Book Review: A Vision of Fire (by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin)

The reviews for this were optimistic and vague. Most seemed to center around the fact that the novel (the first of a series) is by Agent Scully. Taglines on the back proclaim, “Gillian Anderson is returning to the genre that made her a cultural icon.” -Entertainment Weekly, “This is basically the dream of nerds everywhere.” -Flavorwire. But is it? it’s cowritten by Jeff Rovin, he’s written 130 books of varying genres, fiction, non-fiction, TV shows. He frequently ghostwrites. Which makes me wonder how much of this was written by who. Not that it actually matters or not, a good book is a good book but if it is depending on a big name in Sci-fi to sell books and it’s that of an actress instead of an author… well, it seems like selling out.

Anyway, the characters are great. Caitlyn, Maanik, Ben, Jacob, Flora, Gaelle are well thought out and planned. No one appears just to stumble on clues for the MCs. Caitlyn is a professional woman with a well rounded life who embarks on this journey to find the cause of a traumatised child’s suffering and ends up finding ties to an ancient race. She travels the globe and starts a romance with a colleague without coming up Pollyanna-ish or forgetting she has a son, a family and other professional obligations. Which happens a ton in the fantasy genre (how is Sookie Stackhouse still employed?).

Book One of the Earthend Saga, as it also is called, starts out slow, the characterization works well, but we don’t get to the meat of what is happening until the last quarter of the book. The daughter of the ambassador to the United Nations witnesses an assassination attempt on her father and starts coming apart at the seams. Across the globe a boy spontaneously self-immolates. A political conflict in Kashmir threatens a world war. A woman watches her mother nearly drown in Haiti. And all these events are connected.

And Caitlyn comes to discover that the suffering is connected to events like this across time and space.

Suffering does not exist in a vacuum. We are all connected.

That is the main theme of the book, and it was enjoyable. But not astounding.

But if you think about it deeply, we are becoming more of a global society and we need to stop think of events in other countries as far away, about past tragedies as “long ago” or barbaric, we need to stop thinking of those suffering in war torn countries as “other”. We only have one planet here and no matter what, we are all connected and we are connected to events past and present and we have more in common than we may realize.

3/5 Stars

Book Review #30- Iron Night

Oh man. Since the first in this series was so good that i had to start a blog because of it my expectation for book 2 may have been higher than average, but it lived up in nearly every way. There is no way to replicate that feeling of something new and glorious, but ML Brennan skillfully avoids a slump while the nerdy and impoverished Fortitude Scott gets in over his head (again) in a supernatural plot that runs deeper than he could ever imagine (…again). Suzume Hollis, ‘co-main character’ and kitsune is still more kick ass than Fort. She has his back, consistently, even though she likes to give him a hard time. Parts are genuinely sweet, but don’t linger too long in the sap as they attempt to track down those responsible for the murder of Fort’s roommate. 

They uncover a plot by elves to create less human purebloods and preserve the bloodlines through incest and magic. It’s incredibly messed up. To say the least. Fort meets a girl, and Brennan does the right thing here and makes Lilah the elf capable, caring and on their side. fort has every reason to fall for a girl with a peculiar upbringing -he himself was raised mostly in solitude under crazy freaky family rules (Fort’s still drinking his mother’s blood, consuming fluids from your mother in your 20s is hella bizarre). He can sympathize with a character who knows it’s wrong that she went to prom with her cousin, who is embroiled in her family’s crazy and criminal behavior against her will. She likens her upbringing to being raised in a cult. 

So the elves, growingly discontent with low birth rates and dwindling numbers and watered down powerless too-human children get crazy like the ancient royals and start breeding anyone that will make a viable elf child… no matter how young or closely related. If that wasn’t gross enough, the plot also involves a hyper-violent skinwalker and magical roofies.

Fort’s still trying to keep himself human, but he has to team up with his VERY vampiric sister, Prudence while his dashing brother is tending to his wife. Fort’s also terrified of Prudence. And with good reason. Torture is her cup of tea. She waffles between “antagonist” and “ally” as she herself becomes concerned that their family is weakening with this more human approach to raising Fort. The pure elves “Themselves” are willing to do ANYTHING to elevate their elite status.. and so is Prudence.

