Immortal By Gene Doucette Review and Interview

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author, author interview, book, book reviews, books, characters, fantasy, fantasy comedy, fiction, Gene Doucette, Immortal, Netgalley, novel, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, urban fantasy, vampires, writer, Writer's Coffee Shop

Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Comedy

Pages: 279

Point of View: First (Adam)

Released: March 8, 2012

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: Netgalley

Comedy Scale: 2 amusing, but I didn’t laugh aloud.

My Rating: 5/10 Stars

Warning: This is an adult book for violence, sex, and adult humor.

I requested this book on Netgalley and I was contacted by Cindy at The Writer’s Coffee Shop who asked if I wanted to do a blitz or something to help promote the third book in the series. I hadn’t read it yet, but I jumped at the chance to interview an author! Even though I’ve never really interviewed anyone before. (I don’t figure those times for school counted.)

My Summary:

Adam has been around for thousands of years, he likes to say that he predates written history. In modern times someone’s found out that he’s immortal and will do anything to get their hands on him.

My review:

I am a sucker for funny books, so I when I read the summary I was sold. I mean, a funny immortal guy? I’m there.

There’s also more to the world than just one immortal guy, there’s vampires, iffrits, demons and all sorts of other things, which was cool.

I’m still not sure if I like the main character or not. He’s definitely an antihero; killing when necessary, and not always saving people, though he does feel bad about it later. He’s also a drunk. (He was drunk for like 90% of this book.)

The good:

I liked that for once there was an immortal who liked being immortal, even if he is a bit cynical about everything. He doesn’t want to die, and he’s a unique immortal, because he’s pretty sure that things that would kill a normal person would kill him too, he just doesn’t age or get sick.

There’s an info dump at the beginning telling about his life, but I didn’t mind it at all, because it was well done and witty. I loved his ability to blend into with whatever culture he’s around, his skin tone and hair changing. I wish this had been used more, it was a unique little twist.

He makes many observations about humans that really added to the story and made me believe the whole immortal thing. Like he comments that there are only so many faces out there, so it’s weird running into someone you used to know.

I actually liked the flash backs better than the main story. I understand the need for flashbacks with an immortal character living a long life, but the flash forwards (thankfully done in italics) complicated things a bit too much. Once it stays in one time the pace really picked up and it was a more enjoyable read.

The Bad:

I didn’t like the Iffrit Jerry, I thought he was crude. Fortunately he isn’t in the book much.

Towards the middle of the book it gets into the whole sex thing.

Adam’s done some horrible things in his life, (He always defends himself in parentheses saying it was what everyone at the time did.) but some of those things are pretty unforgiveable.

For instance when talking about his early life (cave man type days) he said: “We won the fight and rewarded ourselves by raping several of their women. It’s what one did. Don’t ask me to feel bad about it if you weren’t there.” This wasn’t funny and was completely unnecessary.

Verdict: Immortal is hard book to rate, because I liked most of it and it’s certainly an amusing book, with some interesting details, but there were aspects that I really didn’t like.

Odd fact: I was watching that new show Forever (which is very good by the way) and at the end of the second episode (Minor spoiler alert) the bad guy says something which totally made me think of this book.

“You want to call me something, call me Adam, feels like I’ve been here right from the beginning.“ – Adam, Forever

“I like to brag that I’ve been there from the beginning, and while this may very well be true, I generally just say it to pick up girls.” -Adam, The Immortal

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About the Author

Gene Doucette is the acclaimed author of Immortal and Hellenic Immortal, the sci-fi thriller Fixer, and (as G Doucette) the erotic horror thriller Sapphire Blue. He is also the author of multiple short stories– including The Immortal Chronicles series– is a prize-winning playwright and screenwriter, and a published humorist and essayist. He lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife and two children.

Twitter * Facebook * Website

 

My Interview with Author Gene Doucette:

What’s your favorite place to write? Do you like to be alone and quiet or noisy in public? 

I’ve been writing for long enough to have had a study/computer room for my desktop computer, which was a vast thing that could only be carried around in the event of a fire.  In the age of the laptop, I have found myself writing in all sorts of places.  For instance, right now I’m sitting at a table at Panera.  My preference, though, is quiet.  I’d rather be home and bouncing between the bedroom and a comfy chair in the living room, provided there is no television on in the living room.

What book character are you most like? (or favorite book character if you can’t think of one)

Do you mean any book, or Immortal at the Edge of the World?  If you mean my book, then I’m most like Adam, unless he’s most like me.  He’s smarter than I am, but I’m funnier.  Probably.  If you mean out of any book in the world, still Adam.

