Category Archives: books/book review

Book Review of James Gordon Bennett’s My Father’s Geisha

Leave a reply

My Father's Geisha

I picked a secondhand copy of James Gordon Bennett’s novel, My Father’s Geisha up at Goodwill for $0.70.

Description from back of book:
Teddy’s on his way to an ulcer before he’s old enough for a driver’s license. His silver-screened sister Cora is convinced that “Army families are all alike, which is why they have to keep us moving.” And move their family does, following first the blue then the red line in the road atlas to their next assignment. When every parental confrontation seems to end in stony silence, Cora predicts a permanent separation (“I’ve seen the movie”). Teddy wishes his heart could be freeze-dried then thawed back to life, so that from that moment on, everything and everyone might be absolutely new…

[I might also point out that, interestingly, almost every sentence of that description is somewhere in the book.]

Review:
I can’t honestly say I liked it. But I can’t say there was anything intrinsically wrong with it either. I much preferred the first half of the book, when the main character and his sister were still children. I liked that the narrative addressed very adult issues (life in the military, a crumbling marriage, etc) from the hazy perspective of youth. I found the last half, their adulthood, disappointing though. I’m afraid I lost sight of the moral of the story at that point.

I realise that part of the running theme of the book was the family’s inability to communicate, but I felt really cheated by never getting to see the father called out for being an insensitive ass. The happy ending felt brittle. In the sense that it was only happy for some and only possible because the mother was finally dead. It almost made her feel like the bad guy for hindering that very eventuality. But come on, she wasn’t the ever absent philander! Did the father and his mistress really deserve a happy ending at everyone else’s expense? Was the fact that the heavy price the family paid for it was years past suddenly make it OK? I didn’t think so, at least not without having to concede some sort of apology. Yes, real life is messy and maybe that makes this book more gritty and real, but I found it a most unsatisfying read. I wanted to see the father forced to face the consequences of his own decisions and the children finally given a little consideration. I never got it and I finished the book a bit disgusted with the lot of them.

I did find the writing excellent (though the passage of time was often unclear) and I enjoyed some aspects of the characters. For example, the fact that Cora was so often patronised and ignored, but was also almost always right. Chapter 2, Brats, was by far the best of the book IMO. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading the book and I’m not disappointed to have read it myself. Can’t say I enjoyed the last half all that much though.

Review of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers (Vol. 1)

Leave a reply

Soul Screamers

About a year ago, I won a copy of Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers (Volume One) from BooksandBlossoms.com.

Description from Goodreads:

My Soul to Lose
Kaylee is just your average girl shopping at the mall with friends—until a terrified scream bursts from her that cannot be stopped. Taken to a hospital ward, will she be able to save her mind—and her life?

My Soul to Take
She’s always felt different, but now Kaylee discovers why. The screams that cannot be denied mean that someone near her will die—and she can never save them. Because saving one life means taking another….

My Soul to Save
Going on dates with her boyfriend is still new to Kaylee. But when the singer of the band they’re seeing dies onstage and Kaylee doesn’t scream, she knows something crazy is going on. Soon she discovers souls can indeed be sold….

I’ll round up to 4 stars. I gave the prequel a 3 because it was well written and interesting, but almost nothing on it’s own. I gave the first book a 4. I enjoyed it. But dropped a star form book 2 because there was so much recap and info-dumping. It’s probably easiest to just post the three reviews.

Reviews:
I don’t usually cite star ratings on this blog as I think they often muddle the review. It’s too easy to just glance at the number and gloss over the written review. But for this omnibus, I think it’ll be easier if I reference them.

I’ll round up to 4 stars for the volume as a whole. I gave the prequel a three because it was well-written and interesting, but almost nothing on its own. I gave the first book a 4. I enjoyed it. But dropped a star from book two because there was so much recap and info-dumping. Here are my thoughts on the individual works. 

My Soul to Lose
An interesting start to the series. My interest is piqued, and I’m curious to see how it progresses, but on its own, it feels incomplete. Nothing is resolved. More questions are presented than answers provided. In fact, almost nothing is concluded. I’d call it a prologue to something else, as opposed to a book (or even a story) on its own. [Plus, having finished books one and two, now I can officially say that nothing in it is touched on again. The girl who helps Kaylee never shows up again. That feels like a missed opportunity right there.]

