REVIEW: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent
Veronica Roth
Kindle edition (borrowed from library)

Goodreads Synopsis: Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

This is the second installment of the Divergent trilogy. It’s been a while since I read the first one (in October), so I was a little rusty when I finally got this digital copy from the library.  (Sidenote: I actually got the digital copy from the library in December and then my Kindle keyboard froze on me, so I had to return the book without reading it.  When I got my new Kindle Paperwhite, I requested the book again and was on hold for a while).

Anyway, it’s a good story, picks up pretty much exactly where the first one ended (if memory serves me correctly).  It actually shows Tris suffering from something like PTSD, and it’s no wonder.  It’s pretty amazing what these young kids (teenagers!) can do, and how well they do it, when it’s the only thing they’re ever taught.

There is a lot of internal searching for Tris in this book,  I think.  I thought it was well done, though sometimes I forgot she was only, what, 16? It’s a pretty harsh world these people live in, so I guess they have to grow up faster than kids in our reality.

This ends on a huge revelation that throws everyone into an uproar.  In fact, the last line of the book is

Then the shouting begins. (page 525)

I look forward to the third book, currently unnamed, due out later this year.

I was surprised to learn how young Roth is (born in 1988), so perhaps this is one of the reasons why she chose a younger character age.  The books are extremely well written for someone so young.

 

REVIEW: The Many Lives of Lilith Lane – Episode V

Related Posts
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III
Episode IV

This is a review of the fifth installment of E. V. Anderson’s The Many Lives of Lilith Lane.

A bit more than a month passed between my reading of the 4th and 5th installments and that was my fault.  I thought I let Jenny (from Plympton) know that I was ready for the last installment and discovered the other day that I never sent her an email!  So she was very quick to respond once I emailed her (thanks Jenny!). I had to re-read the last couple of pages of the 4th installment to re-orient myself (luckily, I remembered well enough afer that brief recap).

My questions noted in the other reviews were answered; whew!

However, I was left with a few questions at the end of the last installment; it ends on a cliffhanger-like ending!  Dun dun dun! This series could definitely continue and I wonder if there is any plan for more; I would be interested in reading more about Lilith and her adventures. I’ll have to ask Jenny.

I believe this was the shortest installment of the bunch (or else it just seemed that way), but it was action packed.  There were a few things that tied in together that I would not have guessed, and they worked; at least the story was neater and not as far-fetched as it could have been (that is, if you can call a book that talks about literally jumping into alternate realities not far-fetched).  It’s confusing for Lilith (and perhaps the reader) to keep track of how the people act and the different relationships in each reality, so I guess we’re lucky to have only seen 2 different realities (I’d like to say “for now” because I think if this series continued we should definitely see other realities!)

Would you be interested in reading a serialized novel?  What if that novel was “never-ending”? (By never-ending I mean, there is no set number of installments and they could continue for as long as the author(s) wanted to write.)

REVIEW: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

 11/22/63
Stephen King
Hardcover edition

Synopsis: Jake Epping is a Maine high school teacher in 2011.  A friend of his shows him a “rabbit hole” to 1958 and encourages him to jump into 1958 in order to prevent the assassination of JFK in 1963.  Jake would have to stay in the past (“The Land of Ago” as he calls it) as George Amberson for 5 years to complete that task, but when he returns to 2011, only 2 minutes will have passed but he will have aged 5 years (a quirk of the rabbit hole). Every time he comes back through the rabbit hole and goes through again, a “reset” happens and he goes back to the same day in 1958. 11/22/63 covers Jake’s 5 years in the past, with all the obstacles he needs to overcome in order to succeed in his mission.  But when that mission is over, what will the future look like?

This is a loong book, clocking in at 849 pages.  But of course, we all know King is extremely well-known for the length of his books and the attention to detail he includes in them.  There were a LOT of details in this book and so much happened over the course of the 5 years, that when Jake/George mentions/notices a similarity to an occurance much earlier in the book, I didn’t always remember it right away.  Or the names seemed vaguely familiar, but until Jake/George specifically mentioned it, I wouldn’t remember exactly what part of the story I had heard that name before.  Overall, this was a good story and I read the book in about a week. I thought the premise of the story was a good one, having been intrigued by time travel and how it would affect the traveler’s present day/future for a long time now.

During my reading, a number of questions were raised: If Jake decided to stay in the past, what would happen when it was time for him to be born?  Would he still be born and then there would be two Jake Eppings in the world?  Did everything Jake do have a direct effect on how the future changes?  Obviously, he meets a bunch of people, so does meeting those people change the course of history? (nevermind his objective, because clearly saving the president’s life is a huge game changer).  Can one person, making even a small change (like buying a car for example), have a significant effect on history and thus the future?

