Reading Through the (Modern) Classics: The Gunslinger

TITLE: The Gunslinger
Book 1 in The Dark Tower series
AUTHOR: Stephen King
PUBLISHED: 1982
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: A man pursues another man in a mysterious western fantasy world..
MY THOUGHTS: Okay, unpopular opinion time: I...am not a huge fan of Stephen King. I like the ideas he comes up with. He has great concepts. I even like King himself, because from the interviews I've seen him in...he's a pretty cool dude. Those interviews and the cool concepts make me really wish I liked his books more. But of the two (and with this one, now three) I've read....I've come to the conclusion his books just aren't for me.
First....his treatment of female characters is frankly....ick. I forgot that but after I started this, I remembered right away why I haven't picked up one of his books in like five years. This one was definitely different from his other two I've read (Hearts in Atlantis and Carrie for those interested). But it still had the same issues I've found with his work: boring writing style, characters that feel more like ideas of characters then actual characters, and a fantasy world that also feels more like an idea then an actual fantasy world. That ultimately is always my issue with his books: they always feel like unfinished drafts of things that need to be worked on much more then they were.
Now, I know some people have said this gets better as it goes on and there's a big plan and yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure it does. I mean, there has to be some reason it has all the fans it does. But me personally? Yeah, sorry, I have zero interest in continuing. I think it's time I just face facts: I'm probably never going to be a Stephen King fan.
WHO SHOULD READ: Stephen King fans, fantasy fans who don't mind very vague world-building

Book Review: A Closed and Common Orbit

TITLE: A Closed and Common Orbit
Book 2 in the Wayfarers series
AUTHOR: Becky Chambers
PUBLISHED: October 2016
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Science-Fiction
PREMISE: Lovelace wakes up in a new body and tries to adjust to her new life...
MY REVIEW: So I finally read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet a few months ago and enjoyed it a lot. So I picked up the sequel. This one is...a bit different from the first book, in terms of format. This one jumps back and forth between Lovelace's story and the story of a girl named Jane who appears to be a clone of some sort.
At first I was confused by why we were doing this. I enjoyed both stories but I kept thinking WHY? Then when I got to the ending, it became clear. It's sort of like with Holes where the alternating stories don't seem to have much to do with one another, but by the end it all ties up beautifully.
As with the first book, this one isn't terribly action heavy. It's mostly a character study focus. So again: if you read sci-fi for big epic space battles....probably not going to be your thing. But if you loved the first one, this one should really please you as well.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first book, sci-fi fans who love character studies
MY RATING: Four out of Five space crews

Notable Book Releases: 5/21-5/27

Here are some of the notable releases from this past week. Edit: Not sure what happened down below with formatting. But I fixed now. I hope...

MG/YA

Stranje House Book 3: Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin

Woohoo! New Stranje House book! I adore this silly but fun historical romance series. 

Dark Artifices Book 2: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare

The latest Mortal Instruments universe book. You know how I keep saying I was going to quit this series? Yeah...I'm feeling the need to pick them up again. Damn this series' pull.

Cage Book 3: The Gauntlet by Megan Shepherd.

The Cage trilogy draws to a close. I still need to read the second book. I never got to it last year. Look, there were a lot of books last year, okay?





Adult Fiction

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

So apparently someone found a manuscript of this book after Crichton's death and...I don't know. I never really feel comfortable reading books that an author possibly never actually wanted to get published (looking at you Go Set a Watchman). But...there might be fans who are interested, so here you go.

Crazy Rich Asians Book 3: Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

The popular series returns with another installment. Also, FYI there's apparently a movie coming. 

Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman

New book from the author of the really creepy book Bird Box. Also taking those low goodreads ratings with a grain of salt because most of it seems to be "this isn't as good as Bird Box!" whines, with no real reason given for why it's not as good. See, this is why I side-eye Goodread reviews a lot, positive or negative. 

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Awesome looking alternate history debut that's been getting some buzz.

Non-Fiction

Queer There and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

Book featuring short bios on 22 people you probably didn't know/weren't told were part of the LGBTQA community.

