Okay, up front to you who've yelled at me before that I can't review a book I didn't finish lets say this isn't a "review". Let's say its an explanatiOkay, up front to you who've yelled at me before that I can't review a book I didn't finish lets say this isn't a "review". Let's say its an explanation of why I didn't finish the book.
I suppose the best short and direct reason is that the book annoyed me. It not only annoyed me, it grated on me. From the very first line I had to make myself go on for some reason. The world building annoyed me in that it wasn't just a chaotic world (that is a world where chaos ruled) it simply didn't seem coherent. I was already asking questions in my mind about why this worked or didn't work, happened or didn't happen. Still I'm willing to admit that Ms. Moning might have done more to clear those questions up. But there was one other BIG problem.
The protagonist. This protagonist falls into the category that I call the "rebel without a clue". First she's 14 and of course a world-class "bad-ass". Attitude brimming out her ears where no rules work and Fairies are "nearly impossible to kill" (quote from the book) she's thriving and wouldn't live anywhere else. She strikes me as a sort of "gang-banger" (if I can use that term for a girl in Dublin when Faerie has broken into "our reality"). It just got to be more than I could take. The moment I knew I wasn't going to be willing to force myself to waste the time it would take to forge through this book was when she was watching a discussion she was (of course) not supposed to be in (or privy to) from her perch in the rafters. This was her favorite spot to watch the silly adults who (again of course) didn't see that she was the baddest of the bad, the toughest of the tough, the most insightful of all of them and were making decisions. She comments that they were all going along with the one who "spoke the loudest" as usual. She comments that she wanted to "drop down among them, shake her behind and go baaaaaaa".
Okay, fine. Maybe my suspension of reality muscles just aren't up to this one. I have recently read several books I really like and this one was (as I said) grating on me from the opening. So, if this is your type of protagonist, the rebel who's a rebel "just because" not FOR a cause then maybe you'll like this book. I burned out on it quick and it goes back. Maybe it's just too young, maybe I'm just too old (though I might say mature). Young Adult (YA) books tend to be either predominately more "Young" or more "Adult". This seems very young with adult language.
Like a 14 year old who thinks she's/he's an adult come to think of it.
One star because I didn't care for it enough to waste the time to get through it. Sorry if you like it, please enjoy. ...more
I am AT TIMES an Orson Scott Card fan....AT TIMES. This isn't one of those times. I'm forced to a one star rating here because that's the default ratiI am AT TIMES an Orson Scott Card fan....AT TIMES. This isn't one of those times. I'm forced to a one star rating here because that's the default rating when I can't make myself finish a book without threats...."keep reading or else". What I'd do to myself I'm not sure. To keep me interested in this thing it would have to be something pretty terrible.
Mr. Card is capable of writing an excellent book. I'm waiting for him to go on with one series and picked this one up as I waited. As has happened before it's a book I just couldn't get into. I went all the way into the second chapter without skimming or skipping. The book is laid out in a way that's supposed to lead us into a story with a certain amount of mystery or some questions. The young protagonist Rigg being raised by his "father" tells us of his "special ability" as he and the "man" he knows as his father go about their business trapping.
The ideas behind the book are good, the synopsis is interesting and having gotten enough to know how and where the book went I think it could and should have interested me. It's why I picked it up and I see others who liked it. I wish the plot had been in a book that didn't make me want to scream.
What's the problem? For me it's the way it's told. Constant unnecessary monologues and really, really, really lllooonnnggg and boooorrrriiinnnggg internal dialogues. Riggs "reasoning" and "thought processes go on for ever...and ever....and ever. The book assumes you can't follow the simplist of ideas and plot lines so it goes on and on laying things out. By chapter 2 I started skimming and finally just threw in the towl and went to the end. I don't plan to follow the series.
This is sad because as I said, I like the premise, I like the idea I even like where the plot went in a way (though you've seen much of it before) I just couldn't take the slow almost pedantic story telling. If you like it I'm happy for you, I really am...just definitely not one for me. ...more
I see that many really enjoyed this book and that many others found it, "not bad". I'm in a definite minority in rating it a 1 star book and maybe I'dI see that many really enjoyed this book and that many others found it, "not bad". I'm in a definite minority in rating it a 1 star book and maybe I'd consider going 2 stars except for one thing. I disliked it enough to lay it aside.