There’s more! Fort’s human father figure gets caught up in the mix and he has to make hard choices about where his allegiances lie. He still tries to make it to his shifts at a high end restaurant with an egomaniacal chef and he still buys his clothes at Ocean State Job Lot. Suzume still just about steals every page for me, although she wasn’t as focussed on as in the last book. Suzume is still all about playing pranks and showing Fort up, but she’s sweet when he needs her. She’s an awesome *friend* ..even if she might have set up book 3 with a strange new roommate for Fort. There’s a ton going on in just 305 pages. There were some interactions that made me crack up with laughter and ones that broke my heart. 

ML Brennan presents vampires as apex predators (which I think is awesome, because it shouldn’t be easy to make a vampire: there would be vampires everywhere. And if they say ‘immortality is a curse’ and that why they don’t turn anyone, I will hate that book) and in this one she makes a real monster out of the skinwalker (with it’s own powerset outside of those presented by Patricia Briggs or shown in TrueBlood) and concocts an intricate elf hierarchy system. It’s fabulously detailed. There’s also close relation between personalities and their species/customs. Lilah is meek from being sheltered by her family. These creepy things start out as the norm until she sees how deep it runs, but until Fort’s arrival calls attention, she would never have questioned. Fort is rebellious because he was at one point raised human, he is quite literally not like his family. Suzume is a frigging badass because she was raised in a matriarchal society by women who don’t take husbands and she needs to support herself in every way. It’s not just random traits. They were born and raised to be what they are. Personalities develop around experiences and there aren’t any shortcuts taken in the backstories.

This is really better than I could explain. 5 out of 5. Throw down you $8 and get pumped for book #3 out in November.

I would recommend this series for anyone who’s an urban fantasy fan, those looking to get beyond supernatural YA fare (it’s grown up, sans-smut) and.. well, anyone who daydreams about going on crazy adventures while they’re working their crap-job. Fort’s a good hero while still acknowledging that he’s in over his head, Suzume is a good friend without becoming an insta-love interest. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the characters progress.

Book Review- Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon #29

Do I have to read the whole book to say with certainty that this is the worst book I ever read?

Night play is a Dark Hunter novel. It’s about werewolf type creatures that are cursed. Half of the species has human hearts and half animal hearts. There are also Bears and Hawks and other shapeshifters. It doesn’t really matter, because aside from shitshows of manliness the whole umm… plot… is kind of in the back ground.

Yeah, so the main character, Vane, is mourning his brother who is in a coma and expected not to recover, they are being hunted by their father. His sister and mother are both dead for the same reasons. Sounds really… tragic? overly dramatic? angsty? Doesn’t matter. For the first half of the book you’ll almost never hear about it. Vane meets “Bride.” a woman working in a vintage shop and falls madly for her.

And we follow these two idiots around forever. I’m on page 141/371 and I don’t know how much more I can actually stand.

Here are SOME of the offending issues:

Vane goes into her shop and asks her for a recommendation for a gift. She asks if its for his GF. He says “I could never be so lucky.” and she thinks he could get any girl, who would turn him down -and I quote- “On second thought, she hoped she never met a woman that attractive. If she did,she would be morally obligated to run her over with her car.” No you wouldn’t! No you would not be ‘obligated’ to cause her drastic physical harm! What the fuck is wrong with you?! How other women look is none of your damn business! Insecure freakshow.

Vane, after creepily asking Bride if she worked in the store alone SMELLED that she got scared and thought “But then, (humans) were weak, especially their females.” This is the main character. Who I think I’m supposed to think is troubled but charming… BUT FUCK YOU.

He says his last name “Kattalakis” and she says, “That’s very different. You must have a hard time spelling it for people.” Why the fuck would he have a hard time spelling his own name, bubblehead?

Later, they get marked by a thing that says they are soulmates. Vane takes this a sign that he should stalk er… “protect” her and he changes into wolf form and spies on her having an annoying conversation with her friends about “who’s the fattest’ One; I hate that shit. Normalized chick behavior of talking about who’s fat and what freaky diet they are on. For some reason this is acceptable female bonding. And of course, two, Vane is pretending to be a canine and spying on her and sleeping inside her house under false pretenses!! NOT romantic. NOT sexy. NOT charming. Sick. 

