Category: Book Review
Tomorrow Land by Mari Mancusi
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Can true love survive the end of the world?
Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice–between her family–and Chris Parker, the boy she’d given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he’s the only thing on her mind.
All Chris “Chase” Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed–breaking his heart without ever telling him why.
Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk…and feed. As they begin their pilgramage [sic] to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost–all while attempting to save what’s left of the human race?
(Book blurb courtesy of Mari Mancusi’s website.)
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
For all of you zombie lovers out there, be warned: this is more of a romance novel with zombies than a zombie novel with romance. Like Feed, it focuses on how people are affected after a zombie apocalypse. It doesn’t really get into the nitty-gritty of how the virus works (much to my dismay), but it does give a nice explanation, unlike in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which doesn’t give any explanation at all.
The story switches between Peyton’s and Chris’ points of view to keep up the suspense, and I think this works well. Both characters are well-developed and you can really feel the raw pain they experience when they see each other again. Chris’ addiction to painkillers heightens the suspense even more and I love how he is ready to quit because of Peyton. The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was how long it took from exposure to death and re-animation in this book. In Tomorrow Land, it can take up to 2 weeks before you actually turn! Since most common viruses take 4-7 days to incubate, that seems a little ridiculous to me.
The plot moves along at a fairly fast rate, in spite of all of the backstory scenes about how the outbreak began and Peyton and Chris’ respective choices. Personally, the ending seemed much too rushed, especially because of the big twist the plot took. Otherwise, Mari Mancusi has penned a nice romance with zombies thrown in for fun. If you love naturally developing romances, you will love this book.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Amazon (Kindle)* Barnes and Noble (Nook)*
*If you want the paperback edition, it is called Razor Girl and is only available through used book sellers.
The Horus Road by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of mcnallyrobinson.com)
Using subtle means of political power and economic control, a foreign power known as the “Rulers of the Upland” has taken over Egypt to plunder its riches and eradicate its religion and culture. In The Oasis, the stunning second volume of Pauline Gedge’s Lords of the Two Lands trilogy, Kamose, the son of Seqenenra, continued his father’s fight for the freedom of Egypt and his family.
In this riveting final volume of the trilogy, Ahmose, the brother of Kamose, vows to continue the struggle that has been so catastrophic for his family. He knows that the time has come to lay siege to the Setiu capital, but he realizes that military might alone will not be enough to breach the city’s walls. He will need no less than a miracle from Amun. And he cannot imagine how devious Apepa will be in his attempt to rob the Tao family of its chance for total victory.
Okay, we all know that Ahmose ends up liberating Egypt from the Hyksos. The appealing part of The Horus Road is the journey to victory, not so much the victory itself. Will Ahmose be able to continue on and finish what Seqenenra and Kamose died for? Of course he will, but nothing will ever be the same again in the Tao family.
Ahmose is a three dimensional character, but after reading The Oasis, which is in Kamose’s perspective, he seems pale in comparison to his brother. Yet, throughout the novel, Ahmose steps into the large footprints left by his father and brother and eventually outshines both of them. Ahmose is a great character, but Pauline Gedge has not neglected secondary characters like the resourceful Ahmose-Nefertari or the tragic Ramose. She only gives us hints at the great woman Ahmose-Nefertari would become, but it is enough to make her steal every scene that she’s in.
Since the end of the war is drawing near, the plot moves along at a fantastic pace that makes you never want to put this book down. Cities burn, kings run from danger and betrayal happens on both sides…what more could you ask for in the conclusion to this stunning trilogy? The ending is not a perfectly happy one, but it is satisfying and the characters stay true to themselves.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Pretty Girls Make Graves by Nicole Trilivas
(Cover picture courtesy of Literary R&R.)
Sparked by a break-up with her married lover, Justine trades in college to live abroad, and descends into a destructive reinvention with a backdrop of the underbelly of Scotland, Ireland, and Australia.
Acutely aware that she’s not the first girl to experience these formative misadventures, Justine hijacks the vocal chords of archetypal characters from myths, fairy tales, literature, and pop culture such as Medusa, Rapunzel, and Catherine (of Brontë’s Wuthering Heights). She echoes the voices that display her story–the violent exit from girlhood via a botched love life–better than her own.
She doesn’t have to write another mistress’s manifesto; Kalypso, one of the betrayed goddesses from Homer’s Odyssey, has that one covered. She was never overtly cruel without justification; that’s the job of a sadomasochistic Wicked Witch of fairy tale infamy. She doesn’t have a penchant for picking the wrong guy over her soul mate; Catherine does.
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES is a dark and stylized examination of the vicious things we do in the name of self-preservation, and questions the frantic necessity to tell our stories to establish human connection-however ugly they may be.(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)
[Full disclosure: Nicole Trilivas, the author of this book, contacted me and gave me a free e-book so I could review her novel. This is not the type of book I would normally read, but I will try to review it as objectively as possible.]
