Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Paranormal, Sci-Fi and General Fiction

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Bk 4) is the latest in the series, alas all Briggs' fans must wait till February 2010 for the next chapter. I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed all of them in the series, some more than others.

This book goes back to Mercy's relationship with the Vampires which started in Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Bk 2) which is my least favorite. She is still getting over a brutal rape that took place in Iron Kissed (Bk 3) and if you read my review of that book Patricia Briggs handled the intense situation in an excellent manner. Also, Mercy has finally decided who she will be with Adam or Sam, so the relationship between her chosen one blossoms in this book.

As you can tell I am trying to be vague and not put to many spoilers in. After all if you are a fan it is much more fun to read the storyline than have it told to you.

Overall this book is my third favorite in the series, here is the order in which I like them most to least.
1. Iron Kissed (Bk 3)
2. Moon Called (Bk 1)
3. Bone Crossed (Bk 4)
4. Blood Bound (Bk 2)

I am anxiously awaiting book 5, Silver Borne, and if you have read them all then you will probably suspect what I do, that this book will be about the fae. Hope Patricia finally gives us a hint as to what and where Zee is.


Gone, is the first Sci-Fi book I have read in a very long time, on top of that it is a Young Adult. When this arrived in my mailbox via PBS I was so excited I had to read it right away. Alas, it was a bit of a let down.

The overall story is one that has been done before, all the adults disappear leaving anyone under 15 to fend for themselves. Of course the author does have a few tricks up his sleeves that make it more interesting.

My main problem with this novel is that I did not like the "good guys". I understand that they are suppose to have some internal struggle about doing the right thing but in this case it felt more like a character flaw/weakness than a simple moral struggle.

I do however really like how he wrote/developed his "bad guys" they are truly evil in different ways.

This is the first book in the series the sequel comes out sometime this year and is called "Hunger" I do plan on reading it b/c I think it will have some more about the "bad guys" since that was hinted at the end of Gone. There are also some unanswered questions about how all the adults disappeared and why that I would like to see how the author resolves.

I'd say if you like Sci-Fi that this is a good read since it does approach a commonly written plot in a new and interesting way, just be prepared to think that a few of the main characters are a bit wimpy.



The Covenant was our latest and my last book club book. I say my last because I am moving. And I did not like it one bit...I think if I had read it three years ago, which is how long it has been sitting on my To Be Read pile that I would have enjoyed it but it was just to serious for me right now.

Also, I found it unbelievable. There are two main story lines, one where a father and daughter are kidnapped and the other is about 4 Jewish women who were in Auschwitz together. Somehow these 4 old ladies pull their resources and miraculously find and set up a rescue for the kidnapped father and daughter (who are related to one of the women). They do this all in about 48 hours.

I am of the opinion that this failure to make the plot believable is a failure of the authors writing ability. Come on I read fantasy and paranormal and sci-fi and I find a lot more of that stuff believable than I found this book.

My favorite parts were the flashbacks to the woman as teens in Auschwitz and learning who they because after escaping. I guess when I read the back cover I expected more 0f that.

So overall this one I found a little to heavy and unbelievable. But other members of the book club did enjoy it. Most of them being about 3-5 years younger than me so taking my theory of, I would have enjoyed it 3 years ago. this probably is a good read. You just need to want to read some heavy sad literature.

No comments: