Sci Fi and Fantasy

The Diamond of Darkhold

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Good grief, I didn’t even know The Diamond of Darkhold existed! If it hadn’t been for chatting with Val about books her daughter might like or had read, I’d have never known. Thank goodness C liked the series and read them all and Val was smart enough to mention that last one. Sheesh.

I really liked it – thankfully. The Prophet of Yonwood bored me so I was concerned it would be more like that. It wasn’t. I love what was hidden for the People of Ember – brilliant and perfect choice. LOVE it.

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The Splendor Falls

2010, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I’m a fan of Rosemary Clement-Moore’s Maggie Quinn series and only discovered The Splendor Falls by accident, when I was looking to see if there’s a new Maggie book… I knew this wasn’t related to Maggie in any way but I don’t think I expected it to contain anything paranormal or supernatural. I thought maybe it was a straight YA romance or something… my library copy has a purple rose on the cover and it really looks romance-y. And it is a romance but it’s got some freaky ghost things going on, too.

I liked it but it was long – a little too long, maybe. I just wanted the story to move a long a little bit and then when it did move along, it rushed the ending. Can I get just a wee little rewrite? Heh.

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The Dead Tossed Waves

2010, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I thought TW might kill me when she realized I reserved book two in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series… she really didn’t love the first book. But – as we listened to Dead Tossed Waves on audio, she was the one most likely to turn off the radio and turn on the CD. Maybe it helped that the reader was different? And the story was about Mary’s daughter and not Mary? Then again – the  writing was the same. Imagine a YA book about Zombies aka the Unconsecrated aka the Mudo written by Rebecca… yea. It’s like that. Wonderfully written but OMG you just want to shake her and say get on with it already. Stop with the flowery writing and the over-thinking, over-writing and just tell the story already. When the writing gets in the way of the story, it’s a problem and that’s what happens in all of Carrie Ryan’s work.

That doesn’t stop me from reserving book three though. The next one appears to be about Catcher and Annah… and the cover has another dead-looking girl on the front (misleading since the main characters don’t ever seem to die or even become unconsecrated…)

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Crashed

2010, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

Crashed is another book from a series that I thought I’d catch up  on. A YA series that I started reading because RJ recommended it. Well. When I read the first book, Skinned, I liked the storyline – eventually, but I did not like a single one of the characters and I really disliked Lia. In this book, pretty similar problem. Love the storyline, hate the characters – all of the characters until the last 30 pages of the book… at which point, Lia becomes likeable and so do some of the supporting characters.

And now I want to know what happens next so I’ll probably slog through book three, hating everyone until the last 30 pages.

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Ascendant – Some spoilery things so don’t click it if you don’t want spoilers.

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

One of the books I was most looking forward to reading this year was Ascendant, sequel to Rampant. Killer unicorns are awesome, even if Rampant has some troubling virginity themes.  It took forever for the book to be ready for me at the library and while I waited, Sassymonkey read it – and wrote about it. Uh oh. So when it arrived, I knew there were some potential problems waiting for me but since I don’t always agree with Sassymonkey – I dove in and tried to ignore what she’d written.

But, it started slowly. I struggled. And I struggled with the pace for the entire book – just as Sassymonkey said.

I also really hated what was going on with Cory (and the clueless Astrid) in the first 50 pages. I think that’s what bugged me most about Ascendant – the clumsy Cory storyline. Either tell us about the problem with lesbian virgin hunters or set it up properly so you can tell us in the next book (the book that you don’t actually have a book deal for…) Clumsy. I like the idea of addressing it but I do not like the manner in which it was addressed (It felt like maybe Peterfreund doesn’t really know what the problem might or might not be with lesbian virgin hunters… thus the clumsy handling of it.)

And Astrid, oh Astrid. Teen girls are not the most mature of creatures but I’m getting a little tired of the warrior making so many poor decisions. I know she has mother issues, who wouldn’t with Lilith as a mother, but good grief – Astrid should have been just a little smarter than that. There were moments when it was worse than reading Bella (Twilight).

None of this means that Ascendant was a bad book – it wasn’t. It’s still an excellent story. The actaeon storyline – brilliant. I do still want book three. Scratch that –  I need book three since this one was so much of a muddled up mess in places.  I hope we see more of Wren and Flayer (who it was nice to see again – they made their first appearance in Zombies vs Unicorns and I really loved that story.) And I hope Peterfreund can fix the Cory problem properly.

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The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

The very first book I picked up off of the shelf of our brand new library was The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap. The cover pulled me in. TW saw it on the shelf at home and commented on the cover. Elly saw it yesterday on my bed and commented on the cover. It’s a very comment-worthy cover.

The story’s not half bad either.  TW thought it was a little creepy for a middle grade fiction but I didn’t think so. Some bad things happen – through magic. Some of the people aren’t as nice as you might like them to be, but that’s how life is. I think the start is a little jarring – taking a newborn baby to the Lifestone garden to leave him to die. But, to be clear there was no choice, the curse was killing him – not the leaving him in the garden.  I think there’s a big difference and most kids will understand that.  It was the curse, not abandonment.

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Zombies vs Unicorns

2010, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy, short stories /

Unicorns FTW!

Last night when I was just a wee bit into Zombies vs Unicorns, Michelle wandered into my bedroom and plopped herself down on my bed – which led me to gripe about kids always laying on my darn bed. My griping didn’t send her away so I figured I’d try asking her some stupid question, a normal surefire way to get her to wander off to do something more interesting… “Zombies or Unicorns?”

She said Unicorns (smart girl) which led TW to try and argue that Zombies were better… unfortunately TW is not very good at debating and she proved the Unicorn’s side over and over and over again with her arguments, which caused Michelle to continue to lay on my bed laughing her a** off. So much for surefire ways to get a kid to get off of your bed.

The zombies vs unicorn debate seems like a good debate but it isn’t. Unicorns win hands down. They’re smarter. They’re magic. The stories about them are better. Not that that zombie stories in Zombies vs Unicorns were bad, they were excellent – but they just proved that Unicorns are just plain smarter, meaner, more magnificent and BETTER.

Don’t believe me? Read the book. Princess Prettypants, the prettiest, sweetest, rainbowyest (that’s totally a word) unicorn in the entire book will kick your ASS and make you like it. No zombie would stand a chance.

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Girl Parts

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I picked up Girl Parts when we visited the Northbrook library early in September. I couldn’t resist the cover. Or the title. I probably should have resisted. The main characters are boys, which is fine – or would be if the boys were better characters. Also would have been nice to step away from the stereotyping just a wee bit, dude. Guys who spend too much time on the internet are “disassociated’ (aka dissociative disorder – the book uses “disassociated” throughout) and need a female companion to help them re-associate with the world. Guys who are having problems within their family and are depressed are disassociated and therefore need a female companion to re-associate. Guys in general appear to be disassociated for any number of reasons and they all need female companions – robotic female companions who don’t have control over their own wants and needs.

Girls who are depressed – no companion for them. Girls who spend too much time on the internet – oops outta luck.  Boys are the only ones who want (or need) a robo-companion to make out with (oh, sorry – bond with.) Queer girls are equally out of luck if you’re wondering. The female companion bots won’t hook up with girls – it’s bad.

It’s like Manga but worse – I actually like Manga.

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Jane Slayre

2010, Books in Bed, Classics, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women /

I loved Jane Slayre – a lot more than I liked Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. Maybe because I liked Jane Eyre more than I liked Pride & Prejudice? Or maybe because it was about zombies and vampires and werewolves and not just zombies? I don’t know, but I liked it – a lot. I didn’t want to put it down. I think Charlotte Bronte would have been amused by it.

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Tiger Moon

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I saved Tiger Moon for last, from the Cybils shortlist YA Science Fiction & Fantasy list, because I was afraid I wouldn’t really like it. I don’t know what caused me to feel that way – but I did. Sure enough, I had a really hard time getting into it. After two days, I was only on page 59 (and it’s a pretty long book.) On day three, I didn’t even pick it up. Day four – I finished it. It improved. Or maybe my mood improved? Or I wasn’t as tired – nah, couldn’t be that because I’m really tired. I think the story improved as the “hero” grew into his hero status. The story had more depth, the characters more interesting, the storytelling more compelling. In the end, I did like it – but this wasn’t much competition for the others in the category.

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