Bride’s ex shows up to drop off her stuff. He’s an ass to her. Vane, in Wolf form, bites him. Taylor, the ex, says he will sue. Bride says she will say that Taylor threatened her and who will believe him? So now this uncomfortable, but NORMAL adult interaction has turned into a shit show of manliness. Which is bad enough, but then THEN to top it off, Bride says that she will make false allegations that he was intimidating and/or abusing her. So, let’s just make it look like women make flip decisions to file false abuse charges. Just lying hos when they don’t get their way, huh? Then Vane in human form shows back up and gives Taylor a black eye. After throwing tens of thousands of dollars around to get movers to take Bride’s things inside. Once again, our he-man hero doesn’t need words, he just needs physical violence and big paychecks. Also, why he has so much money makes no sense.

He does, at one point, ask for consent. Very rad. unfortunately this came directly after stalking and ‘one true love that i must protect’ BS, “I might toss you over my shoulder and ravish you again.” “Would you really?” “I would if you’d let me.”

But a meager 4 pages later; “He’d never understood what had driven his father to attack his mother. Now he did Every part of him simmered for (Bride). It was feverish and raw and he wasn’t sure how to control it. I’m sorry.. abuse and rape are presented as something that happens when someone is “passionate”? I mean, what the fuck here? He’s just so attracted to her he might violate her! Fucking romantic, huh?

I’m all set.

We have a MC who is a confirmed violent stalker who thinks rape is a normal way to show affection. Bride is a fickle, shallow, boring, low self esteem having Pollyanna. She spend pages upon pages focusing on her negative body image and shitty internal dialogue. We’re supposed to see that Vane thinks she is beautiful. But he’s a fucking creepy stalker. His word don’t mean shit in my book. Fuck it, in anyone’s book. Beauty starts from within. And a woman with no self confidence who only sees herself reflected through the eyes of a man, who hates other women because of their appearance, who cannot deal with normal grown up social interactions on any level? Nope. Not beautiful.

The characters names: Daimon, Kyrian, Acheron, Vane, Fang, Bride.

NO ONE HAS THESE AWFUL NAMES

How long must I tolerate this crap? Will I DNF or see how many glaring flaws I can add up? Tune in next time.

Book Review #28- Exodus Towers by Jason M Hough

The second book in the Dire Earth series picks up where the first left off. Skyler, Tania and other “traitors” are building their colony in Belem, Brazil. Skyler, now enjoying a role as a decisive man of action and Tania is the colony’s leader. As such, she spends a ton of time in orbit away from Skyler and doing important bureaucratic things like debating with Zane and Tim. Skyler and Tania fell in “insta-love” in the first book and now they’re dealing with the aftermath. They really didn’t know each other, and now the distance and differences in opinion drive a wedge between them. It’s very nuanced and well written in that aspect. Skyler, often off scavenging, researching and adventuring, isn’t there for Tania the way Tim and Zane are and the orbitals are egregiously out of touch with what’s happening on the ground. That all come to a head when the camp is taken by a gang/cult/bunch of freaks who are all immunes who refer to orbitals as spacemen and believe that immunes are meant to inherit the Earth. Extremists who believe that they are the chosen-ones.

Speaking of chosen-ones… back in Darwin, my girl Samantha Rinn (who *score* we did get more of in this book) starts off a captive of Blackfield’s. After an attempted escape she is sent on a mission by slumlord/Jacobite leader, Grillo. And then she’s set off on more mission as Grillo has her friend Kelly Adelaide under his thumb. He brings her out into the field when he needs an immune (she is the last known in Darwin) and she runs the scavenger crews, which she hates. The Jacobites believe the Darwin Elevator is Jacob’s Ladder and they start imposing Jacobite laws on the people, no drinking, a holy day, no using the lord’s name in vain… that sort of thing, and like any good religious cult, being armed to the teeth never conflicts with their belief system. Samantha helps Grillo because she gains her freedom and because, frankly she has nothing else to do. But Grillo turns out to have bigger goals than he initially let on.

There are some new characters, one of which is Ana. One of the few problems I had with this book was that I felt like Hough couldn’t decide what age Ana should be, he wanted her to be substantially younger than Skyler and immature/maladapted and she was, but I feel like the age waffled a bit. I read the ARC copy, so perhaps it came together in the final cut, anyway. Ana falls hard for Skyler and he tries to keep her at a distance, but with Tania in orbit and a rift between them… it gets complicated. Ana is impulsive, tough, spoiled and determined. A good teammate but she escapes the overused action-chick cliches.