Some of these questions are answered by the end of the book.

I thought the ending was kind of disappointing, but it made sense. I thought it could have gotten a little too sci-fi towards the end with the explanation of the rabbit hole (I know, I know: how can I complain about “too sci-fi” when the book is about time travel?), but it made sense, too.

One thing I hope never to hear again though, is that “the past is obdurate” or that “the past harmonizes”.  I wish I had read this on my Kindle just so I could see how many times both of those sentences were said, it was seriously getting on my nerves.

I definitely liked this book more than Under the Dome, but not as much as IT or The Eyes of the Dragon (two of my favorite SK – and all-time – books).

REVIEW: The Many Lives of Lilith Lane – Episode IV

Related Posts
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III

This is a review of the fourth installment of E. V. Anderson’s The Many Lives of Lilith Lane.

This is the last installment I have access to and I’ve already asked when I can get the fifth one. This entire episode takes place in the alternate reality.

The killer in the original reality may not be the kidnapper in the alternate reality; at least clues are pointing away from that.  Actually, clues aren’t pointing to anyone, but certain aspects of the original reality are not present in the alternate reality (for example, a basement is set up differently in the alternate reality).   It could perhaps be someone else that I’m thinking of, but I think I’m only considering this person based on too many crime television shows (I’ve been watching a lot of SVU lately…) where that particular scenario could play out, but that’s probably wrong.  In the alternate reality, I don’t have a good grasp on who the kidnapper could be.

In fact, based on the happenings in the alternate reality, a number of characters have been crossed off Lilith’s suspect list, leaving pretty much only one.  And by the way things are going, it looks like this person is guilty; we’ll see.

We see and learn more about Michael, Dr. Hammer’s assistant, who is clearly smitten with Lilith but apparently she’s oblivious. He tells his history so matter-of-fact that it’s kind of awkward.  Lilith comments that he says it with almost no emotion.  Is this a clue to anything?

We also get to learn more about the alternate reality counterparts to some of the other characters we met earlier on in the original reality.  (I hope I’m not confusing people with all the “realities”!)  I’m curious to see how the rest will play out in the 5th installment.

This episode ends in a cliffhanger, so I look forward to reading the last installment to learn the rest and discover what happens in the alternate reality, whether Lilith returns to the original reality, and which characters play the biggest roles.  I would love to be completely surprised as to the rest of the story, because we all know a good mystery keeps readers questioning, but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high just in case.  Fingers crossed it’s a good one! (and fingers crossed I can get the last installment very soon!)

REVIEW: The Many Lives of Lilith Lane – Episode III

Related Posts
Episode I
Episode II

This is a review of the third installment of E. V. Anderson’s The Many Lives of Lilith Lane.

Well.

No re-capping/re-introduction in this installment, it picked up right where the second one ended.

Lilith definitely didn’t believe that the police’s suspect was the culprit, and she discovered who was.  I mentioned in my review of episode 2 that I thought it was two people working together though I didn’t understand their motive; it was based solely on the writing and the observations Lilith made.  I was half right.  One of those people is the culprit, but so far it’s being explained as an accident.  We’ll see if that’s truly the case.

We finally get to see Lilith jump again, but it’s pretty much at the very end of the episode so we only see a quick scene. But it’s a doozy, considering what we learned in the original reality!

As I continue to read, I think my only problem is with the writing. I think it’s slightly juvenile, in that it’s very easy to see where the story was going.  Lilith is pretty detailed in describing her observations as well as her thoughts, so it ends up showing really only one path that the story must go down; not necessarily giving us a few different ways.  You know how readers can sometimes piece together other alternatives or get a sense that there are other characters who could be the “bad guy”?  I don’t really see that in this story.  It’s fairly cut and dry, I guess. I don’t think I’m explaining myself well, but I guess it just doesn’t seem all that sophisticated as a mystery.  Don’t get me wrong though, it’s still an enjoyable quick read for entertainment’s sake.  Am I making sense?

I’m curious to see how things play out in the alternate reality.  I mean, there are still questions to be asked and answered (for both Lilith and the reader) since the alternate reality is slightly different from the original reality.  For example, we learn that Beth still gets abducted in the alternate reality, but regardless of whether Lilith saves her, would she still end up murdered? Maybe she was abducted for ransom in this reality. Would the murderer be the same person? If Lilith is trying to prevent Beth’s murder in the alternate reality, would she be stopping the right person?

