GreenThunderNS
This is a spoiler-free review
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Recreance, released earlier this year, is the first book in The Aeternum Chronicles and follows Oren as he escapes his home city with a quirky mystery-man after his parents are murdered. - Stay with me.
Together, after reuniting with his best friend after many years in the desert, they have to work to save not only themselves but also the citizens of New Arcadia. - Really, stay with me.
I know what you're thinking. Probably what I was thinking. “Troubled boys parents die and he and his friends have to save the city” we've all read that a billion times. It's cliche and overdone and getting annoying. All true. But believe me when I tell you that this one was different. Actually. I absolutely went into this rolling my eyes, but I could not put it down. I read it in a day, and enjoyed it immensely.
The world building is expertly done and the creatures that H.G. Chambers came up with, both in the desert and within the city are simply bad ass. (Spoiler? I don't think so. It all happens very quickly. Probably why it was so hard to put down!).
The Whole concept is really cool and is also, unexpectedly, a take on population control and what that would look like in a universe where everyone is biologically immortal. Count me in.
All in all, it was honestly awesome, I can't recommend it enough and I'm excited to see what H.G. Chambers comes up with for book 2.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
This was one of those books that continuously called my name at the book store until one day I just blindly picked it up, took it home, and jumped in bed with it. One situation where that lead to zero regrets.
Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland have created an awesome world with a believable and historically researched, scientific explanation for how and why magic and time travel both existed and no longer exist, but still exist. It's honestly just super fun, this is the most fun I've had reading a book in a long time.
Most books of this length (750ish pages) look daunting. You read them, it starts off great, there's a big bump in the road where it feels unnecessarily long (like long just for the sake of being long). You get to the end, it's a chore, and you feel like a solid 200-300 pages could have been completely omitted without in anyway affecting the story or the book. This is not one of those cases.
The story is told from different perspectives using a variety of mediums such as old letters, translated documents, Slack messages, and power point presentations, it never feels monotonous or gets boring. Every page is a joy to read and feels relevant to the story, every character is flushed out and their development over the course of the book feels natural and exactly right. Also, Erzsebet is the best.
Not only is this a great historical / sci-fi / fantasy book, but it's also hysterical and a clear jab at startup culture and big corporations. I laughed, shook my head, nodded and rolled my eyes on every single page. As someone who has worked in startups for years, I can say that this book is a terrifyingly accurate depiction of the life of a startup and it's transition into a fucking evil corporation fully fledged company.
At the end of the day, I cannot recommend this book enough. Definitely worth picking up. Please go pick it up.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
I'll admit going into this book that I was a bit skeptical it could live up to everything it claimed to be, “horror meets fantasy meets historical fiction”. That's never easy to pull off. In reality, it far exceeded every one of my expectations. Throughout the course of the book you can really feel the passion that went into it and tell that it's more than just an awesome book about werewolves, it meant something to the person writing it. Though it's also definitely an awesome book about werewolves!
At first glance, the main character, Poldek Tacit seems like your stereotypical male protagonist. An emotionless brute, hardened over decades of witnessing unspeakable things and atrocities. I'll admit I rolled my eyes a bit at first, but quickly took it back.
Through a series of flashbacks, you really get to know Tacit and how he came to be the way he is. Tarn pulls back each rough layer over the course of the book and reveals a character that has far more substance than I've come to expect from similar works. At times it felt more like it spoke to humanity and what makes people who they are, rather than just a look into who Tacit is and has become.
What does it mean to be human? Are we really that different than the wolves? I often felt myself questioning not only this but also who the real heroes and monsters of the book were.
I want to draw comparisons between The Damned and other novels I've read to give you an idea of what to expect, but that's far more difficult to do than I anticipated. Angels and Demons comes to mind, but only in the sense of Religion and historical accuracy. There's a bit of a Van Helsing vibe, but no vampires. The Damned really is it's own unique thing and unlike any other books I've read.
The plot is thick, fast paced, unique, historically accurate and creative. There's a tonne of setup to what I expect will be an amazing trilogy. On more than one occasion I had to set the book down and think, as it reignited a lot of my historical curiosities. I'd find myself online at 2am reading about the history of the Vatican, the great war and inquisitors, which is not entirely unlike me, but something I haven't done in some time.
In all honesty, I could sit here and talk about the first book in The Darkest Hand trilogy for several more paragraphs, but you should really just go and read it. More than once I was surprised by an unexpected plot development. Also, Sandrine is a bad ass. I really hope to see more of her in the next couple of books. She's a strong female character with a hell of a lot of potential. #TeamSandrine
Read on In The Sheets
This will be a spoiler-free review of a great book that was well worth the wait.
As a huge fan of the original Hater trilogy, I was beyond excited when David announced he was writing three new books that took place in the same universe, albeit from another perspective. I've been anticipating this book ever since and can now say with complete certainly, I was not let down or disappointed. It fully lived up to my expectations and has made me nostalgic for the original trilogy, which I plan to start re-reading again shortly.
Where the first 3 books followed Danny on his journey through a world turned upside down by this vicious “Outbreak”, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning follows a different group of people from the opposite perspective. As it follows the same timeline, this trilogy starts right at the beginning of the onslaught where Hater did.
As stated in the synopsis, a group of people become trapped on Skek (half of them there for a work team-building day, the other half working on the island itself) when an untimely death sets in motion the next 300+ pages of non-stop story telling that I could not bring myself to put down. Any time my friends and I discuss what we would do in the event of a violent apocalyptic scenario, we always go for supplies first and then an island, I'm now torn on whether or not that's the best decision.