And throughout love triangles, violent cults and espionage we still have the evolving sub-humans (zombie like survivors of the SUBS virus get tougher in strange ways), upcoming alien events, and beyond weird alien artifacts. My favorites include Sam being trapped in alien brambles and Skyler entering a dome that pays no mind to the rules of space and time.

There’s a ton going on and frankly, it was super awesome. The second book in a trilogy always bugs me. The first is always self contained and then the second ramps up but leaves so much lying around for the third. But I’m in. There’s a good amount of book here, as you can tell. It’s worth it.

The other thing that bugged me a ton: the rift between Skyler and Tania. Tania bartered with Gabriel that she would turn in Skyler (she didn’t mean it), and he heard her, he would have forgiven her but she lied about it because she felt guilty. But she had the nerve to tell him that he started combat with Gabriel, that he should have negotiated. These guys were rapists. Seriously: Skyler needed to kill every last one, no regrets. Period. And he never said “Tania, you don’t even know what is going on down here. Shut up.” 

Last review I cast Michael Weatherly to star as main protag Skyler Luiken, this time Samantha gets a face: 

 

Alexa Vega from Machete Kills As much as I would love to throw future Captain Marvel Katee Sackhoff in a time machine and pick her, I’m going with this former Spy Kid to throw punches and throw down one-liners.

and the role of Tania goes to

Noureen Dewulf from Pulse 2 and Pulse 3 (and frankly, a bunch of movies I haven’t seen) would be great as new leader Tania, the smart scientist, the good friend and stunning love interest.

I’d love to see Demi Lovato get a little wild as our Ana

And Peruvian model/actress Angie Jibaja should certainly play someone.

 

4 Stars for sure.

Book Review #27- The Darwin Elevator by Jason M Hough

This is the kind of book that would do well enough as a movie is directors had the good sense not to ruin it by giving the role to Tom Cruise (thankfully, he’d be too old for it) or Keanu Reeves (yeesh)…

THE PLOT (snagged from goodreads):

In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.
 
Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse. But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped—along with the brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma—to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity

I glanced at the goodreads reviews (for the record: I don’t especially care for goodreads, in general, no offense) some people didn’t like it because the characters weren’t “strong enough” which is fine…

And honestly I can relate. At first I was thinking, “dammit, Skyler, why are you so damn wishy washy?”

Skyler recently became captain, after the former captain of the Melville, Skadz, suddenly abandoned everyone. He’s not particularly good at it. He flew into Darwin with Skadz when humans started going apeshit and eating each other, which is where the rest of the crew got together: Samantha and Angus and Jake. So Skadz leaves and Skyler takes over because the Melville is his. He doesn’t know how to lead, he was a grunt in the Dutch Air Force and was happy not making the tough calls. The people of Darwin have small farms in orbit that supply food and some roof top gardens but they are horribly over populated and depend on scavenger crews ransacking the rest of the earth that is infested with subhumans. The wrong call could get his crew killed or lead to shortages of vital resources… Skyler is caving under the pressure.

“He didn’t want to be special. Or sought after. Truth be told he’d rather be back in the Netherlands, flying mundane patrols for the air force, living a good life. But that was a long time ago, in a different world.”

So, Skyler Luiken hasn’t really gotten over the world ending or his friend freaking out and leaving and doesn’t have the ambition or aptitude for leadership. That’s the point. I know all of you think you would get over your glaring personality flaws and be the Big Damn Hero if it ever came down to it. Reality Check: not everyone is built for it.

Skyler does step up over the course of the book, for the reason straight men do. No, no, not money, not “because it’s the right thing”, not fame, not for adventure, or excitement… for a beautiful woman.

There’s actually a really cute part where he goes to rescue her: not even sure if she’ll remember him, “Hey, it’s Skyler, from Hawaii?”

So if you want to smack him for not being able to make a decision: he will, don’t worry.

In the “women who don’t really need rescuing” category: For the “tough chicks” Kelly Adelaide and Samantha. For the “smart chicks”: Tania Sharma and Natalie.

