Book Review - The Only Child

The Only Child by Andrew Pyper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book follows Lily as she learns the truth of her father, her mother, and her mother's murder at the hands of a monster - all linked to the man claiming to be the inspiration for the characters of Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I loved this book. However, there are definite issues with it that I'm not going to ignore. First, though, the good.

This is a dark book, for starters, and while it does have gore, the visceral side of horror enhanced instead of took away from the psychological aspects, in my opinion.

I have a love for dark characters with their own moral code that doesn't go off of conventional human morality, and the man claiming to be Lily's father delivers such a delightfully dark mindset I couldn't help but enjoy him.

As some reviewers have pointed out, at times (but not throughout) there's an attraction bordering incest between Lily her father that could be uncomfortable for some. I thought it added to the complexity of his character, and of their relationship, so while it was a creep factor (which seems like it was meant to be) it didn't put me off.

The stories and mystery behind the man claiming to be Lily's father. I loved how the author weaved in his past with the present happenings, and how he pushes Lily to find out more. Forcing her, even as she wants to find out herself.

Some reviewers did not like Lily's emotional distance. I found it consistent enough, and established from the beginning, that it didn't bother me. I feel for the story to happen the way it did, she HAD to be more emotionally distant.

The ending. I loved the ending, how things came together, and just all around how the characters developed. Loved it!

BUT, like I mentioned, there are a few issues:

Sentence level - the style is a bit hard to follow at times, with how sentences are constructed. For example: sentences ending, then a new one starting that should have probably been attached to the prior.

Event-logic: I had to just go with a few things that happened, and not question it too much. Some events are answered logically by the ending, but - frankly - the first event with how Lily meets this man is still a WTF for me. The 'why' behind a lot of things needed to be strengthened, which hurt the story. This is probably the biggest issue I had with it all around.

Distinguishing between Lily's thoughts, the thoughts of her 'other' voice, and other thoughts I can't mention without spoiling were hard for me to differentiate at times. Perhaps this was the author's intent, but it became a point of confusion for me.

I would recommend this book to those who have an attachment to the monsters of the Classics, a love of twisted characters, and an interest in a book that doesn't quite have a typical happy ending.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Master of Crows

Master of Crows by Grace Draven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this story.

The formatting threw me off at first, and honestly made me skeptical, because it uses two spaces after the period. A small thing, you might say, and in and of itself I would agree. However, it could have been a sign of other, unprofessional, traits. I am happy to say my fears were unfounded.

This was a fun, entertaining, exciting read.

I love magic, I love fantasy - and I hold a special place in my heart for heroines whose gifts or abilities do not define them or make them super-special. While Martise has her own Gift revealed in the book, and a use for it, it is not the reason Silhara is initially interested in her. I really liked that.

While I wish there had been some apologizing for previous actions, and there were a couple cliche moments and tropes, Grace handles Silhara's anti-hero personality very well and Martise's social situation with delicacy. She handles their initial sex scene even better.

Without spoiling it (other than knowing they get together at some point, I guess? really, though, it's a romance), I will say I'm impressed with her handle of consent, their power/status differences, and freaking getting the woman ready before plunging a cock into her. The sex scene made this book for me, because of how all of that was handled.

While there were some plot-holes, they weren't glaring enough for me to be too bothered by them. I could enjoy the story of Martise and Silhara for what it was meant for: entertainment. No deep soul-searching here, and that was more than fine.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in fantasy romance with a little power play, anti-heroes, magic, and some descriptive sex.

View all my reviews

Book Review - And I Darken

And I Darken by Kiersten White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had a love/hate relationship with this book from the beginning.

It's a retelling of the possible life of one of my favorite historical figures, Vlad Tepes III, aka Dracula. However, Vlad is gender swapped to female. Lada. I am very much attached to the actual historic figure, who is male, so while I enjoyed a story about a Wallachian noble who is sent as a child to live with their enemy, the Ottomans, and the struggles of their love for country and the friendships they develop in the foreign land, I did not enjoy Vlad portrayed as the character Lada.

Another struggle I had was the course the book took of bringing the reader through Lada and Radu's childhood up until adolescence. It was too long for me. I didn't care about their young childhood years, and I do feel it took too much page space. However, given the potential for the reader to be unsympathetic to Lada's later actions without the context of her childhood I understand WHY it was done. Taking on a character such as Lada is no mean feat, and I am fully in awe of how Kiersten White pulled it off. The balance she kept between the character's nature as violent, dark, and yet still immensely sympathetic deserves its own accolades.

