Happy Halloween!

I'm sure you can all tell that I am back in hardcore school. I have a test every week and every day is full to the brim with classes/clinical. With that and trying to get things straight for the wedding next year, my reviews have suffered. I am still working on Angelslayer, it's just going slower than anticipated. Much slower.

That's the thing about school. You never really have any free time because there's always something you should be doing. Also hanging over my head, in addition to the tests, is a 20-30 page paper.

The good news is my venue is booked for my wedding, I got through the first clinical and will be done with the serious clinical paperwork this week, and I've gotten all my information together to write that horrid paper.

Today is also the last day of the RIP V Challenge. I met my goal, Peril the First, but I didn't complete my entire list unfortunately. Whenever I have a chance, I plan on visiting more of my fellow participants.

Either way, Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain, Happy All Hallow's Eve. Hope yours is more exciting than mine :)

The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan - RIP V Review V

I picked up The Red Tree for the RIP V Challenge. I had gotten it from the library because it was recommended by amazon, but never got around to reading it. It was a perfect Halloween season book for sure. From the back cover:

Sarah Crowe left Atlanta, and the remnants of a tumultuous relationship, to live alone in an old house in rural Rhode Island. Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house’s former tenant—a parapsychologist obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a desolate corner of the property. And as the gnarled tree takes root in her imagination, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago…

At the beginning of the novel, you are immediately told on the first page that Sarah Crowe is dead, and she has left behind this diary which was later apparently published. The editor makes some notes, but for the most part the novel is all snippets of Sarah's journal.

I don't really know what I was expecting from this book, honestly. I don't generally read horror books, but this sounded almost...noir. Gothic. Overall, I really enjoyed it. At first, the writing style grated on my nerves. It's a very informal narrative, as you'd expect a journal to be. Also, Sarah goes off on tangents like you wouldn't believe. It makes the narrative confusing, and after awhile I started to skim.

You slowly get impressions of something...wrong. Snippets. A lot of the creepyness comes from legends that the previous tennant had collected. There are weird things that happen actually in the narrative, but alone they really aren't all that scary. The prose that Kiernan uses is original and elegantly done.

There's never really any explanation of anything. I kept waiting for it, because I wanted to know more about why these things were happening, not just that they were. The reasons never came. I sort of feel that that was done on purpose, and that Kiernan was relying on the anticipation of being scared shitless rather than actual events.

Something that is worth mentioning is some explicit content in this book. Sarah is a lesbian, and that plays a fair role in this book. She thinks about sex a lot, there are some fairly graphic descriptions of some really...strange sexual practices. Putting it mildly. It seemed like they were just tossed in there for shock value. I consider myself fairly worldly and a few pages had me a little squicked. Sarah also curses like a sailor, so if that bothers you I'd recommend steering clear.

I'm glad I gave this a try, but I'm also glad to be moving onto another book. It gave me the willies but it won't keep me up tonight. There were a couple of scenes that had me on the edge of my seat, but for the most part this wasn't un-put-down-able. I'll probably pick up another Kiernan book at some point, but I'm not in a hurry.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 3 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? Standalone

Content

Plot: 3 / 5 (pretty predictable, really)

Setting: 4 / 5  (creepy, and beautifully "illustrated")

Characters: 3.5 / 5 (I really didn't like her, but Sarah was well-written)

Style 
Pace: Slow
Descriptiveness: Mix of poetry and prose
Fantasy factor: Magical Realism

Amazon.com link

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: RIP V Review IV

I know I'm a little late on the uptake with this book, but I hadn't even heard of it before I started blogging and following book bloggers. Apparently there's a huge hullabaloo about The Hunger Games. I can't say I particularly understand that, but I'll explain a bit more later. I have mixed feelings about this book. From the cover:

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the tense which the author uses: present tense. As in, "I grab the book, and open it to page 233." Katniss is the narrator, and the writing is very informal.

I had a really hard time getting into The Hunger Games basically until the games themselves started. Katniss is clearly a very damaged girl, she's had a rough life. At first, I didn't really like her all that much, but as the Games wore on I started to like her a little more. I feel like despite the book being narrated by her, despite flashbacks, despite the fact she takes her sister's place, you really don't know much about Katniss until the Games begin. I understood a bit more about how she felt. I immediately liked Peeta, however. I think that distinction between Katniss's personality and Peeta's was well done. Their difference in upbringing and struggles is obvious.

