2009 June » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Thursday Tea: June 4

Posted by Anastasia on June 4, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 042009

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the will to answer some very simple questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

Lemonade tin The tea: For this Thursday Tea I didn’t actually drink tea. Shocking, I know! But, honestly, it was roasting in my apartment last night and anything hot would have been unbearable. So I drank some lemonade instead. Yay! I love lemonade: it’s so refreshing.

Eon #1 The book: I was right in the middle of Alison Goodman’s Eon: Dragoneye Reborn. It was quite thrilling and had a really excellent plot, but I hated just about every character in it, including Eon, the narrator. And by the time I finished it this morning it had given me a big fat tension headache, so I’m very conflicted about it at the moment. Ahem.

Here’s a summary of the story from Amazon:

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he’ll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragon-eye, the human link to an energy dragon’s power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon’s affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court, where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon’s desperate lie comes to light, readers won’t be able to stop turning the pages…

Compatability: Lemonade and Eon don’t go together at all. Eon is set in an alternate Asian world, and so something like Oolong or ginger tea would have gone much better with it.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Discussion: What makes you continue reading a series?

Posted by Anastasia on June 3, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 032009

I recently finished reading the first Landover book, and though I know it’s part of a series I’m not feeling totally inclined to read the rest of it. Magic Kingdom For Sale–Sold (the book in question) was fun, but I’m not really interested enough to read any more of the books. That got me thinking.

What makes you continue reading a book series? A cliffhanger at the end of the first book? Characters so engaging that you want to read more about them? Unanswered questions? (Something else?)

Those are all things that make me continue a book series, even if I didn’t particularly like the the first book (for example). On the flip side, the absence of those things makes me not want to continue reading a series. Sometimes a definitive ending in the first book makes a sequel seem unnecessary, even.

What makes you stop reading a book series? There was something like this over at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books the other week. What makes you stop reading a series? Or not continue one at all?

I guess my main question is: what makes a good book series? What do you think?

Review & GIVEAWAY: Lake of Skulls by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell (2003)

Posted by Anastasia on June 2, 2009 23 Responses »

Jun 022009

Lake of Skulls (A Knight’s Story #1) by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
Publication: Atheneum (August 31, 2004), Hardcover, 144 pages / ISBN 0689872399
Genre: Action, Paranormal, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
First sentence: “Hey, you!” I looked up.

In one sentence: Action movie turned book with all the cliches of the genre.

Sometimes I like a good action-movie-turned-book, and sometimes I don’t. Lake of Skulls is, I think, a little bit too much action and a little bit too little actual plot.

Summary from Amazon:

Behind me, a loud, beastlike roar went up. I turned to see a great hulk of a man — all hairy jowls and heaving gut — lumbering from leg to leg in a slow battle-jig. I recognized him at once.

His fists were clenched. His bloodshot eyes were wild.

“Come on, if you think you’re hard enough!” he was bellowing.

Here we go again! I thought. Why do I always seem to end up in this type of a place? You’d think I’d have learned by now. All I’d wanted was a quiet drink. Was that too much to ask? Was it?

Given the day I’d had so far, maybe it was…

It’s a short book, and so it’s hard to cram a lot of plot in there. For what’s there, it’s pretty exciting and, yeah, action-filled. The bit near the end with the hags was especially thrilling. But then, short doesn’t mean one can just dump out all the meat of a story without anyone noticing, and I think Lake of Skulls has a little bit too much meat dumped out. The no-name knight who narrates Lake of Skulls seems to be a typical male lead of an action movie(/book): little feelings, too much ego, and no repercussions for their actions. And since he’s a free lance knight, maybe it’s more like those old Westerns, with a solitary figure running around for hire by anyone who’ll hire him. Eh?

Not that those kinds of stories can’t be fun. I particularly like the detective noir books(/movies) with gritty old detectives snarling out their lines, etc., but even then we get hints of what characters are feeling. Not so much here. Not that I want Free Lance the Knight to get all weepy or anything, but some hint as to what he’s feeling besides scared (as when he’s fighting the hags who are trying to eat him) would be appreciated. You know?

I also had a big problem with the many historical inaccuracies. I actually wrote this whole big thing about Free Lance’s horse and other sundry things but it got a bit rant-y and so I canned it. But rest assured: those historical inaccuracies ruined my enjoyment of Lake of Skulls. (On the other hand, I don’t think I would have even noticed if I hadn’t taken all those medieval classes and even wrote a paper about horses in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, so your experience might be different.)

The art, by the by, was nicely done. Full of big-boobied women, of course, but I wasn’t really surprised about that.

I can’t help but feel that maybe Lake of Skulls is better suited to tween boys who maybe don’t read a lot. I’m thinking maybe my brother, when he was younger, would have liked it. So maybe I’m just the wrong audience?

If you’re looking for a book with extreme historical accuracy, look somewhere else. If you want an action movie translated into a book, and aren’t bothered by nitpicky things like I am, then Lake of Skulls is your book.

