Martha
Rather strange, but I remember feeling strongly about things in my youth that ended up not being very important.
It started out very nicely and ended up as a twisted zombie/vampire book. Gross, gross, gross! I finished it late at night, trying to get to the happy ending so I could sleep. But it didn't have one. If you don't like gore & violence & horrid endings, don't read it!
Much less satisfying than previous volumes. Murderer was out of nowhere. Extra romance was unrealistic, especially with the old ones remaining.
I thought the techniques in this book would be good to try for a lot of things, not just backtalk. I also thought it was a better book for mild parental codependency than The Co-Dependent Parent.
It was interesting seeing the difference between the book & the movie. The book, btw, would have been better with a little bit of content editing, in my opinion.
I can boil down the whole book for you. Write faster, and spend more hours doing it. There you go.
I didn't buy the explanation for the Death weapon, especially against the human/K'da combo, but other than that, I really enjoyed this conclusion of the series.
I wanted to smack Tristan & Cecile for not identifying Anushka much, much, much earlier. Wasn't it obvious??
1: I could be wrong, but I don't think there's any such thing as Major or Minor NOTES. Chords, scales, intervals, & other such RELATIONSHIPS, yes. But not single notes. And yet they show up over and over and over in the book. Considering that the entire science system of the Atlanteans is music-based, I would have guessed they'd know music theory better. And for the Yellows having a system based on sharps, they're sure singing a lot of natural notes.
#2: Mezzo-sopranos have a vocal range between sopranos and contraltos. They are not higher-sopranos. So if the main character is surprised by how high of a note she can sing, the logical conclusion is NOT “Oh, wow, I'm a mezzo like my mother.” Even when they CAN hit the high notes (and some can), that is not where they are most comfortable. But Gwen is, so I doubt she's a mezzo.
#3: I realize teenagers are, shall we say, less discriminating in their attention, but Gwen is bugging me with the way she drools over allllll the hot guys. “I'm blushing. My knees are weak. My IQ just dropped to the floor.” Even when she gets a boyfriend who has been her crush for years. Even when she's in a qualify-or-die scenario. Even when the hot guys are aliens and/or people she doesn't even know. Yup, still have to drool over every shirtless, chiseled body & every beautiful face, to the point of turning into a blithering idiot.
#4: Gwen's sister should have been cut. Good grief! And since the aliens wouldn't have made an exception for Gwen's rare voice, they wouldn't have made an exception for her sister with much less cause.
#5: I totally agree with the other reviewers who mentioned the high improbability of all of Gwen's friends and enemies making the cut. And the annoying “Gwen always has the answers and the skills” issue.
Started off with 3 stars for the acceptable-but-scant storyline and acceptable prose, but lost half a star for hopping into bed with someone you really just met, and another half for doing so in literally freezing weather, while under threat from a magical creature, and in a cave described as almost too narrow for the hero's shoulders (and he's gut-wounded, btw).
I think this one was even better than the first book. Cadel is much more human when he's not trying to be evil.
Warning: this does contain a few spoilers. Sorry.
Early: I'm only a few pages in, and already I have comments. This book can't seem to decide if it is for people familiar or NOT with LDS culture: it explains about Relief Society and cultural halls, and takes a stab at temple marriage, but rolls right past Stake Presidents and High Councils and calls the Word of Wisdom “ridiculously high standards”.
Update: The book still can't decide on its audience. And the funeral home scene should be majorly summarized.
The doctrine in the book is kind of messed up. A lot of it is correct enough to mostly sound right, but wrong enough to give the wrong impression. I have a problem with that. I realize this is a murder mystery, not a doctrinal book, but authors should be faithful to their “world.” Also, the author seemed to be going out of her way to address unusual factors or viewpoints, rather than staying mainstream (Mormon mainstream, I mean), but there wasn't a literary reason to do so, so it didn't add anything to the story, regardless of audience. In fact, it was quite distracting.
Early: The characters so far include the politically ultra-liberal Mormon, the feminist Mormon, the controversial-&-headed-for-excommunication Mormon, the potentially murderous Mormon. Yes, these all exist in real life, so I'm not complaining about that part of it.... but where's the large proportion of average Mormons?
Update: Also the abusive fathers (plural!) and the keep-a-secret-by-burying-the-body-in-the-backyard Mormon. Again, those are NOT typical–where's the large proportion of average Mormons? (Actually, those aren't even typical for non-Mormons, either...)
On a more nitpicky level, there's a random “Samuel” sandwiched between two sentences on the first page, and two farther along, as well as the occasional missing space that crams two words together.
It really bothered me that a certain character, who had been abused by her father, was more concerned that her four abortions (to hide the consequences) had created fertility problems than she was by the fact that she had had four (FOUR!) abortions. Considering that abortion is a big (no, not absolute) NO in Mormon doctrine, it SHOULD have at least bothered her.
The ongoing internal conflict regarding Georgia was never resolved in any way.
The plot seemed overly complicated. (“You thought she was killed! But there is the video... But what about the other neighbor... But the phone call.... But... But... But...”)
While the murderer was caught (sorry, spoiler), I still didn't like the way the book ended. Or middled. (That SHOULD be a word, right?)
I'm afraid I can't recommend this book, although I do think that the problems I have with it could be fixed (or at least improved in the author's next book).
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway, but got no other compensation for my review. My opinions are entirely my own.
Strange.... Having decided they don't really like each other, the Willoughby adults and children proceed to try to get rid of each other, without actually committing murder. Throw in a nice nurse who wasn't supposed to be, a baby who isn't cute without curls, and an odd assortment of minor characters and you end up with a rather strange tale that is nonetheless fascinating.