REVIEW: The Many Lives of Lilith Lane – Episode II

This is a review of the second installment of E. V. Anderson’s The Many Lives of Lilith Lane. 

Related Posts
Episode I

At the beginning of the section we have a few brief re-introductions and some minor re-capping; I guess it makes sense if you have a week or a month in between each reading.  But in my case it seems a little redundant since I can read them with very little time in between.  (It actually made me think of the Baby-Sitters Club books where there was always a re-cap about who the narrator their family and the group, etc. etc.  Do you know what I mean?  Though BSC was more in-depth than the way this installment was.)

We get an explanation as to why they arrested their suspect, but I don’t really buy it, especially as the story continues and we learn about an alibi; well, one that the person won’t admit to, and may be a bit flimsy anyway.  But I still don’t think their suspect is the kidnapper/murderer. I’m starting to draw my own conclusions, but without giving too much away, I think it’s two people working together (I’ll say this: a person around Lilith’s age and an adult).  The only motive I could think of for these two, though, is not equal to kidnapping and murdering a 10-year-old girl. Lilith’s clues are pointing to a different person altogether, but I don’t think that person did it.  I think it might be a set up/framing, though this person could have motive to hurt Lilith’s family… (though this is a terrible way to do it).

We learn a bit more about some of the characters including Dr. Hammer and his association with Lilith’s family (particularly her father), and about the alternate realities.  In the first installment we learned about a car accident that Beth (Lilith’s sister) was in which resulted in the death of her (Beth’s) friend; in this installment we learned more about that friend’s parents. We also learn more about the beauty queen that is mentioned in the Goodreads synopsis and her husband as well the principal.

Though we got to see Lilith jump (literally) into the alternate reality in the first installment, we didn’t get to see that in the second.  She meets with Dr. Hammer so we learn more behind the whole concept, but maybe we’ll have to wait until the next episode to see her jump again.  I don’t think we’ll get to see more than one alternate reality, but I’ll have to keep reading to find out. It’ll be interesting to see how Lilith plans to use the alternate reality to her advantage. (I know I mentioned that it’s slightly different than her current reality, but one thing that’s the same is that Beth still gets abducted. Whether the result of that is the same as what happens in the current reality or if there will be a different outcome is still unknown).

We also see more of Lilith’s dumb boyfriend and her ex-bff.  It looks like the stupid boy is finally out of the picture (he had nothing to offer) and we witnessed a (possible) reconciliation with the ex-bff at Beth’s funeral.  Interesting to see how these relationships play out.

The installment ends with another “dun dun dun”, with clues that Lilith finds. But these are the clues I mentioned earlier, that point to the person I think is being framed.

I’m looking forward to reading the next installment tonight!

REVIEW: The Many Lives of Lilith Lane – Episode I

I mentioned in my most recent post that I was approached to check out a serialized novel.  Well, here is my review on the first installment (which they call “episodes”).

I’m including the Goodreads synopsis so you have some general background:

Seventeen-year-old Lilith Lane has a hunk of a boyfriend, a wicked tongue, and a talent for solving the mysteries that pop up in her small home town of Mirabalis. But when her little sister goes missing in the middle of the night, both Lilith’s detective skills and her recall of sophomore year physics are put to the ultimate test.

To save her sister, Lilith must race against the clock with the help of Dr. Hammer, a mad scientist who pushes Lilith off the edge – literally – of his reality-bending skyscraper. Lilith’s world is turned upside down by her sister’s disappearance, and a skyscraper that is also a portal to a parallel universe suddenly doesn’t seem that surreal. With Dr. Hammer’s help, Lilith must put her girl detective skills to the test and try to save her sister.

A dashing snail expert, a scheming beauty queen, and the heir to a great advertising fortune are just a few of the unforgettable characters who round out the cast in this rollicking tale of love, loyalty, and multiple Earths.

Note: This book was initially released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. All episodes are now available as a complete book.

In the first installment we get set up with the major plotline of the story: Lilith’s little sister Beth is kidnapped and her body is found 2 weeks later.

We meet Lilith, the protagonist who is a senior in high school.  She’s pretty smart and kind of funny.  We meet her parents: an alcoholic (mother) and a philanderer (father).  We learn that her family life isn’t all that great. We also meet Lilith’s boyfriend, (a real dummy), as well as the school principal, who is kind and used to be a close family friend.  About halfway through the first installment we meet Dr. Hammer, the mad scientist, who shows Lilith that she can jump into an alternate reality; but of course things aren’t exactly the same. (I kind of pictured Christopher Walken from that Adam Sandler movie “Click” when we met Dr. Hammer).