Graphic novels/Manga

Josie and the Pussycats Vol. 1 TP

The Books of Magic Vol. 1 TP

Moonshine Vol. 1 TP

No Mercy Vol. 3 TP

Princess Jellyfish Vol. 4 manga

Moon Knight Vol. 2: Reincarnations TP

Unworthy Thor TP

Book Review: By Your Side

TITLE: By Your Side
AUTHOR: Kasie West
PUBLISHED: January 31rst, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Contemporary, Romance
PREMISE: A boy and a girl spend a few days locked in a library together. It blooms into a romance of sorts...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to look into West's contemporary fiction for awhile now. I've read her Pivot Point Duology and I remember enjoying it a bit. I saw this latest one in the library and figured, why not?
It's pretty typical YA romance stuff. Boy and girl forced to spend time together. Love blooms. Each have things they're dealing with. Friends and family make the romance more complicated then it needs to be, stir till fluffy. I did appreciate that West did not have the friends be horrible. I kept waiting for that moment when we'd get the typical bashing of the popular kids thing that tends to happen in books like this, but it actually never came. That was a pleasant surprise. There was also a nice female friendship in there, and no slut shaming. The love interest wasn't a total douche. It was a romance I could get behind. It doesn't sound like much, but you'd be amazed at how few YA contemporaries manage to pass this incredibly low bar that I have.
In short, it was a typical YA romance with a contemporary setting. If you want something that is light and fluffy, this will probably do the trick for you.
WHO SHOULD READ: Kasie West fans, those looking for cute romances to read
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five cute couples I can root for

Reading Through the Classics: Four Anton Chekhov Plays

TITLE: The Seagull
Uncle Vanya
Three Sisters
The Cherry Orchard
AUTHOR: Anton Chekhov
PUBLISHED: 1895, 1897, 1900. 1904
CATEGORY: Plays
GENRE: Realistic Fiction/Family Drama
MY THOUGHTS: So I recently took the plunge into plays, and one of my ongoing projects this year is to read through the ones being put on Broadway this season (I'm really excited about the Tonys, FYI). There are two Chekhov plays being done. One of them is The Cherry Orchard. The only copy my library had was a volume that was a bind-up of these four plays. Which is fine, these were also on my TBR list.
Of all four of them...I think Cherry Orchard was the best. Chekhov does a lot of focus on family drama things. There's probably some commentary on Russian things that I'm missing due to not knowing much about Russian history as well.
If you're just getting into Russian lit, I think Chekhov is a great place to start. I say this as someone also very new to it. His writing is easy to understand and quick to get through. You don't have to know everything about Russia to get his plays. So for those of us who may have been say...intimidated by Russian lit in the past (I fully blame Tolstoy. Trying Anna Karenina first, was probably not my wisest choice), Chekhov is a nice gateway into Russian lit.
WHO SHOULD READ: Theater nerds, Russian lit fans

Graphic Novel Review: This One Summer

TITLE: This One Summer
AUTHOR: Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
PUBLISHED: 2014
CATEGORY: Graphic Novels
GENRE: Contemporary/Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: Two girls have a memorable/drama-filled summer at their annual family vacation spot.
MY REVIEW: Every family has that one vacation spot they probably went to frequently, at least when they were kids. My family always went to a lake in West Virginia where my grandmother had a house. To this day, I'm still not sure how that house came in our family's possession (it's since been sold) but I have very fond memories of spending Forth of July there. This graphic novel reminds me a lot of those summers.
In that way, it's a perfect summer read. The art style is very interesting. At first I didn't like it much, but as the story progressed, I realized it actually suits the story very well. There are lot of topics covered in this as Rose and Windy spend their summer lazing about. Some of it was dealt with kind of vaguely, but for the most part...this was a pretty well-done one-shot story.
If you're looking for some graphic novels to take on a trip, I highly recommend this one.
WHO SHOULD READ: YA contemporary fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five summer lakes

Notable Book Releases: 5/14-5/20

First off: apologies for no release post last week. Honestly, there were only like two books I was interested in, and the rest I didn't think anyone would particularly care about. So I didn't think a post was terribly necessary for two books. I suppose that's what happens when you have a big opening week beforehand.
But there are lots of interesting things this week, so here we go:

MG/YA

Flame in the Mist Book 1 by Renee Ahdieh

A Mulan retelling from the author of Wrath and the Dawn? Bring it.

The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

LGBTQA book that looks really fun. I'm ignoring those ratings on Goodreads for now because I've found when it comes to LGBTQA books (or any book not featuring a white protagonist or be a YA book not featuring romance) the ratings can be very suspect.

Riders Book 2: Seeker by Veronica Rossi

Sequel to last year's Riders which...I still have mixed feelings about, so I'm not sure if I'll be getting to this one. But for those that liked it, the sequel is out.

The Crown's Game Book 2: The Crown's Fate by Evelyn Skye

I'll be honest: I did not like The Crown's Game. It was a DNF book for me from last year. A very disappointing DNF because I loved the premise but the writing and basically everything...was just so bland for me. But I am apparently in the minority on this feeling, so I'm letting those that liked the first book know the sequel is out.