What are your plans for the future, do you have another book series in the works?

I have The Immortal Chronicles to keep up.  Those are short stories about events in Adam’s past, and they’re fun and easy to write and people like them.  I’ll continue that.  I also have a project I’m starting called M Pallas, which will appear—whenever it’s ready—as a lengthy series of novellas amounting to a large and hopefully interesting whole.  And I’m mulling over a new trilogy for Adam.

Who are your favorite authors? Anyone who inspired Immortal?

Immortal wasn’t inspired by anybody.  I wanted to write a novel and I’d been writing a lot of non-fic humor columns, so I thought it would be fun to try writing a first person story from the perspective of an immortal man in the same basic tone I had learned to perfect in my humor columns.  So he became sort of a fictional long-form blogger.  I think my favorite author right now might be Neal Stephenson, because he’s consistently operating at a level I can’t even comprehend reaching as a writer.

Are your characters all fiction or do people you know creep in there?

A whole person would never creep in, because fiction writing doesn’t really work like that.  I will pick up traits from the people around me and use them, but that’s more about understanding human nature and using that understanding to build simulacrums.  So yes, all my characters are fiction, but they’re also real people.

Are you a planner or do your characters have minds of their own?

Those two options aren’t really opposites.  I don’t plan or outline, but I have a clear idea of where a story is going to end up.  How I get there is entirely up in the air until I start writing.  Now, characters do have a mind of their own, but that’s more a commentary on how I create characters than on anything else.  I tend to use dialogue to define a character—I was a playwright before I was a novelist—and dialogue is very much about people saying what makes the most sense in response to what was said to them.  Sometimes the characters say something that I didn’t expect, and that can change stuff around.  It just doesn’t change the ending.

Would you share a funny story with us? [I borrowed this question for Lola. ;)]

I’ve been thinking about this question for two or three days now, thanks.  Apparently, I have no funny stories.  My life is an unremitting tragedy.  Look away, look away.

If Immortal became a movie, who would you want to cast?

This has been a topic of a lot of discussions in the Cult of the Immortal.  I created Adam long enough ago that the answer to this question could have reasonably been Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp, but they are both too old and too famous now.  These days I’m leaning toward someone like Misha Collins, or Chiwetel Ejiofor.

If you were a character in a book would you want to be the hero, the villain, the sidekick or the love interest?

Oh I’d have to be the hero.

Thanks for letting me read your book and interview you!

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The third book in the Immortal series, Immortal At the Edge of the World, comes out October 2^nd, 2014. Preorder from: Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and TWCS PH.

 

 

 

If you had a chance to interview your favorite author what would you ask?

Afterworlds By Scott Westerfeld

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Afterworlds, Afterworlds Scott Westerfeld, author, book, book reviews, books, characters, contemporary, Edelweiss, fantasy, fiction, grim reapers, novel, psychopomps, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, Scott Westerfeld, writer, YA, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, (Darcy) Fantasy (Lizzie)

Pages: 608

Point of View: Third (Darcy) First (Lizzie)

Released: September 25, 2014

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: Edelweiss. (I’ve been requesting novels from Edelweiss for months, but this was the first one I was accepted for!)

My Rating: 6/10 Stars

Notes: Contains a lesbian couple, (girls kiss) and underage drinking

My Summary:

Darcy Patel just graduated high school. Last November she wrote a novel called Afterworlds and it’s been accepted to a large publisher with a terrific deal. She now plans to move to New York to work on editing her book.

In Afterworlds (Darcy’s book) Lizzie had a near death experience and accidentally crossed over. There she met a handsome guy named Yamaraj, who’s a psychopomp, a sort of grim reaper. Now she’s trying to get back to normal life, except she’s seeing ghosts.

My Review:

I really liked Uglies, so when I heard the premise to his new novel I knew I had to read it. I’m not really much of a contemporary girl though, so I only really enjoyed Lizzie’s story. I was tempted (but I behaved myself) to skip over Darcy.

This was a really hard book to review. It was good, but it could’ve been so much better and it was a bit on the long side at 600 pages. (Not that 600 pages is long, but it sure felt long.) Since this is essentially two books in one I think I’ll have to review them separately.

Darcy’s Story

The Good: Talk about side characters with personality! I loved that the little sister was the mature one, just like me and my sister! (I’m of course the older immature one.)

