Yzabel / July 21, 2014

Review: How To Date Dead Guys

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How To Date Dead GuysHow To Date Dead Guys by Ann M. Noser

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

College sophomore Emma Roberts remembers her mother’s sage advice: “don’t sleep around, don’t burp in public, and don’t tell anyone you see ghosts”. But when cute Mike Carlson drowns in the campus river under her watch, Emma’s sheltered life shatters.

Blamed for Mike’s death and haunted by nightmares, Emma turns to witchcraft and a mysterious Book of Shadows to bring him back. Under a Blood Moon, she lights candles, draws a pentacle on the campus bridge, and casts a spell. The invoked river rages up against her, but she escapes its fury. As she stumbles back to the dorm, a stranger drags himself from the water and follows her home. And he isn’t the only one…

Instead of raising Mike, Emma assists the others she stole back from the dead—a pre-med student who jumped off the bridge, a young man determined to solve his own murder, and a frat boy Emma can’t stand…at first. More comfortable with the dead than the living, Emma delves deeper into the seductive Book of Shadows. Her powers grow, but witchcraft may not be enough to protect her against the vengeful river and the killers that feed it their victims.

Inspired by the controversial Smiley Face Murders, HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS will appeal to the secret powers hidden deep within each of us.

Review:

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Curiosity Quills, in exchange for an honest review, as part of the related blog tour. Thanks a lot for allowing me to take part in it.)

How To Date Dead Guys was a nice read, light enough and even funny in parts, while also more serious in others. The problems Emma ran into, trying to cover up for the several guys she accidentally brought back from the dead, sometimes made me smile. At the same time, the novel also provided interesting (if typical) questions about “what would you do if you had a second chance at coming to terms with something you couldn’t finish before your death?” Every single one of the drowned men left something behind them, something unfinished, whether it concerned themselves, a relative, or a lover; and those stories were all touching in their own ways. I couldn’t help but agree with them, with their choices to “make it right” or at least try to see what had become of their loved ones.

Emma as a protagonist was fine enough: painfully shy at first, but gaining confidence as she grew into her powers and was also forced to come up with lies to hide what she had done—this with a hint of being tempted in the future by this same power she’s acquired. It’s not the main focus of this first installment in the series, but I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss her desire to keep the Book of Shadows even though it put her in this mess for starters. (First one guy, then another, then three, and all with their own issues? Definitely a mess.) I also liked Jake a lot: infuriating at first, and seemingly a jerk, but one with a heart of gold, who opened Emma’s eyes on more than one thing. He wasn’t even so much a jerk, in fact, than a sociable guy who enjoyed life and took it as it came to get the best out of it, even in death. The outcome of his own predicament was a bit predictable, but cute nonetheless.

And I guess the cuteness factor is one of the things that made me like this book (that, and necromancy—let’s face it, it is necromancy, and I’m always partial to such magic). Even though the novel sometimes bordered on the “too cute”, it was enjoyable. Sure, it might seem cheesy, and yet I just want to say: “So what?” Sometimes we need twee plots and characters. Sometimes we need twee plots and characters. Sometimes I like myself such a book, and considering I had a hard time putting it down for long, I’d say it quite reached its goal.

It’s also light on the romance: there are several men involved, so it stands to logics that Emma wouldn’t get into a relationship with all of them. She’s not immune to their different personalities, their qualities, their quirks, but she manages to remember that nothing can come out of this (them being obviously doomed to become dead again at some point), and in my opinion, such budding relationships, condemned from the beginning, actually helped her grow as a person, going from fickle, almost teenager-like “first attraction” feelings to a deeper understanding of life and love.

On the other hand, I found a couple of things too exaggerated (everyone blaming Emma for Mike’s death was like kicking the proverbial puppy, and Chrissy seemed just so terribly superficial and “me, me, me” that she became tiring—good thing she doesn’t appear much). Moreover, I found the plotline a little too over the place, in that it wove the stories of all those guys, along with Emma’s, Abby’s, Walker’s, and a few others, but didn’t seem to have a really definite plot. The part about the murders came a little too late to my liking, and almost felt like a kind of afterthought, as if the novel suddenly had to be more serious than it had been up until now. There are some hints here and there, but the characters just don’t seem that bothered about them, except perhaps for two (who don’t voice out their suspicions, though, so they’re only proved right later).

