Book Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Goodreads

Title: The Lies of Locke Lamora

Author: Scott Lynch

Series: Gentleman Bastard

This rating may have come as a surprise for the few of you who have known my struggles with this book, but let me tell you: I judged this book too soon.
This was my third try reading this. The first two times I simply was not interested enough to continue. I decided to try one last time and go till the end, no matter how boring it was for me. There had to be a reason for this book to be so praised. It started like the last couple of times. I was bored and couldn’t feel the story. But, to my surprise, two hundred pages in, I was sucked into the book and the world and just couldn’t stop reading!
Even during my two first failures with this book, one thing I was sure: the world the story is set in is awesome! This was confirmed now that I’ve read the whole thing. It is an ancient world, full of history and mystery. Camorr was built over the remains of an alien civilization that has long left the planet. However, they’ve left wonders for the humans to find.
The second thing that has called my attention since the first time: the characters. They are simply great. The more you read, the more attached to them you get. They’re funny, smart, brave, and completely stupid. They’ll do things that will make you roll your eyes, cry, or even laugh out loud. The friendship they have is amazing. And they’re all really badass. 
The plot is interesting and the action doesn’t stop for one single minute. We’re always jumping from one place to the other. The interludes at the end of each chapter were great to help us understand the characters, their motivation, and also the way the world they live in is structured. 
One thing I really enjoyed was the female representation. Even though the only female member of the Gentlemen Bastards is away and doesn’t appear in the book, it brings a great variety of interesting female characters that have the most diverse jobs: they are guards, magicians, spies, warriors, botanists, or sort of things. It is a breath of fresh air when it comes to fantasy.
Seriously, I’ve misjudged this book in the beginning. It was a solid five star after I’ve started really looking into it: fun, funny, action-packed, solid world-building, solid characters and narrative, nice plot twists. I really recommend this book. 

Book Review: Bummed Out City by Scott Burr

Goodreads

Book: Bummed Out City

Author: Scott Burr

Published September 23rd 2014

Rating: 4/5 stars

I got interested in this book the moment I read the synopsis. I'm very thankful to Artless Dodges Press for giving me the opportunity not only to read and review this book, but also to get to know this book. I would probably not have contact with this work otherwise. Thank you, and sorry for taking me so long to get to reading it.

It may have taken me long to pick up the book and start reading it, but when I did pick it up I read it in one sitting. I couldn't put it down before I finished it. 

The book tells the story of David, a struggling author. David had many dreams. None of them came true. His book are still not a success. More than that, he cannot find a single publisher that would accept to publish them. I thought this discussion, of life not being able to keep up with one's expactations and dreams, to be really interesting and poignant. We have all those dreams and images of what the future will be like and, most of the times, none of these dreams come true. David took it really badly, which is what leads to all his problems.

I David as a main character. He is completely annoying and self-centered. And, because of his selfishness and self-centeredness, he was a totally unreliable narrator. We could see he was trying his best to make us understand his suffering and problems and see the others as 'enemies' of his progress. And we could see him trying and failing to do so. 

I didn't think this book was plotless. I believe the mundane tasks were essential to understand David as a character and what he was trying to accomplish. 

As for the ending, I really liked it. I felt it fit with the general mood of the story, making it all raw and powerful, I think any other ending would have made the story a disservice and would not have rung as true. 

Book Review: Stolen: a letter to my captor by Lucy Christopher

Goodreads

Book: Stolen

Author: Lucy Christopher

Published May 4th 2009

Rating: 4/5 stars

The first thing I need to say is: I was not expecting to like this book at all. Don't take me wrong, it was nothing against the book itself, it just didn't sound like something I would enjoy. 
I was wrong. I liked it better than I ever thought I would. However, I didn't love it. I had problems with some aspects of the book, but I think I liked more things than I disliked, hence the rating. 

- The plot: Gemma is kidnapped from the airport of Bangkok and taken to the Australian Outback. There, she has to live with her kidnapper and try her best to survive and escape. That is it. That's the plot. The entire book is Gemma trying to deal with being stolen and taken away from any form of civilization and dealing with her feelings (bad and good) for her captor. 