Darcy’s relationships all felt real, not only with her sister and her writer friends, but also her love. It wasn’t perfect, but it felt realistic as she learned for the first time what it’s like to be in a relationship.

As an aspiring writer I also enjoyed seeing how Darcy went through the publishing process, though the plot was a bit slow for me.

The Bad: I felt like I wanted to put my fingers in my ears so I wouldn’t hear spoilers for Lizzie’s story! Also hearing about the writing threw me out of Lizzie’s story at times, making me realize that I’m reading. (I hate that) For instance there’s this scene when everything’s really creepy and scary and suddenly the word bungalow is used and I remember where Darcy heard that word and it totally jarred me out of the story.

Lizzie’s Story

The Good: It was clever to do the book in the book in first person, that way it felt more real.

Such a great first chapter! There was enough character for me to care, then it went right into the action. I also loved the way the author described the panic of the scene. I had high expectations after this chapter, unfortunately this is the best chapter of the book.

Not only is the concept interesting, but the world of the Afterworld is awesome. I loved how they used the river to travel and it came out looking like ink. All of the little things were well done, from their powers, being invisible and walking through walls, to the bad guys, and even the way ghosts were held here by memories.

I wish it was clear whether ghosts are people (like I think they are) or if they are just memories themselves. Darcy even talked about this so obviously the author knew about this problem. That’s one of the weird things about this book, in Darcy’s story we hear about all of the good and the bad in the writing of Lizzie’s story.

The Bad: Though I like the idea of Lizzie’s love I didn’t feel it. It felt like love at first sight since they don’t know each other very well. Yamaraj is all mysterious, which is okay, but other than him being very handsome and nice, she doesn’t really get to know him. (If she does it’s off screen so to speak)

There was one part towards the end that I really didn’t like, it was brutal and dark. I know this is a book about death, but I didn’t like the way it was handled. (Sorry for being so vague, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I felt like I should mention this.)

Overall Darcy’s story has what Lizzie’s lacks, the characters and relationships, but it doesn’t have the cool plot, world, or powers that are found in Lizzie’s story. I think this could’ve been a great book if only the author had tried to write one book and not two.

I recommend only reading Lizzie’s story or reading it first to avoid spoilers and the whole realizing you’re reading thing.

The Young Elites By Marie Lu

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author, book, book reviews, books, characters, dystopian, fantasy, fiction, Legend, Marie Lu, novel, Penguin, penguin first to read, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, The Young Elites, writer, YA, young adult, Young Elites

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Pages: 336

Point of View: First (Adelina) Third (Teren) and occasionally limited third (Enzo)

Released: October 7, 2014

Predictability: 2 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

Source: Penguin’s First to Read program. I’d never gotten a book from them before so I didn’t know how it worked. It’s like a library book, it comes in an adobe digital editions format (which works on everything but my plain kindle) and you have two months to read it.

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

Parental Rating: On the verge of an older YA for violence and prostitution.

My Summary:

Ten years ago a blood fever swept through the kingdom and of the children who survived some emerged ‘marked’. They are called malfettos. A select few malfettos are rumored to have super human powers and are called elites. The lazy king blames malfettos for everything, causing them to be scorned and treated terribly.

Adelina is a malfetto and she’s been abused by her father from a young age, because he blames the decline of his business on her being a malfetto. He’s tried everything from breaking her finger to showing her kindness in an attempt to bring out a power in her, then she might be worth something, but one night he goes too far and he’s not happy at all when her dark powers finally emerge.

Teren is the lead inquisitor and convinced all malfettos are demons, he will do anything in his powers to see them all burn.

Enzo is the leader of the Young Elites, a group of powerful malfettos fighting against the king.

My Review:

Young Elites is set on a different world in a medieval kingdom. (I thought it was a future dystopian before I read it, but this is so much better.) We learn about the kingdom and a little about another nation, but I want to know more about this world! Like there’s these flying giant manta ray things, what are they? They seem an odd little world building detail to keep mentioning when everything else is a simple medieval kingdom.

Adelina feels more like a villain than a hero. (She’s not an antihero either.) She’s sympathetic, if a bit unlikable, and fierce, but not stupid. She’s a complex character with many sides and a darkness in her heart. I understand why she is the way she is, she’s been abused for years by her father, not only physically but emotionally as well. In Marie Lu’s Legend Day and June had such a similar voice I was worried Adelina would be the same, but she’s nothing like them at all!