I’m giving it 3/3.5 stars “only” because of that, but I’ll still recommend it if you’re looking for a light read that is sometimes fun, sometimes mellow, and sometimes sad.

You can get this book from:

Yzabel / July 20, 2014

Review: The Girl From The Well

The Girl from the WellThe Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

You may think me biased, being murdered myself. But my state of being has nothing to do with the curiosity toward my own species, if we can be called such. We do not go gentle, as your poet encourages, into that good night.

A dead girl walks the streets.

She hunts murderers. Child killers, much like the man who threw her body down a well three hundred years ago.

And when a strange boy bearing stranger tattoos moves into the neighborhood so, she discovers, does something else. And soon both will be drawn into the world of eerie doll rituals and dark Shinto exorcisms that will take them from American suburbia to the remote valleys and shrines of Aomori, Japan.

Because the boy has a terrifying secret – one that would just kill to get out.

The Girl from the Well is A YA Horror novel pitched as “Dexter” meets “The Grudge”, based on a well-loved Japanese ghost story.

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.)

Not so much “terribly scary” for me in the end, in that I don’t scare easily, yet fascinating nonetheless for its depiction of ghosts, the appearance they have after death, and the imagery it conjured. I could fairly easily picture Okiku, the murderers she targeted and got revenge on in place of the dead children, said children literally latched onto those men’s necks and linked to their limbs by spirituals cords… And the woman in black… well, all right, that one I’d definitely attempt to draw someday, although I’m not sure I could do her justice. I think the way the story was told, too, contributed to this: somewhat cold and detached, and special, because it’s a strange mix of omniscient and first person point of view (the story’s told by Okiku herself, who’s able to observe other characters and their reactions, and sense their thoughts and feelings). In any other story, it probably wouldn’t have worked for me; here, it did, because it seemed to fit with the ghost’s paradigm. I don’t know if other readers in general would like it, but as far as I’m concerned, it partook the fascination I had for this novel, through descriptions that were just the right length and just suggestive enough (all the more for the intended YA audience), without falling into the realm of “too much”.

The Girl From The Well is loosely based on a well-known Japanese legend, that of a servant girl who worked for a lord, and was tasked with keeping ten precious plates; she was tricked into believing she had lost one of them, and was put to death for her “carelessness”. As a result, she became a vengeful spirit who drove her former lord to death—and the number 9 sends her spirit into a frenzy. This was nicely reflected in the book, in that Okiku tends to count whatever she sees (people, items…), and the accursed number indeed makes her react violently. Forever detached from both human world and and elusive afterlife, she can only watch, in between enacting revenge throughout the world on people who’ve killed children, but were never punished for their bad deeds. The Smiling Man, especially, was of quite a scary persuasion—I find smiles way more frightening than other expressions whenever such characters are concerned.

However, this isn’t exactly Okiku’s story. Hers was already written, already told, and this is more a “what would happen some three hundred years later, how would such a vengeful spirit evolve with time.” Partly to her own surprise, she finds herself drawn to Tarquin, a boy with strange tattoos, and whose fate is doomed to be a dark one if what plagues him isn’t destroyed in time. (Note: there’s no romance involved—a very welcome element in my opinion. It would just’ve been weird and misplaced in such a story.) Odd things happen around Tark, his own mother has been locked in an institution and has tried to kill him several times, and he just doesn’t understand much to what’s happening. But other people slowly start to notice the presence that haunts him, those people being mostly Okiku and his cousin Callie, and it’s up to them to try and understand what his problem his, and how to solve it, which involves going back to his roots.

On the downside, I wasn’t too convinced by the characters in general, in that they seemed more driven by the plot than people with their own lives. Okiku’s involvement was also somewhat problematic, since she was mostly a watcher and didn’t act as much as I expected her to. I think I would’ve liked her nature as a vengeful spirit to show through more than it did; for instance, one of the vengeance scenes made me feel like it had been put there as some kind of reminder, and not really as part of the plot. There was also one huge blunder that could’ve been easily avoided if only one of the characters had spoken out loud about a specific event, yet didn’t for… no reason? I don’t mind characters making honest mistakes, but not when the latter are the product of unexplained reasoning.

