Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Posted by melydia on February 11, 2014 No comment

Dragon Wing by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (unabridged audiobook): It took me an incredibly long time to get through this book. It starts with some bits about Hugh the Hand, an assassin saved from execution with an assignment to kill the young prince. Then there’s some stuff about revolutionary dwarves, who find a guy and his dog, recently escaped from the Labyrinth. And somehow elves are involved, and an evil wizard, and possibly some people more powerful than the evil wizard. The stories eventually intertwine, but I had difficulty figuring out what happened to whom. Reading the wikipedia summary confirmed that I hadn’t actually missed anything plotwise, but I think the main problem was that there were a lot of races and I had trouble keeping track of their individual politics and histories. The fact that several of them call each other by differing names (Dwarves vs. Gegs, for example) didn’t help either. The only reason I pushed my way through to the end is because I was told that this first book is by far the worst in the series, and once you’ve gotten past it (and the requisite backstory), the rest of the series is excellent. Let’s hope so.

A note on the audio: I listened to this on MP3, gotten from a friend, who dubbed it off audio cassettes, which were copies themselves, so I have no idea who the narrator is. Which is a shame, because he’s actually pretty good.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Undead by Kirsty McKay

Posted by melydia on February 7, 2014 No comment

Undead by Kirsty McKay (unabridged audiobook read by Amy Shindler; 7.25 hrs on 6 discs): New girl Bobby is on a ski trip with her high school class to Scotland. Shortly after they stop at a cafe in the middle of nowhere, her classmates all turn into zombies. From there they all run for their lives, and it’s actually quite clever and funny. Bobby has typical teenage girl concerns without being obnoxious, the zombies are gross and scary without being gory, and the scenery changes more frequently than your average horror movie. The humor had me laughing out loud in places, and there were a couple moments of actual suspense. In short, I really enjoyed it, and now I want to read the sequel.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

Posted by melydia on February 4, 2014 No comment

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (unabridged audiobook read by Wendy Dillon; 8 hrs on 7 discs): We begin not too long after City of Ember ended, with the Emberites having emerged from their underground home for the first time in many generations, and descending upon the first settlement they encounter: the village of Sparks. This tiny village cannot support these hundreds of refugees who have nothing to trade and no skills to take care of themselves, and tensions between the two groups steadily build. To be perfectly honest, I spent a good part of this book being angry at everybody. I know it’s supposed to be an allegory, but not a single person in Sparks showed any interest whatsoever in learning about Ember or its inhabitants. These people have been cut off from the rest of civilization for so long that they have never seen an animal and don’t even know what the moon is. I’d never stop asking them questions and answering theirs. Luckily, everything does eventually get resolved and I finished the story feeling more or less satisfied. I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series, however. From what I understand, the latter two books focus more on some mysterious prophecy (which is kind of annoying since part of the attraction of these books, for me, is their plausibility) and hardly feature Lina and Doon at all. This one ends in a good place, though, so I am happy to continue the story only in my imagination.

A note on the audio: Dillon was excellent once again. The sound effects in the background were much less intrusive this time around, and in fact added some ambiance to the fire scene.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Authors and Reviewers: a Two-Way Street?

Posted by melydia on February 1, 2014 1 comment

This recent post about the author/reviewer relationship has sparked a whole lot of discussion. The gist: the original poster says that authors owe her some form of publicity in exchange for reviews, be it through increasing her Amazon rank or retweeting her or what have you. Her argument, from what I gather, is that writing quality reviews earns her a bit of brand promotion on the part of the author. She uses the term “two-way street” a few times.

I’m not going to tell her how to run her blog. I just felt like blathering about the subject for a while. Whether or not you want to pay attention to someone who named her blog “utter randomonium” is up to you.