At times I questioned Adelina’s sanity (Teren’s certainly nuts) and I hate books with an insane main character, but here it doesn’t hurt the story. I also liked how I could always tell what was real and what wasn’t. (Another pet peeve of mine, I know I have a lot of them.)

The Good:

I loved the dark atmosphere of this book! I couldn’t put it down and though Young Elites wasn’t what I was expecting I really enjoyed it.

I loved the unique markings the malfettos had. From silver or fiery hair to different colored eyes.

The powers were one of the best parts of the book, they were so cool! The author created an interesting spin on abilities. Usually in these kinds of novels there’s a series of scenes where the character learns how to use their powers and that was sort of done here, but Adelina progressed so quickly that it didn’t slow down the plot in the least.

I like the little quotes and facts about the land at the start of each chapter they really added to the world building.

The Bad:

The characters all had potential, but none of them were developed enough aside from Adelina.

The romance was just okay. I didn’t feel it, but it wasn’t there much so it’s no big.

That ending! (All I can say, sorry.) The next book should be interesting… Though I have no idea what kind of book it will be.

Would I recommend this book? YES! Will I read the next one? OF COURSE!

Awards, Awards, Awards

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Over the past couple of months I’ve been nominated for several blogging awards, but I haven’t had time to write them up, so I’m doing one large post grouping them all together. Thank you to everyone who nominated me! You made me surprised and very happy!

Yvo, stephswint, alwaysopinionatedgirl, and heirofravenclaw nominated me for the Liebster Award!

Booknerderie & Bibliosa nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger award!

Yvo Nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award!

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The rules:

1. Write a post featuring this award, add the award logo and make sure you don’t forget to thank the person who gave you the award.:)
2. Answer the 11 questions.
3. Make up your own 11 questions for others to answer.
4. Tag and nominate 10 amazing bloggers that have under 200 followers. (Or under 1000 followers if you prefer.)
5. Let those bloggers know that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award!

Since I was nominated by four people, (I know! I was shocked too!) I’ve decided to pick the four questions from each person.

Questions from Yvo

1. Which do you prefer: an e-book or an actual book?

I never thought I’d say this, but both. Real books feel so much better, but the kindle is so handy. So many books and no breaking my back trying to carry them all!

2.  What would be your dream travel destination?

Hawaii, Europe, Greece, Japan, or maybe to just see my sister in South Carolina, I’d like to travel!

3.  If one of the three senses had to be taken away, which would you choose: sight, speech or hearing? Why?

Speech. I could always write on a white board or something, but not being able to see or hear would be so much worse!

4.  I you could choose in which time you could live, would you choose the past, present or future? Why?

Present. I like the way things are now. The past was harder to live (and I’d die without junk food) and who knows what the future will bring.

 

Questions from stephswint

1. Why did you create your blog?  Do you have a goal for it?

To make friends. I’m not so good with people. Goal? To have more than one person come haha!

2. Do you invite friends and family to follow your blog or would you rather cut off your hands before they participate?

I told my family about it, I’m not really one to have secrets from them, but I have an odd family and we’re really close.

3. Do you worry about offending people on your blog or do you sometimes post things purposely knowing it will offend people but you like the discussion it brings?

I’m always worried about saying the wrong thing and I’d never offend someone on purpose!

4. What kind of super power would you have if you could pick one?

Telekinesis, it’s the best power there is, not only could I move stuff with my mind, but I could make myself float too!

 

Questions from alwaysopinionatedgirl 

1. Which fictional character are you most like?

Actually I’d probably say Luna Lovegood. I’m not so open about my weirdness perhaps, but yeah we’re a lot alike.

2. Which fandoms are you in?

Percy Jackson is probably the best fandom! I’m a minor member of most of them, but mainly Harry Potter and Mortal Instruments. I like fandom stuff and fanart.

3. Which 5 books would you take with you to a desert island?

Assuming I’m not bringing survival books I’ll go with Harry Potter, because I can always reread it, Something by Terry Pratchett to keep my spirits up, Game of Thrones, because it’s large (and heavy for a weapon) Something by Modesitte, One of the Sword of Truth novels (again big and long) and a short story collection by Asimov. (Oops that’s six, I can’t count)

4. What do you like most and like least about book blogging?

Meeting people and getting free books. What I like least I mostly do to myself by  procrastinating and worrying about what to write.

