The Best and Worst of July

I know it’s a bit late, but work has been so busy I didn’t realize it was August until about 5 minutes ago.  Yes, that’s pretty sad.  But for now, let’s take a look at the five best articles and/or reviews of July, shall we?

1.  The Giver by Lois Lowry

2.  The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

3.  Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

4.  City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

5.  The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome

Surprising, isn’t it?  For once, The Hunger Games and Ancient Rome isn’t in the top 3.  That will likely change once school resumes as students seem to like using my article as a cheat sheet.  Which I’m more than okay with.  What’s surprising is that the top 3 are classic novel study books.  Perhaps I have some teachers looking for inspiration…

Now, here are the five worst book reviews and/or articles:

1.  The Other Alexander by Andrew Levkoff

2.  My Favourite Heroines

3.  The Twelfth Transforming by Pauline Gedge

4.  Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

5.  Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Kathryn Lasky

As you can see, Pauline Gedge is back on the 5 worst list, which isn’t surprising.  She’s not a particularly well-known author outside of historical fiction circles.  The Other Alexander being #1 isn’t surprising as it is a self-published book that, despite its quality, isn’t very well known either.  The surprising thing is that there’s a Suzanne Collins book in the worst list.  That, my friends, is a first!

It may have to do with the fact that my overall traffic is down for the summer, but then again, who can predict trends on the internet?

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle.  And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city.  By day, she and her crew scavenge for food.  By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them.  The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle.  Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice.  Die…or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most.  To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls.  There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn’t easy to pass for human.  Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her.  And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.

(Summary courtesy of Amazon.)

Finally, a real vampire story!

I can’t tell you how ridiculously happy Julie Kagawa’s version of vampires made me.  Vampires are stone-cold killing machines; they’re designed to kill humans.  They don’t sparkle in the sunlight and they certainly aren’t century-old virgins.  And vampires are powerful, so they naturally end up ruling the world, rather than being in hiding like they are in so many modern books.

Allie is a great protagonist.  She’s strong and accepts being a vampire relatively well, even though she got off to a pretty shaky start.  Kanin is an awesome vampire and I suspect we’ll learn a lot more about his mysterious backstory in the next book.  Or at least I hope we do because there’s a lot of hints about his past.

The plot is fast-paced, the characters are amazing and the world-building is nothing less than I would expect from an author like Julie Kagawa.  Blood of Eden looks to be a promising series and I honestly can’t wait for the next book.  Even if you don’t like vampires in general, you will love this book.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Amazon      Barnes and Noble

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

(Cover picture courtesy of Tertulia Moderna.)

An instant classic upon its original publication in 1949 and winner of the first International Fantasy Award, Earth Abides ranks with On the Beach and Riddley Walker as one of our most provocative and finely wrought post-apocalyptic works of literature.  Its impact is still fresh, its lessons timeless.

When a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, the human race is all bu wiped out.  In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly, inexorably, breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide into barbarism…or extinction.

This is the story of one such survivor, Isherwood “Ish” Williams, an intellectual loner who embraces the grim duty of bearing witness to what may be humanity’s final days.  But then he finds Em, a wise and courageous woman who coaxes his stunned heart back to life and teaches him to hope again.  Together, they will face unimaginable challenges as they sow the seeds of a new beginning.

Earth Abides is a novel I would describe as ‘haunting’ in that it forces you to think about the fact humanity may not always be around.  It also clings to your memory, even years after you first read it.  This passage about Captain Maclear’s rats haunts me even to this day.

Consider the case of Captain Maclear’s rat.  This interesting rodent inhabited Christmas Island, a small bit of tropical verdure some two hundred miles south of Java…

Yet such was the luxuriance of the tropical growth that the rats had not attained such numbers as to provide competition among members of the species.  The individual rats were extremely well-nourished, and even unduly fat.

In 1903 some new disease sprang up.  Because of their crowding and also probably because of the softened condition of the individuals, the rats proved universally susceptible, and soon were dying by thousands.  In spite of great numbers, in spite of an abundant supply of food, in spite of a very rapid breeding rate, the species is extinct.