I see flashes here of why many like this one and my one star rating is strictly subjective, it's my experience of the book. The characters were a bit stock to begin with and I just couldn't get involved with them. The first one we meet, angry at what's been done to her (as she looks at it)and in a bad way. Yet I just didn't get drawn in to the story. It left me cold. When I met the Dragons I believe that the story is again supposed to draw us in and make us care about the participants. I just never did.
I'm sorry, but I just didn't care.
I got through about 6 or 7 chapters and finally, as the saying goes, "laid it by".
Please if this is your taste enjoy but I just don't. As I've said about other books I suspect that I'm simply not the writers' target audience. The narrator's voice was (to me) staid and slow and I found the story (horror death and all) just a bit slow. So, try it for yourself. If it's your taste fine it's not mine however. ...more
Another book that a lot of people like That i just couldn't get interested in. Somehow I just didn't find it engaging. The book opens with a "mysticalAnother book that a lot of people like That i just couldn't get interested in. Somehow I just didn't find it engaging. The book opens with a "mystical" scene followed by a pirate raid on a ship, lots of action and so on...but I just didn't get interested.
I went as far as chapter 6 here and by the time I got that far I was pretty much thinking "yeah,yeah get on with it".
At that point I considered the hundreds (literally) books I own "waiting" to be read and the stack of 8 library books still waiting for me and I thought...no. No more time spent on this one. I just didn't care about the story, I wasn't following the charterers... and in spite of being sighted as inspiration for one of the movies, the captain wasn't as funny as Johnny Depp, and I'm not a Johnny Depp fan.
I see a lot of readers here like this, I'm over joyed for you, enjoy! Not for me....more
This is another book I got from the library based on an update here and a cover blurb...I'm greatly relieved that I didn't buy it.
I suspect there are This is another book I got from the library based on an update here and a cover blurb...I'm greatly relieved that I didn't buy it.
I suspect there are people out there who will like this book very much, my first impression is that it will greatly appeal to preteen girls quite a bit. A lot of my favorite novels are told from a first person perspective. Zelazny' first Amber series for example is a long time favorite. There's also the Harry Dresden novels, wonderful reads. Then there's Shatter Me. This book at times reads like a stream of consciousness book...though not a good one. The writer is in love with adjectives stringing them together with little attention to their rhyme or reason at times. She also shows certain ignorance of things that she still wants to use in her story. (at one point she describes "a soldier" as having 2 rifles strapped to his chest... I assume she was trying to make him seem dangerous and bristling with weapons. Instead he only sounds a bit odd. 2 rifles...are they exceptionally small? Maybe they're carbines or something? Still, a rifle isn't a one hand weapon. Oh well, you get the idea.)
The book's synopsis promises us something like a cross between Hunger Games and the Xmen. It's actually according to some readers a bit closer to Twilight (not having read Twilight I wouldn't know). What I do know is that the first comparison is sadly misleading. Deciding that I had only so much time allotted to me here on Earth I decided I didn't want to spend any more of on this book. I read about a quarter of it, skimmed my way through a bit more and then jumped to the epilog.
What you're going to get here (at least it seems so to me) is romantic attempt at an "adventure" that will I think primarily appeal to prepubescent girls. Not for me enjoy if it's what you're looking for....more
First my over all impression of this book. Then I'll give some detail as to why I feel as I do. I picked this up because it got a...."whole passel", oFirst my over all impression of this book. Then I'll give some detail as to why I feel as I do. I picked this up because it got a...."whole passel", of 4 and 5 star ratings here. My over all impression of the book????
It's crap.
Why do I think that? Well at first I was thinking it would be okay if not one I really liked. It opened with an account of the protagonists dream where she was having intercourse with a "hot" shadowy figure. She made sure to tell us she'd had an orgasm.
I sighed and went on. I can live with a little overt sex in a book if the author seems to think that it's important to the story. I can usually skim through it if it gets really graphic. And if it's really for the story you won't be getting a heavy or graphic sex scene every second page. This was more, "in your face" than graphic. It was a short intro passage and I figured it was to tell me what a "kick ass" female protagonist we had.