Pretty Girls Make Graves certainly had an interesting premise: the story of a young woman’s life being told through the voices of legendary women like Medusa, Rapunzel and Kalypso. Unfortunately, these women rarely speak up, so we are stuck in the point of view of the main character, Justine. Justine is not in any way sympathetic or even particularly interesting. She whines about missing Jason, hooks up (but doesn’t necessarily have sex) with every being with a Y chromosome she can get her hands on and drinks ad nauseum—quite literally. Did I mention that she breaks men’s hearts for fun and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever? I can understand ruthless women, like Thu from House of Dreams, but even she had redeeming qualities. Justine? Not so much.
As for the plot, don’t bother looking for one. You won’t be able to find it amidst all of the hooking up and drinking. Justine seems to wander aimlessly around, travelling from country to country on her rich father’s money and generally acting like a spoiled brat. Okay, I know how it feels when the man of your dreams belongs to someone else, but sooner or later you have to grow up, get over it and move on. Justine doesn’t and that’s part of the reason why I was so frustrated with this book by page 43.
Nicole Trilivas tried to insert some meaning into all of the Jersey Shore-like behavior in this book, but it fell flat. It seemed like in the last 20 pages she realized that there had to be a point to her novel and rushed to put on in without really going back to add hints about said point. My overall impression of this novel is not good because it made me ask: Why did I read this? No book should ever make its readers ask themselves that.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.
The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice
(Cover picture courtesy of Collider.com)
In a new feat of hypnotic storytelling, Anne Rice elaborates on the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles that began with the now-class Interview with the Vampire and continued with The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned.
For centuries, Lestat—vampire-hero, enchanter, seducer of mortals—has been a courted prince in the dark and flourishing universe of the undead. Now Lestat is alone. And suddenly all of his vampire rationale—everything he has come to believe and feel safe with—is called into question. In his overwhelming need to destroy his doubts and his loneliness, Lestat embarks on the most dangerous enterprise he has undertaken in all the danger-haunted years of his long existence…
The Tale of the Body Thief is the fourth book in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, but by this book, it seems like her heart wasn’t really in to writing it. While the premise of the novel is interesting enough and her descriptions are just as wonderful, it seems to lack the spirit and enthusiasm of the first three books. It seems as if she was pressured into writing a fourth book to capitalize on her series’ fame and that’s the worst reason for any author to write a book.
Even though it feels like Anne Rice had to continue the series because of its immense popularity, Lestat is still as complex as ever and after being a vampire for so long, he struggles as a human. It’s amazing to see him struggle over things that normal humans do every day, like eating and going to the bathroom. Along the way he meets David Talbot, a former member of the supernatural secret society, the Talamasca. Together they discover that the man Lestat switched bodies with has no intention of switching back and they hatch a plot to get Lestat back in his proper body.
I’ll add my usual warning: this is not a fast-paced novel. Yes, it has an interesting plot, but no, it is not a fast plot because The Tale of the Body Thief is a character-driven novel. Anne Rice has wonderfully sensual descriptions and a compelling writing style, but as with all of the books in the Vampire Chronicles, The Tale of the Body Thief contains explicit sex scenes and other mature content. I would recommend it for ages 14 and up.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
Gregor and the Code of Claw by Suzanne Collins
(Cover picture courtesy of Whitcoulls.)
Everyone has been trying to keep Gregor from seeing The Prophecy of Time. That is because the final prophecy calls for the warrior’s death. The warrior being Gregor, of course.
With an army of rats quickly approaching and time running out, Gregor must gather up his courage to defend Regalia and get his family back home safely. There is a code that must be cracked, a new princess to contend with, Gregor’s burgeoning dark side, and a war designed to end all wars.
The fates of the Underland and the great warrior, Gregor the Overlander, masterfully unfold in this thrilling and suspenseful final installment in Suzanne Collins’s Underland Chronicles.
Suzanne Collins still hasn’t managed to end a series well, but she did manage to end her first series, the Underland Chronicles, better than The Hunger Games trilogy.
What I like about Gregor and the Code of Claw is the character development. Gregor has come a long way since the first book and is finally accepting the role of warrior, despite the fact that the Prophecy of Time calls for the warrior’s death. His feelings for Luxa have also developed at a very natural rate and are complicated because of all the awkwardness of a first love. We also learn more about other characters’ backstories, especially Ripred’s, since there is more to him than meets the eye.
If you’re not going to read the series for its amazing characters, you should read it for the world-building. The Underworld is populated with gigantic rats, mice, bats and cockroaches; it’s definitely not your stereotypical fantasy world. Humans have adapted to their new environment, but because they still need light, they are at a distinct disadvantage to the other creatures they share their world with.
The tension between the races that has been mounting in the past two books has finally spilled over into full-scale war. One of the good things about Suzanne Collins’ writing is how she doesn’t let characters get through violence unscathed. The war that erupts affects everyone; no one, especially Gregor, is immune. But one of her greatest strengths is also one of her greatest weaknesses because her endings are never satisfying. I don’t like completely happy endings, but I certainly don’t like endings that are completely tragic either. Suzanne Collins must find a balance between the two extremes in her future books, but alas, it’s too late for Gregor and the Code of Claw.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.