Overall, I had a hard time putting this book down, and remained fascinated, though with hindsight, those aspects I mentioned prevented me from rating it higher. (3.5 stars)

Yzabel / July 18, 2014

Review: Sidekick

SidekickSidekick by Auralee Wallace

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Bremy St James, daughter of billionaire Atticus St James, has been cut off from the family fortune and is struggling to survive in a world that no longer holds its breath every time she buys a new outfit. To make matters worse, her twin sister is keeping secrets, loan sharks are circling, and the man of her dreams — a newspaper reporter — is on assignment to bring down everyone with the last name St James.

Things are certainly looking bleak for the down-and-out socialite until a good deed throws her into the path of the city’s top crime-fighter, Dark Ryder. Suddenly, Bremy has a new goal: apprentice to a superhero, and start her own crime-fighting career.

Ryder has no need for a sidekick, but it turns out the city needs Bremy’s help. Atticus St James is planning the crime of the century, and Bremy may be the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him.

Now all she needs to do is figure out this superhero thing in less than a month, keep her identity secret from the man who could very well be The One, and save the city from total annihilation.

Well, no one ever said being a superhero would be easy…

Review:

(I got a copy of this book throuhg NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

OK for the most part, in that it provided me with a fluffy, fast, light reading, but nothing I’ll remember much, I’m afraid.

I liked the basic idea of the ex-rich girl deciding to tackle on the role of a hero’s sidekick: I thought it held a lot of potential for funny situations as well as superhero gadgets à la Batman. However, those situations were either not exploited enough to my liking, or too ridiculous to be actually funny. I smiled a few times, but after a while, Bremy’s membership in the Too Stupid To Live club reached such epic proportions that I would just roll my eyes and wonder why anyone even bothered with her, from her shady landlord to Ryder and Bart. Smaller doses of such clueless behaviours would’ve been funny in my eyes; here, there were just too many for me to care enough to laugh.

The characters in general weren’t fleshed out, and remained at face value level. While normally, this could work in humorous stories, at least in my own reading experience, a little depth is still somewhat needed for me to fully appreciate a cast. There wasn’t much of an explanation for Queenie’s involvement, for instance, and the whole thing with Jenny indeed seemed to have moved way too fast (one month?). Some elements remained unexplained, some loose ends weren’t tied, making the novel seem like it’s begging for a sequel. The villain’s plan also felt too stale. The love interest sparked zero interest here on my part. Again, it was supposed to be funny, I know. Only it just didn’t work in my case, owing to Bremy’s TSTL quality and Pierce’s naivety. That combo was a deadly one (not in a good nor amusing way).

Overall, this novel felt as if it was trying too hard to be funny, and in the end, it became sort of… tiring. Much to my dismay, because it’s one of the genres (humour + loser heroes) I’m usually attracted to.

Yzabel / July 17, 2014

Review: Dark Child – The Omnibus Edition

Dark Child: The Omnibus Edition (Covens Rising, #1)Dark Child: The Omnibus Edition by Adina West

My rating: [rating=1]

Summary:

Lately things have been getting weird for pathology technician Kat Chanter. She’s been craving raw meat, and having dreams so realistic they’re scary. When she accepts a job offer from the prestigious Hema Castus Research Institute, she hopes she’ll have the chance to discover what’s wrong with her, but instead, her move to New York thrusts her headlong into a treacherous hidden world, where the wrong move could be fatal . . .

Tarot, witchcraft and astrology all take on a frightening resonance in Dark Child’s richly imagined alternative reality where vampiric beings live among us, hidden by magic. Dark romance tangles with paranormal fantasy and page-turning suspense in this enthralling tale of ‘dark child’ Kat Chanter, half-human and half-vampire, who has woken an ancient prophecy and must face a formidable destiny.

Dark Child was originally released in serial form.

Review:

(I got a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

In the beginning, I found the story interesting… Then I lost interest pretty quickly, and struggled to finish it.

