Author Archives: Bethlylou

Quick Review: Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger

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manners mutinyThere is so many things to love about this book and this series in general.  It’s beyond funny.  Sophornia is in finishing school but it’s not just any Victorian age finishing school.  Yes, Miss Geraldine’s teaches her girls how to behave like a lady and how to land a good husband but also how to kill them too.  Miss Geraldine’s develops the best lady intelligencer’s in the majesty’s realm.  Sophronia and her friends may still be students but they are all that stands in the way from the evil Picklemen taking over the realm and  keeping peace with the vampires and werewolves.  So don’t take these girls lightly.  They may have all the charm and manners of a lady of quality but that only makes them more deadly.  If there was one downside to this and that it needs more Soap.  Soap is Sophronia’s one true love.  In a world where social class is important, they are a forbidden match.  Sophronia doesn’t come from most wealthiest of families but she is expected to marry a certain class of gentlemen and  a black sootie is not that class.  At the end of the last book he is turned werewolf to save his life.  In this Steampunk London, supernaturals are granted equal footing with the upper class but he’s still the wrong race and well now the wrong species.  His role is a little lesser then in past books since he is no longer at the floating school.  He is not really given much to do but he does make the most of the time he does have.  All and all it was a good ending to a great series.  I’m going to have to read Gail’s other series that take place in the same world because if these are any indication, they will be a hoot.

Rereading Winter by Marissa Meyer

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This is it.  I don’t want to say that this will be the last time I read Winter or The Lunar Chronicles but I am ready to move on.  This was a very lovely series that was just fun to read.  So here we go. My last few observations Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, Kai, Throne, Wolf and Jacin.

  1.  I liked all the romances but Scarlet and Wolf’s is the best.  Wolf is torn from his family, forced into the army, his body physically altered and none of this he wanted.  He spent the entire series fighting what was done to him so he could have his own choice.  That he wasn’t just a monster he was made to be and Scarlet saw him.  Maybe from the very beginning when he was just sitting in the tavern, maybe in the fight pit or maybe on the train but she saw HIM and even after everything, that’s all she ever saw.  That’s love.
  2. I do love Throne’s devious plan to prove he’s worthy of Cress’ love.  That my friend is a criminal mastermind.
  3. Winter is adorable.  I’m not sure what I think of Jacin.  He’s still a jerk but he does have his reasons.  If I was raised in the Lunar court I would probably be like that too.  I saw that they both truly cared for each other but I wasn’t quite connected with them as a couple as the others.  Maybe since I only really got one book with them and they spent most of the book apart from each other.
  4. Cinder is amazing.  After everything that she has been through.  She still finds away to be fair to Adri and  Peony when they had never been fair to her.  A lesson we all can learn.  She will make a great leader.  I think that best leaders are the ones who don’t want to but do when needed.
  5. I do hope that she and Kai do stay together
  6. I’ve said this before but I do love the friendship between Cinder and Throne.  He was the first to follow her and to go along with what she wanted and needed.  True at first he thought their would be money involved but he was game for everything.  I think that is what made he final battle that much more powerful.
  7. Levana is a terrible person but she also had a terrible upbringing.  I read Fairest, the prequel, and we find out that she was never shown love from her parents.  Her sister was cruel to her and was responsible for her own burn injuries.  She had always felt inferior and really just wanted to be loved.  She was the second daughter.  The second woman in his husbands life.  Well really the third after Winter.  She was never anyone’s first until she ascended to the throne and only because she manipulated everyone.  I’m not saying any of this excuses her behavior but terrible people are not created in a vacuum.
  8. Whatever Marissa Meyer will write next. I’m totally going to read it.

What did you all love about The Lunar Chronicles?

Preview of The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

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hidden oracleWe are big fans of Rick Riordan here at Stacks so we or at least I am since Kate has yet to finish Blood of Olympus (and I will continue to publically shame her until she does, out of love of course). We saw that USA TODAY published the cover to the first book of Rick’s new series The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle.  The series is a small spoiler as to what happens to a certain God at the end of the last series but then again, if you know your Greek Mythology then you know that Apollo has a history of pissing off Zeus and that he gets turned into a human. The most exciting part of all of this is that it returns us to Percy Jackson’s world and another trip to Camp Half-Blood.  Rick may explore other mythologies like Egyptian in the Kane Chronicles and Norse in his latest Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard but he always seems to come back to Greek mythology and Percy. USA TODAY not only revealed the cover but also publish a short excerpt and it’s pretty clear that Apollo is in for a world of hurt.  After ten books from demi-gods point of view, it’s going to be fun to read from a God’s point of view, even if it is one turned human.

Who else is excited to read about Apollo’s adventures?  Or who is more excited about more Percy and the gang?  Is it May yet?

Wyatt Comic Strip by Eric Gapstur

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Full disclosure.  Eric Gapstur is a good friend to Kate and I so we are please as punched that his comic Wyatt got picked up by GoComics.com.  If you are a fan of superheroes and Calvin and Hobbes then you are going to love Wyatt, his sister Adeline, their father and grandmother.  So check it out every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and every other Sunday.  Trust us, you will love it.

