Discussion: Favourite Book Covers

Feed by Mira Grant

I don’t feel like tackling any huge issues today, so why not finally have a light-hearted, fun discussion post?  Favourite book covers definitely fits the bill.

Yes, the cover for Feed by Mira Grant is one of my absolute favourites.  Why?  Because it’s simple and still effective.  I mean, you have the blood representing the zombie aspect of the book and the RSS (or feed) sign representing the blogging aspect.  And with a teaser like the one below the title, how you can resist reading Feed?

Now what I want to know is this: What’s your favourite cover?  (Obviously you can link to an image of it in the comments.)  Why is it your favourite?

 

Stealing Fire by Jo Graham

Stealing fire by Jo Graham(Cover picture courtesy of The Book Smugglers.)

Alexander the Great’s soldier, Lydias of Miletus, has survived the final campaigns of the king’s life. He now has to deal with the chaos surrounding his death. Lydias throws his lot in with Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s generals who has grabbed Egypt as his personal territory. Aided by the eunuch Bagoas, the Persian archer Artashir, and the Athenian courtesan Thais, Ptolemy and Lydias must take on all the contenders in a desperate adventure whose prize is the fate of a white city by the sea, and Alexander’s legacy.

I have some mixed feelings about the second book in Jo Graham’s so far awesome Numinous World series.  I mean, I’ve already read Black Ships and Hand of Isis, which were both great.  But I’m just not feeling this one.

Lydias was a great, well developed character.  He had a fascinating past that made his chosen path feel a little more believable and his actions throughout the novel are fairly consistent.  I like how we learn his tragic backstory little by little and it really does bring some depth to the character rather than simply hinting at what happened and not letting the reader experience it as he did.  Yes, it does slow down the plot but that wasn’t really my main beef with this book.

My main problem was not that I couldn’t relate to the main character, but rather that I couldn’t relate to the plot.  The plot was slow, which would have been okay except for the fact that it was also a boring plot.  As in pretty much nothing happened throughout the whole book.  Ptolemy and Lydias arrived in Egypt after Alexander’s death.  Ptolemy was crowned Pharaoh so Alexander’s spirit could be set free and Egypt could prosper once more.  And yet this all took 300 pages?  Truly, I just wasn’t feeling the plot like I did with Hand of Isis, where Charmian’s relationship with the gods had a more urgent, important feel to it.

Aside from the boring plot, I found that Jo Graham’s novel was pretty well researched and I learned a lot about the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s death.  Of course from my Egyptian history I already knew that Alexander’s empire had been split into three pieces between his generals and their supporters, but I never really knew how long it took.  Yes, they had already started squabbling before his body could cool, but I didn’t know it had taken them that long to solidify their new empires.  It was fascinating to see how the politics of the time would affect Charmian in Hand of Isis later on as she remembered her previous life.

Stealing Fire certainly wasn’t a bad book, but it definitely isn’t one of Jo Graham’s best books.  If you already have read books in the Numinous World series, go ahead and read this one.  But if you’re just starting out I’d highly recommend either Black Ships or Hand of Isis.  Chronological order isn’t really an issue.

I give this book 3.5/5 stars.

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Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom by Anthea Sharp

Feyland; The Twilight Kingdom by Anthea Sharp(Cover picture courtesy of Orca Books.)

THEIR LAST CHANCE…

Jennet Carter and Tam Linn are almost out of time. Feyland, the most immersive computer game ever designed, is about to be released into the world—along with the Realm of Faerie’s dangerous magic.

WIN THE GAME…

The faeries, desperate to break free from their realm, have set treacherous plans in motion. Despite magical allies of their own, Jennet and Tam have no idea what dire threats await, both in-game and out.

OR DIE TRYING…

Battling for their lives against the united powers of the Dark Queen and Bright King, Jennet and Tam’s quest to stop the fey takes them into the perilous Twilight Kingdom, where illusion reigns—and magic can break all the rules.

[Full disclosure: Anthea Sharp provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]

The Dark Queen and the Bright King have formed an alliance to get into the real world and it’s up to Jennet and Tam to stop them.  But how can they fight the two most powerful beings in Feyland when they can’t even access the game anymore—except as part of the beta testing team consisting of a professional gamer, Roy Lassiter from The Bright Court, Zeg and Jennet’s father.

So it’s up to Tam and Jennet to find a way around the beta testing’s constant monitoring and find the Elder Fey, the only ones able to stop the alliance.  Since the only way the fey can survive is by entering the real world, they certainly have motivation to sabotage Jennet and Tam’s plan and go so far as to kidnap the Bug, Tam’s little brother.  The Changeling replacement for the Bug is hilarious, but there’s still the very serious fact that the Bug could be killed if Tam and Jennet don’t succeed in their plan.

