In preparation for book three of Maureen Johnson’s Sades of London series, Shadow Cabinet, I’m rereading the first two. Obviously starting with book 1, The Name of the Star.
What I’m Rereading: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
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Update: Mime Order
it is out! I’m listening! (review of Under Heaven to come!)
This book starts exactly where Bone Season left off, so if you’ve not read that (or the first 20% or so of Mime Order ) massive spoilers ahead! Continue reading
Review: Red Rising by Pierce Brown
I wanted to like this book more then I did. It’s not that I didn’t like it but I found it hard to get into it and stay into it. I’m not sure if it was the writing style or the characters or the pacing. I just never truly connected with it fully. Maybe I have hit my threshold on Hunger Gamesish type dystopian.
Red Rising is about Darrow, who is a miner on Mars. He and his family are Reds. The lowest of the color castes. Their job is to mine precious elements to prepare the surface of Mars for colonization. They were told they were colonist but really they are slaves. Mars was colonized for centuries and the ruling color castes, Golds, have been living it up on the surface, while Reds toil away below. All this is revealed to Darrow after his wife, Eo, is executed and Darrow joins the Army of Ares to take down the Golds and the Society from the inside.
Maybe for me it’s more of a question of pacing then anything else. Eo, is executed so early in the book, that I was never able to get to know her or Darrow or their relationship. Obviously they were in love. I got that much and apparently Eo was someone that everyone loved. True, it’s sad when anyone is killed at such a young age. Especially over something that is a simple as a song but it was a blink and you miss her and she’s gone. Oh, ok. Then Darrow is whisked away by the Army of Ares, told the truth about how the Society really is and joins the rebellion. I guess I never felt I had time to know who Darrow was before all this happened. I didn’t get to know where he came from before he was set out on his revenge. I think this is also a problem of the author because to compare to the Hunger Games, the reaping happens very early on in the book and Katniss and Peeta are on the train to the capital by the third chapter but by then the connection for me was already made. I was invested.
After a lengthy process of changing Darrow from a Red to a Gold, which includes surgeries, we finally get to the Institute that turns Golds into the leaders and rulers of the Society. The Institute is nothing but a Hunger Games style of live action game of Risk. The students are set up into different houses where they try to invade, conquer and slave the other students. Again with the pacing. At times, it was exciting and I hated that I was at my stop on the train and had to stop reading to get off but then momentum would end and I was like “can we get on with it” The ending itself was also a little meh. I guess it does set up nicely for the sequel, Golden Son, which is out now.
It was ok. I’ll probably will read the sequel eventually but not right away. I think this was Pierce Brown’s first book, so hopefully the next one will be better. I like the concept, I do. The execution just wasn’t quite up the the task.
What I’m Reading Now: Fairest by Marissa Meyer
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GoT! What might have been and What might be.
Who knew I would be writing about HarperCollins twice in one week? It turns out HarperCollins London’s office is moving into a swanky new office. According to this article, there are conferences rooms named in honor of their authors, Hilary Mantel and George R.R. Martin. And it’s the Martin room that interests
me. This room has on display the original letter that Mr. Martin wrote to his agent about the plot of The Song of Ice and Fire. The final paragraph has been blacked out keeping the ending a mystery, for which I am glad about.
Some kind soul took pictures of the letter and posted it on Tumblr. I don’t think I have to say this but I will, Spoiler Alert. While many of Mr. Martin’s original ideas did not come to pass, some still might happen. Including the five characters who Mr. Martin originally intended on surviving the whole series. I give you a hint, all five are currently still alive though may not be for much longer. So, click at your own risk.
For those who found the letter to hard to read or too lazy to read it, MilfordAcademy summarized the letter on the blog Oh No They Didn’t. Again, don’t read unless you really want to know. You’ve been warned!
So what do you think? Who wishes some of what he originally planned had happened? There’s a few things I definitely do and other’s I’m very glad never happened but I guess there is still time.
Oh My God! This is Huge!