My Soul to Take
I liked it alright. Kaylee was a good, strong heroine. Nash was wonderfully supportive. There were a few good twists. I generally liked most of the characters and it was well written.

The book did have a few irritants, though. For one, Kaylee was nowhere near angry enough with her family for lying to her her whole life. Nowhere near angry enough! I felt cheated by her lack of venom. Plus, I still don’t understand why they did it. I understand why her father sent her to live with his brother, but why wasn’t she told about her heritage? That was never addressed. For another, Nash seemed to have fallen instantly in love with Kaylee. I generally hate insta-love, but that wasn’t what this felt like. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’ll be vague. But, other than their parents, they were the only two of what they were, and it felt very much like this was the basis of his infatuation.

Yet another irritant was the fact that even amidst all the new, mind-boggling information Kaylee was assimilating, we are somehow supposed to believe that she alone noticed the mystery in need of solving. Then, despite the fact that her theory was practically based on fairy dust (i.e., nothing substantial), she was right. I thought the very fact that she knew something was wrong felt almost miraculous.

Lastly, there seemed to be a little bit of a plot hole between the fact that those who claimed the souls of the departed were doing a job they were recruited for, while Kaylee and Nash had a natural-born skill. These two tasks seem to be connected, flip sides of a coin almost. So how is one something you are born to do and the next something you are essentially hired to do? It seems to me that both would either have been natural or not, but how can they be so closely related if they haven’t evolved together?

All-in-all, I enjoyed the read. I have the next in the series, My Soul to Save, and I’ll be reading it next.

My Soul to Save
I’m still enjoying this series. Kaylee is still a wonderfully strong heroine who depends on her boyfriend a lot but isn’t dependent on him. (If that makes any sense.) I like that. I also really like Tod. He’s an interesting character who often brings about thought-provoking moral quandaries. I like that, too, and the fact that Kaylee (who is usually the decision-maker) doesn’t always do the ‘right’ thing. It makes for an interesting read. I also just plain like the narrative style. Plus, the unmistakable similarities between the evil empire (Dekker Inc.) and Disney were golden. Golden I say!

Like the first book, however, there are a few aspects of the story that leave me scratching my head. Again Kaylee managed to take some small snippet of information, almost nothing really, and weave a theory around it. Then, miraculously succeed with it. This time, based on one overheard sentence, she needed to find one demon of a specific sort, of which there could be many. The first ‘person’ she asks is able to tell her where he is; he’s the right one; they find him immediately and are able just to walk right in and see him. Not to suggest that there were no difficulties, but it all seemed to go a little too easily.

Then there is the basic question of why exactly Kaylee feels like she and she alone has to save everyone. It never seems to occur to her to ask for help. I also had a little trouble grasping the whole drama around being grounded. I probably would have been able to relate to this if I was younger; I admit. But it seemed to me (and Tod, apparently) that normal teen drama issues would just get blown off in the face of saving souls and all. On a similar note, she seems to accept her father’s reappearance and overzealous parenting with ease. Her internal thoughts were often appropriately acerbic, but she never vocalized them. Maybe I’m just mean, but I think after 13 years he deserved a little guilt. I kept waiting for her to lay into him finally and she had plenty of opportunity. But she never did.

My main complaint about this particular book, however, was that the first half was really cluttered with info-dumps and recaps of book one. For a little while, it felt like every paragraph had some sort of catch-up clause in it, and it really broke up the narrative. I got pretty frustrated with it after a while.

The bottom line, though, is that I basically enjoyed it. If I come across book three at some point, I’d be more than happy to give it a read.

Book Review of Jacques Antoine’s Girl Takes up Her Sword

Leave a reply

Girl Takes up Her SwordAuthor, Jaques Antoine, sent me a copy of his YA martial arts novel Girl Takes Up Her Sword and the continuing short story, The High Road to the Mountain Gods. These are book 3 and 4 of the Emily Kane Adventures. I reviewed books 1 and 2, Girl Fights Back and Girl Punches Out (previously titled Go No Sen and Sen No Sen), last year and they can be found here. I also notice that book 1 is currently free on Amazon and, though not currently free, I’ve seen book 2 on the free list too.