Oh snap, giveaway!

I didn’t really like this book, but you might. Win a copy and prove me wrong (or right)! Win it, read it, review it: let me know what you think, even if it’s to disagree (or agree) with me.

Giveaway details:
The book is a discarded library copy, so it’s got all the library paraphernalia on it. It’s in good condition, though, like new except for the stickers and stamps.

To enter, leave a comment on this post stating you’d like to be entered. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win! People that don’t leave me a way to contact them will be disqualified from the giveaway.

For
+1 entries, blog about this giveaway on your blog.
+1 entries, Twitter about this giveaway via your Twitter account.
Leave separate comments for each extra entry plus links to them!

It’s a pretty small book, so this giveaway is open worldwide. Yay!

I’ll use random.org to determine the winner. Contest ends June 9, 2009. Good luck!

Review: Gone by Michael Grant (2008)

Posted by Anastasia on June 2, 2009 5 Responses »

Jun 022009

Gone #1 Gone by Michael Grant
Publication: HarperTeen (June 24, 2008), Hardcover, 576 pages / ISBN 0061448761
Genre: Sci-Fi, YA/Teen
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Support Your Local Library Challenge (#20)
First sentence: One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone.

In one sentence: A thrilling sci-fi YA novel that’s a little more thrilling than Uglies and just as weird as Triskellion.

I had no idea what Gone was about when I picked this book off of the shelf at my local library, but the first page made it seem really, really good. And it was! I love it when that happens.

Summary from Amazon:

In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what’s happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It’s a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else…

I love the premise of Gone, especially since it features one of my favorite things in YA fiction: a group of kids fending for themselves without adult helping or guiding them. There’s so much potential in these kinds of stories, and luckily Gone seems to have more sense than maybe some other books do. The kids in Gone don’t start off self-sufficient and ready to make a new life for themselves; they have to be coaxed out of apathy and near-anarchy and even then it’s a strained relationship between the leaders and the lead. A lot of people compare the situation in Gone to the situation in Lord of the Flies, and I agree. There’s always some bully who wants to take over the group and run it with an iron fist, and that’s no exception here. But then, the bully in Gone has superpowers.

Oh yeah. Superpowers. Quite a few of the kids do, actually, which makes Gone even more interesting than maybe a straight post-apocalyptic tale would be. A lot of details Gone are weird like Triskellion was weird– I just had to go for it and suspend my disbelief for a while, even if plot developments didn’t entirely make sense. I don’t think I can even really talk about many more of those details because I’d be spoiling you, and I don’t think you’d have as much fun if you knew everything in advance. (Sorry.) And anyway, even though it was filled with weird stuff, Gone was also fun and exciting, and I ended up reading the whole thing in one day!

What I liked most about Gone was how Sam, one of the main characters, wasn’t a cut-and-dry hero type. He didn’t even want to be the hero. He wanted to let someone else do it, and it wasn’t even until right near the very end of the book that he finally took over the reins. It was a bit refreshing, since the perfect-leader-since-birth thing can be very overdone. Not that we didn’t all know Sam was going to be the leader eventually anyway– not only did practically ever other character in the book say so, but it was in Sam’s very nature to take over when things get rough, evidenced when he saved a busload of kids from falling over a cliff simply by thinking quickly and acting. Hero potential right there, baby.

Gone does have some problems. Several plot turns could be seen from miles away, for instance, and some other details were completely cliched (like, oh: dashing young hero gets previously supposedly unattainable beautiful young heroine? Dashing young hero destined to be great leader? Dashing young hero has evil arch-enemy and lots of family secrets? etc.), but, honestly, the rest of the book made up for those disappointments. The writing was engaging, the characters were easy to empathize with if a little bland sometimes, and the story never dragged. Quite an accomplishment for such a long book!

I highly recommend Gone for fans of YA sci-fi, post-apocalyptic fiction, and Stephen King. I can’t wait to read the next book and see if some seriously annoying questions left over in the first are answered!

Get your own copy from Amazon or your favorite indie bookstore!

Other reviews: Teen Book Review | My Favorite Books | YA New York

links for 2009-6-1

Posted by Anastasia on June 1, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 012009

Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / How to Lie About Books

“Since the day Shakespeare ghostwrote the Bible for King James, we Anglophones have regarded reading as big stuff. But there’s no way you can read everything. Scientists calculate that it would take twelve hundred clones of Burgess Meredith—with fully functioning spectacles—a minimum of four hundred years just to read all the Count Saint-Germain novels.” lol.

(tags: books humor)
Toilet Paper Horror Novel – mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

“Forget fancy digital readers and electronic paper, the future of reading is written on a different medium. Japanese horror writer Koji Suzuki just published a nine-chapter novella on a roll of toilet paper.”