Lilith mentions that she used to do detective work around the small town, so I wonder how much of a “sleuth” she really is.  I wonder how realistic the character will be as the story continues.  (Let’s face it, we all love Nancy Drew, but would she really exist in real life?)

By the end of the first installment, we’ve met a number of characters (though we haven’t met the snail expert or heir to the advertising fortune mentioned in the synopsis above); discovered that it is possible to move between alternate realities, but that there are rules and limits (of course); and were left with a: “that can’t be right” kind of reaction; or at the very least, we would hope it’s not true.

So far the story is decent.  The writing isn’t extraordinary, but it is entertaining.

Questions I was left with include: Is that person really the kidnapper/murderer? How many questions will be answered at each installment (whether the reader’s questions or the characters’)?  How many more questions will be raised (for both readers and characters)? How much will we learn in the next installment? Will we see more than one alternate reality?

I guess I’m a little spoiled with my first serialized novel because I received the first 4 installments (out of 5) at the same time, so there is no long waiting period for me. But I’m going to be good: I won’t read the next episode until I’ve written my review. I mentally patted myself on the back, because I stopped at the end of the first episode even though I still had more of my train ride before I got to work.

REVIEW: The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

Title: Map Of Time
Author: Felix J. Palma
Translated by:  Nick Caistor

Goodreads Synopsis: Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time is a page-turner that boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence. What happens if we change history? Felix J. Palma explores this question in The Map of Time, weaving a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting–a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

I bought this book on my Kindle months and months ago.  I saw it on Amazon and thought it sounded good. Then I never got around to it.  First, until I looked it up on Goodreads,  I didn’t even realize it was a translation.  But let me tell you, it’s a wonderful translation.  I didn’t really notice any odd phrases or parts that sounded as if they had been translated.  It was beautifully done.

Next, I should probably tell you that I love the concept of time travel.  It’s one of those things that piques my curiosity.  I’ve read non-fiction books by Michio Kaku (a prominent string theorist) in which he discusses the possibilities of time travel.  Obviously (but unfortunately) I’ll never see it in my lifetime, but it’s an amazing thought that maybe someday it could happen…

The narrator of the novel was a great character separate from the main characters.  He (or she…but I tended to think of it as male) addressed the reader and made it more of an actual storytelling than just a narration, if that makes sense.  By addressing the reader, I feel that the narrator pulled the reader further into the novel.

Normally, a lot of description in a novel can bore me, but I really enjoyed it all, and I think that was due to the narrator.  Yes, there may have been tangents, and yes those usually bother me as well, but it didn’t.  Strange.  Maybe mixing historical fiction with science fiction is the ultimate genre for me. hehe  Historical novels tend to keep me more entertained, even when the descriptions get long.  I love learning about the past, even though I was never a huge fan of history class.

I can’t say much about the plot (aside from what you see in the synopsis above) without giving certain things away.  There were definitely quite a few twists, and at certain parts I was waiting for some sort of  revelation, and there was a final twist at the end.

Each part could stand alone as its own story, but some characters spill over into the other parts and really give a full wonderful version that really intertwines the lives of people who may never even realize it.  I love that it twists and turns, yet is all connected.  It’s really wonderfully written.

REVIEW: When the Wind Blows by James Patterson

When the Wind Blows is one of James Patterson’s earlier novels (published in 1998).

It is set in Colorado where a lone FBI agent Kit Harrison and local veterinarian Frannie O’Neill are hurled into an unbelievable (but real) nightmare that could threaten the lives of many people, especially those of children. They meet an extraordinary young girl with an incredible ability who is connected to an underground lab performing illegal experiments of an inconceivable nature. People continue to turn up murdered. Knowing what is going on could be a death sentence to Kit and Frannie.

I found this novel to be a bit more “elementary” than others of his that I have read. However, it is at least the 30th Patterson book I’ve read. I’ve read all of the Alex Cross series, Women’s Murder Club series, Michael Bennett series, and other random non-series novels. Most of these books were written after When the Wind Blows so a lot of time, practice, and books have occurred since this novel debuted. The characters didn’t seem to be fully developed and the story line moved very quickly, almost a little too quickly. I enjoyed the story, nonetheless, but would have enjoyed more character development and a slightly more drawn-out story line; the action only occurred over a few days. Patterson’s research seemed to be pretty solid and even the way he describes the labs and the scientific atmosphere certainly makes what happens seem possible – scary, but possible.