Sound familiar to anyone?  Yeah, I thought so and it’s pretty scary because the scenario described by George R. Stewart really could happen one day.  And, like Maclear’s Rat, even our evolutionary advantages may not be enough to save us.

Enter Isherwood Williams, an intellectual who decides to stick around to see what happens to humanity when he discovers everyone he ever knew was dead.  Ish has a way of remaining emotionally distant that keeps him from going mad or making stupid sentimental decisions that would be detrimental to him.  Some people hate him for being so ruthless, but I found him to be empathetic (if not always sympathetic) and a very interesting character.

George R. Stewart has an amazing writing style and even though as Ish dies in the last part of the book things get a bit confusing, I had no trouble imagining the apocalyptic scenario he created.  The decay of buildings, the cropping up of bizarre religious beliefs, the lack of intellectual pursuits because survival is more important…all of this rings true and makes it a more enjoyable read.

I would highly recommend Earth Abides.  It’s one of the few classic novels that should be required reading in school.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Amazon    Barnes and Noble

Book Reviewing Criteria

[UPDATE 29/01/13: It breaks my heart to say this, but The Mad Reviewer is no longer accepting submissions for review.  If you’ve contacted me as of 2:04pm CT, I’ll still process your request.  However, I am not accepting any new submissions.  Check back in 1-2 months and we’ll see if I’m open for business.]

Since I started accepting book review requests from authors, I’ve had a surprisingly large response.  As much as I would like to, there aren’t nearly enough hours in a day to read all of them.  Therefore, in order to get a review, you must follow the instructions and guidelines below or I will reject your request.

What I Review

  • Teen-targeted self-help
  • All of the major YA genres: romance, fantasy, sci-fi, historical, realistic, etc.
  • Nonfiction teens would be interested in.
  • Self-published fiction that fits the above guidelines.

What I WILL NOT Review

  • Erotica.  Not interested, people.
  • Spiritual fiction.  I will not touch religion on this blog.
  • Poetry.  Unless you’re Dante, Homer or Virgil.
  • Short stories (unless they’re in an anthology).
  • Any unpublished work.

So your book fits the criteria, great!  What do you do next?

1.  You must contact me via the Contact page here on my blog.

2.  I check my email three times per day, so I expect you to at check it at least once.  I don’t like waiting around for an author’s reply for days.

3.  You must have a blog and/or official website as well as membership to 2 or more social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Fark, Reddit, etc.  If I have to take time out of my day to read and review your book, you had better take the time to publicize my review, but only if it’s good.  I certainly don’t expect you to publicize a bad review.

4.  When you contact me, you must be able to provide me a free copy either in PDF or paperback.  I personally prefer physical copies of books, but I know shipping to Canada can be costly.

5.  When you give me a free copy of your book, it does not guarantee you a good review.  I give full disclosure in a review when an author has contacted me to prevent any conflicts of interest.  I review all of the books I read honestly and if you don’t like it, don’t bother wasting my time.

6.  You may mention if you want to do a giveaway or interview, but you must wait until I publish your review before we actually go through with it.  I’m not going to do a giveaway for a book I didn’t like.  You must also have a sizable enough social network to promote it through so I can actually get more than 5 entries.  Otherwise, it’s just a waste of my time and your money.

I reserve the right to accept or refuse your request on a case-by-case basis.  I also reserve the right to call you out publicly on my blog if I feel you have mistreated me (as in name-calling, excessive snarkiness or anything that could be called ‘cyber bullying’).  When you submit your novel to me, you are acknowledging that if you are rude to me that you may become the subject of one of my articles and/or that your words may be included at the bottom of my review of your book for all to see.  These guidelines are in effect as of November 27, 2012 and are not retroactive.

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

Today is Wednesday, so that means I’m posting over at We Heart Reading.  My review this week is on The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau, which is the sequel to The City of Ember.  Go on and check it out!