(tags: books)

Monthly Review: May 2009

Posted by Anastasia on June 1, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 012009

Er, yeah: so you may have noticed I didn’t do a monthly review post for April. That’s because May was super busy for me– finals, vacation, etc. And yet somehow I managed to read 24 books!

What I’m most proud of, though, was managing to catch up on my reviews for March and April. Now I’ve just got to catch up with May’s reviews. Eek!

Reading Stats
24 total books read
16 total books reviewed
2 ebooks
0 audiobooks
22 pbooks

13 were by authors new to me
3 were rereads!

6 had a witch
2 had gods
1 had superheroes

Reading Challenges Status Updates (since March)
2009 Pub Challenge (+2, 5/9)
The Final Frontier Reading Challenge (+2, 2/7)
It’s The End Of The World II (+1, 1/4)
Read Your Own Books 2009 (+5, 22/25)
Support Your Local Library Challenge (+8, 20/25)

Continue under the jump to see what reviews I posted in May! Continue reading »

Mini Reviews: Ptolemy's Gate, Interstellar Patrol, Shopaholic & Sister, Shopaholic & Baby

Posted by Anastasia on June 1, 2009 No Responses »

Jun 012009

Ptolemy’s Gate (Bartimaeus Trilogy #3) by Jonathan Stroud
Publication: Miramax (December 20, 2005), Hardcover, 512 pages / ISBN 0786818611
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#21)
First sentence: The assassins dropped into the palace grounds at midnight, four fleet shadows dark against the wall.

In one sentence: Disappointing conclusion to an otherwise fantastic series.

I was really looking forward to finally reading the conclusion to a series I loved, but unfortunately I could barely stand this one. The plot was good, kinda. I liked that Nathaniel finally stopped being a jerk (does that count as a spoiler?), but I hated the way he got his “redemption.” I do not agree with–SPOILER now– redemption via death. It’s too easy, for both the character and the author. It comes off as cowardly to me. It’s a cheap ending and it actually really pisses me off (can you tell?).

Thinking back on it now I can’t actually recall anything I liked about the book besides Mr. Stroud’s writing style. Oh well.

Interstellar Patrol by Christopher Anvil
Publication: Baen Books (April 2002), ebook
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating:
Find @ WebScription.net
Challenges: The Final Frontier Challenge (#1)

In one sentence: Fantastic collection of clever, smart sci-fi stories.

I started reading Interstellar Patrol, a collection of short stories and one novella set in Christopher Anvil’s Federation of Humanity universe, with no expectations except that it would have excellent writing (based on the reviews at WebScription.net). I was extremely pleased to find that not only did it have that excellent writing I was looking for, but that it also had excellent characters, stories, and a wonderful, deep universe. I loved it! The tremendously clever ways the characters solved their problems, the very neat tying-up of endings, etc– I couldn’t get enough! And luckily there’s a whole other collection available, too. If you like clever sci-fi with the sensibilities of a Hercule Poirot story, then try Interstellar Patrol.

Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella
Publication: Dial Press Trade Paperback (August 30, 2005), Paperback, 368 pages / ISBN 0385336829
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Beach Read
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Read Your Own Books 2009 (#19)
First sentence: I know.

In one sentence: Surprisingly good!

I was a little wary of reading Shopaholic and Sister because a) the plot sounded so stupid and b) I didn’t think the series could go anywhere after Shopaholic Ties the Knot. Silly me.

The weirdness of the plot was explained in, I thought, a very straight-forward way that made it sound almost reasonable. And while I still didn’t think it was entirely necessary to the series, I did like that we got to see what Becky and Luke were like after the honeymoon was over. And, even better, I think we even got a deeper insight into Becky’s personality! And Luke as well, which I really enjoyed– I’ve wanted to know more about him ever since he was first introduced. He was always a bit of an enigma to me, so I was glad for the details Ms. Kinsella included about him. Huzzah!

Shopaholic and Sister turned out to be a really cute addition to the Shopaholic series, with some wonderful new characters and even a little bit of character growth. Yay!

Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella
Publication: Dial Press Trade Paperback (December 26, 2007), Paperback, 368 pages / ISBN 0385338716
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Beach Read
Rating:
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#20)
First sentence: OK. Don’t panic

In one sentence: Though not entirely my cup of tea, entirely enjoyable nonetheless.

I am not into pregnancy stories at all, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading Shopaholic and Baby. Maybe it was the bitchy rival trying to sabotage Becky and Luke’s marriage– I am into that kind of thing (I love seeing the bitchy rival get her comeuppance), so that was the plotline that worked for me the most. The baby thing was nearly always last in interesting plotlines, actually, and as a result it was a little bit of a surprise for me when Becky’s baby showed up at the end. Ha.

But now I really don’t know where the series can go after this, except for something with Becky’s daughter as a toddler or something. Oh geeze, is that where the Shopaholic series is going? Can you imagine? I wonder if Baby will be a mini-Becky or be something else. Eek!