The premise was what drew me to it; while the whole vampire/shapeshifter thing is nothing new in urban fantasy, the mythology behind those here was pleasant to discover, though a bit heavy sometimes in terms of information dumping. I also liked Kat at first, as she took matters in hands, analysed her own blood to try and find out what the anomalies in it meant, and so on.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Mostly I’d chalk this out to four factors:

1) The pacing. At some point, I was seriously going into cabin fever mode, itching to read something else than “characters remain cooped up in hiding in some house in the mountains”. When action happened, it came a little too late to my liking, and was over too quickly. It made me think, really, so that was it? After that, the ending seemed to drag, too.

2) The characters. Kat turned out to be a rather bland, passive person who let a lot of other people talk about her as if she was an object (right under her nose). Some of it was understandable, because at some point she was compelled to remain quiet, through the use of another character’s power. But it went on later, even when such powers weren’t enacted anymore. I had good hopes for this character, and she clearly didn’t live up to them, not even a little. The others had a few distinctive features, but they never struck me as remarkable in any way. As for the “villains”… Yeah, well, not very active either.

3) The romance. Completely useless in my opinion. It didn’t bring anything to the plot, and the two male ends of the love triangle never registered as interesting for me. The only redeeming feature in it was Kat at least realising that getting involved with the Bad Boy wasn’t such a great idea.

4) Borderline Too Stupid To Live decisions. Totally subjective factor here, because I’m a geek and I get that people who’re less tech-savvy than I wouldn’t necessarily consider such issues, but… Seriously, when you’re on the lam, you do not use your cell phone to call your parents. Hello there? GPS tracking? Stuff like Facebook apps registering your location? Bad guys tapping the line? Whatever?

I wanted to like it. I really did. Alas, alas…

Yzabel / July 13, 2014

Review: The Steampunk Trilogy

The Steampunk TrilogyThe Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo

My rating: [rating=1]

Summary:

An outrageous trio of novellas that bizarrely and brilliantly twists the Victorian era out of shape, by a master of steampunk alternate history

Welcome to the world of steampunk, a nineteenth century outrageously reconfigured through weird science. With his magnificent trilogy, acclaimed author Paul Di Filippo demonstrates how this unique subgenre of science fiction is done to perfection—reinventing a mannered age of corsets and industrial revolution with odd technologies born of a truly twisted imagination.

In “Victoria,” the inexplicable disappearance of the British monarch-to-be prompts a scientist to place a human-lizard hybrid clone on the throne during the search for the missing royal. But the doppelgänger queen comes with a most troubling flaw: an insatiable sexual appetite. The somewhat Lovecraftian “Hottentots” chronicles the very unusual adventure of Swiss naturalist and confirmed bigot Louis Agassiz as his determined search for a rather grisly fetish plunges him into a world of black magic and monsters. Finally, in “Walt and Emily,” the hitherto secret and quite steamy love affair between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman is revealed in all its sensuous glory—as are their subsequent interdimensional travels aboard a singular ship that transcends the boundaries of time and reality.

Review:

(I got an e-copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

A strange read, not totally devoid of interest, but that didn’t do much for me, probably in part because its title is definitely misleading when it comes to “steampunk” as a genre, and isn’t representative of what it entails. It’s more Victoriana with a dash of paranormal and alternate history, and references to existing personae (poets, scientists…) and literary works (not always exact—Nana isn’t Balzac’s work, but Zola’s). This book’s title was seemingly what coined the term “steampunk”, though there’s not a whiff of “steam” in there. Sometimes the mind boggles.

As a whole, sometimes it was accurate enough in its depiction of 19th century society, and sometimes it just didn’t work at all.

“Victoria” was amusing enough, if you appreciate a somewhat rompish humour. But its ending was highly unbelievable and improbable, considering the person involved. I just don’t see how anyone in circles of power would consider that a good idea, certainly not in British politics.

“Hottentots” I found mostly boring and disjointed, with no real sense of a plot. I kept reading it because it made fun of Agassiz, and nothing else—the humour helps defuse his racist thoughts and jingoism, which otherwise are pretty cringeworthy and hard to stand. Also, Cesar’s transcribed accent distracted me and threw me out of the story’s flow basically every time he opened his mouth). While there’s a wide variety of accents in languages, such transcriptions in literature are seldom well-done, and too quickly fall in the “too much” category. Not a good idea here, and clearly the story I liked the least (oh, scratch that: I didn’t like it at all). I’d say its only interest was in the satire department.

