Friday, October 28, 2016

Flatland

Valley of the Moon by Melanie Gideon
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: I thought the premise of this book was really great, and I wasn't even too put off by the poor plot mechanism (a fog that seems to have a mind of its own in that it comes and goes as needed at exactly such intervals that will create maximum plot tension, really?) that Gideon uses to make it happen.  No, what bothered me about this book is that all the characters seemed completely affectless.  This seems strange to say since many of the characters demonstrate great emotion, from joy to extreme grief, but I never bought it.  Characters appeared grief-stricken over a death of someone who was "like a sister," except that up until that point, I'd thought the characters didn't even like each other that much.  About 25 pages from the end of the book, I was caught up in one character's emotions, but it only lasted for about 3 pages, and then I was back to Flatland again.  For all that, I liked the book, and read on to find out what would happen and how it would all be resolved (out of curiosity, rather than any concern for the characters), but this was not a book that kept me up at night.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

placeholder

Changers, Book 3: Kim by T Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Have I mentioned the plot holes?  Yeah, ok.  Moving on.  After all the drama that happened in Book 2, this book was pretty tame.  Yes, Kim has to deal with some fat-shaming and body image issues, but those don't get much emphasis in the story.  Instead, this story seems to be mostly a gap-filler.  Kim learns some things about how the Changer world really works, does a little rebelling, and ultimately comes back home ready to move on to senior year and whatever identity s/he will inhabit then

The authors are clearly trying to build up to a big show-down between the Changer establishment and those who seek to change it (and a proxy show-down between Ethan/Drew/Oryon/Kim and his/her father).  Although there wasn't much substance in this book, I'll be looking for the next book to see how it all plays out, and ultimately which identity s/he chooses.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

overreact much?

Yesternight by Cat Winters
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: This was a good story, but told with the wrong characters.  This story desperately needed characters who didn't over-react to absolutely everything.  Examples abound in the book, altercations on train platforms and people jumping out windows, to name just two.  Perhaps Winters thought having her characters react in this way added atmosphere, but not only did it become eye-rollingly annoying in short order, but she was wrong: the story would have been much more compelling if told with characters who could just stay calm and REact, or possibly just ACT, rather than OVERreact.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.