a hypothetical situation, then give them three possible reasons for it happening – could be aliens, could be God, could be something we made ourselves and just haven't worked out yet – and ask them to choose.
First there was static, heard in every corner of the world. Some shrugged it off as a malfunction, governments were concerned it was the sign of an attack and, of course, some people were convinced it was aliens. Then there came a voice. “My children. Do not be afraid.” Is it the voice of God or an elaborate hoax? If it is God, then whose God is it? Is it an act of terrorism?
The Testimony tells the story of the world in chaos, through the accounts of twenty-six people, in the style of an oral history. The Broadcast is a global event, effecting all countries and people with wide-ranging beliefs. How many times have you read a disaster/dystopian novel and wondered what the hell is happening in the rest of the world? Well, The Testimony cannot be accused of falling into that trap. Yes there are characters at the centre of the commotion, the White House Chief of Staff, a British MP, a government research scientist, and a reporter at a major TV station. Yet there are also the tales of everyday people, a sales executive in London, a doctor in India, a child old beyond his years in the Congo, a retired woman in New York, a gamer in Shanghai, a nun in Vatican City, a drug dealer in Johannesburg. Then there's the people who didn't hear a thing.
The book starts with a quote: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Well it's actually two quotes, one from Dr Carl Sagan on the existence of deities or aliens and the other from Donald Rumsfeld talking about weapons of mass destruction. It's the ideal quote for the book, which deals with questions of faith and what world powers do when they don't have any answers. The multiple viewpoints allows the story to unfold without being anti-religion or anti-science. In fact it's about faith and the faith that people have in different things and that includes science and a government's ability to protect. Some people lose faith, some people gain it, whatever that faith might be in. Some are so strong in their faith that it never wavers, despite those holding up The Broadcast as evidence. A crisis of faith is enough to bring the world to its knees.
Some might think the divided narration could detract from the pace or the character development but it's a compelling read. The structure somehow makes the characters more real, that it could be journalism and not fiction. They all have their own little stories which are just as important as the big picture and I never wanted to skip past one of them. There are parts which are touching and others even gave me a little chuckle. I mean, if you can't laugh when the world is ending, what else can you do?
There's a whole bunch of stuff I would like to talk about which would involve spoilers so I'll stop now. You should go away and read it and then we can have a little chat. It's thought-provoking stuff with terrorism and politics landing in the middle of religion and science.
Alina is an orphan, under the care of Duke Keramsov, when the Grisha first come to test her and her only friend, Mal. Neither of them show any signs of the small science that make the Grisha so powerful so they are left alone, to join a life in the King's army. The once-great nation of Ravka is battling the Shadow Fold, a barren land bereft of light. Within the darkness are creatures that will rip you apart, the volcra. When their regiment has to pass through the Shadow Fold, Mal is attacked and Alina throws herself in the path of a volcra. Only something amazing happens. Could Alina have powers of the Grisha, dormant for so many years? And is she the key to saving Ravka from the darkness?
As someone who doesn't read a lot of high fantasy (that's the stuff set in other worlds), I often have difficulty getting to grips with a new world, especially all the made up words. I felt this way for the first few chapters of The Gathering Dark but soon started to get into the world of the Grisha. They don't think of it as magic however, more science but there wasn't enough to back this up. I would have liked to have seen more on this, but as it's the first in a trilogy, there is likely to be more on its way.
There are three types of Grisha; the Corporalki who have power over blood, the Etherealki who have power over the elements and the Materialki who have power over solid things such as metal. They all in turn, are lead by the Darkling who has power over darkness and is both feared and respected. The peasants think the Grisha are witches yet they form the second army, using their powers to back up the first army of the King.
The plot, at first, seems to be rather cliched. Orphan girl suddenly finds she's has magical powers and goes to live in a wonderful palace yet doesn't quite fit in. Yet somewhere along the way, it evolves and becomes a gripping fantasy adventure. There's even a villain that keeps you wanting to see the good in him. I still have hope, although I think younger readers will see it more in black and white.
My criticism is that it skims the surface of too many things. The mythology of the Grisha, the world within the Shadow Fold, the relationships. There's a lot going on but feels like it's been edited down to fit into a length acceptable for the young adult market. I would certainly read the second instalment, The Shadow Fold when it's available, as my curiosity has been piqued.
As someone who doesn't read a lot of high fantasy (that's the stuff set in other worlds), I often have difficulty getting to grips with a new world, especially all the made up words. I felt this way for the first few chapters of The Gathering Dark but soon started to get into the world of the Grisha. They don't think of it as magic however, more science but there wasn't enough to back this up. I would have liked to have seen more on this, but as it's the first in a trilogy, there is likely to be more on its way.
There are three types of Grisha; the Corporalki who have power over blood, the Etherealki who have power over the elements and the Materialki who have power over solid things such as metal. They all in turn, are lead by the Darkling who has power over darkness and is both feared and respected. The peasants think the Grisha are witches yet they form the second army, using their powers to back up the first army of the King.
