My Absence

You may have noticed that my appearance on this blog has dwindled over the past few weeks. While I was away at Yallfest earlier this month my computer, unfortunately, decided he didn't want to function any longer. And so I am now computer hunting. And writing blog posts on a tablet or phone is murder on my wrists. Plus, it's a pain getting images to work.

I should be acquiring another computer shortly and be back to regular book reviews and posts very soon. If you have any recommendations on a good laptop, feel free to comment and let me know!

Insignia~S J Kincaid

Title: Insignia (Insignia #1)
Author: S J Kincaid
Genre: YA Sciene fiction
Length: 446 Pages (Paperback)
Release: July 2012
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review

Insignia has been on my reading list for years, probably since it was released in 2012. And it's one of those books that I am mad at myself for not picking up sooner. It has the same feel as several other YA sci-if books that I've read, but I always enjoy them, even with their similarities. And this was no different. 

Tom was a likable main character that it was easy to relate with. He lives in a society where technology is used for everything, including warfare. WWIII is underway in the beginning, but instead of being fought on land with human casualties, the war is fought in space. And instead of being nation against nation, it's corporation against corporation. Tom is a skilled gamer and is recruited to train for a top secret military position controlling the battleships used to fight. For Tom, who has no friends and moves from casino to casino with his father, trying to win just one more time, this is a dream come true. And this is where the real story begins.

The cast of characters in this was so much fun. Tom is cocky at times but also not perfect. He makes mistakes, isn't the smartest among his group of friends, and has flaws that make him human. Vic, Wyat, and Yuri, the friends he makes when he starts training are all a lot of fun. Each of them brings something different to the group. And watching their bonds form is great. 

The story has a lot of action and plenty of room for expansion. There are corrupt rulers and corporation executives. A lot of computer lingo and fun programming debacles. There are moments that made me shiver, considering what it would be like to potentially have someone else with the power to control me in their hands. 

This society and story are excellent. S J Kincaid is a skilled story teller and I look forward to continuing Tom's journey with him. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy YA sci-fi. It's not read enough and she really deserves more of an audience for her work. So do yourself a favor and pick this up.

The Last Ever After~Soman Chainani | Review

Title: The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil #3)
Author: Soman Chainani
Genre: YA Fantasy/Fairytale
Length: 655 Pages (Hardback)
Release: July 2015
My Rating: 2/5 Stars

Review

I had a very hard time with this series, unfortunately. The first book was very enjoyable and had some interesting and different concepts. After that I was really excited for the two books following, expecting more of the same fun and twist on fairy tales. Unfortunately, for me, that was not the case. 

The Last Ever After picks up where book two left off. Agatha and Tedros are constantly fighting, hardly able to stand each other as they share a house with Agatha's mother. Of course they end up going back into the woods to rescue Sophie and all sorts of crazy things ensue. Because the woods are very different now. Even more than they were the last time. 

One thing that really bothers me about this series is the fact that there is almost no character development. Particularly where Sophie is concerned. She's a taker and never a giver. That doesn't change, no matter how many chances she has. All that books two and three in this series do is recycle all of the old issues that were had with these characters, making them cycle back and forth, never really progressing. 

The ending was not particularly satisfying. Some of the characters made sudden decisions that didn't really seem to fit. Some of the revelations made seemed too convenient, too put together. And there was still no hint of development with certain characters. 

Agatha was my favorite throughout the books, but even she became annoying. She was a giver and never a taker, opposite of Sophie. And she just continued to let people walk all over her. 

The Agatha/Tedros relationship had some cute moments, but they were vastly overshadowed by the amount of annoying angst surrounding them. And Tedros, who could have been such an interesting character, was reduced to just another silly boy who wants people to think more of them than they do but never gives them a reason to do so. 

Dot, Anadil, and Hester were the high point in the series. They were more complex than any other characters, with both good and evil in them. And unlike everyone else, there was some development that happened with these three. 

This series is targeted at a middle grade audience, but I wouldn't personally classify it for that age range. It's written as if it's middle grade, as far as conflict resolution and overall structure, but there was too much of a focus on romance for it to really fit that age range. I definitely wouldn't recommend this to my niece and nephew who fall in that age range. 

This is unfortunately a series that I would recommend. It had a few good points but was overall a disappointment. 

Crossroads of Twilight~Robert Jordan | Review

Title: Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time #10)
Author: Robert Jordan
Genre: High Fantasy
Length: 847 Pages (Paperback)
Release: December 2003
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Review

I was really worried going into this book. I've already invested a lot of time in the series by this point, but this is the one that I've heard the worst things about. Everyone tells me they are disappointed with it. So I had low expectations and expected it to be a drag. Luckily, I did not find this to be the case. 

In the beginning of the series, Mat was my least favorite character. Now he might possibly be my favorite. He's grown more interesting while so many of the others have remained stagnant. Perrin was my favorite at the start, but I am not really a fan of what has been done with his character. Some of it I understand, but overall I don't like the direction he was taken. 

While book 9 had a lot of plot progression, this one does go back to the stagnant story lines of books 7 and 8. Plot wise, not much happens. But I still found that it flowed better than I had expected and was enjoyable to read. 

It's hard for me to connect with the characters in this series, which I don't like. Characters are the most important part for me and I don't like that I don't really care for them. Jordan's character development is very lacking for me, and is particularly bad with women (though it's really not much better with men). Almost all of the women are the exact same, which is not realistic. 