You can't beat this story for originality. Sometimes dystopias can become routine when it's the same societal structure over and over. The Hunger Games is unlike anything I've personally ever read. I think that is at least part of why this book has garnered so much praise.

It is also an easy, fast read. It's exciting and it's brutal and it's dark. If I had children, I'm not sure I'd recommend they read this until they were older because it is pretty violent and...well...dark. Despite not maybe wanting to be friends with Katniss, I wanted her to succeed, and I wanted that shell of hers to crack and let Peeta into her heart. I got fairly into the book and I just had to stay up late last night and see what happened to the characters.

Personally, I want to know more about how all of this happened. How the heck the Capitol ended up the way it is, and who the rulers are that of 12 districts full of about 8,000 people, not one person seemed to rise up and rebel against their children being taken away.

But I'm not in a huge hurry to find out. Catching Fire has 30 people ahead of me to read it, Mockingjay has 57. As previously mentioned, I have mixed feelings about The Hunger Games. I enjoyed it, and it was entertaining. I can't say it was particularly well written, I'm afraid, but it wasn't a total train wreck either. I also hesitate to judge based on the writing, because I know it's a YA book and it's from the perspective of a very damaged and probably uneducated 16 year old girl. The story was very interesting, but the world wasn't as fleshed out as I like. I'm hoping that in subsequent books we'll find out more about Panem.

Overall, I enjoyed it while I was reading it. But when I go back and think about it, there are some things that could use improvement. I will read the subsequent books, but I'm not really rabid to get them, and I definitely don't understand the fuss surrounding these. I didn't love this book, but I did like it. Perhaps that will change after Catching Fire.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? 1 of 3 in The Hunger Games trilogy

Content

Plot: 4.5 / 5 (some plot holes, but not glaringly obvious)

Setting: 3 / 5 

Characters: 3 / 5

Style 
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose
Fantasy factor: Not Fantasy (dystopian)

Amazon.com link

Blameless by Gail Carriger: RIP V Review III

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers, but they are possible (even probable), since this is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate. Soulless is the first. I recommend reading them in order.

I had to run out and get Blameless as soon as I finished Changeless. Gawd, I'm going to get all of these -less's mixed up. I can always tell when I'm enjoying a series...this will be my second review in two days, but since they all sound the same I keep nearly mixing up the titles. From the back cover:

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

Blameless was just as fun as Changeless was. I think part of what is totally special about these books is they don't take themselves too seriously. I love Alexia and all her friends. I got a bit irritated with Lord Maccon in this book though. He seemed to prolong his fit (for lack of a better term) over Alexia's alleged infidelity longer than was entirely necessary. Even after he was aware of being mistaken, he still continued to get drunk off formaldehyde. Some complaints have been made about the apology scene, but it made me laugh and was totally in character for both Alexia and Conall, I think.

Like Changeless, Blameless reveals more about the preternatural state. There is a bit of ancient history as well, and I love how Carriger incorporates supernaturals and preternaturals in with history. For example, in a previous book it was mentioned that staying out of the sun and having pale skin became en vogue because the vampires made it so. The Templars make an appearance in this book (their interpretation of preternaturals and supernaturals was spot on and realistic, I think) as well as an investigation into Etruscan society. I'm hoping in future novels, perhaps Alexia and crew may travel to Egypt or another exotic locale and investigate more ancient artifacts and the history and nature of preternaturals/supernaturals.

There are a lot of surprises in this book so be prepared. Luckily there's less of a cliffhanger for the next one, since we have awhile to wait. Nonetheless, there are still unanswered questions and plenty of carry-over plots to work with in the next novel, Heartless, which will be released July 2011.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 4 / 5

Buy or Try? Buy
More? 3 of 3 (so far) in The Parasol Protectorate

Content

Plot: 4 / 5 (not as strong as Blameless, but still very solid)

Setting: 4 / 5 

Characters: 4 / 5

Style 
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose
Fantasy factor: Low fantasy

Amazon.com Link

Changeless by Gail Carriger: RIP V Review II

WARNING: I try to avoid spoilers, but they are possible (even probable), since this is the second book of the Parasol Protectorate. Soulless is the first. I recommend reading them in order.