The plot, at first, seems to be rather cliched. Orphan girl suddenly finds she's has magical powers and goes to live in a wonderful palace yet doesn't quite fit in. Yet somewhere along the way, it evolves and becomes a gripping fantasy adventure. There's even a villain that keeps you wanting to see the good in him. I still have hope, although I think younger readers will see it more in black and white.
My criticism is that it skims the surface of too many things. The mythology of the Grisha, the world within the Shadow Fold, the relationships. There's a lot going on but feels like it's been edited down to fit into a length acceptable for the young adult market. I would certainly read the second instalment, The Shadow Fold when it's available, as my curiosity has been piqued.
Carnage is a short novella at 111 pages yet it packs some punch. It covers a series of high school shootings in New York and the investigation from the point of view of Lieutenant Lamar Gallineo. The first few pages cover the massacre and are quite brutal, but then this is honest to the subject matter. Not one for the faint hearted but it's a great way to spend an hour or two as the pace is fast. Think of it as an episode of CSI rather than a feature film, there's just enough to entertain without getting bogged down in details.
The prince of Illea needs a wife. Tradition states the king and queen must hold The Selection, a televised event in which 35 girls are whittled down to one lucky winner. She will become the future queen. America Singer is a five, in a caste system where your number dictates your career. Royalty are ones and the homeless are eights. As a five she earns her living entertaining with song and music. She is in love with a six but her mother very much wants her to apply for The Selection.
I loved the idea of a frivolous, reality TV show based novel with echoes of Next Top Model. Only the prize is a prince. It's a bit predictable, but sometimes that's exactly what you need in a story. Prince Maxim's awkwardness became endearing even though I started off thinking he was incredibly stereotypical. America leaves behind her love Aspen, but if I'm being honest, he's a bit of a nob. I don't think she ever sees that even though he is too caught up in the social expectations of their caste system. In contrast, the prince is more than happy to choose his princess from the lower castes. There are a few times when I thought America needed a slap.
Why it had to be shoe-horned into a future American dystopia I don't know. For some reason, I thought it was contemporary when I first picked it up. I can see it as a TV show for some forgotten about country that still has monarchs that can't get a date. We had The Farmer Wants a Wife in the UK a few years ago, where a bunch of rather inappropriate single women went to live on a farm in the hopes of wooing a handsome farmer (with loads of land and presumable cash). It doesn't matter that he eventually decided he liked the presenter better than the winning girl, it proves that such shows are possible in a current day setting. The fact that America had adopted a hereditary monarchy and a caste system in the distant future just seems so far-fetched. There's nothing wrong with setting a book in a made up world either.
I think you all know my opinion on poorly constructed trilogies by now. Each book should have a conclusion of sorts. Yes, loads of things can be carried on into the next book but you need to give your readers some satisfaction. The book needs to work as a standlone read, hopefully one that leaves the readers craving more. I'm not even talking about cliffhangers here, the book just seems to end mid scene. Absolutely nothing is concluded and it left me feeling a bit cheated.
In the end it's trying to be too many things, a dystopia with the social etiquette of Regency England and a very modern day reality show, rolled into one. Not forgetting the fairy tale romance of a normal girl meeting her prince charming... After saying all that, I did quite enjoy it for quick weekend read and I'd probably read the next one!
I loved the idea of a frivolous, reality TV show based novel with echoes of Next Top Model. Only the prize is a prince. It's a bit predictable, but sometimes that's exactly what you need in a story. Prince Maxim's awkwardness became endearing even though I started off thinking he was incredibly stereotypical. America leaves behind her love Aspen, but if I'm being honest, he's a bit of a nob. I don't think she ever sees that even though he is too caught up in the social expectations of their caste system. In contrast, the prince is more than happy to choose his princess from the lower castes. There are a few times when I thought America needed a slap.
Why it had to be shoe-horned into a future American dystopia I don't know. For some reason, I thought it was contemporary when I first picked it up. I can see it as a TV show for some forgotten about country that still has monarchs that can't get a date. We had The Farmer Wants a Wife in the UK a few years ago, where a bunch of rather inappropriate single women went to live on a farm in the hopes of wooing a handsome farmer (with loads of land and presumable cash). It doesn't matter that he eventually decided he liked the presenter better than the winning girl, it proves that such shows are possible in a current day setting. The fact that America had adopted a hereditary monarchy and a caste system in the distant future just seems so far-fetched. There's nothing wrong with setting a book in a made up world either.
I think you all know my opinion on poorly constructed trilogies by now. Each book should have a conclusion of sorts. Yes, loads of things can be carried on into the next book but you need to give your readers some satisfaction. The book needs to work as a standlone read, hopefully one that leaves the readers craving more. I'm not even talking about cliffhangers here, the book just seems to end mid scene. Absolutely nothing is concluded and it left me feeling a bit cheated.
In the end it's trying to be too many things, a dystopia with the social etiquette of Regency England and a very modern day reality show, rolled into one. Not forgetting the fairy tale romance of a normal girl meeting her prince charming... After saying all that, I did quite enjoy it for quick weekend read and I'd probably read the next one!