Tag: book review

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

“Death is not to be feared,” he said. “But nor can it be forsaken. One must be mindful.” pg 3, ebook

Ryn is a grave digger in a small village. The only trouble is the dead don’t always stay dead in her world.

Sometimes they wander out of the forest. When they reawaken, the dead are called “bone houses.”

Photo by F H on Pexels.com

The bone house did not speak. They never did. But still, Ryn felt obligated to say something. “Sorry about this,” said Ryn. And then she swung the axe at the dead woman’s knees. pg 14, ebook

In addition to her wandering dead problem, Ryn’s father went on a work outing and never returned. When a stranger comes to her village with a proposition to explore the lands around her home, Ryn decides to find him.

That is where the story really picks up.

Author Emily Lloyd-Jones explores Welsh myth and legend in this young adult fantasy. I enjoyed the story but the big twists were sign-posted so well that I guessed them before they occurred, something that I never manage to do.

This is probably because I’m not the intended audience for the story, but that’s fine. It is well-written other than that small quibble.

I liked the main character, Ryn, quite a lot. She’s strong, brave, and unafraid to venture into enchanted forests.

Reluctant readers might enjoy this book because the pace is quite fast. Recommended for readers who like young adult fantasy stories.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Emily Wilde, #1) by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is a charming fantasy story about a fairy researcher and her efforts to study a group of fae in a country far from her own.

I loved everything about this story. The characters, the plot, the pacing- they were all excellent.

I particularly enjoyed the fairy lore that author Heather Fawcett created for the story. It felt true. If fairies actually existed, I think they would be something like how they are described in this tale.

Photo by Javon Swaby on Pexels.com

“I wish to accomplish two objectives- firstly, to identify the species of Folk that dwell here, and second, to describe their interactions with the mortal inhabitants.” pg 71, ebook

Not only was the main character wonderfully crafted, but the secondary characters were great too. Wendell, Emily’s co-researcher, is compelling and really adds to the story.

I won’t say much more about Wendell because discovering what is special about him is part of the charm of the book.

Highly recommended for fantasy readers.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

In the world of The Book Eaters, there are supernatural people who exist by consuming books, the content of which then stick with them throughout the rest of their lives. This small group has other members who, instead of books, eat other people’s minds. This second group they call, “dragons”.

Devon, a member of the first group, is a young woman who is married off to produce children. Once she completes this task, she is sent back to her home, only to do it all again a few years later.

The marriages and child-bearing are carefully managed by society because the book eaters are a dying race. This is intolerable to Devon, who wants to remain close to her children, but who is instead cruelly separated from them like the other young mothers.

The story begins with Devon and her young son, Cai, on the run from the knights- book eaters who control the dragons and facilitate the book eater manner of life. It develops into a life and death struggle for Devon. How can she save her children when she can’t manage to save herself?

“Love doesn’t have a cost. It’s just a choice you make.” pg 205, ebook

I really liked Sunyi Dean’s imaginative creation of people who eat books. The descriptions of what she imagined literature tasted like were fascinating and my favorite part of the story. I also liked the idea of carrying around every book one has ever read in your mind like some sort of living library.

The book was well-written, but I didn’t care for what Dean did with her characters once she established them. I just didn’t connect with it.

As a mother myself, it was difficult to read about children being taken away and/or treated poorly. The story turned out to be a lot darker than I initially thought it would be.

Recommended for readers who enjoy dark fantasy.

The Paradox of Getting Better by Raven Lyn Clemens

The Paradox of Getting Better by Raven Lyn Clemens

The Paradox of Getting Better is about a young person who is struggling with mental health issues. These struggles are symbolized in the comic by strangely shaped bodies and surreal art.

The artwork itself is done in pencil with words crossed out and rough edges with lines coming off of it. There’s a definite style to this comic. It didn’t resonate with me.

I understand this is an indie comic, but I wanted to see a little more polish to the presentation. As it is, the book felt like an art project in its early stages- more like a book proposal than a finished project.

