Wednesday Reading Meme
What I Just Finished Reading: Since last week I read four books: Half Bad by Sally Green, The Bright Lands by John Fram, Immunity by Erin Bowman, and Cemetery Club by JG Faherty. Reviews below.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Blightborn by Chuck Wendig, the second book in the Heartland trilogy.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I normally have at least my next week in books planned out, but I currently don't know! I'm waiting on some picks at my Dusty Bookshelf and Finish What You Started challenges, so I may see if there's anything there that I can get in ebook format from the library. (I won't be able to get any physical books for the next week or so because the library is going to be closed for Canada Day weekend, and taking into consideration travel time between the libraries.) Otherwise, I think I'll look at the challenges that I am closest to finishing and try to pick something that will match a prompt there.
72. Half Bad by Sally Green
In a world where witches coexist with the rest of us mostly clueless folk, Nathan is “half bad”, because while his mother was a white witch, his father is the darkest of the dark, the black witch Marcus. Nathan is persecuted and abused by almost everyone his whole life (two of his half-siblings support him, while one is abysmally cruel and his grandmother does nothing to stop the abuse), culminating with the white council basically kidnapping him and heaping on more physical and emotional abuse. Yup, the ‘whites’ aren’t particularly good and the blacks have a history of violence. Is it because of the abuse they suffer or are they truly inherently dark? Nathan only wants to be free and to come into his own powers, but the council is using him to get to his father. All in all, a super interesting and thought-provoking story. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
Dates Read: June 20 to 21, 2023
Page Count: 394
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 8 - read 8 books written by a woman (02/08)
LJ Book Bingo - recced by spikedluv (11/12)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 20 - MC gets badly hurt (21/52)
73. The Bright Lands by John Fram
Joel escaped his oppressive hometown 10 years ago for New York, where he’s forged a successful career and is free from the persecution he found as a gay teen in a small Texas town. But a plea from his younger brother Dylan, now the town’s star quarterback, sends him back home. When Dylan goes missing, Joel is drawn into the many secrets of the town.
This is a page-turner of a book. The setting is stark and eerie and the characters are well drawn and three-dimensional. The only thing that hampers the book is the paranormal twist the author felt somehow compelled to add. It felt completely unnecessary. The story of small town corruption, toxic masculinity, and homophobia stood well enough on its own, and the people in this story did not need an outside force to influence their actions. We all know that people are plenty awful all on their own. The overall revelation of what ‘the bright lands’ are is pretty ridiculously over the top as well, but the other 95% of the book is so good that I can forgive it.
Dates Read: June 22 to 24, 2023
Page Count: 398
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books set in a small town [Bentley, Texas] (05/11)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 - June pick
Lost Challenges Want To Read Bingo - B7 (10/25)
CCC Aah Walkers 0 Prompt 18 - mother who loses child (22/52)
ATY Summer Reading Challenge - August 1C - first letter of title in Bibliomania (10/12)
74. Immunity by Erin Bowman
The sequel to Contagion is a big disappointment. The first book featured a tense atmosphere and a race against the clock as the crew tried to survive the infecteds and flee the planet, with the added bonus of some undead to boot. This one tries to imitate that claustrophobic tone by trapping the survivors on a research facility where they are poked and prodded, but the actions are rote and the villains ridiculous. Adding in another teen who also just happens to be an intern who’s placed in charge of one of the survivors also stretched the limits of credulity. I was bored.
Dates Read: June 24 to 25, 2023
Page Count: 448
2 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 8 0 read 8 books that were written by a woman (03/08)
Challenge Factory Genre Roulette - Task 3 - read 3 books tagged ‘romance’ (03/03) (13/15 total)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 34 - prison-like setting (23/52)
75. Cemetery Club by JG Flaherty
In this low-rent version of Stephen King’s It, the Barrens is an old mausoleum and the Losers Club becomes the Cemetery Club. Instead of Pennywise the kids somehow release some sort of alien/demon/zombie-ish things (let’s call them ADZs) and now, 20 years later, the ADZ’s are killing again. The kids are virtual copies of King’s, from the shy kid who grew up to be a success (chubby Ben in It becomes an architect / Cory becomes a lawyer in this drivel) who had a crush on the girl from an abusive home who also marries then escapes from an abuser (Bev / Marisol). Everything’s on super speed though, nothing’s really explained, we have no reason to like these people, and every other scene is just somebody new getting murdered by the ADZs. It’s not even punctuated correctly. I can’t believe I wasted my time on this thing.
Dates Read: June 26 to 27, 2023
Page Count: 254
1 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books that take place in a small town [Rocky Point, NY] (06/11)
Want to Read Bingo - B9 (11/25)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 35 - set in a small town (24/52)
.
