Jump through the Schism

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The 1-line Review:

Schism hooks you in fast and is exciting from start to finish. Urban fantasy, extra dimension, big battle, mage Merlin descendant…Yes Please!

The longer review:

 Schism begins as a mystery and ends as a modern magic-urban-fantasy. The storyline got deep quick, I was only 30 pages in when I felt like I was half way through the book.  Main characters Gabe and Lea feel real and have that fleshed-out, multi-layer-protagonist-with-flaws essence about them (wow that was a mouthful.) They are quirky and likeable and sometimes annoying and develop a cute little relationship that evolves overtime. There’s not enough lovey-dove stuff to make it a romance, so its a good read for everyone.

Safe to safe the book eventually gets off earth and into Illirin (since the book is part of the Illirin Trilogy) and you wont be disappointed by the mix of magic, war, and political conflict that make up the second half of this story. It stayed exciting right up to the final battle and cliffhanger ending (arrggh!)

Schism has a great storyline and strong writing, much better than I normally anticipate from a debut authors first novel. I was impressed by the dialogue and internal monologue sequences and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Bottom Line:

 Definitely worth the ebook read. Great start to a series and Debut novel. Boys and girls of they YA and urban fantasy genres will love it!

Where the book lost a half star:

AHH! the cliffhanger ending. I try not to hate on these endings, but i turned the page expecting to read more. Now I have to wait for the next one!

Ennara and the Fallen Druid

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Will’s winning character: Smoos- the adorable, overly large sea kitty

The 1-line Review:

A fun dungeon adventure for the 8-12 range.

The longer review:

Ennara and the Fallen Druid is the first in a series that holds a lot of potential. The characters and storyline are enjoyable and the story is well written. For an 8-12 year old this book will be a fun adventure. Battles with dungeon monsters and fun magic items found along a D&D like quest fuel this adventure. The end game being to save their land from a fallen druid looking to rise to power once again.

Despite being an overall good story. The book did not stand out from the pack so to speak. It was a good dungeon/magic adventure in line with what you expect from an archetypical high world fiction.   I found that when I put the book down I would not pick it up again for awhile. It didn’t pull me in like it needed too.

The main character is enjoyable and her cast of two other boys and Smoos the Sea Cat are a good little rag tag team. At times the two boy support characters felt the same, so I would forget who was who during the middle of the story. I really did love the Sea Cat, whos like a big swimming leopard.

I want to read book two in the series and see what happens. The series has a chance to evolve into a great series for that young age range.

Bottom Line:

 Great read for fantasy reading children, but lacks the depth to keep an older reader into the story.

Where the book lost a star:

For this book it was all minor points and not a major plot issue. (That is a good thin!)

• While the characters are likeable. They don’t get too deep.This is something a young audience might not need or notice, but would add some needed depth to really connect with the characters.
• The villain was a real bad dude, but I never felt that grandiose-ness of his fear or power.
• For me, the the story didn’t stand out from others yet. It was good but felt very standard-dungeon-adventure for a good part of the middle chapters.

Out for Blood: Not enough to Bite Into

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The 1-line Review:

Book two felt much like the first and did not build upon the series like it should have.

The longer review:

I read this a while ago and failed to write the review. Part of that was because it just didn’t leave an impression on me. I don’t remember the exact details of the book anymore, but I still remember my overall feeling toward it.

The first in this series was pretty good, decent story and characters. The end really built up well to something more. Alas, that build up did not amount to anything in out for blood. I thought out for blood was going to amount to something bigger than the high school problems of vampire teenagers. The plot was similar to the first book. In one book a mysterious vampire was attacking humans, in the other novel an unknown human was attacking vampires.  Both stories happened to similarly to feel different.

The character relationships didn’t seem to build off of the last book. There were some new characters and relationships but no real forward progress.

The end salvaged the story and gives the series another chance to grow to much more than it did in Out For Blood. I hope the story can get back on a good track in the next installment.

Worn Out Word:

The phrase “Ivan and Amelia, Kula’s Vampire Protectors”

this phrase was tough for me after awhile. Ivan and Amelia were introduced like this several times in the first book. We get it by the second book, but they were introduced like this from start to finish. Every single time the characters showed up, start to finish, they were introduced as Kula’s Vamp protectors…every….time…..