Points I loved were the interpersonal power struggles between Radu, Lada, and Mehmet - their love for each other is always overshadowed by some form of disdain, fear, or outright hatred; the walk through history White takes the readers through - with my limited knowledge of Mehmet it appears White was as accurate as possible with events; and the journey through a land and era I feel has not been given the literary attention it deserves.

But I'm totally biased with that. :P

While I would be cautious about who I recommend this to, it's more of an in depth than casual read I would argue, I will be continuing the series for the potential events and struggles of all the characters.

View all my reviews

Review - How Dogs Work

How Dogs Work by Raymond Coppinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At first I assumed this to be some kind of training book, at least indirectly. It is not. The behaviors it goes over are less about how to teach dogs, and more about why dogs do what they do in a general, scientific sense.

This book takes a mechanical (literally) approach to dogs. What about their bodies make them act a certain way? What evolutionary changes have occurred in order for a border collie to be different than a Maremma? Why do humans anthropomorphize dogs?

We want to believe our dogs are special, emotionally and cognitively. But just because we want to believe doesn't mean it's the truth. This book does NOT attempt to argue or prove that our dogs don't love us. What it does is takes the approach of: is this really special behavior? Why, or why not? This is about learning, dissecting information we've assumed and asking whether it is a fact or a belief.

For me it's about knowing the why behind the actions. I find it absolutely fascinating, and it actually increases my awe at these beloved companion animals.

I loved it. I learned so much about dogs as a species, and vicariously about a couple other animals, too.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in dogs going beyond the 'man's best friend' mentality.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Chapelwood

Chapelwood by Cherie Priest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cherie Priest takes us back into the world of Lizzie (Borden) where once more the horrors of otherworldly things must be confronted and overcome, this time in Alabama.

This is the second book in the series, and the first should be read in order to understand the story line, characters, and references.

I felt this one was much more in line with Lovecraftian horror in the way the horror elements were handled, which I enjoyed. There were few times where visceral gore was used to create the creepy vibe, and I can't recall any cheap jump tactics. This was about atmosphere, how far someone will go to save or damn the world, the loss of people who were important, and fates worse than death. The author's skill in relating the atmosphere, characters, and events were a noticeable improvement from the first book. While that doesn't mean the first book is terrible by any means, it is nice to see an author improving their craft from one book to another.

I liked the characters, new and old, and while none held my fascination quite like Maplecroft did with its antagonist, they were each interesting spins and insights for the story. I enjoyed getting to know them and their motivations.

One of my frustrations - and yet part of the appeal of this series - is the lack of total understanding of the 'other' side. You are given teases and hints of what they are, but never the whole story. You aren't meant to have the whole story. Which is aggravating and fascinating at the same time.

For anyone of the democratic or liberal persuasion with strong feelings about the 2016 USA elections I will caution that some of the story deals with an election that might hit a little close to home with the events and reasons.

The reason I gave this four stars instead of five were the following:

1. The journal/letter format was too detailed without a reasonable explanation to suspend my disbelief. I kept wondering to myself why they would bother describing rooms and how they walked so vividly to the 'reader'. It also made if difficult to believe certain character's demises when they'd just written ridiculously near the events that killed them.

2. There is a plot trope used that I can't get over because it seems like such a...lazy plot device. To not spoil anything I'll refrain from ranting in detail here, but it was impacting enough to me as a reader that it left a bad taste in my mouth that stayed with me through the rest of the book. And, no, it has nothing to do with triggers or sensitive subjects.

The book leaves plenty open to continue the series in spirit, if not with the exact same characters. I would recommend this series to anyone with an interest in Lovecraft-esque horror and Gothic tones without being a scary read.

View all my reviews

Book Review - The Heathen's Guide to Christmas

The Heathen's Guide to Christmas by William Hopper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wish it had been longer.

Will's sarcastic humor had me from the start with the story of his betrayal from none other than Santa Clause one Christmas morning. Going through popular aspects of Christmas, from Mistletoe to the infamous Candy Cane, he unravels the myth that Christmas has always been about the Christ of the Bible. About the babe in the manger.