I have always enjoyed Patterson’s style in the form of the short chapters that make you want to keep reading. So what if his books have 100+ chapters? Most of them are 1-3 pages long. And at the end of most of these chapters, there is a mini cliff-hanger that makes you want to continue reading. I catch myself looking at the last sentences when I realize I am at the end of the chapter to see if it’s something that will “force” me to keep going, or if it is alright to stop at that place for the time being. In fact, sometimes I feel like I am spoiled by this format. (When I read other books with really long chapters I like to think back to a Patterson book with the super short ones.) When I finished this book, I hadn’t even intended to finish it then. I said to myself “When I finish Chapter 80 I’ll close the book and go to bed.” Then it was “OK, when it’s 10pm.” And of course, I ended up finishing the book just before 11:30pm…

A mini book marathon

In my last post I mentioned that I read four books over my week vacation.  It felt like a little marathon, how many books can I get through? I started out at the airport, bright and early, 6am.   I’ll just give brief synopses of the books, without giving too much away.

I began with Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  The story is set in a futuristic society in which young genius children are bred for space warfare.  It focuses on a boy named Ender who goes through many trials and tribulations while in “Battle School” learning the ways of the warriors and the fight against the Buggers (an alien race).

I forget who mentioned this book to me, but I kept it in the back of my mind for a few months and then bought it on my Kindle a couple of weeks ago. First, I had no idea how old the book was. Second, it was kind of hard for me to remember how old, or rather how young, these kids were.  BUT I really enjoyed it nonetheless. I felt bad for Ender and the other children, but I think it was more because they were so young and that they never knew what it was like to be regular children. I kind of kept hoping that Ender would defy the adults by making friends with some of the other kids (and keeping those friendships) instead of just having the commander-subordinate relationship that resulted. (But I think that’s just my emotional self talking). It’s interesting that Card would make children the warriors in this society. Makes the phrase “the children are our future” have a bit more meaning, no?  I definitely recommend this book!
I have added Speaker for the Dead to my Kindle.

Next I moved onto Yoga Bitch: One Woman’s Quest to Conquer Skepticism, Cynicism, and Cigarettes on the Path to Enlightenment by Suzanne Morrison. Morrison regales readers with her story of a short period of time in her life when she questioned things and was scared while on the cusp of big changes in her life.  She enjoys yoga and decides to attend a 2 month yoga teaching retreat in Bali with her favorite yoga instructor.  Part narration and part journal entries, this book really takes readers into the mind of Morrison and, as a 26 year old woman, I can relate to some of her story.

Funny, last year when I went to Aruba I read Eat, Pray, Love which also talks about yoga. Morrison is funny and easy to relate to.  The copies of her journal entries while on her 2-month retreat in Bali were very entertaining.   I’m still not sure how I feel about the whole “pissdrinker” thing, I definitely don’t think I’d be able to do it; though I suppose one might never know what situations one can get into.  Whenever I’m done reading a book about yoga, it really makes me want to get back on my mat and go full force. I lack self-discipline, however.  But I’m really trying!  I’d recommend this one as well.

Then I moved onto Locked in Time by Lois Duncan.  Young adult novel about a girl who goes to live with her father and his new wife and 2 step children and learns that there is something strange about her new step family.  Through some detective work, she discovers a weird secret and must convince her father to escape before it’s too late.

I’m pretty sure I’ve read other books by Duncan in the past and I probably liked her others better than this.  Then again, I was much younger when I read it. It’s your average young adult novel.  It was a short read.  But I think I have outgrown these types of books.  It’s an easy-to-follow plot and the reader can figure out what’s happening early on (especially if you read a summary beforehand!).  Like I said, it was pretty short, so the whole issue is resolved pretty quickly.  I know an adult novel would probably be twice the length with more twists and turns and a little more depth to the characters. Overall, it was fine.

The last book I read on my trip was If Jack’s in Love by Stephen Wetta.  Jack is a young boy from an ostracized family. His dad is constantly out of work, his mom is ugly and his brother is a huge bully and trouble-maker. Jack is a bright young boy but no one but a girl classmate (and Jack’s crush), Mrya, realizes his potential. When Myra’s brother Gaylord goes missing not too long after Jack’s brother Stan threatens him, Jack’s family is ridiculed even more; did Stan do something to Gaylord?  (Set in the 1960′s)

I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it.   And I haven’t really figured out the title yet…

Oh I forgot in my earlier post: I also read the December issue of Yoga Journal.

(all photos are from goodreads.com. Click the image to be taken to the page)