“Walt and Emily” was more interesting to me, because I know their poetry well enough, could find my marks there, and the planned trip to the Summerland felt at least like there was some plot there, one that fit with the two poets’ works. Style-wise, it was also the most lyrical, and I quite liked this. Unfortunately, it couldn’t really make up for the rest of the book.

1.5 stars.

Yzabel / July 8, 2014

Review: Soulwoven

SoulwovenSoulwoven by Jeff Seymour

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Litnig Jin has spent his life yearning for the power to weave the souls of the dead into magic. His brother Cole has spent his believing in nothing bigger than his own two hands.

When a dragon sinks its claws into their nightmares, their lives will change forever.

A dream of moving statues, shattered chains, and seething clouds of darkness sets the brothers on a journey into the unknown. A prince asks for their help. A necromancer hunts them. The bloom of first love gives Cole something to believe in.

As the brothers travel the world of Guedin seeking to prevent the hatred of a god from coming to life, Litnig discovers he has more power than he ever thought possible. But learning why may cost him his brother, his best friend, and everything he is.

Soulwoven was serialized on the story-sharing site Wattpad in 2012. It went on to garner half a million reads while being featured there for over a year. A 2013 Kickstarter funded additional editing, artwork, and polish for the book, which is now available commercially for the first time.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I’m adding this novel to my list of books I’m not exactly sure what to make of. I guess it might sit better with readers who really like fantasy stories with typical tropes, which I’m not at the moment, so take my review with a grain of salt.

I found Soulwoven to be full of interesting ideas, especially when it comes to the characters and their relationships. The plot itself is of the fairly straightforward, “typical fantasy” kind: an ancient (evil) god on the verge of waking up, with a group of characters traveling to prevent this from happening. However, this bunch of people gathered through circumstances must go through its own issues of trust, friendship and love, and a sense of duty isn’t always enough to keep things going smoothly—far from it. I really dug this aspect of the novel. Everyone in the group has at least one person of interest s/he wants to follow, for various reasons, and this creates a good dynamics.

However, at times, I found the narrative lacking in showing this very dynamics. Some events were shown from different points of view, but I’m not always sure the choice of scenes was the best (fight scenes, for instance). After a while, it felt as if part of the cast of characters was given more prominence over the others. While Dil’s and Litnig’s stories were pretty interesting to read (both had to deal with the secret behind their true natures, and face the prospect of being rejected by the ones they loved), other characters got the short end of the straw. Quay mostly became the leader and nothing more, and Ryse and Leramis didn’t get as much screen time as their past should’ve warranted them, in my opinion. Maybe their relationship will be developed in the next book, but I thought it would’ve been interesting to see more of it here, because of how Litnig saw it, and how it might have affected his own evolution. (I liked his progress, by the way. He wasn’t so much the oaf he seemed to be, and the story didn’t want for opportunities of making him turn towards the dark side, so to speak.)

Another issue for me was the pacing. Granted, I must admit I’m not always keen on the traveling parts in fantasy novels in general (yes, even in widely acclaimed novels), but I don’t know if this was what caused the problem in the first place. Sometimes I wanted to keep reading, and at other times, suddenly, I didn’t feel like picking up the book again. A few scenes were rather confusing, and I had to go back and read a second time to make sure I hadn’t missed something, and understand properly what was going on. I’m tempted to chalk this to a few strange reactions on the characters’ behalf. Among other things, I’m still not sure why the Sh’ma brought the group to his leader, knowing all too well how it may end. I’m also not convinced with the potential political intrigue back in Eldan City: this is the kind of thing that would deserve a plot in and of itself, so either there was too much or too little of it here. Although it provides an interesting backdrop for later novels, it still felt a little artificial (perhaps because the group had to hide because of it, which paved the way for the death of one specific character, which fell into the cliché category for me).

Good ideas, definitely (if on the typical fantasy tropes side), though not always executed in a way that would really emphasise their worth. Nevertheless, it’s good to see a novel whose characters all have their own, often touching background stories, and whose journeys to save the world are also addled with very human relationships.

