My Family. My Religion. My Photography. My Sports.
My Books. Lots and lots of books.
I've been feeling the need to read my favorite book again.
I loved to read when I was young, but it wasn't until Watership Down during a rough time in High School that books became part of me.
No talking rabbit jokes. This one's personal.
Just kidding.
Make all the talking rabbit jokes you want!
Awesome! More of the same suspense and action!
Blah. More of the same suspense and action.
The story stayed fun, and the action stayed cool. But the same old conflicts rehashed over and over after three books started to wear.
Plus the ending (which was obvious early on) left the kind of annoying ambiguity that I don't love.
PLUS the language, sex, and violence just got more and more...Adult? Gratuitous? Mature?...as the story went on.
It's a worthy story, a great popcorn read. I won't be volunteering it though.
Adults only. Happy reading!
Like book one, the excitement is turned to 11 in this second part of the Brilliance Trilogy.
It holds true to how most part-two-of-three's end--reference: The Empire Strikes Back--so make sure you have book three ready to go.
And, speaking of book 3...
I'm out.
I love it when I enjoy a book more than I expect to.
It's a little bit science fiction, a little bit X-Men, a little bit cop story, a little but social commentary, and a lot bit non-stop excitement.
In this alternative 2013, Brilliants mysteriously started being born around 1980. Think X-Men with brain powers instead of super powers. They've made the world more technologically advanced, improved medical care, become super athletes...and showed all the rest of us how unfortunately-normal we are.
Excellent writing, smooth dialogue, interesting characters, cool "powers," fun alternatives to history (President Dukakis?), and lots of action.
There's a sex scene and some PG-13 language, so probably best to not share this one with your favorite teenagers. But discerning adults looking for a fun twist on a one-man-cop-takes-on-the-world thriller should read with confidence.
The story is simple, the idea is original and fun. G rated through out. I'm sure many 8-to-12-year-olds will enjoy it.
I'm still on the lookout for awesome middle grade writing, though. Brandon Mull and Rick Riordan are pretty good, but every one else seems to feel the need to talk down to their audience. It kind of drives me crazy, actually.
I'm not going to continue with the series, but if my kids want to I'd be happy to keep them supplied.
Of course, we would never…
Because we’ve always been told not to. Certainly I would never...
Judge a book by its cover? But it’s not judging if it’s obvious. Right? Because just look at these covers.
Obviously The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy is for girls. It’s nothing but a kissing book.
Sorry, not interested.
Luckily for me I have friends who enjoy shaming me into submission, who swore it wasn’t a kissing book—that it was actually so much more. My lack of interest evolved into curiosity, and my curiosity cannot be denied.
So, I picked up The Daughter of Smoke and Bone and read it. Then I read Days of Blood and Starlight. Then I read Dreams of God and Monsters. And guess what I found?
I was right. It is totally a kissing book.
But I was wrong too. There’s a really cool story mixed in with all the brooding, drama, angst and kissing. War. Fighting. Underdogs. Oppression. Heroes that rise up. Bad guys to bring down. Weak-but-strong good guys. Strong-but-weak bad guys. There are characters you want to love and characters you love to hate.
The writing is outstanding, very visual. I could see everything. The characters are tangible. The plot pulls you along. With out a doubt, there was way more killing than kissing.
That’s how this guy became a fan of these girly kissing books.
And…I suppose the kissing wasn’t so bad.
Content advisory: No language at all, but there is some PG-13 sexual content. All implied. Never physical, but lots and Lots and LOTS of gooey, mushy, girly LONGING and WANTING and BROODING and ACHING and PINING and LANGUISHING and…
...Barf.
"So magic is real," I said. "Which makes you a...what?"
"A wizard."
"Like Harry Potter?"
Nightingale sighed. "No," he said. "Not like Harry Potter."
"In what way?"
"I'm not a fictional character," said Nightingale.
And...sold.
Midnight Riot--or Rivers of London, if you're being properly British--is pretty great. It's fun urban fantasy, and with out a doubt the most British book I've ever read. New words, new ideas, new locations. I had no idea I was going to have to work so hard to read this one, but I honestly enjoyed the education!
It's ghosts, wizards, vampires, and river nymphs; nerdy references to nerdy things like Tolkien, Voldemort, and The Last Airbender; a tour guide of London's streets, theaters, underground, people, and history.
Some colorful metaphors in here by select characters, so watch out for that if you're sensitive. Other than that, this book is a great find!
Thanks for the birthday present April. Obviously authors make the best friends!
Area Mode could have been awesome...
...but it's not.
Sometimes, if the story is compelling enough, it can overcome bad writing.
Sometimes.
Not this time unfortunately.
No reason to continue with these books. No reason for to read this one actually. I wish I could get these days back.
I can see why this book is popular among lit teachers. It's full of THEMES and BIG IDEAS. Forgiveness. Friendships. Love. Relationships. Teenagers. Mortality.
It's also about 16-year-olds who swear (a lot), get drunk (a lot), smoke (a lot), and have sex (a lot).