Source: Wyatt Comic Strip, December 07, 2015 on GoComics.com

Rereading Cress by Marissa Meyer

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Now on to Cress.  If you have been following along.  You can read my thoughts about my second readings on Cinder and Scarlet there and there. Again *Spoilers*

  1. I think I mentioned this before but I love how our heroines have non-traditional jobs.  Cinder is a mechanic, Scarlet is a pilot and farmer and Cress is a computer programmer and hacker.  They may be based on fairy tales but doesn’t mean that have be damsels in distress. (though I do love Cress’ line about being a damsel in distress instead of a being a prisoner)
  2. I do love the friendship between Cinder and Throne.  The bickering back and forth between the two is truly delightful.  It really sets up for the big ending.
  3. Cress’ reaction to seeing sand, trees and animals for the first time is just plain adorable.  I love the scenes where she is forced to describe their surroundings to Throne who has temporarily lost his eyesight.  It’s really cute.
  4. In Cinder Jacin is described as having a pony tail but is never described with one again.  Does he get his haircut?
  5. Also a lot of characters have blue eyes.  Cress, Throne, Jacin and Dr. Erland.  Okay that’s only 4 but that is half of them.
  6. When Jacin says he serves the Princess, did everyone just forget that Winter exits?  That might have been a good idea to say, hey how did you know?  I know there were a little unsure if they could trust him and for good reason but it probably might have been a good idea to let him in on the Princess Selene angle.  Sure, he might have did what he did anyway but maybe not.  Communication could have been a little better, that’s all I’m saying.
  7. Lunars can be real jerks.  They manipulate and torture Scarlet and then put her on display in the menagerie.  I do hope Cinder gets rid of the families when she takes over.
  8. I hope they make a movie or TV show because I want to see the scene at the end when Kai is looking for Cinder and sees Wolf sewing up his wound and looks up and says “Your Majesty”.  Classic.
  9. Wolf.  sigh

One more book to go.  I probably won’t have as many thoughts about Winter since I did just recently finished it but that doesn’t mean I’m any less excited about it.

World Aids Day

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Today is World’s Aids Day and Giving Tuesday.  So in that spirit, I hope that you will join me in supporting this Kickstarter.  It’s by my friend Bill Bytsura.  He hopes to publish his book of portraits and stories of Aids activists he collected from all over the world between 1989 to 1998.  These are stories of those who fought from the beginning and deserve to get the recognition for their work to help fight this disease.  For more information on this project and Bill go to www.theaidsactivistproject.org

Thank you for supporting and spreading the word.  How ever you spend to day be generous.  This is the time of year of giving.  So give what you can, whether it’s to this or another project that is close to your heart.

Rereading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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scarletNow on to Scarlet. I do love this book too.  I love the no nonsense of Scarlet.  The almost innocence of Wolf. Captain Thorne cockiness.  Cinder’s sarcasm. Kai’s sarcasm and Iko as a ship.  Just like I did with my rereading of Cinder, he’s a few observations I may have missed or didn’t think much of the first time around or just things that I love about this story. *Spoilers*

  1. Seriously, is there a better character as Iko ever.  Whether she is a regular android, a ship or an escort droid, she’s the best.  I mean that.  No way the team can accomplish anything if Iko wasn’t there.  She’s very Data like (Star Trek reference!) in her quest to be be and feel more human.  She’s a total optimist in the face of the immense odds and gets everyone going when they feel that can’t go on.  She’s the best!
  2.  When Kai starts to think that the Lunar’s are spying on him, why doesn’t he have his office swept then?  Why wait?  The worst thing that could happen is that there are no bugs and he was just paranoid but the best, he could have stopped  their spying a little sooner.  Of course, who knows what Levana’s reaction would have been then but she was probably going to attack anyway.
  3. Wolf not knowing what Tomatoes were and saying he was from Paris probably should have been a bigger red flag that he was not actually from Paris.  I’m not all that familiar with French food beyond pastries but I’m sure he would have at least seen a tomato before.
  4. How much time did Dr. Erland spend on building new hand and foot for Cinder?  Is that what he was doing when he was hiding from Levana instead of researching the antidote? Or did he have spare cyborg body parts at the ready and once he found her pulled out what he needed once he found her? And if Cinder hadn’t been arrested, when would he have given it to her?
  5. Anyone else want to talk about how creepy it was that Throne wanted to take an unconscious Emile hostage?
  6. How cute was Wolf when Scarlet suggested that she was his Alpha female?  Love seeing men blush.
  7. Let’s give props to Michelle Benoit.  She keeps the biggest secret the world has ever none for 11 years and still doesn’t give it up under severe torture.  Sacrifices herself and her son to do so and still was able to do some serious trash talking before she dies.

I feel like there was more  I wanted to say but I can’t remember.  I really should write these things done.  Next up, Cress.