What I'm Reading Right Now: I just started Blightborn by Chuck Wendig, the second book in the Heartland trilogy.
What I'm Planning to Read Next: I normally have at least my next week in books planned out, but I currently don't know! I'm waiting on some picks at my Dusty Bookshelf and Finish What You Started challenges, so I may see if there's anything there that I can get in ebook format from the library. (I won't be able to get any physical books for the next week or so because the library is going to be closed for Canada Day weekend, and taking into consideration travel time between the libraries.) Otherwise, I think I'll look at the challenges that I am closest to finishing and try to pick something that will match a prompt there.
72. Half Bad by Sally Green
In a world where witches coexist with the rest of us mostly clueless folk, Nathan is “half bad”, because while his mother was a white witch, his father is the darkest of the dark, the black witch Marcus. Nathan is persecuted and abused by almost everyone his whole life (two of his half-siblings support him, while one is abysmally cruel and his grandmother does nothing to stop the abuse), culminating with the white council basically kidnapping him and heaping on more physical and emotional abuse. Yup, the ‘whites’ aren’t particularly good and the blacks have a history of violence. Is it because of the abuse they suffer or are they truly inherently dark? Nathan only wants to be free and to come into his own powers, but the council is using him to get to his father. All in all, a super interesting and thought-provoking story. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.
Dates Read: June 20 to 21, 2023
Page Count: 394
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 8 - read 8 books written by a woman (02/08)
LJ Book Bingo - recced by spikedluv (11/12)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 20 - MC gets badly hurt (21/52)
73. The Bright Lands by John Fram
Joel escaped his oppressive hometown 10 years ago for New York, where he’s forged a successful career and is free from the persecution he found as a gay teen in a small Texas town. But a plea from his younger brother Dylan, now the town’s star quarterback, sends him back home. When Dylan goes missing, Joel is drawn into the many secrets of the town.
This is a page-turner of a book. The setting is stark and eerie and the characters are well drawn and three-dimensional. The only thing that hampers the book is the paranormal twist the author felt somehow compelled to add. It felt completely unnecessary. The story of small town corruption, toxic masculinity, and homophobia stood well enough on its own, and the people in this story did not need an outside force to influence their actions. We all know that people are plenty awful all on their own. The overall revelation of what ‘the bright lands’ are is pretty ridiculously over the top as well, but the other 95% of the book is so good that I can forgive it.
Dates Read: June 22 to 24, 2023
Page Count: 398
4 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books set in a small town [Bentley, Texas] (05/11)
Challenge Factory Give Me 5 - June pick
Lost Challenges Want To Read Bingo - B7 (10/25)
CCC Aah Walkers 0 Prompt 18 - mother who loses child (22/52)
ATY Summer Reading Challenge - August 1C - first letter of title in Bibliomania (10/12)
74. Immunity by Erin Bowman
The sequel to Contagion is a big disappointment. The first book featured a tense atmosphere and a race against the clock as the crew tried to survive the infecteds and flee the planet, with the added bonus of some undead to boot. This one tries to imitate that claustrophobic tone by trapping the survivors on a research facility where they are poked and prodded, but the actions are rote and the villains ridiculous. Adding in another teen who also just happens to be an intern who’s placed in charge of one of the survivors also stretched the limits of credulity. I was bored.
Dates Read: June 24 to 25, 2023
Page Count: 448
2 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 8 0 read 8 books that were written by a woman (03/08)
Challenge Factory Genre Roulette - Task 3 - read 3 books tagged ‘romance’ (03/03) (13/15 total)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 34 - prison-like setting (23/52)
75. Cemetery Club by JG Flaherty
In this low-rent version of Stephen King’s It, the Barrens is an old mausoleum and the Losers Club becomes the Cemetery Club. Instead of Pennywise the kids somehow release some sort of alien/demon/zombie-ish things (let’s call them ADZs) and now, 20 years later, the ADZ’s are killing again. The kids are virtual copies of King’s, from the shy kid who grew up to be a success (chubby Ben in It becomes an architect / Cory becomes a lawyer in this drivel) who had a crush on the girl from an abusive home who also marries then escapes from an abuser (Bev / Marisol). Everything’s on super speed though, nothing’s really explained, we have no reason to like these people, and every other scene is just somebody new getting murdered by the ADZs. It’s not even punctuated correctly. I can’t believe I wasted my time on this thing.
Dates Read: June 26 to 27, 2023
Page Count: 254
1 out of 5 stars
Lost Challenges Pyramid of Books - Task 11 - read 11 books that take place in a small town [Rocky Point, NY] (06/11)
Want to Read Bingo - B9 (11/25)
CCC Aah Walkers - Prompt 35 - set in a small town (24/52)
.