Bottom Line:

 If you liked the first one give it a shot. I will read a third book if R Barri Flowers writes one. For me, this one fell short.

Bricks-Review

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The 1-line Review:

A real emotional page turner worth reading for any fiction fan.

The longer review:

 I was ready for a yellow brick adventure in a twist on a classic. While the twister in this story is called “the witch,” and a few character nicknames, the relation to any OZ powered world ends there.  Bricks is a realistic fiction novel, a little outside my norm, but definitely worth the read.

Bricks is an emotionally substantial read. The feelings fly out of every chapter in a way that is hard to capture just once in a story, never mind cover to cover. Davidson on several occasions fit several emotions into a few lines in such a fluid and natural way, it was amazing.  The amount of anger, frustration, anxiety, regret, and more that come off the page really hit the read and will keep you emotionally invested in the story.

Cori, a prom-queen-hopeful senior and main character, is a literary wonder. She is stubborn, oblivious, headstrong, full of self-centered ulterior motives, obsessive, very hypocritical, and quite spiteful. Yet somehow she feels entirely human you can’t help but root for her. She sounds like a perfect Disney villain yet is likeable.

Bottom Line:

Worth the read. The writing is excellent and makes the book easy to enjoy.

Where the book lost half a star:

A big bomb was dropped early in the story, and I had a feeling Cori would drag it out the issue till the end of the story.  IT was really drawn out though, she really held on to the issue too long. She really harped on it down to the end.

The other issue that bothered me was the insurance issue that her parents had to deal with. Long story short property transfers to next of kin so the family tie ups with the insurance company could have been fixed up real quick if the family really thought about it. That would have solved some of the conflict lines in the book so I suppose it had to go the way it did.

The Last Stored by Sonia Poynter- Review

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Will’s winning chapter: 14-Jessimn the Healer, (Honorable mention: 31, 31)

Will’s winning character: Lin

Will’s worn out word: giggle

The 1-line Review:

An enjoyable quest/destiny high-fantasy that would have been perfected with just a touch more depth in a couple places.

The longer review:

I would specifically recommend this novel to girls that enjoy or are just getting into fiction fantasy. The Last stored has adventure, tension, some mystery, and a few budding romances mixed into an excellent high fantasy. The story has a Lord of the Rings meets Immortal Bones kind of feel. (Don’t read that as two stories blended into one, more like little ingredients similar in feel blended together in a new recipe)

The book would fall under the christian high fantasy genre. I enjoy christian fantasy when the allegory is more subtle. Poynter does an excellent job at incorporating her faith in subtle, enjoyable ways. (Subtle vs not subtle christian authors: Wayne Thomas Batson:subtle, Christopher Hopper: NOT subtle.)–hopefully this gives you a perspective on what I mean if you enjoy christian fantasy yourself.

Sonia Poynter’s novel The Last stored is a great debut novel for a new upcoming novel. She creates an alternate world filled with color and dimension past what can visually understand here on earth. Her character cast in not overly large or too small and I enjoyed many of the supporting cast. My favorite character was the supporting protagonist Lin; I actually think i found her and her relationship with Chaney(another support protagonist) more exciting that the main characters Amber and Cree. (Adventures of Lin spinoff!)

The main characters Amber  and Cree alternate chapters in first person to give a great perspective on the same story. the characters really evolve as a team as they journey together through the story.  Amber is the unsuspecting destiny child with great potential power. She is protected by Cree, the highly trained and sworn protector who has the ability to ride the wind, be invisible, and sense others energies. Cree is called a “Wind Rider” and his ability is called “blowing out,” very cool name for a power 🙂

The book culminates to a great  fight seen in the end. I found it to be the high point of the book (The end should be the most exciting part). Some fantasies have a lack luster ending, but this is not the case here!

Bottom Line:

The Last Stored is a great new high fantasy that I would highly recommend for girls on any age that enjoy christian fiction-fantasy. Very worth the read and I would suspect more in this series to come.

If you want my critiques of the book read on….

Where the book lost a star:

For this book it was all minor points and not a major plot issue. (That is a good thing!)