 

Questions from heirofravenclaw

1. If you could go on a date with any one literary character, who would it be and why?

Most of the male characters I like are teenagers, awkward, but I’d pick Jem, (Infernal Devices) Leo or Percy. (Heroes of Olympus)

2. What is your favorite opening line?

Sam Vimes sighed when he heard the scream, but he finished shaving before he did anything about it. -Night Watch By Terry Pratchett

3. What is your favorite book-to-movie adaptation?

Probably Stardust, though it’s different from the book it’s just as good. (Second place: Jurassic Park!)

4. If you could live in any fictional world, which one would you choose and why?

Harry Potter, because there’s magic and I’d get to live partially in the real world and people wouldn’t necessarily be constantly trying to kill me.

 

My questions (Worst part of this award! So hard to think of good questions!)

1. What book needs to be made into a movie?
2. What book got you addicted to reading?
3. What’s your favorite book quote?
4. What pets do you have?
5. If you could pick one super power or magical ability what would you pick?
6. Do you like to write or only read stories?
7. How’d you get into blogging?
8. If you were a fictional character would you want to be the hero, the villain, the sidekick, or the love interest?
9. What are your top five favorite authors?
10. What’s your favorite genre?
11. What is your favorite movie or tv show?

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Very Inspiring Blogger Award Rules:

1. Thank and link the amazing person who nominated you.
2. List the rules and display the award.
3. Share seven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
5. Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

SEVEN FACTS ABOUT ME:

1. I have a pet rabbit named Bunny. (I’m terrible at naming things.) He’s a black mini-rex. And we have a family dog, a chiwauwau. (But I can’t tell you his name, because I use it as my password.)

2. I love seeing wild animals and taking photos of them. (I have around ten thousand images of swans that used to nest on our lake saved on my hard drive. Said lake is really more a large swampy pond, not one you’d want to swim in, but great for wildlife.)

3. I never wear makeup (and wouldn’t have a clue how) and I dress for comfort not fashion. (What do you mean stripes and plaid don’t match? They’re both the same colors!)

4. I don’t mind romance in a fantasy book or an action movie, but just plain romance bores me, same with comedy.

5. I’m not judgmental, like at all. So, you never have to worry about saying something stupid, dorky, or silly to me. (Plus I do enough stupid things myself.)

6. I’m allergic to the cold (yes this is actually a thing) when I get cold my blood pressure drops so first I get sleepy and feel yucky then if I stay cold I pass out. Not good. So naturally I live in Michigan.

7. I’m obviously not good at coming up with things about myself. :p

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One Lovely Blog Award Rules:

• You must thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
• You must list the rules and display the award.
• You must add 7 facts about yourself.
• You must nominate 5-15 other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let them know they’ve been nominated.
• You must display the award logo and follow the blogger who nominated you.

Okay, I’m cheating here (yes, again) but it was hard enough coming up with 7 facts about myself, I can’t do 14! So, see above facts for this award too. 😉

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Instead of nominating people, I’m just going to link to my favorite blogs. Consider yourselves nominated for all of the awards. 🙂

BLOGS I LOVE (I hope I didn’t forget anybody!)

It Starts At Midnight

Hit or Miss Books

Not Yet Read

On Starships and Dragonwings

Book Lovers Life

It’s All About Books (Yvo)

Bibliosa

Bookish (stephswint)

Notebook Sisters

Words We Heart

From A to Z Books

She Reads She Blogs

All the Books! Books the Final Frontier

The Book Heap

Book Nerderie

Lake Book Reviews

Raised Reading

The Cheap Reader

Books & Cleverness

Brilliantly Novel

Caught Read Handed

Effortlessly Reading

Utterly Bookish

My Train of thoughts on…

Little Onion Writes

The Ramblings of a Literature Nerd

Read & Survive

Cook’s Reviews

A Perfection Called Books

 

 

Red Rising By Pierce Brown

Tags

author, book, book reviews, books, characters, dystopian, fiction, Netgalley, novel, Pierce Brown, read, reader, Red Rising, review, science fiction, scifi, writer, YA, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Scifi, Dystopian

Pages: 382

Point of View: First

Source: NetGalley

Released: July 28th 2014

Predictability: 1 out of 5 (Where 1 is George RR Martin (If the characters make a plan or think about the future I know it isn’t going to go that way.) And 5 is Cinder (where I guessed what was going to happen long before it did, but it was still a great book.)

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

Warnings: Parts of this book are brutal and violent. If you’re someone who’s bothered by these things, don’t read this book!

My Description: [This is a hard book to describe without giving anything away. This is only the setup for the beginning.]

In Red Rising society is divided by colors. The golds sit on top ruling over the rest, where pinks are for pleasure, greens are technicians and at the very bottom are the reds.

