The Cradle Will Fall by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This pulled me through from beginning to end. I just did not want to put it down.
It is old, but definitely will remain a classic in my collection.
Archive for the ‘Path’ Category
Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management by Howard Tayler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fun, quick read. This one only took a couple hours to read.
I would go through and analyze setting, plot, characters, and stuff like I normally do, but then it would take all the fun out of the comics.
Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it and am looking forward to starting in on volume 4. I really need to get caught up (to 12 or whatever they’re at now).
Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have known John for many years, and I have even been an early reader of the second book in this series. John had me be a naive reader for his second book, which he is still working on (and I really hope gets finished really soon, really). So, I was pretty antsy to read the first one with the taste I had of the second one already.
I thought this was a brilliantly written book. There is much that I am still unsure on, such as whether I like Talen or exactly how the magic works, but I didn’t really care at this time because I was so invested in what was going to happen to the two families being focused on.
Setting: This is a whole new world that John is building here. I found it easy to understand and John presents lots of different levels of society and cultures in a fairly small space.
Plot: Mostly this was about Talen growing up and "saving the world". But there is so much more here – from family issues to sexual tension to class struggles. There is a good amount of dramatic tension too – the soldiers on the hill and the creator of the monster and the Glory.
Conflict: There are some deep philosophical questions here – trust in a family, religious beliefs, good of society over self.
Character: As I said, I’m not sure yet if I like who Talen is. But, I think that is necessary because this is a series and he needs to grow through all of them. I did love River and Legs. I also loved how the monster was personified.
Text: Easy to read. I was pulled through and read it within just a couple days.
The Authorized Ender Companion by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an encyclopedia of all things Ender. It is not meant to be read straight through, but referenced (although I did read it straight through because I wanted to know everything that was in there . . . and I have read the entire series and all the possible short stories and collections).
There are also a couple sections toward the back that describe the battle rooms, the design of the battle school, and the work of getting the story made into a movie. There is even a section where "friends" of Ender and the series wrote about the effect it had on them. I know a couple people who wrote in, so that was kind of fun to read.
There was lots of good information and insights (meaning that I hadn’t realized the connections when I read – not that Jake Black added his opinions) in the entries.
This was an interesting way of reliving the stories, although I expect it would be funner for those who use it as an encyclopedia and reference it as they read or re-read the series.
I also would like to thank Jake Black for gifting me this book (it didn’t really bias my review though). I never knew he lived just down the street from me. Cool.
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The only problem I had with reading this now is that I have to wait a long time for the next one in the series. I am seriously hooked on the characters and the plot to this series.
This was a fast read, but definitely not short on action or suspense. I liked the new character additions and the twists of whom Thomas should or could trust.
I am still guessing as to the purpose and ethical merits (or lack thereof) of the WICKED group, and that also helps to keep me intrigued.
Finally, I liked how this one took the story to someplace completely different (sorry Hunger Games – you just keep going back to the same thing) so that it did not feel like a re-hashing of the same story.
Cracked Wheat for Christmas by Ted C. Hindmarsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another cute Christmas story.
The premise of the family rules was a bit of a stretch for me, and the rules themselves seemed a bit strange in general, but it was a touching story about compassion and service.
29
Dec
Review: The Fourth Gift
The Fourth Gift by J. Tucker Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a cute story. And while I wanted Jeshua to give the other gift to Jesus, I understand why the author did it – I just thought it cheapened all the work that the boy put into it.
The writing was a little repetitive and awkward, but it was still an interesting story.
Merry Christmas, Splat by Rob Scotton
This is the second book that the whole family wanted to read. It is a little too close to home sometimes (kids wanting to help and making more work for us), but that is a good thing because it makes us laugh.
Bob: And 6 More Christmas Stories by Sandra Boynton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was just telling my wife that we should get rid of this book, but then we started reading Christmas stories as a family and this was the very first one that they wanted and that they could all agree on (ages 6-13).
Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought it would be fun to try out a historical novel as a break from all the fantasy I’ve been reading. I’ve enjoyed the last several that I got from my Grandma, so I opened this one and started reading, not even really knowing anything about the author nor having read anything from Ms. Allende before. And, I can say that the book was enjoyable and engaging.
It is written in typical romance style (romance the culture, not the genre), with strong descriptions, beautiful prose, troubled characters, and meandering story lines. Not that the last is bad, it is just different from the typically straight-forward approach of American writing.
I felt that some things were just drawn out or left unexplained for too long – for example, the true story of the death of the grandfather – but I kept reading because of the interesting characters. I wasn’t really surprised by the plot twists (in fact, I saw the husband thing and her future lover thing coming long before), but, then, I was more interested in how the various characters would handle it.
I wanted more with Severo at the end, but this is not really his story.
The book is divided into 3 sections, with no other chaptering, so it felt rather long at times. However, there were scene breaks that let me feel like I could put the book down.
NaNoWriMo