• I think the very colorful world became less descriptive as the story went on. The world is vastly different from earth and I wanted to here more of the settings.
• Much of Amber and Crees feeling toward each other were explained very staccato-like. Ex. “I love that about her.”  I wish there was a bit more poetic-ness about it, and that the the character relied more on there actions portraying there affections rather than there thoughts on each other. I think this is why I enjoyed the Lin-Chaney romance more, because we could only see in through Cree and Amber’s perspective.
• The characters do much traveling and avoiding conflict. I would of liked to see one or two more Moriavis(dragon) or Ague(mindless soldiers) attack on the traveling group.
• Amber was consistently referred to by her full name and the people of Tali said that is how they do it, but Fej, Dartlin, Fink, Lin, Chaney, Lorthis were never referred to by there full name from what I can remember.

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 22 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Magyk plot hinges on coincidence

 

 

The Quick Review:
Magyk is a clever story, riddled with many shortcomings. The plot hinges on happenstance and lack of communication. One smart move by the antagonist and the book would have been over at any point. Yet somehow I still enjoyed the story overall. But the story from start to finish is a little microscopic in setting, and the plot hangs largely on coincidence and chance. It is one of those stories that could have been extinguished very early if characters said the right things or a few more soldiers were thrown at the problem.
That being said, I enjoyed the dynamic between the characters and the quirkiness of the book. The magic system is unique and could be expanded into something very intriguing in the later books.

The Longer Review:
The Book largely happens in two places; the main town and a cottage on a marshy island. There were a couple other places, but all in all most of the protagonists waited out the book in a witch’s cottage. The main protagonists send assassins called hunters and an apprentice wizard boy to apprehend upwards of 5 or 6 people. Sending a small team of people or an inept apprentice to capture 2 powerful wizards, a handful of less powerful wizards, and a princess seems kind of strange. He could of sent a small platoon of men and overwhelmed the small group pretty easily.

The protagonist should have an army, but very few adult soldiers ever show up. There is a ‘young army’ comprised of children, and we can confirm there have been at least 412 soldiers in it, but we hardly see any force try to overwhelm the protagonist refugees like you would normally suspect.

Despite one of the protagonists being the ex-head wizard. Most of her magic is mundane, and she was easily captured in the middle of the story for a spell. So being that the magic is not portrayed as very potent, a group of lackluster soldiers could have ended this book quick, or at least made it more interesting.

A lot of coincidence/destiny occurs throughout the story. These moments are easily foreshadowed, and some could have ended the book in the protagonists favor if the characters worked on their communication skills.

The culmination of the story, which felt like it happened about a chapter or two before the end, was exciting. More magic is used, and some fancy ancient ‘stuff’ (for lack of a better word to give it away) is found and coincidentally (or by destiny) linked with all the main characters. After that the story tied up loose ends. These read like the credits at the end of a movie where they tell you what happened to all the characters after the movie finished. It was interesting but too specific. The author gave us a prologue for virtually every character, right down to ‘washroom girl’ and ‘five travelers from the tavern.’ Honestly, she gave prologues to characters I don’t have any recollection too.

Conclusion:
It is definitely geared toward the 8-12 range, and I think they will enjoy it. I just think the plot line hinges too largley on happenstance and lack of communication. I got this book from the library and I will get the next from the library. The series is worth one more read to see where it goes.

The Fifth Vertex by Kevin Hoffman

 

 

The Quick Review:
The main characters fight with magic, they fight with technology, they fight multiple races, and do it all on two continents, one island, one ocean, in the air, and on a mountain. The action is non-stop and the book gives you just enough to know what’s going on but have so many more questions on what the big picture is.

This book is a real stand out in the high fantasy genre. The Fifth vertex contained many unique elements that I have not commonly read. A main character that is deaf and signs to communicate is not something that would have ever crossed my mind as an idea; it’s an instant curiosity-type hook that pulls you into the story from the very beginning. The magical structure set up in this realm is ancients, but nearly extinct, and doesn’t conform to the usual magical status quo. The book is loaded with battles varying in size and complexity and Kevin Hoffman did a great job mixing new-age-like technology into a magical, Easteros/Westeros type realm.