Darrow is a red who works in the mines of mars obtaining energy to terraform the planet for the settlers to come. His life is hard, but meaningful. Then he learns that Mars is already terraformed and he’s little more than a glorified slave. With the help of other LowColors he plans to change the way things are. The resistance will change Darrow from a Red into a Gold and attempt to get him into the Institute which chooses the leaders of worlds.

My Review:

At the start of the book the world stinks. It does in most dystopians, but Red Rising brings it to a whole new level. Usually I don’t like where the book starts and then the timeline rewinds, but it worked here, because things were so bad I needed the hint that they’ll improve.

I loved the beginning of Red Rising! It started out so strong. I liked the latter half of the book too, but not nearly as much as that first quarter. It just wasn’t as unique and interesting, plus it was more brutal and violent, which I understand why, but I didn’t like it.

[Warning: Mild Spoilers in the next paragraph, which I wish I knew before reading this.]

This book was really like two books. The first quarter felt like a dystopian set in space and then the institute which we are expecting to be a school is actually a giant war game. I think the reason for mixed reviews is because the beginning of the book is so good and we think we know what we’re in for and them BAM something else happens for the rest of the book.

The Good

The beginning of this book is amazing! So much potential for this series!

The world building and the culture created in Red Rising is fantastic! I can’t wait to learn more about it in the rest of the trilogy. The technology that we’re shown is also cool and I liked how the history was told, so we know how the world wound up this way. Sometimes with such fantastic worlds it seems unreal, but even being set so far in the future I can see the world becoming like this.

The romance. Yes, there’s romance in this book, and it feels real and is well done.

This is a fast paced book full of action and twists and turns. (There are so many that saying this spoils nothing.) I was never bored.

We got to know the minor characters well and they had good personalities, Sevro is my favorite. (The tricky little runt)

The Bad

The main character is a know it all, which considering he’s a teenage boy makes sense, but as the story goes Darrow becomes harder to like. That’s my main problem with this book, Darrow. He’s a nice enough guy, but sometimes he’s just hard to like. I understand why he’s angry, but his rage and arrogance make him unlikeable.

The author’s intention might not have been for him to come off arrogant, but because this novel takes place over the course of two years much of this story is told (Some things that really should’ve been shown.) and Darrow is telling us how great he is instead of us seeing him be amazing, so he comes off arrogant.

The slang! I know it’s part of the world building, but it can be annoying when I don’t understand half of what’s said.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but only to some people. Will I read the Sequel? Yes, I have to know what happens next!

Sorry this review was so long in coming. My life has been terribly nuts. I want summer back! What about you? Are you a summer person like me or do you prefer the winter? (Yuck!)

My Father’s Favorite Books

I’m sorry I haven’t been online much. On August 26th my father passed away. I’d like to celebrate his life and since this is a book blog I’m featuring his favorite books today.

Harry Potter

Dad’s favorite books are by far Harry Potter. He had them all on audio CD and we’d listen to them every car ride. I have the movies memorized because we own them all and every time they’d come on TV we’d watch them and talk about how they changed them from the books.

Harry’s always lived a normal if sad life with his aunt and uncle, until one day he gets a letter addressed to him. His uncle tries to run from the letters but then a giant of a man shows up and tells Harry that he’s a wizard and he’s going to a magical school called Hogwarts.

 

The Hobbit

Dad’s favorite book when I was a little kid was the Hobbit and he liked the new movies too. He’d always talk about the dragon scene.

Hobbits live in nice little holes in the ground and live uneventful lives tending their gardens and eating good food. Bilbo was the same until a wizard visits and marks his door. Next thing Bilbo knows a dozen dwarves arrive at his house thinking he’s a burglar that they need to join them on an adventure. Surprising everyone including himself, Bilbo joins them on their quest to reclaim their mines from a fire breathing dragon.

 

 

Travels with Charley

He’d always talk about Steinbeck and what a fantastic writer he was. He loved the way Steinbeck described the characters, so you could picture them exactly. How many people use the phrase he was a Lenny? His favorite book of Steinbeck’s was Travels with Charley. Steinbeck was afraid he was losing touch with the common man so he bought a trailer and traveled the country with his poodle Charley. Dad always loved talking with people and learning their stories and that’s what Steinbeck did in this book.

 

 

 

How have you all been? What books do your parents read?

If I did this post for my mom or my sister it would take me days to feature all their favorite books, but my dad had a few favorites that he would read again and again. (Or listen to.)