Except that about every second page our female P.I./Grim reaper had to refer back to her hot dream. She had to be sure and tell me/us that she'd never had an orgasm in a dream before. She had to tell us about her shadowy lover's body parts etc.
I sighed and moved past a lot.
There is a bit of humor here but I didn't find the character as funny as some did...or as funny as she finds herself.
Sadly, for me anyway, I did see the beginnings of an interesting story here, but the writer just couldn't or wouldn't stay with it. She kept swerving off to one side. The wise cracking heroine's story would draw me in and then crash.
I can see that I might enjoy some things by this writer, but maybe I'm not the audience she's shooting for. Many love this book, their reviews and ratings are why I tried it (though my first look at the cover art when I picked this up at the library signaled me I might be barking up the wrong proverbial tree). I held on following the story and the side trails we were running down (at the point where I was in the book, I have no idea how many of the dead people we've encountered would have ended up being part of the main plot). BUT we came to a scene where I realized we'd gone a bridge too far for me. (I'll say below under a spoiler marker). I knew I didn't even want to follow the story any more it seems there is a device she's using (and of course some will disagree with me) that was something I didn't care for.
So, 1 star because I can't go lower and I didn't finish the book...
Now, what pushed me over the edge?
(view spoiler)[ As I said our heroine goes on at length about her "sex" life. Up to a point I was philosophical about it. I could take the commentary on men's butts and so on. Some feel that's just the female half of the population getting their own back a bit.
But we came to a scene where we saw what was described as a "boy" being assaulted, possibly attempted murder....our protagonist intervenes (of course). Not to give the whole scene , but when she interacts with the "boy" he seems bigger. He wants her to stay out of it. He threatens her, he grabs her throat and pushes her back (okay at this point I had to realize the impression I had from the first mention that he was about 13 was wrong). When she insists that she will call the police anyway he asks her "have you ever been raped?" By the time he had his hand between her legs I'd put the book down, and don't plan to pick it up again.
You who like this thing...enjoy. It's not for me. Possibly just me but I prefer that my light reading contain as few rapes and/or attempted rapes as possible.
It seems to me that whenever things slow up a bit or there's a lull in the action the author goes for the groin. Not the best of literary devices.
As I said if it's your cup of tea, enjoy. To me it seems to be going the way of the only Laural K. Hamilton book I've tried.
That's all I can say here. I started out with an open mind, I was looking forward to this book, I like action adventure and I'll forOH - GOOD - GRIEF.
That's all I can say here. I started out with an open mind, I was looking forward to this book, I like action adventure and I'll forgive a lot if the book has a good action feel. Also, I'm a fantasy fan so I'm practiced at "suspending disbelief", I'll swallow a lot with a shrug and an "oh well" if it makes a good story.
This time...it didn't.
I've never read anything by Mr. Reilly before. Here he seems to have taken a page from Bullwinkle J. Moose's book. He combined Peabody's Improbable History and Fractured Fairy Tales and got some seriously fractured history. Interestingly if this had been the only problem, I think (again) I could have shrugged it off and gone on, but it was just "one bridge too far".
Most of the reasons this book ended on the "discard" pile I'll put under a spoiler warning, but a couple of things show up as the book opens. The book begins with a "portentous" opening concerning the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, primarily the capstone of the Great Pyramid. From there we launch into the book with what is obviously an expedition to obtain (view spoiler)[ a part of the capstone of the Great Pyramid (hide spoiler)]. The first "huh" moment is quick in coming. These tough, seasoned, experienced adventurers have brought along as a member of their crew...a little girl. You see there's something she can do and they "couldn't come up with any way to handle it", that didn't involve bringing a little girl into a "place" rife with death traps, crocodiles and other humans who will stop at nothing to get to "the item" before them...killers. Okay, right. I had a "bad movie flashback moment" there. I flashed on the Schwarzenegger movie, Last Action Hero, in which a "kid" keeps trying to convince the "action hero" that they're really in a movie. When the police captain assigns the boy to the cop as a "punishment" the "kid" (Austin O'Brien) shouts that in "real life" they'd never assign a kid as his partner they'd call Social Services. It doesn't make a dent. Same here.