The writing in this comic is fantastic by the end. However, at the beginning, the main character can’t even speak in words. They just keep saying, “XXXX”, over and over.

I get this is supposed to represent an inability to communicate in the midst of a mental health crisis, but it didn’t quite work. The family members of the individual were able to understand what the sufferer was saying, but the readers weren’t. It didn’t feel fair. I wanted to understand that person too.

This work is very imaginative. I liked the shapes the author incorporated and I also liked the message in the final panels.

If you’re going to read this one, I recommend borrowing it from your local library. Thanks for reading!

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

In The Mountain Between Us Ben Payne and Ashley Knox are in a plane crash in the middle of nowhere. As they fight to survive, the reader learns about their pasts and probable futures.

It is a survival story and also a romance.

“I dumped the bottle and looked around as best I could. Nothing but snow and mountains.” pg 65, ebook

I picked up this book because my book club is going to be discussing it on Monday. It’s not my usual type of read, which veers strongly towards science fiction and fantasy.

That being said, I expected more from this book- more adventure, more near death moments.

At first, I was reminded strongly of Hatchet by Gary Paulson, which I read in grade school. I remember enjoying that book quite a lot and learning about survival techniques along with the protagonist.

The Mountain Between Us has some of that, it’s true, but it is mainly about what’s going on in Ben’s mind. I found the story to be repetitive after the first hundred pages or so.

The romance in this story is way over the top, which I suppose romance readers may like. As for me, an occasional romance reader if at all, I found myself cringing at some of Ben’s revelations.

There’s a twist at the end which I won’t spoil here, but I saw it coming from the way author Charles Martin wrote some of the passages. I wish it had been sign-posted a little less.

Overall, there’s quite a few things for book clubs to dissect. There’s the survival aspect, relationships, the beauty of the outdoors, the disconnect between modern society and nature, and what it means to be human. I think we’ll have a lively discussion.

Recommended for readers who like their romances syrupy with a wilderness aspect thrown in.

This book has been made into a movie. I’m curious as to how they adapted the story.

Thanks for reading!

Spare by Prince Harry

Spare by Prince Harry

“I love my Mother Country, and I love my family, and I always will. I just wish, at the second-darkest moment of my life, they’d both been there for me. And I believe they’ll look back one day and wish they had too.” pg 386

I didn’t know what to expect from Spare, Prince Harry’s memoir. In the days after its release, it seemed like readers were quickly scanning the pages, looking for the most shocking details to smear in headlines.

What they left out in favor of the more salacious details, in my opinion, were the tender and intimate moments that really mattered.

What do I mean?

I mean the countless, quiet and unremarkable moments Harry shared with his friends and family.

The fact that Harry struggled with mental health and chose to seek out treatments again and again in an effort to find healing and peace.

He paints the picture of not an out-of-touch prince, but as a flawed yet hopeful person trying to find his place in the world.

Harry’s grief for his mother and love for his family form the large part of his narrative. Almost the entire book is a beautiful dedication to them.

I liked how Harry took widely reported events and shared his own feelings about what happened – from an unfortunate costume choice to the rumors swirling around about his out-of-control behavior.

He takes responsibility for his actions and doesn’t seek to lay blame at the feet of others. Which, let’s be honest, he could have.

Some kinds of fame provide extra freedom, maybe, I suppose, but royal fame was fancy captivity. pg 199

Photo by Jimmy Chan on Pexels.com

Harry could have focused on the bubble he was raised in and put every decision he ever made into the hands of others. But, in this book, he doesn’t.

I came away from reading Spare with a new found respect for Prince Harry. I hope that his new life, away from the flashing lights, is everything that he hopes and dreams it will be.

Highly recommended for readers who enjoy memoirs. Thanks for reading!

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

“Here is something I learned in Empis: good people shine brighter in dark times.” pg 250

Charlie is a typical teen- plays sports and helps his father out around the house. But one day, after helping a neighbor after an accident, Charlie enters a world that is not our own. And discovers an adventure that he wasn’t looking for.

The incomparable Stephen King has written a mammoth fairy tale (600 pages in my digital version!). I thought it was too long.