First off: I don’t make any money reviewing books. To me, it’s an even exchange: a book for a review. I have the luxury of not needing my blog to pay for itself, which is why I don’t bother running any ads. I don’t pay much attention to page hits or rankings or site traffic. I’ve added myself to a couple blog directories but I don’t actively advertise. I have no mailing list to join or Facebook page to like. If I wanted to get my name out there, I’d post author interviews and join blog tours/hops and exchange links and host giveaways. But I’m not interested in any of that. I just like to read.

So maybe my viewpoint is different because I am not running a business here. I am simply reading books and then admitting to it on the internet. I am fortunate that some authors and publishers have noticed me and wanted to add their titles to my library. That about sums it up.

Still, anyone who asks me to do a bunch of things to promote their stuff, regardless of our relationship, is pretty annoying. I’d be really irritated if authors did it to me, so I’m not sure why it’d be okay for me to do it to them. Our roles are pretty clear: they write a book, then put forth the manpower and production/shipping costs involved in getting the complimentary copy into my hands. My job is to read the book and then write about it. I’m not even obligated to link to anything.

See, promotion isn’t even part of the equation. Books and reviews don’t exist for each other’s sake. Their shared audience is the reader. Authors may benefit from reviews but the reviewer isn’t doing the author a favor. If anything, they’re doing the readers a favor by letting them know whether a book is worth their time.

Like I said before, it’s a trade: one book in exchange for one honest review. It’s just not that complicated.

Broken Allegiance by Mark Young

Posted by melydia on January 31, 2014 No comment

Broken Allegiance by Mark Young: Tom Kagan is haunted by the death of his young son, and to cope he throws himself into his work as a cop in the organized crime unit. His latest case involves a string of murders among Hispanic gangs in Northern California. I’m not sure what all I can say about this. It’s a cop thriller. There’s the evil gangster, the good gangster, the gangster who could be good but can’t seem to extricate himself from the gang. The main villain, Ghost, is truly scary. There were points when I honestly wasn’t sure if everybody was going to be okay. I liked Mikio, loved Garcia, and kind of wanted to punch Gato in the face a few times. In short, it was good, but not in a way that lends itself to a lengthy review. If you like cop thrillers, you’ll like this one.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Posted by melydia on January 28, 2014 No comment

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (unabridged audiobook read by Daniel Sharman; 15.5 hrs on 13 discs): And here we are at the end of the trilogy. I have thoughts and they are all disjointed, so, bottom line up front: I really enjoyed it. I found this trilogy to be far better, both in story and in mechanics, than The Mortal Instruments. The characters have far more depth, and thus are far more interesting to read about. However, I do still believe it was helpful to read The Mortal Instruments first because of how fun it was to see the origins of many things that pop up in that series.

I didn’t think I could love Magnus any more than I already did, but clearly my affection for him knows no bounds.

The revelation about Tessa’s talent was satisfying, as was the defeat of Mortmain and the truth behind Tessa’s clockwork angel. I felt the resolution of the Jem/Tessa/Will love triangle to be a little too convenient, however, despite how much I loved all three characters. Jem’s epilogue was generally unconvincing as well, but perhaps Clare has another book in store for these characters. I kind of hope so, actually, because I love this universe, though I like it better in Victorian times than modern day.

A note on the audio: Finally a good narrator! Why couldn’t they have Sharman narrate the other two books as well? Stupid stupid stupid.

Solomon the Peacemaker by Hunter Welles

Posted by melydia on January 24, 2014 No comment

Solomon the Peacemaker by Hunter Welles: The structure of this book is rather unique: it is told as a series of interviews with a prisoner named Vincent as he tells the story of his crime. However, the interviewer’s words have all been struck, leaving only Vincent’s answers. Most of the time you can kind of intuit what the interview had said, but at other times it just feels like a convenient break in the narrative, not a place where someone would naturally speak. But that’s all right. It works far better than I was expecting, actually. Somehow a detailed story gets across even with such sparse dialogue and description. Not that I’m entirely clear on what happened, mind. World peace is controlled by a powerful and intelligent computer known as the Peacemaker. This computer is so complex it must interface with a human mind, so a host is chosen once every seven years. Vincent and his wife become involved with a man known as the Preacher, a kind of revolutionary who believes humanity is enslaved by the Peacemaker. It’s all very strange but my biggest issue is that I want to know what happened after the very last page. Did Vincent’s actions change anything? What exactly was he trying to accomplish, anyway? Was Preacher right after all? What happens to the hosts when they’re connected to the Peacemaker? And given the existence of a drug that erases memories, how much of Vincent’s tale even happened?