Okay we brought a small child into deadly danger, cool. I'll grin and move on.
Next we get the silly. Since we have a little girl on the team, we can't have nasty threatening call or code names for the other team members, no they're called things like Big Ears and Pooh Bear...
Okay, again I could live with it, but things went from bad to worse. From here I go under a spoiler warning. So, bottom line for you who don't want a spoiler, I hope you like it better than me. I was disappointed and finally put it aside as I have a lot of books waiting to be read and this isn't one I want to put my time into nor can I recommend it.
From the above let us proceed. Getting through the "death traps" is fairly straight forward as their "team genius" has been able to study and find the keys to getting through (of course only a couple of children in all the world can read the language of Thoth, so they always have to get the little girl with them to the front when something has to be read, like which key hole won't kill them). Okay, we get through the traps...mostly unscathed. Yeah, we lost one guy, but he showed back up later un-crushed by the huge stone that had been set to kill as an intricate and sly deathtrap. Whew, good thing it didn't work even though they set it off. Well, it worked but they guy survived the death trap...some how...oh well.
Then we "meet" one of the two (other) groups who are competing for the capstone.
You see if "we" (that is humanity) don't set the capstone back on the pyramid within 7 days a sunspot will cause horrible weather, floods etc. and destroy the entire world...or at least civilization. (It would be like if they hadn't made people realize how BAD it is to drive SUVs, smoke [in public], use incandescent light-bulbs, eat Whopper Burgers, candy bars, drink sugared soft drinks or for that matter if they can't outlaw Big-Gulps and other drinks over sixteen ounces.) Our heroes (of course) want to replace the stone for "noble reasons" the other two groups (basically the Freemasons and the Catholic Church) want to save the world for "selfish nefarious" reasons (You know like THRUSH in the man from U.N.C.L.E. or KAOS from Get Smart who wanted to destroy the world for personal gain [don't ask me I didn't write it]).
Anyway, the bad guys have guns. (Isn't everyone who has a gun a bad guy? It seems so here at times)(This by the way gives me pause because I'm not only a shooter but have a goatee [or possibly a Van Dyke, I have a mustache and I'm never sure which one has a mustache and which one doesn't]. Based on my gun ownership I may be a bad guy. Based on my facial hair and Star Trek I may be the evil twin of someone in an alternate universe somewhere?)Anyway, back to the guns... LUCKILY, our resident genius once designed a special "bullet like object" (it can't be an actual type of bullet itself as he [being a good guy would never invent a bullet)that can be fired (don't ask me, again. I would assume it's fired from a gun but that seems so...you know unlikely) and it sets up a sort of magnetic field that causes all "bullets" to go haywire and just fall down. For some reason this apparently works on ALL bullets (or almost all as we'll see in a second), even those with copper jackets and those that are totally unjacketed lead projectiles (even though copper and lead are nonmagnetic). I mean I can see it effecting bullets jacketed and half jacked in steel...but lead? Later one of the "good guys" shoots someone with a rubber bullet (of course, what other kind would a good guy have?) and that bullet works fine...okay, fine I could live with it, again.
We find in the course of the book that a large part of the US Military are now subverted by the Freemasons, so one group of bad guys is largely "basically" made up of American Military. (Our genius sold his magic magnetic bullet stopper to the U.S. Military some years before this...but they broke it and can't make it work). The main assumption here seems to me to be that the U.S. Military is made up almost entirely of idiots and psychopaths. (We meet one of the psychopaths as we're escaping...see West knew him, before he [that is west] became a good guy apparently.)(Another thought...can you be an idiot AND a psychopath?)
The other Bad Guy Group are Europeans. They are "basically" (again) the Catholic Church...I'm not sure if it's the same bunch that was after Robert Langdon however. Maybe you can watch for that?????? You know...let me know if you find out.
WE also find out (from our resident genius) that Alexander the Great and Ptolemy are apparently at least in some sense responsible for the construction of all the seven ancient wonders (and hiding the seven pieces of the capstone you see). See, Alexander was the last person to have the stone. He broke it up, so no one could have all that power. Good ol' Alexander. What a guy, huh?