Not that I mind long books. It sort of felt like King started the book thinking it was going to be about something different than it turned into.

The reason I feel that way is because the first quarter of the book takes so long to establish Charlie’s character and real world connections.

Photo by Alesia Kozik on Pexels.com

I wanted to just get on with it. Then, when we finally made it to Empis, events went too quickly!

King uses quite a lot of foreshadowing which was ok at first, but then it started to become too much. I realize he was trying to build tension- it was just over-used.

“Remember when I said at the outset that no one would believe my story?” pg 494, ebook

I enjoyed any part of the story that had Radar the dog in it. She was my favorite character. King really took his time developing her and her reactions to the world around her, which was fun.

King is at his best when he’s describing the eerie atmosphere of the other world and its unfortunate denizens. Like I said, those parts went too quickly.

Other than my small gripes, this was a well-written story and worthy of its Good Reads nomination. Readers who like Stephen King for his horror should read a different book. This is definitely more fantasy than horror.

DPS Only! by Xiao Tong Kong

DPS Only! by Xiao Tong Kong

Vicky lives with her brother, Vergil, who is a renowned e-sports player of the game “Xenith Orion.” Though Vicky loves to play video games too, she is too shy and self deprecating to tell him.

When an opportunity arises for Vicky to join an e-sports team of her own, she takes it, and uses a mask to conceal her identity. But she knows, it is only a matter of time until her secret comes out.

What will she do then?

I very much enjoyed this coming-of-age graphic novel. Readers get to see Vicky really coming into her own in the video game scene, while handling her personal relationships, particularly the one with her brother.

Photo by Florenz Mendoza on Pexels.com

This story touched on the potential sexism of e-sports. So few young women play, and when they do, they can draw all sorts of negative or toxic attention. Vicky avoids some of this with her costume, but other parts of it she can’t escape- like when one of the members of her brother’s team presses her for her phone number, though she doesn’t want to give it.

Or the negative comments arising from spectators to the tournament which are specifically directed to a female member of another team who isn’t hiding her gender behind a mask.

I experienced this type of thing first-hand in some of my gaming days. I was big into EverQuest in the early 2000’s. Luckily for me, that was before head-set communication during gaming was a thing, so, even though I played female avatars, most of the people I gamed with just assumed I was a guy.

Photo by Matilda Wormwood on Pexels.com

It was easy for me to hide. I never felt like I had to, like Vicky, but looking back on it all now, it saved me from negative attention for years.

News articles about e-sports have reported women comprise about half of casual gamers but only a handful of professional gamers. Here’s hoping more young women find the courage to follow their dreams!

The video game portions of this book were the most difficult to follow. It cut quickly from one character to the next with little explanation of what is going on except the kill.

Other than that, I thought this book was well done.

Highly recommended for reluctant readers, fans of video games, and readers who enjoy graphic novels.

Thanks for reading!

witchbody by Sabrina Scott

witchbody by Sabrina Scott

What is a “witchbody”?

Sabrina Scott defines this nebulous concept in graphic novel format.

Basically, to have a witchbody, the spiritual practitioner uses his or her senses and whole body to connect with everything in the world around her- be that a polluted parking lot or a clear mountain lake.

Scott touches on this idea that sometimes in our spiritual practices we only consider “pure” and “unpolluted” things as holy. They put forward the theory that, if we continue down this path, there may be nothing left to connect with as everything in existence mixes and mingles with everything else.

The spiritual is in the here and now, in the interaction of all things. I heartily agreed.

They wander through philosophy and other theories in the delivery of this message, which some readers may enjoy. I found myself wishing the text had a little more organization to it.

The art in this black and white graphic novel is beautiful. There is some non-graphic nudity- for librarians looking to categorize this book, I’d suggest in the adult graphic novel section.

As lovely as the art is, the lettering is close together and difficult to read in places. I think the author was going for the obviously hand drawn look, but I think they went one step too far. Otherwise, this book was enjoyable.

Highly recommended for spiritual seekers.