I had no problems with the plot. I liked it. I liked how things took place, how the writing connected to the emotions of the narrator (who is writing a letter to her captor) and how the setting seemed to match the main character's feelings. 
Let me explain this last part: the descriptions of the place matched the emotional state of the narrator. If she was feeling angry, sad, or depressed, everything was desolated, far away, an open cage, a prison; if she was feeling happy, the land, even though desolated, was beautiful and full of hidden life. Many authors forget that how we see our surroundings is connected to how we are feeling. Christopher didn't. The language was appropriate to every situation. I really liked it. 

- The characters:

*Gemma: I think Gemma was pretty well written. Her feelings sounded believable and completely possible. She had many layers to herself and always fought to what she believed was right.

*Ty: Now Ty was the one I had problems with. Not because of what he did, because if the hadn't kidnapped Gemma there would be no book. But because he was.... not exactly what he was supposed to be. I felt he didn't fill in the role he was supposed to fill. He was too... dreamy. That's what he felt to me: a dream. It might be what the author meant: if you look back you don't see the facts how they really went, but how you, at the present, see them. And it is a different perspective. But Ty felt too unreal to me. I couldn't understand his motivations. I couldn't understand him as a character. And that was my biggest issue with this book.

- The setting: It was perfect. It felt like a living thing, another character. I could perfectly imagine the place, the driness of the desert, etc. It was the best setting for what the author attempt, mainly because it made the two characters closer, made escape near impossible and contributed to the mood of the whole book. 

Overall, a nicely written book with a somewhat bittersweet ending.

My Month in Books

January was a very good reading month. I decided that, since I will be facing the unknown that is grad school from March on, I would read as much as I could in January and February and try to make a dent on my to-read list. So, I ended up reading 17 books this month.

For this post, I would like to talk a little bit about the books I read, the challenges I participated in, and anything else book related for the month of January!

My posts

I posted a lot of pictures of my reading this month through Instagram (you can find me HERE if you are interested). I sincerely regret not joining Instagram sooner. It is a very practical way of posting pictures, updating my reading status, and finding new bookish people.

Treesofreverie Read-A-Thon

It was so hot that I had to have a glass of water at hand to be able to participate in the reading sprints :)

I participated in the 72h read-a-thon for this month, hosted by the amazing Sarha at treesofreverie.
I read two books - Heat Rises by 'Richard Castle' and Stolen by Lucy Christopher - and started reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

I considered it to be a very successful read-a-thon and, taking into account how hot is was where I am, I kept a good reading pace and also managed to participate in several of the reading sprintas! I am really looking forward to other read-a-thons in the future! They are just so much fun!


2015 Book Genre Challenge

I also participated in the 2015 book genre challenge. If you don't know what that is just click HERE to get informed and/or join the fun!
The genre of the month was Fantasy, so I read two books: Finnkin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta and The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima.


Reviews

Sadly, I only wrote one review in January, and that was my review of Ender's Game and you can find it HERE.

Last, but no least, a list of the books read this month and their ratings!

1. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (4 stars)
2. The Prisoner of Heaven (Cemetary of Forgotten Books #3) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (3 stars)
3. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (5 stars)
4. Finnikin of the Rock (The Lumatere Chronicles #1) By Melina Marchetta (4 stars)
5. The Shadow in the Norht (Sally Lockhart #2) by Philip Pullman (4 stars)
6. The Hollow by Agatha Christie (3 stars)
7. The Demon King (Seven Realms #1) by Cinda Williams Chima (2 stars)
8. Elephants can Remember by Agatha Christie (2 stars)
9. Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie (4 stars)
10. The Monogram Murders (Hercule Poirot pastiche) by Sophie Hannah (2 stars)
11. Heat Wave (Nikki Heat #1) by Richard Castle (2 stars)
12. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (5 stars)
13. Naked Heat (Nikki Heat #2) by Richard Castle (3 stars)
14. The Incredible Hul: Planet Hulk Part 2 (3 stars)
15. Heat Rises (Nikki Heat #3 by Richard Castle (3 stars)
16. Stolen by Lucy Christopher (4 stars)
17. Uglies (Uglies #1) by Scott Westerfeld (2 stars)

How did you do this month? How many books did you read? Did you participate in any challenges? Let me know in the comments!!!