Yzabel / July 7, 2014

Review: Tales of the Hidden World

Tales of the Hidden WorldTales of the Hidden World by Simon R. Green

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Seventeen delightfully unexpected stories from Simon R. Green–including a brand-new adventure of the Droods–take us deep into the Darkside, embroil us in the Secret Histories, and lead us into the shadowy places where monsters and demons roamWelcome to the worlds of Simon R. Green. In this wide-ranging collection, the “New York Times”-bestselling urban fantasist opens doors into hidden places: strange realms bordering our own mundane existence and prowled by creatures of fancy and nightmare. Here are the strange, frequently deadly–and sometimes even dead–things that lurk in garbage-strewn city alleyways and grimy subway stations after midnight, visible only to the most perceptive human or inhuman eye.In these tales, Green revisits the ingenious worlds within worlds that he created for his wildly popular novels. Take a stroll on the Darkside with a jaded street wizard, an underpaid government functionary responsible for keeping demons, vamps, and aliens in line. Enter the hidden recesses of Drood Hall, where the aging family member who creates powerful weapons that protect humankind recalls his long and bloody career. Join a squad of no-longer-human soldiers dispatched to combat the all-consuming jungle on a distant planet. Visit a house at the intesection of two realities that serves as a sanctuary from the evil of “all” worlds. Confront the unstoppable zombie army of General Kurtz in a brilliant homage to “Apocalypse Now.” And whatever you do, never forget that there “are” monsters out there. Really.Each story includes a new afterword by the author.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I’m not quite sure what to make of this anthology. I only know Simon R. Green through his Hawk & Fisher series, of which I only read the first volume, so I applied for this one thinking it’d make a good introduction to his writing in general, but… I’m not so sure anymore. For instance, the first story, for instance, deals with the Armourer of the Drood family, and while I mostly got what it was about, it feels like not knowing the corresponding series is a slight problem. Or maybe it’s just me.

Also, I admit I skipped the second story (“Street Wizard”), because I had already read it a few weeks ago in another anthology.

Most of those stories were rather dark, which was all right with me, since I was in a mood to read about characters put in such situations. I guess mostly my problems with this anthology stemmed from the choice of stories, whose plots in general didn’t seem so thrilling, and whose twists were fairly predictable (“Dorothy Dreams”), or kind of flat (“Down and Out in Deadtown”). The last third of the book is made of older shorts dating back to the 70-80s, and they feel different, incomplete, somehow… unfinished? The last two in particular puzzled me: the prequel was printed after the “main” story, and it removed all suspense as to whether the characters would survive their adventure. I don’t really understand that choice.

I read Hawk & Fisher in French, not in English, so I can’t compare the author’s style here with that in his novels. When it comes to this specific collection, I thought it was heavy on the adverbs.

All in all, lots of good ideas, but not so well executed.

Yzabel / July 2, 2014

Review: Greene’s Calling

Greene's Calling (Seventeen, #3)Greene’s Calling by A.D. Starrling

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

An immortal healer.
An ancient legacy reborn.
A chain of cataclysmic events that threatens to change the fate of the world.

When a plane crashes in the Amazonian swamp where Conrad Greene is attempting to live out the rest of eternity, the jaded immortal who was once one of the Bastian First Council’s greatest assets stumbles across a conspiracy involving the recently elected president of the United States.

Caught in the middle of the intrigue is US Secret Service agent Laura Hartwell, the one immortal on Earth most likely to put a bullet through Greene’s skull.

Greene is coerced into returning to the life he had left behind by the leader of the Bastians and reluctantly agrees to assist the Americans in their investigation. As disturbing incidents start to unfold around the globe, Greene and a team of elite human and immortal agents must track down an elusive organization hell-bent on shifting the power balance of the world.

Can Greene stop the deadly countdown that threatens to alter the course of human history and regain the trust of the woman he loves?

Review:

(I got an e-copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

This is the third book in this series (“Seventeen”) I read, and even though I haven’t rated those any higher than 3/3.5 stars so far, I must say they do all fall in the “I liked it” category: there are slight changes in the genre itself (man-hunt, artifact/ancient secrets, special services…), things sometimes go too fast for serious character development, but all things considered, whenever I want an action-packed story with guns, helicopters, wild chases and people with powers (immortals), these novels deliver.