By the time I got through all this I was turning the tolerance filter up, up and up again on my suspension of disbelief-o-meter (or is that suspension of "belief", oh well [again][I seem to be saying "oh well" a lot])...but when we also find that many organizations including the Knights of Saint John and much of the Catholic Church are nothing more than continuations of the Cult of Amun-Ra...well somewhere in here my crap filter completely failed and the solid-waste-o-meter red-lined.... I'm sorry, I have a limited amount of time on this earth and there are a lot of books I want to fit into that time. This one gets put aside, discarded, pitched, thrown away....
In other words I stopped and put it aside unfinished. (hide spoiler)]
So as noted if it's your cup of tea, enjoy, I'm happy for you. Again really, I mean it, enjoy. To each their own. There's no accounting for taste AND any and all other cliches that are applicable. I'll just move on. Thank you....
Allow me to add a quote attributed Dorthy Parker which I've used before:
"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."...more
This is a novelization of a movie...maybe that should be my entire review. I haven't seen this movie yet. Now I wonder if I will at all(well,probably This is a novelization of a movie...maybe that should be my entire review. I haven't seen this movie yet. Now I wonder if I will at all(well,probably for the special effects).
As noted in my "shelving" I didn't finish this one (I even considered starting a "new shelf"..."total crap"). It finally burned me out.
This wants to be a genre bending western meets space invaders type movie book. My big question is this. How can a cowboys meet ET goes postal movie adaption book manage to hit every cliche of both genres?
My thought here? I decided not to waste my time as my mind just kept wandering (yes the problem was I have a mind and can actually think). This being the case, I can't really recommend this for the perusal of anyone else ...I mean you have a limited amount of time in this vale of tears to.
1 star...I couldn't give it less without it looking like I didn't rate it at all.
***Update***
By the way I went with a friend to see the movie later. Amazingly he's still a friend. I mean he didn't know how bad it would be either, and I had no excuse. I'd read this and still went.
This action (going to the movie after reading the book) caused me to seriously question my own sanity. ...more
First to you who like this, I'm sorry. We can't all like the same books.
I picked this up because it was recommended on the "What to read while you're First to you who like this, I'm sorry. We can't all like the same books.
I picked this up because it was recommended on the "What to read while you're waiting for the next Dresden book" thread. So:
First I'm not a romance fan to begin with and I can pretty much say that I dislike every PNR (paranormal romance) I've ever "accidentally" picked up. Now, I can hear some of you saying, but this isn't PNR. At least the recommendation I went with said it wasn't. But if it's not, it's close enough for me.
I almost put this book down 3 times before I finally did. I wanted to like it, I wanted to find an urban fantasy I'd like...really, I did. I won't list the points where I almost quit, or the place I finally hit the wall, yelled that's enough and put it straight into the back to the library stack, not until we get below a spoiler warning.
The bottom line is the plot sounded fair to good, a bounty hunting witch who gets on the bad side of her own former agency and has a price placed on her head. Unfortunately the book got bogged down. We start out with Rachel on the "bust" of a leprechaun. She's fed up, it seems to her that her agency (her boss)has been slighting her and wants her to quit...so she does. It doesn't however go the way she planned.
The book tried several times to pick up it's story line and move along, but it kept bogging down in exploration of Rachel's life. Not in the way other books do with their characters, filling in the corners of the world, fleshing out what we need to know about the magic, and the other races... no, we're exploring Rachel's relationship with her vamp (living vamp as opposed to dead vamp) room-mate/partner and her relationship with her other partner a pixie. Yet somehow, the characters remain shallow.
Like I said I finally came to a point where I decided there are only so many hours left for me to read and a lot of books I'd far rather read than this one. So...one star, end of story, not for me. Enjoy if it's your cup of tea.
(view spoiler)[I wasn't thrilled with the way the book opened. We were on a stake out and the story was already very much of a "been there, done that" (ya I get it...she likes to dress in leather, everyone mistakes her for a hooker, even though she's made it a point to tell us she doesn't have a lot in the cleavage area (though oddly just after that she uses "what she has" to distract someone). The fantasy world is one where supernatural folk are now out in the open as the majority of humanity (us normals, at least she didn't say muggles, of course she'd have had legal problems over that so there's a good reason) has died.