Book Review: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Goodreads

Rating: 5/5 stars

Pages: 380

Published: 1985

Before I start this review, I would like to say that I do not believe, agree, or condone any of the author’s ideas on sex, gender, and sexuality.  I feel terribly sad that someone uses their influence as a widely read author to spread harmful ideas.

That is why it took me so long to read this book. I don’t think I would have read it if I hadn’t got it as a gift. Also, Asa Butterfield helped. He is all my heart desires to play Artemis Fowl. Okay, let’s move on with the review.

Over all, I really liked this book. It was one of the best Science Fiction books I read, and I’ve read quite a lot of them in my time (actually, it is a genre I want to go back to reading. I miss it.) Not exactly because of the brilliance of the plot and of the characters, which were actually quite simple, but mainly because of the amazing twists. And also because it is very well structure and makes sense world-wise. There are some Science Fiction books that simply cannot reach a level of internal coherence so needed for the genre and they end up sounding fake. This world, even though we who live and breathe technology may find some aspects impossible, is very coherent as a story and as a world.

So, let’s take a look at the positive aspects of Ender’s Game:

- As I just mentioned, it is coherent. And it is a very gripping story. I always wanted to read another page just to know what was going to happen to Ender and what the next step of his training was going to be. I found myself completely immersed in the characters and the story and sometimes hooting for good things to happen.

- It has the right amount of explanation. We know what happened –an alien invasion that almost killed our entire species- and we know what is happening. We also get to know what is happened behind the curtains, the political tension our world is going through and what is at stake. The explanation is not over-the-top or too little, and it gets mixed with the story and we form the picture of the situation as the story progresses.

- There is an interesting view on technology and social networking. However, it does seem a little far-fetched for someone who is immerse in the world of blogging and online communities.

- And, for me, one of the best features of this book was the big plot twist at the end. After you read it you realize that the entire book was just building up to it, and if you had paid only a little bit more of attention to the small details and weird pieces of conversation you would have figured it all out. And that was amazing: how, in hindsight, everything was there, but reading it you let it all slip past you. Very well done.

Now, for the negative aspects:

- I felt the characters to be a little too young and sometimes it was really easy to forget how young they were.

- Now, my biggest issue was the underlying misoginy presente in the entire book. I almost stopped reading it in the beginning when the very memorable line of ‘Too many centuries of evolution working against them’ is said. Of course, ‘them’ is girls. Now, I don’t know what you consider as centuries of evolution working against me, but I am pretty sure a girl could do all the things Ender did. And not only ‘could’. There is a lot of women out there who do belong to the army, who are in wars and fight for what they believe in. And THAT is, and will always be as long as it proceeds, my biggest issue with Science Fiction and Fantasy books: it doesn’t matter how far away in the future the story is set, the authors use the same outstandily stupid gender role mentality. There is no evolution when it comes to equality. And not only of gender, but of race, sexuality, religion, among others. It is completely unbelievable.

However, I didn’t stop reading and I’m actually glad I didn’t. I had a lot of fun reading this book and I would absolutely recommed it. Oh, and don’t forget to watch the movie as well. It is very different from the book (when is it not?), but very interesting as well!

Book Review: The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Goodreads

Summary: " Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered.  She is terrified – but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London Hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim..."

Let me say this straightaway: I was very disappointed with this book. It did not deserve to have 'Agatha Christie' written on the cover. It is not an Agatha Christie book and it is not an Agatha Christie pastiche. I sincerely don't know what it is.