The story doesn’t follow them around as much (for the record, more time spent with Kelly and Sam would have been optimal)

The world building is good. There’s enough for the general idea of how everything got this way and why every one is going so damn crazy.

Just kidding, no it’s not. The problem is not really the aliens (or the zombies). It’s plain old human greed. Hidden plans, secret plots, power grabs, revenge, monopolies on resources, money, power, respect. Russel and Alex want to control orbit (where the money lives), tired of being dependent on lesser of two evils Neil Platz. Platz, for the record is hiding too many secrets to name, including the Mother Of All Secrets. And he gets mighty rich off his MOAS. Russel and Alex… and, you know, humanity are right to be resentful.

“The aura is everything.”

This book wraps up a major issue, but leaves the fate of some characters (and earth overall) up in the air. I’m very interested in starting book 2 to see what happens to everybody and how their discovery changes their world! There were also some things that never get fully explained that I hope do in the next book. Like why the “zombies” were changing.

And for the record, if this were made into a movie…. I would pick Michael Weatherly

Even though he is both too old and too tall for it.

PS- It actually reminded me of Outlaw Star, and Gene Starwind who wants to go into space but is terrified. He’s a tough guy and a gunslinger and an all around rad dude, but nothing above and beyond. The first time he’s on a spaceship he passes out, he has to drink to keep his cool. But he ends up inheriting a ship and joining an intergalactic treasure hunt.

4 Data Cubes!

Book Review #26- The Undead Are A Joke: Part 1

The Undead are a Joke follows photographer and entertainment writer Zack as he leaves his old job in Maryland for a new gig in good ‘ol Worcester, Mass. At his going away party he has a chance encounter with Selina, who killed him 150 years ago and is coincidentally also heading to the Commonwealth. Oh, yeah… Zack’s a vampire. Upon arriving in Worcester, Zack goes in search of “food” and meets up with three hoodlums and four viscous vampires who tear off limbs as easy as tearing up a receipt from the packy. 

Will Zack be able to juggle his day job and being a vampire and still get his game developed before PAX East?

This is the first 2 chapters, you can buy this here.

 

The book’s cover model is one of the deadly dames featured in the upcoming Looks That Kill Calendar. 

This serial is by Radio of Horror mastermind Dr. Chris, who has umm… interesting… spelling and punctuation techniques (you can’t spell, you need an editor). I’m looking forward to Zack’s continuing adventure and wondering what will happen when he meets up with Selina! I’m confused about why this takes place in 2020 and there’s an odd mixture of real and fake things. Also, “Now you may be wondering how does a vampire eat or sleep and other science facts. Just repeat to yourself it’s just a story and relax.” You just broke the 4th wall and refused to world build! I’m a world building stickler! But “Sasquatch Ate My Neighbors” is the most awesome name for a video game, or well… anything, really. Good introduction to the cast and setting. 

Fun fact: I wrote a story about a bar run by demons set in Worcester (at the Vernon). It’s somewhere. haha

Book Review #25- Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Oh man, this book was so good. It’s one of those series that every one recommends and I’m all “Yeah, yeah, I know the type.” Powerful girl working for magical law enforcement type establishment meets handsome and vicious shapeshifter dude and they both do and don’t hit it off and meanwhile a bunch of absurdly fucked up shit goes on and she tries to juggle her life as a badass with wanting a normal human life…

Ummm…. the thing is, it’s actually really good. The world in which this takes place is in the future, but magic was unleashed so there’s no advances in technology that would make it seem futuristic, but it’s far enough in the future that all magical things are accepted as reality. Technology and magic alternate so everyone drives weird cars (like Kate’s Karmelion) or rides horses, because machines don’t work when the magic hits. Vampires are ugly and disgusting and have to be controlled by a navigator, Masters of the Dead. Shapeshifters are gross and horrible and drool and smell (and of course they are paranoid and territorial, blah blah woof woof). There are many unique elements. 

Kate Daniels has a magic sword, Slayer, that can cut through undead flesh like buttah, she goes out in search of her guardian’s killer and confronts all manner of weirdness with confidence. She’s not perfect, but she’s pretty awesome. She’s bored by ceremonial pretenses, doesn’t care about looking hot at the cost of being a bad ass (except she keeps her hair long, her concession to conventional beauty standards). She meets a handsome doctor on her quest and that goes as it usually does. Everyone thinks a crazy vampire controlling lady, Olathe, is responsible and that goes about the same as you’d expect. Everyone resumes business as usual thinking the big bad whatever is gone… But then stuff gets really crazy. I won’t spoil it, but there’s a zombie dragon. I mean, that’s just wonderful.