The journey goes back well into the B.C. era and informs why it's the Celtic and Norse traditions that have been weaved so intricately with the Christmas we know of today, and not Grecian or Persian so much. It takes a jaunt through the roughly two-hundred years of Christmas hibernation, when Puritan influence decided celebrating it was a no-no. And then we're brought to mid to late 1800s, when a very specific poem was first penned and started the marketing schemes we are so aware of today.

Twas the night before Christmas...

This book goes through, making case after case that the 'true' spirit of Christmas has never been about baby Jesus, or the wise men, or angels on high. Christmas has always been about bringing together traditions, appropriating them from other cultures, and making them into something acceptable for the religious and political leaders at the time.

If you can't beat em...

View all my reviews

Book Review - TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking by Chris J. Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chris J. Anderson takes the reader through strategies of some of the most famous TED Talks, and how a perspective public speaker can utilize them - no matter the talk or presentation they're giving.

He warns of pitfalls for the reader to avoid, such as a take vs give talk where the speaker is trying to gain something from the audience instead of giving, which can lead to the talk becoming little more than an elaborate sales pitch. Or trying to impress your audience with your greatness. Even if the talk is about you and your accomplishments, your audience generally doesn't want to sit through an hour of bragging.

He gives suggestions for how to structure your talk, all the way down to the singular decision of should it be memorized or not. There are pros and cons no matter the decision, and I enjoyed reading how both may work and may not work for a particular speaker.

Most importantly, I feel, was he gives the reader the okay to be human on the state. To make mistakes. To have to bring note cards. To fumble. In fact he gives numerous examples on how this can work to an advantage. Embraced, but not beaten to death with apology after apology, a mistake or two can actually endear you to your audience. You're sharing a vulnerability - and with that people are more likely to want to root for you. To see you surmount your obstacle and succeed.

Specifically those people interested in TED Talks.

This is a book I would recommend to anyone interested in the slightest in public speaking - be it for a school presentation, a dreaded board meeting, or for fun. I learned so much from it and will definitely be keeping it on hand to review when the need arises!

View all my reviews

Book Review - God: The Most Unpleasant Character in all Fiction

God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction by Dan Barker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Lord Jealous.

"For you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god..."
- Exodus 34:14

From the get-go Dan's dry humor about the god from the bible drew me in. Throughout the book he points out the inconsistencies and downright weird crap in the bible's numerous passages (not to mention numerous versions), and he uses versus from the Old and New Testament to support the claim of Lord Jealous being:

"The god of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
- Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

This is not a book for those who believe in this god or even the bible as anything more than fictional historical accounts by ancient civilizations, if you couldn't tell.

Dan goes through each trait Dawkin's subscribed to Lord Jealous, and adds a few of his own at the end. Right from the beginning he warns the reader some pages will be a little much to read in one sitting, and he recommends scanning through at first and coming back later. In my ignorance I was determined to read through every single verse he gave me to understand his arguments.

Yeah. Um... After three pages of pure verses on how fire-happy the god of the bible was I took his recommendation and skimmed. I will be going through later and re-reading - and I look forward to it!

Dan's understanding of the bible is a huge help throughout this book - he used to be a preacher - and there are many points he can make that someone with a lesser innate knowledge of the books and how the verses work would be able to.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for arguments the religious will make about "taking it out of context" and for a better understanding of why the bible is not a great moral compass - and while this won't happen I'd also recommend it to anyone who does believe in the bible's god. To better understand the religion a solid take on what is good and bad about it is needed.

Any religious sort who does has my admiration, regardless if they agree with Dan or not.

I wish I would have read this sooner. <3 br="">
View all my reviews

Book Review - Anna Dressed In Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cas is obsessed with hunting ghosts. It's like a family tradition, for one, but there's also the fact his father had been killed by one. When Cas hears about Anna Dressed in Blood, he knows she's the big haul. The one he has to kill.

But she lets him live. Spares his life when she could have torn him into two pieces. Now Cas is on unfamiliar ground, and things are about to get a lot more complicated.

From the beginning this book held my attention. The voice of the main character is distinct, snarky, and a lot a fun to go through the story with. Pieces and hints of later plot events are speckled throughout, and rules of the characters, the world, and the ghosts are set and reaffirmed as the story progresses.

In short: I had a lot of fun reading it.