Story Summary:
Ursus, a teen from the warrior based people called Kestians, discovers a blue colored force of magic runs through his veins. A seemingly crazy old man, Murin, shows up in Kest, foretelling of 4 massive armies approaching the city in order to destroy a vertex that has been anchored under the city for over 3 millennia.

Ursus is plunged into a chase to save the five vertices, learning along the way that he is somehow the ancestor of an ancient race of magic wielders called Sigilords. He follows around the mysterious Murin, protecting this realm from a cult of blood mages who have not been heard from in ages.

With the help of his best friend, Therrin, and a rogue blood mage pupil, Ursus must quickly come to terms with his cryptic ancestry in order to save the world as he knows it.

The Longer Review:
Kevin Hoffman took the concept of multiple dimensions, which is commonly used in futuristic scifi genres, and made it work in a medieval setting. Don’t think teleporting and spacemen, think mystics and acolytes and magical tethers between worlds. Cool, right? I think so anyway.

Magic in this realm is nearly extinct. History of a massive ancient war tells of crusade led by the blood mages to massacre the Sigilords. The Sigilords have been extinct for millennia, and the blood mages had left the real to rebuild in an alternate dimension.

Sounds crazy right? The whole multiple dimension thing. Trust me when I say it fit so well into the book. It’s not all Dr. Who/ Star Trek sounding as it seems. Murin is an arbiter from a group of thousand year old ancients who oversea multiple dimensions and make sure they don’t end up involved with each other. The vertices in this realm act as dimensional anchors, holding everything in place, so to speak.

The book covers four types of magic users, Arbiters, Sigilords, blood mages, and quivers. Quivers are least explained and least magical. All we learn about them is most quivers don’t know they are magical. Their powers revolve around an innate sense to know directions and patterns. Blood mages is self explanatory; they use blood to do magic. Sigilords use sigils(like hieroglyphics) to perform magic. And the arbiters, as said before, are the inter-dimensional overseers. It is made clear throughout the book that there is a whole bunch of magic out there that we don’t know about yet.

Conclusion:
Kevin Hoffman’s new realm has a thousand possibilities, and so does the Vertex Series. He left a killer cliff hanger at the end, and I did not expect it. The entire story concluded nicely and then he pulled it all out from under me. I need a sequel now….

A Different Me- Review

I was asked to read this for a review. It is far outside my normal genres, (But I never deny a request!) Having said that, it’s not the first time I have read this far outside my norm by request, but this has by far been my most impressive readI was surprised by this book, and think it’s deserving of 5 stars. This book will come highly recommended from me to its intended audience (Girls 13-18.)

I think the meaning behind the song “Demons” by Imagine Dragons and A Different Me are very similar. It is a strange comparison, but you’ll understand that correlation after reading it. Both sum up a concept of there is way more going on under the surface than you can possibly figure out from appearances.

I have never read anything from Deborah Blumenthal, but I could tell this was not her first book. The writing was on point, exceptionally so. Blumenthal managed to create not one or two, but an entire cast of characters that felt real and deep on a level that hard to attain. I was further surprised at the character development, specifically the main character Allie, as well as David and Amber. Being able to add such multi-level depth and development to multiple characters is no small feat. Allie begins as a typical high school girl, and her problems and value set are those of a high school. I felt like I was watching a person, not reading a character. Then through a set of outside influences, Blumenthal transforms Allie in a way that feels so natural that it is hard to believe the girl at the end was the same as the one in the beginning.

This book has the ability to leave a lasting effect on certain readers. The story is clearly meant for girls 13-18 and I think it will hit its intended audience right on the mark. All the characters signify many stereotypical personas encountered in high-school, then open up to levels of insecurities and deeper issues that many individuals deal with at some point in their lives.

Differences in the Maze Runner: Book vs. Movie

Different Review today. And a bit late with the movie out for 2 weeks now, but I’m going to post anyway.

I’m going to quickly compare the book and movie. Then drop a whole bunch of spoilers on how the book was different than the movie. This post is really geared toward those of you who read the book, and have seen the movie (or don’t mind spoilers.)

I just read the book, and then saw the movie. They….were….different. Completely so; not like Percy Jackson book vs. movie, but way more than that. Having said that, I highly recommend reading the book (which I would put in the 4.5 star range) then see the movie. I was absolutely on the edge of my seat (literally, not virtually or figuratively) watching the movie because the whole time I had no clue what was going to happen.