Another thing that continues to annoy me with these series are lines like these: "she folded her arms under her breasts." Really, we get it. Women have breasts and more often than not, when folding arms they do fold them under their breasts. But you don't have to point this out every single time a woman folds her arms. This would honestly cut out a few hundred pages if you went through and removed this.  

Overall this was an enjoyable read. The plot was not progressed much, but there was some interesting character exploration in portions. I am hopeful that book 11 will be an improvement.

The Diabolic~S J Kincaid | Review

Title: The Diabolic
Author: S J Kincaid
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Length: 416 Pages
Release: November 2016
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review

I've wanted to read an S J Kincaid novel for a long time and for some reason have never picked one up. When I found this on Netgallye the premise was so promising that I had to request it. And I am very glad that I did. 

From the blurb I was not entirely sure what I would get in picking this up. In a lot of ways this exceeded my expectations greatly. Nemesis, the main character who is a Diabolic--a special type of humanoid creature created to act as a body guard for a certain individual--was a very compelling main character. She was created and taught that she could only love one person, that she could not feel regular human emotions, that she was a thing rather than a person. It was a fantastic journey as she grew and faced who she was, what she was, and who she wanted to be. 

The writing style, while not overly complex, was utterly compelling. Nemesis was forced to charade as Donia, the only person that mattered in her world, in the clutches of the society's evil emperor. The way her journey was constructed and presented was beautifully done. You could feel what she felt as she tried to come to terms with the emotions that she was never supposed to have. 

There was some romance in this, but I really liked the way it was done. It wasn't forced or overly dramatic. It was real in a way that is completely skipped over by so many novels I read these days. 

There is violence, political intrigue, and manipulation. But none of it is over the top. And it reads so seamlessly and quickly. The beginning is somewhat slow and a few things were not explained/explored as I would have liked, but that was easily trumped by all of the things that I did like. 

The ending was wonderful. It was so open. There are so many different ways that things could be interpreted and so many things that could have happened after the novel ended, some good, some bad. And I loved that about it. This was a very solid read and I look forward to reading more by S J Kincaid in the future. 

Unblemished~Sara Ella | Review

Title: Unblemished (Unblemished #1)
Author: Sara Ella
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 362 Pages (Hardback)
Release: October 2016
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

*I would also like to thank the publisher for the physical copy of this novel that I won through their giveaway on goodreads.*

Review 

This is a book that I've been looking forward to reading for around a year now. Sara Ella is a booktube friend and when she announced her debut novel I was extremely excited for her. And I must say that she did an excellent job with this. 

Urban fantasy tends not to be a genre that I reach for all that often. I prefer high fantasy stories and find most urban fantasy disappointing. I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I wanted to enjoy it, was worried I wouldn't, and still did enjoy it a lot. The genre is not one that I often reach for, but the story of the fight between good and evil is a classic plot line that I almost always enjoy. And it was presented very well here. 

The writing in this was really good. There were some stylistic decisions that I was not particularly fond of, but overall I found the writing very beautiful and easily read. The story is filled with great pop culture references and superb musical metaphors that made it a lot of fun to read. 

Sara Ella's world building was great. There are some things that I found slightly lacking in clarity, but overall the world created was vivid and complex. In the beginning it was a bit difficult to keep track of everything that was rapidly introduced, but it does become easier as the story progresses. The fight between Verity and the Void, the Talents, the idea of the various Reflections, it all comes together to create something fascinating. So while I still have some questions and clarifications I am waiting for, I did really enjoy what I got in the world building aspect of things. 

The characters were a bit difficult for me to connect with. Even Eliyana, our first person narrator, was a bit difficult for me to really understand at times. The only issues I really had with the writing were through her inner dialogue, which I found rather clumsy at times. Until around the halfway point I didn't really feel like I knew anything about the characters. Toward the end it was made clear why that was done and necessary, but it didn't work for me in a lot of ways. I need to be invested in the characters to be invested in the story and it was hard to begin with. Particularly with Joshua (who I still don't love). 

I am not a fan of love triangles in general, so the one in here was somewhat frustrating. It was more that I felt Eliyana was too obsessive over Joshua in the beginning. This got better as the story progressed, but without any of the details behind their relationship it was a point of annoyance for a majority of the book. Ky, the other love interest, was an interesting and likable character. I found him much easier to relate to and understand. 

The ending was exciting, but some of the events were a little jumbled and left me with questions. The outcome was also slightly different than I was hoping it would be. Luckily there is a second book coming out next summer, so I have hope that many of my questions will be answered. This was a very solid debut and Sara Ella has showcased that she is a very talented and creative writer. I am very excited to see where this story goes and how Sara grows as an author.

Tuesday Talks | Halloween Reads

Tuesday Talks is a goodreads discussion group created by Janie and Janelle for booktubers and bloggers to discuss book related topics.

This week's topic is all about books to read for Halloween. Personally I am not really into horror books nor do I have certain books that I read for specific holidays every year, but I would like to recommend a trilogy that I think would be perfect Halloween reads.

The Jasper Dent trilogy by Barry Lyga is a trilogy of young adult novels that I read in 2014. It surrounds Jazz, our titular main character, as he struggles to determine if his upbringing will determine his future, or if that's in his control.

It's a somewhat dark read, but not overly gory or anything. Jazz's father is a serial killer and in an effort to distance himself from that image and use his knowledge for good, Jazz starts investigating a string of murders and aiding the police. Things get twisty and crazy along the way and it spirals into a longer connection with people that Jazz never expected.

This has a great cast of characters and an interesting concept. It would be perfect for someone to read over Halloween, particularly if they want something with a bit of suspense and horror without it being terrifying.