Book reviews
I've been reading like mad lately. So now, for a quick look at what I have deemed worthy of my time.
Wake, by Lisa McMann: very quick read; I think it took me about an hour and a half. It has an interesting premise: a girl is sucked into the dreams of anybody who happens to be having one nearby, whether she wants to or not. She has to learn how to deal with it. As you can imagine, this makes high school a bit tricky when her classmates learn the joys of napping in class. The book follows her as she struggles to find ways to cope with this ability and with her relationship issues. While I liked the idea behind the book, I really felt like Wake was more character driven than anything. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it would have been disappointing if I hadn't known there would be a sequel to explore the concept of dreamwalking more and answer some of those hanging questions.
Content-wise, I was surprised this book is classified as YA. Sure, the characters are in high school, so it makes sense that way, but there was quite a bit more swearing than I expected, even from the adults (which were rare anyway), and some drug and sexual references as well (nothing terribly explicit, but still). I felt like it all fit in realy well with the characters McMann created, which is important in a character-driven book, but I still wish the swearing wasn't quite so gratuitous. I think she could have easily toned it down but still gotten her point across.
I'm still going to read the sequel, Fade, so take that for what it's worth.
Second up...
Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde: I always forget what Fforde's writing style is like until I pick up another one of his books. Based solely off of the premise, I expected this to be a quirky, fun book with a side dish of mystery. What I got is quirky, to be sure, but not light reading. And the world he has created is very reminiscent of 1984. Again, the premise is awesome. Russett lives in a world that revolves around color. Social standing is based almost solely off of how well you can see a particular color. As you might guess, Russett is a Red with untested but potentially quite good saturation. His life seems simple: his goal is to woo and marry a red with more color than his family currently has in order for his descendents to have a higher social standing. However, his inquisitive nature quickly veers him off of that course, and he finds himself learning things that are very, very dangerous to know - and yes, they involve how evil the government is. What else did you expect from a dystopia masquerading as a utopia? What I didn't realize is that this is a planned trilogy, which explains why the book ends where it does.
The worldbuilding in this book is fantastic. Like I said earlier, the world is very quirky, and each quirk shows just a little facet of the government that is so controlling (without appearing to be controlling). Everyone just seems to accept the Leapbacks every few years, where certain technologies or artifacts from the time before Something Happened are banned for no apparent reason (for example, telephones, or certain models of cars, or phonographs). (This is what reminded me of 1984.) Doctors heal by showing specific swatches of color - each hue can cure a different ailment. There is an interesting twist to the profession that I won't reveal, but I'll just say it supports the second sentence of this paragraph. :P There is a book of rules that must be followed, not all of which are logical, so people have become masters at finding loopholes. It's just all around a very complex, rich world. But it comes at a price, I feel... the very complexity of the world, paired with how drastically different it is compared to ours, makes it a little difficult to get into the book. Fforde does a good job introducing it to us in manageable chunks, for the most part, there's just a lot of things that are there in the background. In that sense, the cover fits the feel of the story very well... chaotic, but with the important things clearly outlined (i.e. the title).
Of all his books, I still like the Nursery Crime books best (I still haven't been able to find the first one, but The Fourth Bear was quite good). However, I definitely plan on seeing out the trilogy... when it eventually gets written. Nothing too objectionable in this book (or really any of his books); however, the writing style lends itself better to more mature readers.
The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher: I've read 2-10 of this trilogy (I think), and all of them have been great. The first one that I skipped is apparently pretty rough but not necessary for the series (nothing really carries over like it does in the rest of the books). The second one is still a bit rough, but soon after that Butcher hits his stride. They all basically have the same thing in common: in the first few chapters, Dresden, the only wizard listed in the Chicago phone book, gets 3-4 big, seemingly unrelated problems thrown at him and has to sort out the mess that ensues. And they usually are all connected in some way that makes sense, even though it seems terribly unlikely in the first few chapters. This series is action packed but very well-written, especially looking at it over the course of all 13 books (which is where it currently stands at in length). Butcher does a great job at maintaining continuity and making good on his promises and hints at future plot developments, leaving very few loose ends (if you are patient). And that is incredibly satisfying in a long book series.
The target audience here is adult; there is a smattering of language, occasionally some sexual content (mostly contained to one book in particular), and violence when he kicks the supernatural bad guy's trash (or guys', as the case may be... and usually is, upon further reflection).
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan: Now this is light, fun reading. I was a bit disappointed that it was so easy for Percy to complete his quest in the end, and I wanted more details, but overall it's just a fun book. And it is juvenile fiction, so I can be more forgiving about the lack of description in some places. I'll probably read the rest once I borrow them from my brother. Once I do I'll know better how I feel about this one... it seemed like it wrapped up a little too neatly for my taste, but maybe that's because I haven't read a juvenile fiction series without a big, grand overarching plot in a while... then again, maybe it does have one and I haven't seen it yet. Hence, I will reserve judgement.
It's juvenile fiction, so we're pretty safe for all ages here.
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson: I read this for bookclub. In one day. It was fantastically fun, even better than The Lightning Thief in my opinion. (Then again, it was longer... with more detailed descriptions... so... yeah.) I'm stoked to begin the second of the trilogy today. Basically, the trilogy is a retelling of the Peter Pan story. Before I began, I was not so keen on the idea, since I'm not a huge fan of the Disney movie, but it did not take very long for me to get sucked in. There are enough differences that I thoroughly enjoyed it, while still recognizing the basic story elements as the same (i.e. there was an alligator that liked to eat people, and a pirate who is evil, and a group of boys, and Tinkerbell puts in an appearance), but without it getting boring or predictable. Definitely worth reading. Plus it has little hints of Dave Barry's humor (suitable for children, of course) - nothing overdone, just enough to add a bit extra to the writing style to really make it fun. Nothing objectionable for kids in the whole book, really. As a bit of a disclaimer, I am not very familiar with the entire Peter Pan story to begin with, so any changes made in the book from the original didn't bother me. I didn't go into it expecting a faithful retelling, just a fun story. And that, it delivered.
That about sums it up for the last few weeks of reading material.
Obviously today is much less horrible than yesterday; I actually had time to work on this post during work! Here's hoping it stays that way this afternoon, too. Also, I have planned an expedition after work today to acquire earring-making materials. We'll see how it goes. Even if I only make 3 pairs, I'll still come out ahead cost-wise, as far as I can figure...