Both merit and flaw here: each novel focuses on a different character. Merit, because it allows the author to put these people (immortals as well as their human allies) into situations for which they are more suited than others, and have a bigger picture slowly come together—something tells me there should be at least two more installments to this series. Flaw, because said characters can’t be explored as deeply as they would if they were the heroes of two, three, four books. Somehow, we get a glimpse and back-story elements, but there are times when I’d like to see more.

However, as I mentioned above, the “Seventeen” books are pretty good in terms of action, lively fights, and from what I know, believable research, if a little over-the-top now and then (I tend to like a bit of over-the-top, by the way). Picturing each scene is fairly easy, and I’m positive they’d also do great as movies. Hardened secret services agents, assasination attempts, political play on a worldwide level, antagonists that go back to older days, an investigation taking place in several European cities… Mostly those elements make for an entertaining read. Not something I’d discuss at length for a book club, sure, but then, this isn’t what I expect from such novels. I expect to be entertained and awed with good action scenes—and those I get.

One interesting thing: the kickass medic. I haven’t seen that kind of combination too often (a healer-type character who can also hold his/her own and doesn’t have to be protected by the others). All right, Conrad’s power is kind of unique, in that all the others who had it are now dead, from what I understood, but it ties into the red thread intrigue going on from novel to novel. I really hope there’ll be more about that in the next volume, about those immortals with a specific mark on their skin, and what their role is supposed to be (because there must be one, right?). Both Crovir and Bastian societies are somewhat tied into working with each other, and it sort of hints at a bigger threat looming in later.

There’s one side of the story I would’ve liked to see explored more, though: the consequences of so many heads of state being targeted. The characters realise what’s at stake, and do their best to prevent it, but I thought we didn’t get to see exactly how things played out for regular people. Did they care? What about the lockdown on airports? How did international diplomacy unfold? It was here, but somehow “in the background”, and it made the threat less… tangible.

This qualm put aside, it was a pleasant read. Not too deep, but definitely entertaining.

Yzabel / June 27, 2014

Review: Paradigm

ParadigmParadigm by Ceri A. Lowe

My rating: [rating=1]

Summary:

What if the end of the world was just the beginning?

Alice Davenport awakens from a fever to find her mother gone and the city she lives in ravaged by storms – with few survivors.

When Alice is finally rescued, she is taken to a huge underground bunker owned by the mysterious Paradigm Industries. As the storms worsen, the hatches close.

87 years later, amidst the ruins of London, the survivors of the Storms have reinvented society. The Model maintains a perfect balance – with inhabitants routinely frozen until they are needed by the Industry.

Fifteen-year-old Carter Warren knows his time has come. Awoken from the catacombs as a contender for the role of Controller General, it is his destiny to succeed – where his parents failed.

But Carter soon discovers that the world has changed, in ways that make him begin to question everything that he believes in. As Carter is forced to fight for those he loves and even for his life, it seems that the key to the future lies in the secrets of the past…

Review:

(I got this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. My copy being an ARC, some things in it may be different than they are in the published book.)

I’m not sure what to make of Paradigm. On the one hand, while its cover is terribly reminiscent of Divergent, and while it also deals with a dystopian world, it does so in a different way than what is usually seen in similar novels: the reader is actually given to see both the dystopian society and its origins, through the eyes of Carter (“present” time) and Alice (“past” time). On the other hand, I did find the story confusing in several places, and its good ideas not exploited enough.

What I liked:

* Two timelines with their own characters. I’m fond of books that make use of different timelines, because I always hope this will give me a deeper insight on what’s happening to whom, and where and when it’s happening. It opens up a lot of possibilities, and the one here—seeing what led to the “present time” dystopian state led by the Industry—is definitely interesting. The thought process involved is somewhat logical enough: “the old world failed us and we failed it, so if we are to survive, we must destroy what’s left and reinvent something new, not try to recreate our old lives.”

* Alice’s bleak background, and how she decided to shape a life for herself. She lost her father when she was still quite young, her mother had to sleep with men to earn money (it’s heavily implied that the forbidden room was where she would welcome customers at times, or at least, that’s how I understood it), her daily life and surroundings were far from brilliant. When the Storms hit, when she was brought underground with other survivors, she decided that she was given a chance to start all over, on equal footing with people who, before the catastrophe, had more money, weren’t bullied at school, had better prospects than her… She didn’t dwell on the misery, on the lost world, and when she did, she realised she had to come to terms with it, because it would never come back, and moping wouldn’t change anything, except set her back. The way she grew up after that, the way her mind shaped itself, was fascinating both for its positive take and for its wickedness, as contradictory as it may seem: she started from a “now I have the same chances as everyone else” approach to go through a process that would make her a perfect candidate for establishing a dystopian society.