It’s slightly more high fantasy than most urban fantasy type stuff. I’m glad Kate doesn’t appear to be clinging to this “What would it be like to come home from a normal job and have my husband waiting for me and drink a cup of tea?” blah blah (you’d be bored, that’s why we’re all here reading books about YOUR life, Kate) because that’s boring as all hell. Ditch that crap and hang out with the Beast Lord.

I definitely recommend. I will be reading more of this series for sure!

5 bottles of Boone’s Farm

PS I was going to count this as Team Vampire, but the a Zombie Dragon showed up. That’s both for the Vamps Vs Zombies challenge/bloghop! Oh snap! 

Book Review #24- End Dayz by Kellie Sheridan

For those of you who haven’t read my Follow Friday post this is one of these moments

This isn’t a book so much as it is 4 “short stories” or rather 4 character introductions for a The Hitchhiker Strain novel. Which I wasn’t aware of at first. The chapters are written as letters or journal entries by the characters.

Pierce writes letters to his girlfriend in London. Belle writes in her diary. Alex leaves notes for his dad. Zack writes an official “report.”

The stories are short and rather unoriginal. The zombies start out shambling and slow and dumb, but the zombies start becoming faster, more savage and smarter. Which might be interesting but it’s really been done to death.

They’re so short that there’s no real time to get to know the characters, but at quick glimpse… they stink. Pierce is boring, Belle is young and helpless, Alex has potential, so does Zack, but really… nothing out of the ordinary.

1 zombie moan

Book Review #23- Parasite by Mira Grant

The synopsis: A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite – a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system – even secretes designer drugs. It’s been successful beyond the scientists’ wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.

This book is out October 29th, so put it on your “waiting on Wednesday” bloggas

My Review: Sally Mitchell was in an accident that left her brain dead and on life support. The doctors were convincing her family to pull the plug when she woke up. She didn’t remember anything from her life and had to relearn everything, how to move, how to speak, what words meant. 6 years later she still had trouble reading or learning new words. Sally Mitchell, who now prefers “Sal” was the first person to ever be saved by their SymboGen Intestinal Bodyguard.

After a series of horrific incidents involving people becoming afflicted by a “sleepwalking sickness” which causes people to lose merely lose cognitive reason, rational thought or at worst become mindlessly hostile and violent. Sal, her boyfriend Dr. Nathan Kim, her sister Joyce, and a few frenemies she makes along the way find themselves embroiled in a complicated and frightening plot involving old vendettas, espionage, pseudo-zombies, and lots and lots of tape worms. 

The writing is so good. It just is. There are minute events that are explained in ways that are overly detailed and very strange, but it does give a great view of what runs through Sal’s head. And some of it clicks into place way later, and more might, there will be two more books! (Hooray for trilogies!) Sal, who has only had 6 years to learn things can be naive, but she’s still clever. She has a very caring relationship with Nathan who looks out for her quirks. Her parents treat her as if she is actually 6, that’s a very complicated situation. Sal is nothing like Sally was, she doesn’t have any childhood memories, she’s different. Her sister actually likes her better than before. But she did almost die, and they are worried for her, and suspicious about her. 

As you’ve probably already deduced, SymboGen and their very strange and frankly gross medical enhancements go awry. But the Intestinal Bodyguard was meant to deliver truly universal healthcare, offering specialized services to individuals tailored specifically for them, their needs and circumstances. The bad guys aren’t always so easy to find and Sal and Nathan have to struggle through to figure out who’s really the villain, who got caught on the wrong side and how to set it right …all the while avoiding government agencies, corrupt doctors and mindless humans out to crush their trachea. 

And it’s not so easy to see who’s trust worthy. Who’s an evil greedy mastermind, who’s telling the truth, who’s trying to sell you a story? The bad guys aren’t cut and dry. Everyone at least STARTED OUT doing what they thought was best. But there are so many different angles. It’s hard to tell, harder if you only have 6 years of life experience to draw on.