I tried to stay with this book. When I see I'm about to dislike a book quite a bit I want to be fair... The first time I almost gave up was when we met the "non-practicing" vampire, (sigh)...but the book was going on to explain the difference between living and dead vamps. SO I stayed with it to see... I got to the point where they moved into the old church as an office and where Rachel and her "living vamp" partner (Ivy) would both be forced to also live (they've both lost accommodations and have little hope of finding more). I almost quit again when we had the scene where the vamp (Ivy) apparently tries to seduce Rachel...or maybe rip her throat out. She was, confused. I skimmed through it and moved on, "give the book a chance", I thought. I was then treated to Rachel's perusing of the "How to have sex with a vampire without becoming dinner (or possibly the meal of your choice)" manual her partner gave her. (Rachel continues to be straight she tells us, but doesn't really know how to deal with her partner).... I went on. Till we got to the sexy male vamp visiting the sexy (maybe bisexual?) female vamp (Rachael's partner Ivy again) and his move on Rachel (he just wants her for her blood, the sex would be incidental) and Ivy holds him off by saying ..."she's mine".
I read a little farther on, but come on, enough is enough... If this is what you like, fine. When a book has spent more than half it's length on the possible...planned...dreamed...or whatever sex lives of the characters and I know more about that than about the actual plot, it's a little too much romance, paranormal or otherwise for me. If it's for you, then enjoy. Another nonstarter for me. (hide spoiler)]...more
Didn't finish this one. It became clear from the get go that the author was more interested in laying out his own idea about "how things really were" Didn't finish this one. It became clear from the get go that the author was more interested in laying out his own idea about "how things really were" than in just telling the stories.
Metz is well known and I suppose the "who are you to disagree" argument could be aimed at me...okay, feel free. I'm not saying that he's incorrect, just that he's more involved in his opinions here. Just my take. I burned out quick with a feeling of fatigue from the attitude I was getting through the text.
Try the book yourself, see what you think, though I'd suggest a slightly wider read about the period...just me.
Okay...I've read a few books by Orson Scott Card, and most of them are pretty good. Most of them. Every now and then I guess everyone has a misstep. IOkay...I've read a few books by Orson Scott Card, and most of them are pretty good. Most of them. Every now and then I guess everyone has a misstep. IN MY OPINION this is one of Card's.
I knew early on I was in trouble as the homeless man of mystery carried off the apparently still born baby and the domestic scenes rolled on setting the scene for our entry into wonder.
We just had trouble getting there.
This was supposed to be inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream. But I just didn't find the expected magic. Some seem to like this book, but I just didn't care for it and have a lot of books waiting...including another Card book, so not for me. ...more
The single star is a subjective rating. I didn't like the book. Then again I don't care for mysteries and I don't care for romance. This was my wife'sThe single star is a subjective rating. I didn't like the book. Then again I don't care for mysteries and I don't care for romance. This was my wife's book. She passed away almost two years ago and I've been looking over my shelves, forced to thin them out because I've moved to a place with much less room. I don't like to sell, trade or whatever books without reading (or as in this case attempting to read) them.
I don't know where Mr. DePoy was born (he's a New Yorker at this point)but I really don't care for his portrayal of the Appalachian region or the people who live there. (I grew up in the Smokies). From the "get-go" I felt a slight condescension in the prose. Now, that could just be me, my take on the book so to speak. I realize this is part of a popular series and many like it.
The book opens at the Methodist pot luck dinner with our folklorist commenting on the people present, how good the food is and how dull the service was (no poison drinking, weeping, snake handling, or "rolling on the floor). Again a bit of "snide-idity" seemed present. Was it? Up to each reader. The narrator and his friend "who thinks of himself as a Druid but might consider Christianity if the food is always good"...are privy to an argument "apparently" over some stolen hogs involving Truevine Deveroe. Deveroe is the local "witch" (a young woman who is solitary and shy). Truevine of course, disappears.
I just couldn't get into this book. It's not my kind of "brain candy", I didn't care for the story telling and I just didn't find it interesting. If you like it, enjoy. I doubt I'll pick another book by the author...unless of course there happens to be one or more still among my wife's books. Those would get at least a cursory read. ...more
Okay I got through Dreamstone...it wasn't the worst book I ever read. This one isn't either...but together they may be in the running.