In short, I was waiting for an “ah ha” moment that never came. I suspect the author was hoping for this novel to serve as a kind of conversation starter. And indeed, I think I would have really enjoyed reading this alongside a friend and discussing it as we went – assuming, of course, that they picked up on more clues than I did. I feel like I didn’t absorb enough information about the world in which the story was set to truly grasp what happened, but I’m also willing to accept that this might be, like Neal Stephenson’s later works, the sort of book that I don’t understand but other people love. I’d recommend this book to someone who prefers their science fiction esoteric and experimental.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Posted by melydia on January 21, 2014 No comment

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (unabridged audiobook read by Ed Westwick and Heather Lind; 15.5 hrs on 13 discs): The story of Mortmain and his clockwork soldiers continues with the angst of Will. Amazingly, Will’s jerkface tendencies from the last book are actually explained realistically here, with a twist that did not surprise me but was still pleasing in how unusual it was. Will’s character in general is given a surprising amount of depth; that plus the secrets revealed and exciting battles and romantic shenanigans made this my favorite Shadow Hunter book so far (including all of Mortal Instruments, which really isn’t anywhere nearly as well-written as this). I’ll be curious to see how various issues are cleared up in the final book: the love triangles, the unrequited loves, the terminal illness, the villain’s mysterious motives, etc. All around a fun ride.

A note on the audio: While these narrators are a huge improvement over the one from the previous book, it’s disruptive to constantly be switching readers. I do not understand why anyone would have thought that was a good idea.

Standing Up by Marion Grodin

Posted by melydia on January 17, 2014 No comment

Standing Up by Marion Grodin: Though the author of this memoir is a stand-up comedian, this book is not funny. It has its moments, of course, especially at the very end, but by and large it’s a rather heart-wrenching tale of love, grief, addiction, illness, and loss. Grodin grows up in New York, the daughter of actor Charles Grodin and his extraordinarily needy ex-wife Julia. She has complicated relationships with her parents, years of drug abuse, and general aimlessness before she finally decides she wants to be a comedian. I liked reading this – I found it interesting to read about a life so strikingly different from my own – but it is not the same sort of memoir as, say, Laurie Notaro or Jen Lancaster. It is not a series of amusing anecdotes with the occasional touching scene, but rather a series of tragedies with the occasional joke thrown in. Parts of it, particularly when Grodin deals with cancer (her mother’s and her own), can be very inspiring, but do not come into this thinking it’s going to be a laugh-a-minute romp. It simply isn’t.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The De-Textbook by Cracked.com

Posted by melydia on January 14, 2014 No comment

The De-Textbook by Cracked.com: I’ve been reading Cracked regularly for years. Though it began as a second-rate Mad Magazine knock-off, the website has become known for consistently high-quality articles that are both educational and hilarious. If you are offended by adult language or juvenile humor, this is not the book for you. Seriously, both the language and the jokes are utterly filthy.

Because this is basically one long Cracked article. It’s laid out like most of their content: lists of incorrect things you were taught followed by true things you never learned about. I’d read some of the material previously, but there was more than enough new content to justify the purchase of the book. I was a little disappointed by the lack of a bibliography, especially since Cracked’s online articles are full of links to references and further reading. Some of the claims were, while not strictly false, also not nearly 100% proven facts as presented. But honestly, while this claims to be educational (and it is, as far as that goes), it is first and foremost a humor book, and a humor site. Read it as such, and you’ll probably enjoy it. You might even learn something on the way.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

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