Anyone who ever went to high school in the United States and maybe outside the US has read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It’s considered an American Lit classic and despite it’s success it’s Miss Lee’s only book. That is until now. HarperCollins today announced that Miss Lee will publish her first her book in over 50 years Like OMG! This is amazing. Not only is it a new book but it’s a sequel. Go Set a Watchmen follows an Adult Scout as she comes cack to Maycomb, Alambama.
The book is set during the mid-1950s, some 20 years after To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout (Jean Louise Finch) has returned to Maycomb from New York to visit her father Atticus and is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand both her father’s attitude toward society, and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood
This is awesome! It turns out that Go Set a Watchmen is actually Miss Lee’s first book. When she showed it to her editor, the editor said she should write about a young Scout, so she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird instead. She thought the manuscript was other destroyed or lost. Surprise! It was not.
Well it might not be all good news. HarperCollins only has contact with Miss Lee through her Lawyer and Literary Agent so there are questions about whether Miss Lee has really signed off on this. It would be sad if that was true and I hope that it is not true. I’m not sure if this is good or not but for now I am going to be excited about the new release and will wait patiently for July 14.
I can’t think of a clever title so Award Winners it is!
The American Library Association announced the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz awards today. These honor the best on Children’s literature. Past winners, like Johnny Tremain, The Graveyard Book, and The Westing Game are now consider classics so it’s a big deal to win. Not to mention a boost in sales. No doubt tomorrow hundreds of parents went into bookstores all over the country asking for them.
There are a few stand outs. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson has already won the National Book Award for Young Adult, was honored with the Coretta Scott King Award and was also a Newbery Honoree. It’s Ms. Woodson’s memoir of growing up in the south and in New York, told mostly in verse. On a personal note, Ms. Woodson lives in the neighborhood that I work in and is a very nice woman. So I couldn’t be happier for her. I haven’t read it yet but it’s definitely on the to-read list.
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith was named a Printz Award honoree. I have read this and let me tell you, it’s kinda of messed up. I became interested in it since it takes place in Iowa, my home state. It’s a story of Austin, a horny teenager who struggling with his feelings for both his girlfriend Shann and his best friend Robby. If that wasn’t enough problems for a teenage boy, he and Robby accidentally unleashed six foot praying mantis’ that will destroy the world. Yeah, I know. Weird. In one way, it was refreshing to have a novel take on bisexuality in such a head on way but on the other hand, the female lead Shann, is pretty one dimensional. So it’s progressive in one way and a step back in another way. It’s still worth a read though.
Have you read any of the other winners or honorees? If so, sound off in the comments below.
Game of Throne Trailer!!!
To distract us from the fact that there will be no new book in 2015, HBO has released the first trailer for upcoming season of Game of Thrones. I have so many feels about this. Is it April yet?
PSA: Scarlet is on sale!
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer is on sale for $2.99 as an ebook at Barnes and Noble and the iTunes Store right now!
Thanks, Book Bub for letting us know!
Reader Troubles
I’m not normally the kind of reader (or person in general) that makes myself finish one thing before I start another thing. (Sometimes, I eat my dessert before finishing my peas.) I have no trouble starting a book right after I started a book. Back in the day, before there were ebooks and audiobooks that automatically downloaded to my fancy phone, this was easy to accomplish. I had the book on my bedside table and the book in my purse and the book in my backpack. I would read whatever was available. Now that I have ebooks and audio books (I still read physical books, though!) that will sync across platforms I don’t have the same excuse. So, now I just try to limit myself to one physical book, one ebook and one audio book at a time. Some days, it is really difficult, though.
I have the audio book of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Under Heaven checked out from the public library. I have re-checked it out once and I only have it for another 9 days and I’m more than half way done. I’m really enjoying it! Every time I think, “Meh, I can see where this is going.” I get a section from a different character’s perspective and my theories are blown! It is really good! But, I am very excited that Mime Order is out and every bone in my body wants to start listening to it. Right now. I especially want to listen to it because I know Beth has finished it and is dying to talk about it. Ah, the frustration!
Under Heaven is really good though. And, I imagine Mime Order won’t get stale waiting.
Do you read more than one book at a time? How do you manage it? Have you put a book aside to get to something exciting you’ve been waiting for?