Description from Goodreads:
High school graduation was never so dangerous as it turns out to be for Emily Kane. Defending herself against foreign agents is one thing, but when the threat comes from within Emily’s own family the violence rises to a new level, and the need to reconcile herself with her inner demons has never been so urgent.

Review:
Girl Takes up Her Sword is book 3 of The Emily Kane Adventures and I honestly think it’s the best yet. Emily has found her confidence and though she’s still trying to give the occasional kick against Granny’s fate she has largely accepted her place in the cosmos. And oh, what a place it is!

Emily is a strong, independent, self-assured heroine. So often in YA fiction authors present mixed messages on this front. A girl might have mad skills or some super power, but she doesn’t have the heart to really do what needs to be done. (The implicit message being that she is too soft or weak to really be strong after all.) There’s often some hero sidekick who actually saves her from dirtying her hands, thereby co-opting her presentation as a truly strong heroine. Antoine has the integrity to let Emily be as strong as she needs to be. Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t regret the things she has to do or even that she isn’t occasionally disgusted about them, but she also doesn’t back down from them or hesitate so long some man takes over for her. (And believe me she is surrounded by plenty of strong, well trained men.) I respect this immensely.

I only have two real qualms with the story and they are related. So it could actually be one multidimensional problem. Either way, I’m gonna sketch it out, but first let me say that I understand why the author wrote it this way. I see the message he’s trying to convey with it. I just thought it was a little too much for me to accept.

First off, despite being a senior in high school Emily is very much in charge in this book. In one way or another black ops soldiers take orders from her. Elite assassins take orders from her. Her sensei takes orders from her. Her mother takes orders from her. Her friends take orders from her. Her friends’ parents take orders from her. The Yakuza take orders from her. Burly biker dudes take orders from her. There is almost no one who has any control over her or even has the backbone to say ‘no’ to her. She is the top dog in all respects. The primary reason people backed down? They saw something in her eyes that made them give up. There are a lot of social dictums that this contradicts. It ignores basic social hierarchies, not to mention martial and military ones. I have a really hard time imagining that she’d succeed in the ‘take orders’ environment of a military academy, or even the military itself.

On a related issue is the fact that, with the exception of David, every single person she encountered gave in to her mysterious charm. ‘Oh yea, I drug your son into a lethal battle and he witness a couple people die.’ Does this mother get angry? Nope. ‘Oh, sorry your son got shot defending me.’ Does this mother get angry? Nope. ‘Oh, I’ve kicked your ass, and your ass, and your ass?’ Do these previously inflated egos get angry? Nope. ‘Oh, 2/3 of your biker gang got blown up for their association with me?’ Here let me make it up to you, you can call me Princess. ‘Oh, you’re a high ranking Yakuza who’s been insulted in public and demand restitution?’ Bow to my noble continence instead. Ok, in every example the circumstances are explained and it is very obvious that Emily is supposed to have an almost paranormal charisma about her (this is a large part of the story), but I don’t think it felt very realistic in the end.

Like the previous books Antoine’s writing is crisp and easy to read. The fight scenes are meticulously detailed and the martial techniques clearly explained. There is a lot of focus on the mystic aspect of training and unlike the previous books this starts to have a concrete effect on the events of the story. If you like strong female protagonists, martial arts, mysticism or just an interesting read. This is worth picking up.

The High Road to the Mountain Gods

Description from Goodreads:
With the help of her “Granny,” Emily Kane had the strength to fight off the black-ops teams hunting her. Now she needs to find some relief from Granny, and to reconcile herself to the violence she had to unleash. She hopes to find spiritual renewal in the crowded pantheon of the Hindus and Buddhists of Nepal. But the spirit of violence is not far behind her.

Review:
The High Road to the Mountain Gods picks up at the end of Girl Takes up Her Swordand sees Emily trying to find some mental peace in the tumultuous circumstances that are her exceptional life. I really enjoyed the picture of Kathmandu that was painted, the way various mystic traditions were allowed to coexist, and the unexpected twist at the end. I think a reader would be able to follow it even if they hadn’t read the previous books, but would certainly get more out of it if they had.