And Tansy. How hilarious is Tansy? Madcap oddball, violent, impulsive, smart, gutsy and funny… so funny. She also makes up for people making her feel dumb by stabbing them. Probably. And she tasted someone’s brain… well, two someones. 

There’s lots of good classic sci-fi themes, money buying the government? check. Media controlled by corporations? check. Media distractions! Political spin!

Between this book and Newsflesh, I’m ready to start checking abandoned buildings for mad scientists wondering what took me so long to find them.

LOVED IT!

5 Broken Doors!

Quotable quotes!

“Oh, fooling laymen with science is sometimes to easy it should be criminal.”

“All scientists are mad scientists.”

“I took the police scanner sledding with me.”

“Is everything alright” “Oh,no. World of no. All the no. The Tropics of Negative. Situation is not good, not peachy, not keen.”

Book Review #22- Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

Wowzers, the literary equivalent of a decathalon. Anyway, I’ll tell you what I think about it and we can discuss, if you’re reading my blog you probably have cable and the internet or at least facebook friends who have cable and you have some idea what is going on here.

When people talk about feminist characters… people usually bring up Daenerys. Now, Daenerys is pretty rad. She has a very sad background story but she uses what she’s got. Her brother Viserys, sells her to Khal Drogo in exchange for an army to take the throne back for his family. Viserys is abusive and an idiot, and he says things like “you don’t want to wake the dragon, whore!” which made me so glad that I knew something terrible was going to happen to this fricken juggalo. Daenerys, though, makes the best out of her situation and starts to realize what a loser he is. But he’s the only reason she knew anything about her family who all died before she was born. Daenerys as Khaleesi forbids her soldiers from raping women, she’s bold and ambitious. She also sort of acts like Scarlet O’Hara. “If I look back I am lost” is the new “I can’t think about it now, I’ll think about it later. If I think about it now, I’ll go crazy.”

Let’s all take a moment and recognize that Arya Stark is THE bad ass. Arya who asked if she could be a knight and was told that she would marry a lord and be wealthy and she said, “Father, that’s Sansa.” Arya Stark who wanted to learn how to sword fight. Arya Stark who tried to warn her father that someone was plotting against him. Arya Stark who yelled at people who took her for a boy. Who ran from the guard after Joffrey took the throne. Who fought off crooks who tried to steal the boots off her feet. Who tried to save her father while Sansa stood there and cried. Arya Stark who wanted to be a bastard so she would be related to Jon more than Sansa.

Every time Sansa said: “I’m meant to marry Joffrey and carry his babies” I wanted to kill her. But Sansa was doing as she was raised to, and she was a product of her time. So I’m not even MAD about that. She’s 11, she’s naive. It’s realistic. (Even though Arya was only 9, and I’m pretty sure I want to be Arya when I grow up). But she forgets she even HAS a sister! And she makes sure to remind everyone that Jon is only her half brother. Which, by the way is why I also hated Catelyn.

Catelyn who had to tell Jon it should have been him paralyzed instead of Bran. BOOOOOO 

I hate that. In this world here that we live in now: people have out of wedlock babies all the time. Kids have half siblings and step siblings. But for some reason people feel that it’s appropriate to say “Oh, your HALF SISTER” as if someone who grew up around their father’s daughter would be wrong in calling her a sister and not specifying that they are only HALF siblings. It’s so stupid. I can’t stand it. And I was angry for Jon.

Jon, who lives in the shadows of his half brothers, who is constantly reminded that he’s a bastard child thinks life is egregiously unfair until he takes the black and gets the wake up call everyone gets so they can move on with their lives; he went and bullied anyone he could but then it was finally laid out in front of him that his life was actually not that bad. It’s always quite the rude awakening to realize that there’s no reason to wallow in self pity. He handles it well. 

This book is insane, there’s so much going on. Written in 3rd person, but following different characters each chapter, writing them from the outside but paying more attention to the things the characters would. What a nine year old would remember, Catelyn’s were more poetic noticing details of her sons brighter than anything else, Eddard’s chapters were harsher, Jon’s adventurous and introspective. It’s quite a feat. Really really good writing. But everything really whips up at the end and serious, I can’t believe I just finished all of that and I need the second book right now. Seriously, I hate you George RR Martin! 

5 Direwolves! Hell yes!