Ok, that doesn't mean that Agatha Christie's novels are perfect. In no way they are. Yes, they have plot holes, there are some things that you honestly can't help but think: 'yeah, it makes sense, but in no way it would have been that easy to pull off'. However, they are incredibly entertaining. And what makes them even more entertaining is the human factor. The characters are three-dimensional and you can feel them. As the Doctor say in 'The Unicorn and the Wasp', Christie is good because she understands.  And she also makes us understand. A complex murder normally has a very simple explanation and a straightforward reason. You can see why the person was dead and you can see how the murderer pulled it, even if you not quite think everything would be that simple.

The mystery and the solution of this book are so convoluted you simply cannot accept it. The back story that made set everything in motion is so ridiculous that I simply couldn't believe that three people would be killed because of that. I also do not think it would have reached the proportions it did. They talk about it like it was this huge disaster and I was expecting something a lot more serious.

Another thing that didn't work for me was the narrator. Catchpool has to be the most annoying, idiotic narrator and the most dumb police officer in the history of mystery novels. He not only leaves the crime scene unprotected because he cannot deal with the dead bodies, he has to complain all the time and not do any detecting whatsoever. He expects all the answers to be handed to him by Poirot. He also has a "dark" past, which is shown to us with lots of italics. The author makes a big deal of it and then tell us what it is by chapter three. And when we do find out what the problem is it is something so unimportant I simply cannot understand the relevance of it to the plot.

Have I mentioned that he does not do any detecting? Because he doesn't. He goes to the village where the whole story started and then keeps complaining that everybody is avoiding him. He spends the most part of the journey whining. I don't think it ever crosses his mind to go to the village's constabulary, that's how good he is at his job.

However, my biggest problem of all was not with Catchpool or the mystery itself. It was with Poirot. Simply because it was not Poirot. It was a character that shares a name with him. Not only this Poirot only drinks coffee, he also gets annoyed, red in the face, and screams at people every too often. He doesn't explain how he came to his conclusions and only repeats the same facts over and over.

The last 100 pages consist of every character telling the same story and Poirot 'explaining' what happened to a clueless audience and a clueless Catchpool. The denouement takes forever. By the time we actually get to know what happened I was so bored that I didn't care about it anymore. I just wanted the book to be over.

I'm really disappointed with it. I don't know why the choice of a new narrator, much less one so idiotic as this one. I would have preferred Hastings. Yes, Hastings is not smart, but he is not a Scotland Yard detective as is Catchpool. I don't understand how this person got to be in Scotland Yard in the first place and why he chose to be a police officer to start with.

Honestly, it was a big waste of time. But, what can I say, I couldn't resist a new Poirot novel and, to be completely honest, if there are more books to this series, I'll probably read them too. I know, I don't learn with my mistakes. But there is always the hope that it will get better. 

Rating: 2 stars

Treesofreverie's Read-A-Thon - Days 1 and 2

April, 24^th

During the first day of the read-a-thon, I set down to read ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon. I wanted to read the whole book in one day but, unfortunately, real life got in the way. I managed to read 110 pages only. I finally finished it during the second day of the read-a-thon.

I am kind of in love with this book. It is funny, poignant, full of twists, and told by a very reliable first person narrator (if there is such a thing, but the narrator himself says he does not tell lies, because telling lies makes no sense). Even if he were a totally unreliable narrator, one couldn’t help but like him and trust what he is saying.

Christopher has autism and a life full of rules and patterns. He does not like when the patterns are broken, when someone touches him, nor the colors yellow and brown. His neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is killed one night, so he decides that he will solve his murder in the style of his favorite detective (someone in possession of a logic and clear mind), Sherlock Holmes. As he sets out to detect (as he often says), he discovers a lot about himself, his family, and the world around him.

It is a story full of ups and downs, mistakes, and changes. Christopher is a lovely character and narrator and the way he sees the world is unique, unique in its simplicity and its complexity. I lovely read for all those who are looking for a nice and thoughtful read.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Now I’m off to read ‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’ and ‘Shatter Me’