This book has been moldering away on my shelf since April. I read Soulless last year. I added this to my RIP Challenge V, and I'm so glad I did. I kind of wish I'd read Soulless again before I started, but it was easy to get back into the series with this book. Here's the cover description:

Alexia Maccon, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

While it's been a long time since Soulless, I enjoyed this book more than the first one in the series. I don't remember laughing out loud nearly as much at Alexia's commentary and inner dialogue. The author seemed to really hit her stride. Alexia was as biting and clever as ever, and the new characters introduced were just as entertaining. We also learn a lot more about existing characters, which I think is great.

This book is a lot more steampunk than the first was. I never read steampunk (that's not to say I won't ever, but I have never :P) I got a little confused with the descriptions of all the machines and how they work. Lots of made up words, I think. Nonetheless, I liked the steampunk additions overall. It was just a little technical for me.

I wasn't crazy about how it ended. I felt like the story arc in this book could have carried over more into the next, but Carriger wraps it up quite nicely (almost too nicely?), with one um...interpersonal exception. Either way, if you pick up this book, I highly highly recommend you have Blameless in hand before you finish. Quite the cliffhanger.

I really don't have any bones to pick with this book...it was enjoyable from start to finish.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 4 / 5

Buy or Try? Buy
More? 2 of 3 (so far) in The Parasol Protectorate

Content

Plot: 4.5 / 5 

Setting: 4 / 5 

Characters: 4 / 5

Style 
Pace: Fast
Descriptiveness: Prose
Fantasy factor: Low fantasy

Amazon.com Link

Cover Her Face by PD James - RIP V Review I

My very first RIP V challenge review! Woot!

This novel is not what I generally read. I'm a fantasy/scifi girl to the core. Back cover description:

Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill.

 I am a sucker for Masterpiece Mystery!, the BBC show that comes on every Sunday on the educational television channel. As I was reading this, I was reminded of those little stories I watch every week and tried to imagine what it would be like acted out. When I later discussed the book with my parents (who both love PD James), I realized that my gripes really don't have anything to do with the book itself, but rather mostly the genre. I'm just not a mystery reader. I like watching them, I even like listening to them on podcast or CD, but I'm just not crazy about reading them.

I got a bit lost in her descriptions sometimes. I noted that sentences could be as long as a paragraph in some places. Along the same lines, I felt like there was a lot of extraneous information. I would have thought that the story would follow Dalgliesh closer, but he doesn't even show up until the middle of the book (understandable) and even then there are some scenes that he is not even present in which seemed unimportant anyway (less understandable). I will say that the characters were diverse and well fleshed-out. I could picture these people, and their mannerisms were consistent and varied.

All in all, I struggled with this book a bit, and was glad it was only 250 pages. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I'd gotten it on tape/CD/podcast. It wasn't a bad book, just not my taste. I will still try Death in Holy Orders by PD James, but it probably won't be the next book I read.

Bottom Line

Overall Rating: 2.5 / 5

Buy or Try? Try
More? 1 of 14 about Adam Dalgliesh

Content

Plot: 3 / 5 (solid, but not exciting)
Setting: 2 / 5 

Characters: 3.5 / 5

Style 
Pace: Slow to Middlin' 
Descriptiveness: Poetry 
Fantasy factor: Not fantasy

Amazon.com Link

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril V Challenge

So I think I may take part in my very first reading challenge. I heard about the Readers Imbibing Peril (V) Challenge from That's What She Read, and it's hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings.

"It is time to celebrate things that go bump in the night; that favorite detective that always gets his man, or woman, in the end; that delicious chill of a creak on the stairs, of the rogue waiting in the dark, of the full moon and the flit of bats wings."

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

I just got done wandering around the house trying to find some mystery/horror/scary books, and I've got quite the pile. Basically, you pick scary books (scary is subjective) and read them between September 1 and October 31. There are several different levels, from 1 book to 4, and then a category for short story readers and scary movie buffs as well.

I think I will be shooting for the highest level, since I've got a fairly extensive list of books that I can read. I don't imagine I'll get through all of them, but I certainly have choices.

1. Cover Her Face by PD James (review)
   
2. Bitten by Kelly Armstrong
3. Death in Holy Orders by PD James
4. Changeless by Gail Carriger (review)
   
5. Blameless by Gail Carriger (review)
6. The Darkness That Comes Before by R Scott Bakker
7. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
8. Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
9. The Red Tree by Caitlin R Kiernan (review)
10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (review)

The best part about all of these is they are all books I own! I've been saying that I wanted to make a dent in all the books I've bought and haven't read yet but this time I might actually do it. Here's a link to the challenge page where you can post your link and reading list if you want.

What books are on your list?