I won't offer Looking for Alaska to my kids. But if If my teenage kids are asked to read it for school, I'll use it as an extended teaching opportunity and read it along with them. I'll tell them exactly what they'll be reading about and what we'll be talking about.
I don't care how big the ideas are. If they can't talk about it, they can't read about it.
Oh, they are going to squirm. That will be fun.
I just committed 14 days to 2420 pages of the five-book Psion Series.
The series has 2564 five-star reviews on Goodreads, and about as many four-star reviews. There are hardly any one or two starred reviews.
Everyone who read these books loved them. So, obviously, I loved them too.
Obviously.
Right?
Sigh.
It's complicated.
Here's what I liked.
I wonder when I'll get bored of stories about kids with unique talents being discovered and shipped off to special kid school so they can learn to use their talent to save the world? Never, I suspect.
What about stories about underdogs overthrowing oppressive governments? Doesn’t get old.
How about stories about unlikely heroes? Troubled, imperfect good guys who have to overcome their personal demons before they can save the ones they love? Sacrificing yourself for your friends? Young love? Please—give me more! More, more, more!
The Psion Series has it all. No offensive language or sex either.
I like it.
Here's what's complicated:
First, the writing is unpolished. I’m trying to be polite—I have tremendous respect for anyone that writes, so I hate calling out the writing. But I do call it as I see it. The writing improves as the series goes on, but those first three books were really hard to get through. Even by the end though, it reads more like a middle-grade book than anything. Which actually isn’t really that much of an issue…
…except for the other complication.
The Psion series sees an Ender and raises a Rambo. These kids die violently. And kill violently. Really, really violently.
For all of the chaste love and elementary-school expletives, there is an exponential elevation of violence. I’m talking blood and guts, full descriptions, gore, smells, feels, emotions, no holding back. It’s the weirdest thing. It’s a middle-grade story with grown-up violence.
What do I do with that?
I WANT to recommend The Psion Series—the story is a lot of fun and I cared about the characters.
I can’t recommend it to my kids because of the strong, bloody, and frequent violence—even though the writing, language, and relationships are perfectly on their level.
I can’t recommend it to my adult friends because the juvenile writing is lame. To be clear, I’m not talking about lack of swearing or sex as juvenile. I’m talking about the actual writing. It was just plain hard to read.
You see?
It’s complicated.
So, I’ll just do my job. I liked The Psion Series, but I didn’t like the writing. I liked the clean language and chaste love, but didn’t like the violence.
If you can look past the complicated and appreciate the good, I think you’ll find a series worth investing in. If you’re going to get hung up on complicated, you’d better not waste your time.
Happy reading!
I'm not feeling the love for Discworld I was expecting. The color of Magic was weird, and the not-all-that-interesting story wasn't enough to help get me past weird.
I'm not giving up though, too many I respect put Terry Pratchett on a pedestal. Plus, I have Wee Free Men ready to go. I hear that one might be a better place to start.
I love to read.
Ya, I know. Duh.
But it's not just that I love to read. It's the treasure hunt. It's reading your next favorite story for the first time. It's discovering an unknown author who deserves to be known. It's finding the next big thing before it's the next big thing.
The Red Rising Trilogy is the treasure.
I've just finished the last book, and Morning Star shines brighter than the sun. A perfect ending to a perfect Trilogy.
This series doesn't just live up to the hype. It transcends it.
This is why I read.
If you're a reader who avoids the hype machine out of principle, I strongly suggest you make an exception for Red Rising. If you need some convincing, you might enjoy this blog post:
11 Reasons Why Red Rising Will Be Bigger Than the Hunger Games
Parents and Teachers: Red Rising is published by Del Rey (an adult imprint of Random House), but it's being promoted as YA. Don't be fooled. These books are adult. The language and violence is cranked to 11. Proceed with caution. As outstanding as they are, I will not be recommending these books to my kids until they are too old for me to control what they read.
P.S.A.
Election Day: The day we turn our words into actions.
If you live in one of the 12 states in the U.S. holding primary elections today, don't forget to exercise your right to make your voice heard!
You don't review the second book of a trilogy. You read it as fast as you can so you can get to the third book.
I'll say only this:
Brilliant isn't bright enough to describe how this book shines.
Now leave me alone. I'm reading book 3.
Well dang. I had high expectations.
Not high enough. Hold on while I pick the grit out of my teeth and rinse the taste of bile from my mouth.
They say it's like Hunger Games, but it's not. Hunger Games is the bunny slope. Red Rising is the double diamond. Closer to Lord of the Flies, mixed with a bit of Ender's Game and sprinkled with Game of Thrones.
Much like the outstanding Choas Walking Trilogy, this first book of the Red Rising Trilogy has broken the mold for all things YA dystopian.
Outstanding. The bar has been raised.
Let's see how book two holds up.
Older teens only.
Hopefully the hype doesn't ruin it for me.
#SkyHighExpectations
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 - Marcus Sakey)
 - Jacob Gowans)
 - Terry Pratchett)