Additionally I want to note that I love the way David includes diverse characters in his books, whether it be a practicing religious character, an LGBT character, or a person of colour, they're regularly included across all of his novels and it's never made out to be anything other than totally normal and okay, which is exactly as it should be. It doesn't feel like he put them in just for sake of it, they're great characters with substance. His books represent a large spectrum of characters and people because that's how any world should be. Not something you find in a lot of novels of this genre, and I think that deserves a little recognition. It's not something that has to be done, but it's done anyways and done correctly.
In closing, One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning is a must read for anyone who loves any of David's other novels, but especially for anyone who loved the Hater series as much as I did. Sometimes a little Battle Royale, all-times a thriller that messes with your head, never knowing who to trust (at least with Zombies you know when someone's gonna turn!). More often than not, authors revisit an old series and it feels like a cash grab and beating a dead horse. This just feels right and like an obvious extension of an already killer series. Pun fully intended.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
I first discovered Matt's books several years ago when I happened upon The Humans at my local book store. It sounded fun and there was a dog on the cover, so I was really left with no choice but to buy it. By the time I'd closed the book it'd easily become my new all-time favourite and I was determined to hunt down and read everything he'd ever written. I mean like, within reason. Nothing weird.
How to Stop Time tells the story of Tom Hazard (great name) who's not necessarily immortal, but ages at a fraction of the speed of a normal human, but it's also so much more than that.
Like The Humans, How to Stop Time is much deeper than you'd anticipate going into it unless you're already familiar with Matt Haig's work. At it's core, it's a beautiful story about life, relationships, love, and what truly makes us who we are.
Aging at a fraction of the normal rate and living for hundreds of years sounds delightful, but less so when you're forced to choose between 400 years of loneliness and watching the people you love and care about grow old and die over and over again.
As per usual, it's beautifully written, I could not put it down. When I finally did, it left me feeling satisfied and pining for more. It's been a couple of months since I read this and it's still a book I think about all the time.
How to Stop Time (like all of Matt's other work) is a book I cannot recommend enough. Also, the cover is gorgeous and it's already being turned into a movie staring Benedict Cumberbatch, so there's that.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
I picked up this book on a whim while getting shampoo at Walmart, the cover was rad and I really wanted to read a good thriller. I came home, however, with far more than the thriller and shampoo I went in for (and not because I overspent).
Let me start by saying that Fierce Kingdom is, without a doubt, an edge-of-your-seat page turner. Within a few paragraphs I knew I was hooked and would be reading the book in one or two sittings. What I didn't expect was how deeply it would strike a chord with me.
The book follows a Mom at the zoo with her young son when an active shooter opens fire shortly before closing. The entire book takes place over a few short, terrifying hours.
For the last year, my Mom has been quite ill and battling cancer. Though things are now starting to look up, she's had a couple of close calls. While Fierce Kingdom is a thriller it's equally so, if not more so, a book about the unconditional love of a mother and the ends to which she'll go to protect her child.
Even at my Moms worst in the past year, she's been more worried about me than herself, and reading this book right in the middle of all that really hit home. It's not that I didn't already know my Mom loved me unconditionally, I of course did. Fierce Kingdom just showed it in a way I hadn't considered it before.
I know unconditional love in the sense that I love my parents and my family and my dog unconditionally, but love for a child is different in a way I can't fully understand being a single young male without kids.
During a really rough time in my life, this book made me think about things a little deeper and appreciate my Mom and her unconditional love a little bit more. That's an easy 5 stars in my books. No pun intended.
Note to Gin Phillips if she reads this: Thank you.
Note to anyone reading this: If you can, hug your Mom. Or Call her. Or just take a minute to appreciate the person she was or is.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
I picked up Eleanor Oliphant as soon as it was released and read it in one sitting, but am just now getting around to actually reviewing it. I initially thought the concept sounded lovely needed a book with a cat on the cover for a reading challenge. Win win.
Considering it's called Eleanor Oliphant is Complete Fine, I went into this book assuming that Eleanor Oliphant was not, in fact, fine at all. She's socially awkward, delightful, and has clearly been through some stuff in life.
This is a beautifully written story that just goes to show how imperative mental health is and how one single person change another's life just by being there and caring.
Eleanor can certainly be unlikable at times and while I've seen some reviews of people saying that this turned them off of the book or the character, I think it really added to her and made her more real. We're all shitty or have less than pure thoughts from time to time, let's be honest.
I adored this book, it will definitely be something I pick up to re-read again and again.
This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets
Let me start by saying that I really wanted to like this book. I'd heard mixed things prior to reading it so I went in with an open mind. It sounded like it was gonna be a lot of fun.
It wasn't.
The premise of the book is really neat and I think it could have been done a lot better had it not been mostly filler.
The story is about a kid named Wade who spends all of his time in this VR world called OASIS. I get it, VR is super rad. There are essentially a bunch of Easter Eggs and whoever follows all the clues and reaches the end of the hunt first get massive power and fortune. Basically Willy Wonka, which is fine, I'm not against retellings.
My problem with Ready Player One is that it just force feeds you 80's references over and over again until you can't take anymore and you want to die, most aren't even relevant to the story. It's like he purposely went over the book and squeezed in extra ones to up the word count and nostalgia but it's just way too much and just pulls you out of the story. It's essentially made me permanently weary of anything 80's themed.
I have no idea how it's rated as highly as it is. I'll give it an extra star for being a good concept, but I still hate it. Unpopular opinion I guess.
