Sci Fi and Fantasy

The Good Neighbors: Kind

2014, Books in Bed, Comics & Graphic Novels, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I’m doing a great job of catching up on series I’d started and let slide. Holly Black’s The Good Neighbors series, for instance. I read #3, Kind last night.

It was good but who didn’t see that coming? Apparently all of Rue’s human friends? This is a good graphic novel series. Very Holly Black-like. I sometimes find the illustrations a little confusing. Sometimes the guys seem drawn a little too similarly and I have to do a double take when I realize this is not the guy who I thought it was? Otherwise, a perfectly enjoyable faerie graphic novel.

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Kill The Dead

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I’m a stickler for reading books in a series in the proper order. So how is it possible that I skipped books in the Sandman Slim series and didn’t realize it til I started looking for sequels and prequels to read. I didn’t just skip one, I skipped TWO.

That’s weird.

So I’m playing catch up — finished Kill the Dead today. Awesome, as always. Sandman Slim is THE BEST and now some of the holes in the story that I just thought I’d forgotten are starting to make more sense. Funny how that happens when you read the books you missed. Sheesh.

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Doll Bones

2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Next, middle grade fiction by Holly Black, Doll Bones.

I discovered this one when I started thinking about doing a prequel/sequel challenge. I was looking up authors, of series we’ve read and noticed that I had not read this one… though it’s not in a series (yet?), I do generally like Holly Black so I reserved it.

And it was good.

Three middle schoolers, all with somewhat troubling home lives find themselves going on a real quest. With a bone china doll — a very creepy bone china doll, which is kind of obvious since bone china dolls are by their very nature — creepy.

I enjoyed it and was kind of sorry to see it end so soon.

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And All The Stars

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I decided to go ahead and buy And All the Stars since I finished the book I took to the hospital on Sunday and was book-less. (Though I’m guessing I’d have broken down and bought it eventually because I really don’t like leaving my Cybils shortlist unfinished.) And now… I’m officially done with this year’s Cybils Shortlist challenge. Yay.

And All the Stars is an Australian book and I find Australian books to be odd, in general. There’s just something about the voice… I guess maybe it’s an Australian voice? hah. I dunno. Just odd. And when it’s SciFi or Fantasy, it’s even odder.

This one was pretty odd. Aliens and blue skin with stars vs green skin people and weird powers and just mayhem. A bunch of kids save the world, which was fun. There’s also some gender stuff in there and some strong female characters.

Overall, I liked it. Not my favorite of all of the Cybils but I certainly didn’t hate it.

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The Shambling Guide to New York City

2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

When TW started reading The Shambling Guide to New York City I noticed the author name on the book and I thought to myself, “that name is familiar, have we read other books that she’s written?” and then I promptly forgot about it until I started reading the book.

Then, all the way through it I wondered WHY that name was so familiar but I didn’t do anything to figure it out. I just kept reading and enjoying the book. A lot.

When I finished, I looked at the back cover. Huh. The books aren’t super familiar but… podcaster. Duh.

Mur Lafferty spoke at BlogHer many years ago and she wrote the Dear Daughter post that I really really like.

Duh.

If you like zombies and vampires and other demons as well strong female characters — read this one (and look for more Shambling Guides in the future… I will be.)

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Marie Antoinette, Serial KIller

2 Comments / 2013, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Another book I saw something about, in October, and since I was getting a little tired of Cybils, I decided I should go ahead and read Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer. It looked amusing and fast — and it was both of those. It also made me kind of glad to hear RJ’s French club isn’t going to France. When Marie Antoinette is pissed off, she’s really pissed off. Not that you can really blame her, right?

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Two Cybils SciFi/Fantasy

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I’m kind of ODing on middle grade and YA books. This is what happens when I don’t read enough throughout the year… gah. The end of the tunnel, I can see it. I swear!

Planesrunner, the YA scifi I thought I wouldn’t enjoy, particularly since I had so much trouble getting past the first chapter, turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Physics is not my thing. Neither are books where ONE paragraph is more than a full damn page. Other than that — it turned out to be a pretty fun book. The airships made it great (and the solid female characters, in a boy story, too.)

Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities is Middle Grade scifi/fantasy and I had a hard time getting started with that too… what’s with all of the comic book superhero stuff lately? After about 30 pages, I was in and enjoying it. I particularly liked what happened with Polly, Captain Stupendous and Vincent’s mom. Super female characters in what’s mostly a boy story.

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Three Middle Grade SciFi/Fantasy Books from the Cybils Shortlist

2013, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Beswitched — I didn’t love it. In fact, for most of the book I strongly disliked it. I did not like Flora Fox at all. Not one little bit. Even as she “grew up” I didn’t find myself liking her much better than on page one. I didn’t like her grandmother either. I’m much more interested in the other Flora — the one who took her place and whose place she took. I’d probably like her better, I think.

The Peculiar is another one I didn’t love. I just didn’t care about any of the characters. Bartholomew – sure, but only a little. I’d have probably liked Hetty more if I’d gotten to know her. It wasn’t a bad book — just not great.

Finally, one I enjoyed — Cabinet of Earths. Pretty cool story. Solid characters. I even liked the ending, which is oh so rare, sometimes. Those three grains of “earth”… I’d be freaked out about that, too, if I were Maya.

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Vessel

2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I wasn’t expecting to like Vessel as much as I did — it sounded a lot like another book I read recently… the one where the girl had a gem in her navel and that marked her as… whatever it marked her as.

This book was sort of like that — but better, I think. I do have a little bit of the love/hate with the fables. They were good but sometimes a little mixed up and not quite right in places. But, overall, excellent fantasy.

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