Adult Fiction

Large Animals by Jess Arndt

A short story debut that has been getting some buzz around the lit sphere.








Non-Fiction

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

True crime memoir type book that has been getting some buzz.

City of Light, City of Poison by Holly Tucker

Talk about crime solving in Paris during the 1600s? I'm in. I also want a Netflix series or PBS/BBC costume drama about it.

How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana and Abigail Pesta

Looks like this one is going to be the heart-wrenching memoir of the summer. 









Comics/Manga releases

Free Country: A Tale of the Children's Crusade TP
Supergirl Vol. 1: Reign of the Cyborg Supermen TP
Spider-man Spider-Gwen Sitting in a Tree TP

Book Review: Ink and Bone

TITLE: Ink and Bone
Book 1 in The Great Library series
AUTHOR: Rachel Caine
PUBLISHED: July 2015
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Alternate history, Dystopianish
PREMISE: In a world where the Library of Alexandria never burned but lived on to become a world dominating power, a boy is sent to the library for training...
MY REVIEW: I've been meaning to read this series forever because the premise sounds so amazing and Caine is one of those authors who has great premises, even if her plots are usually average. This one though...I actually think this one might be her best series yet. It not only lived up to its awesome premise, but it exceeded my expectations.
This has a lot of what made Morganville Vampires so entertaining: interesting variety of characters, different premise that you don't see everyday, fast pace with lots of things going on, and snappy dialogue. But it's also much better in that there's not lots of focus on love drama. There's romance but that is secondary to this big plot with the library.
Honestly, I'm hard-pressed to find anything really bad about it. About all I can say is the writing is average. But the quality of the story is very very high. I really wish I'd gotten to this one much sooner. But now that means I don't have to wait long to get to the end so, best laid plans.
WHO SHOULD READ: Rachel Caine fans, those who like alternate histories/dystopians
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five scary librarians

Book Review: Rebel Genuis

TITLE: Rebel Genius
Book 1 in the Geniuses series
AUTHOR: Michael Dante DiMartino
PUBLISHED: October 2016
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade
GENRE: Fantasy
PREMISE: In a world where artists have the ability to create life with art, a boy joins a group of people rebelling against the queen...
MY REVIEW: I admit, I had probably too high expectations for this one. In my defense, when you tell me that one of the creators of Avatar: the Last Airbender has written a book...I'm going to have high expectations. Because I freaking loved Avatar.
Unfortunately...this one was one of those that had a great world....but not such an original plot. I could honestly predict what was going to happen from the first chapter and that's...not good. The author does try, but it really misses all that heart and subverting of tropes that Avatar had. Which kind of makes me think, DiMartino is mostly responsible for the world-building aspect of Avatar and not the writing. Which is fine, we all have our strengths. I did love the world in this.
I just didn't really love the plot and found the characters...lacking to say the least. It's like a movie where you can see what the writer/director was going for...but there's no feeling behind everything so you can't really connect with it. It's not bad...I suspect younger readers will very much enjoy this one, but for anyone whose looking for more depth or original plot...this one is probably not going to be for you. I honestly can only shrug sadly at this. It was just underwhelming.
WHO SHOULD READ: Younger fantasy readers
MY RATING: Three out of Five I wanted more from this feelings

Reading Through the Classics: North and South

TITLE: North and South
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Gaskell
PUBLISHED: 1854
CATEGORY: Classic, Adult
GENRE: Romance
PREMISE: A young woman moves to a new town after her father has a crisis of faith.
MY THOUGHTS: The first thing that popped into my mind as I read this was "this is kind of like Pride and Prejudice" and...it honestly is basically a bit of a redux on it. Gaskell definitely does her own take on people falling in love despite differences of opinion on things. Things don't go down quite the same way. I'm not saying it's a rip-off or anything like that. But...you can sort of tell, Gaskell got a lot of inspiration from Austen. As an Austen fan, I don't mind.
This one took the social commentary to higher levels then Austen did. But there was also still plenty of heart tugging romance. I definitely see why a lot of people fell for this story. There's lots going on, a lot of things to think about and the prose are great. Very wordy at times, like most of the classics are (daily reminder: a lot of authors back then were paid by the word. The books are wordy for a reason).
This was actually a rather enjoyable classic. I'll definitely be looking into Gaskell's other books in the future.
WHO SHOULD READ: Romance fans, Jane Austen fans, Bronte fans