I wish there had been more to a specific set of characters' interactions and chemistry, and I would have liked the ending twist to have been foreshadowed more. More importantly, however, the events made sense. A few times I wanted to smack characters upside the head, but this had less to do with the soundness and progression of events and more about the fact that they're teenagers.

Although I did have to suspend my belief regarding interactions around the knife later in the book, but the author didn't require too many of those (you know, beside it being about ghosts and such) so I was more than willing to look over it.

Anna herself is both a sympathetic character, and one to be feared. What she does, and how she does it, aren't exactly nice and respectful. While I wish more time had been spent on what exactly was her drive the author succeeded in creating a complex character I was more than willing to root for.

I enjoyed Cas and his mom's relationship and how she dealt with her son going off and frolicking with deadly ghosts as he hunts and destroys them. While perhaps not completely realistic, it was one of those things set from the beginning and reaffirmed enough to be believable.

The ending is emotionally satisfying and leaves plenty open for another book while not necessarily being a cliff hanger.

I will be continuing the series, and will also look for other books by Kendare Blake.

View all my reviews

Book Review - The Young Elites

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I struggled through this book for various reasons.

However, there were also plenty of things I enjoyed.

I loved the main character, Adelina, and her not-quite-so-good-and-pure intentions and actions. Marie Lu Did an excellent job keeping Adelina sympathetic while staying true to a morally grey - leaning toward black - character. For experiencing how an author would write such a character, especially one so young, was worth it.

I also enjoyed the ending. Events came to a satisfying conclusion, and there was a twist or two I didn't see coming, but made sense.

But I had to force myself to complete this book.

Without spoiling anything, there were events (particularly in the middle) which were not grounded in enough logic for me to find feasible. I kept asking 'why would they do that?' and 'how could they do that?' and never found an answer.

There were content issues I had - for instance a major flashback at the beginning of the book - and style choices that threw me out of what immersion I could get into, like the use of 'somehow', 'somewhere' and other vague terms; and while all-around I enjoyed the ending there were still a couple things that bothered me.

There were aspects I loved about this book, but if I had been reading for enjoyment rather than a character study I would not have completed it. Frankly were it not for the ending I would have rated this one star, but it wrapped things up nicely (until the epilogue, which having one is a pet peeve of mine).

Unless it is for further studying Adelina's character and how the author portrays her, I will not be continuing the series.

View all my reviews

Book Review - Hannibal Lecter and Philosophy

Hannibal Lecter and Philosophy by Joseph Westfall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A collection of essays regarding one of horror's most realistic, and human, monsters: Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

This book considers all media of the "Lecter-verse" in compiling philosophies about the various aspects of the character first created by Thomas Harris. It's definitely for the layman, and takes a beginners approach to each philosophical discussion - which I appreciated.

I enjoyed how some essays took one stance on Dr. Lecter's attributes - why he did certain things, his relationships, etc - while others took a different, sometimes opposing, view of the same. And, as with any compilation of various authors, I enjoyed some more than others.

I would have preferred, however, if the majority of the essays did not take the stance of Hannibal Lecter being anything but a fictional character. Far too many of them argued how someone of his specific antisocial personality disorder could exist, and how his traits were entirely believable.

I would have liked a few more about our attraction to such a character, and his character study based on that.

However, I learned quite a few things - specifically about philosophy - and am happy to have taken the time to read it!

View all my reviews

Book Review - Maplecroft

Maplecroft by Cherie Priest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All-around I enjoyed this book well enough that, after finishing some currently-owned books, I will pick up the second in the series.

It's the first I read and finished on my Kindle, so that was fun, too!

I enjoyed the darker tones, the psychological aspects, and the Victorian flair. It could have been because I was getting used to the Kindle, but I wish it had been more blatant about the letter/journal entry style. I did get confused at the beginning until I figured that out.

My main complaints were too many vague allusions to the events surrounding Lizzie's parents. I became frustrated rather than intrigued about not knowing much about them. Also the ending's solution was a little...stretched, in my opinion. I don't feel there was time for the reader to get used to the idea presented before it was used in such a way.

Otherwise I really enjoyed the different POVs, their distinct personalities, and how they often clarified or contradicted each others opinions. The ending was emotionally satisfying while still leaving plenty of open-ended questions and possibilities.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in darker literature that doesn't quite fall fully into the cheap-scares and bloody gore of typical horror novels, especially those who enjoyed the classic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

View all my reviews