Category Archives: books/book review

Craving

Book Review of Craving (The Apocalyptic Series #1), by Kristina Meister

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Craving

I won a copy of the second book in Kristina Meister‘s Apocalyptic series, The One We Feed. So I ended up buying the first one, Craving. It took a year, mind you, to convince myself to spend my meager book budget on it. But I got to it eventually.

Description from Goodreads:
When Lilith Pierce’s younger sister commits suicide, Lilith consoles herself with cleaning up Eva’s final mess. But when she returns to the coroner’s office to collect the body, she finds that the last few days were all a bizarre waking dream that never actually happened. 

Aided by the detective who witnesses her brush with the paranormal, she tears apart her sister’s shadowy new life. Yet after reading hundreds of Eva’s detailed journals Lilith still has no explanation and no suicide note. Her search becomes a maddening obsession uncovering tantalizing questions but no answers…until she meets a stranger at her sister’s funeral. 

Drawn to the mysterious man in a way she cannot explain, Lilith seeks the help of his crew of equally bizarre friends, including an immortal, blue-haired hacker and a Desert Storm veteran. As her prophetic visions intensify and she begins to develop even stranger powers, she uncovers a culture woven into the fabric of history-a culture founded on an idea of peace gone horribly wrong. 

From philosophy, to faith, to freakish genetic mutation, man’s deepest desires became his greatest flaws, turning all those who succumb into vicious monsters. 

And very soon, Lilith will become one of them.

Review: 
You know, when you read reviews of vampire book you often hear comments about the book being a new take on the myth. This one really is though. I’ve read hundreds of vampire books and never come across one that takes the origins of vamparisim in this direction. Granted, this isn’t just about vampires. In fact, they’re a small portion of the story. But it’s still fun to find something new.

The main character, Lilith, is not an immediately likable character. She has been a shite sister for one thing and doesn’t seem to grieve well. But she’s also an incredibly unreliable narrator. It just takes a little while to realize this. As the book progresses she becomes more likable, relatable and forgivable. All the other main characters, lets just call them good guys, are wonderful. I adored them all.

I also really liked that the Arhat seemed to be basically asexual by choice or inclination, not inability, but there was still recognizable love of various forms obvious between the characters. The fact that Lilith was 35 and Matthew even older was something to appreciate too. Sometimes I feel like characters over 27 never get to be heros.

Unfortunately, the book does suffer a little bit from too-perfect heroine syndrome. Lilith developed new abilities at an astounding rate and always just when she needed them. They felt very deus ex machina (several times). It also tended toward lecturing. All the philosophical discussions slowed the pacing down quite a bit. Even with all those philosophical explanations, I felt like the actual mechanics of the ‘change’ were left very vague. As a result it felt very…well, woo-woo—even occurring over the phone at one point. Lastly, there is a notable repetition of the word askance. It’s one of those words that stands out, especially when seen several times (sometimes as a noun, which I’m not sure it can be).

All in all, a fun ride and I’m looking forward to reading book 2.

What I’m drinking: Plain old Tetley’s black tea.

Book Review of A Wife of Noble Character, by Yvonne Georgina Puig

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A Wife of Noble Character

I won an ARC of A Wife of Noble Character, by Yvonne Georgina Puig, through Library Thing.

Description:

Thirty-year-old Vivienne Cally is wealthy in name only. Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold but regal aunt, Vivienne was taught to rely on her beauty and Texas tradition, and is expected to marry a wealthy and respectable man who will honor the Cally name. Friends with Houston’s most prominent families, she’s a beloved fixture at social events, and suffers no shortage of access to the city’s most eligible bachelors. Preston Duffin has known Vivienne and her set since childhood, though he’s never shared their social aspirations or status. About to graduate from a prestigious architecture program, he is both fascinated and repelled by this group of friends he sits on the cusp of. He’s long admired Vivienne’s beauty, but isn’t sure he holds any place in so traditional a life. Intrigued by the extent to which Preston challenges the only way of life she’s ever known, Vivienne both courts his attention, and rebuffs his critiques of her antiquated values.

Review:

Lordy, I struggled with this one. I set it aside so many times. In fact, I read five other books between starting it and finishing it. I’ll say up front that I felt it redeemed itself in the end, but for most of the book I could not relate to Vivienne. I disliked her intensely.

I understood what Puig was highlighting with the positions Vivienne found herself in and the way she thought and what she did to survive, but it all made my skin crawl. It’s the sort of feeling I actively avoid in my life, so it was very hard for me to face it through Vivienne.

However, the writing is beautiful. The characters are ones you’ll recognize, even as you hate them. And, as I said, I liked the end.

What I’m drinking: What the English might call Builder’s tea. One inexpensive bag of black tea, quite strong and a dash of milk. This is one of my comfort drinks. These days, I’m often off dairy. So, I don’t drink it as often. But for pure, melt into the couch relaxation, it’s my go-to drink. Or, as the case may be, while reading books that depress me.

Zoey and the Zombies

Book Review of Zoey and the Zombies: A Mondamin Court Adventure, by R. J. Eliason

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I won a paperback copy of Zoey and the Zombies: A Mondamin Court Adventure, by R. J. Eliason, through Goodreads.

Description:
The world is over ran with undead. Giant hordes of zombies are pouring out of the East Coast, threatening the Midwest. The defense of Mondamin Court, a quiet neighborhood in Des Moines, Iowa is up to a disabled cop, a fourteen year old boy and a transgender girl. What could go wrong? Mondamin Court is a typical lower middle class neighborhood in a midwestern city. The people are a cross section of normal Americans. Each book starts with the same setting and characters but they face a different apocalyptic scenario.

Review:
I found this enjoyable. I really appreciated that it took on some serious themes and included some intriguing human/social insights. But the only thing that separates it from a hundred other zombie survivor books is the presence of a prominent lesbian couple and a trans character (who is admittedly badass).

These inclusions are great, but not enough to carry a book. Unfortunately, I kind of felt like the author expected it to. She went to great efforts to include several diverse characters, as well as do things like present a prostitute in a humanized light, which is unusual and, again, great. But unfortunately she fell prey to as many stereo-types as she upended and eventually the variety felt forced. Partly because there are about a million characters to diversify. Far, far, far, far, far, far too many characters are in this book. I very quickly gave up on keeping track of who was who, outside of the main ones.

The main characters were varied and some of them were complex, flawed but redeemable. Others, not so much, but with so many I don’t know that it would be possible to flesh them all out. A lot of them, especially the young, were forced to consider heavy ideas and I liked how a lot of it was handled.

There are some pretty significant plot holes and, despite the blurb describing the people of Mondamin Court as “a cross section of normal America,” they seemed to have unusual and convenient skills to survive the zombie apocalypse, not so normal really. How many of your suburban neighbors know how to use a halbert, own katana or wakizashi, or happen to take belly dancing that includes scimitars, or are fully prepared preppers with hydroponic stations, know how to can and stretch rations almost indefinitely, or keep goats?

All in all, when I look at technicality I find complaints, but if I stand back and just think about my reading experience, it’s more positive than not.

On a side note, not even really as part of my review, I couldn’t help noticing some odd formatting in the book.

formatting

Here is an example. The font size changed, as did the justification of the margins and I think the line spacing. Again, it’s just something I noticed. It didn’t really effect the reading experience other than occasionally being pulled out of the story by a double indention or style change. *shrug*

What I’m drinking: What the English might call Builder’s tea. One inexpensive bag of black tea, quite strong and a dash of milk. This is one of my comfort drinks. These days, I’m often off dairy. So, I don’t drink it as often. But for pure, melt into the couch relaxation, it’s my go-to drink.