When I started tOkay I got through Dreamstone...it wasn't the worst book I ever read. This one isn't either...but together they may be in the running.
When I started this one I hadn't realized it was "Arafel 2". Had I, I might not even have tried it, in spite of the short blurb that sold me on it.
Of course I realized it was within 2 or 3 words, it starts out with a synopsis of the first book. Once the book starts we get another interaction with the "fey" the "Sidhe". And it starts off just as airy-fairy as the last one. Dragging on we meet some "old acquaintances", characters we know from The Dreamstone. My life passed before my eyes...a cold sweat broke out...I felt a panic attack coming on, another slow draggy book eating away at my precious reading time, stealing hours from the time I have left in this world. I mean there is only so long I will be in this veil of tears (does anyone else notice that "veil" is another of those words that breaks the "i before e except after c" rule?) anyway, I only have so much reading time left and as I sank again into the misty slow moving prose of this world a small voice in the back of my mind screamed "NO! Save yourself! Get out! Get out now!"
So I did. Slow, boring, misty, airy-fairy....unfinished, unrecommended and in my sell or trade (as quickly as possible) books.
I'm coming to the conclusion that Ms. Cherryh wrote some books in the late 70s and early 80s that just aren't to my taste. If this is for you, I'm so happy for you, enjoy! ...more
I put this one down...I didn't hate it....but I just lost interest. I'll be the first to admit, maybe it's me, maybe I've just read too many like thisI put this one down...I didn't hate it....but I just lost interest. I'll be the first to admit, maybe it's me, maybe I've just read too many like this. The book is a pretty standard "post vampire apocalypse" read with just a dash of modern zombie and a taste dystopian future thrown in for good measure.
I think my interest level started to drop (or maybe finally dropped off to where disinterest set in) when it became obvious we were dealing with not only a type of conquering vampire but also the now famous and apparently ubiquitous "infectious zombie". Zombies have been a horror story and myth standard for a long time. I suppose they took on a new aspect a sort of "new lease on an un-life" with Night of the Living Dead, though the "if you're even scratched by one you'll turn into a zombie to" motif wasn't set in stone there. It was just that any dead came back...apparently because "all dead" were coming back. It seems to me that the "once bitten you'll die no matter what and become a zombie" theme started in earnest with video games like Resident Evil. Gone were evil priests, nasty dark wizards, undead sorcerers and sorceresses, no sign of voodoo or curses, now it's a plague. Okay to each his own...but I've pretty much enjoyed as much of that plot device as I can stand.
As I said...not awful, but not worth it to me I didn't want to use my limited and valuable reading time (and life time) on finishing a book that dropped my interest in the first 50 pages. If you like it enjoy.
The thing is, I'm not dissing the book "as such". I'm sure some will find it just what they're looking for and enjoy it. That's great, but as I said, not for me. ...more
I "feel" (note the use of the word "feel" rather than "think") I should (have) like(ed) this book better. The plot sounds very interesting. The girl CI "feel" (note the use of the word "feel" rather than "think") I should (have) like(ed) this book better. The plot sounds very interesting. The girl Ciri, child of promise and prophecy (yes a common motif in fantasy and folklore) who was promised to the Witcher before she was born. (Evil faeries and so on used to claim that promise). The story of her "education", training, change and all the people around who want to protect or use her.
But I just found the book a sort of yawner. It opens with a really "grab ya" scene of an attack on a city that turns out to be a partial and suppressed memory of Cir coming out in a dream... and jumps to a bard singing about "someone" or "some people" that all the listeners "just know" are Ciri, Geralt etc. But it rolls on so slowly.
The races here a a little different than we find elsewhere but not greatly. The magic folk, druids, priests who populate the book never grab me and I just couldn't get into the story. I found myself skimming the book going from Triss' memories to Ciri's training, from events to visions and all along I was just losing interest.
Maybe it's me and my own taste. I see a lot of people like this book and I'm certainly glad you found a volume you like. I liked the first book or prequel to this one (The Last Wish) pretty well, but this one just never drew me in. I really don't care for it all that much.
I do apologize to you who like this book greatly, as I've noted many times it's simple a matter of taste. ...more
Mike (the Paladin)
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Books:
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