Tag Archives: book review

Book Review of The Stone in the Skull (Lotus Kingdoms #1,) by Elizabeth Bear

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I borrowed a copy of Elizabeth Bear‘s The Stone in the Skull from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from a the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort.

They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire.

Review:
It took me a really long time to get into this and then, once I did, it ended on a cliffhanger. So, my overall experience was a bit meh. Apparently this is a followup to a previous trilogy; something I didn’t know when I started it and might have contributed to my feeling disconnected from it for so long.

Having said all that, and having had an overall less than compelling experience with the book in general, I have to admit that the writing is beautiful, the world seems like it’s probably interesting, and I liked the characters a lot. Bear is still and amazing writer.

A Lowcountry Christmas

Book Review of A Lowcountry Christmas, by Mary Alice Monroe

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A couple weeks ago, I did a Christmas Challenge. I read the four paperbacks that had been languishing on my shelves because they were all Christmas novels. I figured what better time to get them read? I finished it and, low and behold, another one landed on my doorstep. I won Mary Alice Monroe‘s A Lowcountry Christmas through Goodreads. Again, I figured there was no better time to get it read that Christmas Eve.

Description:
As far as ten-year-old Miller McClellan is concerned, it’s the worst Christmas ever. His father’s shrimp boat is docked, his mother is working two jobs, and with finances strained, Miller is told they can’t afford the dog he desperately wants. “Your brother’s return from war is our family’s gift,” his parents tell him. But when Taylor returns with PTSD, the stress and strain darken the family.

Then Taylor’s service dog arrives—a large black Labrador/Great Dane named Thor. His brother even got the dog! When Miller goes out on Christmas Eve with his father’s axe, determined to get his family the tree they can’t afford, he takes the dog for company—but accidentally winds up lost in the wild forest. In the midst of this emergency, the splintered family must come together and rediscover their strengths, family bond, and the true meaning of Christmas.

Review:
For those who enjoy this sort of book, I imagine this will be a winner. Personally, I gave it a shot, but I call this sort of book Misery Porn. Yes, there is a happy ending and you get a taste of it in the prologue to know it’s coming. But the whole rest of the book is people being miserable.

I can sense Monroe had a good intent. She obviously wanted to inform readers about PTSD and the healing powers of service dogs. But the book often felt didactic and I felt the ‘healing’ happened too abruptly.

Further, I had a hard time buying into the whole, “The splintered family must come together to rediscover their strengths, their family bond, and the true meaning of Christmas.” when the father is so obviously left out of the equation. He’s the only family member without a POV and until you’re supposed to go “awww” and believe everything suddenly happy he’s the antagonist of the book.

The writing however is perfectly readable and the book seems well-edited. I honestly think this is just a matter of wrong book for the reader. But it’s Christmas Eve and I wanted to read a Christmas book.

Book Review of The Wedding Vow, by Cara Connelly

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I won a signed copy of Cara Connelly‘s The Wedding Vow through Goodreads.

Description:
I have to give this at least three stars for being well enough written, even if the story itself drove me batty. This is one of those contemporary romances that is all fantasy. By which I mean that the events, if they happened in real life, would be traumatizing and love would NOT be the outcome. NOT. AT. ALL. But as a fantasy, where all the trauma of being forced into situations (especially for someone with a history of being controlled) is removed—along with any fear, realistic staying power of anger and lingering resentment—it’s an amusing enough read.

If the book had been a hundred pages shorter, I’d have liked it more. By the last hundred pages I was tired of having the same themes harped on about. It became pedantic and repetitive. I was just ready for it to be over.

In the end, I suppose if you like this sort of book, this will be a good one to pick up. If, like me, this isn’t really your jam, it’s not likely to be the one that changes your mind. It didn’t change mine.

Review:
I have to give this at least three stars for being well enough written, even if the story itself drove me batty. This is one of those contemporary romances that is all fantasy. By which I mean that the events, if they happened in real life, would be traumatizing and love would NOT be the outcome. NOT. AT. ALL. But as a fantasy, where all the trauma of being forced into situations (especially for someone with a history of being controlled) is removed—along with any fear, realistic staying power of anger and lingering resentment—it’s an amusing enough read.

If the book had been a hundred pages shorter, I’d have liked it more. By the last hundred pages I was tired of having the same themes harped on about. It became pedantic and repetitive. I was just ready for it to be over.

In the end, I suppose if you like this sort of book, this will be a good one to pick up. If, like me, this isn’t really your jam, it’s not likely to be the one that changes your mind. It didn’t change mine.