With a description like that, you can tell The Twilight Kingdom was extremely fast-paced.  There were some great plot twists that kept me guessing until the end and the plot was so fast I couldn’t put the book down.  I just had to keep reading to see what happened, even though I had to work early the next morning!  Yes, it was that good.

My favourite portion of the book was Tam and Jennet’s relationship.  Not because I’m a romantic (I’m not), but rather because of how their relationship and characters develop.  They’re not crazy possessive of each other like you see so often in YA, but you can definitely feel the passion between them.  And guess what?  Anthea Sharp has written it so that their love feels real; it’s not the shallow, possessive lust a lot of YA writers pass off as love.  At the same time, Tam and Jennet have great character arcs as their own characters.  They learn to trust one another, but also that some of their own preconceived notions were wrong the whole time.

With the best characters I’ve seen in a long time, excellent world-building and a crazy fast-paced plot, Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom is a great resolution to a great trilogy.  It also gives a little preview as to what the spin-off trilogy, Feyguard is all about.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan

The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan(Cover picture courtesy of KurzweilAI.)

Philosopher, entrepreneur, and former National Geographic and New York Times correspondent Zoltan Istvan presents his bestselling visionary novel, The Transhumanist Wager, as a seminal statement of our times.

Scorned by over 500 publishers and literary agents around the world, his indie philosophical thriller has been called “revolutionary” and “socially dangerous” by readers, scholars, and religious authorities. The novel debuts a challenging original philosophy, which rebuffs modern civilization by inviting the end of the human species–and declaring the onset of something greater.

Set in the present day, the novel tells the story of transhumanist Jethro Knights and his unwavering quest for immortality via science and technology. Fighting against him are fanatical religious groups, economically depressed governments, and mystic Zoe Bach: a dazzling trauma surgeon and the love of his life, whose belief in spirituality and the afterlife is absolute. Exiled from America and reeling from personal tragedy, Knights forges a new nation of willing scientists on the world’s largest seasteading project, Transhumania. When the world declares war against the floating city, demanding an end to its renegade and godless transhuman experiments and ambitions, Knights strikes back, leaving the planet forever changed.

[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy from Zoltan Istvan in exchange for an honest review.]

I usually steer away from reviewing books on controversial topics, but this one is definitely the exception.  I was so interested from the blurb that I couldn’t pass up a chance to read it.  So what did I think of The Transhumanist Wager?

Well, I can say that I don’t really feel one way or the other about it.  It’s fascinating from a philosophical perspective because it combines libertarianism, liberalism and conservatism all together to create transhumanism.  If you like what I call ‘philosophical thrillers’ I would recommend The Transhumanist Wager.  And while I know a little bit about philosophy, I’m far from an expert so that angle didn’t work for me.

This brought along the obvious problem with this book: it really, really, really tries hard to promote transhumanism.  There are pages of transhumanist rhetoric that the main character, Jethro Knights, thinks and says.  Sure, it’s interesting from a philosophical standpoint as I said before, but as a regular book it’s boring.  In fantasy books I don’t like heroes or villains going on big moral rants.  In science fiction books I don’t like pages and pages of explanations for technology.  So would I put up with pages and pages of philosophy for this sci-fi/philosophy thriller?  Not really.  There comes a point in time when it stops being interesting and starts getting boring.

The Transhumanist Wager was supposed to be a novel but I think it would have done much better as a nonfiction manifesto.  The main character Jethro Knights is generally unemotional and utterly dedicated to transhumanism.  He barely has doubts along the way, something that I find a little unbelievable.  I mean, doesn’t everyone question their beliefs once in a while?  The only thing I found sympathetic about him was his love for Zoe.  Despite his beliefs he tolerated her spiritual beliefs and eventually placed her beliefs over his because he knew it would have been what she wanted.

Considering how slow the beginning started out I was surprised that it actually picked up at the end.  Zoltan Istvan got off to a pretty shaky start with Jethro’s backstory and his transhuman beliefs, but I did appreciate that the plot gradually picked up later on.  It wasn’t exactly a fast-paced thrill ride, but it wasn’t mind-numbingly boring.  If he had cut out some of Jethro’s long speeches the plot wouldn’t have dragged in places, but I think the philosophy of transhumanism was more important to him than the pacing.

Overall I’d have to say that The Transhumanist Wager is a good book if you focus more on the philosophy than on it being a book that’s supposed to entertain you.  If you’re interested in transhumanism, go ahead and read it.  But if you’re looking for a science fiction novel you’re meant to enjoy for its plot, characters and world-building I don’t think this is the right book for you.

I give this book 2.5/5 stars.

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Book Review: Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Image Courtesy of Goodreads.com

From Goodreads

Ashleigh’s boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he’ll forget about her while he’s away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh’s friends suggest she text him a picture of herself — sans swimsuit — to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits “send.”

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone — until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he’s the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh’s photo — and didn’t look.

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