I am not upset that the movie was so different. From a theatrical standpoint, the way the movie was done was more entertaining on screen than the book would have been if the producers literally went page for page with the book. The book was spaced out over more days, with more general day to day stuff going on. The Movie crammed a good few chapters into one super intense action scene at toward the end.

So my conclusion on book vs move is this. The book plot made a better book, and the movie plot made a beter movie.
Now here is a list of a whole bunch of spoilers! Most of these will make sense, and make your draw drop, if you read the book and didn’t see the movie.

 

I have missed plenty. Add the ones I missed!

Ready……

 

Gally at the name wall

Keepers

Anything that has to do with Gally
a. He is not crazy or stung in the beginning
b. Thomas wrestles Gally for sport the first evening he is in the glade.
c. At times he seems like second in command
d. He tall and physical
e. At one point he takes over as leader

Newt is tiny, doesn’t have a limp, doesn’t always assume second in command, and is seen gardening with Thomas and Zart.

 

The Keepers (Plus Chuck, Thomas, and Teresa)

Alby has been the leader from the start. And he was there alone for a month, rather than coming with the first group.

Alby is very welcoming and not standoffish.

Thomas never spends a day with the slicers.

The Glade
The boys have been there 3 years, not 2.
Greenies come up with supplies, not a week before supplies.
There is only one grave in the woods.
There is no proof the glade has electricity.
There is no weapons room.
There is no concrete floor; the main house is one story. There is a gathering room. And the map room is a wood hut.
The map in the   is made of wood pegs, not drawn on maps.
There are multiple jail cells. Not one jail house.
It rains.
They actually are under earth’s sky. Not a roof.
the term slitface and klunk are never used.

 

The Maze
Only one of the 8 maze sections opens up each day.
The maze sections don’t spell words.
The maze moves while Minho and Thomas are in it.

The Night in The Maze
Albi and Minho go out to track exile Ben’s path, not find a dead griever.
Minho helps Thomas hang Albi up, and then he bolts.
Thomas hides under the vines, not climbs up them.
There is no cliff and no griever hole.
Only one griever chases Thomas and Minho. Then it is crushed in a moving wall.
Thomas, Alby, Frypan, Winston, Zart, and Minho go to look at the dead griever.
There are no beetle blades. Each grieve has a WCKD camera on them instead.
Each griever goes back to its own hole.
All the other Runners quit.
Thomas first day as a runner is with Minho to section 7; the dead griever’s section, and is his only official day as a runner before the doors stay open.

After the Doors Remain Open
Multiple grievers attack and multiple Gladers are taken the first night the gates remain open. There is no second night after this.
Zart is the first taken by the grievers. Gally is still sane and survives the first night.

Thomas’s Gathering
Thomas’ gathering is held in 2 parts. First with the entire group. Gally leads it. They are interrupted by Teresa coming up in the box.
The second part of his gathering happens with some of the keepers but not all. Minho elects him as a runner, but not as leader.

Escaping the Maze
Galli jails Thomas and Teresa and assumes command after Albi dies.
The next day he has Theresa and Thomas tied up as an offering to right the maze again.
Minho, Chuck, Theresa, Thomas and Newt turn the tables on Gally before Thomas is tied up. Frypan, Winston, both medjacks (and by my count) 4 other leave with the group to exit the maze.
GallY and roughly 8 others remain behind. Choosing not to go.
9 make it out of the maze. They find the scientists already ‘dead.’
Gally shows up stung and shoots chuck. Chuck gives Thomas a carved figure for his parents.
Minho throws a spear to kill Gally. Then the survivors are extracted.

Other Stuff I Didn’t Sort
Teresa comes up with 2 viles of serum. No one had serum for the changing before this.
Alby is the first to ever receive the serum.
Alby dies attacking a griever and never burns the map room.
Thomas stabs himself to go through the changing with a stinger cut off of a griever by albi.
Teresa climbs to the top of a watchtower after she comes to. Then has a long conversation with Thomas.
WCKD (Not WICKED) is good is a phrase in Thomas’s brain. Not written on Teresa’s arm.
Thomas and Teresa are not telekinetic. At least its not shown or mentioned.