* The setting. No USA this time, but London. I love London. I’m totally biased about London. And the Black River definitely lives up to its name. (Every person who’s been to/living in London must know by now that the Thames isn’t fit for diving, even now. ;))

* No romance, or so little (a couple of kisses, a few memories) that it didn’t really matter. Don’t misunderstand me, I can appreciate romance, but YA novels, whether dealing with dystopia or not, so often end up with stories boged down by love triangles and lovey-dovey scenes that it quickly gets old. Love wasn’t the focus here, it never was, there were so many other things to tackle first, and that’s exactly what the author did.

What I didn’t like:

* The world building started off on an intriguing footing, but some things didn’t make much sense. I would’ve liked the Storms phenomenon and its origins to be better explained—more than “we ruined our planet with pollution and now it’s too late.” Was it the same in every country? Can it only be the same everywhere? Where are the other countries, anyway (because it seems London is the only place left in the world here)? How come the Storms happened so fast? What about the government’s actions, the Army’s, the Navy’s, the police’s (it looks as if they didn’t do anything, and just died like everyone else)? Also, hurricanes by definition can’t hit Northern Europe; windstorms, sure, but not technically hurricanes. Another thing that bothered me: why were the Scouts affected by the water when they were equipped with hazmat/anti-radiation suits? From what I know, those are supposed to block particles, and I doubt whatever was in the water was tinier than alpha and beta particles—and there was heavy radiation around, since exposure was shown to lead quickly to radiation poisoning, with hair falling in clumps, bleeding, etc. If the water could affect them, then shouldn’t they have died of such poisoning pretty fast, too? (Which still happens too fast, by the way. Radiation sickness develops in 24-48 hours, not a few minutes only.)

Although it’s something younger readers might not pay attention to, you can never tell what they know exactly, and I think those things will clearly lead to questioning.

* Carter’s arc went too fast in places, and I found his character inconsistent. He started like the perfect brainwashed candidate for Mr. Dystopian World Of The Year, having worked all his (short) life to become Controller General, which is totally all right with me in such a setting… but then, he seemed to be affected too quickly by what he discovered, to be swayed and changed too drastically. His development may have been more believable to me if he had had more contact with Ariel and Lucia, with Isabella, with Iseult, and hadn’t been influenced so easily.

* Speaking of which, the characters in general didn’t feel very developed. I think the problem might’ve stemmed from the use of two timelines, demanding that the focus be on many things. As a result, we’d probably have needed a longer novel, in order for most of those people to be given their chance at development.

* A lasting feeling of confusion. It somehow worked in the beginning, in that it reflected Carter’s own confusion upon waking up, but after a while, I wasn’t sure anymore why the story jumped to this or that scene, and I always wondered if I had missed a chapter in between.

* The whole process of waking up people 15-20 later for them to contribute to society wasn’t too clear in its origin and goals. In a way, I can understand the desire to keep people with specific skills in cryo-sleep if they’re not absolutely needed in the now, in order to wake them up at a time when their skills are more in demand. However, why wake up a few kids and make them compete for Controller General position when they haven’t even had time to get adjusted to a world 15 years older than the one they knew? The Industry knew things had been changing, they wanted someone to right them, and I can’t decide if this made sense (keep the kids in the dark so that they compete the way they would have 15 years ago, and “bring back” ways considered as more appropriate) or not (having more data in hand could help contenders to grasp the situation and adapt their actions in order to make society the way they had known it).

* The writing style: overall an easy read, but sometimes I found sentences that didn’t make much sense, clauses with missing words, or descriptions that were way too vague (“There was something about him, thought Alice, that reminded her of something, but she couldn’t quite place it.”) As said, though, this was an ARC, so those problems might have been edited out of the final version.

I’m rating this book 1.5 stars because I really appreciated it not giving in to the pressure of “YA must have romance” and for dealing with the making of a dystopian world, not only its current existence. But it still left me frustrated on way too many accounts.